[Victor Kubik] Well, today I'd like to give you insight into the ministry of Jesus Christ. Ministers are called elders, pastors, shepherds, some other titles as well. And I've titled this sermon, "What is an Elder and What Does He Do?" And the subtitle is, "What Pastor Steve Myers Won't Tell You About the Ministry." The reason is, is that he's a very humble and modest person. There are many things that are involved with the ministry that we just don't list for everybody, but I think that you need to know. You need to know all the different things that are involved with the ministry.

There are 400 ministers around the world. Three hundred are in the United States and 100 overseas, approximately. It's actually a little bit less than that in both numbers. Those who are serving along with their wives in this congregation, of course, there's Steve Myers. You know our pastor. Peter Eddington, Aaron Dean, Gerald Seelig not here but in the North Church, Gary Antion, Richard Kennebeck. I may miss some here. But I'm just telling you and be counting those that we have. Richard Kennebeck, John McClain, Dave Metzel, Tim Pulliam, Scott Delamater Then we have those who are training for the ministry, Ryan Hall and Andy Duran.

I have been part of the Ministry for 50 years. I can't believe it. In July of next year, it will be 50 years, the Sabbath after the Fourth of July. I was a trainee there and was one for three years and started the Sioux Falls South Dakota before I was ordained in 1972 by Denny Luker, a Holy Day in Minneapolis. I've served in churches in South Dakota, Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Indiana. But I've also worked in management of the ministry and administration of the ministry both in California and here. And the ministry has been my passion. I've not regretted at all any aspect of the ministry and a job that I've had since I was 21 years old. I love it. I love the hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people that I've met that have been very, very exciting. I've enjoyed the relationships. I've enjoyed everything that we have done.

Currently, we are actively working to develop the future of our ministry. Right now, 83% of our ministry is over the age of 54, 83%. We are searching for younger men to be brought into this role. It's very important for us to do so for the future of our church. I'm asking for your earnest prayers to help us identify these men and to hire them, as we have two trainees here in this area who we have high hopes for to go on and continue the very important work of the ministry for the Church of God. I've met many lifelong friends. But also it's been a journey that has been connected with sadness, trial and even estrangement, ups and downs in that ministry. But I've developed friendships with people that are much closer than family.

Why am I talking about this subject today? The important mission of the Church is to provide congregational care for those disciples who are called as a result of preaching the gospel, that we preach the gospel into all the world, make disciples and care for them. That's the three-part… two-part actually, of mission of the Church, the proclamation of the gospel and then caring for those who God calls. The operative word there is caring. It's not ruling. It's not dominating. It's caring for those people. And that's the operative word for the ministry and probably one that should be associated with it more than anything. The reason I'm talking about it today is because all the job description and all the narratives about what ministers ought to be doing is right there in your lap. It's in the Bible. It's not some other secret manual, a three-ring binder someplace that talks about the job of the minister. It's right there in your lap in the Bible. The qualifications for the ministry are listed. The job description is explained. And also the history of the ministry is explained. So everything I'm going to be talking about is biblical, right from the Bible. And it's about your ministry and what they do.

How did this position role in office come to be? How did we get ministers in the first place? Well, there are a number of words for it, like I already indicated. And I'll explain to you the nuances between those words, but the word that's most used is elder. There are 250 references to elder in the Bible. And I need to go back to the Old Testament to give you a little bit of history of how eldership in the New Testament came to be as a result from what was in the Old Testament. In ancient societies, elders were adult men, usually older, who were responsible for the decision making of a local village or community. Actually, in many societies, this has been very, very true. It could be a village. It could be a small area, but it's just been natural for people to have a sage, to have a wise man, to have a senior older person, that was kind of the person to go to and as the wise men. We even experienced that when we work in Africa. You have headman. You have chiefs, and so forth, that are people who are respected in their community that people go to.

The first example of elders as community leaders comes up in Genesis 50:7. And this is when Jacob was buried. And various people came from all over for the funeral, for the event. In Genesis 50:7, "So Joseph went up to bury his father; with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh,” so this was something that involve the Egyptian community, and also Joseph's family. "The elders of his household." So there were already were elders there in this grouping, in this small society, that was developing. "And all the elders of the land of Egypt." So he had kind of a mixture of people. These were representatives of the various communities in Egypt that came for the burial of Joseph's father. But these people are mentioned. This is the first place that we have such mention of elders in the Bible. The elders and the N.I.V. translates this as dignitaries, were leaders who represented families and community at Jacobs funeral.

