Arminian Today

Does the New Testament promote the idea of full-time elders (or pastors)?  I know of many of my friends on this blog and outside who not only hold that it does but also they are full-time pastors.  In almost all cases they applied for their pastorate like any other job complete with paperwork and interviews.  In fact, the modern pastorate often resembles a CEO of a company more than taking over a church of God.  In many cases the interviews are full of questions mainly about budgets, organization abilities, and of course, numbers.  Attendance is a big issue for institutional churches since they operate on budgets that must be met.  I know of one large church in my area that sent out their yearly budget that totaled over $7 million dollars.  Less than 3% of that was going to missions.  Most of that $7 million was salaries and their buildings.  Since numbers drive the institutional church, the potential pastor must show that they can produce large results through various ides and organization.  The masses have to be kept happy.

The house church is nothing near that.  First of all, we have no budget.  Each person can give their money to whatever they want.  We don’t want it.  We don’t need it.  Occasionally we might have a family who needs money or a church planter who needs funds but we don’t regularly need your money.  Second, we have no buildings to pay for.  We have no mortgage.  We have no bills.  We offer no work insurance.  We pay no taxes since we own nothing and receive nothing.  Third, we have no staff.  We don’t pay a pastor.  We don’t pay a youth pastor.  We don’t pay a music leader.  We have elders who led us but they are not paid.

So what do we want you to do with the money that God gives you?  We want you to do what He tells you to do with in the New Testament.  First, Jesus said to give to the poor (Matthew 6:2-4; Galatians 2:10).  Secondly, give to hurting Christians (Acts 4:34-35; 11:27-30; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2).  Third, give to supporting apostles or church planters or missionaries (1 Corinthians 9:8-14; Philippians 4:10-20).  There is no biblical mandate in the New Testament to tithe to a local church to support their paying bills, salaries, etc.  Tithing is biblical but under the theocracy known as Israel.  We are not a theocracy.  Not once in the Epistles do the writers exhort God’s people to tithe.  If failing to tithe brings one under a curse (as some teach from Malachi 3:8-10) then surely the New Testament writers would want to keep us from that curse.  Sadly, those who teach this “cursed” view of Malachi 3:8-10 fail to show it this applies to Galatians 3:13.

Yet does the New Testament teach that there should be full-time elders?  In Acts 20 we have Paul holding a pastors conference (v. 17).  Paul the Apostle teaches these elders various things but one interesting thing that he says is in verse 35.  The words here are ascribed to Jesus although the Gospels do not contain them.  Using the words of Jesus, Paul tells the elders that it is more blessed to give than to receive.  Can you imagine hearing a prosperity preacher saying that to his TV audience today?  In fact, the thrust of Acts 20:33-35 is that Paul wants these elders to work and not seek money.  He point to his own example (Acts 18:1-4) as proof that he worked hard so that he could give his money to the weak (ESV).  In essence, Paul wanted these elders not to be full-time but to work so that they could give away their money.  What a radical concept for our time!

The other places we find the issue of money and elders is 1 Corinthians 9.  1 Corinthians 9 is not really about elders however.  In fact, elders are not found at all in 1 or 2 Corinthians.  Given how important the modern pastorate is in most churches, you would think that Paul the Apostle would address the elders to correct the troubles at Corinth.  He never does.  He expects the Spirit of God to lead His Church and for the people of God to obey the Spirit who leads them.  Not once in Corinthians does Paul address any leaders.  In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul deals with missionaries receiving money for preaching the gospel.  In verses 8-14 he makes the clear point that those who preach the gospel should live off the gospel.  Yet then Paul turns around and says that he has not done this despite his right to do so.  He tells the Corinthians that he didn’t want to be a stumbling block to them (vv. 15-18).  Paul could have asked for money but he gave up his right so that he could preach the gospel without hinderance.  In Acts 18:1-4 we find that Paul worked as a tent maker while preaching the gospel in Corinth.  He willfully gave up his rights to being paid so that he could work hard, give away his money, and preach the gospel.  How many modern pastors are doing that?

