LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
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Initiative for Ministerial Excellence makes difference among pastors
T
wo years into the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Initiative for Ministerial Excellence (IME), the Initiative’s leaders are hearing
positive feedback and appreciation from pastors who have benefited from the various IME programs.
Carla Wynn photos
to the ministry because of support they have The Initiative, funded with a $1.99 received from their peer learning group,” million Lilly Endowment Inc. grant, was launched in response to the need for community among pastors and the understanding that healthy congregations need healthy ministers. One facet of the program has been the 39 peer learning groups that provide community to 369 ministers. Through these groups, IME has reduced the isolation many clergy experience, said Dave Odom, IME evaluator and Robert and Alicia Walker of Peachtree Baptist Church in Atlanta, below, gather with other peer learning group convenors before president of the Center for the General Assembly to share resources and stories and to hear Congregational Health. “The updates on the progress of the Initiative for Ministerial Excellence. invitation to form groups met said Terry Hamrick, a powerful need. IME has made a lasting the Fellowship’s leadcontribution by helping clergy find each ership development other and encouraging clergy to be recoordinator. sources to each other,” he said. Twenty pastors The peer learning groups met monthly have been awarded with group leaders receiving training at last sabbatical grants, June’s CBF General Assembly. Groups also enabling pastors to gathered at five state CBF meetings in 2004, engage in study, rest with 11 meetings scheduled in 2005. The and relaxation. One pastor even studied at Fellowship communicates with all group Oxford University in England. Thirteen of members through a monthly electronic these pastors went on their first sabbatical, newsletter, which was launched in January. Hamrick said. Sabbatical planning assis“Some pastors have recommitted themselves
tance was offered to each pastor in order to help better meet personal goals. IME will provide sabbatical assistance to 35 pastors next year. “A number of ministers indicated that they were nearing burnout and questioning the possibilities of future ministry without renewal and spiritual recharging. Many have brought back and begun to implement new ideas gleaned from sabbatical, which have taken their congregation’s ministry to a new level,” said Mike Harton, an IME regional coordinator. The Ministry Residency program, a pilot project for recent seminary graduates, has provided four people with a two-year mentoring and learning experience in a CBF congregation. In 2005, six graduates will be selected for residencies. “One significant outcome of IME is that congregations are becoming more aware that they need to be part of encouraging and supporting clergy,” Odom said. A luncheon for Initiative for Ministerial Excellence covenors was held during the General Assembly. f!
Mark Sandlin photos
Leadership Scholars
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Class Notes
A. Frank Bonner was named recently as the 12th president of Gardner-Webb University. The new president joined the Gardner-Webb administrative staff in 1987 as dean of the college. He was promoted to provost and senior vice president in 1992. Bonner grew up in Greenville, S.C., and graduated from Furman University. He has a M.A. degree from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. ■ Central Baptist Theological
Life/Leadership Development/IME at www.thefellowship.info.
■ International Baptist
LEARN – For more about the Initiative for Ministerial Excellence, contact Terry Hamrick at (770) 220-1600 or thamrick@thefellowship. info. Or go to Church
By Carla Wynn, CBF Communications
CBF’s Leadership Development initiative hosted a dessert social for Fellowship leadership scholars prior to the General Assembly. Among those who gathered included, clockwise, Linda Davis, left, a scholar from Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology, talking with Clarissa Strickland, CBF associate coordinator for leadership development. Robert Rueda, a scholar and graduate of Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, talks with Stephanie Glenn, a scholar and Truett graduate who will be serving with her husband, Aaron, as CBF Global Missions field personnel working alongside internationals in the Los Angeles area. Jennifer Adams, l-r, Casondra Brown of Truett Seminary, and Jo Ann Sharkey, resident minister at FBC, College Station, Texas, interact during the social.
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■ Gardner-Webb University.
Seminary. Central Seminary is offering master of divinity courses at First Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Two courses are being offered at the Murfreesboro site in fall 2005. Laura Moore, adjunct instructor in Old Testament at Central Seminary, is teaching “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible.” “Christian Heritage I” is being taught by Michael Smith, pastor of First Baptist Murfreesboro. An online course in theological ethics will also be offered. Tennessee CBF facilitated the partnership with First Baptist Murfreesboro. TCBF Coordinator Ircel Harrison will serve as volunteer site coordinator. For more information, contact Harrison at (888) 661-8223 or coordinator@tncbf.org. Central Seminary President Molly Marshall will be lecturing on “The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit” at Campbell University Divinity School on Oct. 24-25, as part of the Prevatte Lecture Series. The lectures are open to the public. For more information, contact Roy DeBrand at (800) 7609827 or debrand@campbell.edu.
Leadership scholars interact at General Assembly social
Initiative for Ministerial E xcellence
Class Notes: News from partner schools
Theological Seminary. When Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Denton Lotz, and his wife, Janice, visited IBTS, Prague, for the annual graduation service, Lotz awarded nine students master of theology degrees and 13 students certificate in applied theology course diplomas. All the graduates received posies of flowers, a typical Czech custom, from Janice Lotz and Denise Jones, wife of the IBTS rector. Lotz, a former professor of missions at IBTS, spoke on the challenges facing Christians in their mission today. The graduating students were presented by the pro-rector and academic dean, Parush R. Parushev. The rector, Keith G. Jones, and the kvestor (director of finance and administration), Petra Veselá, congratulated each of the graduating students after Lotz presented the diplomas. The master of theology students came from Russia, Hungary, Spain, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, Czech Republic and Kazakhstan. Certificate students were from Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Ukraine, Israel, Estonia and Albania. Student President Julie Justus, a former BWA staff member, expressed the thanks of the student body to Lotz for participating in the graduation.
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005