You'll have to maintain the level. Do you have a Bible answer app? All right. Well, we have quite a bit of questions. I don't know if we're going to get through all of them, but we'll do our best. So first question, and this is for anyone can answer as you go or y'all can both comment on it. How do we shepherd those people that require extra care and time that deal with certain things like you mentioned, dominating sins and addictions? How do we shepherd them without letting it distract us from the other times we have to allocate for the ministry? I mean, Jesus says that a shepherd leaves the 99 sometimes to care for the one. I think it's also in 2 Timothy 2 where it talks about raising up others so that, especially the more the church grows, the more you need others to share the burden and not all land on one person. And then it's distinguishing between Genuine need and neediness where there are some people if you've seen what about Bob? And that's actually one of the top five movies in biblical counseling training that so when people become dependent upon you rather than Christ they can They want to move into your house and follow you around all the time. And you're not even really helping them because they're trusting you and sooner or later you'll let them down and then they'll hate you. You know, Jeremiah 17, if you trust in men, you're like the bush in the desert. And so, teaching them to really trust Christ and not be completely dependent upon us. I think that when we get other people to help, and we should, that there are going to be some cases where we let people know that if it becomes too much for them, that they can graciously bow out and not make them feel guilty because they're not sticking it out with this person that's consuming every ounce of their energy. Yeah, Brian actually sent some of them to my wife, actually, now that I think about it. No comment. All right, so I'm going to go back and forth between emailed questions and written questions. So here's one for Pastor Brian. As a result of the pandemic and the church shutting doors, we've seen a requisites of the home church movement. Where does the biblical precedence of shepherds and shepherding apply? And how do you counsel about home churches versus the a structured church, biblically structured church, I guess we'd say. I think that probably the resorting to home churches may be something that one of these days we may have to do. I think actually being you know, you see the storm clouds coming, but I would say that even if it came to that, that there still should be, just like with our friend in Kansas City, you know, you still have elders, you still have, you know, biblically structured church government and so forth. I don't think that it's, I think it's kind of trendy at times, but I do think that there may be a place for it if persecution got worse. I'd make a couple comments. I think what Jim Ellip has done in Kansas City and his other elders is an example of the freedom we would have to do something like that. In many places, you know, in Saudi Arabia we met in homes because church buildings really weren't an option. Although, I also say in observation, oftentimes home churches are where you have two or three families who can't find any more people than that they can actually get along with. Within months, those two or three families split two or three different ways. And so, you know, kind of why are we doing this? Is it because we think we're the only true ones and we're mad at everybody else? And that has been a problem with home churches. And oftentimes, again, they couldn't get along with the 50 or 60 people they used to be with. And now there's eight or 10 of them. And sooner or later, they'll find something to fight about. Yeah, so I definitely see there's a precedence for that. And what about kind of like this new movement that we see, especially, you know, we see books like from Francis Chan that really promote the, they see kind of like the need of fellowship. And so they set a number on maybe the home church movements, and oh, when it gets this number, we just need to find another leader, plan another one, and just get all these different home churches, and eventually now you have micro churches is there a danger to that that you foresee as far as maybe Biblical leaders and elders leading those groups and stuff like that or any thoughts? I don't read Francis Chan Jim I Was on a plane with him once I Think that I'll make a couple statements. One is I think many churches have chosen to go away from like a midweek meeting and have home groups. I think it's a lot to expect people to go Sunday morning, Sunday night, midweek, and a home group. But I think that model for home groups, when you have a more centralized church, has worked well for building relationship and community. I'll make another statement that I think some of that comes out of is I think people especially like our people in our circles Will typically choose a church based upon doctrine and preaching But they will stay based on whether they experience connection and community and that's probably the most common reason people leave and so rather than making micro-churches, but having, I think home groups, especially if they're led by godly elders, deacons, could be a good way to build the community to a smaller level when the church is larger. All right, how do we watch and shepherd and guard our sheep in the digital sphere, such as Facebook, Twitter, post? Is this part of the have one blind eye that you mentioned? Yes and no. I mean actually Spurgeon in his chapter said there are many things you turn a blind eye to. So there are ridiculous things that people in my sphere will sometimes say on social media that I just ignore. And yet our church has dealt with something recently where people were saying things that were so harsh and outrageous we felt