The final place we find elders and money is in 1 Timothy 5:17-18.  A couple of points are in order.  First, verse 17 does not use the word “money.”  I believe many read into verse 17 way too much about “double honor” as to teach that elders should be paid double what they would earn outside of the church.  The word “honor” here does not denote money.  The word is never used in the New Testament as a substitute for the word money.  Yet I have no trouble with honoring an elder who leads with much grace and ability in teaching the Word of God.  This honor can come in various ways including giving them money.  I don’t think we should isolate this verse and make it teach only money but we can give money to elders who fit this picture of verse 17.  Yet I don’t see in this verse that it teaches that elders should receive a regular salary.  Gifts?  Yes.  Salary?  No.  There is a big difference.

Frankly, I am weary of paying an elder very often since this could lead to one elder being exalted above others and can lead to this elder becoming a typical CEO type pastor only in a house church setting.  The plurality of leaders in the house church (Titus 1:5) helps to offset one elder dominating the others.  It also helps because elders are gifted in various ways other than teaching.  A full-time elder also would have a hard time fulfilling Acts 20:35 if in fact their income comes from the house church.

Lastly, if a house church is large enough to support a full-time elder, they are probably too large.  It’s time to split that house church.  House churches are strong because of personal relationships with one another.  This can’t happen if the house church is too large.  I recommend that house churches be no larger than a living room.  If everyone can comfortably be in a living room to worship God, pray, sing, eat, etc. then that is perfect.  Keep in mind that elders are to be among the people of God and not over them (1 Peter 5:1-4).

Hard work is something that we are scarred of in the West.  We need not be.  How wonderful it is to work hard and then to take our money and give it away to the kingdom of God through the poor, hurting disciples, or missionaries.  We are not to hoard up our funds but to give them away (Matthew 6:19-21).  Our treasure is not this world or money but the Lord Himself.  He is our delight and our reward.

One of the most common arguments I hear from traditional (or institutional) churches is that house churches are opposed to leadership.  One blogger put it this way, “House churches want to play church instead of being the church.”  Traditional churches pride themselves on their clergy-laity division, that they have leaders in place whereas it is assumed that house churches oppose any thought of a leader telling them what to do.

Well this is partly true.  First of all we hold that Jesus is the head of His Church.  As did the New Testament.  As do all evangelical churches.  Colossians 1:18 says, “He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything” (NASB).  Ephesians 1:22 echoes the same thought.  Jesus is the head of His Church.  Not a pastor.  Not a pope.  Not a priest.  Not any flesh but only Jesus is Lord over His Church.  Therefore it is true that we in the house church movement oppose someone telling disciples what to do or think since Jesus is the Lord of His Church.  We need to heed the words of Christ as found in the Scriptures above the creeds and confessions of human beings.  We believe that leaders in the church are not to lord it over others faith but be examples of true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Peter 5:1-5).

The ironic thing about reading the New Testament is that you find not a lot of information about leaders in the church.  Only one letter in the New Testament even addresses the leaders from the outset and that is Philippians (1:1).  All of the New Testament letters are addressed to the saints when it would be assumed by modern traditional churches that leaders would first be addressed since the professional clergy set the tone for the local church.  The clergy set the agenda, the vision, the purpose, etc. for the local church.  This is not the case with the New Testament.

Leadership is addressed in the New Testament.  Jesus spoke about leadership in Matthew 20:20-28 but He contrasts the worldly leadership that the Jews had seen with true servant leadership that He called for and demonstrated with His life and death (Mark 10:45).  Leadership is addressed in 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:5-9.  Ephesians 4:11 speaks of gifted people who God gives the Church but for a reason: to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry (vv. 12-16) and not to pay someone else to do the work of the ministry.  Leaders are mentioned in Hebrews 13:7, 17 and 1 Peter 5:1-4.  Elders are mentioned in James 5:14.  You’ll notice how important elders were to the New Testament Church.  What you will not find is the idea of one professional pastor serving over a church with a deacon board or a group of elders helping the pastor lead the church.  The word pastor appears only in our English Bibles in Ephesians 4:11 and the ESV correctly translates it “shepherds.”  Jesus is the true shepherd of the flock of God (John 10:1-16; 1 Peter 2:25; Hebrews 13:20).

So what does leadership look like in a house church then?  First of all, we have elders.  A biblical house church should have a plurality of elders (Titus 1:5) who lead the house church.  Their purpose is not to be over the people of God but among the people of God (1 Peter 5:2).  The elders are to fit the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.  The elders are not professional Christians although they could receive some money as a gift from time to time (1 Timothy 5:17-18).  No where does the New Testament call elders to abandon the “secular” for the “ministry.”  Elders are to lead by example and not as professionals who dominate the local church life (Hebrews 13:7, 17).

Secondly, leadership in the local house church is often consensus based.  In Acts 13:1-3 we see the Holy Spirit leading the church in Antioch and He does so through the people of God.  Notice that the people of God were seeking the Lord for Himself (v. 2) and it was during this time that the Spirit called Barnabas and Saul for a specific work (in this case to be apostles or sent ones; see verse 4).  The church didn’t quickly say okay but again they fasted and prayed to come to a consensus about this call.

In Acts 15 we find another example of consensus.  Here the church meets to debate the relationship between the Law of Moses and the grace of Christ.  The church comes to a consensus after much debate (Acts 15:22).

1 Corinthians 11:2-16 is another example.  Here Paul is addressing an issue among the Corinthians about head coverings.  His point throughout these verses is that the church needs to come to consensus over this issue as he states in verse 16.

What this looks like on a practical level is that house churches often move slowly.  Unlike the traditional churches who vote on issues all the time and are building buildings and doing this or that, house churches are slow to act and instead seek God for His wisdom, to study Scripture, and to come to a consensus over issues.  Some issues are quickly solved while others must be handled with much prayer and wisdom from the Lord.  Keep this in mind, however, that Jesus is the Lord of His Church and He is faithful to His Church.  We need only to wait on Him and obey all that He has taught us (Matthew 28:20).  No matter the issue, Jesus should be the main focus and His glory is to our aim.

Lastly, the priesthood of the believers is vital to the local house church.  Each person can study the Scriptures and can speak for God (1 Peter 4:10-11).  All of us are called by God to glorify His name and to proclaim Him.  All of us can hear from God in His Word (John 8:47).  All of us have the Spirit of God living within us (Romans 8:9) and all of us can be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14) and He is able to speak through us.  We should be open to all disciples of Jesus sharing from the Scriptures or giving a teaching since we are all priests unto the Lord (1 Peter 2:4-11) and all of us can give input into the kingdom of Christ (1 Corinthians 14:26).  Elders are not to be the only ones teaching the Bible.  Elders certainly are to keep the house church sound doctrinally (Titus 1:9; 2:1) but elders are not to dominate the house church meetings.

Leadership in the house church is important and should not be rejected.  God raises up elders to glorify His name through their passion and examples.  Elders are not to dominate the people of God nor are elders to be professional Christians but they are to serve as servant leaders of God’s saints.  We need godly leadership in the local church but what we don’t need is more of the CEO-type leadership that we find in the traditional churches.  Only Jesus is truly head of His Church.  Let us exalt Him for His leaders while He Himself is our true leader.

When I was a boy my father collected all things Jimmy Swaggart.  He had albums by Swaggart and tapes by Swaggart and we even would drive to hear Swaggart preach if he came near our city.  And then came the fall of Swaggart.  After that, my father threw away all his Swaggart stuff.  He didn’t give up on God but something changed in my dad when Swaggart fell.

And no doubt Swaggart needed to fall.  From the accounts I have read of him, he had become consumed with pride (Proverbs 16:18; 1 Peter 5:5).  He refused to listen to anyone.  The late David Wilkerson told the story of even flying down to Baton Rouge to see Swaggart and told him to give it all up (this was before he fell).  Wilkerson said that this warning came from the Lord.  Swaggart looked at Wilkerson and said, “Do you realize how much we are giving to missions this year?  If I left this, this ministry would collapse.”  Swaggart had come to a place where he loved ministry more than God and he viewed his place in the kingdom as so vital to the plan of God that he couldn’t and wouldn’t forsake the ministry.  In just a few weeks after this, his sins caught up with him and he was exposed for all the world to see.

Looking back at the falls of Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker, I believe this was helpful.  For a season the Church in the West became focused on the Lord and not on people.  For a season, ethics and doctrine were important above pragmatism.  While I do believe that God has forgiven Swaggart and Bakker, they will never be in the same place they were before they fell and nor should they have been in the first place.

