Barnabas File

While waiting for a flight at the airport, I used  my phone to send a message to  my wife, respond to a request to serve as a reference for a friend, and check the weather at my destination.  As I made a necessary visit before boarding, I noted a Bathroom attendant who was multitasking--cleaning up and taking what appeared to be a personal call at the same time. I started thinking, "What did we do when we did not have cell phones to keep us connected 24/7?"  In reality, we did rather well.   It's nice to be connected but this availability may well perpetuate the myth that somehow I am  indispensable.  If the world can't get in touch with me instantaneously, will things grind to a halt? I doubt it. In the past, we might be out of touch with family and friends for days at a time.  Few of us have had the experience of founding father John Adams  who spent years in Europe separated from his beloved Abigal, but their experience shows us tha...

Tales of exploration have always been exciting reading for me.   Whether the focus is on the discovery of new lands or surviving dangerous terrain, new challenges and trials bring out both the best and the worst in us.   We learn a lot about our humanity when we try something new. In Call to Commitment , Elizabeth O’Connor writes, “When the church starts to be the church, it will constantly be adventuring out into places where there are no tried and tested ways. If the church in our day has few prophetic voices to sound above the noises of the street, perhaps in large part it is because the pioneering spirit has become foreign to it. It shows little willingness to explore new ways. Where it does it has often been called an experiment. We would say that the church of Christ is never an experiment, but wherever that church is true to its mission it will be experimenting, pioneering, blazing new paths, seeking how to speak the reconciling Word of God to its own age.”...

We hear a lot these days that seminary graduates do not want to serve in the local church.   In its recent State of the Industry webinar , t he Association of Theological Schools reported on the vocational intent of students following graduation.   Contrary to much anecdotal reporting, the report showed a large number of recent graduates who intend to serve in a congregation.       According to the presenters, “More than 70 percent of all Master of Divinity graduates and almost 50 percent of professional Master of Arts indicated that they would be seeking or have already attained positions in local congregations. More than half of the MDiv students and 20 percent of the professional MA students intend to serve as pastors or associate pastors in local congregations.” ATS saw an overall decline in head count enrollment last year of just over 11 percent.   Of course, this is across the board and differs by denomination, school, eth...

The Association of Theological Schools is made up of over 270 graduate schools of theology in the United States and Canada.   It provides accreditation for these schools based on very strict criteria.   ATS recently presented a State of the Industry webinar that provided an overview of enrollment, students, faculty, and finances at member schools. There were a few surprises in the report but there was validation of some ideas that have been circulating based primarily on observation and anecdotes.   One of the more interesting findings related to a comparison of student satisfaction between “main campus or traditional daytime students” and “majority online students.” In recent years, many theological schools have been moving more of the content of their degree programs online.   This has certainly been the case with Central Baptist Theological Seminary, the institution that provides me the opportunity to teach online, at the Nashville site, and ...

“Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.   He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach   and to have authority to drive out demons. ”—Mark 3:13-15, NIV When my pastor Noel Schoonmaker preached on this passage about Jesus calling the disciples, he pointed out, “This roster did not have a single all-star on it.” They were picked not because of who they were but because of whom they were called to serve.   Despite their limitations, Jesus selected this diverse and sometimes clueless group to be in the vanguard of the Kingdom of God. Noel also emphasized the complementary nature of the relationship to which these men were called.   They were called to be with Christ and to be his disciples, but they were also called to be on mission for Christ and be apostles or “sent ones.”   What they learned from Jesus was not to be kept to themselves but shared with ot...