Barnabas File

Israel Galindo in The Craft of Christian Teaching   quotes psychologist Carl Rogers as saying, “No one can teach anybody anything.”   As an educator, I discovered this truth several years but it was hard to accept.   No matter how well prepared I was and how thoroughly I had thought about my presentation, my students were only going to learn when they were ready to do so. As a coach in the last few years, I have been reminded of this truth.  People change when they are ready to change.  Despite everything I do, a person only adopts and practices new behavior when they choose to do so. So what does this mean for those of us who are involved in people development processes such as teaching, coaching, mentoring, and supervising?  The best that we can do is to provide the climate in which learning can take place.  We attempt to create an environment where the person (student, protégé, etc.) can recognize and begin to practice new understanding ...

An article in our local paper this past Sunday addressed the way that political candidates relate to churches—both in soliciting votes and to being part of a congregation.   One official pointed out that when he was elected to public office he left a smaller church to attend a large church with five weekend services and weekend attendance of 7000 to 8000. He explained that in his new church he could “blend in and be part of the crowd.”  No one knew him, so there were no “political questions.”  He also pointed out the convenience:  “There are so many times you can go.” Whether one is a politician or not, there is some freedom in simply being a face in the crowd.  Having attended a number of large churches, I can appreciate the anonymity available.  No one asks you about giving money, helping with a committee, or assisting with the worship.  On the other hand, no one asks how your family is doing, what’s going on at work, or how they can pray fo...

Legend says that in his later years, believers would bring their questions and disagreements to John the Elder and he would respond with the words, “Little children, love one another.”     As I have been preparing Sunday school lessons on the book of 1 John, I have gotten the feeling that there is an underlying tone of rebuke there.   It is almost as if we as parents were dealing with one of our children who has made a mistake and we say, “I really expected more of you.” Commentators suggest that the writer of 1 John is dealing with church members who have broken fellowship by following heretical teachings about the humanity of Christ.  They have turned their back on sound doctrine and are creating dissension.  Even so, the writer continues to remind them of the fellowship that is available to them in Christ and Christ’s command to “love one another.” The writer of 1 John has something to say to the church today.  Rarely do our doctrinal dif...

Pam Durso of Baptist Women in Ministry Many friends in local African-American churches participated in special Martin Luther King Day events this weekend.  They were not simply celebrating the life of this courageous leader, they were affirming the message that he preached and committing themselves to continuing to pursue his dream.  For these folks, remembering the work of Dr. King and others who continue to fight to overcome discrimination is part of their DNA.  If only Euro-Americans in progressive Baptist churches were as committed to the cause of ending ministerial discrimination against women!  Baptist Women in Ministry promotes Martha Stearns Marshall Month in February, asking churches to invite a woman to preach one Sunday in recognition of those women who are called to ministry and affirming a particular woman minister.  Too often when this is suggested to the pastor, the worship committee, or the denominational relations committee, the respon...

When Gravity was first released, I missed seeing the film.  A minister friend recommended it to me recently, so I was pleased when it was reissued to theaters after receiving ten Academy Award nominations.  I am not sure what I expected and I am still not sure what genre applies to Gravity .  Rather than science fiction, Gravity is more science reality with a moral center.  It is an action film about people rather than hardware (although a lot of space hardware is destroyed in the course of the film). The film presents a strong argument for the old “there are no atheists in foxholes” argument.  Even those with scant religious background find themselves seeking divine support when things get tough.  When NASA mission specialist Ryan Stone finds herself in an impossible situation, she seeks divine intervention. Although not blatant, there is a religious undercurrent throughout the film.  There are references to at least three major world re...

Greg Jones, who served as dean of Duke Divinity School from 1997 to 2010, recently spoke to the Ministries Council of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. His presentation focused on “deep trends affecting Christian institutions from the ‘digital revolution’ and the growing lack of trust in institutions among Americans to ‘reconfiguring denominations and emerging forms of congregating.’” Michael Cheuk, chair of the Ministries Council, responded, “Very helpful to me was the concept of ‘traditioned innovation.’ Traditioned innovation honors the past but is not imprisoned by it. Neither does it innovate by making things up as we go along.” Cheuk’s comments remind us of the rich tradition of the church.  When we study church history, we discover a multitude of ways to worship, teach, fellowship, ministry, and witness.  Some are complementary while others are contradictory. Under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, God’s people have used varied approaches to be on mission w...

