The Heart and Mind of President Jay Barnes

Heart and Mind visits with new Bethel University President Jay Barnes about his faith, calling, leadership, and vision for Bethel Seminary.

Volume 22 No 1 | Winter 2008-2009

James (Jay) H. Barnes III became president of Bethel University in July 2008, bringing with him a 30-year track record of leadership in Christian higher education. Most recently, he served for 13 years as executive vice president and provost of the College of Arts & Sciences, College of Adult & Professional Studies, and Graduate School at Bethel University.

Before that, Barnes was active in helping students develop holistically, serving as dean for student development and then vice president for student development for 15 years at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. He was a residence director at Wheaton College for four years, and served as teacher, vice principal, and then principal at Black Forest Academy in Kandern, Germany, in the 1970s.

Barnes earned a B.S. from Wheaton College, an M.A. from the University of Connecticut, and an Ed.D. from Loyola University of Chicago. He also holds certificates from the Harvard University Institute for Educational Management and the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy and is an active member of numerous educational associations, including serving as past president and vice president of the Association for Christians in Student Development. 

Leland Eliason, executive director and provost of Bethel Seminary, observes that “President Barnes has an unsurpassed vision for transformational education at Bethel University.” Heart & Mind talked to Barnes about his faith, his calling, his leadership, and his vision for Bethel Seminary.

Could you tell our readers a bit about your faith journey?

I was raised in a home with a rich Christian heritage. From my earliest days I can remember the importance of church and faith to our family. In November 1954, I responded to an invitation from a visiting evangelist and came to the altar at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Detroit. At that time, my parents were sharing a home with my grandparents. I returned home to tell my grandparents, only to find that they had stayed home specifically to pray for my salvation. That was an important first step in a journey of deepening commitment in my relationship with God.

My father’s work introduced us to several different cities and churches, which helped me become more aware of the breadth of the body of Christ on earth. As we moved from place to place, four things became steady and important influences on my faith: my family, Deerfoot Lodge (a Christian wilderness camp for boys in the Adirondack Mountains of New York), Christian education, and the local church. These four institutions provided Christian nurture and security in a world of change.

As an adult believer, my faith has been broadened by interaction with believers from a variety of denominational and cultural backgrounds. Much of this has come in the context of work in Christian higher education. My evangelical center has been enriched through interactions with Christ-followers from other parts of the Christian family:

• From my Reformed friends, I learned to be thorough and rational in my faith.
• From my Wesleyan friends, I learned about the importance of personal holiness and obedience to biblical teachings.
• From my Pietist friends, I learned to see God in the daily things and to deepen my walk with Him through heartfelt prayer and devotional reading of Scripture. From them I also learned to focus more on core issues and to have more humility about secondary beliefs.
• From my Charismatic friends, I learned to be more joyful in worship and more aware of the way that God’s gifts have been bestowed upon His people. 
• My Episcopal friends gave me a deepened appreciation for the majesty of God.  
• My Catholic friends taught me about contemplative prayer, the church calendar, and the traditions of the Christian faith.  
• My Anabaptist friends taught me the importance of linking believing and doing. Their willingness to be nonconformists, to work for peace, and to live more simply changed me deeply.  
• Four years of living on a missionary support basis while serving at Black Forest Academy taught me about reliance on God for daily provisions. 
• From brothers and sisters whose homes are in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Central America, and elsewhere, I learned that God is much bigger than I can imagine. 
  

In many ways, my journey of faith continues.

How would you describe yourself theologically?

In terms of a theological self-description, the phrase “evangelical with Anabaptist and Pietist leanings” may be most descriptive of who I am. The importance of the atoning and reconciling work of Christ, the necessity of a personal encounter with Him, the inspiration and authority of Scripture, and the importance of applying the gospel to the social ills of the world, treating others with the respect due to those who bear the image of God, and living out my connections to others in the body of Christ are key doctrines for me. I believe that Christ calls us to be peacemakers, to care for those at the margins, and to be more concerned with others than with self. I believe that the irenic spirit of the Baptist General Conference connects easily to the Anabaptism of my theology and becomes an important expression of how I try to live.

How would you characterize your leadership style?

