Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

This is the final message in our Church 101 series about getting back to the basics. My name is Brian Morrissey and I am the youth and worship pastor here at the Amelia Church of Christ and it’s great to have you with us today.

Our Senior Pastor, Mike Edmisten is currently on vacation with his family, where he absolutely needs to be today and I think that he left me to close this Church 101 series out today on purpose. I absolutely do. Today we’re going to discuss the role of the Senior Pastor in the church.

We’ve been in the book of 1st Timothy and we’re going to be there this morning, but our focus text is going to come from the book of Exodus this morning, so if you could flip over in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 4 and hang on to it, you’ll be ready to go for a little later on this morning.

Mike and I recently went to New Spring Church in Anderson, South Carolina to attend their “Unleash” Conference which was a one-day event designed to encourage and enable pastors and church leaders in the roles that God has called them to minister in their local churches. While we were there, Perry Noble, who is the Senior Pastor at New Spring, said some very key things that I’m going to pull from this morning. But, Perry also really sent my mind spinning in a new direction about what Mike’s job is and what Mike struggles with and rejoices at.

Now, let me tell you guys, I work with Mike. I see him on a weekly, almost daily basis, and I had no idea of some of the things he struggles with and rejoices over. So hopefully this morning, I can take some time to encourage Mike, who I know will hear this message, and also encourage each and every one of you to be able to better understand his role and the calling that God has placed on his life. But, before we begin this morning, I would to invite God once again into our time this morning. Let’s pray.

Martin Luther was a German monk, theologian, university professor and a minister whose ideas inspired the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization. Luther's theology challenged the authority of the Catholic Church by holding that the Bible is the only infallible source of religious authority and that all baptized Christians under Jesus are, as the Bible calls them, a universal priesthood. According to Luther, salvation was a free gift of God, received only by true repentance and faith in Jesus as the Messiah, a faith given by God and unmediated by the church. Tradition holds that he announced his findings to the Catholic Church by climbing a flight of steps and nailing his document, “The 95 Theses” to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Now, I don’t know about you, but I absolutely think that takes guts. To disagree with the system you’ve grown up in and expose the falsehood that they’ve been teaching, and then not only preach about the fact that Scripture contains the truth, but then to nail 95 of those truths to the front door of the church itself, that takes guts.

Martin Luther was a true Senior Pastor. He followed Paul’s instructions to the young Senior Pastor Timothy in 1st Timothy 6, where Paul writes, “guard what God has entrusted to you. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge. Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness.” The term Minister or Pastor, simply means Shepherd. It comes from Jeremiah 3:15 where God says to the nation of Israel, “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” A shepherd is someone who leads, feeds, and watches over a flock of sheep. The same is true with a Pastor. He is a leader; he feeds us through the Word of God, and he watch-dogs the church. But this morning, I want us to take a closer look at just what the Senior Pastor is responsible for and bring to light some things that maybe you’ve never realized about ministry, or yourselves. These ideas and principles do not just apply to the Senior Pastor position.

If you are a leader in the church in any fashion, or even a volunteer, you are going to run up against some of these struggles and challenges. So before you tune me out this morning, saying, he’s just going to tell us what Mike does on a weekly basis, think about what I’m saying, because you can apply these things to your lives and your ministries.

A) This morning, I want us to take a look at the First Senior Pastor in the Bible and take our cues on how to lead in a ministry from him. You can flip over to Exodus 4 now and follow along with us. I view Moses as the first Senior Pastor. He led the nation of Israel to freedom, talked with God daily, and led them to the Promised Land. So, one day, before Moses received his calling to be a leader, Moses was up on this mountain and he came across a bush that was on fire, yet would not burn. And God spoke to Moses out of the bush and gave him five principles that every senior pastor needs to live by. In Exodus 4, Moses asks God the following question: Exodus 4:1 – What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say the Lord did not appear to you. You see, Moses had to deal with insecurity

We like to use the phrase, “What if?” – We “what if” God to death. If God puts it in your heart to say it or do it and you don’t you are held accountable to God. As Mike mentioned last week, it’s not Mike’s job to keep me happy. It’s not Mike’s job to keep you happy. It’s not Mike’s job to take an opinion poll every time God speaks to his heart. It’s Mike’s job to listen to the call of God, receive the anointing of God, walk in the power of God, listen to the Spirit of God, preach the word of God, and watch what God can do when a man gets sold out to God.

