Staff Retreat

I’ve just returned from a three-day staff retreat at Eagle Eyrie Baptist Conference Center near Lynchburg and this is what I’m feeling most:

Gratitude.

The members and friends of Richmond’s First Baptist Church know what an outstanding staff we have, and I do, too, but spending three days with these people, watching them not only work together but also play together, took my appreciation to a whole new level. I won’t go into detail, but Beth Davis’ presentation of our new communication strategy was impressive, Phil Mitchell’s carefully crafted worship experience was powerful, Amanda Lott’s mastery of the “Fishbowl” game was mind-blowing, Donna Earley’s rendition of “Muskrat Love” was sensational, and Steve Blanchard’s willingness to drive the bus home even with a splitting headache was typically selfless.

When I started the closing session on Wednesday morning I said, “Let’s pause for a moment of gratitude. When you think of our church, what are you grateful for?” The staff spent the next five minutes sharing their list and then I shared my own. I said, “I’m grateful that our mission is clear, our finances are strong, our attendance is up, our building is beautiful, our location is perfect, and our staff is world class.” And then I elaborated on that last one.

I said, “When I look around this room I don’t see one person who is a problem, not one person who needs to be replaced.” In his book Good to Great leadership guru Jim Collins says that one of the most important things in any organization is having “the right people on the bus.” Once they’re on the bus, he says, you can figure out where they need to sit, but the important thing is getting them on there in the first place. I told the staff that I think we have the right people on the bus, and not only that, I think they’re in the right seats.

After we got home (on the bus) I put on a suit to attend the inauguration of Jacqueline Lapsley, the new President of Union Presbyterian Seminary. While waiting to process with the rest of the trustees Jim Wagner, a former president of Emory University in Atlanta, asked me what I’d been up to and I told him I was just getting home from a three-day staff retreat. “How was that?” he asked, like someone who knew how badly these things can go. And I was able to tell him, honestly, “I feel like I have the staff I’ve been working toward my whole life” And if you can say that after a staff retreat, you know it was a good one.

Here’s hoping we’ve all come back to First Baptist rested, refreshed, and ready to re-engage our mission. During that session on Wednesday I articulated it for the staff like this: “By the grace of God, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we labor alongside the Lord Jesus in the joyful work of bringing Heaven to Earth.” And when you have a great staff,

It’s joyful work indeed.

_______________________________________
From left to right above: Ruth Szucs, Jim Somerville, Allison Collier, Michael Lacy, Lynn Turner, Amanda Lott, Donna Earley, Chris Wondree, Matthew Hensley, Phil Mitchell, Beth Davis, Steve Blanchard, and Allen Cumbia. Not pictured: Robert Thompson and Emma Tilley.

Leaving the SBC

In my last post I mentioned that I missed a special, called deacons’ meeting at First Baptist Church last Tuesday night because I was at a seminary trustee meeting in Charlotte. I also mentioned that someone made a motion at that meeting to sever any remaining ties with the SBC and the motion carried without opposition. 

Let me say more about that.

This is an emotional decision for many in the church, some because the Southern Baptist Convention has been their denominational “home” all their lives and they can’t imagine leaving, but others because the SBC is disrespecting our female clergy, telling them they can’t be pastors when we know that they can. At that same deacons’ meeting the Reverend Doctor Allison Collier, our Associate Pastor for Christian Formation, stood up and said, essentially, “If you say you love us inside the building then it would be nice to say you love us outside and take a stand before the SBC.” I wasn’t in the room, but I can imagine the impact of such an emotional appeal. Immediately afterward one of our deacons stood to make the motion mentioned above and the motion carried, as I said, without opposition.

But we’re Baptists. The deacons don’t get to make such decisions on their own. Only the congregation can do that. So the deacons are making a recommendation to the congregation that we sever any remaining ties with the SBC (mostly financial at this point) and on Sunday, May 19, during the Sunday school hour, we are going to gather for discussion and possibly a vote, but I believe that for us, as well as for the SBC, the outcome has already been determined.

How do I feel about that? Feel is probably the right word. As I said, this is an emotional decision. There are retired SBC missionaries in our church whom I love very much, and others who have known no other denominational home. I know this is going to be painful for them. I wish it didn’t have to be that way. At the same time I love our female pastors and have been supportive of women in ministry from the very beginning. My last SBC meeting was in New Orleans in 1990, where my five-year-old niece wore a button that said, “If you won’t ordain me, don’t baptize me.”

Which reminds me of something else Allison Collier said.

In a text message she sent to me yesterday she said, “My call to be a Christian was not limited by my gender, my ability to sit at the table for communion is not limited by my gender, my ability to tell others about the love of Jesus on the mission field is not limited by my gender, therefore proclaiming the love of God from anywhere shouldn’t be limited by my gender…that’s not Christlike!”

