NEW ORLEANS (BP)–“The Sunday School Board has sent some of their top-flight people to speak to our students,” New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley said in introductory remarks at a faculty luncheon, referring to BSSB representatives from 14 departments who spoke in 61 classes, making this year’s annual BSSB emphasis week Feb. 25-27 the largest ever held on a seminary campus.
“The future is in the hands of these students,” said BSSB President James T. Draper Jr. as he introduced the program personnel who gave faculty members a glimpse of the new resources and approaches developed in 1996. The new features were previewed in more detail in many professors’ classrooms throughout the week.
In addition to some of the traditionally popular topics, new topics were addressed covering everything from text linguistics and preaching to developing brochures using a computer.
Several representatives spoke in music classes, while Ramon Martinez, the first representative from the multicultural leadership department to participate in an emphasis week, shared insights for using cultural context to reach and meet the needs of ethnic groups.
Linda Miniard, church consultant specializing in women in church staff leadership, introduced LeaderCare, a new resource to encourage and support ministers and church staff leaders in both personal and professional aspects of their lives.
“I think this kind of outreach to ministers is long overdue,” one student said. “So many ministers are burning out in churches today. We’re only human, and sometimes we need extra support, too.”
At a luncheon for women Feb. 26, Miniard introduced “One Spirit,” a resource for women in ministry which falls under the new LeaderCare Section.
One Spirit is a networking project providing a link between the 23,000-plus women in leadership positions for Southern Baptist church and association staffs, seminaries, Home Mission Board and other SBC agencies, as well as more than 2,000 women appointed with the Foreign Mission Board.
The goal of One Spirit is to encourage, enrich and support women in ministry leadership roles, emphasizing support by addressing unique pressures women in ministry roles experience, Miniard said.
As the BSSB has developed new resources for ministry to ministers, the needs and concerns of Southern Baptist church members also have been evaluated using a new approach, the”Generational Theory.”
Steve Cretin, director of the ministry leadership and development department, introduced the new generations?based approach to curriculum development in classes, defining a generation as “a period of time and its significant events making up the life span of a core group of persons who reflect a common set of beliefs, values and attitudes that define the collective biography of the group.” The approach examines the formative influences and unique characteristics of each generation.
Cretin explained the BSSB’s Bible teaching/reaching division has integrated a generational approach to the Life and Work series, primarily throughout the application section of the Sunday school lessons, based on the perspectives and needs of each generation of adults as clarified through the Generational Theory.
“Spiritually, we’re trying to meet people where they are,” Cretin said of the evangelical approach to adult Bible study which focuses less on exegesis and more on Scripture itself. “We don’t want to be over (newcomers’) heads,” he said. “Scripture still speaks powerfully whether you’re a new Christian or you’ve been a believer for years.”
A student who has applied the approach in the education ministry of a New Orleans church said, “I’ve been able to use (the generations approach) to communicate the lessons more clearly. It has become a tremendously useful tool as I counsel with people in my church as well.”
The generational approach also is evident in some of the new discipleship options scheduled for release in June 1997. “Destination: Principles for Making Life Count,” a study especially for Generation X designed by David Edwards, a member of their own generation, demonstrates how the Generational Theory translates into a targeted approach.
Other new discipleship resources which follow a more familiar approach were introduced to students. One new study, “Life in the Spirit,” examines practical ways in which the Holy Spirit touches the life of a Christian.
The curriculum was developed by Robertson McQuilkin, president emeritus of Columbia International University, and is designed in the same format as “Experiencing God” and “The Mind of Christ.” Along with those two pieces, “Life in the Spirit” gives Southern Baptists a resource for doctrinal study on each person of the Trinity.
As students were challenged in classes to approach ministry with a fresh perspective, they were challenged in chapel services to examine their personal lives and ministry.
In a chapel message Feb. 26, Frank Lewis urged students to take inventory of their character by describing Jesus’ act of forgiving the woman caught in adultery as a defining event in her life as well as in the lives of the Pharisees.
Lewis, a preaching and worship consultant for the BSSB, challenged students to leave behind destructive habits and experience healing and forgiveness from Jesus. “You can let go of your stones or realize you don’t have to live with stones (thrown at you) in the past,” he said.
C. Ferris Jordan, NOBTS professor of adult education and campus liaison for coordinating BSSB emphasis week, said, “Hearing the speakers in classes and dialoging with them informally personalizes the board for the students. I think the week demonstrates in a unique way to students, faculty and administration that the Sunday School Board is truly our partner in ministry.”
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