Leadership Matters

Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, as we have just read, we have the privilege of being members of your household, the household of faith, along with all the other Christians throughout the world. Lord, we thank you. We pray that your blessings to us will continue especially as we advance through this new year with this many opportunities and challenges. Please use our church to glorify your holy name and accomplish your purposes. As Jesus prayed, may your will be done. So help us individually and through your church to have a part fulfilling that will. May we rejoice that you have deemed us worthy. Lord, again we thank you and we pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our cornerstone, Lord and Savior. Amen. Well, we are making our way to the book of 2 Timothy. And in order to do that, um, I'm going through just some hitting the highlights of 1 Timothy, and in an attempt to uh kind of set the stage for not only Paul's relationship with Timothy and his instructions to Timothy about the church um but also just to I guess help us have a better understanding of Christ's love for his church. So to begin this morning, I actually want to read from Ephesians chapter 5 uh to set up our uh next uh topic that we're going to look at in 1 Timothy. In Ephesians chapter 5, I want to read a very familiar passage of scripture and then we'll sort of talk a little bit about it to set up this message on 1 Timothy. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22 through 32 says this: Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord because the husband is head of the wife as Christ is head of the church. He is the savior of the body. Now the church submits to Christ. So also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word. He did this to present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own flesh, but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, since we are members of his body. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is profound. But I am talking about Christ and the church. Now, usually when we read that passage and we hear it preached or taught, the focus is on the relationship between husbands and wives, right? And that becomes the catalyst. I mean, it's probably the number one passage we go to when we talk about husbands and wives. But what anyone can see, whether you are a child or an adult, whether you're married, whether you're a lifelong bachelor, whether you're divorced, wherever you are in the marriage uh relationship dimension of your life. What everyone can see and understand is that Paul talks a lot about Christ and his love for the church in that passage. And that is uh the catalyst for him addressing the relationship between husband and wife. But he's really focusing in on the relationship between Christ and the church and Christ's love and self-sacrifice for the church. That that verse 32, he even says that this this mystery is profound. But I'm talking about Christ and the church. And what is undeniable in that passage is that Christ loves his church. That's what holds the whole passage together. He is its savior. It is his body. He gave himself for the church as a gift that he gives to himself. Now, you don't have to raise your hands, but how many of you there was something you wanted so badly for Christmas that in order to ensure you got it, you bought it for yourself? Okay, like I said, you don't have to raise your hands, but sometimes we do that, right? We want to make sure we get the one gift we want to get, so we just go ahead and we order it ourselves and it just magically appears under the Christmas tree. Well, where how did that get there? I don't know. Um, it's a gift you give to yourself. That's exactly what Paul says the church is for Christ. It's a gift he loves so much that he gave it to himself. The death of Christ on the cross and his resurrection is undeniable proof that God cares for us. That he loves even we who are sinners who the Bible says are who are at enmity with him who are often uh living in complete opposition to him. This love for us is proof that his love extends beyond just that work of redemption. That there's so many examples of gifts by God given to us that extend beyond just the simple redemption of us from our sins. We we have for example the gift of the Holy Spirit. God gave us his own spirit as a guide and a comforter to us. There is the promise of our future glorification, something that we look forward to with eager anticipation. There is even the gift of God's word that he has given to us by which he communicates his purpose and plan for his creation. and he gives it to us not only uh at one moment in history but he preserves his scripture for us throughout history so that we can use it and benefit from it. One demonstration of his love for us, for his church that is often overlooked is one of the focal points of the letter that Paul wrote to Timothy and that is the leadership of the church. The requirements of the leadership of the church demonstrate for us just how much God cares for his church. And in fact, as we look at 1 Timothy and what Paul writes to Timothy in this letter, what we're going to see is that God's standard for church leaders should be comforting to you if you ever wonder, "Does God care about me?" If you ever wonder that, all you need to do is look at how the responsibilities and the requirements for church leadership are described. And that relays to us just how much God's