I understand that no one really says this, but don’t tell me you have never thought it!   Of course, the “baby” in question may not be a little human being but a project someone has undertaken at your direction and it comes back—well—not as pretty as you had hoped.   Several years ago, I worked with a wonderful woman as my administrative assistant.  She was pleasant and a good worker.  (To any former co-workers reading this, you are probably not the person involved.)  She had asked me if she could design the program cover for a collegiate student event, and I had agreed.  After a couple of days, she came into my office with a big smile on her face and showed me what she had been working on.  The cover design would have been great for a youth retreat in 1955, but this was several decades later.  It just would not work.  So, how do you tell someone her “baby” (or project) is not pretty and where do you go from there? First, affirm th...

Who is responsible for developing leaders in the church? Mary Jo Asmus made this observation in a recent blog post about how persons in many organizations would respond: “It’s not part of your job description. Nobody has told you that you need to spend time and effort developing others in your organization. You have too many other things to pay attention to, and besides, isn’t developing leaders the job of human resources?” In the church, seeking out and nurturing new leaders is an ongoing task that really belongs to everyone.  Each of us leads in his or her own way in the life of the congregation.  This may mean chairing a team or committee, helping people feel welcome when they come to worship services, facilitating Bible study, planning and executing worship, or organizing Wednesday night activities for youth and children.  This is all about leadership—taking responsibility and joining others in carrying out a task. Because leadership is dispersed in th...

Photo by Mark Tidsworth “There is no place where God is not, wherever I go, there God is. Now and always he upholds me with his power and keeps me safe in his love.”            (Quoted in Foster and Roller, A Year with God) God does not want us to live in fear.  I understand that it is always presumptuous to say what God wants, but the clear message of scripture is that God wants us to be confident people who address the challenges of life with trust in God. I say this because of the times I have faced situations that tempted me to be fearful—physically, emotionally, and spiritually—and lived through them.  There is much in life that does place us in physical danger.  There are situations that tempt us to dwell on our emotional inadequacies.  And, certainly, there are many occasions that cause us to question our spiritual condition. There are three significant dangers when we come to these points in life.  F...

During the past five years that I have been coaching, I have discovered that listening is both one of the simplest coaching activities and one of the hardest.  Good listening requires putting your own life on hold and giving another person priority.  It requires putting the other person first.  For most of us, this is not an easy task! When I was doing my Doctor of Ministry degree work several years ago, two other students and I scheduled a meeting with the supervisor of the program to ask some questions about our work.  Rather than being attentive to us, he spent the entire meeting shuffling papers around his desk and reviewing his desk calendar, avoiding eye contact.  Although he assured us that he could do more than one thing at a time and heard what we were saying, we all left the meeting with the feeling that we had not been heard.  His actions and responses did not communicate to us that he was listening. One of the sayings attributed to Yo...

Perhaps you do not think of yourself as an innovator, but your success as a leader may well depend on your ability to be innovative—finding new ways to use more effectively the resources you have or creating a new approach to solve a significant problem or meet a major societal need.  Tony Wagner, author of Creating Innovators , believes that the skills or habits to be a successful innovator can be nurtured, taught, and mentored.  His conclusion is based on lengthy research and many interviews with young innovators, their parents, and mentors. Wagner believes that the essential qualities of a successful innovator are: Curiosity—the habit of asking good questions and a desire to understand deeply situations and processes on a deeper level. Collaboration—the ability to listen and learn from others whose experiences and perspectives differ from your own. Associative or integrative thinking—the skill or insight to perceive how different, often divergent, components re...

Although the New Year is just print on a calendar page, turning that page provides a great opportunity to reflect on the past and look to the future.  To be perfectly honest, I am much busier five years into retirement than I thought I would be!  I am not complaining—I am doing things that I enjoy.  The opportunities to coach and consult with leaders as well as design and teach seminary classes encourage me to keep thinking, reading, and learning about the challenges that the church and its leaders face in the 21 st century.  During the coming year, I intend to continue my personal development in several areas.  First, I plan to coach and to keep developing my skills as a coach.  In particular, I want to learn more about coaching across cultures.  Although I have been thinking about this for awhile, the need has been brought into focus by the fact that I will have several Korean-speaking students in a Doctor of Ministry class I will teach in Fe...