Barnabas File

“You love it or you hate it!” Well, maybe that is too strong a statement, but when it comes to digital media—especially social networking media--people tend to have strong feelings. Facebook is a good example. A friend recently commented on the fact that Facebook was a time wasting activity. People were always inviting him to play games, accept gifts, and sending him messages. It was more than he wanted. On the other hand, another person recently noted how she used Facebook to keep family and friends up-to-date on her husband’s recent surgery. To paraphrase her comment, “I just sat at the computer this morning with gratitude for our God who transcends time and space and for Facebook which has allowed almost instant access to so many friends.” The difference in attitudes, of course, is in how you chose to use the application. Games can be fun or addictive. You can spend so much time with Facebook friends that you neglect family and folks right in your home or community. This is a matter...

On two or three weekends a month in the fall and spring, the third floor of the middle education building at First Baptist Church, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, becomes a theological seminary. Like all good seminaries, there are lectures, discussions, papers, and community (including meals). In all honesty, I am not sure that the other components would be very effective without the last one. These students spend at much as 12 hours together on Friday night and all day Saturday, so they come to now each other as friends, colleagues, and follow pilgrims. When a team from the Association of Theological Schools made a site visit last May, they were particularly impressed by the sense of community that had developed among these students. Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, Kansas, has offered classes in Murfreesboro as part of its “teaching church seminary” emphasis since September 2005. This arrangement is the result of a commitment among three parties—the seminary, First Baptist, ...

I love my GPS unit, but I have discovered that I need to update it on a regular basis due to new construction and changes in the names of streets. I have learned that I can’t assume that what it says (it does speak) is always accurate. This reminds me of author Alan Roxburgh’s comment that our maps define our reality and his warning that maps are only representations of reality, they are not the real thing. They can help us but they can also mislead us. In The Age of the Unthinkable , Joshua Cooper Ramo observes that theorists come up with beautiful ideas, but when they have to deal with reality, they often shelve those ideas. As he notes, “When they [policy makers] finally do get their hands on real power, many foreign-affairs academics or economic masters are quick to leave their beautiful scholarly ideas behind.” Their ideas are wonderfully constructed, but they do not always work in the real world. My point in all this is to express appreciation for those who temper their theoretic...

Given my background with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, some readers of this blog may have been surprised by the comments I made in yesterday’s posting offering some unsolicited advice on the future of CBF. You may be thinking, “You didn’t say that when your paycheck came from a CBF state organization.” Well, actually, I did. Some of the suggestions I offered were articulated to administrative and planning groups. I also attempted to create an innovative and resilient environment in the organization I led so that we could be more responsive o the needs of individuals and congregations. I need to be clear on several points. First, organizations are created to serve a purpose. Whether for-profit, not-for-profit, or church-related, each organization was created to accomplish one or more tasks. For the Southern Baptist Convention, the initial task was to unite Baptists behind missions. Of course, the task may change over time. When an organization no longer serves the purpose for whic...

I was having lunch with a friend recently when he asked the question: “Does CBF have a future?” He knew that I had served as coordinator for the Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship for ten years. He was asking out of his own experience as a partner who works with CBF leadership on the state and national levels. He realized that, like many denominational groups, CBF is experiencing financial tightness. He also observed that the CBF movement seems to have plateaued. I wish that I were wise enough to answer his question, but I am not. I do think his observations contain some truth. In many ways, CBF is struggling through its adolescence and trying to make good decisions along the way. With some humility, I can offer some observations about how the CBF movement may regain its momentum. From my perspective, CBF will be a one generation phenomena if it does not do two things—relate to more churches and reach more people. CBF leadership may respond, “Well, that is what we are trying to d...

“Quite honestly, I don’t really trust anyone else to take care of this.” I have heard that comment in some form from pastoral leaders for years. I must admit that I can identify with it to some degree. I tend to be a perfectionist and that is not a good thing! Over the years, I have had to learn how to let go and give others a chance to succeed or fail. Sometimes it means cleaning up a mess, but I have found that it is worth the risk in the long run. The end result is often the birth of a competent, skilled leader. Church and denominational leaders say that they want more people to step up as volunteers and “shoulder part of the load.” We often say that we want young people to be more involved and to “do their part.” I have found, however, that our lack of trust and dearth of equipping skills often limit untried church members to roles with minimal responsibility and limited opportunities for initiative and creativity. Craig Groeschel, the founding and senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv, c...

