Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 13, 1990 TAG: 9005110241
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: FRANCES STEBBINS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
Joe Borden, minister of music at Blacksburg Baptist Church since 1984, says that philosophy underlies all he does as a team pastor of one of the New River Valley's largest congregations.
It means, says Borden, that new music isn't pushed too fast on worshipers and that a place is found for any who enjoy music, whatever their age or skill in making it. It means being creative enough to keep trying new ways to include people and never forgetting that a church service is for the worship of God and the spread of the gospel.
Borden, like many professional church musicians, does several jobs at Blacksburg Baptist. One reason he came there from doctoral studies at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., was the chance to share in pastoral ministry with the Rev. Dr. Ray Allen, senior pastor for the past 16 years.
He shares some counseling duties with other staff members, especially when they relate to those he knows best through his seven choirs.
In close cooperation with the Rev. Dr. Roland Byrd, Southern Baptist campus pastor, Borden tries to integrate students into the life of the church.
He does this mainly, he said, by encouraging their participation in his 40-voice student chorale. This year the chorale has been unusually loyal in practice attendance and, in its director's view, has had its best season ever. The number of graduates, however, will necessitate rebuilding in the fall.
Borden's campus duties also include bringing students into contact with the Sunday school and worship services.
To give himself more counseling skills, Borden spent part of last summer in a clinical pastoral education program in Roanoke.
Team ministry has its hazards, he admitted when asked how he has maintained his enthusiasm and efficiency in a field where terminations are common because of conflict between the senior pastor and his or her subordinates.
Borden says he is grateful that he and Allen - along with youth minister Gary Metcalf and organist and handbell director Jim Bryant - share the basic view that the needs of people come first. It's as important in running a church as it is in running a business for people to be able to plan together, handle their differences behind closed doors and above all be loyal and respectful of each other's skills, Borden said.
In a church, where respect for individuals can clash with the need to do a job, it's especially easy for staff to take sides with members who disagree with new policies or fear change. It's easier to do this than confront problems honestly, Borden observed.
The music director, who worked with nine other pastors before coming to Blacksburg Baptist, said he has seen people manipulated because the senior minister was afraid to offend influential members. Nor do senior pastors always back their staffs when criticism surfaces, Borden said.
He said he's especially grateful that Allen stands behind his people.
If a pastor feels threatened by the skills of his or her subordinates and responds by exercising more control over them than needed, Borden said, more trouble is on the way.
`If a church staff is open and understanding about these matters, pastor/music director conflicts won't be a great problem."
Borden, 42, discussed this work philosophy as a background to his own satisfaction as a musician in the college community. He spent many years as a student - and a soldier - before getting his present job, he said.
He was reared in an Atlanta suburban town in a Disciples of Christ congregation. He loved vacation Bible school and regularly attended the summer programs of several denominations. By high school, he felt drawn to professional ministry, but as a good trombonist he went to the University of Georgia intending to be a school band director.
At college he met Peggy Watkins, a Georgia Baptist, and joined her denomination after their marriage 19 years ago. A voice major, she is the mother of Robyn, 15, and Benjamin, 10.
Though he never fully left the church as an undergraduate, "I had a lot of questions," Borden said. "I think I know where students are coming from when they put other things before church."
Borden taught in Georgia after his undergraduate days but found himself out of a band-directing job when white and black high schools were merged. He took a job as a school choir director, and that was his start on what eventually became a career in church music.
Between schools and churches, however, were four years in the Air Force at Fort Carson, Colo. There, said Borden, he learned the discipline of working with others to get a job done, a skill useful on a church staff.
By the time he left the service 15 years ago, Borden had begun directing small church choirs. His calling for Christian music had become clear enough that he enrolled in the seminary from which he eventually won a doctorate in musical arts for work in churches.
While still in Georgia, Borden developed a school musical from a childrens' narrative poem. His doctorate required two original compositions that could be performed. Both - "Here In This Place," a cantata with a contemporary setting, and "Hosea," a sacred opera based on the Old Testament prophet - were well received at Blacksburg Baptist, he said.
Two years ago at Easter, Borden composed and arranged a modern musical work based on the Bible story of Christ's walk to Emmaus.
His most recent effort, which took two years to plan and cast, was "Obed the Gardener." More than 400 saw it at the early Easter service.
Borden has had no success in publishing his work commercially. Publishers have told him it's too advanced technically to turn profits. So he's considering printing it himself and marketing it among Virginia Baptist professional musicians.
by CNB