Bullard Journal Blog

Sabbatical

George Bullard is taking an open-ended sabbatical from posting on this blog as he considers focusing on one blog at www.BullardJournal.org, in addition to Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking channels and communities. Please connect with my writings and musing through www.BullardJournal.org.

Hurry Up and Wait!

Airline travel always has interesting twists. I got to the Columbia [SC] airport this morning at 6:30. My airplane was not listed as being on time. I then got a call on my cell telephone from Delta saying my airplane was leaving 15 minutes early. Early!! We loaded the airplane, pushed back from the gate, and then had a 12 minutes air traffic control wait!

Go figure! Yeah, yeah, I know. They told us if we did not push back from the gate early we would have a one hour air traffic control hold.

Who scheduled all these airplanes?

[BTW, now I have a four-hour wait for my connecting flight to Memphis.

Should You Refer to My Dad as Dr. Bullard?

Recently there has been some dialogue about the credentials of the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Johnny Hunt, and whether or not he ought to be called Dr. Hunt. My reaction is that I do not have a dog in that race so I do not care to comment one way or the other

It did cause me, however, to remember my father, G. W. Bullard, and his struggle with the same issue about himself.

Dad's crowning ministerial achievement before he retired back to North Carolina was to serve his last six years as Executive Director-Treasurer for the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania-South Jersey. The first year in that new role he was also Second Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention. Dad had a lot of positions like these where people assumed he had to be a Dr. to be in that position.

The truth is that Dad had neither a college nor a seminary degree. He attended college some at North Carolina State University. He moved my mother and two older sisters to Texas during World War II and did the two year diploma program at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He had already served as pastor of Gibson Avenue Baptist Church in Wilmington, NC before he went to seminary.

When he left seminary he became an associational missionary for the Roanoke Baptist Association [it had not divided into North or South yet]. He served on the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina staff for five years, and then as the first pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Raleigh before we moved to Baltimore. When we left Raleigh in 1957 he was president of the BSCNC General Board.

Within two years after we arrived in Baltimore, he was the president of the Baptist Convention of Maryland-Delaware. About that same time Chowan College back in North Carolina began considering him for president, but backed off when they were shocked to discover he did not have a college degree.

Dad was also generally known as one of the best parliamentarians around.

Dad never called himself Dr. Others insisted on calling him Dr. In private, as appropriate, he would correct them. In 1972 when Dad was moving from Philadelphia to Harrisburg to become the chief executive for Pennsylvania-South Jersey, an unaccredited African-American university called Miller University in Philadelphia awarded him an honorary Dr. in appreciation for his work with African-American churches in the Philadelphia area.

Dad hung that diploma in his office at home and said that he would try not to apologize any more when someone called him Dr.

Often in religious work, Dr. is an honor of position and authority bestowed on a person by others, and not always an earned degree. I have generally felt that anyone who insists on being called Dr.--regardless of whether or not their degree is earned or honorary--probably does not need to be called Dr. You can just call me George, even though I have an earned Dr. Friends on a first name basis is the most cherished concept anyway.

Being Church for All Generations Hits a Home Run

Can you think of a question about the future vitality of existing congregations that is asked more often than "how can we reach people under 40 while keeping people over 60?" I can't! And neither could primary author Eddie Hammett when an over 60 woman first posed this question to him.

As a constant observer and encourage of congregations, Eddie determined he ought to write a book on this subject. He teamed up with a friend--Randy Pierce--who had been a spiritual traveler for many years, and represented the under 40 crowd. Randy, now a practicing Christian, is able in this book to recount the perspective of under 40 persons who are searching for a church experiences that speaks to their needs.

The approach taken by this book is not a big bang approach where congregations get whiplash in the middle of making changes needed to attract people under 40. It is a coaching and learning approach where congregations develop the capacity to do and/both--reach the under 40 crowd while simultaneously affirming the the 60 plus stakeholders. It is a win-win approach that seeks to carry everyone forward into God's future.

Along the way various approaches are suggested in dealing with the existing tension in congregations before they start this journey, and the additional tension likely to arise as congregation focus on the under 40 and over 60 folks.

This is also a very personal story for Eddie, as he recounts in his book. He talks about how the "ah hah's!" needed by the over 60 stakeholders was experienced in his home church that led them to embrace changes that would attract the under 40 crowd.

Throughout the book are helpful coaching questions that can be used for dialogue sessions in congregations. Also, do not miss the coaching interview between Eddie and Randy at the end of the book.

To purchase this book go to Bullard Journal Book Store.

How Was Your Memorial Day?

Mine was great! Both of my adult children were with us from Sunday evening through Monday afternoon. That included my son's wife, my five years old grandson, and my two year old granddaughter.

We officially opened up the pool in our backyard for the occasion. The water was still very cold, the outside temperature was in the 80's, but one we got the grandchildren in there it was not possible to get them to come out and stay out for three hours.