like we had to deal with it because it was causing harm to the unity of the body. I think that giving warnings, I think this is where, like Brian did a great job talking about application and preaching, and so you probably won't find in the Puritans warnings about misuse of social media, where in our context, that is a major way in which sinful speech takes place, and it's much more, I mean, if you're writing a letter by hand to somebody far away, you'd probably be a lot more careful than if you're sitting at your keyboard at two in the morning angry, and typing out something for all the world to see. So I think it's a great place we need to make application in our preaching. And then sometimes things have to be dealt with. That's good. We talked about keep watch over yourselves for elders. Is there, what sense or what would you recommend as far as elders being accountable to one another and watching over, like, is there practical ways by which questions, things like that, that you guys would recommend for elders to watch over one another as well? I mean, I think there, it starts actually by being friends and loving each other. I mean, you could have a list of questions that you ask every elders meeting, and if you really don't have each other's best interest at heart, then the questions end up being, you know, irrelevant in some sense. You know, I knew a church where they had a the questionnaire every elder's meeting. And there was an elder that just lied for two years in a row every time a certain question came up. And there was nobody that was close enough to even begin to realize that something was wrong. So I think having actually good relationships among the elders is really central to whatever other measures of accountability we have. Accountability has to be authentic and it can only be authentic when we actually love each other and are looking out for each other and our friends. That's a really great answer where you have to feel safe being able to disclose your struggles and if there's not trust, the structure won't address that. I will say even personally that there have been times in my life where I sensed I might be slipping somehow and I felt compelled to talk to either my elders, fellow elders collectively or one individually just saying, I just found my heart in a certain place that I think I need some accountability over this. And part of that is to be able to trust people to say those things when you think somebody could obviously use that against you. But I think we ought to be terrified if we see ourselves drifting, and that's where having fellow elders who will only know if we disclose. I mean, usually when there's been a big problem, it's only when everything blows up and you realize, oh, this problem started a long time ago. All right. When shepherds learn of accusations of abuse, whether sexual or physical, how should pastors handle it as far as their investigation of the truth and involvement of local authorities? I would say that first of all, don't take an investigation on yourself. That can end up really coming back to bite you. If there is an allegation And a reasonable one, I mean, there are times where, I mean, you have to take them all seriously, but you should actually, and you learn over the years, you know? So we had a situation a long time ago, 20 plus years ago, and we had a district court judge in our church, and so I went straight to him And I followed his lead. Well, today, 20 years later, I would not do it the way that we did it then. And so I think that you don't talk if it involves children. You don't talk to the children. And I say that can come back to bite you, because it may end up being that the defense attorney turns around and says, well, yeah, the pastor talked to him and coached him on what to say or any number of things. And so I think that when we have allegations like that, we turn it over to the authorities. And so what Brian's talking about is credible allegations of child sexual abuse or physical abuse. And if you look at the actual examples, when it comes to your attention, it's this Four-year-old says that this boy pulled down her pants and touched her or something. I mean, it's usually not very vague. It's usually, wow, if it happened, it's a crime. And when it's a crime, it's not our job to investigate crimes and we can mess up the trail. When it comes to, so, anyway, it's usually not so vague. It's usually something is alleged to have happened and it becomes a matter for the government authorities to investigate. When it comes to an adult, I already talked about that yesterday, where generally speaking, it's the responsibility of the adult to make the allegation to the authorities. And the authorities, one reason being the chance of success of bringing action against the abuser are minimal. when the person who's the victim isn't willing to testify against the person. But another factor is there are many crimes that are simply abusive that are not criminal. And you will see telltale signs. Actually, one of the books over there is called Is It Abuse by Darby Strickland who's with CCEF. No book is perfect, but I think one thing she does is she goes to different categories of mistreatment and kind of checklists of this may be very serious. And so I think the most common thing you'll have in the church is you're going to have, normally it's a woman, it could be a man, and they're being mistreated, they're being controlled. And you're going to see a bit of smoke. You're not going to see flames. And you probably have to ask some questions. And part of it is you have to help them to realize that they're probably not crazy in spite of the fact their spouse says they are, and that what's happening to them is not normal, and that they do have a right to get help in spite of the fact the spouse is trying to control them to keep anybody else from knowing