A Lesson in Humility

by Rev. Laura Barclay

A few days ago, during a respite from one of the many polar vortexes that have blown through Louisville, I took my dog for a walk. My neighbor called me over.

“Hey there! I saw you fall the other day.”

“Oh, yeah. I slipped on the ice.” I laughed nervously and stared at my dog.

“Yeah, you fell. Then you laid there a while. You looked like you were hurt, and I thought you might have moaned a little. I was about to come over and check on you, but you stirred a bit, fell back down, pulled yourself up, and then limped slowly inside your house. I thought it was best not to disturb you, since you were probably icing your wound.”

Thanks, neighbor. He keeps an eye out for those around him and not a lot makes it past him, but I could’ve done without the painstaking retelling of one of my most recent examples of clumsiness. The only thing that makes this story even more embarrassing is that I was running back inside the house to change my shoes when I fell. I had realized I was about to take my sick dog to the vet in my house shoes instead of my snow boots.

We’ve all been there—tripping on the street and moving quickly along like we just decided to change our pace, as if anyone besides children would suddenly decide to start skipping instead of walking. Or maybe we spill a drink on our shirt and then decide to wear our coat to cover it for the rest of the evening. “Oh no, I’m not uncomfortable. I love sweating.”

But here’s the thing: life is too short to pretend we are perfect. As a recovering perfectionist, I should know. This means that where I would normally get very anxious about completing a project or meeting a new group of people, I now just try to do the best I can. If I fail or people don’t like me, so what? Neither of those so-called potential failures should be the measure of success to Christians, who are commanded to love their God and their neighbors as themselves. That’s easier said than done, and I can still get very anxious about the smallest things. But having a mantra of “so what?” has been helpful during those moments when I screw up or my neighbor slowly regales me with tales of my face plant or I just can’t seem to get it together.

Paul advises a church in Romans 12:3, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” Paul’s point is that we are all part of the body of Christ, and each one of us has gifts and a role to play. We don’t have to be perfect or have it all together. We are meant to work in community to help one another and embody the love of Christ. We can fall down, mess up, be awkward and fail. Each one of us is beautiful despite (and even because of) our shortcomings.

You are a member of the body of Christ. You are gifted and special. Let’s work together to share this message with all God’s children.

This article also appears on Next Sunday Resources.

I Am My Grandma...and other Revelations

My Mammaw with my newest cousin, Tyler

Rev. Laura Barclay

As I transition to life in Kentucky, I am also learning more about gardening, vintage items, older homes, and new neighbors. I have spent more time with my grandmother, who has a love of antiques, canning, and telling my Pappaw to get out of the kitchen and stop telling her how to cook.

In my conversations with her, I have discovered that she is resourceful, tough, funny, loves children, and cares very much about preserving the past. As a women who watched one daughter suffer and survive polio and lost another suddenly only a year and a half ago, I understand that this love of the past is also deeply personal. Because of this realization, her words carry more weight as someone who has endured much and has life lessons to teach.

Mammaw warns about the costs of vegetables rising and supplies her own by canning the veggies from Pappaw's thriving garden. Yet she shares readily with neighbors, relatives, and whoever might show up at her door. She attends church and volunteers regularly. She could the quintessential character in a Clyde Edgerton novel.

I have since noticed the cost of vegetables and have considered canning. I learned we have an interest in estate sales and antiquing in common because you can get wonderful items at a great deal, and I think if either of us could live in a museum, we would. She was influenced by the times in which she was raised--the Great Depression. My generation has been shaken by the Great Recession--no longer do we believe in a guarantee of jobs, retirement, monetary success or a stable housing market. My grandmother watches her Social Security checks fail to meet inflation and wonders if she'll always have enough. For all our political differences, both believe the government has failed in its promise to care for veterans like my grandfather.  Instead of caring about living up to societal standards of success--whatever that means--we care more about the ideal of living in community instilled in us from church.

Now, on the eve of my grandparents 65th wedding anniversary, as we bond over gardens, antiques, church talk, looking at pictures of long-lost relatives and our concern for the present, I'm thankful that instead of thinking of all the years between us I can focus on our commonalities and learn more about my grandmother beyond her identity as "Mammaw."

How about you? Is there a relative of family friend you have had or wish you had the opportunity to get to know beyond their relational identity to you? What is your mother, father, brother, sister, grandma, or aunt like outside of their identity as family member?

Show Abandonment and the Church

Dr. Dennis Atwood

On my way to the church office this morning I listened to a report on NPR by Neda Ulaby entitled:  “Show Abandonment: When Viewers Drop Popular TV Programs.” The tag line was: “What happens when fans stop talking about a show that used to be their favorite?” Take American Idol, for example. Last week's finale was down 8 million viewers from last year. Such are the problems of the first-world.

The NPR report focused on the fickle nature of television viewers and how American’s loyalty to a favorite show is weakening more and more. For example, at its peak over 8 million people tuned in to The Office each week during its nine-year run. Over the past few seasons, however, viewers have peeled away resulting in the show’s final season and series finale just last week.

 “Show abandonment” apparently comes in stages. First, there is “denial.” The DVR episodes begin to pile up and you don’t have time to catch up on the ones you’ve missed. Next comes “delete.” You begin to delete the lost episodes because you just don’t care enough anymore to catch up. Then, there is “acceptance.” Finally you simply abandon the show altogether. You admit that your loyalty is gone and you move on to the next thing that catches your eye—until it doesn’t.