[I did not go in the water myself until the day after Memorial Day when the temperature was warmer. The water was still freezing cold until you got use to it.]

It was wonderful to have everyone in the nest! We cooked out on the grill twice. The food was wonderful. We had a movie for the kids to watch. We did not stay up too late talking on Sunday night because we were all tied.

These are the days that make great family memories! I wish everyone had the opportunity to create these memories with their families.

Observations at the Farmer's Market

My wife and I had a brief time away together over Mother's Day weekend. Saturday morning we are at a regional farmer's market. Among the observations I made as I sat in one location waiting for my wife to have plenty of time to circulate were these:

• There was plenty of produce. Nothing seemed to be in short supply.
• The costs, however, were higher and it appeared that the primary reason was the cost of transportation.
• A large number of people where looking around and making purchases.
• The primary vender I observed was seeking to make eye and voice contact with everyone who lingered at his stand--but not bothering people just walking by.
• When he was not at his stand, his co-workers did not do near as good a job, and a larger percentage of people passed on by.

What are the implications of this for congregations in terms of the services they provide and the way they encounter guests?

I Have Never Seen So Many . . .

. . . corporate jets lined up side-by-side. I flew into Louisville, KY today on my way to Evansville, IN. Tomorrow, Saturday, May 3rd, is the running of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville. Traffic on the ground at the airport was heavy and congested. Part of it was maneuvering around all the corporate jets lined up on the taxiways, and on the tarmac near the terminal gates. Beside many of these jets were limousines that had been allowed to come out and pick up some of the elite participants in the Derby festivities.

I have also never seen so many limo drivers standing at the bottom of the escalator on the way to baggage claim holding up signs with the names of their clients. Limos were double parked outside of baggage claim. Baggage porters were hustling around getting autographs of famous people--all of whom I did not see or recognized. [I am out of the loop.]

My airplane from Atlanta to Louisville was filled with people of various descriptions headed to the Derby. Among them were four members of a motorcycle gang, and several families with various generations on the airplane who gather at the Derby every year. One father remarked that his son who just turned one was coming to his second Derby.

I also saw something I have not seen in decades--at least in this number. Hat boxes. Many women had as carry on or checked baggage hat boxes of various descriptions containing their fashionable head gear for the Derby.

What, if anything, are the special things that happen in the life of a congregation that cause people to take this much care to be present with their brightest and best clothing, attitudes, and commitment? Perhaps there should be more than there are.

However, may the church folks be drunk on the Holy Spirit when they stand and sing the "Hallelujah Chorus", rather than drunk on too many mint juleps when they stand and sing "My Old Kentucky Home."

Have You Seen the New Book by Ed Stetzer and . . .

. . . Philip Nation? It is entitled, Compelled by Love: The Most Excellent Way to Missional Living. It is published by some of my favorite people--New Hope Publishers, a division of WMU [a Baptist missions organizations focused around women and girls]. I finished reading the book today, but will read through it again before I write a review for Books @ Leadership Network.

I was reading it on an airplane while traveling to Ohio. I was sitting in the exit row, the flight attendant had just come by to be sure we knew what to do in case of a crash landing [always a comforting thought], when I got to page 58 where Ed talks about being a hero while sitting in the exit row of an airplane. You've got the get the book if for no other reason than to read page 58!

Look for the review later. Check on the Leadership Network book site at http://books.leadnet.org. Hey, while you are at it, check out New Hope Publishers at www.newhopepublishers.com.

George Begins Writing Book Reviews for Leadership Network

Beginning this week George will be writing regular book reviews for Leadership Network. These will appear on their site called Books@LeadershipNetwork. Visit this site and check out what is going on. It is another great service brought to you by Leadership Network.

George's first book review is on The Church of the Perfect Storm edited by Leonard Sweet. To purchase this book go to Bullard Journal Book Store.

Six Degrees of Separation Strikes Again

This morning as I left my hotel in Milwaukee, WI to head for the airport for a flight to Denver, CO I engaged my van driver in conversation. I was the only passenger. As we modulated through the various levels of an initial conversation, we began moving through the six degrees of separation. We did not make it all the way to having a common friend, but we got close in a five minute ride.

I had been in Milwaukee speaking to a United Church of Christ [UCC] meeting. I was headed to Denver to speak to a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod [LCMS] meeting. My driver grew up in a Lutheran Church-Wisconsin Synod. This is very conservative group. However, he is now a member of a UCC congregation in Milwaukee and his adult children are all members of LCMS congregations.

The day before a UCC pastor from Milwaukee had been my driver to and from the meeting where I spoke. Today my van drive thought he had heard of this pastor's church, and thought he had heard of the pastor. That was about as close as we could get in a five minute conversation. I suspect with five minutes more we might have hit the target of full connection.

The world is really a small place. Get out there and network.