Now, even when Israel, now hundreds of years later, was enslaved. The people were enslaved by the Egyptians. The whole nation was enslaved. Yet, they had their own structure within the enslaved society, which included elders. Exodus 3:16, when Moses started taking over the job of the Exodus, which was imminent, Moses first goes to tell the elders of Israel about God's call to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He says, "Go assemble the elders of Israel… the elders of Israel, and say to them, ‘The Lord the God of your fathers, and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to me,’” and then later in Exodus 12:21, Moses calls the elders together. “Let's have a meeting. Let's discuss what we're going to do. I will get the word out” and to communicate the Passover commands. So already there was a structure of the senior individuals that were respected, that were leaders, in the community.

But Exodus 24, this is just after the Ten Commandments are given after the Exodus itself had been selected. A group of 70 elders had been selected as a governing body of Israel under Moses' leadership in Exodus 24. You're also reading in Numbers 11:16, where the statement is made, "Bring me seventy of Israel's elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you." So it's very clear from these and other biblical passages that elders had a place of leadership in early periods, in the early periods of biblical history. It was a position that progressed from an informal position of leadership to a specific calling of God. And we come to where we're at because we call our leaders elders, as well. Is there a difference? What's different about an elder then and an elder now?

There was one interesting statement about elders in Proverbs 31, a chapter we know well, as the chapter about the virtuous woman. She was a woman who was well-respected. She did everything right. We have women's events that oftentimes feature Proverbs 31, but she was a woman that was younger. She had children that rose up and called her blessed. So she had children at home. But the interesting thing about her husband is that in Proverbs 31:23, we read that “Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.” So here's her husband, a male who's quite young, you know, is the husband of a young… Who knows how old he is, probably in his 30s, who sits there among the elders of the land at the city gate, which could have been like the courthouse or where decisions were made at that time. So elders weren't always elderly. Elders were people who were mature, people who were sound minded, and people who were looked up to with a sense of this person can lead.

In the New Testament period, local elders continued to lead. Now, in Israel, and, you know, you can look up all 250 references of elders. But immediately after Jesus Christ's ascension to heaven, and even when the first call went out by Peter, he addressed the elders of Israel. These were elders already who were part of the Sanhedrin. They were people who were recognized leaders among the land. But when a reference was made, these were people that were addressed. Then we come to New Testament elders in the Christian era and where the elder's role in teaching and leading is emphasized in 1 Timothy 3, and also the first chapter of Titus.

Now, let's get to the New Testament. I just wanted to cover the background a little bit about the Old Testament, which led to the structure of leadership in a society, which has… the Church has very similar structure in principle. Now, first of all, Jesus Christ when He chose leaders, He chose a very, very special group. These were the apostles. In fact, He prayed all night before He chose these apostles. These were to be the 12 around whom which the Christian faith would expand and would go to different places in the world.

There were 12 apostles. One, Judas, failed. A new one was replaced. Matthias took his place. But then also, a short time after that, the apostle Paul and Barnabas were chosen to be apostles. We have the record of no others, but we have a record of these people. And that can be considered to be kind of a closed group. We don't ordain apostles. We don't recognize apostles. Some people set themselves up as apostles, but, you know, that's their business. Apostles were chosen by Jesus Christ. Then in Acts 6, deacons were chosen as the fledgling group of thousands of people at first who became Christians as a result of the Holy Spirit coming upon them at Pentecost and a short time afterwards.

The Church mushroomed very quickly to about 5,000 people. And there was a real excitement among these people as they ate together, as they gathered together. And the apostles themselves did a lot of the serving work that needed to be done. And it was figured that we really need to have more people help out with this. And so seven deacons were chosen for this role. But the first mention of Christian elders, of Christian elders… And we define that as those who are ordained, who are put in that position because there's a distinction between deacons and elders in 1 Timothy 3. And actually, their job description of deacons in Acts 6 indicates that these were people that did physical things. They had spiritual qualifications.

But their job was to serve in a church primarily in more of a physical role. But in Acts 11:30 is the first mention of elders now in the Christian community. And these were elders that were up in Antioch. Antioch was a very, very strong center of the early New Testament Church. Of course, Christianity began in Jerusalem, the day of Pentecost. But then shortly after the death and the martyrdom of Stephen, the deacon, obviously, Stephen was more than just the person who did a lot of work because he stood up and gave a speech that cost him his life, the whole soliloquy that he gave in the book of Acts. And then he was stoned and was the first martyr. And that became the impetus for the church to scatter.

