Thursday, May 24, 2007

Signed in at the Biennial


Just for the record, I'm signed in at the Biennial in D.C. Anybody else set up already? When are you going to be there? What are you looking forward to? I'm going a little early (thought not by much) to do the interim ministry workshop. NONONO, I'm not looking to leave. I just want to know more, because I assume that many of us will serve as interims before our time in ministry is over, especially with so many churches needing resuscitation or comfort measures in our denomination (and most others in the Protestant "mainline").

For those who don't know, interims are intentionally temporary ministers who work with churches after the previous pastor leaves to prepare them to call their next pastor. There's a lot more to it than that, but you can read more here.

I attended attended an excellent workshop at the TABCOM annual gathering this year with Rev. George Sinclair (one of my parishioners, Hi George!) and Rev. Dr. Anita Farber-Robertson. I really recommend this workshop for an overview of what interims entail, as well as the various types of interims you can do and how to get connected with the denomination to learn more. Part of the reason I think interim work sounds so great is the different approach it entails with the congregation. You can have more of a prophetic voice when the time you are going to spend together is finite. Of course, I'm setting myself up for an earful about speaking prophetically when we're "permanent" as well.

Last Biennial was not so fun for me--not that I go just for fun, but you assume it will be. I am way too much of an introvert (and probably borderline agoraphobic) to enjoy being surrounded by hundreds of folks I don't know. Networking may be a part of denominational life, but some of us have to work at it a little more than others. That said, I had only been in ministry for months at the time of the Denver event, so I also didn't know nearly as many folks as I do now. Now if some of them would just pretend not to be looking the other way when I wave...
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Why am I here?

I began this blog in preparation for what has been billed in some circles as the "last desperate hope for non-SBC Baptists," the New Baptist Covenant.

Who's us? Well, in my case, American Baptists. I am a cradle American Baptist, having grown up in the Union Baptist Church of Mystic, Connecticut (see links) where I was baptized into the faith in 1981. I pursued various secular goals for a while before recognizing a call to Seminary at Andover Newton Theological School, which led to ordained ministry here at First Baptist Church in Newton.

I am a disciple of the writings of C.S. Lewis, Walter Rauschenbusch, and William Sloan Coffin. As such, I am a student of "liberality," as so well expressed in the recent Christianity for the Rest of Us by Diana Butler Bass. That means I personally believe in welcome and inclusion of ALL persons into the Christian faith, even the folks I disagree completely with.

Is the title self-referential? No, not by a long shot. However,"...a vast number of folks have adopted the appellation 'Baptist' to mean a whole bunch of things that have little to do with what it meant to be Baptist in the first place.Who will be the last Baptist standing? That's unknown, but I can assure you: we'll have to choose from among the available Baptists. All three or so."