Overture I Course Journal

Bakke Graduate University



Course Journal


submitted to
MY PERSONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY
AND
Drs. Ray Bakke, Grace Barnes, Brad Smith



OVI – Overture I
Doctorate of Ministry in Transformative Leadership for the Global city

by

SAYO AJIBOYE
May 2007


Monday January 8, 2007
Introductions
The First Presbyterian church seemed pretty Majestic, meeting people from all over the world created a great sense of expectation, friendly staff member working heard for us all with a smile. My program is starting at Bakke Graduate University.

I looked around there were other people from Africa, this always matter to me. My African brothers were however not communicative, it was my sister from Kenya who was not from Kenya but a Seattle local that started communicating with me. I wanted to get to know people from other countries also; it was like there was a careful distance on the first day.

Ray Bakke: The DMin Concept and Personal Learning Community
Dr. Bakke started the classes off with stories about his own graduate experience. He soon won my heart with his gentle clarity and obvious eminence but massive simplicity. He told us stories about how he was asked to design his own curriculum for study at McCormick Seminary in Chicago. This was a novel idea at the time and is still uncommon today. Dr Bakke’s experience as a student and his journey as a teacher, seems to be the basis for what is now the BGU Model. It does sound unique. Dr Bakke contrasted the DMin and PhD models; he likened our program to the medical school model. Students learn medicine in real world; they practice with the injured and the sick. A PhD model on the other hand is a sheltered model, learning takes place in an ivory tower; research reporting is intense but often never gets read beyond the audience of one – the supervising professor. This model is completely inadequate for this age; it ends up producing students who are not ready to engage with real world of ministry.

Dr. Bakke stressed the need to understand our changing world. The face of missions has been dramatically redefined. Cities are exploding daily and today there are 500 of them with more than 1 Million people. Christian mission has not changed however; over 70% of our activities are focused on rural people. Also of importance is the shift of the center of gravity for mission from the Global North to the Global South. A hundred years ago 80% of Christians were in the West, the situation now is totally reversed.

Mission education in the West remains provincial, this is a reflection on the tendency of the American society to be insular. The inadequacy of American mission education model is reflected also in the number of international students attending American seminaries who never return home. 70% of grads from the two-thirds world never return to their home countries, their training is essentially useful only in the context of the West. Dr. Bakke is defining a new paradigm that is promoting portability and adaptability as a must. In this model, the classroom is out there in the real world; the society is exegeted as much as the text of the scriptures.

I am from the Global South and my opinion is that the 70% of the people trained who remain more out of economic necessity than irrelevance of the training they received to their context. Dr. Bakke must therefore re-investigate another level in the interaction, the level of global improvement and transformation of communities in the global South.

Personal Learning Community. The writing assignments in the BGU program are to be modeled after the letters of the New Testament. We are to write on specific issues to specific people who together will form what is called our personal learning community. My list is necessarily global, covering from Africa to Asia and Europe and also locally within the USA.

Lunch: Charting the Stories of Our Lives
I worked with others to plot my storyline. It is interesting to note the diversity and yet the complementarity of experience. Life trajectories tell a story. I am impressed by how the stories seem to come out in bold relief when it is charted.
Grace Barnes: Transformational Leadership
Dr. Grace Barnes is so gracious! A teacher extraordinaire it seems. She taught a group of guys heavily polluted by over ingestion of carbohydrate (Read- Sleepy!). her topics were Life transitions, and models of leadership. I was intrigued by the concept of “neutral zones”—this is a time between endings and beginnings. If there is anything that is happening in my life now it is a period of high neutrality. It is a season of transition from one life focus to another; the instability that accompanies it is nearly maddening. I want to fast forward to the future; it seems however that there is a hold that will not release me into the context that I need to enter. I am tearing my head out. I want to serve Africa, I am in America; I feel trapped, I can neither move here fully nor serve there totally. I am praying strongly for a breakthrough.

Transformational vs. transactional leadership was an interesting discuss, I was quite stressed by the long emphasis of many on empowering the powerless. In my experience, it is the powerful that needs to change. The powerless are a gift from God to the powerful, the powerless do not have the resources or the facility to fully change their situation; the powerful are given a responsibility to facilitate this. Deuteronomy told the powerful in Israel, “Remember, the poor will always be among you!” The powerful will be called to account – in my view.

