Choosing the Elders; the Process

When I saw this article, it brought back a lot of memories. I have written about this selection process in an earlier post. I was basically correct, but I was a little foggy on some of the details. I also must confess that I thought that this selection had occurred much earlier, before OLT began to publish. I really thought that the selection took place in early 1973, possibly even late 1972. Of course, when I think about my life events, the date of March, 1974 makes more sense.

You could look at this process and say that it really is an election. I wouldn't argue with that. Of course, the elders were elected. But, the people were very serious about this process. There really was prayer and fasting. Most people didn't just "vote" for favorites. They tried to discern the will of God. Did they succeed? That depends upon your point of view. We had some elders fall by the wayside. There were probably some who should have been elders but weren't selected. In my opinion though, the congregation did pretty well.

I don't know whether I have mentioned this before but it always amazes me that I was selected. I wanted to be an elder. I felt that God had called me, but I felt that I was very inferior to those others -- particularly those who became senior elders. Years later, after I became pastor. I was seated at Ken's old desk (no mine) and began to look through the drawers. I found the old tally sheet for this selection. I found out that most of the people felt pretty much the same way about me that I felt about myself. I was selected -- but just barely. When the selectees were listed in order of score -- I was the bottom one selected. I don't disagree with the score. Yet, I find it ironic, that I was the one who ended up as pastor of the church. For those who may not know, I was pastor for 25 years. It pretty much started here.