care and compassion extends to us. Just think about the descriptive words that we have in scripture about the church. As Chaz mentioned, we're called the household of God. We're his family. Um, we are called the bride in the passage that we just read here. We are his body. We are the flock. We are the called out ones. That's what that word church means, the ekklesia, the called-out ones. Friends, if you are a Christian, you should see yourself in those descriptions. That's how God views you. He views you as his bride, as his body, as his flock, as his called out ones, as his family over and over again. And each one of those descriptions communicates to us and implies to us the fact that he loves us. God cares about you as individuals and he cares about you as a unified group called the church. and his design for leadership within the church reflects his love. So in this uh letter in 1 Timothy and you can make your way there. We are going to look initially at chapter 3 the first 13 verses. But in this we see that the responsibility of elders is that they need to have a Christlike character. We see that the responsibility of deacons that they need to be consistent in their compassion and even then for the church itself, the congregation because of the significance of leadership within the church. The church needs to be very patient when it comes to appointing leaders. Let's look at uh 1 Timothy chapter 3. I'm going to read just the first seven verses initially. And Paul says this to Timothy, "This saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity, keeping his children submissive. For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace into a snare of the devil. So, I'm not going to go into all of these in detail because we are just sort of giving snapshots of this book and I have preached on these in the past. So, if you want that sermon to hear those, I can certainly give you access to that. It might even still be up on the internet. Um, but I want to highlight three significant implications from this description that Paul gives Timothy about the qualifications for the office of overseer or elder or pastor. Those are all synonyms that are used throughout the New Testament for this office. First of all, the implication one is the importance of character. that is of necessity that the best leaders in fact the only leaders that Jesus wants overseeing the church are those who are serious about living for the glory of God even without all of the attention and the pressures and the uh even the accolades of being in the position of overseer or elder or pastor. So often the individuals who get uh appointed or nominated to these positions once they have that title it can almost feel like well now I have to play the part that that's not how it's supposed to be. It's not supposed to be that well I've made this promotion so now I have to act like I deserve it. That's not what it is at all. Really what the appointment should be is an acknowledgment of the character that is already being demonstrated in the life of this individual because they love God and they love his glory and they want to serve him. That that should be what is just coming out of their life and character matters. I want you to look at verse five. You should probably underline this in verse five. He's talking about the management of the household in verse five. And it says this, for someone does not know how to manage his household. And then underline this, how will he care for God's church? Not how will he care for the brand, not how will he care for the building or how will he care for the court of public opinion from people out there in the community, but how is he going to care for the church? How is he going to care for that group of individuals that scripture identifies as the bride of Christ, as his family, as his flock? In other words, even just looking at this one singular characteristic that this individual is supposed to possess, the ability to manage his household. Well, what we see in that is that this isn't like he is a business executive within this little corporation that he calls his family and he's got everybody, you know, sending memos to everyone else and they're filling out their quarterly reports and they're doing all that. That's not the management of the home this is talking about. Is this an individual who cares for his family in the sense that he cares for their spiritual health, their spiritual well-being? He is managing his home well in the sense that he is ministering to their spiritual needs. Not with all the watching eyes, but he does it just because he loves God and he loves these people. And if somebody isn't doing that, then there should be no expectation that they would care for the spiritual needs of an entire congregation. This is something these individuals are supposed to be doing because the Lord is already at work in their hearts and their lives and they are surrendered to his Holy Spirit. They're surrendered to his word. They are not perfect, but they are striving to let their life be a representation of their understanding of Christ's love for his bride, for these people. An elder's responsibility is to care for you, to care for your spiritual needs. Listen to what the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 13:17. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy, not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. The pastor, the elder, the overseer in the church is supposed to be an individual who is keeping watch over your souls. Not in the sense that he's got his binoculars through the mini blinds of his front window and making sure you're keeping your grass mowed and you're not saying naughty words when you get upset. You know, that's he's not like the neighborhood busy body. That's not what it's describing. That's not what it means when he's keeping watch over your souls. But he is caring for your spiritual health. He is invested in your life because he cares about you. He cares about God. He cares about the church. Peter says this in 1 Peter chapter 5: 1 through 3. So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the suffering of Christ as well as partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. That description shepherd is used all throughout the New Testament as a metaphor for the elder for the overseer in the church that he is supposed to be like one who is caring for a flock. And as Scripture is clear, it's interesting the relationship because in that metaphor the shepherd is also a sheep. He's also part of the flock. He's not above it or outside of it. He's a part of it. But the whole idea is that this individual or these individuals are supposed to care about the people in the congregation. They're not doing it because they're compelled to out of some guilt or somebody's pressured them into it. They're not trying to uh you know build their own little kingdom or you know benefit it through some sort of ulterior motives that they have. They genuinely care about the people that God has sent his son into this world to redeem. If you look at that list back in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and just sort of glance through that some of these descriptors, do you think that an individual who was not the things listed on this list would care about you? Somebody who wasn't gentle but was violent. Somebody who wasn't self-controlled. somebody who just was impulsive and flew off the handle all the time. You think that would be somebody who would care about you? I mean, just look through that list. If you weren't those things, it would be weird to expect somebody to be willing to invest themselves in your spiritual health. So character is of vital importance for the overseer in the church because God cares about his church and he wants his church to be ministered to. It's also uh an implication from this list is that these are supposed to be present tense realities. What that means is you don't have to always have been these things. That that's the beauty of sanctification, right? That's the beauty of God at work in us is he is helping us to grow and mature each and every day. Paul says in Romans chapter 12, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind." That there's a process that's supposed to be taking place. I read about this remarkable guy, a Brazilian man by the name of Walter Orman. In 2022, he turned 100 years old. And when he turned 100 years old, he set the Guinness World Record for the longest employment from a single employer. He worked at his company since he was the age of 15 for 84 years. Can you imagine? Well, first of all, can you imagine living 84 years? But then can you imagine punching the clock for 84 years with the same company? Now, do you imagine he worked in the textile industry? Can you imagine when he started at 15, him having the same skills and knowledge and ability as when he had worked for 84 years for the company? I hope not. I hope he grew in his knowledge, in his skill set, in his uh awareness of the functioning of the corporation, in his abilities to exercise his responsibilities when the I hope there was some growth there that took place and I'm sure there were. But it's the same thing for us in our spiritual life. I mean we should be able to see progress happening and that's the expectation here isn't that like okay the only individuals who can ever serve as elders in the church are people who have been this way for their entire lives. No that that's not how the gospel works. That's not how sanctification works. That's not how maturing in our faith works at all. No. But at the same time, it is true that while these leaders aren't required to have always possessed these qualities since time and more than memory, but they are expected to possess them right now. And this is one of the problems that churches find themselves in. when they say, "Well, so and so used to be this way. Maybe they're not anymore, but they used to be really patient. They used to be super self-controlled. They used to be very hospitable. Just because somebody used to be self-controlled doesn't mean that since they are now short-tempered and impulsive and easily resentful that they still are qualified. We have to be willing to say okay there's some changes have taken place in this individual's life and it hasn't been in the right direction. We can't just say well because they used to be therefore they always are. You have to have honest assessment of individuals. These are supposed to be true of the individual. Right now, the other thing I think it's important as we look at this list is this is for both life inside the church and outside the church. An elder can't be one person when he's here on Sunday morning with you all shining and all, you know, warm and fuzzy. But then, yeah, outside in the world, he's just an awful person. That's why the end of this list says that they must be well thought of by outsiders so that he will not fall into disgrace. You know that song that kids used to sing in church, this little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. And it's based on Jesus teaching in the sermon on the mount. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven. It's about your personal testimony out in the world. And the elders, the pastors in the church are supposed to be this way inside the church and outside the church. It's supposed to be the testimony of their life. So for the pastor, for the elder, remember they're the same thing. Their existence is a reminder that Jesus is the good shepherd, but he has never stopped caring about his sheep. Just because he has ascended to heaven, he's now at the right hand of God the Father, he still cares about you right now. And so he has ordained for there to be these individuals in the church who do the work of overseeing the spiritual health of the congregation. So if you ever wonder, does God care about me? When those days come, I encourage you just pull out 1 Timothy and read these lists about the kind of individuals God wants overseeing his church. And it should let you know that he cares about you. Here's another thing as far as deacons. That's in verse eight. Look at 1 Timothy 3:8. Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first. Then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves, and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. Deacons need to be consistent in their compassion. But first of all, what is a deacon? Let's talk about that for a minute. Whenever discussions of deacons come up, typically people will first go to Acts chapter 6 as an example of sort of the prototype of the deacon. And in Acts chapter 6, there's a situation where there were these uh hellenistic widows in the church and they um came to the apostles who were overseeing the church because the food distribution of the church was not being adequately managed. And so some of these widows were being neglected. And so because of that, the apostles decided that they needed to appoint people to manage the distribution of this food. And so there were seven men that were chosen by the congregation there. They had to meet certain criteria. And then once they were chosen then they were given the responsibility of managing this food distribution ministry that was taking place. So I've heard deacons described as ministry multipliers. They care for the church through the coordinating of the service ministries of the church. Mark Dever in his book Nine Marks of a Healthy Church gives this description of deacons. He says, "The concerns of deacons are the practical details of church life, administration, maintenance, and the care of church members with physical needs." So, they're essentially supporting the elders in the church. In Acts chapter 6, the issue there was that those apostles said needed to devote themselves to the teaching of the word and to prayer. And so it wasn't that the administration of this food for these widows was unimportant, but that if they were to invest the time needed into that, it would take them away from the thing that was their responsibility that allowed for them to care for the spiritual needs of the church. And so there was this supporting ministry that's needed. The term deacon just means servant. It's used all throughout the New Testament. Just as with elders, there are qualifications for deacons. Because the deacon's role is so service-focused, there needs to be a well-established pattern of selflessness. Consistency in this kind of service is essential. So much and often so many are depending on the deacons to fulfill their responsibility. So consistency is vital. They have to be depended on. Did you notice in verse 13? I want you to look there. This is I feel like this is maybe one of the most important aspects of the deacon ministry that Paul addresses here and it doesn't get the attention it deserves. He says in verse 13, "For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus." In other words, what Paul is saying to Timothy is that a good deacon ministry in the church is going to be a great counterpoint to one of the most common accusations leveled against Christianity, which is those Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites. They're just a bunch of self-righteous hypocrites. And Paul says if you have deacons who do their job well that is going to reflect well on them as individuals but more importantly it is going to instill confidence in the Christian faith. The way they serve the needs of the congregation. The way they serve the needs of the needy of the community of the whatever. The way they invest their time in taking care of that is going to reflect well on the church that the church is not a place of hypocrisy. That doesn't mean that there never are hypocrites within the church. We all know that that would not be true because there's sinners in the church, right? But it shows that God cares about the spiritual and the physical needs of his congregation. In addition to the charge of hypocrisy against Christianity, my experience has been that there often exists this just general um dissatisfaction with the way that the church, Christianity, Christians operate. And it usually goes something like this. Yeah, I know the church does A, B, and C, but I don't see them doing X, Y, and Z. You ever experience this? Yeah, they're doing great over here and these things, but what about that thing over there? I saw a lady who seemed like she was sad. What are they doing for her? There was a poor person just panhandling