So, we’re not going to let the SBC tell us that Allison can’t be a pastor, or that she can’t preach from the pulpit (have you heard her preach?). We’re not going to let them say such things to Lynn Turner or Amanda Lott or Ruth Szucs or Becky Payne or any of the many women we have ordained since 1998. And let’s be truthful: we haven’t been “An SBC church” in a long time. We haven’t sent messengers to the annual convention in more than thirty years. But leaving the SBC will be a final farewell for some of us in a way that will be painful. I don’t want to be cavalier about that. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to a denomination that welcomed me as a former Presbyterian and paid for my seminary education–all seven years. I want to appreciate all those things that made the SBC great before the fundamentalist takeover brought us to this fork in the road. But that’s where we are, and we have to make a choice. I believe we will choose to leave the SBC, and for some of us, that will be painful. I’m sorry about that.

But I also believe it’s what we need to do.

Why I Went

I’ve just come home from a two-day trustee meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. You may be wondering why I went.

The timing wasn’t perfect: our deacons were having a special called meeting on Tuesday night where they were discussing the church’s relationship to the Southern Baptist Convention. Someone made a motion at that meeting to sever any remaining ties with the SBC and the motion carried without opposition. That sounds like an important meeting. Seems like I should have been there.

And yet.

And then on Wednesday night there was a quarterly business meeting at which we heard reports from our church clerk and our treasurer and then celebrated the new members who have joined us in the past three months, people who need to know just how special they are. That sounds like an important meeting. Seems like I should have been there.

And yet.

I was at a meeting of the Board of Trustees of Union Presbyterian Seminary, on their Charlotte campus, for the better part of two days. It took five hours to drive down there and five hours to drive back. Part of the meeting took place today, on Thursday, my usual day off. Why would I do it? Why would I make that meeting a priority over all those other meetings and over my day off?

Because it matters.

One of these days I will retire as Pastor of Richmond’s First Baptist Church, and when I do the church will start looking for its next pastor. They will want someone who is winsome, warm, and capable, or, as I often joke “a gifted preacher, a skilled administrator, a Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” But even if they can’t find that person they will want someone who is seminary-trained, and in order to do that you need a seminary.

We used to have a seminary. We had the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond and it was a great school. It had an outstanding faculty and produced some incredibly competent graduates. I was on the Board of Trustees and there is at least one person who thinks I helped the seminary survive as long as it did. I don’t know about that, but I do know BTSR eventually had to close its doors and when it did Virginia Baptists had precious few options: they could go to Liberty University in Lynchburg or online (not a good choice), they could go to the John Leland Center in Northern Virginia (good school but 2-6 hours away from Richmond), or they could go to the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School (a very good school, but in North Carolina).

That’s when I began talking with Brian Blount, President of Union Presbyterian Seminary, about starting a Baptist House of Studies here, in Richmond, at a well-endowed school that has been around since 1812. Brian grew up Baptist and became Presbyterian. I grew up Presbyterian and became Baptist. There was a lot of mutual understanding and respect on both sides of the conversation and with the enthusiastic support of Terry Maples and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Virginia it happened: we started the Baptist House of Studies at Union Presbyterian Seminary. FBC member Susan Blanchard (wife of Steve Blanchard) has become our Director. Currently 34 students are enrolled in the Baptist House. In many ways it has become the successor institution to BTSR.

So, why did I go to a trustee meeting in Charlotte when there were so many important things happening here? Because it was important. Because some day First Baptist will be looking for a new pastor, and they will want someone who is seminary-trained. But between now and then there will be dozens of other churches in Virginia looking for pastors, educators, youth ministers, and children’s workers; there will be hospitals looking for chaplains; faith-based non-profits looking for directors; major corporations looking for chief ethicists; and I want Virginia Baptists to train for those roles and get those jobs.

If you don’t know much about Union Presbyterian Seminary, click on the link and take a look. I think you’ll be impressed. I may be biased: my grandfather, Walter Gray Somerville, graduated from Union in 1920.

Fan, Friend, or Follower?

We spent some time in staff meeting yesterday thinking about membership. For example: do we still need it? Do people still join things? Or is there a better way to engage in 2024?

Allison Collier and I had talked recently about “fans, friends, and followers,” meaning 1) those people who watch our worship services on TV; 2) those who want to be more than fans, who like to get our mailings and sometimes even support our mission; and 3) those who are full-fledged followers of Jesus Christ and fully engaged in the life of the church. Do you know which one you are, or would it help to have some guidelines?

During COVID, when none of us could come to church, I began to wonder: “Do you have to be present to be a member?” I thought about what I expect from the people in that most-committed category and came up with “five expectations of membership.” Here’s how they show up on our website:

Relationship with God
This is where it begins. Email Allison Collier, our associate pastor, if you want to find out where you are on your spiritual journey and how we can help you take the next step. You may already be further along than you think, or you may need someone to point the way.

