Barnabas File

A friend alerted me to an article in Business Week entitled “ How the Mighty Fall: A Primer on the Warning Signs” by business researcher Jim Collins. Collins' work includes the influential and informative Built to Last and Good to Great . The article is based on his new book How the Mighty Fall and Why Some Companies Never Give In. I have not read the book yet but I think some of his comments in the article may speak to observations I have made previously about the lifecycle of a local congregation. Collins writes, “Every institution is vulnerable, no matter how great. There is no law of nature that the most powerful will inevitably remain at the top. Anyone can fall, and most eventually do.” Once again, I affirm that the church as the body of Christ will endure, but many local expressions may not. Collins offers some warning signs beginning with “hubris borne of success.” This is a warning to us who think that because we are on “God’s business” that we are “too big...

In light of the new Star Trek movie, President Obama has been tagged as our “first Vulcan president” because he comes across as a logical, cool, “no drama” person of mixed heritage. This is an interesting and fun approach, but I think that the President is really Sidney Poitier. Although many young adults may know Poitier only as the old black guy who shows up on the highlight reels at the Academy Awards, those of my era know him as the first African-American movie star, the Denzel Washington of his day. When I think of our President, I think of Poitier. I am not thinking about the handsome young hero of A Patch of Blue , Lilies of the Field or The Defiant Ones , but the more mature protagonist of In the Heat of the Night , To Sir with Love , and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? As you may remember, in To Sir, with Love he played Mark Thackeray, a teacher from Guyana, who comes to teach a disruptive class in an inner city London school. In In the Heat of the Night , he was Virgil Tibbs...

“The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.’” (Genesis 12:1, NIV) Abraham may have been the first ministry entrepreneur. He stepped out and followed God without knowing exactly where he was going or what he could expect there. The only thing he knew for sure was that God had called him. The following years were not easy. He had some grudging support from his wife and extended family (servants, etc.), but his primary support came from God. As we think about ministry entrepreneurs of today, do they find themselves as lonely as Abraham? How can we help them? I am not saying that dependence upon God is not sufficient, but I am asking if our church and denominational structures are ready to accept the person who stands up and says, “I have heard voice of God and I must follow.” Most churches would prefer that these folks would just go somewhere else and pursue their vision. The usual response may be, “That...

Are we entering a new phase of Christian missions that can best be described as a web of relationships with local churches as part of the mix? In previous postings I have commented both on a “networking” approach to ministry and “ministry entrepreneurs” who develop their own ministries to support and/or supplement the work of the churches. In all of this, I think something new is developing that is changing the face of Christian missions. I am thinking particularly about the ministry entrepreneurs who have a special sense of calling and act on it. These are individuals or couples who have a calling to a specific type of ministry, the gifts to do it, the passion to sustain their work, and a willingness to devote their lives to make it happen. My wife and I support some people who are ministry entrepreneurs. In addition to our gifts to the local church, CBF Global Missions, Central Seminary, and the Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, we send monthly checks to three couples who are...

This is one of those times of the year when we celebrate certain rites of passages. Many young people are completing their work at various institutions of learning and moving on to the next phase of their lives. I was reflecting on this over the weekend and found it a very encouraging thing. Graduation (or commencement) recognizes not only achievement but that fact that there is always a next level to attain. We are continually passing from one stage of life and work to another. For my five year old granddaughter, Erin, the passage is completing WEE school and registering for kindergarten on the same day. She knows her alphabet, has learned how to get along with others, and is ready to conquer elementary school. My grandson, Bryan, completed a bachelor’s degree at Middle Tennessee State University. He really did not want to go through the commencement thing but he did it for the family. His next step is graduate school; not a bad choice in this economy! If my grandson, Benjamin, had li...

Let me admit right up front that I am a Star Trek fan. You can call me a “Trekkie” or a “Trekker” but I am still a fan. I have been since I returned from Vietnam in 1967 and stumbled upon the original series one night. I have followed it through reruns of the original series (I used to watch them with our kids every afternoon after school), four new series ( Next Generation , Voyager, Deep Space Nine , and Enterprise ), and ten movies (some of them pretty awful). Now we have Star Trek (no Roman numeral) for a new generation as reimagined by J. J. Abrams—and it’s not bad. As most reboots of familiar material, this film will not satisfy everyone but there are enough nods to the mythology that old timers like myself will identify and enjoy. There are weaknesses for sure. For one thing, the first new big screen Trek villain in seven years is pretty two dimensional. Nero is a Romulan miner who has a grudge and a big ship. He is ugly, loud, and menacing but Eric Bana doesn’t do much with t...

The responses to my previous posting about hospice care for dying churches have not given much attention to the “new birth” aspect. One way to ease the loss of dying is to provide something that will live on after the present congregation is gone. One way for this to happen is to give birth to a new church or congregation. Although many in the moderate Baptist movement seem to think church planting is a great idea, the actions fall short of the rhetoric. If we are really serious about this, we need to put more of ourselves into this effort. Several years ago, church strategist Peter Wagner stated, “The single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches.” Why is this? Let me suggest some reasons. First, new churches are not burdened with the baggage of established churches. Such baggage may include (but not be limited to) aging buildings in a declining area, numerous policies and procedures that have been developed over time, and a lack of vision for t...