By David Roach
USED BY PERMISSION OF THE ALABAMA BAPTIST
MCDONOUGH, Ga. (TAB) — As churches seek to navigate the coronavirus pandemic, polling data suggests they are turning to their local Baptist associations for assistance more than any other group. So the Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders (SBCAL) focused its first ever virtual conference on helping churches emerge from COVID-19.
Twenty-one percent of Southern Baptist congregations say their association is providing them more help during the pandemic than any other individual or group, according to polling by Gloo, a technology organization partnering with the Barna Group to study churches amid COVID-19. That was the poll’s top response, ahead of the Southern Baptist Convention (18%) and state and local government officials (17%). Conference speakers at the April 30 SBCAL webinar asked associational leaders to consider how they can maintain that degree of influence as the crisis subsides.
The pandemic presents Christian leaders with an unprecedented “degree of freedom” to “really inspect your mission and your strategy in this moment,” Brad Hill, Gloo’s head of network and partnership strategy, told the 285 associational leaders in attendance. “It’s not often that we get the ability to do that in such a profound way.”
Cohosted by Gloo, the webinar featured teaching sessions by associational mission strategists, an address by LifeWay Christians Resources President Ben Mandrell and video greetings from other SBC entity presidents, including Ronnie Floyd of the SBC Executive Committee, Paul Chitwood of the International Mission Board, Kevin Ezell of the North American Mission Board and O.S. Hawkins of GuideStone Financial Resources. In conjunction with the conference, Gloo is offering associations free access it its Network Management System to gather data about their churches and communities.
Part of the impetus for SBCAL’s virtual conference was the coronavirus-related cancellation of the organization’s June annual conference in Orlando, Fla. But SBCAL leaders say they will continue to offer online events along with in-person conferences even after physical gatherings become possible again.
Many of the virtual conference addresses were based on chapters in SBCAL’s forthcoming book “The Baptist Association: Assisting Churches, Advancing the Gospel,” due out in June.
Bob Lowman, executive director of the Metrolina Baptist Association in Charlotte, N.C., said “active listening” will be essential for “building and deepening relationships in a post-COVID world.” Because conversations with associational leaders sometimes are “the only safe place” for pastors to express their feelings, associational mission strategists must quiet their own agendas and use careful listening as “fuel for our praying.”
Todd Robertson, AMS for the Louisville (Ky.) Regional Baptist Association, said being “relationally vulnerable” is a key proficiency for associational leaders. It entails being honest about failures and “earning [the] right to speak into the lives of others” rather than asserting a right to lead inherent in the office of AMS.
During the coronavirus pandemic, authentic vulnerability means “not having to have all the answers,” Robertson said. Associational leaders must be willing to say, “I don’t know. I’ll help find the answer.”
Brian Nall, executive director of the Pensacola (Fla.) Bay Baptist Association, said effective leadership requires “emotional intelligence,” which he defined as wisdom “to select and deploy” the “right emotion for the moment.” As churches grapple with coronavirus, emotional intelligence may require guiding congregations to postpone major decisions until vivid emotions subside, he said.
“If we’re blind to how emotions fog up our decision making, we’re going to dive headlong into some very dangerous outcomes,” Nall said.
Jim Breeden, former AMS for the St. Louis Metro Baptist Association, urged associations to consider spending more time coaching pastors and less time on conferences and church consultations. Distinct from counseling or mentoring, coaching is “meeting with a person or a group of people over a period of time, intentionally asking and answering questions with them until they discover or rediscover who they are in Christ, their calling and their best choices.” Coaching brings clarity to leaders and helps churches face change, he said.
Bob Dean, executive director of the Dallas Baptist Association, urged associational leaders to be “vocal encouragers” of pastors. The Bible is filled with stories of God’s encouragement to struggling believers, he said, providing an example for AMSs to follow. “The purpose of being a vocal encourager ought to be to equip a pastor to find his strength in the Lord.”
A recording of the virtual conference will be posted for SBCAL members at SBCAL.org.
