BGCT Creates Center for Effective Leadership
By John Hall, BGCT Communications | 9.24.09
DALLAS – The Baptist General Convention of Texas has formed the Center for Effective Leadership to provide resources for pastors and other congregational leaders to develop leadership skills and practices.
BGCT Executive Director Randel Everett said the center will help Texas Baptists develop leadership skills that will help congregations thrive, impacting their communities and the world.
“When Jim Collins assembled the research team to study why so few companies were able to move from being stagnant to become vibrant, he was not interested in giving the same easy answer that it was about leadership. However the study done in preparation for his classic book, Good to Great, found intrinsic evidence that the difference in the companies that thrived was leadership which he describes simply as Level 5 leadership,” Everett said.
“I also believe that the key to church and institutional health is the right kind of leadership. The Center for Effective Leadership was created to allow us to deal with this essential principle in pragmatic ways that provides tools and evaluations for our Texas Baptist leaders.”
Center Director Ron Herring said congregations typically access two types of leadership resources. The first provides a more contemporary approach, but lacks a biblical basis. The second is strong biblically, but fails to address issues relating to contemporary problems.
The center aims to help Texas Baptists increase their leadership abilities by pointing them to resources that are strong theologically as well as practically useful. Sometimes that will entail pointing individuals to existing resources. Other times, the center will create resources by bringing Texas Baptists together who are passionate about a particular leadership issue.
By bringing Texas Baptist together, the center can create contextually-accurate resources that provide the theological foundation for leadership as well as practical leadership skills that will work in Texas Baptist churches.
“We want to assist churches and church leaders right where they are,” Herring said. “The resources we point people to and the resources we will create will help people better develop their leadership skills.”
The center is beginning its work by seeking feedback from Texas Baptists about where they find their leadership resources and what they would like to see created. Listening is often the first step in effective church leadership, said Emily Prevost, the center’s associate director. It seems to be a logical point for starting the center’s ministry as well.
“If you walk in saying you have all the answers, you’re going to fail,” she said. “In order to create significant solutions for leadership issues across the state, we need to make sure we’re addressing issues that actually exist. From that point, we can begin to bring people together to tackle the problems that Texas Baptists believe are most critical.”
The center will continue to assist with leadership development and support for ministers and their families, lay leaders, ministry students, women in ministry and new pastors. Some of that will take place as it has traditionally in the BGCT through retreats, conferences and online training, but some of it will be addressed differently, Herring said.
In creating the center, Bivocational Specialist Cecil Deadman and Pastorless Church Consultant Karl Fickling were moved to the BGCT Christian Education/Discipleship Center. Bill Claiborne, who primarily worked with Texas.E-quip.net, became the congregational strategist for area 8, which includes Dallas. The position held by Julie Sadler will be eliminated Oct. 31 as part of this strategic change in how the convention will address leadership issues in the future.
The center’s budget will consist of limited BGCT Cooperative Funds and is intended to become self-supporting within a few years.
By bringing groups of effective Texas Baptist leaders together, Herring believes the center’s ministry will work more efficiently and multiply previous attempts to meet leadership needs. It has to in order to help Texas Baptist congregations make the impact that God is calling them to make.
“We have big issues out there,” Herring said. “We need big answers.”
To give the center feedback on leadership issues, visit www.bgct.org/leadership.