I say that because I have seen how insecure ministry can make you. Sometimes, when I teach or give a message, and I know that the truth of what I have to say is going to make someone mad, I start to get really nervous and insecure about what I’m doing. But when we allow ourselves to be led by God and we have God make us into what He wants us to be, we allow him to deal with our insecurities.

We have to become comfortable with who God created us to be. When we’re struggling with our insecurities and we’re struggling with the fact that we want to quit everything, we have to remember that Jesus called us to minister to others.

1st Corinthians 1:26 – “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called.” I know where I was when God called me. I worked in a car dealership on my way up through college and I ascended the ranks of the service department, knowing in my heart that it was a temporary job until I graduated and became a music teacher at my old high school. The problem? God didn’t have “High School Music Teacher in his plans for me. He wanted me to follow the call of ministry and when God speaks, we have to listen.

1st Corinthians 1:26-31 “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." We struggle with God’s calling in our lives because we have the audacity to ask God, “Why did you call me?”

You all remember the story of David and Goliath – the whole Israelite army was insecure and said, that’s too big of a problem to deal with and David looked at it and said that’s too big of a problem to miss.

As God’s chosen people, we have to look for the problems that are too big to miss and if that means allowing God to move our giant insecurities out of the way, then that’s what we have to do.

B) Okay, this next one’s kind of a bad pun, but roll with me on this.Moses had to use his staff

Exodus 4:2 – Then the Lord said to him, “What is that you have in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. God gave Moses a staff to use.

I know this will come as a complete shock to some of you, so prepare for it. Are you ready? Here it comes: Mike and I do not always agree on everything. No really, it’s true. When we’re behind closed doors, we sometimes vehemently disagree on the course of action we should take, but when we walk out of that discussion, we become unified in purpose. Together with Melanie, we form the staff of this church. The staff is meant to be used to further God’s kingdom by the Senior Pastor. That’s why God gave him a staff.

Moses did a lot with his staff. He used it to perform miracles in Egypt. He used that staff to cross the Red Sea. He misused that staff one time and Moses did not get to enter the Promised Land.

T.D. Jakes said this once, and I will never forget it. God did not give Moses the staff so the staff could lean on Moses. God gave Moses the staff so that Moses could lean on the staff. So many times we all believe that our Senior Pastor exists so that we can lean on him, but God has positioned and provided us as staff and volunteers so that our senior pastor can lean on us.

Let me tell you that Mike doesn’t misuse his staff. Mike tries to work hard and plan ahead which makes my job a little easier and it makes the overall church better and the excellence level go up a little higher.

Right about now, there are some people here who think this: Why is the Youth and Worship Pastor up there talking about the Senior Pastor? I know what that guy does every week and it’s not much. I do just as much as he does or more every week. His job is not that tough at all. If that’s you this morning, I want you to listen closely to me because I am going to take the gloves off for a second and address you. If that’s how you feel, you need to know that you are a clueless individual and you have no idea what you are talking about.

You’ve never felt the weight that your senior pastor feels. You’ve never felt the pressure that he feels. You’ve never fought the spiritual battles he’s fought. You don’t know what it’s like to wake up at 2:00 in the morning drenched in sweat worried to death and have no idea what’s going on. You’ve don’t know what it’s like to have people show up at your house at 9, 10, 11:00 and think they have a right to come in and hang out with you when you’ve got a family in there that God’s called you to protect as well. You have no idea what it’s like to receive the criticism that he receives and here’s the crazy thing. You can volunteer in the bible studies, you can volunteer on fellowship, or youth, or worship and guess what? Anything you do that people don’t like, guess who feels the weight of that? Guess who gets the phone call? Guess who gets the anonymous letter? It’s the Senior Pastor. Don’t tell me you know what he’s going through.

