This dissertation is a comparative analysis of selected pastors' personality profiles and their conflict management styles. As pastors understand their personalities, this will decrease conflict within themselves and with church members. This research presents three theological presuppositions. They are shared and examined by detailed biblical word studies and biblical examples. It was determined that this research presents the unique study of relationship using the DISC personality profile and Speed Leas' "Discover Your Conflict Management Style." Similar studies were examined and critiqued. The study involved 1,532 pastors in East Texas. The correlation coefficient Pearson (r) was utilized to examine relationships of pastors in their relationship of personality profile and conflict management style, along with scatter plots, and the Chi-square. The significance of the study is that there is a relationship between pastors' personalities and their conflict management styles. Pastors who are (D)ominance in personality tend to have a Persuade conflict management style. Pastors who are (I)nfluencing in personality tend to exhibit a Collaborate conflict management style. Pastors who are (S)teadiness in their personality tend toward a Collaborate style of conflict management. Lastly, those pastors who are (C)ompliance in personality tend to have a Persuade conflict management style. The research found that years in the ministry have little or no effect upon pastors' personalities. Those with less than six years experience and those with twenty-one or more years experience tend to be Collaborate in their conflict management style. All other pastors are inclined to be Persuade. Another significant finding of the research is that the more conflict a pastor faces, the more likely he is to be Persuade in his conflict management style. The education of a pastor affected his conflict management style if he obtained a doctoral degree, making him more likely than any other group to be Persuade. The research will be helpful to pastors to better understand who they are and how they respond to conflict. The research can serve as a resource for churches in leadership development. The research can provide valuable information for church pastor search committees. The committee could administer the survey to a prospective pastor, and together they could discuss his personality and conflict management style as it pertains to the needs of that church. The research can serve as a foundation for future research in this area. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

This dissertation examines the perceptions of Southern Baptist ministers and seminary faculty regarding the importance of administration competencies and the perceived level of seminary preparation in equipping graduates for managerial responsibilities. Relationships between perceptions of ministers and faculty are analyzed using ranking correlation methods. The impact of staff position on the perceptions of ministers toward administration competencies is also examined. Rank variances are used to identify competencies where potential over-preparation and under-preparation occur. Chapter 1 presents the research concern related to varied perceptions of the role of seminary education in preparing ministers for practical ministry. This research focused on competencies in ministerial administration. Chapter 2 examines the precedent literature for ministerial administration competencies and includes theological, administration, and ministry foundations. This chapter analyzes the arguments related to the need for administration in ministry and the role of the seminary in preparing ministers. Chapter 3 presents the methodological design of the research. The study surveyed 637 Southern Baptist seminary graduates and 68 Southern Baptist seminary faculty regarding their perceptions of administration competency importance and educational adequacy. The "Research Survey of Administration Competencies" was developed by the researcher to measure perceptions of thirty-four competencies in five competency dimensions for ministers and faculty. Chapter 4 presents the demographic data and the analysis of findings related to five research questions. Statistical analysis revealed a high level of perceived importance for administration competencies and a moderate level of seminary preparation in administration. Ministers and faculty ranked competency importance and education adequacy similarly resulting in strong correlation coefficients. Various perceptions existed between church staff positions within the minister group. Chapter 5 presents the conclusions of the research. A high level of importance was placed on the role of administration competencies by ministers and faculty. Decision making was the highest ranked competency for ministers and the second highest by faculty. Knowledge of biblical models of administration supported the emphases found in precedent literature. Both groups rated assessing and reporting last in importance among the five competency dimensions. Ranking variance analysis indicated that over-preparation occurred in four of the thirty-four competencies while under-preparation was identified in four competencies. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

The purpose of this descriptive-quantitative study was to analyze the relationship between individuals' development according to Fowler's stages and the self-assessed maturity of their faithfulness to Jesus Christ. Based on a review of significant texts from the Judeo-Christian Scriptures and from church history, the researcher concluded that faith as understood by the earliest Christians--which the researcher has termed "biblical-orthodox faith"--and the reality to which James W. Fowler referred as "faith" are not the same phenomenon. Biblical-orthodox faith entails two inseparable dimensions, faith-content and faith-commitment. The validity and vitality of biblical-orthodox faith may be assessed by measuring individuals' maturity in Christian faithfulness. Fowler's understanding of faith--described in this research as "other-awareness"--more closely relates to the phenomenon described in the writings of Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher as das schlechthinnigen Abhängigkeitsgefuehl . The researcher created the Fowlerian Stage-Development Survey (FSDS) to assess Fowlerian stage-development in the sample of 348 evangelical Christians. The alpha reliability coefficient for the FSDS was 0.6941. The Shepherd Scale--a standardized instrument with two sub-scales, the Christian Belief sub-scale and the Christian Walk sub-scale--was utilized to assess individuals' maturity in Christian faithfulness. ANOVA indicated that no significant relationship existed between Fowlerian stage-development and maturity in Christian faithfulness as assessed by the Shepherd Scale. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis suggested that Fowler's Stages 2 through 4 describe the development of the Jungian Ego, while Stage 5 describes the development of the Jungian Self. These findings suggest that Christian spiritual formation comprises three separate "tracks"--Ego-development, Self-actualization, and Christian faith-development. In light of his research findings, the researcher constructed an integrative model of spiritual development that incorporated Ego-development, Self-actualization, and Christian faith-development into a single model while recognizing that Christian faith-development and Fowlerian stage-development operate on separate structural-developmental tracks. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

This dissertation identified and analyzed the impact of learning environment factors on the retention and attrition of members of adult Sunday School classes in Kentucky Baptist Convention churches. The study was delimited to spiritual, physical, and social learning environment factors internal to adult classes meeting at church on Sunday led by the same teacher for the previous twelve months. The research questions focused on the strength and relationships of these factors and demographic data gathered. Precedent literature was investigated next. First, since adults in Sunday School study the Bible, an understanding of the impact of God and theological assumptions was presented. Then, adult learning assumptions, learning environment factors, and retention and attrition (assimilation) issues were applied to the context of adult Sunday School classes. Because limited literature was available addressing these issues in the church, resources from a diversity of fields were utilized, analyzed, and applied to this setting. The methodological design of the research involved creating and validating a research instrument, contacting and training church leaders, surveying classes on Sunday morning, and mailing instruments to no/low attenders. The random proportionally stratified sample included teachers and members of adult classes in nineteen KBC churches of the Long Run Baptist Association (Louisville area). The two instruments (teacher and member) contained seventy-two statements utilizing a Likert response scale along with twenty-two and sixteen demographic variables, respectively. Chronbach alpha reliability testing of the 762 instruments produced a score of .8801. In the analysis of findings, means, modes, medians, standard deviations, rankings, cross tabulations, percentages, and ANOVA data were provided to help answer the six research questions. The statements were combined into twenty-four triangulated learning environment factors in response to precedent literature. The strength of spiritual, physical, and social factors were examined along with the impact of retention (high/average attenders) and attrition (low/no attenders) and various demographic variables. Tables and figures helped to display findings in helpful ways. Conclusions drawn from the research findings were that spiritual and social learning environment factors did impact retention and attrition of the adult Sunday School classes in the sample. The impact of friends upon high/average attenders was evident, as was the impact of the teacher upon low/no attenders. Even though physical factors did not impact retention and attrition, several findings need application in the local church such as flexibility and physical arrangement. Several suggestions for further research were presented, including replication and utilization of the instrumentation and methodology in other locations and other denominations. Focusing on part of the learning environment factors could also produce helpful results. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.