Barnabas File

  “A bad system will beat a good person every time.”—W. Edwards Deming W. Edwards Deming, American engineer and mathematician, is often credited with transforming the postwar Japanese manufacturing industry from a struggling endeavor that produced shoddy goods to a booming enterprise providing quality goods that were desired around the world.   Certainly he did not do this alone, but he introduced a system that allowed the gifts and potential of the Japanese people—especially skilled laborers—to be unleashed. The Continuous Improvement Cycle (or Deming Cycle) that he introduced involved four steps:   Plan—study the current process, identify a potential improvement, and set goals and plans to implement the improvement. Do—implement the plan on a trial basis and measure the results. Study—assess the change to determine if it works and achieves desired goals. Act—institutionalize the improvement (at least until a better way is found). In many ways, the D...

About seven years ago, Mark Tidsworth invited me to become a coach as part of Pinnacle Leadership Associates.   When I replied that I had no experience in life coaching and was not even sure what it was, he noted that I had really been coaching for years and affirmed my gifts for the task.   I agreed to consider the possibility. When I accepted, one commitment I made to Mark was that I would not only start coaching but that I would immediately begin my training as a coach.   Since then I have coached over 500 individual hours and I have completed over 100 hours of coach training.   I have also taught Disciple Development Coaching and several seminary classes in coaching.   I am currently taking a MOOC (Massive Open Online Class) titled “ Conversations that Inspire: Coaching Learning, Leadership and Change ” and a telebridge class on group coaching.   I also meet monthly with a mentor coach.   I do all of this because I see myself as a prof...

“ Be still , and know that I am God.—Psalm 46:10a In seminary, I became very interested in church architecture.   In a Philosophy of Religion class with John Newport, I wrote a paper on the theological implications of worship space.   Dr. Newport liked it and encouraged me to delve in the topic further.   One of the things I enjoy is experiencing worship spaces and documenting them with photographs but I don’t build worship centers. While visiting with a friend recently, I learned that her early ambition was to become an architect and design church buildings.   Instead, she found herself in divinity school and the wife of a minister! As we talked together, we realized that even though we early on were attracted to the design and use of worship space and we are not involved in building or designing physical spaces, we have found a way to create sacred space without bricks and mortar. My friend does it by planning and creating retreat settings...

“Instead of knowing the answers, start asking questions.”—Liz Wiseman This quote from a speaker at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit this year reminded me how important questions are in the coaching conversation.   Rather than bringing answers, the coach brings focused, thoughtful, and challenging questions to the conversation with the person being coached.   This allows several things to happen.  First, they remind the client who is in charge. The person being coached is setting the agenda for the conversation.   The coach and client are going to address what the client wants to address. Second, they encourage the person being coached to draw out their hidden or untapped potential. The client can begin to imagine a better future for themselves based on who they want to become. Third, they make it clear that the coach sees that the person being coached as creative and resourceful.   The client can generate new options for themselve...

What’s the latest controversy about public education in your area?   In my state, the topic is “teaching about Islam” to elementary and middle school students.   Some parents (and outside instigators) are concerned that the state educational curriculum includes teaching about the history and beliefs of Islam at certain grade levels. Of course, there are points in the curriculum where information about Christianity is provided.   The point is not to indoctrinate students or to convert them to the Christian faith, but to help them understand the various ways in which the church and Christian faith have impacted culture and the world we live in today. So I imagine students learn about the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire, the economic structure supported by the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, the opposition of the church to scientific inquiry, the Crusades, the Reformation, the role of Christian missionaries in the conquest of the New World, ...