Barnabas File

When I attended seminary, most of the student body were young men and women who had just completed college.   A few like me had spent a couple of years in the military, another graduate school, worked in a secular vocation, or taught school.     Occasionally, I would have a class with an older person, usually male, who had been “called to the ministry” at midlife and was seeking a theological education in order to be a pastor.   Most of my peers were preparing to work in the local church and being immersed in the knowledge and skills to serve Southern Baptist churches that followed the denominational model of programming and missions.   Quite honestly, we were being indoctrinated as much as we were being educated. How things have changed! A recent blog post by Tom Ehrich pointed out that “seminary education is coming under increasing scrutiny, not only for cost-effectiveness but for quality of preparation. As one longtime fan of Princeton Theol...

“Maybe it’s the final “Oprah-fication” of America.  Suddenly it seems ‘life coaches’ are all over the place.  Lost in your career?  Get a life coach.  Lost touch with your mojo?  Life coach.  Want a big turn or tune-up?  Life coach.  You put down the cash and the life coach goes to work.  Teasing out your dreams, your desires.  Getting you on track to get there.  The challenge may be at work, may be at home.  Maybe both.  Some therapists worry life coaches are getting into their terrain.  There used to be a stigma.  Maybe not now.  This hour On Point:  we’re looking at the boom in life coaching.”-- Tom Ashbrook Tom Ashbrook hosted a discussion today on National Public Radio’s   On Point that featured Genevieve Smith, author of a recent article in Harper’s Magazine on life coaching.  Other guests included Allison Rimm,  a management consultant and life coach, and David Ley, a c...

“50,000 Life Coaches Can’t Be Wrong: Inside the industry that’s making therapy obsolete” is the cover story in the May 2014 issue of Harper’s Magazine.  Author Genevieve Smith actually participated in a group going through several months of coach training in her research for the article.  She also interviewed a number of coaches and prospective coaches.  She gets some things right and others wrong. Let me begin with the things with which I take exception.  First, Smith participated in a program with Coach Training Institute, the organization that has trademarked the “co-active coaching” model which emphasizes the collaboration between the coach and the person being coached.  This is a very reputable program whose training is recognized by the International Coach Federation, but its methodology is only one approach to coaching. Taken to the extreme, the coaching model of CTI can seem humanistic and rather “new age.”  There are other approaches in keep...

“ Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.    Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).  There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.”—John 19:16-18, NIV The week began with violence.  On Sunday afternoon, I was on the north side of Kansas City when a gunman shot and killed three people on the south side.  Once again, violence has been visited on the innocent, something that seems all too common in our nation.  And once again the hate was directed against the faithful.  The fact that the gunman intended to kill Jews and ended killing Christians only reminds us that an attack based on hatred against any person—no matter that person’s race, faith, or social status—is an attack on all of us.  This is a week that ends in violence.  Jesus is flogged, ridiculed, forc...

Students working on neighborhood project How do you explain taxes to a three-year-old?  I was leaving the house one day last week to pick up the completed tax return from our preparer.  Cooper, our grandson, asked where I was going.  When I told him, I could tell that the idea ‘taxes” was not on his radar.  I started to tell him that taxes help pay for the fire fighters and police officers (but they are only indirectly funded by Federal tax money).  I did tell him that the money we paid to the government helps build our roads.  I suppose I could have told him that the money helped to pay for our military but really did not want to go down that road too far.  As I thought about this later, I could have explained that our taxes (at least for now) help people who are sick and do not have food.  This whole train of thought led me to think about the things that our tax money pays for that were provided in other ways in the past.  When peo...

The Mall in Washington, DC, is one of my favorite open spaces.  Anchored at one end by the Lincoln Memorial and at the other by the U. S. Capitol building, the Mall is impressive not because of what surrounds it but for what it represents.  The Mall is an area that symbolizes the openness of the United States of America to fresh ideas and new people. Certainly, one does not have to look too closely to observe the security precautions even in this area, but I am always impressed by this great open space in the middle of a busy major city.  On most days, the Mall is occupied by people walking, jogging, playing games, taking pictures, or just “hanging out.”  These are U. S. citizens from many different ethnic backgrounds and many of the states, representing the diversity of our nation.  Visitors from other countries are evident as well, coming to see the national capital of our country and its many sights. For me, the Mall is an expression of community....

