Spiritual Authority

Dear Worshippers,

I am at District Conference this week in Dover, Ohio. It is an annual gathering of the pastors, other official workers, and numerous lay representatives from the Central District of the C&MA, comprised of nearly 90 churches in eastern Ohio and the entire state of West Virginia. We conduct business for the District as well as enjoying several times of corporate worship and prayer and hearing from God’s Word. It is a very enriching time and I thank the church for sending me and the other staff members to represent you.

Probably the most significant act of business next week will be to elect a new District Superintendent, who serves essentially as the pastor of the pastors in our district while providing numerous other avenues of leadership. Our current D.S. Gordon Meier has served for 9 or 10 years and I believe has been in the District Office for around 18 years. Our District has been richly blessed by His Christ-like, faithful service. We truly thank God for this man, and his lovely wife and helpmate, Barb.

This time of transition is a crucial one in the history of our district and the advance of the Kingdom through the Alliance in this region. We have benefited from Gordon’s leadership and long for the next anointed leader to exercise his role of spiritual authority with similar excellence and humility. We as a local church will be blessed through this new leader. You will be blessed. To that end I want to entreat your prayers.

We have had a nominating committee working on this for months. They will bring a recommendation to us. Pray for the delegates of conference that like them, we will hear of the voice of the Lord and confirm the selection by election of our new D.S. or to otherwise discover together the will of the Lord.

When I was reflecting on this process last week, the faith of the centurion in his encounter with Jesus came to mind. He understood chains of command and the blessings of following them. He affirmed Jesus authority over sickness and the life of his servant at the very least. You will remember the account:

The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 8:8-12

In the days ahead, and stretching on for years, may we know the blessing of serving under one who has such a clear understanding of the authority of our Christ. Pray with our staff as we go to participate in the process of his selection. And pray for our families back home and our safe return on Thursday. Thank you.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott