Barnabas File

In an article entitled “What Would Ronnie Do?” in a recent issue of Newsweek, author Rick Perlstein suggests that President Obama should look to the experiences of Ronald Reagan for ways to deal with his current situation.   Of course, Mr. Perlstein’s assumption is that the present is like the past.   This is an assumption which should be questioned.   This is not 1980, Obama is not Reagan, and the country (and the world) is very different. We should learn from the past, but we will not learn from the approach that Perlstein is taking.   Of course, he is not alone.   Most of us are looking to the past for guidance for today, so we have the military always fighting the last war and airport security screeners alert to the last terrorist strategy.   Churches do it when they think back to the 1950’s and think what worked then will work now. We can no longer assume that future events will necessarily develop as those in the past.   As my friend Al...

The twelfth semester of classes offered by Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, began this month.   Since September 2005, we have provided 32 classes in Murfreesboro and students have had access to a number of online classes.   Four students have received the Master of Divinity degree and two more will complete their degrees this semester. This effort has had its challenges, but the strategy of offering theological education for women and men who are already involved in ministry in their local contexts is making a difference for a number of ministers, their families, and their churches.   This would not have been possible without the involvement of a number of persons and organizations. First, Molly Marshall and the leadership of Central Seminary.   During a time of financial challenge, President Marshall has been willing to undertake this innovative and risky effort to provide the support needed by churches and ministers. ...

In an online posting on “The 8 Stupidest Management Fads of All Time, ”    Geoffrey James critiques some of the most common management techniques used over the last few decades—Six Sigma, matrix management, reengineering, the search for excellence, and so forth.   One that he attacks is management by objectives. Anyone who was involved in a large organization—profit, not-for-profit, religious—in the last half of the 20 th century   has been exposed to and been expected to practice management by objectives.   As James notes, the theory behind the approach is that you “d efine objectives within an organization so that management and employees agree to the objectives and understand what they are [to do] in the organization. Then [you] compare the employee’s actual performance with the standards set and agreed upon. ”   This is often the basis for the employee’s evaluation and compensation. The reality is that employees spend hours making plans for...

Whether it is the church, businesses, non-profits, professional groups, or service organizations, the question is the same:   “How do we get more young adults involved?”   (The only exception is the AARP!) When I hear this question, my first response has to do with motivation:   “Why?”   Are you just interested in financial support, the continuation of the organization, or more hands to do the work?   If the answer is “Yes” to any of these, then you are on the wrong track.   If you want to involve young adults in your organization, you must be willing to take some risks and adopt some new strategies. In a recent article on marketing to Millennials (or “Generation Y”, “Net Generation,” or “Echo Boomers”), Gary Vaynerchuk suggests four tips for connecting with adults in their 20’s.   Here they are with some interpretation from my perspective. First, listen and don’t talk.   Listening precedes dialogue.   If you really want to c...

One of the legendary practitioners of Celtic Christianity I have encountered in my class with the Oates Institute is St. Brigid of Kildare .   An early leader of the church in Ireland, much of her history is based on hagiography (writing that testifies to the saintly lives and actions of its subjects) and her accomplishments have been embellished by bringing into some of the attributes of the pagan goddess with that name.   Beneath all of that, however, is the story of a strong and intelligent woman who ranks beside St. Patrick as a symbol of Irish culture and faithfulness (and, unlike Patrick, she was born there).   She was an abbess in the fifth century C.E. who performed some of the functions of a bishop, the founder of several abbeys in Ireland, a patron of the arts, and a person of common sense and wisdom. As the influence of the Roman church became preeminent in Ireland over the following centuries, the role of women in such leadership roles was no longer tol...

While taking an online course on Celtic Spirituality with the Oates Institute , I have been doing some reading and research on the saints, traditions, and arts connected to the Celtic expression of the Christian faith.   I was surprised to happen upon a series of mystery novels that give unique insight into the “Golden Age” of Celtic Christianity. Set in the seventh century C.E., the Sister Fidelma series by Peter Tremayne (the pseudonym of Peter Berresford Ellis, a scholar and expert on the ancient Celts) introduce the reader to the rich culture of the Irish church during its time of conflict with the Roman church. The protagonist is not only a sister of the community of St. Brigid of Kildare, but she is also a dalaigh or advocate of the ancient law courts of Ireland.   Not only does she find her religious tradition in conflict with the Roman church, but she discovers that the rest of the world is not ready for a strong, intelligent woman who likes to “solve puzzles” or...