The fact is that God is all about Himself.  He does all things for His glory and He said that He would not share His glory with anyone (Isaiah 42:8).  His whole purpose is to exalt His name and to make His name great.  He does not exalt flesh.  He exalts only His own glory for His own glory is perfect.  Our glory is full of pride and sin and flesh.  Our passion should be that of the Lord’s and that is to exalt Him and make Him great (Philippians 1:20-21).  The gospel is not about you and I.  The  gospel is about God (Romans 1:16-17; 3:22-29).  The message of the Church is not “Hey, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” but rather, “God is holy and just and He will judge all by His own righteousness.  Repent then and turn to Him and be saved by His grace.”  All that God does from His creating the world to the sending of His Son to die on the cross to Jesus’ resurrection to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the end of time is to glorify Himself.  He alone is the only one who is worthy to be worshiped and adored (Revelation 4:11).

Yet I see superstar Christianity on the rise again and I fear it.  I see superstar mega-pastors all over the place from the local bookstores to television to podcasts.  Their emphasis seems to shout, “Hey, look at me.  I am great.  I am an evangelical superstar.”  They have built mega-churches around their own personalities.  I do believe that some of them started out so pure in that they wanted to do great things for Jesus but somewhere along the way, the flesh took over and now they are finding their satisfaction not in Christ and His glory but in their own glory.  They enjoy the crowds who adore them.  They enjoy the attention they receive just by walking into the room.  They love that they are making millions of dollars simply by being themselves.  They have fallen trap, I am afraid, to Satan and his lies (see Luke 4:6).

And this superstar Christianity is doing so much harm.  For one, it creates more and more pragmatic churches who want to copy what the other churches are doing who are growing.  They care little about faithfulness in doctrine, making true disciples of Jesus who deny themselves, and care little about repentance or prayer.  Secondly, it continues to push the clergy-laity system that promotes one person above all others instead of all using their gifts to glorify Christ (1 Corinthians 14:26).  Third, it damages the gospel because people don’t see Jesus or even hear of Him really but instead they are bound by idol worship of pastors and superstars.  Fourth, it creates many false converts as they are not falling in love with Jesus but with the superstar pastor who is not showing them Jesus nor teaching them in truth about Him or His salvation.

How we need the Lord to help us.  When God saves Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9, He sent him away for three years according to Galatians 1:18.  The great Apostle was to be trained by Jesus in the desert.  Ironically, by the time we get to 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul is alone except for Luke.  This great Apostle of our Lord who would be so used by God is now alone.  This “superstar” of Christianity was abandoned. And that is how crowds are.  They love you one minute and are willing to crucify you the next.  Paul, however, found his comfort in Jesus and not the crowds.  He wanted only to glorify Christ even to the end (2 Timothy 4:6-8) and Christ was with him (2 Timothy 4:17) as He promised He would do for His saints (Psalm 23:1).

Just remember this, God doesn’t need superstars.  He does all things for His own glory and He said that He would not share His glory with another.  God will not share His glory with a superstar Christian.  He does all things for the glory of His own name and fame.  In the end, He will exalt His name and all other kingdoms will be crushed (Daniel 2:44-45; Hebrews 12:25-29) including these mega-pastors and their kingdoms.  In the end, only Jesus will remain (Philippians 2:9-11).

The Lord’s Day.  Millions of people will head off to church today.  They will pack into their buildings, their gyms, their rented facilities, a few in houses.  They will sit and listen to a band play various types of music ranging from contemporary (rock) to classical.  They will listen to a lecture (sermon).  They will be asked to give money.  They will shake hands with a few people and some will even pray for a few people.  And then they will go home.  Church is over for almost all of them.

Yet is that the picture of the New Testament Church?  First of all, you won’t find the buildings.  I am all for house churches because the house church can move quickly, doesn’t pay a dime to rent or a bank, has no utility bills, and can be very flexible with where they meet whether in a home or a park.  Secondly, the building shouts “show” or “event” more than church.  The structure of modern church buildings is focused on one thing: the stage.  The people (laity) stare at the stage and watch the show called church.  This not found in the New Testament.  The Apostles wanted people to focus on Jesus Christ and give Him all the glory.  Modern healing evangelists love to parade their “healings” while the Apostles focused completely on the Lord and His power (Acts 3).

In the New Testament we find 52 “one another” passages of Scripture.  How can the modern church even begin on Sunday morning to obey those passages?  I know some who defend the modern church will say that small groups, cell groups, Sunday school, or other discipleship methods are the way to obey those passages.  But is that honestly what the church is about?  3/4 of the people who attend a Sunday morning church “service” will not be in a small group or under discipleship.  Most come to church and think that is enough and frankly, they have been told that is true.  As long as they are giving their money to the local church, most churches don’t concern themselves with that person during the week.  They are free to do what they like.  The New Testament Church was daily meeting (Acts 2:46).  They were not relegated to only the Lord’s Day to come together to break bread.  They met daily and were small enough to do so because they met in homes primarily (Colossians 4:15; cf. Romans 16:5). They had no large edifices that they called “church” (for that would have been illegal and would defeated their purpose).

The Church is not a meeting place.  It is not a house.  It is not a building.  It is not a denomination.  The Church is composed of true disciples of Jesus (Acts 11:26) who take up their crosses daily to follow Jesus (Luke 9:23-25).  The Church is composed of true disciples who have been baptized into Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13).  The Church has structure (Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Timothy 3:1-7) but no where in the New Testament do we find one person leading the Church (the lead pastor).  The Church always had a plurality of leaders in the New Testament (Acts 20:17; Titus 1:5).  The Church submits to the Lordship of the Holy Spirit to lead her and guide her through the Scriptures (Acts 13:1-3).  Jesus is Lord of His Church and not any flesh (Colossians 1:15-20).

The Church does not exist to worship God as a primary function.  Worship is a lifestyle (Hebrews 12:1-2).  The Church exists to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry and to edify the saints as they go out into the world to make disciples.  1 Corinthians 14 is clear that edification is the focus of the disciples when they come together.  Certainly the Church does worship God in singing, prayer, the Word, etc. but the main focus is edification (Hebrews 3:13; 10:24-26).  Oddly, at least to us, the New Testament disciples met to celebrate the Lord’s Supper as a sign of His resurrection and hope that He would return (1 Corinthians 11:17-34).  However, no where does the New Testament present preaching as the primary purpose of coming together.  In fact, 1 Corinthians 14:26 would destroy the modern church view that preaching or hearing one person speak to us is the main reason that we meet.  You’ll find no superstars in the New Testament meetings (1 Corinthians 12:24-26).

A book I do recommend that you read about the New Testament Church and how we today practice church is, The Normal Christian Church Life by Watchmen Nee.  Nee is not perfect in his theology but he is right on in this book on the Church.  How unfortunate that we are so far removed from the New Testament practice of Church that we know nothing of the modern errors of the modern Church.  I pray that God will reform and restore His Church as He is doing all over the world for His glory.

I have been a disciple of Jesus now for going on 20 years.  My how things change.  I was pondering this fact the other day and jotted down a few things that I have seen change in the church in the past 20 years.  Not all are bad but most are not good.

• Christian music was much about Christ albeit a big boring but today it is not boring but not much about Christ.
• Most churches in 1992 had Sunday morning and evening services but most today only have Sunday morning.
• Denominations were still important in 1992 but most today hide their denominational heritage.
• Doctrine was important but today few care about theology.
• Praise songs in church were largely from the Scriptures themselves but today they are more love songs that sort of talk about God.
• Churches in 1992 seemed to want to be who God called them to be although a few were starting to follow Willow Creek Community Church with Bill Hybels.  Today, churches are largely pragmatic.
• In 1992, Pentecostals were Pentecostals, Baptists were Baptists, etc.  but not so today.  Today churches follow whoever is running the most (pragmatism).
• The church prayer meeting was still there in 1992 but not many attended.  Today, few have any prayer meetings of any kind.
• In 1992, the NIV was the lone dynamic-equivalent translation that was popular.  Today, dynamic-equivalent translations reign in the pragmatic church.
• In 1992 few churches had a “contemporary” versus a “traditional” church service.  Today this is common among mainline churches.
• In 1992, cults were cults.  There was no fuzzy line.  Today, most people consider many cults as fellow Christians.
• In 1992 John Osteen was preaching in Houston to a large church but his preaching, while still heretical, was tough on issues about sin, holiness, etc.  Today, his son Joel pastors a mega-church in Houston and is very soft on sin.
• In 1992 there was a sense of urgency in the denomination I was apart of to evangelize the world before the year 2000.  It wasn’t that they thought Jesus was coming back in 2000 but there was a sense of urgency to fulfill the great commission.  Today, the great commission largely lies dormant.
• Prayer in 1992 was prayer.  Today prayer is being redefined to include all kinds of unbiblical notions such as contemplative prayer, meditation prayer, etc.