Sometimes trials and difficulties in the Church cause consequences, good consequences that we don't fully understand. But a number of people scattered as far away as Antioch, which is the big city. Antioch was a major, major center in the Roman world. In fact, it was one of the top cities like Alexandria, Athens, Rome, Antioch. In fact, that was a place where there was a huge, huge Roman army that was stationed. Rome had two big armies in the Middle East. One was in Antioch and one was in Egypt. So these people went up there. And that wonderful story in the book of Acts about how these people went up there. And after a year, there were many converts. We don't know how they became converted. Darris McNeely who talks about the movement of the New Testament Church in the regional conferences that we've had for the ministry. But the Church grew very, very rapidly. There was good growth.

In Acts 11:27, "And in these days the prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which happened in the days of Claudius Caesar." This is yet another office, a prophet, that we don't fully understand either, but a prophet came from Jerusalem up to Antioch and told the Christians up there that there was going to be a famine. “Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea.” They gathered together food, probably money, whatever, whatever was needed to assuage the famine. “This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.” They were stationed up at Antioch.

Antioch was a place that really was a launchpad for a number of initiatives, including the trips that the apostle Paul took throughout the Roman world. It seemed to be a church that was wealthy, you might say, and funded his travels there. But here in this particular case, they were hearing about an impending famine in Judea and Jerusalem. And they gathered together whatever was needed to send down there for relief. But the first mention here of appointing elders and actually choosing them is given in Acts 14:23, Acts 14:23. And this is the work now as it spreads from Antioch and it goes through Asia Minor. So the area that today is Turkey. And churches were established. There was good growth.

It was a lot of activity, a lot of positive growth in the church. "So when they had preached" verse 21, "to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,” back to home base, “strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, 'We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.' So when they had appointed elders in every church,” the church now is beginning to establish roles of spiritual elders in these churches who would be responsible for strengthening the souls of the people, for educating them, for keeping up with them “and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed."

So we see the continual development of the role of elder, of those that are called elders like they were by their counterparts or from where they had come from, even the Sanhedrin. Now, these are elders with this Christian foundation. So mentioned elders are spoken of as those who were appointed. Notice that they weren't elders that rose up for that occasion. They weren't self-appointed. They were appointed. This is very, very important, very, very important, as to how one becomes an elder, which I will be explaining. Eldership is a position that is given. It is not a position that you can choose. It's a position you could want to have. But it's not a position that you can choose and say, "Well, what will I be or what should I be?" Taking some kind of a test for occupation. “Should I be a physicist, should I be a biologist or should be an elder?” You just don't choose it that way. You are chosen for that position. You do not choose it.

In 1 Timothy 1:12, the apostle Paul makes an admission, 1 Timothy 1:12. And there are a number of epistles called pastoral epistles, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, that are written to elders as a personal letter that have become a manual for what elders do and the types of things that are expected of them. But Paul writes in Verse 12, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,” Paul did not choose that job. Believe me, he was anything but about to enter the ministry. He was putting Christians into jail and dragging them out of their homes. He was persecuting Christians. And yet when he was on his way to Antioch to continue doing the dirty work that he was doing, to finish the job of stamping out Christianity, he was thrown off his horse and we know that story, and met with Jesus Christ personally, was trained by Him, and became the apostle to the Gentiles.

An amazing story about the apostle Paul. But we see here that elders were appointed. And the apostle Paul himself was enabled by God. God had prepared him for that work. God had looked at his C.V., looked upon his experience. Paul was perfect. He had a mother and father. One was a Gentile. One was a Greek. He was born in area that was away from Jerusalem and really an area that was Gentile. And yet he knew the law. He was a Pharisee, and he was very well-versed. He was an amazing person as far as just how well trained he was and knowledgeable about Greek and Roman philosophy and education and environment. And also his background as a Benjamite which he was, like a Jew, you know. He connected very closely, but he was also knowledgeable of the law of God. He was knowledgeable about the Scriptures. He was enabled and God had counted him faithful.

There was something about Paul and his character that God looked in and saw, "I can work with this person. I can trust him. I can build something in him." And one thing you'll find about an elder is that, and we've covered this in our ministerial conferences, that the training of elders is two-fold. It's training and skill set in speaking, counseling, organization, administration, speaking. But also there's another side which is equally as important is the development and upholding of integrity and character. And you'll find that the qualifications for an elder mostly has to do with character and integrity, with having a conscience, and being a person that what you see is what you get. The person who is faithful. And he was put into the ministry. He was pretty much dragged into it. "Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man," and he really made a turnaround “by obtaining mercy, because I did it ignorantly and in belief."