The essential elements of my leadership style are based on core beliefs that come from Scripture. I want all facets of my leadership to reflect the following five principles:

1. I believe that we bear the image of God. Even though we are fatally flawed, the image of God is found in each believer. This means that as a leader I should treat each person as an image bearer.
2. I believe that all who claim Christ as Lord are part of the body of Christ. In terms of my leadership, this means that I need others; I am connected to others. I am gifted, but I am not the ultimate head. While I have strong gifts of leadership, encouragement, vision setting, and administration, I need others to complement me.
3. I believe that we are to be truth seekers, truth speakers, and truth doers. This is the way Christ lived. As His follower, that should be the way I live. I need to be a principled decision maker. It is not always easy to identify the principle that is primary in a given situation, but that should be my goal as a leader.
4. I believe that there is a biblical rhythm to work and rest. I believe in hard work and in using one’s gifts to God’s glory. God gives us abilities and passions that guide us in the effective use of our gifts over the course of a lifetime. I also believe that God created us with a need for rest in order to reflect and recharge. When we ignore that need for rest, we violate the creation order that God intended. Part of my role as a leader is to model both the hard work and the needed rest.
5. I believe that we should view our work as a holy calling. In a place like Bethel, this seems particularly important as we nurture students toward holistic maturity. This sense of calling makes my leadership purposeful, celebrative, and joyful. I want my leadership style to reflect these qualities, and I want to have the campus culture do so as well. I want to help people sense that God is at work in us and that what we are doing is to be done to His glory.

Describe your ministry calling. How does it mesh with the mission and vision of Bethel?

For close to 30 years my heart has been pulled toward seeing God work in educational settings so that people are different as a result of the encounters they had in classrooms, faculty offices, hallways, work study jobs on campus, athletic teams, and elsewhere. Bill Hybels, in his book Holy Discontent, asks the question: “What is it that bugs you in such a way that you just can’t let go of it?” For me, what galls me to that point is mediocre education that fails to stir the soul, that fails to transform people.

So my sense of call in response to God stirring my heart on this issue is that I want to be in a position where I can make an institution better at providing education that is genuinely transforming. I want Bethel to be a place that, better than any place else in the world, changes people’s lives, equips them, and sends them out to make a difference. By living out our core values with passion, I hope to see our graduates coming out of Bethel with a kind of “wool-shirt itchiness” about the status quo, who go on to become change agents in the world. I’d like our graduates to go out into the world and irritate people by really living like Jesus. This is what energizes me—I want to take the passion that I think God has built into me, the gift mix that God has given me, and help Bethel be the kind of place where this type of life change happens.

You don’t have a seminary degree. Does this affect your leadership of the university, and in particular, Bethel Seminary?

I think the presidential search committee wrestled with whether the new president needed to be ordained and possess some of the things that typically require a seminary education as a prerequisite. It’s something I’ve thought a lot about, and I’ve come to the conclusion that every place I’ve served in a leadership role, I’ve needed a team of people around me who bring different things to the mix. So as I think about assembling the leadership team that will help Bethel be effective, there has to be someone on that team who understands seminary and has theology as part of his or her educational mix.

[My wife] Barb and I have been committed and active church members for many years, serving, giving, and investing our energy and time. I’ve taught in the church almost every year for about 24 years. I’ve been on elder boards both here and in Pennsylvania, chaired an elder board for four years, and chaired a church board for longer than that. So I feel like I have a great deal of experience in church leadership.

I believe my knowledge of people and my general leadership gifts will stand me in good stead and enable me to be the type of leader the seminary can rally around. You know, I don’t have a degree in adult education; I don’t have a degree in physics. I don’t have a degree in lots of things. What I do bring is humility about what I know and what I don’t know, and a willingness to listen and learn from others. I hope the way I trust and empower people will allow me to be the type of leader who will be good for the university as a whole.

What is your vision for promoting unity and community among Bethel Seminary’s multiple locations?

I think we have to be willing to acknowledge that each of the coasts will have its own distinct flavoring, and that’s not a bad thing. Like the distinct flavoring that currently exists in Bethel University among the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Adult & Professional Studies, the Graduate School, and Bethel Seminary, the separate locations of the seminary can be different and yet unified. There is still a common core that keeps pulling us back toward each other. Our common mission unites us. 

For me personally, the transregional nature of the seminary means that I need to travel to those locations enough to get to know them, just like I have to travel from the south part of our St. Paul campus to the north part in order to connect with our seminary here.

What are your goals for Bethel Seminary?

I’d like to begin by saying that there’s so much to thank and praise the seminary for, including the spirit of innovation and the model of holistic education from the three centers approach that permeates the seminary’s programs. I want to recognize Provost Leland Eliason for the tremendous job he has done with the New Wineskins Initiative and his commitment to building a financial model that works. He has also done an amazing job in a way that he doesn’t often get credit for in opening Bethel’s connections to churches of color. The San Diego campus is a gem, and we’re investing in it with increased building. So many good things are happening at all three seminary locations and I want us to do even more.

