Dr. E.B. Brooks. He’s the man who covers my back and reads my reports. He will not be in his office next month. After a long and incredible term with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, E.B. is retiring and preparing for the next chapter of ministry – one that I am hoping will also include me.
E.B. asked me in 1998 to assist the BGCT in ministering to the “postmodern” culture . . . as we called it back then. He has been shielding me and taking flak for almost 8 years. And he has given us a huge amount of freedom to go where God was leading us, which was outside USA for most of that time. Anything we have accomplished in the past 8 years could not have happened without E.B. standing behind us. Whenever we met in person, he would encourage me to “KEEP IT ABOUT JESUS” – which is a now a mantra permanently embedded in my brain as a whispering companion.
Milfred Minatrea (guy on the right with the hard-as-rock hair) will be taking over E.B.’s role as the primary person to complain to about me and the other trouble makers that are associated with me. I am sure he is really excited about that role. Milfred is a nice guy, a man of God, and author of a book I am reading right now. BUT I SURE WILL MISS E.B.! He has been more than a supervisor . . . he has been a father to me. . . and i cant tell you how much loss i feel in his retirement and how much i long that he will not hang up his big texan hat but will jump with us all into the next season.
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i am another of the many no-fit (not “misfit”!) leaders whom E.B. kept afloat/alive during a time (early ’00s) when almost no one else got it about me or about the emerging cultures that lay well beyond the scope of what has since become the mainstream version of “postmodern-era ministry.”
his retirement from this role reminds me of how almost every single “young leader” in the Bible whose history-changing story is shared is linked to an older generation mentor: Mary with Elizabeth, Daniel with Jeremiah, Esther with Mordecai, Ruth with Naomi and Boaz, David with Nathan … it will be a great pleasure for us all to see where the Lord takes you next!
meanwhile, deep thanks, E.B. you’ve been more than a mentor to us who are perhaps just now finally finding our “fit” in the world of emerging ministry. you’ve been a prophet who may not have totally seen the current edge yourself, but you recognized the younger leaders who were at the edges, and you claimed us and kept us in Kingdom work.
E.B. – rock on, on the Rock!
Growing up and growing into ministry in BGCT churches I too have watched this man and his ministry. You may not be able to look over your shoulder and see his face but you won’t have to look long nor hard to find a fresh fingerprint.