Columbia Tower Tour, Pizza Dinner
Seattle “from above” is beautiful. Dr Bakke’s as a tour guide is the Master, in exegeting the city, the question of “space and place” feature prominently. It was good to get up and walk and talk with others as we do so. There were different “nodes” of the city, the port to the south, the business district, the wealthy residences to the East across Lake Washington.

I experienced akin to an earth wrenching pain afterwards over pizza. Scott Dewey told us his story about Bangkok and Romania. I felt strong anger and a sense of extreme powerlessness at the same time. Bangkok is Lagos and Ibadan and Kano and Kaduna, the cities where my cousins and sisters and brothers and nieces and nephews are locked in forces that they have no power over but that mercilessly misuse their energy and curtail their capacities. Structural change is as necessary in our cities as much as heart change in our people.

Tuesday January 9
I was asked to lead devotion today, I told the story of pain around the pizza pan.
Ron Boyce
Boyce knows hat he talked about. An “urbanologist” with a clear grasp of anthropological implications of the scriptures – especially as it affects Seattle development, He made certain key observations:
Cities are places of protection (story of Cain)… “Focal points for the utilization of the earth (Harris and Olma, U of C)
Cities are “plexal places of society” (Lewis Mumford on history of cities)… places where things come together
Cities are “catch basins of society for people most at risk” (see Mike Davis, Planet of Slums)
Cities develop along “isochronal lines” (roads, cables, amenities)—as these extend, possibilities expand, networks form (emerging “Pugetopolis,” 90 cities around Puget Sound)
Cities grow by visionary individuals (e.g. Dennys in Seattle) and also by demographic shifts and social movements (e.g. Asians in Seattle)

Ray Bakke & Chicago
Dr. Bakke is a master storyteller. His life in Chicago became a textbook for understanding God’s work on earth. Ray was firm in saying to us: “Think through what your city represents” exegete the implication of its composition, interpret your city. He affirmed that the city is constantly shifting and reforming, power centers ebb and flow; we need to understand the sociological and theological implication of this.

I am especially intrigued by the concept of Alexander Callow as used by Ray Bakke. He compared the “public spirituality” of Boston (founded by Calvinists who saw God’s common work of grace in all of society), with its emphasis on public institutions, democratic structures, etc. vs. the “private spirituality” of Philadelphia (founded by Quakers who emphasized the inner work of Christ). Nigerian cities in these regards are decidedly private. There is a need to bring both public spirituality and private spirituality together in all contexts.

Seattle Tour: Walking the City and Visiting Ministries
We visited World Relief Seattle. Their mission is to help refugees settle in the USA. Ms. Kelly did an outstanding job of explaining WR programs. Kelly introduced Ms. Farida an Indonesian woman who was a former Muslim and told her testimony so passionately about how she journeyed from faith in Islam, to complete personal transformation in Christ.

Ray Bakke led us in a whirlwind tour of the city. Brisk walk down the streets, meaningful tidbits by Ray, race towards Pike Place Market to beat a menacingly looking cloud of rain; the rain preceded us to the place. At Pike Place I connected with my African American Brother from Chicago. And discussed what it means to be an African in the world and how we need to redefine our commitment to empowering our young ones. Ray’s question about Pike Place, What is it like for the Church to model itself after Pike place?
Afternoon: Dr. Barnes outlined reading and study methods and Dr. Bakke reflected on his roots in rural Washington and his return to make Seattle his home base after many years in Chicago and now traveling and teaching around the world. It is important to note the commitment of this great man of God to affirming that the formative forces of his life would not be regarded as great, they were simple forces such as a loving family, a strong community… all these we had in Africa, all these we are loosing.

Wednesday January 10
There were many presentations today:
John Sharpe: Transformational Leadership
John Sharpe presented in depth the difference between the Transactional and the Transformational leader. Transaction operates on the basis of an exchange; transformative leadership is rooted in incarnation. It embraces the ordinary, rather than seeking the spectacular. It steps aside, creating vacuums for others.


John Hayes: InnerChange, “A Christian Order Among the Poor”
John Hayes talked about a ministry to the poor that flows out of the community. I expected to hear about the inner workings of Inner Change, he did not speak about this; I was a little disappointed. I felt I might have learnt a thing or two. I agree with Haynes though on the idea of a visionary outsider being critical to the process of change in oppressed communities. It is not truer that only insiders can reach insiders.

