The newly ordained priest Barnabas

Today, at the Annunciation Cathedral in Atlanta, Fr. Dcn. Barnabas is being elevated to the Holy Priesthood. Axios!

Fr. Barnabas is a gifted (and well formed) preacher, and we will be seeing and hearing more from him once he recovers somewhat from his oppressive schedule. Fr. Barnabas is not only a friend, he is one of us – a member of the Preachers Institute, and student at Holy Cross Theological School in Brookline, MA. At the recent Art of Speaking Workshop (you can see the Review here), he was one of the four presenters.

To the entire Powell family – congratulations and many, blessed years to you all!

More information about Fr. Barnabas.

Fr. Barnabas (Charles) Powell is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. Having been raised in a small Pentecostal church as a boy, Fr. Dcn. Barnabas grew to love the church, enjoy the music, and eventually came to be the youth pastor of his home church.

Fr. Barnabas attended Toccoa Falls College, an Evangelical Protestant school in North East Georgia, and received his theology degree there in 1988. He then went on to establish a new church in the Atlanta area that was an Evangelical congregation with Charismatic distinctives. While pastoring, Barnabas also was heavily involved with Evangelical Christian media.

He served Dr. Charles Stanley’s In Touch Ministries as Promotions and Public Relations coordinator, and also served as the Affiliates manager for Leading The Way Ministries with Dr. Michael Youssef.

He pastored for several years and saw the congregation grow from two families to over 200 in the space of a few years. During this time, Barnabas became interested in the history of the Church, and began a reading program that would eventually lead him to enter the Orthodox Christian Church. Several of the families that had been with him during his pastorate entered the Orthodox Christian Church together with Barnabas in November of 2001.

Fr. Barnabas joined the staff of Orthodox Christian Network, the producers of Come Receive The Light, in April of 2003, and now serves the media outreach as the director of development. Orthodox Christian Network is the SCOBA Agency commissioned to create and sustain a national media outreach for the Orthodox Christian Churches in the U.S.

In 2007 Fr. Barnabas was given the blessing of Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta to enter Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology and he and his wife and daughter moved to Boston to pursue his Master of Divinity in preparation for ordained ministry in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, if God wills. He is currently finishing his senior year at Holy Cross while also serving as adjunct professor for Public Speaking/Communications at Hellenic College.

Of special interest to us, He also assists in the graduate school in teaching the Preaching course for senior seminarians.

Fr. Barnabas is married to Presvytera Connie (Demas) Powell and they have one daughter, Alexandra.

As I wrote in my review of the Art of Speaking Workshop, he’s a southern gentleman with a fire in his belly for the Gospel, and a clear vision of the future of the Orthodox Church in the USA.

He also writes the blog, Sober Joy. The article below is taken from his blog, and is a small example of his excellent work.

Axios! Priest Barnabas! Congratulations, and many, blessed years to you.

Here is an article from Fr. Barnabas’ blog, for your reading enjoyment. As for me, I never get tired of reading his writing!

“DRESS UP” ORTHODOXY

Monday, June 30, 2008

Dear Readers (both of you! )

Below is a response I recently wrote to an announcement about “two new Orthodox parishes” being established in the Baltimore area. It turns out that these are two Old Catholic groups wanting to advertise themselves as “Orthodox.”

The reality of our current situation here in America is that of religious “entrepreneurial” chaos. In other words, every man can do what is “right in his own eyes.” I prefer the chaos over government control, but that means that each of us must be diligent in knowing and living the fullness of the Faith. No automatic pilot allowed!

Here’s my response. I offer it to you for your critique, response, and correction:

Fr. XXXX, please forgive me, but I spent (I won’t say “wasted” but I want to) almost 10 years of my life playing “dress up” Orthodoxy in a group that desired the ancient faith without all that messy hard work of actually being in organic communion within the Orthodox Church.

I don’t say that is what’s happening here. How could I know? But I do know that any real and lasting work any of us do will have to be eventually brought to the Church in communion if it is ever going to be “fruit that remains.” This “we are going to do Orthodoxy right” mentality is absolutely a dead end. If you and your Old Catholic group have charisms and talents, bring them to the Church. Perhaps the Church can put them to use, but more than likely it will be as it has been for me, a time when my own foolish notions of my gifts and abilities will be put to the test in the fire of the hard work of communion within the Church.

I also don’t mean to engage in any lengthy discussion of the merits of this or that vision of communion and bringing America to Orthodoxy. I simply wish to share my own regrets for waiting so long to enter into the hard work of communion within the Orthodox Church. The fruit that this work has produced in my own life is worth much more than any of the perceived “gains” I thought I had outside of the organic and canonical communion within the Church. Please know that ever fear I had about the Orthodox Church was well founded.

There are many within the Church who see it as nothing more than a place to preserve yia yia’s recipes and a few colorful costumes and dance steps, or some ultimately futile attempt to pretend they don’t live where they live now. There are many within the Church, especially here in America, who are so narrow minded that you could put out both eyes with one bb! There are far too many who know so little about their faith that they resort to silly nationalistic (and sometimes racist) motivations for preserving the ancient traditions of the faith. The sad and overwhelmingly obvious results of these weaknesses is that these motivations will not preserve anything these folks want to preserve. These weak motivations are, after all, too small to preserve the timeless beauty of the Faith, and too irrelevant to keep any of the “old world” alive. All of these fears are well founded and certainly insist on an “eyes wide open” approach to entering the Church.

But in spite of these very real weaknesses, there is simply no substitute for the hard work of dealing with these shortcomings, especially with all the benefits that come.

Because, for every narrow-minded person I have encountered in the Orthodox Church, I have encountered a hundred sincere, faithful, and loving believers who, through patience, compassion, and love have guided me to a fuller understanding of the Faith. I have seen my initial impressions of some of the ethno-centric baggage of the Church as being too short sighted myself. I have found some of these cultural expressions (certainly not all) to be worthy bearers of deeper truths that have been helpful to me in deepening my own piety and faith. I have watched as so-called “cradle” Orthodox, grasping the deep healing given to them by the Faith, raise their children as committed believers and I’ve watched as so-called “converts” finally see the power of humility in living out a sense of gratitude for those who preserved the faith so they could receive it. I have watched as young men and women come to understand that if they first dwell deeply on the “sublime theology” of Orthodoxy, their children will want to keep alive those special cultural markers that allow them to display their Orthodox faith in a healthy and welcoming way. Their children want to learn the “language” not because of some foolish and shallow nationalism, but because that “language” best captures the precious nuances of the Faith they have come to love and has so transformed their lives. It has been worth the work.

My journey isn’t over, anymore than I’m sure yours is as well. Here at seminary I am learning more than I ever dreamed, and much of that education is occurring not in a classroom but in the daily living with so many different people from so many different places. I have found my worst fears and my greatest hopes both confirmed in my canonical communion within the Church,

and I wouldn’t go back to my “dress up” days for anything!

© 2010, Preachers Institute. All rights reserved. On republishing this, please provide a link to the original post.

Our good friend, Fr. Barnabas, newly ordained deacon and blogger at Sober Joy, co-teaches the course PAST 7201 – Preaching: Proclaiming The Kindgom, with Fr. Nick Triantifilou, the president of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. Fr. Nick  is the main professor, and Fr. Dcn. Barnabas is the co-instructor. In this preaching lesson, which was given earlier this year, we are given an excellent example of a three-step process to preparing an effective sermon on the Gospel.

Tonight we are going to look at one way to organize a homily to insure that your homily has a clear purpose and a clear structure to encourage effective preaching.

The outline I use is as follows:

Introduction

D.S. – (Declarative Statement)

T.S. – (Transitional Statement)

I. (1st Main Point)

1. (Sub points)

2.

Ill. – (Illustration)

Appl. – (Application)

T.S. – (Transitional Statement)

II. (2nd Main Point)

1. (Sub points)

2.

Ill. – (Illustration)

Appl. – (Application)

T.S. – (Transitional Statement)

Conclusion

Step One

The First step after having studied the passage or subject for the homily is to develop the most important part of the above outline – the Declarative Statement. The D.S. is your homily’s main idea and purpose written in one sentence. For example:

“Today’s Gospel passage reveals two (2) powerful principles to assist us in becoming mature disciples of Jesus Christ.”

This declarative statement now becomes the controlling thought for the rest of the homily. It reveals your two main points and it governs your purpose i.e. to assist your parishioners in becoming mature disciples of Jesus Christ.

Step Two

The Second step in developing the homily using the above outline is the Main Points. Your Declarative Statement has already revealed how many main points you should have and now you state them clearly.

“The First Powerful Principle is…”

then the sub points open up the main point with specific insights into the point itself such as the power of a particular Greek verb in the text or a context for the particular teaching Jesus is making here. The Second Main Point is developed in a similar manner.

Within both Main Points are two other components that are indispensable for the effectiveness of the homily. They are:

Illustration – the illustration should paint a vivid picture of the Main Point it is trying to reinforce. It could be a story, or a quote from the Fathers, or an item from the contemporary news of the day. Regardless, it must allow the hearer to “see” the Main Point.

Application – Here is where you are to “preach.” Each Main Point should have an application section where you help the hearer understand and apply the Main Point to his/her daily life. It is inherently frustrating to be told that I should become a mature disciple of Jesus Christ and then not get the steps to make this a reality in my life. The hearer should leave the service with a clear way to apply what he/she has heard in that morning’s homily. Every homily is incomplete and ineffective without this vital element.

The Transitional Statement is as simple as it seems. It is a short and simple statement that moves you from your previous Main Point to your next Main Point.

Step Three

After having completed the Main Points, the Third step is to write your Conclusion and Introduction, in that order. While you are developing these two sections, you will usually find that they inform one another.

The Conclusion should be not only a recap of the Main Points and important elements from each Application section, but also a clear call for the hearer to apply what he/she has heard that morning to his/her life. The Conclusion is the place to ask the hearer to step up to the principles of the Gospel lesson preached.

The Introduction should be able to “set the table” for the homily as a whole. It should be timely and it should connect with the hearers to where they are in their lives. It can begin with a story, a personal story, or even a contextual background for the passage itself. Regardless, the Introduction is the place to help the hearer begin to become a doer of the Word.

An old preacher friend once told me that in a sermon, you should

“tell them what you are going to tell them; then tell them; then tell them what you told them. “

The important task is to leave as many memory possibilities within the homily as possible to assist the hearer in remembering the insight from the Gospel lesson that day.

With time and practice this system can become a way for you to move away from a manuscript toward noteless preaching. This takes time, practice, and serious attention to preparation.

As above, this is just one way to organize a homily.

As you develop your own style, keep in mind that the homily is just as much a part of the work of the Divine Liturgy as any other part of the service. It is the time when you have a powerful opportunity to set the tone for your community in their spiritual lives and in their daily lives. It is a time when exposing them to the Scriptures is also a way for them to see the Scriptures as intimately applicable to their daily lives.

The task of the Preacher is to take the Scriptures and give them to the people in such a way that they value the Word as much as you do.

© 2010, Preachers Institute. All rights reserved. On republishing this, please provide a link to the original post.