Jeremy Hoover

Update (4/6/2010): Sermon MP3 -- The Baaaaad Shepherds
(click on the link to download or stream)

Good church leadership (shepherding) is godly, flock-focused, and selfless. On Sunday, we'll examine good and bad models of shepherding as seen in Ezekiel 34:1-16 and 1 Peter 5:1-5. In Ezekiel, God became disgusted with the bad shepherds who oversaw the scattering of his sheep. He took charge, and in doing so, showed how we are to lead and not lead. Peter builds on these thoughts in his letter.

At the end of the day, we are all shepherds to someone else. We may not be "elders" in the church, but we influence others. Let us learn from these passages how we may influence others in godly ways.

Use this sermon outline and the slides to help you prepare for Sunday. Please leaves some feedback.

This post continues my look at biblical leadership. Previous articles include Must All Elders Teach? and Biblical Leadership is Exclusive.

One of the words used to describe biblical church leaders in the New Testament is "overseer" (1 Tim. 3:1). Traditionally, we've understood the word "oversight" to refer to physical matters (the legal, financial, and operational concerns of the church) sometimes referred to as the ABCs--attendance, buildings, and cash.

While this emphasis has truth behind it, is has also led to an over-emphasis on physical things, meetings, and the "order" of/within the congregation. Relational shepherding has taken a backseat, sadly, in many of our churches. Sure, we may refer to our leaders as shepherds (instead of elders, overseers, pastors, or bishops), but they typically do less shepherding and more overseeing.

But what is oversight? In his excellent book, Emerging Elders, Ron Clark states that the role of the elders is to tie together both oversight and relational shepherding. Oversight is much more than administration; it is modeled on God's oversight of his people, Israel (in the OT), and seen in Jesus' leadership of people (in the NT; John 10).

Clark discusses four categories of oversight that he draws from God's and Jesus' examples of oversight: accountability to the God and the church (Ezekiel 34:10); awareness of people and movements within the congregation (Acts 20:28); visitation of members to identify problems and build awareness of ministry needs (Acts 20:31); and empowerment of members to grow in maturity and ministry (Ephesians 4:11-16).

Oversight is relational. Certainly, physical needs and administration are part of oversight. Sometimes administrative tasks can be delegated to competent people within the congregation (deacons, perhaps) as an act of empowerment. Sometimes meetings are useful to discuss how to bring greater awareness of people's needs to the elders.

But oversight must begin and be maintained relationally.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree? How else can elders engage in relational oversight?

Things changed over the weekend. I learned that there was going to be a "white pride march" in Jackson, put on by a questionable group known as Battalion 14. As I wrestled with the implications of this for our city, I woke up Sunday determined to speak about it. The result was this sermon, spoken mainly "off the cuff," from my heart, connecting ideas from Romans 12:1-3 and 15:7, Galatians 3:26-29, and especially Ephesians 2:11-22, about our unity and oneness in Christ.

I especially focused on the teaching in Ephesians that reminds us that Jesus destroyed the wall of hostility that existed between ethnicities. I reminded us that as followers of Jesus we are called to love and serve our neighbor. Racism, or the propagation of such by hiding behind "free speech" or silence, has no place among Christians. We are called to speak the truth about evil wherever we find, and in whatever form we find it.

I hope you enjoy this sermon and learn from it. Please leave some feedback.

Sermon: Mature Faith

How do you know if your faith is mature? How do you know if you are growing spiritually? Paul gives us some guidelines in Philippians 3:1-16. Use this sermon outline and sermon slides to help you prepare to hear God's word on Sunday.

Please leave some feedback, if you would like to, by leaving some comments.

On Sunday, we'll be moving into 1 Timothy 3:1-11 in our bible study. Below are two audios, each about 10 minutes long, where I introduce some of the main topics we'll discuss along with my ideas on some of these. They're off the cuff without notes, so cut me a little slack if parts of them sound a little disorganized!

Click here for some study questions for 1 Timothy 3:1-11.

Click here for a recent post I wrote about whether all elders need to be able to teach.

This article continues my look at biblical leadership. The first article in this series, Biblical Leadership is Exclusive, is found here.

One common reason men give for not serving as elders in a congregation is their inability to teach.

In 1 Timothy 3:2, in a list pertaining to elders, Paul tells Timothy than an elder "is to be...able to teach." This verse has commonly been used to disqualify men from serving as elders who are deemed to be not capable of teaching. It has also been used to disqualify men who are newer to the faith--they are not yet ready to be teachers because they don't yet know enough. Sadly, some men disqualify themselves from serving as an elder by viewing themselves as unnable to teach.

But what does this passage mean? Does it require elders to teach?

To answer the second question, we need only look later in 1 Timothy. In a set of instructions about the congregation's obligations to elders, Paul says, "The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching" (5:17, TNIV). This passage describes two possible functions for elders, one primary, the other secondary. The primary task of elders is to direct the affairs of the church well. The secondary task is preaching and teaching.

Paul makes this clear by the word "especially." This clearly implies that not all elders preached and taught. There is a clear distinction in scripture. Ephesians 4:11-12 discuss the evangelists, the pastors, and the teachers; all different functions. Timothy and Titus were evangelists. In the church it's mainly (though not always) the evangelist who preaches and teaches corporately. This task does not fall to all elders. We go beyond scripture when we make it a requirement for all elders to preach and teach.

Paul's letter to Titus sheds further light on this perspective. In the list of "qualifications" for elders, Paul does not say directly that elders must be able to teach. Indirectly, one can infer from Titus 1:9 ("He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine...."; TNIV) that teaching is required, but that is an inference only. The clearer sense of that verse is that elders need to know the core aspects of the faith in order to communicate it to and encourage others.

So what "teaching" is Paul referring to in 1 Tim. 3:2? Obviously, on one hand, he is referring to the corporate preaching and teaching. This is made clear by 1 Tim. 5:17, though it is not a requirement for all elders. On the other hand, elders, in directing the affairs of the church, will be engaged in pastoral care. They will need a knowledge of the faith, through their personal walk with Jesus, and they will need to be able to share that perspective with others, most often in a one-on-one or small group setting.

Two points come to mind:

First, Why are we so quick to want to disqualify men from serving as elders?

Second, if being able to teach publicly and corporately is not a requirement for being an elder (as 1 Tim. 5:17 makes clear), then perhaps we can lighten up a little with our view of elders' "qualifications." Perhaps Paul's list is a general outline of a godly man and not a specific checklist?

What do you think? What questions do you have? Do you agree or disagree with my interpretation?

Too often, church relationships contain conflict. In Philippians 2:1-11, the apostle Paul teaches us how to overcome conflict and live like Jesus by working for oneness with one another, looking to others' interests first, and becoming obedient through service.

Sermon: How to Have the Mind of Jesus

Update: Sermon MP3 added on 3/15/2010

Too often, church relationships contain conflict. Paul teaches us in Philippians 2:1-11 how to overcome our differences and live like Jesus by working for oneness with one another, looking to others' interests first, and becoming obedient through service.

Review the sermon outline and slides ahead of Sunday's worship service to begin thinking about how you can develop the mind of Jesus in your own life.

This week, some of our men met together to discuss biblical leadership. Our discussion centered around a few open-ended questions that were intended to uncover the range of thought we had on these questions.

Obviously, not every line of discussion was included and there are some gaps. Overall, it was a good discussion that highlighted several positive areas of understanding and agreement, as well as several areas that we will study further.

Below are the questions and discussion answers. What do you think? What should be added?

This is a summary of a 45 minute discussion about biblical leadership, involving men from the Horton Road Church of Christ (where I work). Obviously, not everything is included and our discussion was limited around a few open-ended questions. The purpose of these questions was to discover what range existed in our thinking on these questions.

I'm posting them here to solicit feedback. What do you think? What would you add?

1. What does a godly leader look like?

* we can see many traits of godly leaders by looking at leaders in the bible that God chose (Abraham, Aaron, Moses, etc.)
o Abraham exemplified self-sacrifice; Moses and Aaron exemplified meekness
* obedient to God; unquestioningly so
* respected by people inside the church and outside the church
* constantly praying (lifestyle)
* willing to step out in faith to follow God

2. What do godly leaders do?

* they are people of action
* they help others in and out of the church (not just their own)
* they are people-focused; selfless, not selfish
* what is right, even when doing right is difficult and/or unpopular
* encourage and rebuke--they teach through actions and words
* one scripture brought up was Proverbs 9:8 and the maturity godly leaders operate with

3. What is an elder? What is a deacon?

* elders are spiritual leaders; deacons are service leaders
* this is explained in Acts 6:1-6--the apostles showed wisdom in appointing service leaders to lead in serving so they could remain devoted to teaching and prayer

4. Which scriptures come to mind when you think about godly leadership?

* Acts 6:1-7
* Acts 7--Stephen's speech, where he outlines biblical history by focusing on key leaders that God used
* 1 Timothy 3:1-13
* Titus 1:5-9
* 1 Peter 5:1-5

Yesterday I posted about how I use Twitter to post content (both mine and others') and build a community. Today, I post my guidelines for following people.

