Thank you Oak Crest for your participation in our latest round of elder nominations.  As we have said on numerous occasions, the healthiest church is one that is Christ-Ruled, Elder-Led, Deacon-Served, Committee-Operated, and Congregationally-Affirmed.  We are now in the process of examining those nominations.  Over the next week and a half we will have further conversations with the top nominees to confirm both their interest and their qualifications.  We will publically announce the nominees at the second quarter members’ meeting on July 3rd.  Thank you again for your patient prayer and support of this important task.
          This is a good opportunity to remind ourselves of the role and purpose of the elder.  An elder is a pastor or an overseer.  The Bible uses these terms interchangeably.  He is one who teaches and preaches the Word of God.  He is a biblical gatekeeper for the church.  He equips the saints for the work of ministry.  He is not a dictator, he is a servant-leader that instills a love for the Word of God in the hearts of the people he has been entrusted to serve.  As I have stated on several occasions, the elder does not have an inherent authority, rather he has a derived authority on the basis of his faithfulness to teach the Scripture.  What this means is that his leadership is in the teaching of the truths of Scripture, not in the administrative minutia of the church.  That responsibility lies, to some extent because of his administrative responsibilities, with the senior pastor as a first among equals among the elders, but to a greater degree with the committees of lay people who exercise their giftedness to operate the church.
          According to Scripture, the final authority lies with the congregation itself.  We are Congregationalists.  This is a different model than we see in Presbyterianism.  I am convinced that the biblical role of the congregation is extremely important.  The congregation affirms elders and deacons.  The congregation affirms direction and budget.  The congregation is the final point of church discipline.  All of this is the case because we are all, each and every believer, indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  Therefore we strive for unity in the Spirit, in the bond of peace.  For more information on this topic, I would refer you to “A Display of God’s Glory: Basics of Church Structure” as a good introductory primer on the subject.  May God continue to bless Oak Crest as we strive to follow the biblical model of church polity and governance to God’s glory.
 
In Christ,
Blain Craig

Oak Crest, I thank you for your overflowing and gracious generosity.  At the beginning of April I challenged us to pay down our existing debt by July 20, 2018.  I have not really said anything about this since that time, yet you have responded beautifully.  Since the writing of the article, you have given $6,948  above the normal budgeted amount.  At the end of March we owed $210,317.51. Our current balance is $194,642.61.  That is tremendous progress in just a couple of months.  So our continued goal is about $4,500 a month additional to the budgeted amount to meet our time target.  Thank you for your faithfulness.
          I also want to remind you of the ultimate purpose of this challenge.  Our being debt free in two years in not an end unto itself.  Oak Crest being debt free is only a means to a greater end.  It is for the purpose of more God glorifying ministry and mission effort.  It is for the purpose of the Great Commission.  I met with a gentleman yesterday who presented his plan for he and his wife to minister to Muslims in the Middle East.  His plan was solid.  I wanted to be able to offer him more than prayer support, but I could not because our budget does not allow for it.  Of course, we continue to support efforts to reach the Lasa.  Recently, you heard the Traffanstedt’s plan to move to and minister in London.  You also probably know of a couple of other noble mission efforts.  Certainly we could never provide financial support to all of these, but consider what we could do with $46,000 a year freed up for nothing other than gospel ministry.  That is how much of our budget goes to debt retirement.
          Our goal is to be debt free with as few fixed expenses as possible to free the most money possible for the most important work of sharing the gospel and discipling our people.  Whether it is local ministry here in Midlothian or reaching Muslims around the world, we want to be stewards to God’s resources that he has called us to be.
 
In Christ,
Blain Craig