As you know, we're looking at the qualifications for church leadership, and I've made the point repeatedly that most of these qualifications concern character, only two concern ability. What are the two? Teaching is one, and what's another one? Managing, that's correct. Also, I've tried to make the point, this is not just for elders. These things, maybe except for the ability part of it, are to be true of every Christian man. So you're not off the hook thinking, psh, not me. Last week we dealt with one of the two abilities, which was which of the two? Teaching, thank you for remembering that. Now, we're going to deal with the other ability today, and that's management ability. So we're in 1 Timothy 3. Look at verses 4 and 5. Now, Paul believes in dialogical teaching, even in his letters, so he's asked a question. I want to know the answer to the question. So here we are. Chapter 3, verse 4. For 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 take care of God's church? What's the answer to that? He will not do it well. He can't do it. That's right. So the home is the proving ground. The home is the testing ground. So if he's tuned out at home, he's going to be tuned out at church. If he's a tyrant at home, he's going to be a tyrant at church. If he's disorganized at home, he's going to be disorganized at church. If he doesn't train his children at home, the church is going to be poorly trained. And if he doesn't lead his wife spiritually, he's not going to do a very good job leading the church spiritually either. Churches don't simply run themselves. As I have said repeatedly, one of the words, well, we'll get them on the board. What are the three synonymous terms for a church leader? What's one of them? Elder is one. Pastor is another. And what's the other one? Well, not deacon. Now, deacon is different than this. King James says a bishop, but if you're not Elizabethan, English person, you won't put bishop. What's the? Overseer, there we go. And of these three words, which one is the manager word? Overseer. So one of the very words for this guy is a management word. And so that's the point. Churches don't simply run themselves. They do have to be managed. Somebody's got to plan ahead. Somebody's got to be the coach. Somebody's got to motivate or comfort or be your father figure. Somebody's got to be sure the medians are edifying. A deacon is a church leader also, but he's not the same thing as an elder. The deacons serve, they help the elders. Yeah, it's distributing, delegating the workload. That's right. So they take pressure off the elders so they can devote themselves to teaching, prayer, study, counseling, that kind of thing. Now, the Greek word for manage is pro-est, Amy. That to me is just interesting. Pro as in protrude or proceed means what, do you think? Or prophecy. before. And Istemi, there's a woman's name that comes from that. Can you guess it? Stacey is from that. Anastasis means resurrection, to stand again, but Stacey, Stasis means to stand. So somebody, imagine an orchestra conductor, he's standing in front of the orchestra, leading the orchestra. Or in a military context, it would be like the general in front of the troops leading the troops. And so it is a management type of a word. It means to preside, to govern, or to direct. So he's got to be a good manager of his household. The Greek word there is literally house. Oikos, we got a word oikonomics from that, economics, the law of the house. So managing a household, if you think about it, involves both people, you got a wife and children, usually, and property. you got to pay the bills and cut the grass and whatever else you have to do. So if a guy has, for example, financial trouble, if he's behind in his bills, if he's hopelessly in debt, probably not ready to be an elder. I knew a fella, once upon a time, he was working on his PhD in theology. Great guy. His family was a good family, homeschooled the kids, love of the Lord. terrible with money and everybody in the church knew he was terrible with money and he wanted to be an elder but they wouldn't let him be one because he was so bad with money. Well he wasn't managing that part of his household well. So those are examples there. If his wife is frustrated from a lack of direction, because he's not giving direction to the household, that guy's not going to be a good manager. And so his kids run wild like banshees. He's not going to be a good manager of the church. So many times, like, you drive past a McDonald's, maybe, and it'll say, under new management. Now, you know, all the McDonald's are alike. The same food, the same building, the same everything, and yet some of them can be really bad, if it's got a bad manager, and people quit doing business there. So they finally fire that guy under new management. This is a desperate plea to get the customers to come back. Well, guys, it's the same with the church. We got the same Bible. We got the same Holy Spirit. But if you've got a bad manager, well, it's going to head, I don't want to say head south. It's going to head north, you know? I mean, let's get real here. All right. Now there's a very important word in verse four that describes his management style. It describes how he should control his children. What's the word in verse four that describes his management style? Dignity, wow. What does it mean to be dignified? Respectable. That's right. I was trying to think of a dignified person. Well, I thought of Queen Elizabeth. She was dignified. So it means composed, stately, noble. Now, contrast that with other parenting styles. Some people do manage to control their children, but it lacks dignity. There are threats. Don't make me count to five or whatever. Red faces. Okay. Frustration. Outbursts of anger on the part of the parents. Raised voices. overreactions, there's not dignity there, you see. So that's interesting. So these children of this guy have got to be submissive. So let's talk about what does it look like when children are not submissive. The inmates are running the asylum, thank you. Well, you've all seen examples of, by the way, one time there was a, forget his name, but there was a senator from Georgia. When my kids were little, we'd come to some church thing, and they're all dressed up like pilgrims or something, and Indians, and we're at this restaurant eating, and we're just having a good time. And I didn't see him in there, but he was watching us. And as he left, he came over. and introduced himself and said how impressed he were with how well-behaved our children were. So you do notice it when you got well-behaved children. But let's talk about the ones that are not. What does it look like? Give me some examples of things children who are not submissive do. They're discontent. OK, they're discontent. And how does that come out? So they're talking back to you and they are just flat out disobedient. So you got bad attitudes, bad actions, right? Disruptive. So we used to teach our kids obedience is doing what I'm told to do. When I'm told to do it, without complaining, we had it on the refrigerator. So what's disobedience? They don't do what they're told to do, they don't do it when they're told to do it, and they do complain, they talk back. So you all know what it looks like. Just open your eyes. If you've got kids at church functions and they are wild and out of control, that father is not ready to be an elder. Or if this management style is not dignified, that father is not ready to be an elder. Make sense? But you've got to look at these kind of things. Now we talked about previous weeks. Sometimes the only thing churches go by is some guy's been to seminary. Well, I like seminary. We need it. But boy, there's a whole lot more to it than that. Yes, Jace. Tell me what you're thinking about, Jace. Go ahead. Oh, well. Not in public display. OK, how about not in public display? When our kids would do bad in public, we'd leave the shopping cart full of groceries and go out to the car. Or we'd retreat to a bathroom somewhere. Or we'd even leave and go home and then come back. So it's about poise and management style. And everybody loses their cool. I understand that. We all have our moments, but with some people, it's more of a lifestyle. You just see it all the time. So that's kind of what we're dealing with, yeah. Somebody mentioned, we were talking about an elder has to be gentle. And he was asking, how does that go with Jesus going in there and turning over the tables and taking a whip and driving people out? There's a time for anger without sinning. Be angry and do not sin, the Bible says. So yeah, there's that, of course, but yeah. Not all the time, that's right. That's right. So all this is in the context of management. His children have to be submissive. And he's got to have managed that in their lives with dignity. James. I think one way to put it is you can tell someone, including a child, you can tell them no without being overreactive. That's right. And you don't want the overreaction. That's right. Teddy Roosevelt, speak softly and carry a big stick. Yes, sir. are with small children, whereas in certain cases, in this case, for example, not to be too on the nose, but Chris doesn't have any small children. There would be, at what point, obviously there are applications of this to other, there are other ways to tell management, et cetera, but how would this apply, and what would you have to say? The Greek word for children is technon. And generally speaking, it means children who are still living at home, under their father's roof, under their father's authority. And also, I don't think it's a requirement that he has to have children. But how he deals with the children is one indicator of his management abilities. I don't think it's really a requirement that he has to have been married. But how he relates to his wife is another indicator. So out in the hallway, there is a Monet impressionistic painting. There's not exact details there. It's fuzzy. You know what it is, but it's fuzzy. As opposed to a Rembrandt, it looks like a photograph. I think we're dealing with a Monet here. He's dealing with broad brush strokes to give us the kinds of things you want to look for or look out for. But as long as the child is at home, he ought to be obedient. Yes, Sean? I think there's, well, if you're wanting to learn how to parent, I would recommend watching C. Malone, the world-famous dog trainer. He has this idea that you should be calm, assertive. That's the thing. So you can see it when you see pet owners kind of handling their pets. And they're dragging them or yelling at them or pulling them or fighting. There's this constant fight. There's not this calm assertion that results in the dog or the pet being calm, submissive. If you can train a dog, believe me, you can train a child. That's right. And, you know, a lot of times, Elisheen and I are on a walk in the neighborhood, and there'll be one of our neighbors with a dog who's out of control, and the neighbor is out of control. And I said, Elisheen, that person has no idea how to train a dog. But it's the same with children. By the way, my dogs, we didn't have a fence around the house. So we got one of these radio-controlled shock collars. And as long as they were within the range of the broadcast, they're fine. But if they go outside of range, it goes like that. And as they keep going, it shocks them. Well, there's no loud yelling. There's no loud noise. But that thing is merciless. And man, the slightest little bzzz, and they're back. They're back. But because it's consistent, they know it. It doesn't take them long to learn it. Same with an electric fence and a cow. Boy, they learn it quick. Right? It's all about consistently and child training and how you do it. And thank you, Sean. Yes, sir. So what if they don't have children at home? How can you tell? Okay, look at his relationship with his wife, how else could you tell? That would be a start, although that's a little different, but yeah, that's right. Well, I'm thinking, too, if a guy's a general in the Air Force, he's probably got some management skill. If he's running a business successfully, he's probably got some management skill. That's right. Interestingly enough, a qualification for deacons is they must first be tested. And what Eric is talking about is an exact example of testing them. But it would certainly apply to a potential elder, too. How are they dealing with the people in the church? Yeah. So there's other ways. But Paul is assuming what is the normal course of life for most men. They do get married and they have kids. What's going on with that? So that's the low-hanging fruit test right there. Yeah. You want to add anything to it, Robert? Well, most of the time the elder has been in the church, you knew him when he had kids, because unlike this professional class that floats around every two years and they change, musical chairs, you know the guy, he's been around. But that's not always the case, so you have to go by other criteria, it's just that simple. So the home is the testing ground. Jesus said if you've been faithful in little, you'll be faithful in much. So there's that. Now, is having, believing children a requirement for eldership? It's not in this passage, notice he doesn't say a word about it. Well, you look at Jesus, 12 disciples, and one of them was a devil, right? Some people think you do have to have believing children. That's based on the parallel list in the ESV, talking about his requirement. It says his children are believers. You think, well, why doesn't that say that here? King James doesn't say that. It says having faithful children. So the Greek word for believer is pistos and it can mean you have faith or it can mean you're trustworthy, either one. And so the rest of the verse, it says, having faithful children, not open to the charge of debauchery. Believers who are debauched, and then it says, or in subordination. Well, you see, if you say his children are faithful, that goes with they're not open to the charge of debauchery and insubordination, which is the requirement in our Timothy passage as well. So I don't think that they have to be believers. And again, it's the word children, meaning they're not left home. So once kids grow, you have noticed they have their own sin natures. They got a mind of their own, sin of their own. You don't know what they might do. Also, the main issue here is children at home are submissive, not rebellious. Yes, sir, back in the back. You just have to remember, in the first century, the structure of the family was very different than today. They had an entire household. The dad was overseeing sometimes a couple generations, including slaves and so forth. And so it was an entire business structure. And that's a good point. So imagine if you had a generational family business, whereas you might normally move off to another state, if your dad's president of Motorola and your family owns a company, you're probably going to hang like Chick-fil-A. All the Cathy families just stay there. So anyway, now Alexander Strack said, Even the best Christian fathers cannot guarantee that all their children will really believe. To say this passage means believing Christian children places an impossible standard upon a father. All right, so the next requirement, which is number 13, is in verse 6. According to verse 6, let's read that, why should a recent convert be barred from leadership? Here it is. He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Why is it you don't want a new Christian to be a church leader? Yeah, he gets puffed up with conceit. Recent convert is from neophotos. We get a word neophyte from that. What's a neophyte? Brand new. Neo is new, and futos is plant, newly planted. So when you go to Home Depot and you buy all the new plants for your garden and you take them out of the pot and you put them in the ground, that's a new plant, that's a neophyte. So he can't be new in Christ to be a church leader. Why not? What do you say might happen to him? Pride, that's it. And the word for pride here, conceit, has to do with being puffed up with smoke. So imagine a hot air balloon and all the smoke and heat from the fire goes in the balloon, puffs up real big. So it doesn't say it's necessarily got to happen, but it's very likely to happen. So you get a big head, inflated ego, blinded with pride. What would be signs that a church leader, not just new Christians, but what's a sign that any church leader is puffed up? It does say that. Okay, is he building up the body or is he just puffed up spouting knowledge? That's one good example