• I will follow any local minister/pastor (my field) or any local person (within about a 3 hour radius), provided I know they are local. This is in part because I'm also interested in the off-line connections that can be made or begun online. Sometimes they follow me first and I follow back; sometimes I find them first. They may or may not follow me back.
  
  
• Otherwise, I follow only people I find interesting. This is becoming more difficult to do, so one way I do so is to pay attention on Twitter to the RTs that come my way. An RT—retweet—is a way of repeating someone else's content to your followers. You cannot see the replies someone you're following makes to someone else you are not following, but an RT is broadcast so that you can see it, regardless of whose name appears in it. RTs, then, become a way to find people who have interesting content. Sometimes, based on the strength of the RT'd comment, I will look at their profile, check the ratio of broadcasts-to-replies, and if they look interesting and to be a conversationalist, I will often follow them.
  
  
• Sometimes I pay attention to Follow Friday recommendations. This Twitter meme is #FF. On Fridays, some folks on Twitter recommends some of their followers through the use of the hashtag #FF. You will see all these, regardless of whether you follow those recommended or not. If the recommendations are coming from someone I've been paying attention to, I will often check the profiles of those recommended and may choose to follow some or all of them.
  
  
• Another way of finding interesting people, this one off-Twitter, is through blogs. If you read a blog you find useful and interesting, check around the blog. Many bloggers also tweet. When you find that link, you can check out that blogger's profile page on Twitter. I personally find that many of the bloggers I look at use Twitter more for broadcasting, but some are very good at engaging with their readers on Twitter.
  
  
• What am I looking for on someone's profile page? Several things. Keep in mind these are what I am looking for. They are not what you need to look for and there are many valid, but different ways, of using Twitter. I'm looking primarily for a mix of original content, some RTs, and some @ replies. I'm mainly looking at ratios. Everyone goes through phases where you have a lot of content or ideas to roll out, but if within 2 pages of your profile you have only 1 or 2 @s, I peg you (rightly or wrongly) as a broadcaster, and I'm not looking to follow broadcasters. I'm not looking to follow broadcasters because, on Twitter, I want to engage with people. If I want your broadcasts, I'll follow your blog in my RSS reader.
  
  
• Lists are a useful feature. Not extremely useful, because I suspect some people set a bunch of them up when they were first added and have since forgotten about them, but some users are diligent in creating, building, and maintaining their lists. Lists are useful because, on someone's profile page, the more times they are listed is an indicator of the value they add to others. This isn't a hard-and-fast rule for me because some people, newer to Twitter, have not been around enough to be listed by others, though their content and engagement is excellent.
  
  
• I like to see a real picture, but I care little about the profile information. A website is useful but not required (for me). Since when do people need to blog in order to converse on Twitter? I do like to see a location listed, but I also don't require that because some people are sensitive to putting what they perceive as too much information online.
  
  
• Lastly, I will almost always follow someone who engages with me. This works two ways—you may have followed me and I didn't follow you back (for any number of reasons, some of which are listed here, but sometimes, I don't see everyone who follows me and innocently miss some). One way to get on my radar, if you care about that, is to engage with me. Ask me a question, answer one of my mine, comment on one of my posts, join a conversation I'm having with someone else. Sometimes, people will find one of my tweets through a search or through some other means and correspond, or will join a conversation I'm having with someone else. I will often go to this person's profile page and almost always follow them. The main reason—because they took the initiative and showed engagement. Conversely, this does not mean that you should expect me to follow you because you write back to me to say, “Good post.” or “Nice idea.” That's not engaging at all.
  
  
• You probably realize by now that I follow many people who may not follow me back. So what? I'll still correspond with them. Maybe they'll follow me back. But Twitter is not a numbers game; it's a social network. I don't meet someone in the community here on Wednesday and expect to be invited to a dinner party on Friday.
  
  
• I'd encourage you not to worry about your following-to-follower ratio. Concentrate on good content, appropriate RTs, and good, solid engagement with people. Build the community—the social network—you want. Be interesting and funny. Don't worry about people that follow you today and unfollow you tomorrow. Twitter is very organic. If you stick around, your network will grow. You never know who will follow, or who you might follow, so enjoy, interact, and grow!