On Sunday morning, Mount Vernon Baptist Church called eight men to serve with me as elders of the church. They were approved overwhelmingly. Please pray that each of us would "keep watch over ourselves" (Acts 20:28). Pray we would watch our "life and doctrine closely" (1 Tim. 4:16). Pray that we would watch over the flock of God at Mount Vernon. Finally, pray that everyone at Mount Vernon would serve God in the church.
I'm reading a book called God at Work by Gene Edward Veith, Jr. He makes the very important point that God works through each of us:
Christ is also working, in a powerful way, through the vocation of the pastor. Christ as He animates His body, also works through what laypeople are called to do in the local congregation. All of those seemingly humdrum tasks--singing in the choir, serving as an elder, being on the board of trustees, teaching in Sunday school, doing committee work--are nevertheless critical areas of service that are tremendous blessings to the whole congregation (116).
Veith reminds me that there really are no humdrum tasks in the local church. HIs words bring to mind Paul's teaching in Romans 12:3-5, "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others."
What a privilege it is to serve in the local church!
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