Partnership in our Mission
Our mission is: “to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Richmond, Virginia—and beyond.” There are plenty of opportunities to do that here in our city, but if you don’t live in the Richmond area you can be part of the “beyond.” You can look around you for anything that doesn’t look like heaven, and then roll up your sleeves and bring heaven to earth right where you are.

Participation in Worship
There are lots of ways to do this. If you live in the Richmond area you can worship with us in person or on television. If you have Internet access you can worship wherever you are, online. You can also start or join an FBC Microchurch (email Matthew Hensley, associate pastor, to learn more).

Membership in a Small Group
Small groups are where relationship happens, either in person or online. You need to have at least one place in life where you can say, “It’s been a hard week,” and know that someone will care. Small Group registration is open two times a year, in January and August. Email Allison Collier to be notified.

Support of our Ministries
You can do this in several ways: you can give your time as a volunteer, you can share your talent as a ministry leader, and you can give your resources to help us meet the needs of the church and the needs of others. We couldn’t do what we do without your generous support. Click HERE to learn more.

You may not be ready for all of that at this point. You might settle for two out of five, or even one out of five. That’s OK. We’re happy for whatever engagement you can afford. But I want to make it clear that this is not about being a fan, or friend, or follower of Richmond’s First Baptist Church; it’s about being a fan, a friend, or a follower of Jesus Christ. First Baptist is simply one way to do that.

My favorite way of thinking about the Church (with a capital “C”) is to picture Jesus walking through the countryside, with a big group of people following along behind him. Some are right up there where he is, listening to everything he says and hanging on every word. Others are farther back in the group, talking with each other about all the things they have seen and heard. Still others have wandered off the path to smell the flowers, or stretched out in the sunshine to take a nap, but they’ll catch up. What we are all trying to do is follow Jesus. He’s what this movement is all about. And if some of us want to walk together along the way and call ourselves “Richmond’s First Baptist Church,” that’s all right with him.

If you’d like to walk with us as we follow Jesus, you would be more than welcome. I’ve been here for nearly sixteen years now, and I’ve found that First Baptist Church is a great place to do that.

Good Meeting!

Deacons’ meetings have been a little tense at First Baptist recently. We’ve had to talk about our welcome statement on the church website and our relationship with the Southern Baptist Convention. Sometimes you just have to talk about hard things. But last night we got to talk about good things, and it was a welcome relief for all of us, both those in the room and those participating by Zoom.

Let me give you the highlights:

• Paul Kreckman gave the financial report, and it was surprisingly good! Not only did we exceed our 2023 budget by $120,000 but by the end of February we had collected $445,909, which exceeded our goal of $427,667 by $18,242. By the same point in 2023 we had collected only $413,290. That’s something to celebrate!
• Shearer Pettigrew is the captain of our Generosity Team and told the story of a couple who used to come to our early service before the Pandemic and then moved out of state, but couldn’t escape the pastoral care of Robert Thompson who would call from time to time just to check on them. Recently Robert got a call from the wife who told him that her husband had died, and she’d like to do something in his memory. She had seen the news about our Gathering Spaces renovations and wondered if there was something there she could pay for. Robert handed her off to Donna Earley, who suggested that the new reception desk was going to cost around $20,000. The woman said, “I could do that.” But then she asked Donna how much she was trying to raise, total. Donna said she’d love to raise $500,000. The woman said, “I could do that.” The wire transfer came in the next day!
• I got to make some closing remarks at the end of the meeting and was pleased to report that our attendance on Easter Sunday was 883, which is the best we’ve had since the Pandemic. Easter attendance in 2022 was 782, 2023 was 796, so this was a huge increase and an encouraging marker in our gradual comeback since 2020.

I stood there thinking, “We exceeded our budget in 2023. Our giving is up in 2024. Someone just gave us $500,000. Easter attendance was nearly a hundred more people than last year. This is wonderful, but I can’t explain it.” And then I mumbled something about how we try to understand what’s happening when the numbers head in the right direction, and how we are no better than stockbrokers who pretend to know why the stock market goes up and down. Sometimes we try to give ourselves credit: it’s because of our stewardship efforts; it’s because of the good preaching and great music.

But this morning I remembered the parable of the farmer who goes out to sow seed in his field and then comes back and sits on the porch knowing that he can sow the seed but he cannot make it grow (Mark 4:26-29). That’s up to God. I know that we are doing plenty of good, hard, and creative work at First Baptist, but we can’t really take credit for increased giving or increased attendance. Paul knew that when he wrote: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (1 Cor. 3:6).

At the end of last night’s meeting Daniel Hocutt led us in a Hebrew hymn of thanksgiving based on Psalm 133. Daniel did a great job leading but we didn’t follow very well. Hebrew is not our native language. Still, the message stayed with me as I made my way home. “How good and pleasant it is when brothers (and sisters) dwell together in unity.” Yes it is. And how good and pleasant it is when, for a change, attendance and giving figures move in the right direction.

Thanks be to God.