The Precepts,Priorities, and Practices of the Pastorate

We wrote last time of the priorities,precepts and practice of the local church. It is necessary then to begin with the pastor. We see in Eph. 4:11 that God gave to the church pastors and teachers. It is God that calls a man into the ministry. Much to the detriment of the cause of Christ and the power of the church we have observed over the years too many men in pulpits that will admit God never called them into the ministry. When I speak of being called I mean that urging, desirous and undeniable speaking to the heart by God. I do not mean an audible voice but the voice of the Holy Spirit. Personally God called me to preach at the age of 17. I had only been saved about a year. One evening in the middle of the night I was awakened by such a burden that I began to weep and knew not why. Being a young Christian I thought you were supposed to talk to the Lord so I began to pray (Oh that we would stay in that condition.) I slipped out of my bed at 4 am and simply asked the Lord as to why I was so burdened and distressed. He did not speak to me audibly but He might as well have as the the Lord instantly gave me the answer. He wanted me to preach and go into the ministry full time. I surrendered that morning to the call of God, walked the aisle the next Sunday and made public God called me to preach. I preached my first sermon the next Sunday and have been preaching ever since. Now if a man is called then I am puzzled at the multiplied hundreds of preachers who just quite! The Bible teaches in Romans 11:29 that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. In other words, God does not change His mind when He calls a man.
A man that is called to pastor of course must meet the qualifications outlined in the Bible. Perhaps many quit because they are not qualified. If so then I respect their character to leave the ministry. However, it is MAN that failed not God. God called and man failed. We have all heard for many years that the pastor is "Momma called and papa sent." Unfortunately that too is sometimes true. Many enter the pastorate without the call of God. He has become a hirling. Much respect and reverence for the man of God has been lost due to men in pulpits that should not be there. It is not my job to determine that in a person's life but 45 years of service and observation makes me know it is true.
We stated that a man that desires the office of pastor desires a good thing. Then certain qualifications are set forth in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1. We have seen men who have become unqualified through no fault of their own. That is of course a tragedy but it does not change the facts given in the Word of God. Again many men stay in the ministry after they are disqualified for a number of reasons - money,comfort, desire of the church,etc.
There are 3 words used to denote the pastor and they are interchangeable. They are bishop, elder and pastor. Each of these terms can denote the different duties of the pastor. Biblicaly he is the overseer, ruler and shepherd. He is given the duty of overseeing the church of God. He also retains the dignity of the office as an elder. As the pastor or shepherd he shows the design of the office.
We must keep in mind that it is God that calls men into the ministry, the church that ordains them and sends them out and the Holy Spirit that places them in the position. We will expound on that and continue with the precepts, priorities and practice of the pastorate. However if we stoped now it is evident that the Lord intended the church to follow, respect and reverence the office the man of God holds.

