Barnabas File

We still talk about the period after a couple is married as the honeymoon. This is more than a short period of time to get away to a resort or vacation spot.  This is the time when the couple begins to get to know how each other thinks, acts, and believes.  For the most part, couples bend over backward to avoid any conflict during this time, and the good will lasts until a conflict develops that makes the wife see the husband as an unfeeling oaf or the husband see the wife as a nagging shrew.  The conflict is often around some major issue like which way the toilet paper should hang on the dispenser (over or under?) or who takes out the trash. Churches have honeymoon periods when a new pastor arrives.  This is good.  Everyone is cordial.  The congregation is happy to have survived through that uncertain time without a pastor.  The new pastor feels affirmed that these folks have placed their trust in him or her.  This honeymoon period is impo...

Several months ago, I wrote a blog about laity carrying the primary responsibility in startingnew churches .  My friend Frank Broome, the coordinator for Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Georgia, responded positively to that post.  He reported that CBF of Georgia has had a dozen successful lay led starts with only two failures.    In an effort to gain some realistic feedback on this approach to staring new work, I asked Frank, “W hat factors contributed to the success of lay lead church starts in your state?”  Here is how he responded:   "They began with a committed core of between 30 and 40 individuals who understood that they needed to give money and time. " They were willing to begin in a home, fire station, metal shed or even Jewish synagogue, thus keeping rent to a minimum. " They found an interim (usually through me) that was willing to preach at a small salary. " They made sure the nursery was staffed with volunteers.  " They ...

Events of recent days and weeks have reminded me that each of us chooses how we will use the social media available to us—platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.  They are readily available for us to express our opinions but we sometimes fail to realize the extent of their reach and the impact of our postings. Of course, I understand that people choose to use social media in a number of ways. Some use their accounts to express their anxieties, desperation, and general dissatisfaction with life.  Their social media connection becomes a confessional where they can “dump” their “stuff” with little or no fear of facing the consequences. Others use their accounts to share their political views.  They share comments, links, and blogs that deal with topics such as the government trying to take away our guns, their disapproval of “government schools,” and a president that they resent or even hate.  They are quick to repeat ideas and information with verifying ...

In two previous blogs, I shared the responses of Charity Roberson, Leadership Communities Coach on the Emerging Leaders team at the Virginia Baptist Mission Board on the philosophy and strategy behind her position.  Her comments led me to several observations. First, people in most congregations know more than they are doing.  We have individuals who possess not only significant gifts and skills but also innovative points of view.  If they are not doing what they do best, what’s the problem?  Perhaps the structures that we insist on maintaining are getting in the way. Second, people in our congregations want to be involved in decision making but they don’t want to waste their time on minutiae.  They want to help set the direction of the church and then get down to work.  They don’t want to be micromanaged. Third, there are many people in our churches who have both a teachable spirit and want to share what they learn with others.  As Char...

This is the second part of my interview with Charity Roberson, Leadership Communities Coach on the Emerging Leaders team at the Virginia Baptist Mission Board.  In this blog, Charity responds to questions about developing intentional communities of ministers. We hear a lot today about “leadership communities” or “learning communities.”  As a coach, how would you define a "learning community”? “I know it sounds trite, but I define a learning community as any group of people that is committed to learning and growing together.  Again, these communities may be a short one hour online conversation, they may be a group that studies together for a set length of time, or they may be groups that journey through a longer learning process.  The goal is also to create a large learning community of all of us in ministry, tapping into resources that already exist and learning how to better communicate and share them.” What are the key ingredients to making a communi...

When you see a Baptist organization do something right, you just have to say something about it. The Virginia Baptist Mission Board recently called my friend Charity Roberson to a new position.  Charity will use her skills as a life coach to develop church leaders, something she has done previously as a campus minister and pastor. This is an example of putting the right person and the right position together. I asked Charity several questions about her new position and will share her responses in this blog and one later this week.  What is the exact title of your new position and to whom will you relate (target group)? “I am serving as the Leadership Communities Coach on the Emerging Leaders team at the Virginia Baptist Mission Board.  My primary target group as I start will be children and youth ministry leadership, lay and staff positions. Over time, the goal is to create leadership development communities that expand to other areas of ministry as ...

Several years ago while I was working for a state Baptist convention, I received a phone call from a woman who had been recently accepted the call as pastor of a church that participated in the convention.  She was about to attend her first annual meeting of the convention.  After receiving a less than hospitable welcome from the local Baptist association, she was concerned about her messenger credentials being challenged on the floor of the convention.  Someone had suggested that I might walk her through the constitution and by-laws and identify any mine fields.  We had a pleasant conversation, and she thanked me for my guidance.  My response was, “Don’t mention it.  In fact, please don’t let anyone know that we talked.”  Not my finest hour and certainly not a “profile in courage.” The results, at least, were positive. She did attend the convention, was introduced as a new pastor, and experienced no problems to the best of my knowledge. ...