or indicator. Can you think of another one? Yes sir, Peter. Okay. They stay up on Mount Olympus and don't come down. Yeah, that's good. All right. What were you going to add, Eric? Yes, sir, Peter. Okay, one commentary I read said hypersensitivity about your preaching is an indication of arrogance. If you cannot handle having your sermons critiqued and questioned, get out of the ministry. Impatience is also often a sign of arrogance. Humble men are able to absorb people's misunderstandings, false accusations, and constant, sometimes inane, questions. The impatience that grows out of arrogance will alienate people and ruin a preaching ministry. Yes, Shaw? I think how a person handles believers who don't agree with them is a big deal. That's right. Good. From my own work experience, Chick-fil-A recently had a man who worked there for a couple of years that they fired him because they had management in that he wouldn't listen to their feedback and avoid them. That's a good point. We believe in elder-led congregational consensus. So we are to serve the church by taking the time to build consensus. Now, that's not the same thing as unanimity, but we are supposed to listen. So this thing we're trying with no break. Well, there's reasons for that. We're trying to make things as edifying for the most people as we can. But like Gerald said, this is an experiment. You can give us feedback. And so that's part of it. Greg. When you look in the book of Acts, Paul's practice was always to go intimate with the Scriptures, and they had been converted to Christ because of Paul's laying out the Gospel, and so they were like ready-made. They were probably, almost every time he went, you could see that he probably had a good base to build on by people who were already leaders in the synagogue who were converted. That's right, good. By the way, and I forgot the timeline, but by the time Paul wrote this to Timothy in Ephesus, that church had been there for several years, so presumably there is time for these elders to have proven themselves, yeah. And what you said about the synagogue is a good example. Then he talks about the condemnation of the devil in verse six. Now, does this mean the devil will condemn him, or does this mean he will get the same condemnation that the devil got? What does it mean? I have an NAS that says that it is the condemnation incurred by... Okay, the New American Standard helps you out. The condemnation incurred by the devil. The devil's already condemned all of us anyway, you know. One of the words for devil is... What's the Spanish word for devil, you Spanish people? That means, dia means through, and the other word means to throw. He's hurling accusations at believers all the time. That's what he's doing. He's already condemned us. So, to what condemnation did the devil get, and why did he get it? Okay, he's gonna be like God. Now, there's a passage in Ezekiel that's evidently talking about the devil. And God's talking to him and he says, you were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. Your heart was proud because of your beauty, you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor." So evidently he got the big head and that led to him being condemned. A condemnation is a sentence, some punishment that you suffer. You're not going to see the devil in heaven. And I don't think he's saying these puffed up elders are headed for hell, but Proverbs says about the pride, and that's the issue here, pride goes before A fall or destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. And that's going to bring shame and disgrace on the church as well as him. So just say no to these young guys being elders, that's it. Now, the 14th qualification is in verse 7. It says he's got to be well thought of by outsiders. There it is again, verse 7. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. So you notice the devil gets mentioned again. Dishonorable mention, again. So why is it that we should care what unbelievers think? Did you know unbelievers have a role in elder selection? Here it is. So why is it important that an unbeliever be thought of well by those outside the church? So you're saying it's a bad witness to them. Yeah, okay, it is a terrible witness, right. Unbelievers can be a shrewd judge of character. One fellow said, now this is Latin, but he says the Vox Populi is in some sort a Vox Dei. Who can figure that out? The voice of the people, lost people, is in a very real sense the voice of God when it comes to elder selection. So maybe the implication is you can fool your friends. So yeah, he's got to have a good reputation with outsiders. So let's imagine most of these guys are bivocational, right? He's a businessman and everybody knows him. is greedy, and he has this reputation of greedy. Well, okay, maybe that's a bad witness, like y'all were saying. But on the other hand, maybe it's not that. I thought about giving examples, and I just couldn't bring myself to do it, but let's say you have a guy who, he's into everything but a coffin. I mean, he's just bad, okay? And just the worst sins our society can think of, he's that, and he goes to jail, and he gets saved, and then he gets out. But it's all over the news what a scoundrel this guy is. You could probably never make him an elder because he's got a bad reputation. Even if he's repented, you could probably never make him an elder. For example, the FBI will not hire anybody that's a convicted felon. It doesn't matter if it happened 30 years ago and you've been glorious saved and been in the police department ever since. You can't be an FBI agent. Yes, sir. You know what I'm saying? Like, how do we evaluate that practice? A small town like Rome, it's hard to tell. No, I know. No, you're right. Remember, we've got a Monet here. These are just things to look out for. Some of this stuff you can't verify. It's not a precise checklist before you take off. Some things you just can't verify. It's qualities and what? Qualities instead of qualifications. Thank you, that's good. Yes, Sir Luke. There's also an element of if they're failing in this one, they're probably failing in the other one. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Where it's easy to be a Sunday Christian. You put it on here and fool everyone here, but then your day work week, you go to work and nobody knows that you're a Christian. That can be an element of if you know what they're like at work, then you can know whether or not they would be good here. And more likely than not, we don't see a lot of each other's lives at work and we won't know that far. But you know, like where you work, you work with other people from this church, I believe, or you have, and you kind of know what they're like. And so again, in the first century context, a lot of the thinking is a lot of these people did work together, like Paul and Aquila and Priscilla and making the tents and things like that. So back to Jace's ultimate point, it was a smaller world, and that was easier to determine that, but it's still something to go by. Now, the devil, as I said, gets mentioned in two of these verses, and he talks about the devil's Snare, now a snare is a trap. For example, foreign governments all the time use beautiful women to ensnare their targets, right? And the devil's good at setting snares, he's setting traps. So he says, this guy that's not thought of well by outsiders, will fall into a trap of the devil. So notice, the devil can use this bad reputation to turn it into a bad witness. The devil knows the bad stuff, and he's gonna be sure it comes out. It's gonna be made public, and it's gonna be a disgrace. That's the word that's used there. And notice Satan takes a lot of interest in church leaders. He has a terrible plan for their lives. He's trying to use them to hurt the church, but he hasn't overlooked our church. Or you. He don't mess with us really, we're too small. He's got all kind of little demons. And you know, he's probably got a couple of them assigned to you. And they go, let's look at it. No, it's all Dwayne's life. Oh, we don't. Oh, and they write it down. What trap can we set up for Dwayne? And they'll custom-made, tailor-made snare just for you. Don't you think that doesn't happen? So anyway, we got to be shrewd about this kind of stuff. Well, so what? A lot of overlap in these qualifications. And notice again, we talked about he doesn't mention seminary. But since it has been 2,000 years and a lot of stuff has happened and we don't speak Greek, good thing to have. At least seminary shows you can complete something if you start it. And there's a certain level of intelligence there. Like in the military, if you go in and you've got a college degree, that's a fast track to being an officer. It doesn't matter what your degree is. They see that as a test or something. So let's look at this list again just to get the whole big picture. I'm going to start with verse 1. 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 after reading this, you're probably amazed that anybody would qualify, and it is pretty overwhelming. But the Holy Spirit is able to get men ready for this. And when Paul was talking to these very elders that are being written about here, the Ephesian elders, he says, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. So this is doable. In the fleeting moments we have left, why do we need more than one or more than two elders anyway? You know, in most Baptist churches, they only have one pastor, and that's by design, and it just stays that way. But that's not New Testament. For example, in Acts 14, 23, they, the apostles, appointed elders, plural, for them in every And James says, if you're sick, what is he said to do? Call for the elders of the church. So the churches knew who their elders were. They were formally, publicly, officially tagged. You're it. is elders, so they knew who to go to. And it's a plurality. One of the Greek words for an elder, presbuteros, we get a word Presbyterian. But a presbytery is a group of elders, a team that work together. And so Baptist churches historically have lacked that. They need it. It's becoming much more common now with the nine marks ministry. We're in the Greater Atlanta Baptist Network. I think every one of those churches now has a plurality of formally recognized elders, and I think that's important. But what are the practical benefits of that? Give me some things you can think of where it'd be better to have a plurality of leaders instead of just a one-man show. It's easier to protect against corruption. Okay. Paul said to the Ephesian elders, I know from your own numbers men will arise who will distort the truth. So yes, it helps you with church government and protecting against corruption. We're supposed to be self elders or self policing. That's a real good one. I'll write that up here. So we'll write corruption. Give me another one. Okay. You got 50 members, you got 500 problems. It distributes the workload, which is what was it Jethro told Moses to do that. You need to distribute the workload. So that's right. It really