A Pastor's Duty to Protect

Matthew 7:15 reads, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." Here, Jesus was warning His disciples that they would need to be constantly on alert for false prophets. He describes the false prophets as ravening wolves; but He warns them, that these wolves will at times make themselves appear as sheep. Discernment according to the Word of God is demanded.
We later read in Acts 20:28, "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." Here Paul is warning the elders from the church at Ephesus concerning the same pastoral duty. Notice, the pastor first must "take heed unto yourself". A pastor must be right with God. A pastor must constantly be on his knees, examining his heart in accordance with Scripture, and making absolute sure that what he is teaching is founded in the Word of God. It is then that Paul says a pastor has the duty to watch over the flock as an undershepherd. A church is the Lord's, not a pastors; but the Lord has given to each church an undershepherd to care it. The pastor is to oversee the work, to feed the church, to respect the church in light of its value (His own blood). Paul would go on to write that "grievous wolves" would try to enter in and would not spare the flock. He even warned in verse 30, "also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." Paul here warns that there would even be pastors who would 'rise up' speaking lies and "draw away disciples after them." Be weary of every pastor who has a cultic following, whose followers look to him as a spiritual guru, who lords over God's people. These men are wolves.
Peter spoke of this in his first epistle in chapter 5: "The elders which are among you....feed the flock of God which is among you...neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock." A pastor is to lead, but as an ensample. Their life should be one to pattern after, for it should be one in harmony with the Word of God.
A pastor's duty to protect is taught in Scripture; but it should be pointed out that this duty is limited to "the flock of God which is among you..." and "to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers..."
It seems like some men of God today have taken upon themselves to protect "the flock" that God did not put them over. While I am thankful for men who will stand for truth and point out error; when dealing with the Lord's churches, one must be careful.
God did not make me the overseer of any Baptist church but one-the Cozaddale Baptist Temple. As her pastor, one of my Biblical duties is to warn her of false teachers and error. I seek to do just that. I do not see it as error to use platforms such as this blog to point out anti-christs and false churches; but those of the household of faith, we must respect the fact that the Lord set the members, the powers that be are ordained of God, and the it was the Holy Ghost which made that man the overseer of that church.
The root of the problem is what is being ignored. It is the false teaching of the Universal Church and fundamentalism that has dragged the Lord's churches into this mud slinging. A proper understanding of Scripture would forbid the Lord's churches into joining with the fundamentalist movement. A proper understanding of Scripture would point us to the fact that a pastor's overseeing is for the local church that God has placed him in.
I may not agree with _________ Baptist Church, and I may warn my people of the errors in ___________ Baptist church, but outside my people, where do I have that responsibility? Paul's exposing must be considered in light of the fact that he was God's evangelist sent to establish that church and the Holy Spirit was using Paul to write His Word for our learning in how to handle these matters.
The bottom line is found in a gross misunderstanding of the local church and pride. I say this because when it comes to all the "protecting" of God's people going on with pointing out the errors of other local churches publicly-how much is based upon DOCTRINE?
Seems like all we hear about is dress, music, and standards; but doctrine is never mentioned. Don't get me wrong, the Bible teaches standards and high standards for God's people; but how about doctrine? Why is it that we must point out and "Warn" every other fundamentalist about this church allowing rap music, but we ignore universal church teaching, open tables, close tables, and alien baptism? We can live by "well we don't all see it the same way" philosophy when it comes to these matters, but not if that church sings a Gaither song.
Again, don't get me wrong-I teach to the church the Lord has made me an overseer, holy living and I mentioned to our church yesterday the danger of the Southern Gospel INDUSTRY, but it was to my people and I also believe that doctrine matters too.
Seems somewhat hypocritical to separate over "standards" but not "doctrine"; or maybe, just maybe, we should spend more time doing what God told us to do-"take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers..."
It is a pastor's duty to protect the church the Lord has made him an overseer of; and I just believe that if our efforts and energies were spent on that and not so much trying to "lord over God's heritage," our local churches might be stronger and more pure.

If interested in playing fantasy baseball with some Baptist only for free, there is a league forming

Very early on in the life of Cozaddale Baptist Temple she had a heart for missions. One of the very first missionaries she supported is still on the field and is still supported by the church, Bro. John Bacon and his wife Elisa have been working with the American Indians for forty-four years.  The Lord has blessed Cozaddale with missionaries out of and through the local Church. Bro. Steven Harris, being the first, was born and raised  in the Central Africa Republic. His parents, Ward and Sarah Harris, were missionaries there. In 1979, Bro. Steven Harris returned to the United States to finish high school and lived with one of the families attending Cozaddale Baptist Temple and thus began his relationship with Cozaddale. Bro. Harris met his wife Peggy at the church and they were married in 1984. Bro. Harris was ordained and sent out of Cozaddale as a missionary March 16, 1986. He  and his family are pictured on the right.  The picture shown is of Bro. Harris and his family shortly after that time (his wife Peggy, daughter Sarah and his son Simon).   Bro. Harris and his family left for the field of New Zealand in May of 1989, where they served until their third child, who was born in New Zealand, was diagnosed as having an inoperable brain tumor. Due to Social Health regulations they were required to return to the United States. In April of 1991, their daughter died and that same day they were informed that their visa to New Zealand had been revoked.  After much prayer they were led to Bullhead City, Arizona to plant a local church. On February 5, 1993, they arrived in Bullhead City and immediately began knocking doors from the Colorado River and the California border and working north. The plan was to hold services in the home but no visitors ever came to their home so they moved to a store front building. On May 2, 1993, the first service at the store front (pictured on the left) was held. After ten years of labor it was time for the mission work to become a church. On the first Sunday, May 4, 2003, Pastor Wayne Burke, Bro. Larry and Ruth Wilson were present for the organization of the church. Bro. Wayne Burke preached  and Bro. Larry Wilson signed the charter as a witness. There were forty people who signed the charter membership of the Mohave Baptist Church and was now an autonomous church. Bro.Harris did not feel led to stay as pastor. On November 23, 2003, the pastorate was passed on to Bro. Johnson. Bro. Harris and his family returned to Cozaddale Baptist Temple November  29th, where they served  out of until going to the field of Mexico on March 3, 2005. They presently serve  in the city of Magdalena in the state of Sonora, Mexico.

