Barnabas File

In this blog I would like to pay homage to my digital heroes or what I might call “my favorite geeks”. My list does not include Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, or Larry Page although I (and millions of others) regularly make use of their creations. The people I want to recognize are individuals who have found ways to use the Internet and other digital media to communicate the gospel, impact society, and train people in caring ministries. Robert Parham and his team at ethicsdaily.com recognized the power of the Internet several years ago. Although it was founded as the Baptist Center for Ethics in 1991, this organization has become a thoroughly digital entity in 2002 with a daily e-newsletter, online resources, and a virtual office. The web site features new releases church resources, social commentary, sermons, and Bible study resources and has recently gone through a complete redesign with added audio and video resources. Once heavily involved in conducting conferences, the o...

How often have you heard these words (or said them yourself): “They sure didn’t teach me THAT in seminary!” Now, sometimes this is simply not true. Committed professors drew upon their experiences in churches and their academic backgrounds to share skills and insights with ministers in formation. They tried to help us understand how to preach to meet people’s needs, minister to them in times of crisis, and how to apply biblical texts to contemporary situations. We simply did not get it. We had not reached that “teachable moment.” On the other hand, the statement is sometimes true. There are several reasons for this: First, even with a two or three year degree program, there is just so much a curriculum can bear. No matter how important a particular discipline or skill is, there are a limited number of hours in a day as well as in a degree program. In every theological institution, hard choices must be made about what to include and some things will be left out. Second, we as students o...

A number of new churches have formed in the last 16 years that have chosen to affiliate with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Some have developed into strong, growing congregations while others have remained rather small and underdeveloped. I have friends in both types of churches and have worked with both as a state judicatory leader. I am sure that the comments that follow will alienate some people in the moderate Baptist camp. I believe that there is a place for a church that affirms its Baptist theology and heritage while reaching out to its community in evangelism and service. On the other hand, there is little hope for those congregations who have chosen to define themselves as “not like the Southern Baptist Convention.” The former may come to understand what it means to be a missional church. The latter chooses to be a ghetto for hurt, disaffected Baptists who are looking for people like themselves. The former are strengthened by their past; the latter are captive to their pa...

Let me make this clear up front. This is not an effort of a proud new grandfather to get a picture of his grandson on his blog (well, maybe it is, just a little bit). Cooper Maddox Stump was born this morning at 1:06 a.m. in Murfreesboro. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and was 20 inches long. By 2:24, his picture was posted on Facebook by way of my cell phone. By 3:43 a.m., ten pictures were posted of proud big brother, big sister, Mom, Dad, and Grandparents with the newcomer. At 3:45 a.m., I was receiving good wishes from a friend in Thailand. By 11:00 a.m., there were at least a dozen responses. As a friend in east Tennessee wrote, "Now THIS is a great use of Facebook!” Now think about this. Several years ago, my friend in Thailand probably would not have received this news until our December Christmas letter. Friends in east Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and North Carolina would not have seen these pictures for months. What a testimony to the power of the Internet to c...

Intrinsic to the doctrine of the priesthood of every believer is the tenet that each believer is unique and has been gifted by God to make a unique contribution to the church. Although we persist in putting people into places where they don’t fit in the church just to keep an organization chart filled, this is an important concept that many churches are beginning to embrace. I would like to suggest a corollary to this doctrine: the uniqueness of every church. At the core of the missional church concept is that each congregation is called to be part of the missio Dei (sending of God) in its particular context. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship embraces this idea in stating its mission as “helping churches and individuals discover and fulfill their God-given mission.” Like everything else, there is the temptation to make “missional church” into another program like bus ministry or Evangelism Explosion. Missional church is not a program but a theological perspective that should inform, ...

In a recent article by Bob Allen of Associated Baptist Press , Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of First Baptist Church of Decatur, Georgia, commented on the probability of the escalation of criticism of her church by the Georgia Baptist Convention, which has already chosen not to accept the church’s mission contributions. Pennington-Russell is reported to have said the following: "In that hour-long conversation it became crystal-clear to me why people are abandoning denominational structures in droves and why denominationalism as it exists today is doomed," she reported. "The sad reality is most denominational organizations are stuck in bureaucratic systems that have forgotten why they exist in the first place," she said. She said denominations -- like churches -- exist not to provide goods and services to eligible "members" but to worship and serve. Julie, I have to point out that most denominations see regulation and control as their proper role. They d...

Several years ago when I was working for a large denominational organization, I was frustrated by a certain part of the Personnel Manual. I said to my supervisor, “This is an ambiguous statement.” He replied, “It’s not ambiguous; you just don’t agree with it.” He was right. I think this is appropriate when we consider the Bible and our study of the Bible. On one hand, we naturally come to our reading of the Bible with preconceived ideas. Those ideas are based on our culture, the preachers and teachers we heard growing up, the books we read, and our own personal prejudices. These preconceptions often block God’s ability to speak a fresh word to us through the Scripture. We forget that the Bible is more than an ancient book. It is the living Word of God. Hebrews 4:12 says, For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (NIV) Too often we co...

This morning I substituted for my pastor in two services—an early service that is traditional in format and a later service that has more of a praise and worship format. This, of course, required a change in attire—dark suit, white shirt, and tie in the early service, open neck shirt, sport coat and khakis in the later service. This is not a problem for me; I am comfortable either way. I don’t preach on a regular basis, so when I do I am particularly sensitive to the response of the congregation—especially the “real-time” feedback. In each service, I knew many of the folks who were listening and may have tended to concentrate more on individual responses. Since I really like teaching more than preaching due to the opportunity for oral feedback and dialogue, when I preach I tend to look for some glimmer of response—the head nod of agreement, the quick smile of recognition, the questioning look around the eyes, the mixed response to (what I think are) clever comments or allusions. Of cou...