John Perkins: Civil Rights Activist, Founder of the Christian Community Development Association
I have read John Perkin’s book and I expected much from this session. He rather gave a long table talk of an old sage that sounded quite unprepared, ad libbed. The fellow understood his stuff however. Dr. Perkins obviously is a bridge builder per excellence, a master at turning adversity into advantage.
There are many things about Dr, Perkins assertions that I will like to challenge. I do not know from which roots my skepticism arose but I dare express it fully, not right now however, I do not have the moral mileage to make such assertions. There is an industry that feeds on pain, I wonder if this is not a well-refined manifestation of that.

Brad Smith: Context of a Changing World
Dr. Smith presented postmodernism and its contexts. He discussed what usually excite me, the interface of faith and economy. He noted insightfully that when Chinese premier Hu visited Bill Gates before George Bush! Ideological boundaries and political boundaries do not carry as much clout as economic, information and technological mushing up of nations.
Dr. Smith referred to these as “new Roman roads” and its impact on missions. Internet portals are a global reality among young people that have made nonsense of national boundaries.

Thursday, January 11
Ray Bakke: A Theology as Big as the City
It is freezing cold today. Students who drove long distance came in trickles. Dr. Bakke’s storytelling skills took us on a long but refreshing trip through the Scriptures. The lesson read like a primer out of his book A Theology as Big as the City. Dr. Bakke’s legendary work in the global urban circles shone brilliantly this morning, it was a great gift to sit at the feet of this Master and learn.
Bakke’s system of systemically isolating text to understand it in its own right and then re- integrating it into a whole was very intriguing. It seems that he read the Bible like my village catechist, the people that disciple me would. It is very impressive to find a world-class scholar who will use this powerful but disengaging method. I believe this also is the method of our Lord who took a Scriptures written many years before him and said, this day, this word is fulfilled in your sight. (Luke 4).

Ministry Tour: New Horizons
We toured New Horizons and were hosted by Rita Nussli, and Sheila Houston, outreach coordinator. I am intrigued by their work. As a trained Social Worker, I felt I would love to work here. A friend of mine described New Horizon’s work as “to make space for beauty.” This is a great work.

Friday January 12
John Akers Reflection
John Aker is my host in this Overture. I have had long dinner table discussions with him. Coming up to lead reflection this morning was therefore not surprising to me at the richness of the substance that he presented. He spoke from Psalm 131: “I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother” and his manner exuded quiet studied peace. Some of John’s quotes are worth repeating:

“I found I had less and less to say, until I had nothing to say at all. I discovered in the silence the voice of God.” - Kierkegaard

“Where I am most inwardly myself, there you were far more than I.” - Augustine

“Tumble up and down what thou findest there” (in your chest) - George Herbert

“If love did not live in matter, how would any place have any hold on anyone.” - Teilhard de Chardin

John seems to call us to another way of envisioning mission, almost a way of silent beauty. I think John draws a lot from the Roman Catholic Spiritual Formation tradition. I think there is a lot to learn from this by us African Pentecostals.

Grace Barnes: Servant Leadership
Dr. Barnes introduced us again to the subject of Servant Leadership. It concerns me that African authors were completely missing. Is there no one writing in Africa or is it that the West has conspired to keep our voices silent? Dr. Barnes described an interesting paradox: raise up the powerless to be leaders and bring down the powerful to truly lead. Robert Greenleaf’s center for leadership (serving people in many fields—corporate, political, educational, etc) is based on this theme.

Lowell Bakke: Servant Leadership in Practice
Lowell is a preacher, so he had his outline and bullet points; he however seems to need validation of his “big brother” Ray, so the 3 bullet point are really not his own but Rays. “3 M’s”:
1) Message—begin with the truth of the gospel as you understand it from scripture, etc.
2) Method—find effective means of communicating the message
3) Model—embody the message, beginning with yourself (and presumably with sparks of transformation begun in the community)
The order looks neat but can it be turned on its head? Can I not begin with my story and search for scriptures to make sense of it – classical “narrative theology mode” The relationship may be more organism than progressive. Lowell is excited about his work in Puyallup WA, he however needs to avoid generalization and convinced assertion that can be questioned and challenged. Contextualization may not allow Lowell’s method to always work