On July the 8, 2001, the Lord blessed Cozaddale Baptist with another missionary family.  Bro. Colin Christensen, his wife Sandi, and their daughter, Candice, united with  Cozaddale Baptist Temple. Bro. Christensen and his family have faithfully served on three foreign mission fields. They had served in Mexico (1970 until 1974) , the Philippines (1978 until 1988) and Hungary (1993-2007). They were planting a church in Tata, Hungary when circumstances dictated a need to leave for their own safety. With the counsel of their Pastor, Bro. Travis Burke, they returned to their church and awaited God's direction. An opportunity arose for Bro. Christensen to serve in a ministry he had a great burden for and had been trained for. He began assisting in the translating of the Word of God into languages that had no pure text. (He had received training from and served as an instructor with Baptist Bible Translators Institute  between his ministry in Mexico and the Philippines.)  It was through this ministry he was able to see a dream become a reality.  He had begun a translation into the Cabuano language before he left the Philippines. The last ministry Bro. Colin was in was Bearing Precious Seed Global.  As part of the ministry he and Bro. Steve Zeinner took a trip back to the Philippines. Bro. Colin was received by the local churches with an enthusiastic welcome and was able to see the New Testament he had began translating many years ago completed by the nationals and in the hands of the Filipino but  more importantly to Bro. Collin was to see the blessing of God upon it. Shortly after this visit he was diagnosed with cancer and he passed away on Saturday, September 3, 2011.

On November 10, 1996, Bro. Bob Hottle and his family joined Cozaddale Baptist Temple. Bro. Hottle had a strong desire to serve the Lord and quickly became involved in the ministries of the church. Bro. Hottle continued to grow in the desire to serve through the local church. Pastor Travis Burke has a desire to begin to plant churches not only through our full time missionaries but also through the hands on ministry of the local church. The Lord led to a small town in  Highland County, Ohio called Lynchburg. An old Methodist  church that was no longer being used was located and secured. The Lord worked mightily not only in being able to secure the property but also in the growth of the church. The members from the Cozaddale Baptist Church were able to go sit in the services and to assist in any needed areas. The mission was now ready to become its own church. On January 20, 2008, at 2:30 in the afternoon Cozaddale Baptist met with the mission in an organizational service. Bro. Hottle opened in prayer, the congregation singing was led by Michael Hottle, then Bro. Hottle recognized local pastors and turned the service over to Bro. Travis Burke. Bro Burke recommended to the Cozaddale Baptist Temple  forming Anchor Baptist Church. The vote was  unanimous. 

With six years now past the Anchor Baptist Church has continued to grow not only in number but more importantly in spiritual maturity. Bro. Burke and Cozaddale have now  placed their  eyes upon a new area for another church plant. Here again the members will be involved not only in the praying and monetary support of the work but once again in a hands on experience. The new mission is to be called Hope Baptist mission and is located about forty-five minutes from the church. The street address 5914 Vine Street, Elmwood Place, Ohio. The storefront is pictured to the left side of page. (As you can tell by the picture Elmwood has become a very run down area. The businesses have all moved away. Elmwood is a place desperately in need of the gospel.) The entrance is on the side of a day care building. The first service will be held on April 1, at 2:30 in the afternoon. Bro. Wayne Burke, evangelist out of Cozaddale Baptist will be preaching and the church will be taking a group of members down to participate. The verse that came to Pastor Burke's mind as he and some other men walked through Elmwood seeking God's direction was Romans 15:4 "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scripture may have hope." 

Cozaddale Baptist Temple was again blessed on October 31, 2010, when Pastor Wayne Burke and his wife, Rhonda, returned to minister to and out of the church.  Bro. Wayne Burke had served as senior pastor of Cozaddale for ten years before moving to Arkansas City, Kansas to help a struggling church. While there the Lord blessed his ministry and the church grew in every area of ministry. Because of health reasons he resigned the church in Kansas and returned to Cozaddale Baptist Temple. Since his return Bro. Wayne Burke has served by teaching the adult Sunday school class, teaching institute, teaching Bible in the Christian school, always being an encouragement to the church, preaching revivals for other churches and filling pulpits as area pastors need to be away. Bro. Burke returned to Cozaddale with many fond memories of pastoring  at Cozaddale, one of them was for 10 years of freedom to preach the whole counsel of God without reprisal and great response. The Lord blessed his years of pastoring here and is once again blessing his years here as staff evangelist.