Today, the way we do it, as far as elders are concerned, is that names of people are brought forward. Almost at every quarterly council of elders meeting, we go through the candidates for eldership. But these are names that are brought forth. Not a single one of them filled out his own application, and said, "Hey, I want to be an elder and here's my application. Here are my qualifications." That's considered very gauche. You just don't do that. And then those are reviewed. Recommendation letters are written. Discussion continues. And a council of elders then goes through a process of consensus saying, "I believe that this person should be an elder." In fact, pretty much what's needed, which we seek, is 100% consensus, because if there's somebody who is objecting, we want to know why he's objecting to that person becoming an elder. And so as a result of that process, a person then is chosen to be an elder and hands are laid upon him.

1 Timothy 4:14 shows this laying out of hands that goes next, where Paul writes to Timothy and says "Neglect not the gift in you, which was given by prophecy" don't neglect because there's something very, very special that's been given to you, special enablement that's given to an elder “with the laying on of hands of the presbytery.” That ordination is done by laying out of hands by fellow elders, presbyters, and we'll cover that word, our elders, presbyters. Okay, now let's get into the terminology of eldership. I might say here's how, and I think I need to tell the story, about how I became an elder.

I came to Ambassador College. And I was very, very transfixed upon all the things that were being done. I really was very, very an activist. I wanted to do something to change mankind. If I wouldn't been in the church, if I would have been a hippie trying to, you know, go up to San Francisco, you know, and try to help people that way. I joke about that because I just wanted to make a change in the world. And so I came to Ambassador College with the full intent of somehow serving in the Church and the work. That was my goal desire.

The job that I did for three years, the job I had the day I walked on campus, and the job I had the day before graduation day was the very same one. I worked in the photo lab developed film. I was in photography. That's what I did. It was called pre-press for publications for the Church. And I loved the classes. My favorite class by far was epistles of Paul and I had half of it in Pasadena, where I lived for the first part of my college. And then mid-year I was transferred to Bricket Wood, England and had the second half. And I had excellent teachers in both locations. And in fact, I looked upon every class as almost a big motivational sermon on the epistles of Paul.

I love that class. I love the biblical classes. Well, as it was getting time for graduation, I was wondering, "What's going to happen to me, what job will I have?" And I talked to the men's counselor and he said, "Well, one thing for sure. You won't be a minister." So okay, fine. So we've got that down, as I walked backwards on his office. And when they announced the names of those who would be going to various assignments around the United States, you know, they went alphabetically, You know, they went through the different names, they got past the Ks to somebody else. And honestly, before God, I said, "That is God's will. It is not God's will that I be in the ministry." I truly was satisfied with that. I knew probably I wasn't the person for it, and especially liked to speak.

I did like people, but I really wasn't one of these natural people. I didn't play basketball. I'd do other things that all the big jocks did, you know, that became ministers. So, you know, I had… I was assigned actually to work in Jerusalem, to work in our office at that time and to work with Mr. Ray Dick in the office there. And I know I knelt down before God in the prayer booth and said, "God, thank you. That is Your will. That's what You want." And I was totally satisfied with it. I literally was. I pretty much kind of cut off any aspirations for the ministry at that point. Then about two weeks later, there was a call from Pasadena and a greater need for more trainees in the U.S. They said, "We're just having very, very explosive growth. We have these graduate school lectures that we're conducting around the country. We're having many, many people coming into the church. And we need five, six more trainees."

And I was on that B list and made that list. And to me, I thanked God again. I said, "Okay if that's what You want." I was assigned to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I was so happy. I was just extremely happy for that to be a ministerial training, not knowing where that would lead. I still had to, you know, serve and be vetted and so forth. But it was close to where my mother lived. She was a widow, recently made, just a year or two before in Minnesota. And I was just very, very thrilled. And since that time, at age 21 for three years, I was a trainee serving under three different men in eastern South Dakota, in Rapid City, in Wyoming and then in Minnesota and then I became ordained.

Okay, now what's the terminology for eldership? The word that is most often used for eldership is the word presbuteros, presbuteros in Greek. If you want to look it up in Strong's Concordance, it's 4245. And it means “older, implies seniority, experience, maturity, dignity, honor." It appears 28 times in the gospels and in Acts. It actually is the base root for the word priest, presbyter, and which one passage we read about the presbytery meaning that Timothy was laid hands on by the presbytery meaning the other elders in that area. But the word priest also comes from that. When I go to Ukraine, you know, this word is Greek but Ukrainian Russian language have a similarity to Greek and they call their elders, they always refer to presvitery… presvitery the presbyters. Presbyters.