Hardly a week goes by without another poll dealing with the decline and marginalization of the church.   One might become easily discouraged by such reports, but I believe that one antidote is to develop a new way of looking at the life and work of the church.   This comes through the understanding and implementation of a missional ecclesiology. In theological circles, ecclesiology is the study of the doctrine of the church.  There have been a number of ways of interpreting the nature of the church informed by the Bible, history, context and practice.  Ecclesiology is an evolving doctrine. The term “missional” refers to the essential nature and vocation of the church as God’s called and sent people.  Missional is a way of being and doing life as individuals, groups, and congregations. Living missionally means that we ask the question, “What does God want us to be, do, and become to continue the ministry of Christ within our own community and globa...

According to the story, a young person asked an older, wiser person, “How do I avoid mistakes?”  The mentor said, “Get experience.”  The young person rejoined, “Then how do I get experience?” The reply:  “Make mistakes.”  Of course, this assumes that one learns from his or her mistakes.  Unfortunately, many of us make mistakes again and again but never learn from them.  How do we learn from mistakes?  Let me suggest several steps. First, pray that God will give you a teachable spirit.  If we are unwilling to learn from our mistakes and adapt our behavior, we won’t improve.  We will continue to do the same thing again and again and expect different results. Albert Einstein called that insanity. Second, give yourself the space to reflect on exactly what happened.  Don’t obsess about it, but make sure that you have a well-rounded picture of events.  You might even ask a trusted friend who observed the event or action to ...

Despite the vast changes in work and society, we continue to ask children, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”   We plant in children at an early age that their work, their job, will be an important part of their identity.   Perhaps we would serve them better if we asked the question, “What will you become?” There seems to be renewed interest among Baptist Christians in the concepts of vocation and calling.  The words are used in different ways in various contexts.  Although we tend to think about only those who work with the sacred as having a “calling” and those who work in the secular world as having a “vocation,” this is not true in all Christian traditions and is probably poor theology. Whether we see what we do as a vocation or a calling, they are intertwined.  The message is the same:  We serve God by responding to the prompting of God to do that for which we are best equipped. Our vocation or calling should be an expression of what...

This week many will celebrate the life of Saint Patrick of Ireland with green shamrocks, green clothing, green beer, and even green rivers.   The day has become a time to celebrate the mythos of Eire, the Emerald Isle, and to party, but we can also take advantage of the day to take a second look at Patrick the churchman and his legacy. As one might expect, much of the story of Patrick is shrouded in myth. The accepted story is that he was kidnapped from Britain by Irish raiders when he was 16 and taken to Ireland where he was a slave for six years.  He eventually escaped and returned to his family, but he took vows with the Church and returned to his place of enslavement as a missionary.  He is credited with converting the island to the Christian faith.  By the seventh century, he had come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland. The genius of Patrick seems to have been his ability to contextualize the faith in order to win converts.  He took adv...

Create student Angela Powell Angela Powell entered seminary to pursue her ministry calling.   She had responded to the leadership of the Holy Spirit to begin Bright Future Ministries, but she realized that she needed to know more to be an effective leader.   As a create master of divinity student at Central Baptist Theological Seminary, she became part of a community that has equipped her with the ministry and entrepreneurial skills to expand that ministry. Create is an innovative approach to theological education that helps a student develop his or her unique ministry vision.  Classes and internships are designed to equip, challenge, and empower students toward that goal.  Create is not your typical master of divinity program but calls students, instructors, and administrators to be open to “the wind of the Spirit” in a supportive faith community. This is particularly true in Angela’s case.  For one of her create internships, she had the opport...

My friend Larry Taylor was our supply preacher on Sunday morning.   Larry always brings a unique perspective to a passage and wrings new truth out of familiar words.   He did it again on Sunday as he preached from John 11 about the raising of Lazarus.   I came away thinking about which comes first for a Christian—the seeing or the believing. We have heard since we were children that “seeing is believing” but the introduction of digital photography, CGI, and Photoshop makes that a questionable statement.  We now see things on the screen that are impossible or fantastic but they are there anyway.  Even in actual events such as a traffic accident, witnesses often disagree on what took place.  Each has his or her own perspective. Larry suggested that perhaps believing more often precedes seeing (at least that is what I heard).  We have to have a frame of reference in order to really understand the meaning of events.   Many who saw Jesu...

