By George Bullard Early in my ministry I served on the national missions staff of my denomination. These were wonderful years. I served with a group of highly committed staff with a deep passion for helping leaders, congregations and local…
What to do about seminary?
About a week and a half ago, I spent the day talking about leadership with my colleagues. We sat in a circle, nibbling on chocolate mints and letting the unseasonably warm wind blow off the water and into the house.At…
Pastors leave congregations, but God’s vision never leaves
By George Bullard The idea of congregations expecting the next pastor to bring them vision implies some very important things about the ongoing understanding and practice of vision within congregations. First, it implies vision comes from the pastor. Second, it…
The power of negative thinking
In some ways it has been the curse of my life, a genuine burden and even bane of my existence. For as long as I can remember I’ve tended to see problems everywhere I look. To my way of thinking,…
Pastors are only one of five keys to visionary leadership
By George Bullard Often congregations put high pressure on their senior or solo pastor to be the originator of vision. It is a classic statement, and by no means an urban legend, that laypersons will say when a church is…
The contested BGAV presidency
Note: I don’t normally write things on this blog that are so narrowly focused (Virginia Baptist life to be exact), but this is incredibly important to me, and it is a prime example of how rural churches and female pastors…
Why we need pastor-theologians for leading churches in mission
Anyone doing the work of planting churches will meet unpredictable cultural challenges. By definition, you are going into uncharted turf. You will have to listen, encounter new issues, interpret, translate and engage in ways you never would have to in…
When it comes to congregational vision, may you be with the source
Baptist politics and the BGAV
By Derik Hamby I personally do not know Brad Hoffman or Nancy Stanton McDaniel. Both are now candidates for the Baptist General Association of Virginia presidency. That last sentence was hard to type. “Candidates” is a strange word for those…