And those are elders as opposed to… not opposed, but is differentiated from pastor, pastors. But everybody's a presvitery. You know, presbyter. And so we have Aaron Dean. He's a presbyter, you know, not Presbyterian, but presbyter. And that's the base word, you know, that it comes from the Greek. Then there's another word for elders, the word episkopos. Episkopos. As I was growing up as a kid, I remember that in our church we had the piscop coming. That was the bishop who was coming. Then we had the Archbishop coming. But anyway, it was Arhiepiscop. You know, this was the Episcopals. And this word has a meaning of being “a superintendent, manager, somebody who's a curator, somebody who's over other people, a guardian, and a curator.”

It's used five times. It's used five times in the New Testament, one time to Jesus Christ Himself. In fact, where we read in 1 Timothy 3 about the qualifications of an elder, the word there that is used actually is episkopos. You know, any man who desires to be the overseer or a bishop, that's actually where that's used. And also in Titus, in Titus 1 and we'll take a look at those verses quickly here, Titus 1:5 where it talks about, it talked to all the elders and ordained elders but then a bishop must be this way. So they're closely tied in and virtually interchangeable except, that a bishop is one who’s… has more seniority and one who has more administrative clout you might say, but that's the word that's used. It appears five different times in the New Testament.

The third word for elder is poimen, Greek. P-O-I-M-E-N, poimen. And this is shepherd, shepherd. And it describes more the kind of work that that individual does. The word pastor appears only one time, one time, in the New Testament. You might think, "Well, I thought that's a very common word." No, it's not. And actually, it's the same word for shepherd. Pastor and shepherd are the same word. They both are poimen and it appears only once in Ephesians 4:11. And this is an emphasis on an elder who tends, feeds, guides protects and cares for his flock. He's the person right there on the streets with the people. He's the one in the trenches with the people. That's the pastor. That's the shepherd, not to say that the episkopos, the bishop is not nor the person who's the presbuteros, the one mentioned who is 28 times in the New Testament is not. But those are the three words that are used for clergy, so to speak.

So, when we take a look at 1 Timothy 3:1, one thing that we'll find, and this is talking about 1 Timothy 3, we have read this umpteen times, and it's virtually read at most ordinations, but actually it's referring to somebody who's going to become a bishop. “This is a faithful saying: If a man desires a position of a bishop, [or overseer] he desires a good work.” And then you have a description of all the different qualifications of that person. As I said, the work and the responsibility and the qualifications are two side by side and very parallel paths. And one is skills, skills and the things that he does. And then also it's character in what he is.

“A bishop must be blameless, a husband with one wife, temperate, sober-minded, good behavior, hospitable…” Okay, when are we going to get to some real things here, you know, as far as his work is concerned? It talks about a person who's, has qualifications of being a good family man, a person who's serious-minded, a person who likes to be around people, hospitable. Then we get down to a person who is “able to teach.” This is a skill set that, you know, many people could have. Even people with poor character, they can be good teachers. But a pastor or a bishop or a presbuteros needs to be able to teach.

Then it goes on after that with more character matters. “Not given to wine, not violent,” not a person with a lousy temper, “not greedy for money,” and these are all very extremely important characteristics about a pastor, about one that will be an overseer, about one that'll be working with people not to be tempted by money, to be bribed or, you know, get in good with the rich people in the Church and, you know, and having favoritism and so forth but a person who's pretty much above that. It's important for his character to be this way; “not violent, greedy for money, gentle, not quarrelsome,” not one that wants to pick a fight, likes to argue, “not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (because if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?) not a novice,” not somebody who's just walked in, you know, into the Church, of very recent times, “lest he being puffed up with pride” and that is the biggest enemy of people in this role because they stand up in front of people. They are dominant. People look to them. People respect them… “you fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into the reproach and snare of the devil." So the two things. The snare of the devil is mentioned twice. You know, as far as his pride, he knows the issues and also a person who has a good testimony from outside.

In James 3:1 while it's talking about teachers, it talks about a person who's in a teaching role as being pristine in his character. James 3:1, “…not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly." The ones who stand up here, the ones who speak, the ones who manage people, who watch out for the souls of the congregation, need to be and will be judged more strictly, will be judged by a higher standard. This role requires the highest ethical standards and we have those standards. We have a very, very strict code of ethics for our ministry that should be read regularly. In Titus 1:5, there's a few more things that are mentioned here. Some of them are repetition of what's in 1 Timothy 3. "For this reason," he says, "I left you in Crete," Paul writing to Titus, "that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city.”