How do you measure success?  For many, it is a nice house, functional car(s), and a well-stocked refrigerator and pantry.  Just to have these things makes us richer than the majority of people in the world.  Of course, we don’t stop there.  We would like our share of electronics, opportunities to eat out on a regular basis, a few “toys” (name your favorite), and a variety of entertainment options.  If we are a bit more introspective, we will share our desire for personal health, good family or friend relationships, a challenging vocation, and a growing relationship with God. If I asked you to prepare a list of things that make one successful, you would pretty quickly come up some of the things I have already noted.  In doing this exercise, we describe our preferred reality, the type of life we work to create despite economic downturns, sickness, catastrophes, and relocations.  There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but this perception of r...

The question is so simple that it seems ridiculous that we do not ask it more often in the church:   “What do you love to do?”   We recognize that God blesses each person with spiritual gifts, and we appreciate the talents that people have discovered and nurtured over the years.   The major motivating factor in a person’s life, however, is what they are passionate about. If one has a passion for an activity, he or she will alter their schedule, make sacrifices, and commit to do what needs to be done to be involved.   A friend invited me to a pro football game recently.   We sat outside in chilling temperatures with snow flurries coming down to watch a team with a mediocre record. Why?   Because we care about the sport. What is the source of passion?   The sources are as diverse as people are unique. Perhaps it is the result of an almost forgotten childhood experience shared with a parent or friend.     Maybe it comes from studying ...

Have you ever seriously considered the assumptions that Christians embrace in their church involvement? These are things that we have picked up along the way.   It is unlikely that they have been adopted as church policy or even specifically taught, but they have become ingrained in our psyches. Over the years, I have observed a couple of interesting assumptions that Christians seem to have embraced.   First, if I enjoy doing something, then it is not “God’s will for me.”     This may come from all the testimonies that we have heard about ministers “struggling” with their calling.   Or it may be a result of the idea that God doesn’t really want us to enjoy ourselves and demands self-denial.   We might summarize this as “If I feel good about it, obviously it is the wrong thing for me to do.”   This says a lot about our concept of God, doesn’t it? Second, there is the idea that there are some things in the church that anyone can do.   For...

What’s your calling?   I think that more Christians are becoming aware that they have a calling even if they are not clergy.   The observation that “our baptism is our ordination to ministry” has taken on new meaning for many people in the pew as they have rediscovered the concept of “vocation” as a personal calling from God. As individuals discover their calling or vocation, they are also becoming aware that not every person fulfills his or her calling within the faith community.   In Growing an Engaged Church, Albert Winseman points out that “there are far more opportunities to discover one’s calling outside the walls of the congregation or parish.”   I think what he is saying that our calling does not necessarily have to be in a traditional place of service within the congregation. Winseman suggests that there are three questions that spiritual leaders need to ask to help believers turn their dreams or inclinations into callings. What are your tale...

Theological education continues to face challenges. Some are tied to finances, but there are other factors as well—demographic, sociological, cultural, and theological.  As I work with the faculty and staff at Central Baptist Theological Seminary, I am impressed by their ability to turn challenges into opportunity.  They continue to develop creative ways to form students for ministry. If a graduate theological institution hopes to be viable in the 21 st century, its leaders must examine their paradigm, look at the context, and consider the next steps in the formation of ministers.  What are some of those steps? Distance learning is one strategy that many institutions have already embraced.  Most seminaries now offer portions of their curriculum online or in satellite centers.  There are many ways of doing this, and the Association of Theological Schools (the accrediting agency for graduate theological education) is blessing this new approach. ...

