Barnabas File

When Satya Nadella succeeded Steve Balmer as CEO of Microsoft in 2014, he took the helm of a once thriving company that now seemed adrift.     The problem was not so much profitability but a stagnant culture.     The company that Bill Gates founded was now more concerned about return on investment than creativity.    According to Mark Miller in Culture Rules , the emphasis was on transaction rather than transformation.   In 2015, Nadella unveiled a new mission: “To empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”  This was definitely a desire to be transformational rather than simply transactional.  But how would he help create a culture to achieve this aspirational goal?   To accomplish this, Nadella challenged every frontline leader to model, coach, and care.   First, the leader should have a growth mindset and embody the values of the organization.  A leader should be committed to an...

Culture is the water in which we swim; it is the air we breathe.     The culture of our organization is something we tend to accept without really understanding it.     And culture makes all the difference about whether our organization thrives or fails.    Despite what we declare as our mission or vision, the organization—church or other—will prosper only if the culture provides the proper environment.   In his latest book, Mark Miller makes a deep dive into culture.  In Culture Rules , he provides three simple guides for creating and sustaining a culture for a thriving organization.  The rules are Aspire, Amplify, and Adapt. This is the task of a leader.   First, aspire—share your hopes and dreams for the culture.   Second, amplify—assure that the cultural aspiration is reinforced continuously.   Third, adapt—always work to enhance the culture.   Unlike most of his previous books, this is not a management parab...

Sometimes we struggle with the more brutal passages of the Hebrew Bible.     For example, when the Israelites conquer the Promised Land, there are many bloody battles, including the taking of the city of Jericho.     Joshua 6:21 reports that the victors   “devoted   the city to the   Lord   and destroyed   with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.”     Although we may cringe at these events that seem to be sanctioned by God, but we can learn something from the mindset of the citizens of Jericho.  When the men who Joshua sent to spy out the land arrived at Jericho, they found a great walled city. A friend was teaching on the passage several years ago and made this comment: “People who are afraid build walls.”  His conclusion is that the citizens of Jericho were not only in a defensive but a fearful mode.  My friend went on to say, “People of faith bu...

My wife and I like to watch mysteries.  We have recently been getting up to date on Vienna Blood, a PBS series that features Max Liebermann, a young neurologist in early 20 th  century Vienna, who is a disciple of Sigmund Freud.  In addition to solving crimes with his police colleague,  Detective Oskar Rheinhardt , Liebermann is an advocate of talk cure or therapy—dealing with psychological challenges and trauma through conversation.   There are many ways to think of the situation that many churches find themselves in these days.  I suggest that one option is to think of the church as the victim of trauma.  COVID, financial difficulties, burned-out clergy, departing members—all are traumatic experiences that need to be processed.  One way to address these is through conversation.   As we engage in such conversations, we are not only hearing the personal stories of individuals, but we might very well be hearing the vo...

The church in North America is in decline.  This was the trend before pandemic, political polarization in congregations, and division over social issues.  Those events have only accelerated that decline.  In recent days, two excellent articles based on good research addressed both the reality of a  mass exodus  and  why people are leaving . So, what does that mean for us?   The church as an institution is caught in a tsunami of cultural, social, and demographic forces—all of which seem to be peaking at one time.  The interesting point is that this comes as a surprise to many church leaders and adherents of the faith.  If we are realistic, this crisis is a natural consequence of the way that we have done church for over half a century.  I know because I have lived through it.   The Church (big C—the Church Universal) has continued to thrive over two thousand years because of its ability to build on two k...

This was part of the text for my Bible study lesson this past Sunday:   In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. (Luke 1:5-7, NIV)   As I read Adam Hamilton’s commentary on this passage, I was pleased that he devoted a significant portion of his comments to the contributions that the “very old” are still able to make to the work of the Kingdom.   In reality, Zechariah (and Elizabeth) were probably at least two decades younger than I am right now.  As a priest, Zechariah would have been expected to start giving up his duties at the age of 50.  Of course, if someone reached the age of 60 in the New Testament world...

And   I   tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock   I   will   build   my   church , and the gates of Hades   will   not overcome   i t.(Matthew 16:18, NIV)   I probably spend more time on social media than I should, but I find it a good way to keep in touch with how my friends at the grassroots feel about the church—both laity and clergy.   A big theme I pick up goes something like this: “The church is in decline and is losing its influence.  I just hope it lasts one more generation for me and my family or until I retire from ministry.”   Such thoughts are not new.  There have been many times in the last two thousand years when the church has been counted out. Even so, it is still here.   Perhaps we should clarify some terms.  What do we mean when we use the word “church”?  The Church (big C) was established by Christ.  In theological terms, when we us...

