Barnabas File

Once upon a time, being a faithful Baptist church member meant attending the following:  Sunday School and worship on Sunday mornings; Disciple Training (or Training Union or Baptist Young People’s Union-- based on your generation) and worship on Sunday night; and midweek activities on Wednesday—usually a fellowship meal and auxiliary activities like prayer meeting, program organizations, etc.  Of course, if you were a deacon, member of the choir, a committee member, or on a softball team, the hours continued to stack up. Times have changed. I serve as Adult Division Director of  the Sunday morning Bible Study program in our church.  As a result, I regularly see reports of attendance.  As I look over these, I see that some of our most committed people, individuals that I would identify as Christian disciples, are not in Bible study every Sunday.  If they are not at Bible study, they are probably not in worship.  We don’t have Sunday night activi...

Coaches are not problem-solvers; they are people developers.  Why do I say this? When a person enters a coaching relationship, he or she is making an investment in their own development.  In the coaching process, the person being coached is learning skills in identifying and unpacking a growth possibility, clarifying a goal to address their need, . developing a plan to get there, and creating accountability structures to keep on track.  In a very real way, coaching is an  investment in one’s continuing education Recently, coach Kim Avery posted this statement:  “Coach the person, not the problem.”  This fits quite well with the continuing education idea.  The goal of the coach is for the person being coached to be able to develop the skills that assure personal growth and achievement.  The coach is helping the client to learn how to handle  challenges and problems for themselves. If I am addressing the problem rather than the person, ...

Herbert Hoover was the 31st president of the United States and the first from west of the Mississippi.  For some reason, I have done little reading about his life and his presidency.  I knew, of course, that he was in office when the Great Depression began and that he served only one term in office, losing to Franklin Roosevelt in the 1932 election. So when I visited the Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa, I had a lot to learn.  I found things about Hoover that are praiseworthy but also some things that troubled me.  I struggled to find  a lens to use in understanding the man, his life, and his legacy.  Surprisingly, I found it by thinking about another president who only served one term—Jimmy Carter.  There are a number of similarities and some key differences. Both were molded by a strong religious faith—Hoover as a Quaker and Carter as Southern Baptist.  This influenced many of their decisions in office and also con...

As some churches today find that they are no longer sustainable, they seek alternatives for the future.  One of these options is merging with another church.  This happened with my home church in Mobile, Alabama, about three decades ago.  They found themselves unable to continue to minister in the neighborhood where they were located and merged with another congregation that welcomed their resources—both financial and personnel.  I have also seen the aftermath of several church mergers—both successful and unsuccessful.  I am not an expert on church mergers but became involved in a text exchange this week with a colleague on the subject. As we texted back and forth on this, I reflected on the mergers that I have observed and realized pretty quickly the key factor in a successful merger.  The key is, “Does this merger have a clear mission?” If the motivation is primarily survival, the possibility of success is limited.  The survival moti...

Christian Coaches Network International’s MAXIMIZE 2016 e-Summit will be presented online September 29 to October 1. This year’s virtual conference brings together the Christian Coaching industry’s top speakers and leaders sharing their best-kept secrets on how to maximize your coaching practice.  I have been invited to present a seminar on “Creating Opportunities to Coach Clergy” on Saturday, October 1.   The conference will highlight faith-based strategies on: •    How to find your own niche and define your services offered •    How to best market your services through the latest technologies •    How to strengthen your personal coaching skills and styles •    How to keep your business thriving toward greater success …AND MUCH MORE! You can get more information or register here . 

I usually come away from the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit with ideas to pursue, new books to read, and at least one new “person of interest”—someone I did not know about before and whose work I would like to learn more about. The speaker who was the “person of interest” for me this year was Chris McChesney, the Global Practice Leader of Execution for Franklin Covey.  McChesney is the co-author of The 4 Disciplines of Execution and is a very dynamic presenter.  He emphasized something that most leaders have learned the hard way—developing strategy is easier than executing that strategy (just ask any church that has produced a strategic plan and never looked at it again).  He explained that execution involves people and a change in human behavior which is often hampered by the system in which they function.  His insights were helpful and I look forward to reading the book. Another speaker that I anticipated hearing was Erin Meyer, an instructor ...

No, we are not talking Tennessee Basketball here, but the Global Leadership Summit sponsored by the Willow Creek Association.  The conference is held live in South Barrington, Illinois, each year and broadcast to 590 locations across the United States. It is also repackaged and presented in over 125 countries around the world.  I have often said that Willow Creek, the parent congregation, knows how to do big church better than anybody else.  One reason is Bill Hybels, the pastor, who can get a bit emotional at times, but is willing to address social issues (like AIDS, racial relations, and the refugee crisis), is clearly a lifelong learner, and is remarkably transparent about his struggles and those of his congregation.  Once again, the Summit has brought together a great line-up of speakers—leadership gurus, business leaders, ministry entrepreneurs, and preachers—to challenge and inform.  Hybels himself is one of those people....