The Precepts,Priorities, and Practices of the Pastorate

After 45 years in the ministry, serving as pastor as well as school principal, associate, music and youth, some things become quite obvious. Also after traveling extensively and preaching in hundreds of churches you learn many things concerning the ministry; some good and some not so good. The Lord laid it on my heart some time ago to try to write about the pastorate and the ministry in an attempt to be a blessing and help to someone.
There are many truths about serving the Lord but one thing is quite clear. We serve the Lord through the local church. Eph. 3:21 says, "To Him be glory in the church." When the apostle Paul wrote the epistles he wrote to the local church and pastors. Eph. 1:1 Paul addressed the saints which were at Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus. In Col. 1:2 again he wrote to the faithful brethren which were at Colosse. Take note of the word faithful. As way of introduction permit me to say that a prerequisite for serving in the is faithfulness. We accept the fact that the Lord is faithful and that many addressed and mentioned in the Bible were faithful but somehow have come to the conclusion that faithfulness applies to everyone except ourselves. I am sure that all reading this know of those who at one time were faithful and served the Lord but for some reason or another, be it discouragement, distress or the "grass is greener on the other side of the fence" syndrome they have moved on and many, truly most, find themselves out of church , away from the Lord and in a place they never thought they would wind up.
In the weeks ahead we will adress the precepts (what exactly does the Bible teach about the church and ministry), the priorities (what is expected of not only the passtor but each child of God), and the practices (how we ought to behave ourselves in the church of God. I Tim. 3:15.)Will some disagree? Of course. Will some explain it away by saying that is my opinion?Surely. However, if we truly understand the ministry there would not be so many forgetting what the church and Lord has done for them and jumping churches like a frog on a lily pad nor so many men, called of God, out of the ministry, ignoring that the calling is without repentance. Rom.. 11:29. May the Lord bless as we study together. This will each period be coninued as we exhaust the church, pastorate and faithful servant.

The Calling of the Pastor

In studying the pastor, a good place to begin is the calling of the pastor. I believe we see this calling as the first qualification to be a pastor as found in 1 Timothy 3:1:

This is a true saying, If a mandesire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

I believe that "desire" spoken of is from God. It is that desire, burden, holy urge, or calling that the potential pastor first receives from the Lord.
I believe that every born again believer has a Biblical calling to be a "minister" as spoken of in 1 Peter 4:10:

As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

I believe Paul put it this way in 1 Thessalonians 2:4:

But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak...

Each believer is to be baptized, join with a local church, learn the Word of God and share it with some one else (Mark 16:15; Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 2:41). This "calling" is for every believer.
The calling of the pastor is perhaps more Biblically expressed by the term "work of the ministry" as found in Ephesians 4:11-12:

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifiying of the body of Christ:

In 2 Timothy 4:5 we read of the "work of the evangelist." This calling is a unique call God places upon a man and provides the gifts to in order to fulfill this ministry.
We read how Jesus in Mark 3:13 "calls whom He would." Paul is described by God in Acts 9:15 as "a chosen vessel unto me."
God calls the individual. God does not 'mass produce preachers.' God will burden the heart of the man for the work of the ministry or the work of an evangelist. That burden will impress upon the man the absolute necessity of the work of the ministry. This is why Isaiah referred to his messages as "burdens" (see Is. 13:1; 17:1; etc). Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 9:16 "...for necessity is laid upon me; yeah, woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel!"
But God does not just place this calling upon anyone. God places this call upon those who already have a walk and fellowship with Him and who aer busy already serving and being faithful in whatever capacity has been laid before them. We see this in that:
1. Barnabus and Saul were busy ministering in their local church when they were set apart for the work (Acts 13:2)
2. Moses tended the flock before he was called (Ex. 3:1-2)
3. Gideon Threshed wheat (Jud. 6:1)
4. Elisha was plowing the field (1 Kings 19:19)
5. Peter was fishing, Matthew collecting taxes.....
Point is, each was faithful and hard working at what was set before them before God placed this calling upon them. God doesn't use the lazy, but looks for the faithful, even in the little things (Prov. 20:6; Luke 16:10).
As with Jeremiah, this calling will burn within the man and is unquenchable (Jer. 20:9).
In the Bible, there is no such thing as two 'classes' within the local church. There is not 'clergy and laity,' but the calling to preach is truly a high calling (Phil. 3:14). The calling is worthy of honour (1 Tim. 5:17), but woe to the pastor who thinks he is above any other in the church. A pastor is to lead, but by the example of Christ-a servant leader.
May every man who is given this calling to the work of the ministry, surrender to it and be found profitable in the ministry (2 Tim. 4:11). Truly, the harvest is great, but the labourers are few (Matt. 9:37).

We, the Cozaddale Baptist Temple, are thankful for the pastors that God has blessed us with. The first pastor of our church was Bro. Charles Girvin.  Bro. Girvin was a faithful member of Loveland Park Baptist Church in Loveland, Ohio. Bro. Girvin and his family  were closely associated with the pastor of  Loveland Park and had been one of the first families in the church.  Bro. Girvin had seen first hand the labor involved in planting a church, yet when God placed within his heart a burden and a call  to plant a church closer to his home, an area where a church was needed, he surrendered to that call.  Bro. Girvin and his family lived for a time across the street from the Cozaddale Mission. We are uncertain about the length of time the mission met before they became a church but we are thankful to Bro. Girvin, his family and several other families for their work because their vision became a reality on December 3rd, 1967. Pastor Girvin served the church faithfully for about a year as pastor, from December of 1967, to the late fall of 1968.  We are thankful to Bro. Girvin for his willingness to allow God to use him to plant the Cozaddale Baptist Temple.

Our first building where the mission met was in the heart of Cozaddale. At one time it had been a feed store. After the feed store had closed down, another store moved in the upstairs of the building and left the lower level open. It was in this lower level where the mission began to meet. Bro. Bob Spencer on our 20th anniversary is recorded on video as recalling a conversation between him and the store owner.  The store owner asked him "Do you think your church will make it?" to which he replied "if the Lord is in it, it will." As you can see in the picture on the right, shortly after that the store closed down the church moved from the lower level to the upstairs and hung a church sign on the front of the building. The men of the church refurbished the upstairs into a church auditorium.  In late fall of 1968, Bro. Girvin felt led of the Lord to step down as pastor of the church.

In the fall of 1968, the church extended to Bro. Bill Webb the call to be her next pastor. As you can see in the picture to the left with Bro. Webb sitting in the front row, the church continued to grow and was soon full.  One of the charter members, Bro. Bob Spencer, felt led to give the church land to where they could build their own building (pictured on the right) and have room for continued growth. The church accepted the land and built a new auditorium and basement.  The Lord did continue to bless with Godly men and families to build a strong foundation for great things to come. The church continued to expand not only in the size of the congregation but in the ministries the church developed. The church soon had an active bus ministry, growing youth department, vacation Bible schools, and active outreach with tent revivals, street preaching, radio program and a strong desire to win others to Christ. Bro. Webb served the Lord as pastor from 1968 until 1975. 

In 1975, the church extended the call to Bro. Ted Woody to be their pastor. Bro. Woody and his family continued to serve until 1989. Under his ministry the Lord continued to bless and the need for an associate pastor arose in 1980. Bro. Roy Keiter became the first full time associate pastor for the church. Bro. Keiter served the church until 1989. Once again a need arose for a larger building for God's people to meet. Bro. Spencer's vision continued to become a reality. The acreage given to the church several years back was sufficient to hold both buildings and allow for continued growth. The men of the church all banded together and one year later the auditorium was completed.  The Lord continued to bless and the ministry continued to grow.

Bro. Rick Williams was called to be the fourth pastor of the church. Bro. Williams and his family had a strong desire to serve the Lord. Bro. Williams had previously served as pastor in Scottsville Ky. Bro. Williams brought with him a love for the children’s ministry and to teach people “Christ in you, the Hope of Glory.” While on a mission trip to the Philippines along with Bro. Larry Wilson, Bro. Williams' heart was greatly burdened for missions and missionaries.  Bro Williams resigned the church in 1994. Bro. Wayne Burke was called to pastor following Bro. Williams.

Bro. Wayne Burke pastored the church from 1994 until 2004. Under Bro. Burke's leadership the church grew in number and desire to become a place where their children could recive a Christian education. Cozaddale Baptist Academy began and a need for a third building arose (pictured on the right.) Bro. Spencer's vision continued to become a reality. The acreage given to the church several years back was sufficient to hold all three buildings and allow for continued growth.
          

Today, under Pastor Travis Burke, who has pastored since 2004, the church continues seeing the blessing of God upon them. The church is going forward in the many areas of   ministry. The love of missions and missionaries continues, churches are being planted according to the Biblical model, saints are being matured through discipleship, Timothy Baptist College, and strong expository preaching. Busses are still running, families are being strengthened and our community is being reached. Pastor Travis Burke has a strong desire to see the church continue to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." We are grateful for our pastors, past and present, Bro. Charles Girvin, Bro. Bill Webb, Bro. Ted Woody, Bro. Rick Williams, Bro. Wayne Burke and Bro. Travis Burke. I Timothy 5:17 "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine."