Mentors in My Life: Jere Allen
One Mentor to Whom My Book--Soaring with Faith--Is Dedicated
Jere Allen and I were two of the three people who served the Metropolitan Missions Department of the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention as regional consultants to congregations in metropolitan transition.
The third, Phil Tilden, lived in California. Jere resided in Alabama. I served in Maryland. We were each of different generations. Phil was in his 60s, Jere has around 40 when he began, and I was in my 20s.
Jere moved on to the staff of the Metropolitan Missions Department. I redeployed into a national consultant role for several years before becoming a staff member in that department.
When our boss—Don Hammer—left to become a seminary professor, Jere became the director, and I became the associate director.
Congregational Life Cycle
It was Jere and I who discovered the research and writing of Carl Dudley who develop a model for the decline and dying years of congregations. He connected it with the stages of death and dying by Elizabeth Kubler Ross.
We realized the essential need to design the entire life cycle of congregations so the full picture of their life could be seen. It was always possible signs of decline and dying might also exist on the growth side of the life cycle.
Our academic and field research showed this to be true.
PACT
The beginning of our ministry as USA missionaries for Southern Baptists focused on a national emphasis called PACT. This stood for Project: Assistance for Churches in Transition.
Jere and I ultimately wrote a manual titled—Shaping a Future for the Church in the Changing Community. This became the foundation manual for PACT for the next 15 years.
Throughout our active ministry, Jere and I either worked together or networked on various issues of metropolitan ministry, local Baptist denominational organizations, consulting processes, conflict ministry, and other issues which could be named.
Later
I left the Home Mission Board after four years to come to South Carolina—where I still am except for a five-year sabbatical to work for Baptists in North Carolina.
Jere stayed much longer. Ultimately, he went to Washington, DC to be the executive for the multi-denominational Baptist regional organization there. I enjoyed many times in his home when my consulting and work with the Baptist World Alliance took me to Washington.
Now
Jere is now in his early 90s. He ran what I recall being his 46th Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta this year. About once each year or two my wife and I have an opportunity to visit with Jere and his wife, Faye.
I am grateful to count Jere as one of my key mentors in ministry. I wish we had another three decades of service to enjoy together.
Coming Soon . . .
Soaring with Faith: The Difference Maker for Congregations is just a few weeks away from publication. Multiple books will be published in the ForthTelling Innovation series. The current plan is to publish one every five months.
If you would like to be on the notification list when this book and others in the series are published, simply send me a message with your name and email address.