Barnabas File

In a post on ethicsdaily.com, pastor Guy Sayles wrote, “For many years now, I’ve had a growing conviction that the great Catholic theologian Karl Rahner was right to have claimed:  ‘The Christian o f the future will be a mystic or will not exist at all.’”  This is a remarkable quote and got me thinking about its implications:  “ The church of the 21 st century will be made up of Christian mystics or it will not survive.” We spend a great deal of time assuring that our churches are smoothly functioning organizations.  Some of this is cultural and a great deal of it is required by law, but we must admit that we are often more comfortable thinking of the church as an organization rather than as the people of God.   Dealing with the nuts and bolts of church life and administration may be a burden but it is something that we can quantify and control.   If we are indeed God’s people, we will find ourselves dealing with the spiritual and openin...

Perhaps one of the greatest and simplest inventions of the last century was the map at the mall with the dot that marked the spot where you were standing when you read the map:  “You are here.” On one occasion I thought to myself, “Where else would I be?”  But it does make sense, doesn’t it?  We must start where we are geographically, in time, in life, and in leadership of the church.   It would be foolish to start where you are not! There have been a number of outstanding books written over the last two decades about the missional church--a church that is “on mission with God” or acknowledges that it is part of the missio Dei.  The most creative and less helpful ones are those that assume that you are either starting a church from scratch or that you are willing to commit ministerial suicide by instituting radical change in an established church in order for it to become missional.  The most helpful volumes are the ones that are written for...

Rev. Tom Ward, workshop leader “ But you, when you pray,   go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and   your Father who sees   what is done   in secret will reward you.”—Matthew 6:6 Prayer has been part of my life as long as I remember.  Perhaps I should say that a certain type of prayer has been part of my life.  During a Centering Prayer Workshop led by Rev. Tom Ward today, I was challenged to reflect on what and how I really pray.  I think most of my prayers have been based on two words—“please” and “thank you.”  I probably should refer to this as the “Barney the Purple Dinosaur” approach to prayer.  Like most of us, I politely come to God with a request.  If I perceive that there is a positive response to that request, I express appreciation.  If things don’t work out the way that I prayed for them to, I assume that I did not ask the right way or that God was not particularly ...

"Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are, quite naturally, impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages, we are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet, it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability . . . and that it may take a very long time."--Pierre Teilhard de Chardin I am not a particularly patient person.  From a family perspective, I came by it naturally and I have probably passed it on.  Therefore, when I read these words I am confronted with the truth that some things take time to come to fruition and that period of time involved may be punctuated by turbulence.  Passages are rarely as quick and easy as we would wish them to be.  As my grandchildren often ask plaintively, “Are we there yet?” Churches face this temptation to rush forward when a pastor leaves and to get a new person as soon as possible....

I rarely agree with columnist George Will about anything but, if what he states is accurate, I have to share his concerns about a proposed monument in Washington, D.C., for Dwight David Eisenhower, 34 th president of the United States.   Eisenhower was President when I was in grade school.   My parents, lifelong Democrats, thought so much of him that they joined many other Southerners in voting for a Republican candidate for the first time in their lives in 1952.   “Ike” was a bona fide war hero, a country boy who rose to the rank of 5 star general and served as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe in World War II and the first commander of NATO.   Eisenhower turned his military success and command experience to good use in the politics of being President.  Although some criticize his failure to confront McCarthyism sooner and his tolerance of some corruption in his administration, Eisenhower stood against military-industrial excess, used the na...

About three years ago, my friend Mark Tidsworth invited me to consider a ministry of coaching and to join his new organization, Pinnacle Leadership Associates.   Three years have gone by quickly as I have practiced coaching, learned about coaching, and developed a network of coaching colleagues.   The most rewarding aspect of this journey has been walking alongside clients as they discover where they want to grow and to intentionally pursue that growth.   As I have seen the benefits that a coaching relationship produces in the lives of clients, I have also thought about ways to incorporate this in the life of the church.  Now more than every before, the church needs the means to empower believers and take them to the next level in their Christian walk.  I have conducted peer coach training in my local church and taught one course for Central Baptist Theological Seminary on “The Ministry of Coaching.”  Conversations with friends and colleagues have ge...

