Advancing on Retreat

I had the opportunity to spend part of the weekend with a group of men from Trinity Baptist Church in Wake Forest, the parent church for our own little mission in Smithfield.  The topic of the retreat was the Biblical qualifications of elders and drew much from Alexander Strauch's book Biblical Eldership.  The key strategic points drawn from the fairly straightforward exposition of 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and other passages, were first, that the New Testament pattern of local church government uniformly speaks of a plurality of elders at each local congregation.  Secondly, we were challenged to take hold of these qualities as a goal for each of us as Christian men, not as a separate list of potential clergy.

Many thanks to Scott Brown and family for opening their home and farm to us this weekend -- time well spent in the Word and in fellowship.