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elders

Reflections on Elders from 1 Peter

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This was posted on the 9Marks Blog: Building Healthy Churches by Aaron Menikoff on 3/24/11.

At Mount Vernon where I serve, we have been talking about moving to elders for a couple of years. Through it all, I’ve found that one of the most helpful texts to speak from has been 1 Peter 5:2-4 where Peter writes to the elders, “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers–not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.”

With this verse in mind, here are a few reflections:

1) An elder is a shepherd. He must care for people. He is not a board member, he is a soul-looker-afterer (yes, I made that word up). A man must genuinely love people and have a preeminent concern for their spiritual welfare. [Read more…] about Reflections on Elders from 1 Peter

Book Review: The Deliberate Church (Mark Dever)

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The Deliberate Church

After many people read “The Nine Marks of the Healthy Church,” they asked, if we realize that our church is unhealthy, what can be do concretely to become a healthy church? In his sequel, Mark Dever, pastor of Capital Hill Baptist Church, makes a point that everything that we do in the church should be done deliberately, hence the title. [Read more…] about Book Review: The Deliberate Church (Mark Dever)

John Piper's Leave of Absence and What God Taught Him

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I wrote this report for Bethlehem and have adapted it for this first day of 2011 on the DG Blog. It’s longer than a blog should be. My only excuse is that I did cut 263 pages.

For eight months of this year (May–December), I was on a leave of absence. That meant I was free from all my pastoral duties. It also meant that all my public ministry was shut down (with a few exceptions): no preaching, no writing for publication, no speaking (except for the Desiring God National Conference and two overseas engagements), no blogging, no tweeting. Therefore, this report will be on the blessings of this leave. [Read more…] about John Piper's Leave of Absence and What God Taught Him