 

There is also another class of viewers besides these “abandoners.” They are known as “bitter-enders.” These folks stick with a show till the bitter end even as others are abandoning ship. I have to admit that I am one of those “bitter-enders” when it comes to The Office. Sure, the show may have weakened a bit over the past couple of years, but I’m glad to report the series finale was actually a perfect ending to a great run. I’m glad I stuck around—till the bitter end.

 

Wow. Where to begin when it comes to stretching this analogy of “show abandonment” into the realm of “church abandonment”? I don’t have enough time and space to make all the connections, and I don’t even think it’s even necessary. 

 

We all know the story. Church attendance is down everywhere. People are busy. People are fickle. People are losing interest. Churches are in panic mode. Just look around and you’ll see churches bringing in a flashy program, new worship style, or exciting preacher. “We’ve got to get things back to where they once were!”  But things are never going to “get back to where they once were.” New Wine requires new wineskins, said Jesus. We can’t capture time or new wine. The gospel keeps flowing and expanding. If containers become hard and brittle then… well, you end up with wine all over the floor.

 

In one sense, we Christians should be “bitter-enders” in that we don’t abandon ship and move on to another congregation just because we begin to lose interest in our existing one. The virtues of faithfulness and commitment to make things better are far more admirable than abandonment. On the other hand, there are churches that stubbornly refuse to consider the idea of any change whatsoever, and as a result they hasten their own bitter end—even though there doesn’t have to be a “bitter” end.

 

So draw your own conclusions about faithfulness and abandonment. The Church will be here until Jesus says it’s done, but that promise doesn’t give churches a green light to bury their heads in the sand. Healthy churches are able to distinguish between containers—which are useful, and New Wine—which is essential. Healthy churches have their collective eyes open and are always paying attention to the new winds of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said he would never leave or abandon us. Are we abandoning him?

Dennis Atwood is the pastor of FBC Mount Olive. This article originally appeared on his blog.

Why I Love Being a Youth Minister

by Rev. Felicia Fox

Here are ten moments that have reminded me why I love being a youth minister:

10) Having a middle school boy ask me if my name means “awesome.” I had just told my class to pay attention to names in the Bible because they give clues about the people. Felicia really means happy.


9) Having to look at cuts, bruises, and scrapes because my youth want to tell me the story behind them. If it is important to them, it becomes important to me even if it makes me want to throw up.


8) Having a teenage girl text me when she’s having a bad day because she needs an adult to listen to her and she knows I will.


7) Playing a crazy game like Murder or Zoinks that will insure tons of laughter. That’s my secret to staying young.


6) Having a student ask me a really hard question about the Bible because he is reading it all the way through. He even read Leviticus. Those were some hard questions.


5) A youth walking past me in the hall at church and singing a song because they know it will get stuck in my head the rest of the day. This usually happens right before I head to worship.


4) Talking to my students about the new movie coming out only to have them tell me who dies in it. Now I don’t have to go see the new G.I. Joe movie. I already know the ending.


3) Hearing my youth talk openly and honestly about where they are in their relationships with God during our
FLASH meetings.


2) Having a parent share a story about something their kid did that is directly related to what you have been talking to them about during Bible study.


1) Seeing a student have a “light bulb moment” when they finally understand something about faith they have been struggling with.


These are just a few reasons I love my job. Check back later for the list of reasons I don’t always love my job.

Felicia Fox is the Minister of Youth and Children at First Baptist Church of Mount Olive, NC. This article originally appeared on her blog.

What Do You Have?

By Rev. Mark Reece

The account of Jesus feeding the 5,000 is the only miracle story that we find in all four of the gospel narratives.  In the Gospel of Mark, the story is found in the sixth chapter.  Jesus instructed the disciples to go out to a deserted place and rest.

They were apparently tired and had been so busy that they didn’t even have time to eat.  But there was no rest for the tired disciples because there was a multitude of people who were hungry for what Jesus had to offer.  They recognized the disciples who traveled by boat.  Apparently the crowd was so anxious to see Jesus that they took the long route around the water and beat them to the shore.  The text says in verse 34 that Jesus “had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.”

The disciples on the other hand didn’t initially share in Jesus’ compassion.  They were ready to eat their food and they were tired.  They had a little food for themselves. So they commanded Jesus to send the crowds away from them to find their own food and rest.  Jesus’ response is one of the most powerful in all of the New Testament record:  “Give them something to eat.”  They were bewildered.  How were they going to come up with anything for all of these needy people?  Jesus offers another powerful response.  Essentially he says we’re going to use the resources that we have.  So they went and discovered that they only had five loaves and two fish.  And Jesus took what they had and he went to work.  Jesus blessed what they had.  He took the loaves, gave them to the disciples to “set before the people.”  He divided the fish among them all.  

There is much more to this story than a miracle if we pay particular attention to the dialogue present between Jesus and the disciples.  He’s teaching them what it means to serve when you’re running out of steam.  Indeed, this is the Jesus who feeds the physically hungry throughout the Gospels.  The hunger emphasis in this passage is not limited to our physical hunger though.  It was not physical hunger that drew the crowds to follow Jesus.  As soon as Jesus got off the boat he fed them with his teaching.  The disciples thought they were going away to a deserted place where they could rest and keep Jesus all to themselves.  The disciples thought they could call a big “time-out” on their mission and be comfortable for a while.  But the sense of urgency that we find all throughout the Gospel of Mark takes root in Jesus’ command: “Give them something to eat.”  

