First Baptist Dallas went through a messy transition after Criswell stepped down after 40 years at the helm. A couple of pastors cycled through and there was a lot of dissention until the third one stuck.
And it can’t get much messier than what happened at Coral Ridge after D. James Kennedy. Billy Graham’s grandson split the church, banned Kennedy’s widow from the facility, and ended up defrocked (adultry). The church is a fraction of it’s former membership and stature.
When are a long time pastor step down, The elders of the church had the wisdom to have guest teachers and elders teaching for almost 2 years before they hired a new pastor. By the time we got a new senior pastor everyone happily received him.