what's going on. I think that's something you just have to be sensitive to in the church. It may never be the authorities who called it in those cases, but part of being a good shepherd is to be aware of the reality of that. And again, the experience just shows you that the couple you thought were the sweetest, kindest couple in the world, you'll find out that they're hitting each other. So you're just, now you're kind of looking for signs a little bit. And there are going to be times where you say, yeah, you probably shouldn't call the police. I had a girl, a woman, young woman in her 20s called me. And she asked her, Phil hit me. And I said, Phil hit you? And she said, yeah, he hit me right in the breast. And I said, you need to call the police. I said, did you do anything? She goes, Well, yeah, right before I kicked him in the private, I said, well, then I don't think you should probably call the police. All right. Moving on. I have similar stories. So this is a Another one here, kind of similar topic for Jim. With today's intrusion of government and family and church, where is the line at dealing with sensitive issues in-house rather than running to the civil magistrates with families, such as youthful consistency, consistency? Curiosity, teen hormones, bad decisions, maybe bullying, those kind of examples. Right, so a difficulty, and it's no blame on the questions we're being asked, but you're being asked a question that's a stick figure that may represent a three-dimensional color video of the person who asked the question. So yes, there may be a situation where there are two six-year-old boys, or six-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl, and they had their clothes off or something, and it doesn't necessarily, I don't necessarily, you never would report that, but similar age, And part of this is you can look at the laws, but you're looking for issues of someone who has power and control over the other person is what the government is looking for. Someone who is older, who has authority over someone who's younger. And so, again, I think it's being familiar with the laws. And a lot of times when the circumstance comes up, I may want to do research online or get advice even. I've even called CPS, Child Protective Services, and say, in this situation, must this be reported? And so, yeah, so you give me a detailed case and I'll give you an opinion. It would be easier to form an opinion. So yes, there could be cases where something happens. I mean, the example I think of would be, you know, there are people who think spanking should not be done. Most of us as parents who spank have been angry when we've spanked on occasion or have left a mark when we've spanked on occasion. And so I'm not sure every single time that ever happens the authorities need to be called. And yet there can be a level of injury and rage where you do need to call the authorities. And there's not a precise line. I mean, some people would say if there's any mark whatsoever, I'm not going to ask for a show of hands. But how many of us might be in jail right now if that was the standard? So these are very tough situations. But I think in light of many factors, given that everything in your flesh does not want to report, I think you have to presume you probably need to report something. When in doubt, probably that's the direction you need to go, but then it would be the details that would help you figure that out. So we came up with an abuse policy. And one of the things, and Jason was very instrumental in this. But we have a lady in our church who is a very godly woman. She's a social worker. At that time we had a judge in our church. And so what we, because the issue is, is it a crime? I mean, that's the first question that you ask, is it a crime? And actually having somebody that has talked with the authorities, having some, so that you have a policy so that the criminal statutes are clear is actually really helpful. And those vary from state to state. Right. And I've looked at it before where you have consensual sexual activity and there's age gaps. Ages and age gaps can make a big difference as to whether the government is interested in that or not. All right, I think we both can answer this one, but it says, Brian, you mentioned in your first message that under shepherds are also sheep that need to be tended, cared for, and fed. How does that happen, and what role does the local church play in that? Well, I mean, I think it happens. in a number of ways, but one is that you have really good mutual relationships with your fellow elders who can actually help pastor you and your family. That's why, I mean, plural eldership is just vital. But also, I think that the way that we, the atmosphere of our church, If we let people know that we're a body, we need each other, then we open ourselves up to people in the body feeling free to minister to us in any variety of ways without them feeling like, oh, well, he's the pastor, how can I You know, so, I mean, a great example to me, so we used to do these young married gatherings, and they were always on Saturdays, and I don't like doing stuff on Saturdays. Right? Does anybody feel the same way? And anyway, so I'm sitting on the couch, and I'm drinking a Diet Pepsi, and I'm watching Bonanza, and I love Bonanza. And it's a form of therapy. Ariel says, hey, we need to get going to the thing. And I'm like, I don't want to go. I'm watching Bonanza. And she says, no, we've got to get going. And so I have this wonderful, energetic Dominican wife who's always happy. And so she's looking forward to it. I want to stay home and watch Bonanza. And so we get there, and I'm kind of grumpy. I don't want to be there. I'm kind of grumpy. So people are like, how are you doing? And I'm thinking, I wish I was home watching Bonanza, but here I am. And so a few days later, one of the older men, he