elders

yesterday we talked about leadership in the o.t. people of God and laid out the responsbilities of priests and judges. It was an honor to have some of our elders represented on stage yesterday. This group of guys I have prayed with, cried with, dreamt with, planned with, debated with, laughed with, eaten with, traveled with, etc... You probably get the idea. None of them are perfect, but they love the Lord and are trusted men of God in my book. Pray for them when you think of it. Here's my brief description of them:

Marv Detloff is the senior member (mid to upper sixties). He's one of the first people I met at Eastview and a great man of wisdom and encouragement. He has been an elder for 25 or 30 years...no one's really sure because some of it happened in the 1900's.

Brad Burns is a young, caffeineted guy who is always on the go (except for the first part of elders meetings at 6:00 a.m. but he gets going eventually). He came to Christ in New Community in the old building while he was a college student in town.

John Ashenfelter has been a leader around here forever. First as leader in New Community and then as one of the youngest chairman of the elders ever. He is an attorney for state farm who has the gift of giving.

John Moses is a contractor/builder who has helped immensely with the actuall construction of this building along with his quiet, but confident leadership. Great guy.

John Farney is another "farmer" who is one of our younger guys. He is the guy in school I would sit next to to laugh and get in trouble with. His wisdom is beyond his years and when he talks people tend to follow.

Rick Schaumburg has been an elder for several terms. When I came he was one of the younger guys, but now he's a trusted and experienced (so as not to say older :-) guy around the leadership table. All three of his children were in my youth ministry in the early days around here.

B.J. Armstrong followed in the footsteps of his father. His father Brian was part of the elder team that hired me and B.J. has the same encouraging and confident leadership style (but he doesn't like to hold hands during prayer and hug like his father did!).

Barton Shaw is the current chairman of the elders and as you can tell yesterday he is very articulate. He has a gift for preaching which is no surprise since his father is a legendary preaching professor at Lincoln Christian Seminary.

Jim Connolly is the owner of a leadership consulting firm. He brings great perspective to the leadership discussions we have. He can articulate the ins and outs of leadership. First worked with him on the men's adventure weekends when they started.

By the way, there are four more in month three of a five month process for nomination and selection to join the elder team. Please pray for John Barr, Rod Hoff, Darrell Douglass and Dave Brucker.

What a cool thing that these guys are a part of a leadership structure that goes back 2,000 years to the first church. I know they consider it an honor and take it very seriously.