This passage is really all about sharing, an interpretation I first heard from Barbara Brown Taylor.  God has called us as a church to share what we have and not keep it to ourselves.  We share our food through the Community Garden, Friendship Meal and the Foothills Food Pantry.  We’re also called to share every dimension of our church campus with those who have spiritual and physical hunger.  There are no exceptions to feeding the hungry when it comes to those sheep without a shepherd.  They’re close to the heart of Jesus.  When I look at the world and our community I often wonder if we have the resources to even make a dent in our society.  Then I look at this passage and I’m reminded that Jesus took the resources that they had and he accomplished something great.  Without Jesus’ help, all the disciples had were two loaves and five pieces of fish.  But with Jesus, they had more power than they ever imagined.  Who is hungry this week?  What is their hunger?  Jesus says “give them something to eat.”

Mark Reece is the pastor of Piney Grove Baptist Church in Mount Airy, NC. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, The Grove.

Preaching in the Inventive Age – A Review

by Rev. Laura Barclay

Preaching in the Inventive Age by Doug Pagitt is a book that encourages ministers to think outside the box on sermon preparation and delivery in the 21^st century church. The inventive age (explained more in the precursor to this book Church and the Inventive Age, which I review here), is what he refers to as this age, where many people are accustomed to contributing and creating their own content in online communities. Because people are comfortable with participatory involvement elsewhere, the church should be adapting its leadership structure to be less authoritarian in style and function.

Pagitt posits that traditional sermonizing is really “speaching,” where a pastor is talking at someone from their own experience, or worse, from the experience of outdated commentaries. Rather than hold all the power and knowledge for ourselves, what if ministers allowed the congregation to shape the sermon? He gives several options for how to accomplish this, including having an open meeting earlier in the week where the pastor facilitates a discussion about the text he or she is going to going to preach the following Sunday. A pastor could also have a question and response time after their sermons or gather after the textual reading and knit together all the comments into a conclusion. Pagitt says that the more invested people are in the experience, the more they will see God’s story as their own, rather than struggle to find personal applicability in Sunday worship.

Pagitt also encourages us to reorient our worship space, where all seats are facing the pulpit and the pastor is the only one with the microphone. He challenges the reader by affirming the priesthood of all believers but stating that our church structures and functions only serve to reiterate hierarchy. What if we had a roundtable format instead?

This book is very easy to read and approach. There is a lot of white space and pull quotes because Pagitt wants you to be able to write your own reflection and add to his thoughts. He is insistent that he isn’t right about everything and he wants your input to evolve his own ideas. This book was a bit repetitive, but I suspect that is because he encourages the reader to flip around, not necessarily in chronological order. Pagitt does this because he wanted the structure of his book to support his thesis.  

I think Pagitt’s ideas are well worth reading because he vigilant and proactive about new and more holistic ways of doing church that involve listening and valuing the voices of everyone in our congregations. I believe the key to moving our congregations forward in the 21^st century involves listening to one another’s stories and experiences and learning to value one another in community. Isn’t this what Jesus was about? 

Want to learn more? You can read more and order Preaching in the Inventive Age here: http://www.amazon.com/Preaching-Inventive-Age-Doug-Pagitt/dp/1451401485. You can find out more about Doug Pagitt, speaker, pastor, and radio host here: www.dougpagitt.com.

"Can We Talk?" - Reflections on the Recent Sexuality and Covenant Conference

Rev. Dr. Larry Hovis

For fifty years, comedienne Joan Rivers has made a living off of the question, “Can We Talk?” Her comedy routines typically involve injecting this question into her monologues on humorous subjects that are sometimes taboo. Of course, she doesn’t really expect an answer to her question. She always talks.

National CBF and the Mercer University Center for Theology and Public Life should be commended for initiating a conversation on a subject that is central to our humanity, and therefore to Christian spirituality and discipleship, but unfortunately, is rarely discussed in the church. The conference planners tried to make clear that the purpose of the conference was not to develop policies or make proclamations. Still, anxiety was on high alert in some quarters of the CBF community prior to the conference, out of fear that the conference was simply a smokescreen for launching a particular agenda. Those fears were unfounded.

Though one of the most controversial subjects of our day, homosexuality, was not the focus of the conference, it was on the minds of most conference participants. Plenary sessions, however, covered a wide range of sexuality-related topics, including: identity; discernment; historical and theological resources; covenant; contemporary sociological realities; human sex trafficking; sexual behavior and challenges among young adults, single adults and senior adults; and yes, homosexuality.

Plenary presentations were bracketed by worship, including singing and silence, encouraging conferees to open themselves to the voice of the Spirit. The tone was that of respectful listening and seeking understanding, not antagonistic debate.

A particularly helpful element of the conference was the establishment of Covenant Community Groups. These groups of around fifteen persons met for five dialogue sessions, where we could process and discuss the presentations we heard in plenary sessions. I was surprised at the depth of sharing and the mature level of Christian community our group was able to develop in a short period of time. The conference design of a rhythm between large plenary presentations and small group discussion should be considered for conferences on other topics, as well.

My reflections on the conference have led me to draw several conclusions:

First, this was a courageous first step in resourcing congregations and the CBF community to engage a critically important topic for our time, one which we have neglected, to our peril, for far too long.

Second, my sense (admittedly very subjective) is that those of us who embrace a more traditional sexual ethic (sexual intercourse is only properly expressed within the covenant of marriage) were a minority at the conference. This was not the fault of the conference planners, but because many “CBF regulars” simply chose not to attend. I hope they will participate in this conversation in the future.

