biblical eldership

It has been a good and busy time since returning Tuesday night. It is hard to believe it is already Friday afternoon. House Fellowship on Wednesday night, dinner with my family on Thursday evening, and a leaders’ meeting early this morning were the highlights of the week. I’ve also managed to get back on the basketball court twice. Wednesday hoops felt rough, but today I felt much more energetic. The ball was generally at a high level of quality too. Unfortunately, it ended with one of the guys spraining his ankle. I hope for his sake it isn’t too bad. Basketball at Ramsey has been a great opportunity for me to get some exercise and also get to know some people that I otherwise would have no contact with.

In the very near future the other elders in our church and I will begin a study through Alexander Strauch’s book, Biblical Eldership. I am looking forward to our collective growth through that investment of time, prayer, thought, and practice. If you are in leadership in a church and have read this, how about dropping me a note with your opinion. Or if you are interested in the Biblical perspective of church government – both how it should be organized and applied, then I recommend it. It makes sense to believe that God cares about how His church is should be organized. Traditionally the church has ignored most of God’s instruction on this subject to its own detriment.

Don’t forget to pray for rain – boy do we need it!

I woke up wide awake at 3:50 AM, ten minutes before my alarm was scheduled to go off. I had time for a quick shower and had to finish packing. Pepe drove me to the bus station and at 5:15 AM I was headed to Mexico. The first hour I was wishing I had taken some travel medicine…the mountain roads were making me woozy. But once things straightened out, I was fine. It was good to sleep a couple of hours before getting to the airport.

At the airport I met the President of Tennessee Temple University and his wife. Once they found out what I do they began recruiting me for their online Master’s degree program. Over the last few years I have thought about doing something like this several times. The biggest considerations for me are how Christ and Bible centered, cost, quality of program, and amount of on-campus time required. I haven’t been able to find the right combination yet, but it is worth another look.

I began reading Biblical Eldership by Alexander Strauch on the way home, and I am greatly encouraged by it. For anyone who is searching to know the Biblical perspective on church government, this is a very good read. It is both scholarly and practical in its approach.

Of course it was wonderful to see my wife at the airport. She had gotten a new haircut, which I like. We had a nice conversation over a meal on our way home. I’m very thankful for such a supportive wife. Though she missed me, she is willing to see me go again as the Lord leads. To wrap up the day, I was greeted by a very happy furry friend – Daphney. She was way too excited. It was a long day of travel, but I wasn’t nearly as tired as I expected to be. The only thing I didn’t welcome when I returned was the Georgia heat. I had been used to a high of 75 degrees F, and a low of about 55 degrees F. It was perfect. As soon as I stepped out of the Atlanta airport the high temperature and high humidity confronted me. If I only could have brought the weather with me – because we could sure you some of the rain too!

This ends my travel log for the trip. I want to again thank all of you who have been praying and keeping up. Please keep checking back, and I am looking forward to continuing to write. You can use an RSS feed to automatically be notified of new content.