I think of improving student recruitment. I am thankful for the enrollment increase this fall and for the good work the transregional team is doing. We need to draw even more students to our San Diego and eastern campuses to fully utilize the expertise of our outstanding faculty there, and to connect the university with some of the most rapidly growing and densely populated areas of the country.

I celebrate the orientation toward the church that drives our seminary model. Without changing that, I think we could add a more deliberate focus on an academic track that would bridge to a Ph.D. program for some graduates. Our College of Arts & Sciences students need to view the seminary as a viable option for pursuing graduate theological education for academic careers as well as vocational ministry. This kind of focus would enhance our academic profile and energize what we are already doing so well at the seminary.  

The Early Years “He kept trying to set me up with others,” says Barb Barnes of Jay, the summer they first met at Deerfoot Lodge, a Christian wilderness campus for boys in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Jay, a camp counselor, was the first person she met when she pulled into the camp to work for the summer as a nurse. He was seriously dating someone else, “yet I knew after I met him that he was the person I wanted to marry,” she says, smiling. At summer’s end, as Jay was boarding a plane to Germany to teach at Black Forest Academy for a semester, Barb told him she loved him. “At that point, I couldn’t say that back to her, but then we wrote each other every day for those four months,” says Jay. “We did Bible studies by mail, read books together, talked about tough issues like race…” And, well, the rest is history. Jay returned from Germany, they became engaged, and were married shortly after that in June of 1971. Their beginning wasn’t easy though. They endured four miscarriages in four years before having their three children, Rebecca, James and Mark, who at one point were all under the age of three. Prior to parenthood, Barb recalls conserving their money by repeatedly washing and reusing Saran Wrap™ while living on a missionary-support basis and teaching at Black Forest Academy. Times continued to be tight when they lived in a dorm at Wheaton College as resident directors with 250 sophomore men, while Jay was also a full-time doctoral student. Their struggles and the fact that people who had been in their wedding were on the verge of divorce were impetus for them to begin pre-marriage workshops for young couples. “When marriages crumble, there are a lot of casualties,” says Barb. “We just wanted to provide support and offer up some of our own experiences to help. But we were also kind of preaching to ourselves.” Since 1978, they’ve worked with more than 60 groups, including many for seriously dating and engaged Bethel couples; Jay has also facilitated a twice-monthly Tuesday morning prayer time for faculty and staff wanting to pray for the challenges facing their adult children. Today When not on campus, you’ll usually find the couple at home. Nearly 12 years ago they moved into a house less than a mile from campus, that “seemed ready for demolition,” recalls Barb. Together they have done roofing, plumbing, electrical work, and flooring, enjoying working with their hands. “Old is good. Old is very good,” adds Jay. They also spend time gardening in their yard. And if not at home, they’re somewhere with Barb’s camera. The couple is perfectly content sitting in a canoe in the boundary waters watching loons for more than four hours as Barb takes endless pictures. “We are both drawn toward nature,” says Barb. “Creation, sunsets, waterfalls, mountain goats—there’s just so much beauty in God’s creation.” To capture it all, Barb has a small venture she calls AWE, short for Abba’s World Encountered. She takes photos, often of animals—nearly 500 of mountain goats in Colorado (thank goodness for digital editing!)—and flowers. Then she saves the best to duplicate and use on handmade greeting cards for friends and family.    Jay and Barb are also active at Calvary Baptist Church in Roseville, Minn., teaching Sunday School and serving on various committees and boards. “For the past 12 years we have been part of the Baptist General Conference (BGC), a denomination that celebrates its Swedish roots, irenic and Pietist spirit, and evangelical commitment,” says Jay. “For us, it feels like home.” And in a twist of history, Jay’s parents dedicated him to the Lord as a child in First Baptist Church, Flushing, N.Y.—now one of the teaching sites for Seminary of the East; and Barb became a believer in a BGC church. Looking Ahead Even though she loved working with students, Barb stepped down from her position in Bethel’s Academic and Enrichment Support Center as Jay stepped into the presidency. “There were two reasons for giving up my job,” she explains. “First, I felt it was a conflict of roles, but second, I wanted to have the flexibility to travel with and support Jay.” The two know they will be on the road more, building relationships with alumni and donors and attending events. “I know this job will take us off campus more, but I also believe that I will lose my effectiveness if I’m not able to maintain strong connections with people here in St. Paul,” says Jay. “I feel like I’m on a first-name basis with most of the women and men who clean the bathrooms and do the plumbing and pull the wires at Bethel, and I do not want that to change.” Affirms Barb, “We’re still us. We just want to be us.”