and his wife were at the study. And he calls, and he says, hey, can I stop by? I want to talk to you about something. And of course, when you hear that as a pastor, you're thinking, he wants to talk to you about some issue that you can help solve with your inestimable wisdom. And he sits down with me and he says, this is really hard for me, but I love you. I think you had a sinful attitude Saturday afternoon. And I said, well, I wanted to watch Bonanza. No. I said, brother, you're right. You're right, I did. And he said, you know, he goes, I really feel that the way you made people feel was sinful. Because it was very clear that you weren't really very excited about being there. And he was absolutely right. And he ministered to me by rebuking me. And so you know what I did? I called everybody that was there. and ask them for forgiveness because one of the sheep loved another one of the sheep who happened to be one of the under shepherds. And that's a really good example. Proverbs 9, 9, give instruction to a wise man and he will be wiser still. Teach a righteous man, he will increase in learning. There are a lot of pastors who are really unapproachable, even by other elders, much less by members, so that's a real good testimony. I think of Hebrews 13, 17, too, it says we're all to submit to our leaders. I have leaders, that's plurality as well. I have men to whom I have to submit, and I had times when They all thought one thing, and I thought another thing, and I couldn't say, well, you know, I preach, so I get four votes, and you lose. And I think, so letting yourself be shepherded, letting yourself be, I love how you're saying, too, that other members of the body, can care for you. One thing that I tried to do when I was the preaching pastor was to try to find at least one time on the Lord's Day when I wasn't the one teaching. So not teach Sunday school where we had an evening service where I really preached. And so that I'm receiving the public ministry of the word rather than constantly being at work giving out during that time. And I appreciated that part of how we were able to work things. And we got a DVR thing, so I just record Bonanza. There's probably, like, you can go on Amazon and get, like, the 50 or 60 DVD set. Jim, I think you know we got the idea of what you think about Bonanza, but we also saw a reaction about the Diet Pepsi. Do you have a preference, a better preference? My Whataburger cup's over there with my Diet Dr. Pepper in it. Diet Pepsi is a drink of desperation as far as I'm concerned. If you're in the middle of the desert and you haven't had anything to drink in two days and there's a Diet Pepsi on ice, you might have to drink it. All right, what is the best setting to engage and warn the sheep of worldly ideologies such as critical race theory, social justice, LGBTQ agenda, and then how do we interact with those who may be in our church already who might be embracing those, such as becoming woke? Yeah. We did it in Sunday school. We did a Sunday school series and then we had two or three question and answer sessions spread out. I mean, I think if you have, I mean, Jim can address this, because this is more of a reality for him, but I think if you have people that are sympathetic or embracing those ideologies, I mean, it really is incumbent on us to deal with that, because I honestly do think that these are not, Passing fads. These are worldviews that end up being contrary to the gospel so I Appreciated hearing about how y'all tackled it in Sunday school and gave people things to read I think your church is really an exceptional church to have done that and I think it can become a hobby horse on either end in preaching, and so I would watch out for doing that too much, although I actually, I was assigned the Good Samaritan to preach at our church, and try to talk about, hear someone from one ethnicity helping someone that normally there'd been animosity, which is what the love of the gospel does, and so I slipped it in there, so I maybe was guilty of riding the horse a little bit. And it can be difficult too because you when Lloyd-Jones says we want to offend people with the gospel and not our politics and Also, if you say anything on the other side people may immediately toss you into some racist category without listening well enough So it's it's a tough thing in terms of And I see people virtue signaling even in their church. They want to prove that I'm not a racist by doing anti-racist things that may be not helpful either. So these are tough, tough days, especially like I'm in an institution where I think both for us and for RTS and for Southern Seminary, they have a heritage that they're embarrassed by, with Southern Seminary going back to the Civil War, and with RTS having probably some well-meaning segregationists who were involved in some of the early days of the PCA. And so I think they feel like they have to go out of their way to show that they're not that way, that it can be misunderstood or can lead them in directions that aren't helpful. And the difference also is you have more control over what goes on in your Sunday school class than I do at RTS. Right. Right. All right. Are biblical shepherds restricted only to elders of churches and missionaries? In other words, is the title of shepherd in the church congruent with the title of elder today? Well, I mean, the way I read the New Testament is that the office of elder speaks to the dignity of the office, overseer refers to the function of the office, and shepherd or pastor refers to the function of the office, but I see all three of those as referring to the same person. Is this, am I, okay. So yeah, so that's, So shepherd is a pastor, is an elder, is an overseer. The office of elder, pastor, overseer is restricted to men who meet the qualifications, I think. There can be people in the church who are not office