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| View videos of the 2011 TBC Breakfast at the BGCT in Amarillo: | Bill Jones' TBC Update | Entire program | |
TBC Update - February 2012
View Bill Jones' TBC update at TBC Breakfast in October 2011
On January 1, Bill Jones began his second year as associate executive director.
From January through May 2011, TBC produced 71 Baptist Briefs videos, each lasting 2 to 3 minutes, on Baptist history and principles. The full set of 71 Baptist Briefs videos is now available on DVD to any individual who makes a $75 donation; and to any church upon request by the church office.
On May 11 of last year, we published and emailed the first edition of TBC Midweek Baptist Roundup, which is emailed weekly to all of our friends and supporters. Join our email list.
On October 25, we held our first TBC Breakfast at the BGCT in 3 years. Over 100 attended and heard our keynote speaker, Ellis Orozco, pastor of First Baptist Church, Richardson.
Our Board is continuing to develop new initiatives for carrying out our mission. If we at TBC can be of assistance to you or your church, please contact Bill Jones at bjones@txbc.org or 214-986-7136.
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Conversation . . . Can we try it?
by Bill Jones
TBC Associate Executive Director
(from TBC Midweek Baptist Roundup, February 1 , 2012)
Amy Butler, senior pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Washington, DC, has written an excellent column that appears this week on the Associated Baptist Press Web site. One of the points she makes in What is good preaching? is that
"good preaching is, at its most influential and meaningful core, conversational. That is, if you are up front preaching a sermon, it better have relevance and meaning, dialogue and interplay with the voices of your people. . . . I want them to feel that they are part of a conversation, not just witnesses to a performance."
I think there's an important implication there . . . that, in order to give her sermons relevance and meaning to the lives of her listeners, she has obviously listened to them first.
What passes for "conversing" today is too often simply stating one's opinion - often forcefully and dogmatically - without stopping to listen to, and consider, what the other person has to say.
A number of years ago, there was a TV show called Hashing It Out. Two Christian ministers from opposite ends of the political spectrum - Steve Brown, a self-styled political conservative, and Tony Campolo, a self-styled political liberal - sat across from each other at a table in a diner each week and "hashed out" a couple of political issues. There was always a vigorous give-and-take, but no blustering, no haranguing, no personal attacks, even though the disagreements were very real and often very stark. You could always tell, in the midst of their arguments, that these two men - despite the gaping chasm that separated them politically - respected and loved each other as brothers in Christ. What united them was greater than what divided them.
The end result? A lot of light was shed - from both sides - on the issues being discussed, but very little heat. (A collection culled from these shows is now available on DVD.)
I recently wrote, in this space, just a little about my own faith journey from the time I lost my faith as a college student. During the 40 years since then, God has brought many people into my life, people who had something to offer, here and there, in terms of giving me fresh perspectives to mull over. Today I have several friends with whom I dialogue regularly; I try to meet each one over coffee once every few weeks. It helps me to hear different perspectives and remind me that I can't afford to ever get stuck where I am spiritually; I always need others to challenge me to hear fresh words from the Lord.
We need more conversation in our life. As Christians, we can't afford to go it alone.
In our Baptist opinion section this week, you'll see a link to an article, written by David Gushee of Mercer University, entitled "Sex and Covenant Conference a Rare Opportunity."
The "rare opportunity" to which he refers is an open and candid conversation about a subject that has more often - when broached in public - been the subject of either whisper or bombast than of open and honest conversation.
But that tends to be true of our discussions concerning not only sex but other subjects as well, such as taxes, theology, and religious freedom, just to name a few.
I commend CBF and David Gushee for initiating this discussion on "sex and covenant." We need an open discussion of this subject within the Baptist community.
One person recently emailed me, insisting that the only subject on which Christians should focus is "winning people to Jesus." But, frankly, such advice is contrary to Jesus' own life and teachings. Jesus ministered to the whole person, because He recognized that a person's soul takes in more than just salvation. Our souls deal daily with challenges of all kinds - spiritual, physical, social - and Jesus cares about all of our concerns. If we are to be faithful to our calling in Christ, we will care about evangelism but not at the expense of meeting people's other needs.
Although the kind of conversation being urged here is often hard to find in the midst of the noise around us, it's not absent. Every week, I read - and link to in the Baptist opinion section of the Roundup - op-ed columns, from numerous sources, written by serious thinkers who strive to shed light, rather than heat, on critical issues of the day, be they theological, political, ethical, or (usually) a combination thereof.
We need conversation that listens . . . conversation that seeks to meet the other person in the middle . . . so that we can learn from each other. We need conversation that is enlightened rather than enraged. Maybe we should keep in mind that "the still, small voice of God" might just be coming through the person sitting across from us.
Is Your Church Looking for a New Pastor?
Then we can help you!
Your Pastor Search Committee's first call should be to the Pastorless Church Team of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. You can reach Karl Fickling, Director, by calling him at 214-887-5491 or by email. This team is anxious to provide your church with the resources you need as you approach the critical choice of the person to lead your church as pastor.
Also, here on the TBC Web site, you will find links to information that is essential to helping your committee and church navigate the process of finding and calling a new pastor. These links are provided on two pages on our Web site.
First, Texas Baptists Committed is now making available online, in printable PDF format, articles that have been contained in the Help for Pastor Search Committees packet that we have provided to pastorless churches for many years. Your church and pastor search committee will find these articles to be helpful and informative.
Links to TBC pastor search committee resources
Second, TBC provides links to resources provided on the Web site of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. These include essential resources such as questions that your committee needs to ask prospective pastors, as well as sample documents related to the search process.
Links to BGCT pastor search committee resources
Please keep in mind that you are free to copy any of these materials (from both TBC and the BGCT) for the use of your committee. Permission is not given, however - by either Texas Baptists Committed or the BGCT - to reproduce any portion of these materials for sale.
We also recommend that you go directly to the Texas Baptist Pastorless Churches Web page for additional information and resources regarding the following:
- Initial Assistance
- Initial consultation
- Referrals to supply preachers and trained traditional interim pastors
- Intentional Interim Ministry
- Training for Pastor Search Committees
- Finding Candidates
- Leader Connect résumé-matching service
- Job Descriptions (English/Español) for a variety of ministry staff positions