When I receive promotion pieces or e-mails advertising conferences and resources on assimilating people into the church, I think about the Borg on Star Trek:   The Next Generation:   “Resistance is futile.   You will be assimilated.”   This may be unfair, but I wonder how ready people are to be assimilated.   Does the very term threaten one’s individuality?   Does this mean that the person will have to give up something and become less of what God created him or her to be in order to become part of the congregation? What if we turned this around?   In Organic Community , Joseph Myers suggests that we should ask the question, “How does the church assimilate itself into people’s lives?”   The church will have a more robust ministry and will be more deeply invested in the larger community if it becomes part of believers’ everyday lives.   Rather than trying to get unchurched people into the doors of the church so that they can be exposed ...

I was surprised and appreciative (and a little flattered) when I received a call from the executive director of a non-profit organization in another city inviting me to serve as the master of ceremonies at a dinner they were sponsoring to honor a long-time friend.  The dinner was a fund-raiser for an organization with a worthwhile mission and my friend certainly deserved the recognition.  I thought this would be fun.   I would tell a couple of stories about my friend, introduce some folks, and enjoy the fellowship. When a letter asking me to buy tickets for the event arrived, I responded and then made hotel reservations for the weekend.  As the time drew closer for the dinner, I did not hear anything from the organization about the program.  A week before the scheduled dinner, I called and left a message for the executive director.  When she called back, she said, “Well, I did not hear anything back from you, so I invited someone else to do it.”...

The sanctuary of our church is located just a block from the downtown fire station, so the worship experience often has to continue while fire engines pass with sirens blaring.  The vehicles and their occupants are on their way to fires, car accidents, or other emergencies. Those of us who worship there on a regular basis have gotten used to it, but our failure to take notice may not be a good thing.  Perhaps we should be more aware of the interruption and learn a lesson about nurturing interaction with the world outside our doors. In A New Harmony:  TheSpirit, The Earth, and the Human Soul , John Philip Newell explains, “One of the great features of the early Christian mission in the Celtic world was that it knew very little of worshipping in enclosed spaces.”  When Roman Christianity brought its great edifices with four strong stone walls and intricate roof designs, these became the “holy spaces” where believers gathered.  Newell points out, “Thus t...

Pictured above (L to R): TCBF Coordinators Ircel Harrison, Jr., September 1998-2008;  C. William Junker, January - April 1996; Lila Anderson Boyd, January 1997-August 1998; and Lloyd T. Householder, Jr. November 1994-1995.  Lloyd T. Householder, Jr., passed away on January 30.   Lloyd was one of those people who made the old Southern Baptist Convention work.  He was a true “denominational statesman.”   In his service with the Baptist Sunday School Board, Lloyd found creative ways to tell stories and bring people together.  He invested much of his life in telling the good things that Baptists could do when they worked cooperatively.  His creativity and innovative spirit is exemplified in his role as chair of Mission 70, the conference for young adults that challenged a generation (including myself) to accept their role in impacting the world with the message of Christ. Like many of us, Lloyd would not accept the changes that cam...

Management guru W. Edwards Deming is reported to have said, “Yesterday’s solutions are today’s problems.”   Solutions or responses to needs are formulated for a particular time, place, and context.   Often they deal with the immediate problem but their shelf life is usually limited.    Markets, constituencies, and technologies change.   What seemed so good ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago is no longer practical and might even be counter productive. I was talking recently with a friend who was asking me questions about a solution that I helped develop for an organization over 15 years ago.  When we put this particular “solution” into place, the intention was to answer a need in a particular place.  As I remember the approach was seen as an experiment that could be tweaked and modified over time but we were not ready to “bet the farm” that it would even work in that situation much less be applicable elsewhere. As you might expect, this experi...