So here the apostle Paul is delegating to Titus, who was an elder, the appointment of more elders and he says that this person should be blameless etc. I'm not going to repeat that here again. But also he’s to be, Verse 9, "holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convict those who contradict." So this person has to be knowledgeable in the Word of God. He's got to be one who's rightly dividing the word of truths. We've had our labor in the word educational process among our ministry, but he's able to be one who is knowledgeable of sound doctrine so he can convict those. He could say, "Here's what we believe and here's why we believe what we believe." And a person who can exhort. Very, very important.

I would say that all the classes that we've had, our ministry, which has evaluated that a post-survey, about whatever classes we have, in fact, even in A.B.C., people really like the classes that have to do with learning how to explain Scripture. When I've talked even to students, some who've come here to Ambassador Bible College and we have a session here, we talk about, "What do you want to leave here with after you're done with it?" And more than one person has said, "I know what I believe. I just can't explain it very well. I just want to be able to be better equipped to be able to explain my beliefs. I know about the Sabbath, but do I, can I convict somebody of it? Can I have a few scriptures already at hand that pop into my head right away in a logical fashion to explain what I believe or how can I explain life after death or what happens after death?" You know, people want to have this. 2 Timothy 4:2, "Preach the word! Be instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." So that's what an elder should be able to accomplish. Should be very, very versed in the fundamental beliefs of the Church, as well as everything else.

Now, I'd like to read to you from the policy manual about the things that pastors do. And I'll just read a few things because it's a three, almost a four-page, document in the Pastors Policy Manual about the Church pastor job description. Here's what it says, “A church pastor isn't appointed position in the United Church of God.” It's not one that you choose. You're appointed. Who fulfill… Our pastors are proven elders who fulfill the biblical criteria that has been appointed to their positions by ministerial and member services. The Office of the Ministry is a divine calling, which carries with it an inherent leadership responsibility.”

It is a calling. It is something that God has prepared you for and He, through people, through your peers, through church authority, will find you. “A church pastor is expected to use his ministerial gifts to promote the development of godly character in the lives of the members.” As Paul told Timothy, "Neglect not the gift given to you." I truly, wholeheartedly fully believe that when one is ordained, which is a laying on of hands similar to laying on of hands at baptism, he received a special gift from God in that particular office.

“The primary function of the church pastor is to shepherd his congregations. He functions as the spiritual overseer for those who he's assigned to serve and assist them in their spiritual growth and development.” It's his job. Every pastor should fulfill his responsibilities in serving the brethren with humility and love. “Elders should be able to handle sensitive issues, conflict with or among others, respectively, direct and reinforce pastors… to reinforce the pastors efforts, effectively plan and organize, prioritize work, and effectively solve unique problems as they arise and or when to consult another pastor.”

“They must be able to deal with a challenging work environment, including time demands and conflicting priorities. Must maintain a positive and professional image and demonstrate self-directed learning to meet professional development and/or position requirements.” You've got to be a person who's positive and believe me, there are times when you don't feel positive. There are times that I don't feel positive and I can't just say that it's been a rotten day or, you know, I'm just… “This job really turns me off.” I can't talk that way to people.

You know, we get frustrated, we get frustrated with situations but we need to have a positive direction in which we present the role and responsibility of the ministry. “The pastor is expected to speak most every Sabbath. And if he has a multiple church circuit, he would normally deliver two sermons per Sabbath.” You know, for 35 years I went back and forth between two churches. All, most Sabbaths unless… The only reason I would go to one church is because that church wanted to have us for a longer time. They had a potluck. Maybe they had a Bible study, but spend more time with them. Our pastors work hard and the day that they work hardest on is the Sabbath. Now people in the church like to get together Saturday night. I said, "When I come home after two services and driving 180 miles for the Sabbath, I'm done. I can only answer yes, no questions pretty much at that point."

The pastor should offer to visit the membership in their homes. This is an extremely important job of the pastor. When I came into the field ministry, my first years, visiting the membership was prime. And we were told to visit 15 to 18 people in their homes every week. The visits had to be at least one hour. You couldn't have drive-by visits. They had to be visits that were in their homes or they were with us, 15 to 18 of these visits. “The purpose for visiting programs is to develop a personal relationship with each member of the congregation. The pastor is expected to conduct a variety of member, and non-member and youth counseling sessions there. These are scheduled or requested as a pastor sees a need. The pastor's expected to be available for anointing the sick. While he may delegate some of these responsibilities to other elders in congregations, he should make himself available for such service, as well.” So when somebody calls to be anointed first reaction is to, "When can I come out and see you," unless it's far away and not practical. Then we have the anointed cloth but we don't have an anointed cloth mill, you know, that just automatically generates these things. It is an important part is a personal contact with the person who's sick to encourage, to pray over them and to ask God's healing power over them.

