Barnabas File

I have lost count of how many Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly meetings I have attended.     In the early days, I was working for another Baptist organization, so I took vacation days to attend (as did many of my colleagues).     There was a certain feeling of adventure of attending then, something like Luke Skywalker joining the Rebel Alliance.     Not only were we upset about the direction of the Southern Baptist Convention, but we sought the fellowship of others with the same convictions--people who were our friends and mentors--those we loved, admired, and enjoyed being with.     Of course, when I was coordinator of Tennessee CBF, I attended every year and found myself involved in plenary sessions, workshops, ancillary meetings, and hallway conversations. Even then, the personal conversations were what gave me energy and satisfaction.  After that season, I struggled a bit with my role in the gathering, although ...

“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”  ―  Charles Darwin Charles Darwin may not be the first person you would choose to quote in relation to any topic, but he was an active churchman and diligent researcher who often does not get the credit he deserves, especially from contemporary Christians.   From his extensive studies, Darwin observed two key processes that aided survival in changing times:  collaboration and improvisation.  Although we could apply both to our current situation of pandemic and social unrest, we find multiple examples in the history of the Christian faith to verify his conclusions. First, collaboration (in the positive sense) means “ the action of working with someone to produce or create something.”  The greatest achievements in the history of the church have been the result of believers putting aside th...

In her very helpful book   Coach the Person, Not the Problem: A Guide to Using Reflective Inquiry , Marcia Reynolds makes this powerful statement: “There is a difference between  doing  coaching and  being  a coach.”  She shares how her practice of coaching changed her perspective and the way she related to people including close friends. To take this a step further, she writes, “When you are being a coach, people feel seen, heard, and valued.  Acknowledge your impact so it becomes part of your identity.”  I have found that many people who becomes coaches--and I am talking here about life, leadership, executive, health, etc., coaches--were already oriented to be encouragers in their relationships with others, but training as a coach deepened those inclinations as new skills were acquired and practiced. Reynolds’ book reminded me that coaching is a dance between client and coach, but one in which the coach does not always le...

Every clergy leader has his or her list of learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic.     In a recent webinar sponsored by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), theological educators identified some of the things that seminary students involved in field education during this time are learning.     James Barber, Barbara Blodgett, and Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi have been responsible for supervision of students doing their field work in the last several months.    Here are some of the things they shared. “This isn’t what I signed on for” is a metaphor for ministry.  Perhaps we don’t communicate often enough to seminary students that ministry is messy.  It was chaotic even before the pandemic which has added another current of uncertainty.  Although most of us went into the ministry with a bit of idealism and a model of how each week would unfold, we quickly learned that needs and expectations challenged our preconceptions....

The best coaches are really teachers.     Marcia Reynolds writes, “The best coaches make us recognize we have gaps in our reasoning.     The moment we become unsure of what we know learning happens.    This is good coaching.” Reynolds is a good coach.  In Coach the Person Not the Problem:  A Guide to Using Reflective Inquiry, she draws on learning theory, neuroscience, and her considerable experience in coaching to provide a practical and productive model for coaching--The Five Essential Coaching Practices. She provides some interesting insights.  For example, she writes, “Thinking is the enemy of the coach.”  The work of analyzing the client’s story belongs to the client, not the coach. The role of the coach is to help the client revisit, review, and reframe the narrative in order to generate a learning moment and then to act on it. Reynolds uses case studies to illustrate her observations and each ch...

I have a great deal of respect for the United States military and those who lead its various components.     As a Vietnam era veteran, I know both the positive and negative aspects not only of military service, but the use of the military in times of conflict.     Even so, I have found that those who serve and those who lead are, by and large, highly motivated, patriotic men and women who love their country.     This is the primary reason they don’t want to be called in to deal with civil unrest. This is the oath that all members of the armed services take: I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. ...

Whatever your career--service, industry, farming, education, church--you are being challenged in this VUCA--volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous--moment. You have to reimagine the way you do business; that is, the way you operate.     THNK recently posted a blog suggesting how we can take advantage of this opportunity, and we can apply their insights to the church. First, take advantage of this time to do things differently.  As we think about the church, clergy and lay leaders have stepped and tried many new things during this time of pandemic, but a key learning is that the church is the people and not the building.  When worship and other gatherings cannot meet in a specific physical location, leaders have found different ways to connect people.  Perhaps we have learned some lessons here that we want to continue. For example, livestreaming services have offered the opportunity for those who are not able to attend physical worship to ...