Saturday January 13

Bakken

We traveled to Bakken, Dr. Ray Bakke’s beautiful Mountain home. It serves as a place for retreat and one could even say pilgrimage, which Ray generously shares with students and visitors from all over the world. Ray grew up in this general area in a logging country very near the steep, densely forested hillside. It was kind of neat to see Ray’s roots in Bakken.
Ray’s church history trail runs through the woods around his house. It is a 200-foot trail representing 2,000 years of history of the Christian faith. It has 20 markers along the way and each marker is a memorial to a specific person. Each marker stood for a Century and the most important person in that Century in Ray’s view.

We trudged through the snow and got vignettes about Frumentius of Ethiopia (4th cent.), Cyril of Moravia (9th cent.), La Casas of Spain and Latin America (15th-16th cent.), Teresa of Calcutta and others through the centuries.
Ray’s life is a challenge. I came away thinking, what can I be to my people? How can I enrich my nation the way Ray has his own? What are the most valuable gifts I have to offer others during this season, and how can I best order my life to give them?

Monday January 15
Aaron Haskins
Aaron session was breezy. He was obviously unprepared for this class and what he had to contribute was a story of his life. Aarons story is meaningful as a reminder of how personal change is possible, and how society has changed even in one (still young) African-American man’s lifetime. This is a fitting reflection for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Aaron now directs the Coalition for Community Development and Renewal in Seattle.

Brad Smith: Business as Stewardship and Mission
Dr. Smith is a master at his trade. He shared how he moved out of systematic theology to life story. Brad introduced the “vice-regency theology” and used it to explain his understanding of a theology of business. He emphasizes how work and worship are our gift and our responsibilities and how both are holy. Work was in the garden before fall, work was not caused, work would not cease, and work will continue to be a way of knowing God.

Brad critiqued urban ministry as not having a vision for stewarding money, power and sex. This triumvirate is misunderstood and feared by Christians. We give up stewardship of sex to Hollywood, money to Wall Street, and power to Washington. Brad taught what Luther believed, that God created 3 institutions for human life: the Church, family, and government. Brad argues for a fourth—business (part of family in Luther’s culture).

Lowell Bakke: Revitalizing Churches, Transforming Communities
Lowell has become like a specialist doctor. His call is to help revitalize dying urban churches. Lowell can be self-deprecating in the way he presents his materials. He says none of his ideas are original; his gift is to take what others think and put them into action. Lowell told a long story that involved his fathers deathbed wish for his two famous brothers Ray and Dennis and he has tried to take the gift of both and use it to revitalize dying churches. This obviously is what he is now devoted to.

Film: “The Power Trip”
A film about how Dennis Bakke’s company AES, the largest independent power company in the world, bought the entire electrical grid in the former Soviet-bloc country of Georgia. Dennis Bakke has a reputation of evangelizing the business world and setting up innovative business structures that emphasize that the bottom line in business is not profit, but to give something to the world.

Dennis Company tried to give something to the city of Tbilisi in Soviet Georgia where the film is set. The film showed that social engineering is a temperamental operation. This film emphasized my own perspective. Power acquisition cannot be ignored if we expect meaningful societal change. All of Dennis problem in Tbilisi would have been solved had Shevardnadze been truly a Daniel. We need to be involved in the process of transforming structural power in the society.

Tuesday January 16
Ray Bakke: BGU Academic Model
BGU aims to fill a roll that traditional seminaries do not often fill, that of a good Research and Development agency that is out testing stuff on the field. Traditional seminaries are good memory bank; BGU seeks to be a good product creator. BGU students are encouraged to create their own programs. It would be possible to do the entire program (after Overture I) with the overseas trips. Find friendly Professors and do your courses with them.

Les Braxton: Multiplying the Church and Ministry
Rev. Braxton presented to me as very successful, very driven, but very power conscious leader. He tried to sound nice and seemed to do everything right; but telling it came across too measured. The gentle grace of he who is touched really by infirmity was not there, the hard nosed card playing systems of the power broker who is trying to stay on the good side of history – (for a great press in the future?) - seems to seep through. I am not judging, but I am clear about the impression that Dr Braxton left me; it is that of a General at War marching over the opposition and not that of a father at home tending the sick in the family.

