Carey Nieuwhof (I still have no idea how to pronounce his name!) wrote a blog* that I am using for the next few months to unpack five tensions that he says are felt by small to mid-sized church pastors. 

This second tension is about power. Nieuwhof states: “ your board may be your board, but often there are people—and even families—whose opinion carries tremendous weight. If one of those people sits on the board, they end up with a de facto veto because no one wants to make a move without their buy in. If they are not on the board, decisions the board makes or a leader makes can get ‘undone’ if the person or family disapproves.”