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”   Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (James 4:13-14, NIV)   As you can imagine, I receive newsletters—both hard copy and digital—from several churches on a regular basis.  This week I received one online that invited me to click on a link and view the church’s Five-Year Plan. So I did.   I was impressed by the Purpose Statement and Guiding Principles identified. These were Kingdom-oriented and life-giving.  The themes identified were clearly based on conversation and dialogue within the congregation.  But then I turned to the goals.   Let me be perfectly transparent here:  Goals written with a horizon of over a year are useless. Here’s why.   In the next year, we may face an economic rec...

In our disruptive context, many see innovation as a priority for survival.  In The Innovative Executive, author Bella Rushi goes a step further and argues that innovation can also provide sustainable growth.   Writing from her broad experience with both life sciences and consumer products company, Rushi seeks to address these three items:   What do companies need from their leaders today? What can we do to uncover new possibilities to go to market and to create new processes and new customer experiences? What is the real challenge companies face when it comes to innovation?   The three levers she identifies to address these questions are:   Rethinking Your Business Model Innovation and Collaboration Making the Most of Your Technology Spend   She provides insights and illustrations in each area, but I was particularly taken by the Innovation and Collaboration section.  She shows understanding of the Design Thinking approach by recommending tha...

Old Testament Reading: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, NIV   9  Two are better than one,     because they have a good return for their labor: 10  If either of them falls down,     one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls     and has no one to help them up. 11  Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.     But how can one keep warm alone? 12  Though one may be overpowered,     two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.   New Testament Reading: 2 Corinthians 3:11, NIV   11  Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.     Sometimes we must unlearn old things so that we can learn new things.   One of the things I had to unlearn was that scripture ...

A pastor friend recently noted that he had stopped submitting his church’s annual report to the denomination.  He said, “ {They want] metrics that no longer matter and are irrelevant. [The report] doesn’t ask how many Muslims have become Christians, number of internationals reached, Facebook or YouTube views, website hits.”  All of these are important metrics in his context and in a post-COVID (?) world but the denomination is not asking about those things.   We all know the measures requested in these reports:  number of Baptisms, Sunday school attendance, worship attendance, resident members, etc.  So, do you include those attending services online in worship attendance?  What about the couple who now live in another state but are still members of the congregation and continue to send their tithes to the church? What are the measures of a successful ministry to the unhoused?   It is not that metrics—the things we measure—are ...

Let me be very clear.     I am a former Southern Baptist who attended Southwestern Seminary.   When I was a young minister, fellow alum Rick Warren was a role model for pastors.     He was not only a challenging teacher and preacher, but he was emerging as a successful church planter with Saddleback Community Church. It is now one of the largest congregations affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.   My respect for Warren as a pastor continues.  I have a couple of his books on my bookshelf.  Due to some family experiences, Warren has been a strong champion for Christians to address mental health issues.   He championed evangelicals fighting AIDS overseas.  In recent years, he led the Saddleback church to ordain three women as staff pastors. His successors in pastoring Saddleback will be a married couple with the wife recognized as “teaching pastor.”   Even so, Warren misses the boat on some key issues.  ...

The Mentor’s Guide:     Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships has just been published in its third edition, a clear testimony to its importance in the practice of mentoring.    Authors Lois K. Zachary and Lisa Z. Fain have updated this “bible” of mentor practice to reflect new insights, developing theories, and contemporary reality.   The authors see the mentor relationship as a mutual experience that generates growth for both mentor and mentee (although I prefer the word protégé).  As such it requires investment, preparation, and reflection on part of both participants.    The revised edition considers not only evolving theories about adult development and mentoring, but also incorporates insights about the global nature of organizations, the importance of innovation, the reality of diversity, and the necessity of innovation.   One insight relating to innovation is the idea of SMARTER goals to augment SMART goals.  We ...

A few short years ago, a seminary student asked one of his professors, “When are you going to start teaching online?”  The professor replied, “When you start leading worship online.” We know where that went, don’t we?  During the pandemic, most churches learned how to take their services to Zoom, Facebook Live, or some other digital platform.   In The Great Digital Commission , author Caleb J. Lines encourages the church to go even further, embracing social media not only to connect those who are already involved in a local congregation but to use digital platforms to reintroduce itself to those outside the church.   Just as Jesus and the early apostles developed community to reach and disciple believers, Lines argues that community is still at the heart of the Christian faith and the social media can be used to engage the unreached and to nurture believers.  He defines social media as “applications and websites that enable social networking and t...

In our coaching and coach training, our focus is usually on the partnership between the coach and the client.     In this process, the coach leads the process with the client providing the agenda—the subject for discussion, resource discovery, action plans, and achievement.    In a recent online presentation, Professor Peter Hawkins suggested a new perspective for the coaching relationship. His presentation on “From Ego to Eco Coaching:  Creating Value Beyond the Client” offered a challenge to place the coaching relationship in a larger context.  How can the coaching relationship benefit the organization, society and the world?   Hawkins outlines the change in perspective in this way:   For the coach it means moving “from facing the person you are coaching as your client, to going shoulder to shoulder with them as your partner, jointly facing what their world of tomorrow is asking them to step up to.”   For the coach and client, the...