However, things have changed much for me.  Of course going to college, getting married, having children all does that but I laugh when I look back at myself theologically in those days.  In 1992 my main passion would have been 1) Jesus 2) Pentecostal, and 3) to convert Mormons.  I sought to turn my high school into a Pentecostal church in a school.  I was Arminian but would not a clue what that term was if you would have asked me in 1992.  I knew I was not a Calvinist because I had early on had a debate with a guy who claimed to be “once saved, always saved” despite living in sin.

Oh so much has changed.  I don’t see the church better today.  I see it as worse.  Pragmatism reigns in the Church.  I have friends who have since planted churches and all of them are pragmatists.  As for me, I am thankful to be saved and not working in the church.  I love the true Church of Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:18) but the modern clergy-laity dominated church world has little that I desire.  I love meeting with disciples to seek God’s face but care little for the show on Sunday mornings in typical evangelical churches.

Those are my thoughts and my own.

You can find the last post I did on Caleb Payton here.  In the previous post, I wrote on how Payton had made the decision that he would preach what the Spirit had led him to preach on holiness.  Instead of preaching watered down sermon series’ that had no content, little truth, and were made to entertain than to convict of sin and bring the presence of Christ, Caleb sought God and the Lord led him to preach the hard truths that God does hate sin, that He does require holiness, that to be declared righteous before God means that we are living righteous before people.  He challenged his seeker church like no one had ever done before.

The result was a quick meeting with his board of advisors.  Caleb knew that all of the men and the two ladies on this 10 person committee had been chosen not because of their faithfulness to God or their examples of holiness and discipleship but because they were popular, wealthy, and good business minded people.  When Caleb arrived at the church, the committee was there already and waiting for him.  The committee wanted to know what had happened that morning at church.  Why did Caleb break from his sermon series that people loved?  Why did he give an altar call for people to come down front and put on an emotional show like they did?  Doesn’t he realize that people are fickle?  If he continued to preach this way, the church would no doubt lose people and precious funds needed for the “kingdom” of God.  The bottom line: we forgive you today for your bad judgment but we expect you to make this right.  You will cease this type of “revival” preaching and will go back to preaching the sermon series’ and life will go on.

Caleb knew he had to give an answer.  Oh how dead the church had become!  As he looked around the room at the ten people sitting in front of him, Caleb knew that none of them really sought God.  Where was the anguish for souls?  Where was the passion for Jesus and His kingdom?  Where was the burning zeal for mission not just in the world but in their own homes?  Where was the holy living that God so often talked about in the New Testament (1 Peter 1:15-16)?

Caleb begin to speak.  ”Friends, we need to seek God.  I had a week of seeking the Lord.  I don’t want to go back.  I want more of Him.  I am desperate for my Jesus!  I am tired of playing games with God.  I am tired of using His holy name just for the sake of money.  I am tired of looking out on Sunday mornings and seeing eyes not full of a hunger for Jesus but a desire for the show that we put out on state.  Our singing is called worship but it is not.  Our meetings are called services but they are not.  We are all about the show and not about souls.  We are all about our building and not God’s building (1 Corinthians 3:9).  We say that we love Jesus but we don’t obey Him as Lord.  We say that want to see people saved from sin but we never even mention sin.  We say that we have a passion to hear from God but we don’t take time to sit at His feet and hear from Him (John 10:27).  The early Church met with God.  Pentecost was not a one time event in that revival fires continued for years!  The early Church waited on God and He led them faithfully (Acts 13:1-4).  Do we not trust in the Holy Spirit to lead His church?  Do we not believe that the Holy Spirit is still very much active in the church today?”

None answered him.  All sat and listened to this man that they now seemed to regard as an idiot.  Charlie Wayne spoke up.  He said, “Caleb, what in the world are you talking about?  Are you some charismatic or something?”  Caleb replied, “I am simply a disciple of Jesus Charlie.  I agree with Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:2, that I am called to be His saint.  Listen friends, I am not here to debate you.  I only want you to seek God.  Can we, right now, get on our faces and pray and seek the Lord for the direction of this church?  I believe the Lord will lead us if we’ll be faithful to Him and abandon anything that is not exalting Him and producing holiness.  Will you not join with me in seeking Jesus?”

The board of directors sat for a few minutes in silence.  For years they had had a church they loved, dreamed of, and could invite their friends to without fear that they would see something strange or hear preaching that would convict.  And now this young man was sitting here in front of them and telling them that they needed to seek God.  Who was he to tell them?  Does he not realize that his job is on the line?  Does he not see that he works for them?