Rose Madrid-Swetman: Missional Church
A sweet lady and someone that is the exact opposite of my “General” brother I feel almost instinctively that Rose is more Christ like (There I go judging again!). Roses church rejected “budgets, butts, and buildings” as success criteria. Their goal is this, 100% of members serving in community; 100% incorporating spiritual practices in their lives. The measures Rose took are to “grow the church big rather than grow a big church.” “We have no mission department; everything we do is mission.” “The pastors do not sell vision; the people have vision and the pastors equip.” I loved this!

Jim Henderson: Helping Christians be Normal
Jim is way out wacky, he knows it, he enjoys it; I like him; he is real. His story is simple, bought the soul of an atheist young man on Ebay and got him to visit and critique churches (forthcoming in a book Jim and Casper Go to Church). Result is www.off-the-map.org. Jim’s contention is that church should be more focused on its mission, less focused on its self. The church needs to share, to dialogue; it is not to be a destination, but a gas station. Jim said: “Jesus had 132 recorded conversations. Six in the temple, four in a synagogue, and the rest in the marketplace.” Jim wanted the church to start telling real stories. Jim wanted us to avoid this drama of conversion and concentrate on the gift of conversations. Tell real stories about a real God who wants to touch real people. Stop (!) the sales pitches.

Wednesday January 17
Ray Bakke: Consulting Your City
Dr Bakke again took us on an extraordinary tour through the scriptures. According to Ray, 1st century urbanization foreshadowed 21st century’s. Same forces are at play, ethnic diversity, changing urban structures, religious pluralism, high cost of urban living, risks in urban living. Christians according to Ray need to develop a Theology of the City. We need to re-envision the city, we need to see it as gift of God’s common grace, e.g. transit, schools, hospitals). “Cities are where care giving happens in modern world.”

Dr. Bakke’s mien seems to have something to do with his ability to engage his listeners. His priestly posture, his weighty pauses, yes his pauses, I find so engaging… it is like something new will flow after Ray pauses and places his finger on his lips in his inimitable manner. Bake seeks to re-envision cities in the image of Christ, his mission seems to raise a group of agents that would take the flag of contextual application of the gospel and stake them across earth’s beautiful face.


Kris Rocke: Good News in Hard Places
Kris is trying to take the context of the BGU theology to warriors of faith among young people in urban context. I met Kris over the weekend at his home and spent the night in long discussions with him, his core question is simple: “How do you teach and preach good news in hard places?” Kris told a story from Judges 19 as a case study for listening for good news in hard places. He has such an interesting take on the context and the fact the woman has no name.

Ray Bakke: BGU Overseas Study Opportunities
May the Lord provide the means to get on these trips.

Judy Melton: Program Logistics
The flexibility of the program is amazing. Lord help my soul.

Grace Barnes: Study Methods
The way Grace presented this portion makes it look too easy on rigor. I do believe that this is not what she intends. Book reports based on scanning chapter titles and skimming text does not look especially healthy for a doctoral program

Thursday January 18, 2007
Jeff Keuss: Theological Reflection
Dr. Keuss was too rooted in the academy to connect with the challenges posed by our inquiring team. His ambitious agenda of 1) Explaining Five historical epochs of theological reflection in the academy; 2) The church—why, what about, what should it be doing? 3) What does it mean to be one holy catholic church, with careful emphasis on each of those four words? – all of these withered in front of sustained attack from the community.

Sheila Houston an African American classmate led the charge: “I didn’t hear any of my people mentioned. I mean, people of color, or anyone besides Europeans, Anglos.” Dr. Keuss was obviously unprepared for this challenge but would not accept his weakness. He defined the theology of King, Song and Guiterez as flowing from the academy to the community. Any cursory observer can easily take this proposition and tear it to pieces, the academy did not empower King, Kings theology was a re-discovery, his beloved community tapped more into the Ghandian communal system than into his Crozier theological training. Dr Kreuss displayed abysmal lack of awareness about the community. He presented as the archetypal white academy agent; I felt sorry for him in that group in which he was for once powerless.

John Akers: Circle Time
John Akers gift of gentleness pervades this time. It did not however measure up to what I was expecting. Too much was going on in my heart, I really needed time to unpack. The circle was good but an anticlimax.

Friday January 19
Debrief and goodbyes!