Today I dressed up like a professor and walked in a formal procession. I recall the first time I did that officially. I had left the pastorate at the North Main Baptist Church to teach full-time at Houston Baptist University. Opening Convocation required the faculty to wear our academic regalia and march into the assembly. I had brought my rented cap, gown, and hood home, so I decided to impress my three year old son, Alan. Not as easy as it sounds.
He was sitting on a yellow plastic booster chair at the kitchen table, bringing one spoonful of Cheerios after another up to his mouth while I prepared to leave for work. I said, “Alan, you know how different people wear different clothes to do their jobs? Like policemen wear policeman clothes, and firemen wear fireman clothes?” He nodded in full understanding. Bright boy.
I said, “Would you like to see what college professors wear?” He nodded, milk dripping from his chin. I retired to the bedroom and donned the full outfit, ready to impress my son with my new role. I retuned to the kitchen and said, “Look, Alan. This is what college professors wear.”
He turned around, a full spoon in hand, and looked briefly. “Now do a fireman,” he said nonchalantly, turning back around to his bowl, obviously impressed.
Academia has been part of my life since I was five. I spent thirty years having my life neatly divided into semesters. I enjoyed it from both sides of the lectern.
Teaching in the university or seminary classroom provides a kind of thrill, believe it or not. I enjoy being with people who want to think about their faith, about the Scriptures, about theology. Servants of God who are working to put their faith into practice in the ministries of local churches challenge me. I have learned to satisfy this part of my heart by teaching as an adjunct professor at Houston Baptist University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Houston Graduate School of Theology over the past 18 years since leaving the classroom as my “day job.” Lately I have been getting my fix by teaching in the Doctor of Ministry program at the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. In fact, I’m in Dayton as I write.
The program requires me to be here twice a year (January and August). I am the “mentor” for a “peer group” of four students. I prepare a syllabus, read their papers, guide their reading, and share their lives. Between our two weeks in January and August we’re required to gather for two and a half-days for a Peer Seminar. Our last gathering was in Houston in July. The next will be in North Carolina in October.
I made the trip to Dayton in a mere thirteen hours yesterday, slightly longer than my recent flight from Thailand to South Africa. My AirTran flight from Hobby to Atlanta was half an hour late taking off because of a thunderstorm. I missed my 4:59 connection in Atlanta so they bumped me to an ATL-DAY flight at 9:15. Then the rough weather arrived in Georgia and my flight was delayed until 11:45. I checked into the Doubletree in Dayton at 1:30 AM.
Our Intensive Week began this morning at eleven. Mentors (the thirty or so others doing what I am doing) met for a workshop and lunch. The week opened officially for students with a formal procession of professors and mentors. Dr. Charles Booth, pastor of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio delivered a powerfully prophetic message about dreams coming true, taking his text from 2 Kings 4, the story of Elijah and the wealthy woman of Shunem.
I spent the afternoon with my peer group. I wish you all could meet them. You’d like them. Matthew is the senior pastor of the Central United Methodist Church in Monroe, North Carolina. He has been there six years, the longest tenure of any pastor they’ve ever had. He’s working hard to help the church become an equipping church that prepares its members for ministry and helps them find their way into meaningful and influential places of service.
Elizabeth is the director of the Pohly Center for Leadership and Supervision at UTS. Since she is a member of the faculty, she needs a terminal degree. She read The Leader’s Journey a couple of years ago and began using it in her classes. She is the one who recruited me to this task. Elizabeth is working on a book about leaders of equipping churches. She belongs to a Church of the Nazarene congregation in Dayton.
Chris serves as Pastor of Life Development at Westover Church , an independent presbyterian congregation in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is working with Elizabeth on the book I mentioned. Chris has a passion for seeing churches equip lay leaders for ministry that makes a difference in the world.
Connie is a member of the Church of the Resurrection, a large United Methodist Church in Kansas City. She works in spiritual direction and is preparing for ordination in the UMC. She loves Christ deeply and I think she understands as much about listening to God as anyone I know.
So for several hours each day this week, around attending classes and gathering for worship, the five of us will talk about leadership, transformation, family systems, and their plans for developing a transformational project in their congregations. This is one of the many privileges of my life.
Why do I do this? Good question. Partly it scratches an itch that allows me to teach in an academic setting without making that my life. But the truth is that my experiences in teaching feed me and the work I do the rest of the time. Teaching through John and Acts a couple of years ago provided the preparation that became two lengthy sermon and Weekend Bible Study lesson series. The work at United is exposing me to the traditions of social justice that my previous training neglected. I am sitting with men and women who are doing that work in many congregations across the country. I listen to preaching that I need to hear from people I would never hear otherwise. I’m reading books that would not likely have made my personal list. And I do have a sense of making a contribution to the lives of four very bright and devoted servants of God who in turn are having an impact on three very lively congregations and a seminary leadership development program.
So today I dressed up like a professor and walked in the procession. Maybe tomorrow I’ll do a fireman.
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