A Questionable Beginning

The following post originally appeared on the blog of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.  You can access it here.  

The fellows program did not start off well for me.  After running into several cohort members in the airport I had managed to become excited for the first meeting.  The talks we had on Georgia’s “Marta” train shuttling us from the airport to a central meeting spot were energizing.  The handful of five or six of us quickly shared about our current places of service, time in seminary that was still fresh in our minds, and mutual acquaintances and passions we all had.  I realized that this was a small taste of the camaraderie and kinship that was in store for us in the next two years.  As the train pulled to a stop at the station we all exited in a hurry to meet Terry Hamrick, who was chauffeuring us from the station to our cohort meeting.  We were not difficult to spot, nor was the lone white van waiting for us that could have easily had “Baptist meeting” written all over it.
 

Terry was just about to close his door and start the engine when I felt around for the backpack that travels everywhere with me and never leaves my side.  “Did anyone see me leave the train with a grey backpack?” I asked in a faked calm voice.  “I remember seeing it on the train, but now that you mention it, I don’t recall you leaving with it,” someone in the back piped up.  And so, I began the fellows meeting inside of the CBF office trying to track down my backpack that contained a Kindle e-reader.  It was sitting there waiting for anyone to pick it up and access my Amazon account (which stored my credit card information) as well as my Facebook and Twitter accounts.  My only hope was that someone would pick it up and turn it into lost-and-found.  After reporting the item missing via Marta’s website, I was told not to contact them again.  They would contact me if the item was recovered, and all I could do was wait.

I was not sure how much I was going to be able to absorb from our fellows gathering with this on my mind, nor was I excited about being the guy in the group that lost his backpack.  What I quickly learned in our introductory session was that all of us felt that we were missing something.  Prior to this first meeting we were all given the Leadership Practices Inventory to complete.  Part of our time together included going over our results with a trained facilitator.  One of the exercises we engaged in to help us understand these included dividing ourselves up according to the way we scored on a particular item.  After grouping ourselves among others with similar results, each group was given the same case study to briefly consider and then to share with everyone else the way their group would address it.  The activity proved exaggerated and humorous, likely because most teams of people in real life do not consist of members that all think in a similar manner.

However, by looking at case studies in this way I was able to see how all of our different leadership styles would look if allowed to go to extremes.  In spite of being congregational leaders in various settings, all of us had blatant weaknesses that were put on display in this activity.  Instead of being a time where everyone got down on themselves and wished they were different, this was a moment where we allowed ourselves to laugh, poke fun at each other, and simply be who we were unapologetically.  I’m not sure that this was the intended lesson behind this experience, but it was the one that stuck with me.

This set the tone for my whole fellows experience.  It was a safe place to simply be.  As a young minister it can be easy to fall prey to the notion that I must be super human.  Every time I met with this unique and diverse group I was not only reminded that I could not do this, but that I did not need to do this.  The settings that God has and is calling each one of us into are places where we are to be ourselves.  It’s a little easier to do that when you are removed from everyday life and surrounded by friends and mentors.  But it is from these joyous moments that I pull strength to live into my calling on my best and worst day on the job.

PS – I never recovered my backpack; but I would lose it all over again to be able to spend more time with the members of my cohort group that have become valued friends and colleagues over the past two years.

Truett Presence in Greensboro

The following was originally posted on the official blog of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.  You can access it here. 

 

Seven years ago I enrolled in George W. Truett Theolgoical Seminary.  It was a risky decision for me.  I knew little about Christianity as a whole, much less Baptist Christianity.  I was turned on to the seminary by professors at East Texas Baptist University.  Until then, I was not aware the institution existed, or what it stood for and how it differed from other institutions.

This decision set me on a course to be a pastor within the Baptist tradition.  A tradition, that I would soon learn, has a complicated and nuanced history.  Some have claimed Truett is merely a reactionary institution, emerging from the Southern Baptist wars that are barely a memory in the thoughts of people my age.  To that I would say that every movement is a reaction to something.  The key element that has made me grateful to be associated with Truett is not what it is against, but rather what it encourages and affirms.