holders, who are shepherding, who are caring for people. I could look at the Titus 2 women, where, again, I would not, they're certainly not elders or, not in my opinion, deaconesses, but you could still look to, I'm glad we have women who are very gifted in performing those kind of functions under the elders of the church. And men who are future elders, pastors, will be doing shepherding before we make, they don't start shepherding once we recognize them, but we recognize them as shepherds. All right, and when it comes to counseling, and how can we look at trying to raise up, Jim, you talked about the importance of having women counsel women. How can a church look at doing and raising that up, raising up those options, would you say? What's the best way to identify and go forward from there? I'm tempted to say four letters, I-B-C-D, but I appreciate that both of you have invited us in to do training in your churches. I don't think you ever, you never arrive, but I think at least making that a priority and identifying women, men who have those gifts, encourage them to get the training, encouraging them. You know, certifications or certificates don't make you qualified, but I think it can be helpful to have done a little bit of extra work and to work with the leadership of the church. These certifying organizations I'm involved in, or the Certificates of IBCD, make a big part of that, working with your church leadership. And so I think having many people equipped at various levels and then making that important in terms of making an avenue of a Sunday school class or a monthly training meeting or something that you're just pushing forward with it. Yeah, we did all, well we did three levels of IBCD care and discipleship in Sunday school. So that we made it available to whoever, you know, and it was very fruitful for us. You know, and you know, hopefully Jim updates some of those videos that are a little dated. If you have suggestions, I mean, we're actually thinking of doing something. If you notice anything in particular, please let me know. Yeah, I took notes. Really? No, but they're all up here. You know, content-wise, I think, is good. There are some videos we see where it is dated, I think, is what. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're seriously planning to reshoot some and fix some, so I'd sure like to know when. I don't watch them. I couldn't stand them. All right, moving on. I believe this is a Jim answer than Brian answer question. What are the clear benefits of a weekly communion over against a monthly? Who submitted that question? He goes by the Bishop of Kirkland, and that's a, yeah, that's a fake question, so no need to answer. It's biblical, but I think Acts 242, we're devoted to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to breaking of bread, and to prayer, and so the argument we make for weekly communion would be We don't do preaching once a month to make it more special. We don't sing once a month in order to make it more special. It's a means of grace that the Lord has given to the church, which enriches us spiritually. And so. We ought to do it. as often as we gather in worship as a church, and that would be, to me, a consistent application of what's called the regulative principle, where worship is regulated by the word of God. So what possible excuse could we give for not having communion in a given week? And now we'll have a debate. I will say, Well, just the church I came to in Charlotte, they were doing like monthly communion, and I did not refuse to join the church because they had that deficiency. And I did share with my fellow elders when I was made an elder that I thought that would be better, and it's only been like the last year and a half we came to the correct position altogether. Did you want to just talk to Daniel later? Yeah Yeah, so you know Jim gets these interns and they go out and they spread weekly communion throughout the land Quite a success almost make you post-millennial Next question What is your definition of leading shepherd? Sure. The leading shepherd is the, you know, what is that, what is it defined as? I don't understand the question. Well, it was funny when you, I fully agreed with, so we can talk about what we agree about again. In first Peter, when Christ is called the chief shepherd, and I agree with you that the title senior pastor is always been irksome to me, although it's funny now how you've had, now they're using the word lead pastor, which is just lead means senior pastor, but we don't like to use that term anymore because we're busted on that one, so we'll just use another term that means the same thing. There is a reality that among the leaders, among the elders, not everyone is equally mature or gifted, including visionary gifts and otherwise, so there often will be someone, not by giving them a different title, but simply, and it doesn't always mean it's the preacher, but there may be someone who exercises leadership, but leadership is, I think, like in Ben's book that was quoted, is something of influence is gained not by demanding your right to be listened to, but just this is a person who has wisdom that others recognize and maturity that they appreciate and he's persuading them, not just using force of title and personality. I mean just, I think it's inescapable that you end up having a first among equals thing that works out, but I think also if you have a healthy plurality, you see that certain elders have certain strengths, certain gifts, so that you lean on them in those certain circumstances. So I don't know if that gets to what was being asked, but. Kind of like the emphasis of maybe teaching pastors out of maybe a better way to put it. He's our ordinary, the one who regularly teaches for us. This is for both of you guys. What is your biggest joy in your ministry? I love being a pastor. I really do. And