Third, I left the conference wanting more in-depth biblical and theological reflection on the topic of sexuality. North Carolina’s own Guy Sayles (pastor of FBC Asheville) delivered a thoughtful presentation on discerning God’s voice, with a creative treatment of the encounter between Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. As a people bound together by the Lordship of Christ and the authority of the Scriptures, our efforts to faithfully explore sexuality, even in our contemporary context, must be rooted in the Bible.

During the first dialogue session with my Covenant Community Group, I confessed that as a pastor and a CBF leader (and I think this true for most of us), I have had a “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy with regards to not just one aspect of sexuality, but with all things related to sexuality. This conference was a needed first step to change that reality.

“Can we talk?” As faithful followers of Jesus– “the word [which] became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14), the high priest who is able to sympathize our weaknesses and invites us to approach God’s throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help with all our needs (Hebrews 4:15-16)–we can and we must.

Larry Hovis is the Executive Coordinator of CBFNC. Watch video of the speakers on CBF’s Vimeo Channel. Feel free to utilize them in your own church discussions on sexuality!

Related article:
Why I'm Glad We're Having a Discussion on Sexuality by Laura Barclay, CBFNC Social Ministries Coordinator

Pilgrim Practices - A Review

by Rev. Laura Barclay

Pilgrim Practices: Discipleship for a Missional Church by Kristopher Norris is book that posits “discipleship is primarily an identity and is formed and practices in and through the church community” (xvi). The way that one forms that identity is through pilgrimage and practice, ancient ways that can and should be renewed in the current social context. After identifying American hyper-individualism as a paradox to the church as the body of Christ and a communal path of missional discipleship as expressed in the book of James, Norris outlines eight pilgrim practices for discipleship: believing, listening, welcoming, committing, speaking wisely, witnessing, caring, and praying.

I resonated the most with Norris’ chapter on welcoming. Norris identifies hospitality as one of the issues with which the church has struggled the most and longest. Since Christianity became a dominant religion, it has struggled with how to treat the poor, as well as its role in fostering racism, sexism, heterosexism , and other –isms from which the greater culture suffers. I was particularly taken with his interpretation of James 2:1-8, where James states that a congregation should not favor a person “wearing …fine clothes” over dirty ones. Norris exegetes that the rich person is a wealthy politician that can do favorable things for the congregation and the poor person is pushed to the side because he can only bring himself and that is seen as a burden. Norris challenges us to look beyond alliances between church and state and the identities that society places on us and embrace the radical hospitality of Jesus, who insists that the poor are blessed and that the rich are on notice.

Also intriguing was his chapter called "Witnessing: I Pledge Allegiance," where he encourages us to be Christians first and then Americans, Southerners, sports fans, etc. He encourages Christians to step outside politics and be more proactive and hands-on to solve problems as churches. I agree with much of this, as the Church engaged in real world problems coheres to the vision of the kingdom of God. I would caution that churches still need to be vigilant and active in the political realm in a non-partisan way on issues like religious liberty and speak truth to power on issues of justice that can only be overcome by overturning unjust policies. I would venture to say that Norris would agree at least on the church taking prophetic stances, based on his statements in the subsequent "Caring" chapter quoting Martin Luther King, Jr. and urging churches to speak against war.

Kristopher Norris writes with great thoughtfulness and wit (I laughed out loud when he referenced Ben Stiller’s attempt at prayer in Meet the Parents) about reclaiming practices that are absolutely necessary for the church to embrace transformational discipleship. I recommend this to churches that are looking to do a study on discipleship. The questions at the back of the book can help facilitate group discussion. Norris’ writing, while solidly researched, is appealing to both ministers and laity, and his humor, compassion, and pacing makes this a quick and enjoyable read.

You can get more information and order Pilgrim Practices here: https://wipfandstock.com/store/Pilgrim_Practices_Discipleship_for_a_Missional_Church

Putting the "Union" Back in Communion

by Rev. Jason Blanton

I need to begin this blog by saying right up front, "I don't know what it is like to have a hierarchy tell me what I can/should/must do in my church as a pastor." I say that so that you won't think I am pretending to know what it is like to minister as a Catholic priest, receiving directives from on high that my own personal understanding of The Way may or may not agree with.

I have noticed a troubling trend in recent years surrounding communion. I'm only 35, so it may not even be that recent, but in my memory, in the last decade or so, it has become more and more common for local parishes to refuse communion to politicians who were not Pro-Life (or anti-abortion) enough. The thinking being that abortion is a sin, and therefore a politician that isn't sufficiently opposed to that sin must answer for the sin as well, which would put them out of Grace, as best I understand Catholic theology.

Then, last week I read this. In case you don't feel like clicking the link, the story goes like this: A woman's mother died. She and her family are Catholic, and so obviously the service was held in her local parish and performed by the local priest. When it came time to take communion, the priest refused to serve the woman. Why? Because she is a lesbian. Apparently her sin is so great in the mind of this local Catholic priest, she doesn't even deserve communion at her own mother's funeral. He refused her publicly, with a rebuke of her lifestyle. At her mother's funeral.

Now, before I get to my thought on this, I should say, this isn't an attack on the Catholic church. In fact, the Bishop who is over this local priest has already apologized. I want to be clear, this kind of thinking is pervasive in many churches, it just so happens that Communion plays a larger role in the theology of the Catholic Church, and so it makes it an even bigger refusal.

Now, here is my one and only thought when I heard this story: Jesus didn't even refuse Judas. Jesus sat at the table, establishing the meal that we call Communion, Lord's Supper, Eucharist, knowing full well that He had been betrayed. You would think that if ever there was a sin so grievous to deserve a refusal of fellowship with Christ, it would be the sin of betrayal. Yet there they sat, Judas and Jesus, hands dipping in the same bowl - and Jesus never says, "I'm sorry Judas, you are a sinner and so you can't participate in this meal. You aren't worthy to fellowship with us here."

Jesus didn't even refuse Judas.

Think about that next time you think there are people who don't deserve to eat at your table.

Jason Blanton is the pastor of Grace Crossing in Charlotte . This article originally appeared on his blog, http://jasonblanton.blogspot.com/.

Why I’m Glad We’re Having a Discussion on Sexuality

by Rev. Laura Barclay

In the conservative Southern Baptist Church in which I grew up, as well as the non-denominational Christian high school I attended, discussions of sex were taboo. The one conversation I remember about sex took place in high school health class which covered dating etiquette, then skipped straight to scaring us with slides of STDs. You can imagine how unprepared I was for life on a public school college campus.

This reality is all too common as many schools don’t follow mandatory sex education policies and churches have long been afraid to bring up any issues of sexuality in church. Because the word itself brings a host of feelings like shame and secrecy, it’s no wonder that many articles and comments about the Baptist Conference on Sexuality and Covenant are centering around LGBT issues. We who are heterosexual don’t want to discuss or admit to needing to have a comprehensive discussion in our churches about sex. It’s much easier to “other” this issue and make it a discussion solely about gays and lesbians. This conference will cover a wide range of topics in addition to LGBT issues that reflect the realities of our time, including high divorce rates, elder sexuality, delayed marriage and cohabitation of couples.

The truth is that we badly need this discussion. All churches need this discussion. Church should be a safe place where youth and young adults can come with questions that aren’t getting answered elsewhere, or are getting answered in unhealthy ways by media and uninformed peers. Youth ministers I’ve known who were brave enough to have these discussions found that their youth were willing to come to them with questions they could never feel comfortable asking parents or teachers. I wish I had access to such a place during those confusing teenage years.

And, yes, I’m going to name the elephant in the room. CBF National has a hiring policy that excludes gays and lesbians from employment. Many, including myself, don’t agree with it, but many others are comfortable with it. But guess what? This conference on Sexuality and Covenant is not to debate this policy, but to provide a starting point for discussion about a wide range of sexuality issues and we badly need a first step. We are taking that first step together, which will produce fruitful dialogue and church resources before any discussions on policy take place down the road. We are a fellowship of people who can disagree on issues and still come together for missions and ministry in the name of Christ. I’m glad to be in an environment like CBF where social issues don’t tear us apart like 21st century American political parties. We are kingdom people who cross bridges rather than dig trenches. Let’s remember that…and let’s talk.

If you'd like to be a part of the Baptist Conference on Sexuality and Covenant at First Baptist Church of Decatur, GA, on April 19-21, please register here: https://www.thefellowship.info/conference. Registration closes April 16.

Running Lessons

by Dr. Guy Sayles

It has been odd but good: over the last month or so, when I have been jogging through town, people have spontaneously decided to join me. I’m still not sure why. Maybe it’s because I was moving so slowly, they liked the idea of winning an easy race. Or maybe I looked so winded and in pain, they thought I might need them to call 911. I don’t know why they joined me, but I am glad they did.

I was running on Hilliard, just past the Orange Peel, and a young man carrying a backpack jogged with me for about five minutes. I couldn’t understand very well what he was saying to me as we went up and down the Hilliard hills, but he said something about being in training for the army and something about not being in very good shape. When he decided to drop back to walking, he thanked me for the company.

I was running up Market Street, near the Thomas Wolfe House, and an older man I know from the streets called-out, “Hey, Rev, let me run with you.” I said, “Come on.” He had on heavy shoes, and he seemed to have had a liquid breakfast and lunch, but he ran with me for a couple of blocks. We talked briefly about how getting older, with all its aches and pains, is better only than the alternative. We mostly laughed at ourselves.

Then, this past Thursday evening, as I was coming down College Street, I passed a young man and a little boy, father and son, who were walking. The boy was 4 or 5 years old. He was wearing blue jeans, a t-shirt, a leather-like jacket, and tennis shoes that lit-up with each step he took. As I passed them, the boy started running, too. It stunned his dad, who started jogging along behind us, and it surprised me. His dad said, “He’s just so excited to run; I hope you don’t mind.” I told him I thought it was one of the best things that had happened to me that day. I matched my pace to the little boy’s who would run like crazy for a while and then slow down almost to a walk. I told him how fast he was and how cool his shoes were. As with my older friend on Market Street, more than anything else, we just laughed. I’m not even exactly sure what we laughed about what, other than how weird but wonderful it was, that three people who didn’t know each other at all managed to play for a few minutes.

I’ve been surprised how much those runners have been on my mind. That young man with difficult speech, reporting to the army: What will happen to him? Will he make it through basic training? If he does, what kind of role will the army give him? I’m guessing, from the quick impressions I got, that there won’t be a lot of options for him. Will he, before long, be doing grunt work of some kind in harm’s way in Afghanistan? Did he enlist because he wanted to or because it was his last chance, a kind of forced choice? Do his parents know he’s enlisted? What are they feeling?

And, my friend from the streets is someone I have been seeing around town for some years now. I don’t know a lot about him, but I know he’s a Vietnam vet who saw bitter action in Cambodia, and that he was never the same after he came back home. I don’t think much is going to change for him; I am not even sure how much he believes things can or should change. I know that he sometimes drinks too much to forget for a while his days in the killing fields and to numb the shock he still feels over how those days changed him.

When the air turns cold and the wind howls through downtown, I will be worried about him and the other homeless men and women who will scramble to stay warm. I wonder what it feels like to spend most of everyday trying to figure out how to get enough of whatever it is they think they need.

And, what about that little boy and his young father? What will their futures be like? I don’t know, but I hope and pray that, whatever happens, whatever success they enjoy and failure they endure, they will always feel free to break into a run and to laugh for no reason at all with a complete stranger. The pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson said that the one gift all children should have is “a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.” I hope that little boy will keep his sense of wonder. I know he won’t always wear light-up shoes, but I hope he will always know that he shines and the world is radiant. Such wonder belongs, though we lose track of it, to all God’s children—all of us.

In my every-day life—hurrying in and out of stores and restaurants, hustling from one meeting to the next, rushing from one event to another, and scrambling to get tasks crossed-off my to-do list—I run past people. I miss their stories, their hurts and hopes, their disappointments and dreams. I miss chances to cry and to laugh, to listen and to talk, to know and be known, to help and be helped, to love and be loved. I’m busy and preoccupied, so I miss a lot. I especially miss opportunities to experience Jesus, to offer and receive him, in encounters with the people I run by.

How much of my hurrying—how much of yours?—is driven by confusion about the purpose of life and by a distorted understanding of what it means to be successful?

Guy Sayles is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Asheville, NC. This article was originally posted on his blog, From the Intersection.

Reflection on Cutting Edge Relationship Tools

by Dr. David Rayburn

One of the ways that God loves each of God's children (and we all are God’s children, even those who do not believe) is by giving good gifts. Those gifts include making the sun to shine and the rain to come on the good and the bad alike. People that are atheists who are gardeners have wonderful gardens. There are thousands of ways God gives good gifts to us all. These gifts often include world-shaping ideas. It has not been only Christians who have come up with brilliant and universally helpful inventions or made vitally important discoveries. People from every philosophy, theology, ideology, and nation have provided these things.

What saddens me, however, is that I am encountering with greater frequency people having experiences and developing practices, especially when it comes to human relationships and interactions, outside of the church that they should be getting from the church. I am learning about people-skill tools, wisdom and discernment tools, and conflict resolution tools that are being created and developed by non-Christians outside the church. These should come from inside the church because of the way that we should be loving one another.

Why is it that the perception of so many about the church is that it is a place of disharmony, dissension, and mean-spirited fighting? Why are we not on the forefront of showing people what love, unity, and edification mean? But more important than these questions is the one that asks, “How can we become a place that is on the forefront of love, unity, and education?”

David Rayburn is that pastor of First Baptist Church of Black Mountain, and this article originally appeared in their church newsletter, The Builder.

When the Last Laugh Is Not Yours

by Dr. Greg Rogers

Editor’s Note: Oakmont Baptist Church voted to purchase a neighboring apartment complex in order to be on mission in the community. Since then, they have been engaged in and continually discerning how best to use this property for the good of the community and Kingdom of God.

Since we purchased Oakmont Square Apartments in August 2007, I have heard countless people make the same statement and then ask the same question, almost in the same breath: “I know we didn’t buy those apartments to be in the ‘apartment business,' but I really do think God wanted us to have them for some purpose. So what’s the purpose for our owning them?"

If you had been a fly on the wall during our first Oakmont Square Apartment (OSA) Vision Team meeting on February 6, you might have reached the same conclusion that this team is reaching: perhaps God’s ultimate purpose for our owning them is already being seen in how we are using them now.

This Vision Team idea was birthed during our last coaching session on January 9 with CBFNC Church and Clergy Coach Eddie Hammett as a way of continuing the conversation on future next steps for our church to build more “go to” structures into our community. It is composed of 11 lay persons and three ministers, who either volunteered or were suggested by other people to serve on this team following our January 23 church-wide prayer meeting.

Our coaching sessions with Eddie led us to identify three target groups – at risk families, college students, and senior adults – for whom we might seek to address their educational, vocational, medical, and spiritual needs. The Vision Team dreamed about what is already happening and what could happen when we viewed the apartments as a “hub” of missions and ministry into our local community. Here are just a few of the possibilities the Vision Team considered:

• medical clinics staffed by Oakmonters skilled in the healing of the body.
• creating an Intentional College Community where a college intern (divinity school student) would work with college students, and develop them into leaders focused on spiritual growth and missional service to the community and world.
• after-school tutoring for children, a ministry that is already occurring at the apartments under the capable leadership of a gifted team of Oakmont members.
• providing affordable housing for at-risk families and/or senior adults.
• a host of programs to grow a person spiritually as a follower of Jesus.

An interesting thought occurred to us all as we envisioned the possibilities: being in the “apartment business” may accomplish some or all of the above possibilities, placing us exactly where God wants us after all. If that’s the case just slightly, then God has a funny sense of humor and may have the last laugh on us before it’s all over.

Greg Rogers is the pastor of Oakmont Baptist Church in Greenville, NC. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, “Connections.”

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

                                                          by Rev. Laura Barclay
 Yesterday, I attended a Martin Luther King, Jr., march in downtown Winston-Salem. We sang songs along the route from Mount Zion Baptist Church to Winston-Salem State University. It would have been easy for us to end there, pat ourselves on the back for getting together as a community and call it a day. Instead, the march led us to the first-annual program sponsored by the Martin Luther King, Jr., Coalition (made up of several local non-profit groups). This group realized that we could take some extra time to further MLK’s dream of a just and equal society.

We all filed into Anderson Auditorium and listened to community leaders talk about problematic issues in our neighborhoods before we broke up into workshops. One leader shared that while the 2008 infant-mortality rate was at an all time low in North Carolina, it was at a 15-year high in Winston-Salem. The workshops covered topics from the Racial Justice Act to inequities in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Public Schools. Once the brief educational sessions concluded, attendees helped leaders come up with action plans to move forward on the issues. People made commitments to continue to meet, contact city leaders, and increase parental involvement in their schools. Additional meetings will take place throughout the spring with a progress report meeting in May.

This group realized that it’s easy to remember and be grateful for Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s even easier to think that we’ve already accomplished his dream. The challenging work is to roll up our sleeves, become educated about problems that effect people in our community, and work toward positive change. What is your community doing to make King’s dream a reality? What can you do to help?

Proof of Faith

by Rev. Jack Darida

A recent poll demonstrates public confusion concerning President Barack Obama’s faith. President Obama consistently professes to be a Christian. However, poll numbers demonstrate a change in public perception. In 2009, 11 percent of the public believed the President was Muslim. This year that number increased to 18 percent. Why is this? Maybe it is because these people do not like his positions and refuse to embrace his Christian profession. The White House claims there is a concerted effort to distort the President’s faith. I choose not to get into the middle of this controversy. If the President professes faith in Christ, I take him at his word. Nevertheless, the confusion over President Obama’s faith brings up a significant question. If people who know you were polled, how many would question your Christianity?

How do you tell whether someone is a Christian? Jesus told His disciples that the world would know they were His followers by their love. Love is the quintessential mark of the Christian. If you are a loving person, your friends might recognize you as a Christian.

Another acid test for Christianity is your belief system. If you believe the Bible is the Word of God, and live your life according to its principles, your friends might recognize you as a Christian. True Christians are serious about living out their faith. Doctrine is not dry and meaningless. Doctrine comes alive through the life of the believer in Christ.

Followers of Christ also have a habit of talking about Him. Christian speech is salty, sometimes causing unbelievers to take notice. When you are in a loving relationship with someone who means everything to you, you can’t help but include him in your conversations.

What about the church? While attending church does not guarantee you are a believer in Christ, the committed believer in Christ will be committed to His body. A couple of years ago, the Barna research group discovered that over half of professing Christians in the United States do not attend church. Dan Kimball reflects this in the title of his book about a new generation of believers: “They Like Jesus but Not the Church.” In spite of the trend, it is important for believers in Jesus Christ to worship, fellowship, learn, grow, and experience life together. The majority of the New Testament applies to a community and loses its force when directed only to the individual. Observable Christians actively plug themselves in to Christ’s body, the church. Perhaps consistent video clips of President Obama leading his family to church for worship would lay any questions to rest.

Someone once asked the question, “If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” Christ-like love, living what you believe, salty speech, and a commitment to church togetherness would all stand up nicely in the court of public opinion.

Jack Darida is the pastor of Quaker Gap Baptist Church in King, NC. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, The Messenger.

Church as a Healthy Community

by Dr. Steve Bolton

The church, in spite of her ideals, has not always been a healthy environment. Too often personal politics, dysfunctional family and community dynamics, and failure to follow scriptural guidelines create dissension and division in the body of Christ. Parker Palmer wrote a book back in 1980 entitled, "Going Public," in which he outlined his vision of the ideal community and how it should function. It seems to me that when talking about any ideal community one has to consider the community of faith, the church, and her successful and not so successful efforts over the centuries to provide a people and a place where Christians from all walks of life can join and feel that they belong. Loren Mead (The Once and Future Church, The Alban Institute, p. 179ff) has suggested that Palmer's principle characteristics of an ideal community are relevant to any church, and in fact, may only be possible with the gifts which the Spirit of God has provided His people. See what you think. According to Palmer, in a healthy community:

1. Strangers meet on common ground. In a world where children are taught not to speak to strangers and people are suspicious of "new folk," Christians have a deeply seated tradition of practicing hospitality, welcoming new people, and making them feel wanted. Even more so, Christians are called to the kind of openness and friendliness that crosses social and cultural barriers to meet needs and engage people on behalf of the good news of Christ. Healthy congregations always resist their community paranoia and prejudices about others not "like us." They face up to their fears of the stranger and risk a relationship based on mutual faith in Christ and His Lordship.

2. Scarce resources are shared and abundance is generated. In a world where its every person for him or herself, where it seems the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the healthy church is a generous and a giving fellowship. Everyone gives generously in proportion to their resources out of a heart of gratitude for what God has given and done for us in Jesus Christ. Giving and meeting needs for the common ministry and mission of Christ is a way of life for healthy churches. The generous church becomes a blessing to the world and such a church is blessed because of its members' open hands and open hearts.

3. Conflict occurs and is resolved. We all are aware that the public arena can be a seething cauldron of perpetual conflict. With different ideas, different ways, and different personalities conflict is inevitable whenever two or three are gathered together. Fighting seems to go on forever between persons, clans, races, and political opponents. Some fights are the knock down, drag out, and win-lose kind. Others become the seething, long-term grudge bearing types of broken relationships. The healthy congregation has learned, however to listen carefully and to treat each other with respect. They always try hard to communicate caring, and, with God's help, use their energies to seek and find forgiveness, working toward consensus and reconciliation rather than competition.

Steve Bolton is the pastor of Oxford Baptist Church in Oxford, NC. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, "The Forecaster."

New Year's Reflection

by Rev. Laura Barclay

John: 1-5, 12: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What had come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it…But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God (NRSV).

What really strikes me in this lectionary New Year’s text is John’s vision of Jesus as a light against the darkness who enlightens his children, whom the author says are given power to be “children of God.” Such language conjures up images of Lord of the Ring, with Frodo facing the dreadful gates of Mordor, or the movie Gladiator, with Maximus alone having the courage to challenge a corrupt emperor. It brings to mind epic sagas of far off and exotic places. But let’s examine the world and context in which our author was writing.

According to scholars, the community of John’s followers had recently undergone a split. Theological differences arose between those who believed that Jesus was both human and deity, and those who believed he was all-deity. This community splintered and separated, and those left behind were wounded, broken, and left nursing their wounds from the fracture in the body of Christ. These people in John’s community, the legacy of the beloved disciple, saw themselves as inheritors of the legacy of Christ. It was up to them to teach who Jesus really was and share the hope that came from Jesus’ incarnation.

The pain of John’s community at the bickering and separation of their own seeps onto the paper but it doesn’t define them. They share the love of God who became human in Jesus and experienced the pain of rejection like John’s community. And, I believe they found salvation in embracing that hopeful love that reorients them facing ever outward in a broken world.

Because of the importance of the task at hand, this monumental story they have to tell, they speak of the light and the darkness—loaded metaphors for good and evil, being in the presence of God and outside of it. The darkness is a vast and seemingly formless void, just like what God witnessed at the beginning of everything. Yet the light of hope we see in Christ shines through the ages and guides us into community and toward one another. We are the presence of Christ and hope in the world, because Jesus gave us the power to be God’s children.

And that is the power of community. Like John’s community, we’ve experienced fractures. Whether denominationally, ideologically, or economically, these last few years have not been easy. But that’s the great thing about a new year. We look to God and know that no matter how much we’ve been bogged down in recessions, unemployment, war, health care debates, and the unseemly partisan rhetoric of the world around us, we have the power as the children of God to set a new tone. We can’t keep bad things from happening, but we can react with love. Together, we can be an unfailing light that fights back the darkness of despair. We can exit our church walls after the 11:00 o’clock sermon is over and vow to continually help our neighbors and share our love with them.

We must bring hope, peace, love and joy beyond the walls of the churches and religious buildings to which our faith too often remains confined. John Chapter 1 is an encouraging reminder to go forth—we have an example to follow! That example is a poor Jewish baby born 2,000 years ago who had the courage to love. That blessed child walked with God and exhibited love to everyone. It wasn’t a polite, meek love, regardless of his humble beginnings. It was a love that challenged the times, threatened the status quo, and overturned (sometimes literally) the position and power of those in religious and political authority. It was a love that called him to heal, embrace, lift up, and teach. He crossed social boundaries to show that love. What a powerful teacher we have in that child, who gave hope to a world wrought with suffering, oppression, slavery, and death. Let us remember to shine our light in the darkness, no matter how overwhelming. Let us remember that together, our lights shine brighter to overcome the darkness of brokenness, exclusion, hunger, injustice and poverty. Let us have the courage to love as Jesus loved and loves us still. Let us be open to the love of others. Let that be our resolution.

Getting To Know Your Neighbor

by Rev. Laura Barclay

Last night, I attended the Metro Council of Churches meeting for C.H.A.N.G.E. (Communities Helping All Neighbors Gain Empowerment), an intentionally multi-racial, multi-faith, non-partisan organization that brings churches, non-profits, and neighborhood associations together to solve identified community problems through collaborative research. We then meet with corporate leaders and government officials to challenge them to work with us toward a solution. Delegates representing each of our churches met last night, and one of our activities was to find a person you don’t know and ask them the following questions:

1) Why are you here?
2) What makes you angry/get up in the morning/lose sleep at night?

We had 25 minutes to make a new friend. I paired up with the Liberian-American gentleman sitting to my right representing an African-American Missionary Baptist church. I learned what worried and angered him, why he cared about making a difference in Winston-Salem, and what he’d like to see changed. We had similar values and concerns. Perhaps the most profound thing he said was, “I see this as God’s work. We can say it in church and not live it. Here, we are living Jesus’ example and caring about each other.” He also said that getting to know one another makes it harder to make generalizations about a person based on skin color. Once you get to know one another and trust that you both want to work side by side to make positive change, you realize how much you have in common. Suddenly, the fractures in the body of Christ don’t seem so deep.

The point of the exercise was to connect the members of C.H.A.N.G.E. on a deeper level and to cause you to care about your neighbors even more than the issues you might organize around. You stick with social justice work because you know and love your neighbor, and want to continue to work by their side. I think churches could learn a lot from this model for two main reasons. First, a healthy church should be missional and engaged in the work of the community. Staying enclosed behind the walls of the church in a self-contained community is not what Jesus asked of us. Second, I think church members should have relational meetings with each other and non-church members in their community. In this way, stories become intertwined in the larger narrative of God’s people working through history to be a light to the world. So, go have coffee with someone you don’t know very well. Have lunch with that person you always wanted to know better. You might find out that you aren’t so different after all, and that you can work together “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God [Micah 6:8].”