Chuck Swindoll has said that pastors should never retire, and the 89-year-old wont be stepping away from the pulpit even as his church welcomes his successor.

　　Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, announced this week that Swindoll will transition to founding pastor, continuing to preach on Sundays, as Jonathan Murphy becomes its senior pastor on May 1.

　　This is a very unique way of expanding, of moving into another chapter, as we often call it here, said Swindoll in a video clip alongside Murphy, a Belfast-born preacher who currently serves as chair of pastoral ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary.

　　With over 60 years in ministry, Swindoll is one of the oldest and most influential megachurch pastors in the country, and he has been vocal about his plans to remain active in ministry until his death.

　　One of my great goals in life is to live long enough to where I am in the pulpit, preaching my heart out, and I die on the spot, my chin hits the pulpitboom!and Im down and out, he said at age 75. What a way to die.

　　In his new role, Swindoll remains Stonebriars regular preacher, while Murphy leads day-to-day ministries and fills in to preach when needed, according to the churchs announcement.

　　We have the founding pastor being able to continue to preach as long as the Lord would have, and I can have a season as a senior pastor taking responsibility for the staff and caring for them and the ministry direction of the church at large, said Murphy, who has been a guest preacher at Stonebriar and serves on the board for Swindolls long-running radio ministry Insight for Living.

　　The two have been preparing for the transition for several years, with Swindoll befriending and mentoring Murphy. The churchs elder board began considering him as a senior pastor candidate in 2022 and decided last month to bring him into the new role.

　　Swindoll will remain an elder, and Murphy will also join the elder board. At the appropriate time in the future, the church said, Murphy will also become the churchs primary preacher.

　　Warren Bird and William Vanderbloemen, the authors of Next: Pastoral Succession That Works, wrote that an intentional overlap plan seems to be the strongest model for transition.

　　The need for pastors to make plans for their successors has only grown more urgent in the US as clergy age; 1 in 4 senior pastors plan to retire by 2030.

　　Last year, Swindoll suffered a fall, experienced low blood pressure, and underwent an angiogram. He was away from the pulpit in January while recovering from an aortic valve procedure.

　　While president of Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), Swindoll helped found Stonebriar Community Church in 1998. A Texas native, Swindoll had graduated from DTS and began his pastoral career in the Lone Star State in the 1960s.

　　Stonebriar drew in 1,500 weekly attendees within its first six months; CT dubbed it an instant megachurch. At its 25th anniversary in 2023, the nondenominational evangelical church outside Dallas reported 3,700 members, 300,000 square feet of building space, and an annual budget of $17 million.

　　Swindoll is known for his preaching. He has twice appeared on Baylor Universitys rankings of most effective preachers, and a 2010 Lifeway Research survey of Protestant preachers found he was the countrys most influential preacher not named Billy Graham.

　　Murphy commended Swindoll and his congregation for their love for the word. We talk about expository preaching, but I love that theyre expository listeners, he said. They come ready to hear from God, not to be entertained.

　　Despite Swindolls remarks that pastors shouldnt retire, he has also said, Theres nothing wrong with retirement as long as you dont stop living for God. You never retire from the Great Commission.