“A sticky idea is understood, it’s remembered, and it changes something.” This is the basic idea behind Made to a Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. JFK’s “man on the moon in this decade” was such an idea. It was short, succinct, visual, and memorable. The question that the book attempts to answer is, “How do you get people to understand, remember, and act on your ideas?” According to the Heath brothers, sticky ideas have six traits in common. They term this the “SUCCESs model.” The components are simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, and stories. Simple idea messages state the core of the message clearly. One example they provide is the message that “Southwest will be THE low-fare airline.” For a Southwest employee, ff something does not contribute to that end, it is off-message. They point out that proverbs are good examples of lasting ways to communicate simple and profound ideas. Use the unexpected to grab hold attention. Surprise people but then hold them by generating int...

“I have just given up on the church. There is no place for me there.” This was the comment made by a participant at a meeting I attended several months ago. The focus of the meeting was on reaching the “unchurched,” but the discussion moved quickly to testimonies by those who considered themselves “dechurched.” What’s the difference? Unchurched people declare that they have never had a meaningful relationship with the church. Sure, they may have been to weddings and funerals and an occasional Christmas or Easter service, but they never really have identified with a particular congregation. Dechurched people, on the other hand, were once active in a congregation or denomination. They may have grown up in the church or made a profession of faith at some point in their pilgrimage, but they no longer consider themselves church people. In fact, some may no longer consider themselves Christians. What causes a person to become dechurched? There are any number of reasons, and they are highly i...

Fight or flight? These are the options that are generally cited when one deals with a conflict situation. I have found myself practicing both responses at one time or another. These approaches have longlasting negative consequences for both the minister and the congregation. How about a third choice? Can a leader find ways to deal with conflict in a constructive way? How about "facing it"? One of the skills that we need to learn is leading THROUGH conflict so that we can come out on the other side with positive results. This requires a high level of maturity and discernment. Susan Nienaber, a senior consultant at The Alban Institute, studied 12 congrations that had successfully recovered from serious conflicts and reported her findings in the article Susan Nienaber: Leading through conflict Faith & Leadership I think you will find it interesting and a beginning point for developing skills to lead through a conflict.

In an age of limited budgets and downsizing, partnerships between ministry organizations are looking more attractive. These ministry organizations may be individual congregations, judicatories, institutions, not-for-profit organizations, and consulting groups. In an effort to be better stewards of their limited resources, Christians are looking for new ways to work together. Imagine that! What should a ministry organization look for as it seeks to develop a partnership? What are some warning flags? Let me suggest a few. You may have some of your own. First, shared values. The two organizations should share some basic values. These will be determined only through clear communication and dialogue. Examples of shared values could be a similar view of the person and work of Christ (Christology), practice of gender equality, integrity, financial accountability, and concern for human need. The values upon which the partnership is based should not be negotiable once agreed upon and should be ...

Someone e-mailed me recently and said, “What are you reading now? I would be willing to pay for your list.” I appreciate the comments and the awareness that I do try to keep current on new books and read as much as I can (which is never enough). In response to this comment, I have updated a link to Amazon.com on my blog that lists my recommendations. (And it’s free!) In addition to what I am currently reading, I have suggested some other books that I like. These are books that I have enjoyed or that informed me. Some may be classics, some may be forgotten a year from now, but I found them interesting. If you click on the link under “What I am Reading Now,” you will go to Amazon.com with the list of my current reading. On the right side of that page are further book recommendations under these categories—missional church, leadership, emerging church, postmodernism, vocation and spiritual formation, and organizations. These are not exhaustive lists, but the books were helpful to me and m...

Any denomination or congregation that attempts to be faithful to the call of Christ will find itself in controversy from time to time. In fact, the more faithful they are, the more frequent the controversies may be! I had the opportunity this week to listen in on a group of pastors who are dealing the impact of with a denominational decision on the congregational level. They were candid and articulate about their concerns. As a somewhat impartial observer, I was impressed by the way that they are responding on several levels. First, they expressed that their first priority is to pastor the entire congregation, even those who disagree with the denomination’s recent actions. They are to be pastors first with the role of proponent or denominational advocate much further down their list of priorities. They plan to continue their sacramental and pastoral commitments because that is part of their calling. They will care for and love their parishioners as long as that ministry is accepted by ...