“In order to maintain a close relationship with your ordained individuals in the congregation, the pastor's expected to maintain regular contact and communication with deacons, deaconesses, and elders. He's expected to have regular meetings with these individuals in the decision-making process of the congregation. The United Church of God expects all pastors to be on call or to be accessible in case of an emergency 24 hours a day. The exceptions would be when away on church business or traveling with approved vacation. Here's the kinds of things of that the pastor does. Church bulletins.” Not here… I guess we have them done by… they’re delegated out. “Church clubs, church socials, committee activities, festival information, financial administration, local evangelistic activities, local services on our Holy Days, prayer requests.”

The prayer requests that we're given here are taken very, very seriously. We want to get all the data down, just right so we can announce it and we could pray for it ourselves. Preparation of speaking schedules. Sabbath and Holy Day duties. Sabbath schools, youth programs, weddings, funerals. Each pastor is expected to serve during the annual Feast of Tabernacles.” This is not time off. When the pastor is at the Feast of Tabernacles, he is expected to speak. He can't say, "Well I don't really want to speak at the Feast." No, you've got to speak. He must speak. “He should be willing to speak…” We need to reenforce it more “as assigned by Ministerial Member Services.”

“Each church pastor is expected to provide the communication updates from the Council of Elders, the home office, and our Ministerial Member Services to his congregations in a timely manner.” He is to communicate from the home office the things that we generate. “And the pastor is expected to attend all regional conferences and other meetings requested by the regional pastor or Ministerial Member Services.” Also, other areas of responsibility and Steve Myers is way, way above this. He does T.V., he does A.B.C., he's a regional pastor, as well. “The pastor may be asked to fulfill would be in writing, editing and researching for church publications, participating on various task forces and committees, serving at youth camps and developing programs for various groups within the church.” I'm just tired reading this. But that's what our pastor are expected to do.

A pastor's expected to be like the apostle Paul. To me, he was the ultimate in the ministry. Paul was left-brained and right-brained. He's left-brained in that he was a person who could explain something logically, explain doctrine, was very process-oriented. Yet he was very right-brained in that he was compassionate, loving and caring for the people around him. Now the way I get around that, I'm the left-brained person. Pardon me. I'm the right-brained person. My wife is a left-brain person. And often times, I'm the one who really feels very strongly about things and she's the one who organizes things. That's why she's such an important part of our ministry. So we get one brain. We get a full brain here. But pastors know full well if they're right or left if they're more process or they're more compassionate if they are more one way or the other. But you find ways to be a whole person.

And we see in the apostle Paul a whole person. He could explain doctrine like he did in Galatians and Colossians. In Romans, he wrote that so punctiliously and so exactly and so precisely. And yet he could come and say things like this. 1 Thessalonians 2:1, a church that was one of his first churches in Greece. 1 Thessalonians 2:1, "You yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain. But even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi," where he was thrown into jail, "as you know, you were bold… we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict. For our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it of deceit. For we as have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests their heart. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, for a cloak of covetousness — God is witness. Nor do we seek glory for men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ."

You know, “I'm an apostle. Now, you know, I'm in charge. I'm a big shot." “But we were gentle among you,” This is a verse I like. Verse 7, "just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children." Here he's, the chief apostle. He's the one, the apostle to the Gentiles, and he's talking about hugging and cherishing the Church like a mother hugging a nursing child. “So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God,” we want to teach it in full strength “but also our own lives,” we gave you not only the gospel, but we gave you ourselves “because you had become dear to us. For you remember, brethren, our labor, and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God." Truly amazing words.

Another instance is Paul's very famous farewell speech in Acts 20. This is the city in Ephesus. This was Miletus the harbor for Ephesus. The apostle Paul spent three years. That's the longest he was anywhere. He developed a real bond with really a major congregation in the Mediterranean. And so the apostle Paul is giving this speech. There's so much artwork about this going away on the web. If you go to Google and just type in, Paul's Farewell Speech, you have so many pictures. They picture boats in the back and he's talking to these elders. “You know” in Acts 20:18-19, "You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews." Paul's demeanor was first humility and a willingness to endure severe trials and persecution. But he continues to share his thoughts about his work. "How I kept back nothing that was helpful,” I mean, the apostle Paul totally gave himself.