Mentoring is a very popular term today with a number of definitions and formats.   Mentoring allows us to benefit from the skills and experiences of others as we identify our own strengths and areas of potential growth.   The practice is important not only in corporations but for churches and not for profit organizations as well.   Several of types of mentoring are suggested in a blog from the Harvard Business Review, and I have added one more. 1.  Buddy or peer mentoring is much like an “apprenticeship” that helps a person “learn the ropes” in a new setting.  Formal peer mentoring helps a new person to mesh into an organization, but much of this type of orientation and assimilation takes place informally.  In a ministerial setting, we often find this type of mentoring with fellow students in seminary, other staff members, or in lunch or coffee groups with ministers in the community.  Although this may be done informally, the process is very im...

Concerns about reaching young adults for the church came up in three different conversations in which I was involved last week.  One was an online peer group call with ministers who have a particular interest in this demographic.  Another was with the minister of Christian formation in a local congregation who wants to make sure that these folks are included in church life.  The third conversation was with leaders from several states who seek to raise funds for collegiate ministries in areas where Baptists have limited resources. Of course, when we talk about young adults, we often neglect the diversity within the age group.  The demographic included singles, married couples, single parents, college and university students, graduate students, blue collar workers, young professionals, and military personnel (just to name a few).  This is not a monolithic group although they share many characteristics.  Some may resist be considered as part of a “young...

The system really did work well.   The approach used by denominations in the mid-20 th century facilitated growth, ministry, attendance, and contributions.   The vertically and horizontally integrated model assured that all of the denomination’s far-flung ministries would be promoted in Sunday school and disciple development literature, there would be common standards for all types of church programming, and   all cooperating churches would be on the same page when it came to denominational life (at least in theory).   Then it fell apart. Why did it collapse in on itself?  A complete answer would require an extensive sociological study, but the truth is that the culture changed on both sides of the coin.  Churches were no longer willing to accept a “one size fits all” approach.  Judicatories increasingly saw their role as quality control, not only in programming but in doctrinal belief as well.  The cooperative effort was always a house of...

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...

Mentor was the friend to whom Ulysses entrusted his son, Telemachus, when he went off to the Trojan War.   We use the term “mentor” now for any trusted advisor, especially an older person who trains and guides a younger person.   The person guided by the mentor is often called a mentee or sometimes an apprentice but I think protégé is a better term. I have benefitted from a number of mentors in my life.  Most of these were on an informal basis; others were supervisors who guided my work.  On a couple of occasions, I purposely sought out a person to be my mentor in a particular area of expertise.  They agreed to share information, suggestions, and life experiences with me. Benjamin Franklin is reported to have said, “There are two ways to acquire wisdom: you can either buy it or borrow it.  By buying it, you pay full price in terms of time and cost to learn the lessons you need to learn. By borrowing it, you go to those men and women who have alre...

Several years, I made the decision to put more of my digital life online. A primary reason was to be able to access material from different devices and not be dependent on one machine that might crash without warning!  This began with using a web-based e-mail program, Gmail.  As I changed over to a new iPad Air tablet this weekend, I was reminded how much of my personal and work life I have put online.  I regularly use social media like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn both to keep in touch with friends and to share my work with Pinnacle Leadership Associates and Central Baptist Theological Seminary.  I was a late adopter on Twitter but I have found it to be a great way to share ideas and resources with others. There are a number of online tools that have made my life easier:  Google calendar,  Google Maps, Slideshark, SlideShare, Moodle, Dropbox, Evernote, Doodle, MindMeister, YouTube, Vimeo,  and SurveyMonkey.  These sites ...

For the last several years, I have found myself interacting with both the theological students and theological educators.  Although I am a seminary graduate and have been involved in higher education ministry for a major part of my life, this is not something for which I was been intentionally trained.   Even so, I have found myself deeply immersed in theological education and dealing with some of the challenges it must address today. Much has been written about what is needed to train a new cadre of ministers—both young adults and mid-career people--but I might as well add my own two cents worth.   I do this not as an expert in the field but as a minister who loves the church and has been encouraging and equipping its potential leaders for most of my life.  It seems that there are four major components that are necessary to form men and women to serve the church today. First, seminary students need to be guided in spiritual formation .  The...