on the street. Yeah there's always something that they're not satisfied with what Paul is saying is that an effective deacon ministry is proof positive that God through his church cares for the needs of people that doesn't mean people aren't going to still find fault that they're not going to be able to say well the church should be doing this or the church should be doing that you know that's always going to be the But deacons help to show the world and the people in the church that God cares not just about the spiritual needs but about the other needs in their lives as well. What's interesting too is that while the position of pastor elder is reserved for men that this is a position that is open to both men and women. Verse 11, the ESV says wives. The word there just is the word for women. And it makes more sense in the context if you view that as women and not specifically wives of deacons. Romans chapter 16 verse one, Phoebe is described as a deacon, explicitly called a deacon. I would also suggest that in Acts chapter nine, Tabitha probably makes a good candidate as a deaconess. She's described as one who is full of good works and acts of charity. Maybe even a Lydia as well. Um those two are never explicitly called deacons like Phoebe was, but they seem to be fulfilling a similar type of role. And what this verse 13 of 1 Timothy for me really anchors in that this consistent compassion of these deacons really serves as an apologetic for the Christian faith through their consistent service. So God cares about you and it's proof positive by the fact that he has ordained elders to oversee the ministry of his church and he has ordained deacons to serve within the church to meet very real needs as well. But you as a congregation have to be careful. You have a responsibility as well. And you as congregation need to be patient when appointing your leaders. So look over to 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 22. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands nor take part in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. The laying on of hands there isn't mean that you're fighting somebody. Don't be hasty and fighting someone put hands on you. That's not what it means. It means there you're ordaining or commissioning somebody to serve in this way. For example, when Paul and Silas are sent out by the Jerusalem Council, they laid hands on them and prayed for them. It's that type of thing. Don't be quick to commission people as elders and deacons in your church. Many churches have ruined themselves by rushing to fill voids in church leadership. Don't get impatient when it comes to filling these roles. It's very important that you put the right people in these places. That's why the qualifications are there. And there I think there are three common mistakes that churches make in their impatience and their rush to fill these ministry spots. Number one, they're tempted to relax or ignore the qualifications and they say, "Well, the qualifications are just like guidelines. Those are optional. It's helpful if they meet those qualifications, but if they don't or if they don't meet them all, well, we can overlook that. You know, a lot of these qualifications, they're culturally irrelevant now. They don't really even matter anymore. They're obsolete. You don't even worry about him. He's not even going to be doing that when he gets here. that's not even going to be part of his responsibilities. You know, we say things like that and delude ourselves into thinking that we know better than God, that we know better who should be caring for us than God does. And churches get tempted into this and they make these serious mistakes and they start picking leaders almost like Israel did when they picked Saul. Oh, look at how tall and handsome he is. he'd make a great king, you know. Or we pick him because, oh, he's so nice or she's so nice. Or we pick the person who's the executive and they're the business guru and they're going to help us run a tight ship here. Or we pick the guy who's really trendy. Or we pick the person who's just full of charisma and we just love the energy. Or maybe the worst one is we pick the pastor's son. You know that we just sort of pass the torch. Not to say that the pastor's son can't be that person, but he shouldn't just de facto be the mantle goes on him. Don't relax or ignore the qualifications. They're there for a reason. Another problem that churches fall into or mistake is they're not relaxing the qualifications so much as they are just being lazy in examining the person. They don't actually take the time to properly see does this person possess these character traits in their lives. So you need to be able to observe these things in the life of this person. If for example you're looking at the responsibilities or expectations of an overseer if this is something they must be you have to be able in some way to observe that and to have testimony that this is how this person lives their life. With the deacons Paul is explicit that let them first be tested. He gives them some ministries to participate in as a test. And then here he even says don't be hasty, don't be quick to lay these hands on somebody and uh commission them or appoint them to this position. Be patient. Give yourself a chance to observe their life. The third thing that churches do, and this gets to the fact that these need to be present tense characteristics, churches often fail to remove leaders who are no longer qualified. Now, back in the tail end of the glory days of COVID, when we all just got to sit around at home and do nothing but listen to new podcasts that we were discovering, there was one that sort of exploded onto the Christian podcast scene. And maybe you all listen to it, but that was The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. Did any of you listen to that podcast when it came out? All right, Lucas. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. Represent. So, it was detailing what happened at Mars Hill in Seattle and um all that surrounded Mark Driscoll at that church. And it really laid out that what happens when a church recognizes that a pastor is no longer or is failing many of the qualifications, but the church culture is willing to ignore it or overlook it because things are still going so well or it's working here. There's a growing list of problems, but the ship's still afloat. We're still doing ministry. You know, everything is okay. And it's okay until it's not okay anymore. And there's all sorts of testimonies in that podcast of people saying, "Well, I saw this or I knew this or I tried to approach this person, but they didn't want to talk about, you know, there's all sorts of things like that going on." And churches, you see that in your leadership. You can't just assume that it's going to be okay. That if they have moral failings, if they're no longer doing what they need to be doing, if they're no longer meeting these qualifications, you can't just sort of plug your ears or cover your eyes or close your, you know, you can't just hope that it's still going to be okay because it's been okay in the past. If things are changing in their lives and not changing for the better for the sake of protecting the congregation, oftentimes churches have to do the hard thing of removing somebody from that position. Now, sometimes it's just a temporary thing. We're pulling you away from this so that you can focus on this area of your life. That happens all the time. Um, other times it's a permanent disqualification. And so often churches are reluctant to do that or they do something even worse where they say, "Well, we recognize this failing and we don't want this here, so we're going to send you to another church," which is the absolute worst thing you could do. So, what does this all mean for you all and for me? Grace Fellowship 2026. Can you believe it's 2026? I can't. Well, first of all, this means God loves you. You see these qualifications for leadership in the church and understanding that it does matter who is overseeing the ministry of the church. It should communicate to you that God cares about you, that God loves you. Elders and deacons are proof of that. If you're ever tempted to doubt that, this should be a reassurance to you that God cares for his church and he wants to see the right people in place managing overseeing the ministries of the church. Another thing this means for you is that no matter how small we are or how big we get, we can never afford to ignore the Bible's instructions for qualifications for elders and deacons. We're never going to get to the point where, well, we're so big and we just we've got so much ministry need, we just need to put warm bodies in there or we can overlook certain uh certain unsavory aspects of this individual's life. Um that it's going to be a disaster. It might not be immediately, but eventually it will catch up to us. Another thing is please, please, please, please, please, as one of these people, as a pastor in this church, you need to be praying for your elders and your deacons, the people who have ministry responsibility in this church, that they are there to care and serve for you. So, they're going to be under attack. I mean, that's one of the things Paul talks about the potential of falling into snares of the devil or to be uh being led astray. God cares for his church. So you have to be praying for these individuals, praying that they would be surrendered to God and to his word and to uh take seriously the discharging of their duties and their responsibilities to you that they wouldn't be flippant about it or cavalier that they would strive to be faithful to be the kind of shepherds and servants in the flock that we all need. But that's not just going to come naturally and instinctively. So, they need your prayers consistently. So, does God care for his church? Absolutely. It's his body. It's his bride. It's his family. It is a gift he gives to himself. He cares for you. He cares for you as a group. He cares for you as individuals. and this list of qualifications is a testimony to that care and concern. Let's pray. Dear Lord, I thank you so much for Paul's attention to uh to Timothy and the things that he needs to be aware of as he was uh seeking to serve the congregation there in Ephesus. We thank you that these uh insights that he gives to Timothy that you have seen fit to preserve them for us that we might benefit from them even to this day. We thank you that this is a testimony to your love for us and that it isn't there to exalt individuals or to uh give them permission to uh to be the rulers of our lives but rather they are there to be under-shepherds of you to care for the flock uh to lead and protect and to feed and to care for each one of us. May you help us to pray for them. Help us to be blessed by individuals in our congregation who do meet these qualifications. And may our church uh grow and be well served uh as we are ministered to by individuals like this.