Groups sustain Alabama pastors

For the past 10 years, Director of Missions Gary Farley has had breakfast on Tuesday with a small group of pastors from Pickens Association.
  
“It gives us the opportunity to have air time and share with each other,” Farley said. “Over time, you build trust and can be open and honest.”
   
He said the group offers affirmation to each other that they probably wouldn’t get at association-wide meetings.
   
“As we’re working through issues, they come up in our conversations, and we can deal with these topics,” he said. “We’re able to share and offer advice and encouragement.”
   
Farley said besides praying for each other and the fellowship aspect, there is also a component of continuing education.
   
This group, as well as another one Farley helps facilitate on Saturday mornings, serves as a model for the Pastoral Sustenance Network, a program of the Resource Center for Pastoral Excellence housed at Samford University.
   
“This is for rural pastors to have continuing education and peer support,” Program Coordinator Kristen Curtis said. “These pastors are diversely educated and are all in isolated areas where it’s hard to connect with other pastors.”
   
So far, there are five such groups in Alabama, and according to Farley, several more should be established next year.
   
“We hope to prove to be so valuable that others will pick up on it,” he said. 
   
The network is just one of the programs offered to pastors at the center. 
  
The motto — “Reconnecting ministers to the spiritual source of their vocation, replenishing the physical, emotional and intellectual sources for church leadership today” — describes the mission of the center.
   
The center is funded through a $2 million grant by the Lilly Endowment that began in January 2002. 
   
The program is funded through December 2007, and Curtis said the department is looking to develop funding beyond the grant period.
   
Besides the network, there are five other ministry-related programs affiliated with the center.
   
The Sabbath Leave program provides people of all denominations and ministerial positions with a sabbatical or study leave from two to 15 weeks at Samford.
   
“We’ve had people work on academic pursuits, counseling, develop a physical fitness regimen, write poetry, work on painting, dancing,” Curtis said. 
   
“They can utilize campus resources, consult with professors, go to chapel services or even use our gym.”
   
The first person to take advantage of the Sabbath Leave came in September 2003, and since then, 16 others have gone through the program.
   
Another program, Pastoral Partnerships for Excellence, is made up of pastors of various races and denominations from churches of all sizes.
   
“This is just getting off the ground,” Curtis said. “There are 10 pastors who have been nominated by their peers as ‘good ministers.’ They are writing case studies about each other to eventually put in a book that will be used as a resource for students and other pastors.” 
   
Twelve for Twelve is another program, through the Samaritan Counseling Center, intended to encourage pastors to meet on a regular basis with a denominationally and racially diverse group of peers.
   
“The idea behind this program was to have 12 pastors meet together for 12 months,” Curtis said. “The pilot program had just five pastors, and they all said that 12 would be too many. 
   
“So this year, we have two groups — one with five and one with six.”
   
This program differs from the Pastoral Sustenance Network in that the center sets the curriculum for the continuing-education aspect, and the groups just meet for one year.
   
Project Timothy is a four-semester internship for college students who want to go into the ministry. 
   
This experience, which is also supported through First Priority of Alabama, allows students to be mentored by a pastor at a local church, while they also serve in a community placement such as a First Priority club.
   
“This gives the students the opportunity to walk alongside a pastor and see things like budget meetings, weddings, planning, conflict and other events that occur within the church,” Curtis said.
   
Students are encouraged to shadow pastors from various churches and denominations during the internship.
   
“We encourage students to get this kind of diverse experience while they are young,” Curtis said. “You really can’t get this later, and it gives you a different view of what ministry can be.”
   
Another program, “Like a Mustard Seed: Supporting and Celebrating Small Church Leadership,” is a leadership conference that will be held Oct. 24–25 at Samford.
   
“There’s not as much out there for smaller churches,” Curtis said. “Their work isn’t celebrated because they aren’t growing or are growing at a smaller rate. This conference supports and celebrates small church leadership.”
   
For more information on any of the programs or to register for the small church leadership conference, contact the Resource Center at Samford at 205-726-4064 or visit www.samford.edu/groups/rcpe.