Barnabas File

A staff member was going through a difficult personal situation.     It had nothing to do with his work, and he was not the instigator of the situation.     I knew it had to be addressed administratively.     My supervisor and his supervisor were quite ready to abdicate the resolution of this to me!     With some trepidation, I chose to take this to the governing group.     They listened patiently as I outlined the situation. Then, to my surprise, two of the committee very readily supported my recommendation to keep this staff member on board. In fact, all members of the committee expressed a great deal of compassion.   What are key leadership skills?  Various lists are posted from time to time and some writers even seek to identify the one essential skill for an effective leader.  I will not add such a list, but I would argue that there is one skill that every leader should seek to embody:  trust. ...

On Saturday, I attended a Celebration of Life for friend and former colleague, Stan Braley. During the service, a person who had served on staff with Stan at a church he pastored told of the positive relationship they had as co-workers and the wonderful way their families got along. This was a good word. Healthy relationships among co-workers, especially in a church staff where one is the supervisor of the other, are a blessing.  This happens only when both persons are committed and willing to make the relationship worked.  It was clear that Stan and his fellow minister were willing to do this. I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to be in such situations.  When you like the persons with whom you work, you are more productive, supportive, and creative.  How does this happen? First, you have to trust one another. The leader is the one who must model this behavior.  He or she must be trustworthy, a person of in...

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied:   “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.   And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40, NIV) Like others who identify with the Cooperative Baptist movement, I have been reading both the report of the Illumination Project and responses on social media.  My only conclusion so far is that we don’t all agree on this decision.  I have friends who express widely divergent and opposing opinions, so I continue to reflect on the implications of the decision, pray about it, and even look at scripture like the passage above. Of course, Jesus was not trying to start an organization.  If anything, what he was creating was a very messy, chaotic organism which was to be led by the Spirit of God.  ...

Earlier this week, I visited with a friend who has publicly declared that he is no longer a part of his Southern Baptist-related state convention.   After many disappointing experiences, he has come to see that the denomination is no longer relevant in a world with significant spiritual and physical needs.   It has forsaken the sacred trust given to it by devoted Christians over the years. My friend is going through period of grief and a sense of loss.  He will always be a Baptist in his heart but he feels estranged from the faith tradition that literally gave him birth.  His experience certainly reflects my own.  Twenty years ago I was struggling with my own role within a denomination that had invested much in me and which I had attempted to serve and support for all of my life as a minster.  I had been faithful to that faith community but found it going in a direction I perceived as destructive and irrelevant. During that time I shared my con...