Updated Monday, April 07, 2008

Sustaining Pastoral Excellence concludes with impact

By Norman Jameson

BR Editor

March marked the conclusion of a leadership experiment that temporarily put North Carolina Baptists at the head of the class in the eastern United States with the process called Sustaining Pastoral Excellence (SPE).

Funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment 70 pastors from 12 denominations - the majority of them Baptist - and from Georgia to Virginia completed a fairly intensive process in a learning community centered geographically at the Hollifield Leadership Center.

These pastors, selected through an application process, participated in days of "generative dialog" at Hollifield with some of America's best-known writers and edge walkers. SPE brought men like Erwin McManus, Ron Martoia and Randy Frazee for a full day of lectures and dialog. Other nationally-recognized authors and preachers included Leith Anderson, Ken Blanchard and Gordon MacDonald.

The Lilly grant followed a proposal by George Bullard, associate executive director-treasurer at the time. Because most SPE events were conducted at Hollifield Leadership Center, the project and the grant were a significant sustaining resource for Hollifield. Bullard was retained to direct the SPE program to its conclusion after his retirement from the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina in August 2006.

"We wanted to create a learning environment where North Carolina Baptist pastors can be challenged in their approach to ministry by their exposure to other styles and models," Bullard said during a final day of generative dialog with Dallas Willard. "The attempt is to reaffirm their models are basically sound but to know why their models are basically sound."

The group, which first met in February 2005, started with 80 and lost only 10 during the three-year process.

Although no second round of SPE is foreseen, Bullard, who lives in Columbia, S.C., and is active in consulting and coaching ministry, said, "SPE will continue through the increasing effectiveness of the ministry of these pastors."

"Several pastors have said this process saved their ministry," Bullard said. "They had been high-performance pastors but had hit stress spots or barriers where things were not working. One pastor said this week that this process reaffirmed his call.

"Participating pastors said they've finally figured out how to do effective ministry in their settings. Most will say the most significant part is the coaching and what they learned about a coach approach to leadership. That will always come out No. 1 in a discussion of benefits. What comes out No. 2 is always these days of dialog."

Manuscripts and Amazon shorts - brief papers available through Amazon.com - will be forthcoming from the process.

Participants appreciate

For Bob Felts, pastor of Brookwood Baptist Church in Burlington since 2001, SPE provided "an outstanding experience for which I'm very grateful to North Carolina Baptists for providing."

"SPE definitely impacted the way I do day-to-day ministry," Felts said. "And that's after 30 years of ministry."

Felts said he reads and regularly attends conferences and seminars to stay current in ministry practice. The SPE experience, he said, was "incredibly helpful" and "more effective in practical ministry than a lot of my Ph.D. seminars."

"I just did not realize the Convention would provide that kind of a learning environment that I found so incredibly helpful," he said. "Having pastors participate from different denominations was very helpful and positive."

He mentioned a conversation with a Lutheran pastor and said "hearing his heart and compassion and how Lutherans are reaching people for the Lord in the context of their ecclesiology is just fascinating."

Ken Massey, pastor of First Baptist Church, Greensboro, called the SPE process, "a pivotal moment in my ministry."

"It was a transformative experience personally and professionally," said Massey, who especially appreciated the coach training and writing his future story. "It really challenged me to back up from the present and sort of get a sweeping look at the trajectory of my ministry from the past to the present and really imagine where it should go if we're faithful."

Writing his future story was a "difficult experience" that "challenged" him. "It was not altogether pleasant to look not just further down the road but maybe down other roads. It became a great exercise in prayer."

Massey said it made him evaluate not only his gifts but also "where would be the best place to use those gifts."

He found coaching so valuable, with such a "significant impact on my congregation," that he is expanding that aspect of his ministry for greater involvement in arenas among unchurched people he can influence toward Christ.

"I cannot imagine a pastor who cannot benefit from using coaching techniques," he said. "I use it all the time."

Participant Kevin Clubb, pastor of Cape Carteret Baptist Church, appreciated the process, especially the mini-grants made available through the Lilly Endowment for each pastor to "help build capacities we had identified in our future story that we would need to take that next step in the practice of ministry. That was a great blessing."

Clubb used his grant for a six-week sabbatical and for a Bible software training event that occurred during a cruise to Alaska.

"I went into SPE with the expectation and hope that I would actually come out a better pastor," Clubb said. Although demonstrated excellence in ministry was one of the criterions for admission, most participants did not feel they were already excellent pastors, Clubb said.

He said the big pieces of the process to him were writing his future story based on life experiences and where he sensed God pulling him.

The impact of having a personal coach during the process was of tremendous benefit to him, Clubb said. An issue arose for which having a coach was "very beneficial in helping me figure out, 'OK, God what are You really up to? Where do You want me to be? What do I need to do regarding this decision?'"

"I was able to work through some other significant issues in the practice of ministry," he said. "Developing and leading staff is the big thing on my plate right now. Being able to talk with a coach about those issues provided some very helpful direction."