Who is the Pastor? (#16)

This installment will be a little different. Rather than sharing something about me, I thought I would provide an observation and prayer request. I received an Internet posting from my friends, Russ and Julie Darr. They wanted to share with me about a church that they are attending. The thing about this church is that there is no "head pastor" as many of us would ascribe to many of the pastors of churches we have attended or do attend. I've been drawn to this concept since shortly after I graduated from college. I had experienced a bible study where 50% of the people were involved in the study by either doing music,leading prayer, emceeing, or teaching. It struck me that the people in that bible study were using their gifts within the body. I have emulated that study elsewhere and I like how it challenged people to be an active participant in the body of Christ, or the church.

The posting I received provides a good biblical foundation for this structure. It reads, "Like all bible-believing churches, we trust that our church is led by the one and only Head of the church, our lord Jesus Christ. We believe Christ does this through his word as revealed in the Old and New Testament, and, as the Scripture teaches, through the leadership of elders (variously named pastors, overseers, or shepherds). We believe the New Testament teaches a plurality of pastors/elders: eg, Acts 14:23 'So when they had appointed elders in every church . . . ' There is no mention of a church led by a single elder, or pastor int he New Testament. For example remember James' advice to those who are sick. He doesn't suggest calling the pastor, but the elders of the church. James 4:14. We are convinced that leadership by a group of elders/pastors is the Biblical pattern.

Other than the aforementioned reason that I agree with this structure, there is another reason this article intrigued me. Our church here at Taft CI is structured this way. I have probably mentioned that we have a head pastor. However, he is really a head teacher. He is not an elder. Some of the elders will teach, but they have other gifts. One is clearly the shepherd of the church. He looks after the teachers and the others who are involved. The result of this structure is that Taft CI is led by 5 elders/pastors. They all share equal authority, though at times with differing roles. And those roles flow out of the gifts and passions the Spirit has given them.

Our church here is going through some major changes. Our head teacher is being released after 16 years of incarceration. One of our elders may have to significantly reduce the time he has to devote to the church. The nature of prison life is change and flux. It is accepted, but the church has been blessed with a rare amount of stability. I have been praying that God would use me wherever he wants. I ask that you would pray for our church and for God to make it clear to me what my role is or should become. The Taft CI church is regarded as one of the best prison churches in the system. This comes from inmates who both leave here and come here from other institutions. God is working through this church and I sense that Satan is trying to take advantage of these changes to discourage the believers here.

I want to thank the Darrs for sharing their church with me. I met the Darrs in Roseville as we were both seeking to find a church body. They became and still our good friends to me and my wife.

Jeff

Quick update (#15)

My brother decided to give me a break from the blog entries for a little while, and so I haven't had anything to write for a couple of weeks. I did receive an update on the blog about four days ago, but have not been able to post. I just wanted to send this little update from a couple of letters that I received.

First, Jeff has had trouble sleeping since his arrival. As you may have read, Jeff is housed in a cubicle, but it is not closed, in a large warehouse type structure. Noise carries and people are up at all hours in the bunks. Jeff can hear everything. Recently, however, he was able to move to a two-man cube instead of the three-man cube that he was in. He said it is toward the back, so there is a lot less noise and he is finally able to get some more sleep. Also, he has more room to write and study, so that is also nice. His bunk mate is a guy he lived with when he first arrived, so he already knew the guy. He does miss his old bunk mates, but he still stops by for visits and to help cook and eat the now famous tacos that I wrote about in a previous post.

In addition, before Jeff left for camp, I had done some research on the Internet about prison camp life, and what to expect. There is very little information, by the way, but one thing I did find was a web site called www.michaelsantos.net . I encourage you to visit this site just to see what a guy who has been through all the levels of prison security has to say about the experience. Michael earned a bachelors and masters degree while incarcerated, and has written several books (his latest, Inside, is a fantastic read). Anyway, I told Jeff about this site and he read many of the posts. Michael's time in prison was sort of the basis for how Jeff wanted to structure his time, with a goal-oriented focus on developing spiritually, intellectually, and physically. It turns out the Michael was sent to Taft in late June. Jeff had a chance to meet Michael and he said he was a nice guy and easy to talk to. This is significant in that there are few people in prison who are genuine, and not trying to manipulate or scam someone. Michael is a guy who is not trying to do that, but grow as a person. Jeff felt like God placed Michael at Taft for a reason. Perhaps just for encouragement, or for a friend, or what, Jeff isn't sure, but it was just nice to feel like he knew this guy from before he entered prison and that Michael was a person that Jeff could trust.

I will try and post Jeff's blog in the next few days. He is still playing soccer and his team is in the playoffs.

Scott