1/ Regarding what I said yesterday about the emphasis on leadership above discipleship, some folk mentioned the influence of secular, corporate models of leadership. This emphasis began early in the 20th-century w/ publication of Gaines Dobbins, "The Efficient Church" (1923).

2/ Dobbins was Professor of Sunday School Pedagogy and Church Efficiency at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Writing in the heyday of big business, Dobbins lamented that the church was backward & inefficient. It needed to enter the modern world.

3/ Dobbins suggested that church leaders learn from business leaders. This was the same era as the book, "Cheaper by the Dozen," a story about a man who ran his large family as he did his company. It was thought that men should run efficient businesses, churches, & homes.

4/ As a consequence, people became workers to be managed. As in the business world, pastors learned that by acknowledging people with plagues, pins, etc. for their efficient service, there would be an incentive for more service.

5/ In this era of efficiency, men lamented the "feminization of the church." An efficient church was a masculine, business man's church: Regimented programs, closely age-graded Sunday School, "successful" outreach programs that were run much like corporate advertising.

6/ With the emphasis on efficiency, the image of the pastor changed from shepherd/teacher to executive leader. Time-honored ways of discipleship, such as apprenticeship, informal Bible studies, testimonies, & fellowship gave way to more formal & institutional formats.

7/ Good things came out of this era: Sunday School curriculum was standardized, children were given training at their age level. However, programs soon overshadowed people, & numbers (profit) became the bottom line. In 1954, the SBC launched the campaign "A Million More in '54."

8/ In the 1950s Pentecostal churches began to look to SBC as a model for education and outreach. We sent our leaders to Nashville to learn the "latest techniques." Being shame-based, we easily gave up some of our most powerful forms of catechesis for the sake of efficiency.

9/ We learned quickly. A Pentecostal leader remarked, "The orphan daughter has become a mighty man!" Our churches adopted a business model, & women were further sidelined as "lady evangelists." How could they fit the new image? Successful churches needed men.

10/ The latter part of the 20th century saw the rise of consumer-driven rather than efficiency-driven churches. People were no longer motivated by plaques & pins to attend and work in the church. They demanded their needs be met, & would easily go to another church.

11/ And so, here we are, exhausted. Pastors feeling pressure to be "successful" & having the right "brand." Fickle people looking for a "successful church" and the latest cool pastor. It's a good time to turn to Jesus & Scripture. To return to discipleship & pastor-teachers.

12/ That is all. Thank you for attending my seminary class.