As I was doing some research for a course I will teach this summer for Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, I came across a concept that I have not thought a great deal about, and I found information about it in an interesting place.   First of all, the concept is “apprenticing.”   The idea was much more common in a world where there were no trade schools, community colleges, or employee training programs. Although it has certainly been around since the beginning of civilization, the idea of apprenticeship took off in the Middle Ages.   A master craftsman would enter into an arrangement with a youngster fifteen or sixteen years of age and teach that apprentice a trade such as blacksmithing, baking, etc.   After a certain number of years and proven competence, the student would either become a journeyman practitioner of the trade or set up his own workshop. The second surprise is that I found a great explanation of apprenticing in a podcast by past...

Being an only child is a mixed bag.  You get a lot of personal attention growing up (a blessing or a curse?).  As you grow older, you often wish that you had someone to relive childhood memories.  You also would appreciate someone to share the responsibility of caring for elderly parents (but having a sibling doesn’t assure that will happen).  At the same time, an only child doesn’t have to worry about being compared to an older sibling. I thought about this last night when Eli Manning was interviewed after leading the New York Giants to a Super Bowl victory. Even on the winner’s stand, Eli was asked how he felt about winning the game “in the house [Lucas Oil Stadium] that his brother built.”  Couldn’t the interviewer let Eli savor the moment without brother Peyton being brought into the picture?  Eli has never gotten the respect he deserves.  He is usually thought of as “Peyton’s little brother” and he good-naturedly spoofs that image in co...

In a state Baptist paper, I noticed an advertisement from a church in another state that is seeking a pastor.  The ad states that the church is “actively engaged in local missions” and goes on to list ten local ministries as examples.  The next sentence is especially interesting: “[Our church] supports missions worldwide including missions supported by Samaritan’s Purse, Compassion International, SBC and CBF.” This church has embraced the reality that, as a missional church, there are a number of organizations with which they can partner to accomplish their ministry goals.  If one takes the time, he or she will realize that although each of the organizations mentioned is a Christian entity, they do not all adhere to the same faith statement.  In fact, of the four mentioned, three are more conservative in their orientation and one is well within the orthodox camp. We might also note that denominational mission groups are at the end of the list after two par...

“From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we're telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. ” ( 1 John 1:1-2, The Message). N. T. Wright has a way of infusing new life into familiar passages. In his commentary in The Early Christian Letters for Everyone , he observes: “But the secret at the heart of the early Christian movement was that the age to come had already been revealed.  The future had burst into the present, even though the present time was not ready for it.” John’s testimony was that the apostles had seen the future in a person—Jesus Christ.  Christ had revealed in human form what God has prepared for humankind—the infinite Life of God   As the master of time and space, God i...

A favorite expression in my family of origin was, “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”   It was not used just at the dinner table but also as a reminder that sometimes we attempt more than we are capable of completing.   I thought of this when I heard someone use the term "mission creep" recently. Wikipedia defines “mission creep” as “the expansion of a project or mission beyond its original     goals, often after initial successes.   Mission creep is usually considered undesirable due to the dangerous path of each success breeding more ambitious attempts, only stopping when a final, often catastrophic, failure occurs.”  Journalists coined the term in reference to the United States’ disastrous involvement in Somalia in the 1990s, but it can be used to describe our nation’s experiences in  Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq as well as Somalia.  Our intentions were good, we invested lives and resources in the fight, but we were in over our h...

The Nashville Tennessean carried the story this week of a former megachurch that is putting its facility on the market.  Built for a congregation of 6000, the church now averages about 850 on Sundays.  They plan to use the receipts of the sale to fund two or more satellite locations.  The pastor is reported to have said that worshipers prefer smaller locations where they can build friendships.   “It used to be that everyone wanted to drive to a big church,” the pastor said. “Now, they want to be at a church in their community.” I sincerely doubt his generalization that “everybody” wanted to be part of a megachurch.  There are many of people who do like to attend big churches (and 850 attendance is still a big church to most of us), but there are many smaller congregations that have continued to survive and even prosper despite the growth of megachurches across our nation.  A lot of folks have invested themselves in ...