does. What a blessing. Yeah. What else? Jace? Some people are more gifted in certain areas. A diversity of gifts, a diversity of spiritual gifts. You know, it's been said there's doers, thinkers, and feelers. And it's nice to have all three. I'll tell you, I'm not the feeler. I don't know if you guys have noticed that. But Gerald, he might deny it, but he's a pretty good people person. How many times I'm about to do something dumb and Gerald will say, well, You might ought to think about that. And he'll go, oh, oh, oh, yeah. So yeah, diversity of gifts, what a blessing. OK, what else? Elders die or move away. OK. OK, thank you for that cheery thought. Okay. Elders do that. That's right. So we always got a spare tire there if we need one. That's good. Thank you. Okay. Right, if we're committed to New Testament-sized churches, that means we're about at capacity now for that. You're gonna have to have elders in training to send them out with a new group. So even if the plurality is the idea, you might toggle between one and two and one and two and one and two, because hopefully you're always sending somebody out with a new group, which, by the way, you all need to think about. Maybe God would have you be part of a new church plant maybe in Lilburn, or maybe somewhere that other people toward Gainesville might be moving, or Alpharetta, you just never know. So another advantage that y'all can think of. Well, you know what I was thinking about was, let's call it wisdom. I have a lot of stupid ideas that y'all never hear about. Because other elders here say, mm. So the multitude of counselors is victory. So I think there's that. So all that stuff. The corruption, there's less likely a dictatorship's going to develop if you've got a plurality of leaders. There's defense against the attacks of savage wolves that we know that are coming in. There's wisdom. There's diversity. Oh, there's encouragement. You ever heard it's lonely at the top? OK, well, when you're not up there alone, that's encouraging. That's real good. All right, so I think, though, it is important that we do officially recognize leaders. It's a New Testament pattern to do that. And there are your predetermined arbiters or tiebreakers. When we are trying to build consensus, most of the time we get it. But if we are ever marooned and we've got to make a decision, And we don't quite have a full consensus, but you've got to make a decision. That's where you've, before there's ever controversy, you've elected your elders as the predetermined tiebreakers. And Hebrews 13, 17, obey your leaders and submit to them. None of those words are as harsh as they sound, but one of those words for submit means submit. But it's the word that was used of contestants. Imagine two Greek wrestlers, and so there's a contest. We don't know who's going to win, but finally one yields to the other as a result of the contest. So he's expecting there's going to be disagreement in the church. It's okay to disagree and have a different opinion and to say it, and we're going to go back and forth. But he does tell the church at some point It's like Kennedy and Khrushchev, and you've got this Cuban Missile Crisis standoff, who's gonna blink first? He's telling the church to blink first. But it's not command, it's a process that you yield to. But if you don't know who your elders are, you don't know who you're supposed to yield to when the time comes to you. That make sense? So we gotta recognize them. All right, in conclusion, the terms, all these words, elder, overseer, pastor, we made the point, they're synonymous terms. different aspects of what the same person and persons are doing. We made the point there's no pyramid here, there's no hierarchy in this, there's no senior pastor, there's no lead pastor, they're all the same. We've made the point that ideally, leadership is to be in the plural, ideally, not in the singular, although sometimes you have to do that. Even if you have a single man qualified, if he's bought into the idea of the importance of building consensus, then in that sense, all the men of the church help to balance him out and keep him from being a bad guy. We've talked about church leaders shepherd the flock by teaching, guiding, leading, correcting, rebuking, modeling, protecting. We've talked about some of that. Our big takeaway from this list that we have here is a leader's got to be character qualified. That's the big one. He started and said he's got to be above reproach. And all the rest of that is what it looks like to be above reproach. And in the Titus passage, he starts with above reproach and he ends with above reproach. So again, that's the frame that all this stuff is built around. And finally, I didn't talk about this much, but he's got to be able to teach sound doctrine. He's got to be a good manager. Those are your two abilities. He's got to be male. For example, the Southern Baptist Convention finally disfellowshipped Rick Warren's churches because they were letting women be pastors. The Baptist Faith and Message says, while both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men, as qualified by Scripture. Okay. This message was produced by the New Testament Reformation Fellowship, reforming today's church with New Testament church practices. Permission is hereby granted for you to reproduce this message. You can find us on the web at www.ntrf.org. May God bless you as you seek to follow Him in complete obedience to His Word. May your faith in the Lord Jesus be strengthened and your daily walk with Him deepened.