Greensboro, North Carolina is a long way from Central Texas.  As a CBF Fellow, I've learned just how different life and culture is outside of my home state.  As a "Texas Baptist," the brand many of us prefer these days, I admit to feeling awkward in highly liturgical settings, where worship feels a little too scripted and formal.  However, if I learned anything from my seminary days, it is that just because something is different, that does not mean it is inherently bad or wrong.

Herein lies the great ethos I've come to appreciate about my alma-mater: it's extremely difficult to "pigeonhole." When struggling with making the decision to attend, I remember hearing things from various sources regarding the school: "it's too liberal;" "it's too conservative;" "it's too young;" "it's too small;" "it's not Baptist." Yet, as I met up with friends at the alumni reception, I was reminded of just how broad and encompassing our presence is.  I was reminded that I prefer to define Truett not by WHAT it is, but by WHO it is.

It is the "Texas Baptist" pastor that seeks to minister to a rural community in a small church; it is the church starter in the middle of a poverty-sticken urban metropolis; it is people serving in remote places you will never hear about, and award winners in the center of denominational life; it is men and women living out the call God has placed on their life.

And in the midst of its vast representation, it is a family that seeks to continually support and encourage its alumni.  As former and current students caught up with one another, associate dean Dr. Dennis Tucker quieted the room for a few moments to share an invitation with us to an alumni retreat and to unveil the "Office of Church Services."  The retreat will be led by beloved professor, Dr. Hulitt Gloer, whose very presence exudes one of solace and refreshment, and the new office is an attempt to create a more efficient and effective way to connect both students and alumni to places of service.

As the night's events came to a close, I found myself thankful to be affiliated with such a supportive institution, and challenged to fulfill the call that I and so many others have discovered at Truett.

CBF Commissioning Service

The following was originally posted on the official blog of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.  You can access it here. 

The Commissioning Service for church starters, field personnel, chaplains, and pastoral counselors took place at 7:15 pm on June 27^th as one of the main evening worship services of the 2013 CBF General Assembly.  This year’s theme was reflected throughout the service as verses from Kyle Matthew’s We Go Boldly were sang in various key moments, as well as in the timeless challenge found in the singing of Harry Emerson Fosdick’s God of Grace and God of Glory.  It was a time to recognize faithful service of the past, and to anticipate new service of the future. 

One of the most pronounced and well-known recognitions of past service was that of George Pickle.  Video testimonies by those touched by his many years of faithful ministry demonstrated what a life of faithfulness looks like.  It was only fitting to follow this presentation with this beloved servant sharing a role in the commissioning of new chaplains and pastoral counselors with Angela Lowe. 

Bo Prosser and Jim Smith commissioned church starters and field personnel.  The places of service for these varied from places within the U.S. (Texas, Illinois, and Florida), to locations that are hardly on most people’s radar (Malaysia, Japan, and Cambodia).  As the Fellowship heard each of the individual stories behind these servants, it became apparent that they are indeed going forth “with great boldness.”  From utilizing traditional partnerships among Baptist organizations, to working with other denominations and organizations, these personnel are on the forefront of the creative and thoughtful service that makes the CBF unique.

Wendell Griffin was not lying went he got up and told us that he only had one idea to deliver in his message: the idea that we are on a mission from God.  As this bi-vocational pastor spoke boldly, he admitted that it sounds “cheeky” to affirm that “God is doing something through us.”  However, that has been the simple belief of Cooperative Baptists from the start.  He recognized the need of audacity in our service to God’s mission, which only comes from the firm convictions that we are indeed doing God’s work. 

Following this inspirational message, there was no doubt among the assembly that those commissioned and celebrated were going forth to engage in the work of God, no matter how great and uncertain the challenges ahead may be.  The assembly response was the final refrain of Fosdick’s God of Grace and God of Glory, which appropriately captures the prayer and hope we have for all those serving in our Baptist family and in the body of Christ:

Set our feet on lofty places; gird our lives that they may be

Armored with all Christ-like graces, pledged to set all captives free. 

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, that we fail not them nor thee!

That we fail not them nor thee!