Barnabas File

In the spring, my wife often involves the grandchildren in an interesting activity.   Over the previous months, various seeds have accumulated in our home from a multitude of sources.   Sometimes she knows what they are and sometimes she doesn’t.   She gets the grandchildren to help her plant them and then the waiting begins to see what will grow.   This produces some surprises. I thought of this as I attended the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly this week.  As CBF celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary, many speakers reflected on the beginnings of the movement.  Scholar and author Diana Butler Bass praised CBF noting that “risk and courage are the antidote to fear and anger.”  Moderator Matt Cook pointed out that the initial participants believe that they were “following Jesus” and asked, “When Jesus is leading, are we following?”  New moderator Doug Dortch’s comment is what got me thinking about seeds.  He co...

In this second blog reflecting on the recent Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Greensboro, NC, I want to share some personal impressions related to trends that seem to be emerging in the movement.  This is not meant to be definitive or even objective, but just some things that seem to be bubbling to the surface. First, leaders of CBF are being good stewards of the resources placed in their hands.  The national organization is now leaner and more focused.  This comes not only from necessity but from good management principles.  One example is the three emphases of the 25 th Anniversary Endowment Campaign—sustaining global missions, forming healthy churches, and nurturing young Baptists.  These are key aspects of the future of the movement. The sustainability of a global mission strategy empowered by long-term mission personnel was presented repeatedly at the meeting.  Missions is what got many people into the F...

This was a significant month in the lives of two Baptist ministers.   Mary Beth Dunbar-Duke, Chaplain at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, was recognized as a Board Certified Chaplain by the Association of Professional Chaplains at their meeting Orlando, Florida, on June 25. (Pictured at right-- Rev Raye Nell Dyer, Rev. Mary Beth Dunbar-Duke, and the Rev. Dr. Cordell Simpson.) LuAnne Nickell Prevost, chaplain at Park West and Peninsula Psychiatric Hospital in Knoxville, Tennessee, was endorsed by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and commissioned at the CBF General Assembly in Greensboro, NC, on June 24.  She is also a Board Certified Chaplain. ( Pictured during commissioning service at left.) What these women have in common is that they are both graduates of Central Baptist Theological Seminary and completed their work for the Master of Divinity degree at the seminary’s site in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  Their commi...