Professional Effectiveness - David Chapman Chair
Ministers Council Senate 2006
Professional Effectiveness Committee
August 12-15, 2006
Present: David Chapman, Shelley Aakre, Thomas Gilmore, Michael Harvey, Mark Hetrick, Micky Holmes, Mark Jervis, Margaret Marcuson, Con Slaverio, Dee Dee Turlington, David Wood, Jeff Woods (guest)
Absent: Charles Brown, Debra Hickman
Saturday, August 12, 2006
- Opening prayer by David Chapman
- Chapman welcomed new members to the committee.
- Self introductions were made by all committee members
- Prayer groups were formed and dismissed for prayer.
Sunday, August 14, 2006
- Meeting called to order by David Chapman and opening prayer given by David Wood.
- Chapman presented the agenda as follows:
- Prayer
- Intro of new members
- Approval of minutes
- Status of educational piece
- Discussion on accountability for Code of Ethics
- How to strengthen local council
- Minutes of August 20-22, 2005 were reviewed and accepted as distributed.
- Educational Document: Michael Harvey reported that the all but two sections had been completed on the educational document. Appreciation was expressed to Michael for his work as editor. The committee discussed the purpose of the educational piece and various ways it could be used. It was decided to include at the beginning of the document a brief paragraph on how Ministers Councils, regions, churches, etc. could use the educational piece. The complete educational document would be made available through the Ministers Council website. It should also be sent to each regional executive minister and to each Ministers Council president. A question was raised if there needed to be a vote by the whole Senate before distribution.
- Accountability: The topic of accountability in regards to the Code of Ethics was discussed. Shelley Aakre will send to Phineas Marr her research regarding suggested steps that regions/department of ministries should follow for violations of the code. It was agreed that signing the Code of Ethics is one form of accountability. This is normally done at point of ordination or installation of new pastor in a region. The subject of executive ministers being held accountable to the Code of Ethics was discussed. Given the position of authority that executive ministers hold within regions and over ministers, it was recognized that this is a complex and delicate issue. Jeff Wood stated that due to legal concerns, the process of accountability should stay within the regions. It was agreed that the executive minister is accountable to the region’s board. It was also agreed that more time should be devoted to the discussion of accountability. It was tabled until the 2007 Senate.
- Strengthening Ministers Councils: The committee reviewed the list distributed titled “Strengthening Ministers Councils.” Chapman asked the members to review the list and select those items that Professional Effectiveness should develop. After much discussion, the following areas were selected: 1) leadership development; 2) preventive work on misconduct, and 3) create systems of advocacy and support. Jeff Woods described a national committee that would be a good resource for leadership development.
- A subcommittee comprised of Michael Harvey and Dee Dee Turlington was created to finish writing and editing the educational document for submission to the senate.
- Meeting adjourned for Ice Cream Social
Monday, August 15
- Chapman opened the meeting and Marjorie Marcuson gave the opening prayer.
- Michael Harvey reported that David Wood and Dee Dee Turlington will write the missing sections for the Code of Ethics Educational document. Dee Dee and Marjorie have offered editorials and the entire complete document will be on the website by the end of the calendar year. David Chapman expressed appreciation to all committee members for their work. It was suggested that a copy of the document be sent to all senators for comments and suggestions that will help clarify and improve the document. All comments will be sent to Michael Harvey for review.
- Discussion for strengthening Ministers Councils continued. Ideas that were presented included:
- Associate ministers training and guidance through ordination process
- Christian education courses on leadership for ministers
- Senate 2007 event
- Educating pastors on Baptist polity (provide sermons on Baptist principles, bulletin inserts, class on polity, and list of resources on Baptist principles) – Dee Dee Turlington will work on this project.
- Workshop on keeping church safe for children.
- Legal issues regarding leadership.
- Workshop on boundaries issues for clergy.
- Training for or to be bi-vocational pastors (provide resources, website links, models)
- Hot topics for Ministers councils and how are councils handling the topics (resources, books, speakers, workshops) – Jeff Woods will work on this project.
- Mentoring models and programs for new pastors – possibly using the internet as well as face to face.
- Interim ministries
- Executive coaching – list names of American Baptist who can provide this service.
- Develop performance appraisals for pastors and staff.
- Think systems – how to analyze leadership style and congregations
4. It was decided that for the committee report to the Senate, David Chapman would introduce the committee’s work, Michael Harvey would report on the Educational Document and Dee Dee Turlington would report on the sections Professional Effectiveness will work on regarding the on-line manual for strengthening Ministers Councils.
Minutes submitted by Micky Holmes
