Barnabas File

Twenty years ago, the Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship partnered with Central Seminary in Shawnee, KS, to open a satellite center in middle Tennessee.  The seminary also opened two other sites at that time.  Classes took place on Friday evenings and on Saturdays.  Professors came from Kansas to teach, and we also enlisted supplemental faculty from the local area. In the following years, Central added online classes that our students could access. Eventually, the seminary was able to offer a full Master of Divinity degree online.  When COVID struck, this strategy was a godsend! Today most institutions of higher learning including theological schools offer both hybrid programs and online programs. Hybrid programs combine online and in person experiences. Online learning offers flexibility, accessibility, and scalability and in-person learning providing opportunities for hands-on experience, collaboration, and networking. ...

Virtual meetings have become a way of life for most of us and—for better or worse—they are here to stay.  In Making Virtual Work:  How to Build Performance and Relationships , Betty Johnson goes beyond the mechanics and etiquette of virtual meetings to help us understand how to make them productive and engaging. In this age of virtual meetings, Johnson emphasizes humanity rather then technology.  She calls upon wise leaders to use empathy in designing and conducting meetings online.  She suggests three steps:       Understanding how participants feel.       Resonating with what they feel.       Doing what they need to make things better.   The book includes a self-assessment to help leaders understand their own tendencies in leading virtual meetings.  The self-assessment is practical and provides great insights for putting together meetings that are human-centered.   Although brief, ...

Veteran pastor Joe McKeever recently wrote an article on how to increase pastoral tenure in a congregation.   In the course of his research McKeever interviewed one pastor who had served the same church for 22 years.     Here is one observation he made: “Always work on new initiatives. His 22 years have not been 22 years of doing the same things over and over, but trying many different things.” A pastor (or any leader) can become comfortable and easily get stuck in a rut.  This means that he or she is not flexing ministerial muscles in preparation for the new opportunities and challenges that will rise in every context. Although a pastor should encourage the congregation to be healthy and attempt new initiatives, there are ways that the pastor can be proactive on an individual basis with little or no approval necessary from the congregation. In relation to the pastor’s ministerial role, she or he could do the following: Experiment with an in...

Brett Younger, associate professor of preaching at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta, is one of the best writers in Baptist life today.   He is at his best when writing satirical, humorous columns on the church and its various foibles.   I don’t think his recent post entitled “Seminaries reluctantly selling their souls” was meant to be humorous, however.   If it was, just disregard the rest of this blog. Dr. Younger eloquently presents an argument for traditional, “residential” theological education.   This is the type of model that many of us experienced as we prepared for ministry.   We packed up all our earthly belongings, moved to another part of the country, and spent three years preparing for our first call.   If we were fortunate, we found a part-time church to supplement our income and give us some experience.   As seminary came to an end, we put out our resumes, started working our networks, and prayed fervent...