Barnabas File

Usually when the topic of faith-based coaching comes up, the immediate response is, “Oh, you mean Christian coaching.”     In recent days, I have started to ask myself, “Is this what it really means for me?”     To put this in perspective, let me first share three observations. First, I am a person of faith.  I am a follower of Jesus Christ.  Even though I am probably better at it on some days that others, the relationship is there and the strength of it is more dependent on God’s grace than my faithfulness.  Second, I am a Christian who is also a coach (life coach or leadership coach) and that means I want to be a good coach.  Martin Luther said,  “The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”  If we do our work well, that in itself is a witness to what is of value to us. Whether I am coac...

Daily News Journal photo “ He [Jesus] answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” --Luke 10:27, NIV Once again, a minority have displayed their hatred and ignorance by vandalizing the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, Tennessee , my hometown. Community response was swift as people of all faiths and none stepped forward to affirm the rights of all people to worship as they wish and to contribute to the common good in our city. At a vigil of support, Noel Schoonmaker, my pastor, said: "As a pastor and as a Christian, I believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and savior and I look to him and obey him in everything, and he taught me to love my neighbor as myself. So I am here to love my neighbor. We also have friends who worship here at the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro and we want to support them." Schoonmaker models the attitude that Christian...

Mosque under construction in Murfreesboro, TN Irrational violence has been committed once again, this time in my home state of Tennessee.   One person targeted military personnel at a recruitment center and a military training facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a short drive from my home. Loved ones have been lost.     A community has been plunged into grief and loss.   The shooter has won nothing.   In addition to losing his own life, he has simply shown that an angry, misguided person can do extreme damage to the unsuspecting.   We knew that already and have seen it too many times from people motivated by various twisted ideologies. The shooter only wins if we let him divide us as a people.   The United States of America has attracted people from all over the world.   They have come with various traditions, ideologies, and faiths, but they have a common commitment to be Americans.   This did not happen overnight. Early settl...

Islamic Center of Murfreesboro No matter where you live, you have probably heard about the controversy about the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro .   Certain dissatisfied citizens continue to protest the county’s granting a building permit to the new mosque although it has now been occupied over a year and several courts have ruled against the plaintiffs, who now want to take their case to U. S. Supreme Court. On the larger stage, many Christian leaders in our country are considering ways to ministry in what may be the most religiously diverse nation in the world.  Christians are increasingly called to exercise our pastoral practices in a context that requires understanding of faith traditions other than our own. Three years ago, with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, the Association of Theological Schools provided grants to 18 theological schools to help prepare their graduates to serve faithfully in a multi-faith environment. The projects funded by the Ch...