REPORT
STRONG IN THE LORD CONFERENCE
David R. Skinner, ABCOPAD Southwest Area Minister
As the Southwest Area Minister for American Baptist Churches of PA and DE, it is a pleasure to report what I consider very positive outcomes from my attendance at the 2004 ABC Ministers’ Conference in Orlando, FL, called “Strong In the Lord.” During my over thirty years in ministry, I have attended numerous conferences … but this was one of the best! Hopefully, my sharing of how the conference benefited the ABCOPAD Region will encourage the clergy to attend the upcoming Spiritual Formation Conference for Ministers, April 17-20, in Orlando.
For approximately one year prior to the conference, I had been responsible for leading a team, consisting of staff, pastors and laity, in developing a course in Clergy Ethics for ABCOPAD. From beginning to end, the conference served to confirm the team’s work in planning a course that proactively addressed issues that lead to poor decision-making and a resultant “ethical fall.” Endorsement for the course’s design came from several sources … the keynote speaker, the Bible Study leader, the break-out groups and the workshop leaders. The conference received a great ‘start’ from Dr. Gordon MacDonald, the guest speaker, who at the first session invited the conferees to consider the Twenty-third Psalm as a job description for pastoral ministry. Throughout the sermon, he emphasized the words of the Good Shepherd in verse two “to lie down,” i.e., to rest and practice Sabbath and have order in one’s life. Dr. MacDonald shared how failure “to lie down” in his own life and ministry resulted in personal disappointment and heartache. His admission to failures, from one so prominent a preacher, author, and theologian, instantly produced a climate for openness and dialogue that continued throughout the conference. Rev. David Woods, the Bible Study leader, centered his presentations on the “Imperative of Friendship,” and spoke of how friends and collegial relationships guard against loneliness and alienation in ministry. He drew on the experience of Jesus who conveyed the necessity of friendships by calling his disciples friends, rather than servants. The need for self-care among clergy was addressed by Dr. Kirk Byron Jones, who shared his own personal story of “burn-out” while the pastor of a local church. The experience was so profound that it sent him on to new career path of helping pastors finding wholeness and health in ministry.
Not only did the conference provide confirmation for the course in Clergy Ethics, but it also provided material that has been integrated into the course. In fact, the message of Dr. MacDonald is shown (via DVD) in its entirety to the students, for his “story” serves to reinforce parallel issues found in case studies. The Biblical rationale for the necessity of friendships has become one of the courses theological foci, supporting both collegial relationships and the importance of an accountability partner. Also, the focus on self-care affirmed its necessity for making good, sound, ethical decisions, and thus the need for self-care among clergy has become an integral part of the course. Since the conference in 2004, the Clergy Ethics course has been taught four times, accommodating approximately eighty students. The course is required of students enrolled in the Church Leadership Institute and of seminarians preparing for ordination. ABCOPAD was a recipient of a substantial grant from the AB Foundation upon recognition of the value of this course.
The good results and far-reaching effects from the “Strong In The Lord” conference serves to make one eagerly anticipate the “Wait On The Lord” conference with its emphasis upon the spiritual revitalization of ministers.