I am constantly amazed by the skill and creativity of my friend Joe Brown .   Joe is a blacksmith.   He can take the most unusual materials and bend them to his will using heat, muscle, and imagination.   Our pastor referred to Joe this morning in his sermon on “Christlikeness.”   He referred to the way that God can forge us into being Christ followers.   The blacksmith’s hammer and anvil are powerful images of the way that God can work in our lives.   Very often we only find out what we are made of only when we enter the heat of life with its challenges and temptations.   Our lives are the raw materials out of which God forges us into Christlikeness.   As rough and unyielding as we may be at times, the heat of life makes us more pliable.   Even the most stubborn of us understands the need for change when we encounter the realities of life. As I have watched Joe work with metal, I have noticed something significant.   On occas...

I have to give myself an attitude check occasionally.  I write a lot about the church and challenge some of our churches’ basic assumptions and operating procedures, but I don’t mean to be negative about the church.  The church is God’s primary instrument for manifesting God’s presence in the world today.  Each church has much to celebrate and many are doing exceptional things. I was reminded of this when I read a recent blog post by Seth Godin. He said (in part): “ Wait, I was confused. There's a sure-fire recipe for delicious chocolate chip cookies. There is in fact a magic formula. For businesses, not so much. There isn't one secret, one process, one solution. Instead, there are a thousand or maybe a million.” Godin’s blog reminded me that there are any number of churches that we should celebrate.  They are aware of their gifts and resources and are interacting effectively within their contexts.   They are “the body of Christ” in their communi...

In a recent article , church consultant Tom Ehrich suggested several things that church leadership can do to overcome “business as usual.”   One of his suggestions was that leadership (he used the Episcopal term “vestries”) “needs to   listen   to the marketplace, the broader context in which the congregation operates.”      Such listening requires not only adopting a new strategy but a new paradigm as well. The paradigm under which we tend to operate is an adversarial one—us against the world.   Too often the church is in denial about what is happening around it.   We see changes around us, but they often cause us to be defensive rather than creative.   We would rather retreat from the environment or culture in which we live than engage it. We experience this on a regular basis.   I encounter it when someone bemoans the spreading influence of the Internet.   Certainly, one can spend too much time with Facebook or gaming...

The persons we select as heroes tell a lot about ourselves.   When our heroes triumph, we share their pride.   When they fall, we feel betrayed.   This is especially true in the realm of sports. Brett Favre, one of my football heroes, has decided (again) to retire and the decision may really take this time.   Not only has he worn out his body, but he is charged with some unsavory personal conduct in recent years (a charge which has not been proved at this point).   I respect Favre for a number of reasons.   First, he was an outstanding quarterback at my alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi. Second, he overcame substance abuse to become a talented and dependable player.   Third, he has shown an outstanding work ethic by starting in 297 consecutive games, an NFL record.   Fourth, through his Brett Favre Fourward Foundation, he has donated more than $2 million to charities in his home state of Mississippi as well as to those in ...

Vision-casting isn’t what it used to be. By “vision-casting,” I mean identifying a preferred future for your church or organization and then identifying the strategies, developing the action steps, and assembling the resources to move toward that vision.   With the changes in the culture, the economy, and much of the other structures in our world, one is often foolish to think that any plan is going to work out as intended.   In Church Unique , Will Mancini has attempted to articulate a visioning process that is relevant to churches and organizations in the 21 st century and our time of discontinuous change. Mancini’s contention is that each church has a unique culture that reflects its particular values, thoughts, attitudes and actions within a particular context.   We are called to identify what our church is uniquely called to do and pursue it.   By identifying and unleashing the individual church’s DNA, church leaders can unlock the potential of their congr...

On January 1, 2009, I began my “official” retirement.  As I look back over the two years, I sometimes wonder how “retired” I am.  Cecil Sherman once said, “Don’t retire FROM something; retire TO something.”  Perhaps I have taken that too literally! Actually, I am very grateful for the opportunities that have come my way.  Molly Marshall and Robert Johnson at Central Baptist Theological Seminary asked me to continue my role as director of the Central Seminary center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  I have enjoyed working with adjunct faculty and students there as well as the opportunity to teach several courses, including one online.  Time with Shawnee staff and faculty has been limited but stimulating.  Our work in Murfreesboro has been affirmed by the Association of Theological Schools, and we continue to seek to fulfill certification requirements by the State of Tennessee.  Terry Hamrick at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Terry Maples at...