Our Senior Pastor feels the weight of God’s call on his life every single day and he needs us as a staff and a core group of volunteers to be able to lean on because God has given us to him as a staff for him to take some of the pressure of that weight off of his shoulders.

Most of you love your job because at 5:00 you can go home and cut it off. Our Senior Pastor can never cut his job off.

Mike used this verse two weeks ago and I think it bears repeating because it is so fitting. Hebrews 13:17 says Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

C) Moses had to take a God directed risk

I went to Carbondale, IL for the past two years for our summer Christ in Youth Conference and they have a Natatorium there, which for those of you who do not know, is a building which contains a swimming pool. At this particular Natatorium they have four diving boards of differing height. They have two which are three feet high, another at 8 feet high and a platform which is over sixteen feet tall. When the students and I first arrived and took a tour of the facility, most of us were talking a big game about going off of the platform. It was all macho talk until we arrived the next day and began to ascend the ladder that led up the side of this monstrosity. I, not being able to back down from my words, decided that I was going to have to eat them and so I ascended to the top of the sixteen foot platform.

I moved towards the edge and looked down. I saw tiny little specks swimming about in a pool that suddenly looked like a puddle from where I was standing. My knees buckled and I broke out in a cold sweat, and I could remember thinking, “Okay God, I’ll see you at the bottom,” when from behind me, one of our seniors this year, Andy Riley yells, “would you go already?” I took a deep breath and I stepped off of the ledge.

Some of us need to step off of the ledge. We have to take those God directed risks. Go back to verse three in Exodus chapter four. Exodus 4:3 – The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

Snakes and spiders are evil. I don’t like either of them. Some of you have pet spiders and snakes and you need to repent and give your life to Jesus. So, I understand Moses running from the snake. But here’s what’s so incredible. God told Moses to throw the staff on the ground. Moses throws the staff on the ground. God turns it into a snake. Only God could take a staff and turn it into a snake and when there was an obvious move of God, instead of celebrating it, instead of embracing it, Moses ran from it. We have to be watchful for those things that are happening in our church that are obvious moves of God and not run from it.

Verse 4 – Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” One day in Florida, my brother and I were visiting our grandparents and were swimming in a pool in the middle of summer. All of a sudden, we noticed a shadow on the bottom of the pool. And I heard my brother yell, “It’s a snake!” I had never seen my grandmother, (who’s here this morning), move as fast as she did that day. She elbowed my grandfather off of the ladder and got out of the pool almost before my brother finished the word “snake.” My grandfather climbed out after her and grabbed the skimmer and fished the snake out of the bottom of the pool and crushed it with the heel of his shoe. He wasn’t about to touch it and after we had it analyzed by the local nature preserve, they identified it as a baby water moccasin which is a very venomous snake.

God turns Moses’ staff into a snake and Moses runs like I did that day out of the pool. Moses wanted nothing to do with the snake and God tells him to pick it up by the tail. Now, I’ve watched the nature guys on television. I’ve seen Jeff Corwin and Steve Irwin and I know from those guys that the very last place you want to pick a snake up is by the tail. But here’s what God was telling Moses: I want you to take a risk that if I don’t intervene, you’re going to get bitten. If I don’t intervene, this risk could possibly kill you. Moses, grab the snake by the tail.

As your Senior Pastor, Mike does not lead us where God wants us a church to go by playing it safe. Sometimes he has to grab the snake by the tail. Verse 4b-5 - So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. "This," said the LORD, "is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you." Sometimes, as a Senior Pastor, Mike is called to take God-directed risks.

Risks like hiring a children’s minister. Risks like dumping 2 full buckets of water on his head during a message. Risks like doing a worship service with no music. Mike’s off on vacation today. You know why? Because he knows that this church doesn’t revolve around him. He knows that this church is bigger than one man or one family and because of that, he’s taking a God-directed risk that everything is going to keep running even with him out of the picture for the next week.

