Church Family,
This past Sunday, in our series in Acts, we continued to follow the path of Philip as he went out spreading the Gospel. Philip was called by the Spirit to speak to an Ethiopian eunuch who was reading aloud from the book of Isaiah and struggling to understand what he was reading. On one hand, the Old Testament was in a way impenetrable to him as his status as a eunuch limited his ability to participate in Old Testament temple worship. On the other hand, something about the figure of the suffering servant in Isaiah intrigued him. In a sense the eunuch himself was a suffering servant, mutilated and bound in service to his queen. Philip taught the eunuch that this suffering servant was in fact Jesus, who had made a way even for this eunuch to enter the presence of God. The eunuch received this teaching eagerly and immediately sought to be baptized. By all accounts this man was disqualified from being part of the people of God, yet the Spirit specifically called Philip to him and the Gospel made him whole in a way that was impossible in any earthly sense. The question is, do we act like we believe the Spirit and the Gospel have this kind of power today? Or do we disqualify people from Christianity because for some reason or another we think they are too far gone? Let us be convicted by this passage to minister to anyone to whom the Spirit leads us, and let us be encouraged by this passage that the Gospel is powerful enough to bring anyone into the people of God.
Elder Candidacy
One of our convictions as a church is that the biblical model for the church involves being led by a plurality of elders, multiple godly men who can provide diverse perspectives and insights necessary for the overseeing of the church. In pursuit of that ideal we have had a few men in the process of prospective eldership. This past Sunday, our current elders formally announced one of those men, Brian Murphy, as an elder candidate to be voted on by the church members on October 20th. While our bylaws only require a two week notice before a vote, we are taking a much longer lead into this vote so we have time to do two things. First, of course, be praying about this vote. It would be a tremendous mistake to not make sure that such a decision is informed by lots of prayer. Second, pursue Brian in the time leading up to this decision. If you have concerns about his qualifications to be an elder, questions about his beliefs, or even just don’t feel like you know him well enough to make a decision then this is your time to talk to him and figure these kinds of things out. Catch him after service on a Sunday, find a time to call him, or even meet up with him for coffee or a meal. It’s not a bother; this is part of what he has volunteered himself for in pursuing eldership.
Grace be with you,
Logan Murphy
Pastoral Intern