Except when I'm missing Bonanza, I'm a very happy pastor. I think it's important, actually, to be a happy pastor. Happy pastors help the sheep be happy. I love preaching, but I love baptisms. I love doing weddings. I love doing funerals. I really do. To me, those events, in a sense, bring about, right to the surface, the wonderful sense of being the family of God. You know? And so, I mean, there's a lot of stuff that I don't really like, you know? I think counseling is kind of hit and miss, right? Because sometimes you talk to somebody, and they're repentant, and they want to grow, and that's just joyful. And then there are other times where you really wonder if spending all this time is doing any good. So something I mentioned yesterday when I talked about Last night, what to do to encourage yourself is to think about the way the Lord has used you. And I quoted John, 1 John, I think 3, 4, 1 John 1, 4, that I have no greater joy than to see that my children walk in the truth. And so when Paul calls people his joy and crown, the Lord put us in Escondido for 29 years. And during that time, We saw, because we had a seminary there and we had guys like you there, and so looking over decades and seeing people we, as a church, and I personally would participate in their discipleship, and then seeing them like you are, flourishing in ministry. and the church had a place in that. Ben Merkel in the book you mentioned, it was his first 40 questions book, and he dedicated it to the elders of Grace Bible Church, that's kind of where he learned how the church should function in terms of plurality and deacons and elders and all that, not that we were perfect. So that would be, it's interesting now that I'm at RTS where that's my job, is basically mentoring people who we get for two to four years, and then they go off and call me when they got problems. The thing I miss most, which would have been a joy I've lost, is I really loved consecutive expository preaching. I remember several years ago, it occurred to me, you know, at the rate I'm going, I will never have preached to the entire Bible verse by verse. It kind of surprised me to, okay, I'm in my 50s now, and it's not going fast enough. And I could have sped it up, but it just, I'm plodding along, but just every week, a new passage I've never studied in depth before, and spending all that time digging in, and then getting to share it with the people of God the following, you know, that Sunday. And now I get to speak and preach, but my job doesn't allow me, I'm not consecutive expository preaching through new material, at least the way I was doing it in terms of study, there's just no time. I actually miss the study more than I miss the preaching. just to be able to spend a big chunk of my life studying the scriptures to prepare that message. So that was the main thing I felt like I sacrificed to focus on the first thing. All right, this will be the last question here. What is the best book you've written or if someone was, if you were to recommend one book that you've written to someone, what's that one book? I guess I would probably say feelings and faith is probably the one I would say. That was what I was going to guess you would pick. And that's the one I remember the best, although your book on adoption is the one I pass out the most in terms of somebody giving a realistic perspective on the challenges and the blessings. I would probably pick the Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage book just because marriage has been the greatest earthly blessing I've enjoyed and I've learned so much. And the first half of the book is really about marriage positively. And then I think through counseling, I've learned a lot about the second half of the book as well and had to work things through. So I think it's probably the thing I've written that will last the longest in terms of, people are using it that way where John Ray wrote something in the 60s and Jay Adams wrote something in the 80s or 90s, and I'm not worthy to be named with them other than there have been thoughts and developments in scholarship and counseling and debating, so I was able to kind of come in and say, well, building on that, here are some of the things we need to deal with on the hard questions. Everything that Jim writes, and I don't say this because he's my friend and because he's sitting right here, but everything that Jim writes is, whether it's one of the booklets or whether it's a full-length book, it is pastoral, it's biblical, and it's full of wisdom. And I mean, honestly, your book on marriage is better than Jay Adams' book. He took two books to do the same thing, actually. Thank you very much. All right, well that'll conclude our question and answer time. Thank you for everyone who wrote in and emailed as well. Let's go to Lord in prayer. Jim, would you maybe give thanks for the conference and the food? Father in heaven, I thank you for the privilege of fellowship with brothers and sisters who are serving you. I thank you for those who have served us so well from the church in providing a wonderful place for us to meet, and books, and food, and all the logistics have served so cheerfully and so well, and have counted that a privilege. I thank you for those who've come from different churches, and again, who are faithfully serving you in some difficult places, sometimes even lonely places, sometimes with discouragement. Lord, encourage each of us through this fellowship we've had. We thank you that your word speaks to the calling you've given us as shepherds, and I thank you for the faithful exposition Brian has given of the scriptures that's encouraged me so much. We thank you for the food you have provided. We pray that you would bless it to our nourishment. We pray that you would keep us healthy and give us safe travel. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.