God-directed risks; and we need to take them as well in our own lives. What’s God been asking you to pick up lately that you’re running from? Pick it up and see how God intervenes.

Verse 6 - Then the LORD said, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow.

D) Moses knew that the journey would affect him personally

Aaron, Moses’ brother and executive pastor turned his back on Moses as soon as they crossed the Red Sea. There was a point where Miriam and Aaron began to criticize Moses’ wife. Mike’s family sometimes takes a hit because of the things that are going on here at church. As much as he tries to guard it, it still happens. But if Mike were here, he would tell you that his family is more important than his job. Not God, mind you, but his job. And I couldn’t agree with him more.

The church is not effective when the minister is not being ministered to and that is the calling of his family. Their job is to minister to their husband and father. No one else can receive that calling but them. And you know what? I imagine that Mike and, Melanie, and I would all receive some criticism for the way we view this, but let me tell you that God called me to be a husband and a father before he ever called me to be a pastor and therefore, my family comes first.

Ministry will affect our family lives in some way. We both understand that principle. But we will not let our job destroy our families. Moses knew that his family would have to be affected by the long journey, but they stuck by him. They encouraged and supported him and Mike, Melanie, and I are all blessed to have families that support us in huge ways.

E) Moses had to follow God’s leadership

Moses had no clue where God was leading him, he just followed God. Verse 7 - Now put it back into your cloak," he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh. God was telling Moses that where I lead you is going to hurt at times, but if you’ll let me, I’ll heal you and restore you, if you trust me.

God is leading this church to be the church he wants it to be and he has put Mike at the wheel. Our leadership team, our Elders and Deacons, and our Ministry staff have surrounded Mike in love and we are a team that would stand with him, take a beating with him, charge the gates of hell with him, come out on the other side, and God would get the glory for it all. That’s the measure of support that we as a church need to offer Mike and his family.

Let me tell you all that we as a church family are blessed to have a man like Mike at the helm of our church. Mike deals with his insecurity on a weekly basis. Mike leans on his staff for support. Mike believes in taking God-directed risks and he knows that the journey will affect him personally and he will always seek God’s direction for this church. Jesus has called Mike to lead this church and he is. And I thank God that Mike has accepted God’s difficult challenge to cast the vision for this church.

In closing this morning, I want us to go back to 1st Timothy 6:20-21. “Guard what God has entrusted to you. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge. Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness.” Moses understood these principles and he led the nation of Israel by them. Mike understands these principles and he leads our church by them.

“Guard what has been entrusted to you.” Friends, Mike does an awesome job teaching God’s Word to us and he preaches the Word of God as it is. He doesn’t pull punches or sugarcoat scripture just to make it sound better. He preaches the Word of God unaltered. I’ve seen Mike before some messages and he almost gets physically sick because of some of the truths God lays on his heart to bring before this congregation. But every time, he gets up and preaches the Word of God and in doing so, guards what has been entrusted to him. And the next time you see him, let me encourage each and every one of you to lift him and his family up in prayer and encouragement.

So let me ask you. What are you guarding this morning? Are you letting God deal with your insecurities? Are you supporting our Senior Pastor as a committed volunteer, or are you expecting him to support you? Are you taking those God-directed risks in your own life? Are you okay with this journey affecting you personally? Can you commit to following God’s leadership?

I will close by telling all of you this. I have been here at Amelia for over six years now, and in those six years, I’ve never seen our church more clear on vision and purpose than it is right now. It’s because we have a man of God at the helm who has done all that he can to steer our church by the vision that God has entrusted to him for Amelia. You can do one of two things. You can sit back and watch, or you can jump on board the train, ‘cause it’s picking up steam.

Brian Morrissey

Tags: Church 101, church, pastor, leadership, church leadership, insecurities, Moses, risk