"And I proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to the Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance towards God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there,” Paul was a tireless worker, courageous, lived a life of sacrifice. "None of these things moved me;” he said, "nor do I count my life dear to myself, that I may finish my race with joy,” verse 24, "and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." Then he gives a warning to his elders about things that might happen. "Therefore take heed" in verses 28-29, "to yourselves and to all the flock, among you which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,” he says, "Okay, you fellas now are overseers, you’re elders,” “to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood."

The responsibility that we as elders have is a very deep family one and a very protective one. If people come into the Church with heresies, with doctrines, with practices that aren't ours, we need to stand up to that. "For I know, that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after themselves." And I said at the very beginning that in times of trial in my ministry, in everybody's ministry, as these things happen cyclically, "Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears." Wow, what a guy, the apostle Paul. He could talk straight doctrine. He could write the things that he did as a learned academician. And yet he could say, "I cried, I cried for you. I've put up with tears. I long for you, I treat you like a mother treats a nursing child." That's an elder. That's the ultimate.

One more person. This is the apostle Peter in 1 Peter 5, talking about shepherding the flock of God. This is a poimen word. 1 Peter 5:1, "So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow worker and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you,” shepherding just like a person in the field has a flock of sheep “exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock." It explains exactly how they are to conduct themselves as pastors, the attitude.

"And when the chief Shepherd appears,” Jesus, “you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourself, all of you, with humility towards one another for ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’" Our job always as pastors is to be those who are helpers of people's joy. For a number of conferences over the years we've used 2 Corinthians 1:24, "We're not to have dominion over your faith, but to be helpers of your joy." Helpers of your joy. Be facilitators. Be those who are knowingly encouraging, supporting, saying the right things, guiding, even offering correction. We need such overseers and shepherds. We need to pray for more laborers in the Church.

Jesus Christ said, in Matthew 7:9… Matthew 9, I should say, verse 37, "The harvest is truly plentiful." You know, there are so many people out there who have had contact with us and I believe that there's going to be something, whether it's the economy or whether it's politics or whether it's the world conditions or something that's going to cause these people, 250,000 new people, that come to our website every week, they say, “Ah… eh… interesting point,” you know. Just ignore it. Just get the information but don't act on it. We have hundreds of thousands of people that have come to our properties… to our website, that know who we are. They haven't done a thing because they don't feel like they have to. They still can go down and get a McDonald's hamburger. They've still got a job. There's nothing impending. But when hard times come then they change. “The harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few;” and our laborers in the ministry are few. “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

We need more laborers. We need more to replenish the 83% who are 54 and above in our ministry. We need more Andys. We need more Ryans. We need more people like this who are brought into the system. We need to ask God, and I do ask you for prayers to God, to open the financial doors to do His work. I'd be remiss to say that our finances are a little bit down, which we can't understand fully. We don't know exactly why. They're down a little bit. Is it the economy? Even Costco is down. How can Costco be down? It could be the stock market correction. It could be the I.R.S. rules that have changed last year has caused people to shift the way that they're donating and had impact. It could be trades in tariffs. Now we kind of think the economy is good. But you take a look at other indicators, there's some troublesome signs over it. Even the seasonal shopping is down. How could that be?

Let's pray that our message about the Kingdom of God, our unique understanding, our very special understanding of truth, understanding of the times has impact on the many who are watching but not acting. They're out there. I truly believe that with all the things that we have produced, the many programs, the many articles, the many things that are available by search on our website, the fact that we're 14th or 15th among all the major religious websites, it says something. We have a lot to offer. But people just aren't motivated right now for that. So I wanted to tell you today about the work of elders, what our elders do here. We have the proclamation and we have the care of the churches. I've told you a lot of inside things about what elders do. Maybe you didn't know all the things that elders are responsible for. And our elders in the Church of God are hardworking, wonderful men and women — their supporting wives.

We just finished the conference in California. This was the last of a six-region conference in California just this last week. I am so, if I could say, proud of our ministers, how hard they work as to their spirit and their optimism as they're aging but their enthusiasm and their optimism about the future of The Church of God. So be praying for our elders. Be praying for the Church. Be praying for the work. I know that God hears our prayers. God will answer our prayers, and God's will will be done. We know that His will is to have His message preached. Go into all the world. We're doing that. We're doing that as best we can. Pray for the finances. Pray for the leadership. And pray for us to find the men and women that we need to continue to care for our churches. So grace and peace to you from God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. May God bless you.