This fall, the elders will set aside an evening to take questions from Heritage members. We’ll call this our annual, “Elders Q&A.” We may host smaller and more focused Q&A sessions here and there as needed, but this will be an opportunity we return to each year.
Here’s what we’re aiming at: to promote openness, mutual affection, and add clarity and energy to our shared life and mission. This will also be an opportunity to share a bit about how our eldership works and what our elder team is working on.
Our first Elders Q&A will take place at our Family Meeting on November 24, at 4:30 pm. We’ll plan for an hour and fifteen minutes with dinner to follow.
If you have a question—think doctrine, church life, plans for our shared mission, etc.—we hope you will submit it in the next few weeks, before November 3. Here are six ways to ask your questions:
Text. Super convenient. Text your question to 864.735.7465.
Email. Email your question to elders@heritagebiblechurch.org.
Write. Grab a Connection Card on Sunday, scratch out your question, and drop that in an offering plate or offering box.
Tell. Communicate your question for the Q&A to an elder in person or through email. They’ll ask you to write it down at some point, but you’re welcome to start with a conversation.
Show Up. Show up with your question on November 24th. The elders will take some questions from a mic during the evening.
Of course, it would be helpful to receive your questions early. This helps us notice recurring themes, know how to devote time to particular questions, and order our time in a way that best serves the congregation.
A disclaimer: we won’t be able to answer every question that gets asked. However, if you put your name on a question and we did not answer it at the Q&A, we will reach out to answer that question for you in person or by email. In some cases, we may devote a blog-post to the topic.
Before the Q&A, get acquainted with Heritage’s elders at the About Page. See you in November.
A few weeks back we introduced you to Chris Gerber in Part 1 of this two-part post. Chris has worked through about five books, written as many short book reviews, and has led out for Evening Prayer once. Greet him when you see him around the church.
Let’s pick up where we left off.
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What’s your favorite book of the Bible and why?
I don’t know that I can say I have a favorite book. I have always enjoyed the historical books of the Old Testament. I like history and the fact that in God’s revelation we have the lives and history of the people of God before us recorded in riveting stories; that is something I have always enjoyed. It is a reminder that we are part of a grand story ourselves as followers of God.
What book has had the most impact on your life, besides the Bible?
This is a hard one to answer. I have read some wonderful books in the past decade. I think The Story of Christianity, by Justo Gonzalez had a profound impact on my thinking. Church history gave me a broader perspective on what God has done in the life of the church. As Gonzalez writes, “without understanding that past we are unable to understand ourselves.” This book helped me evaluate many things about the church by understanding its history and helped me evaluate my own preconceptions about what the church is and should be.
Tell us about the most influential sermon you’ve heard?
This is a hard one as well. It wasn’t so much a sermon as it was a talk to the ministerial class at Bob Jones University by missionary J.D. Crowley. I think it was a talk that grabbed my attention as it showed me how many ministerial students will disqualify themselves for the ministry. I think it gave me a right fear of God and that talk has continued to remind of the need for perseverance in ministry and to rely on the grace of God for it all.
How do you like to spend your down time? Any hobbies?
My down time these days is mostly spent with my wife and daughter. Although, I’ve always enjoyed visiting historical places. Those are mostly of Civil War battlefields as that was a large interest of mine for most of my life so far.
Okay, now a few left fielders: What is the dumbest thing you did as a kid?
The one thing that always comes to mind is the time when I was probably around 12 years old. My sister and I were looking for something to do in the house and I asked if she would let me on her shoulders. I hadn’t quite hit my growth spurt, so I was smaller than her at the time. She obliged and I got on her shoulders by stepping on a bench seat in front of large, vertical window panes near the entrance to the house. Needless to say she couldn’t support me well and I landed read end first into the window! It didn’t completely break but there was a nice posterior shaped imprint in the fractured glass. We decided to hide from my parents as they were not home at the time. We thought we would get the spanking of a lifetime. Fortunately for us, they couldn’t help but laugh at the situation.
Any odd talents that we should know about up front?
I think it is often said about me that I have an uncanny ability to remember the most useless information.
What’s your favorite animal, and why?
It’s gotta be a pig. Those barbecue ribs from Texas Roadhouse are awesome!
How can we pray for you this summer?
Pray that I grow in my knowledge of God. Pray that I learn much about what it is to serve the church. Pray that I become a better leader, husband and father for my family.
Where do the church’s teachers and preachers come from? They come from Paul’s words to Timothy, “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2Tim. 2:2). In that simple command, Paul summed up the strategy for the propagation of the gospel from Ephesus to Greenville.
With this in mind, meet Chris Gerber, our summer intern. This isn’t a paid or terribly high-profile internship. But it is a deep internship. Chris will be learning from books, and teams, and leading in a few key ways in the Word and in prayer. You can read about the shape of the internship here.
Our purpose in this internship is to see churches led by pastors who faithfully connect the Bible’s theology of the church to the church’s worship, life, and mission. In other words, to see churches flourish in the gospel and gospel work. Pray that Chris would be that kind of shepherd for a church in the years ahead.
You need to get to know Chris, so here’s Part 1 of a two-part interview.
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You’re not from Greenville originally. What places have you lived and how did you get to Greenville?
I’m from Lancaster, PA. I was born in Hershey but spent most of my life in Lancaster. I went to Greenville for college at Bob Jones University in 2004 and have been here ever since.
You’ve been at Heritage for how many years now? Why did you stay at Heritage after visiting, and what has God done in you during that time?
I believe at the end of this summer we will have been at Heritage for 8 years. I remember this well because two weeks at the most into visiting, our apartment complex caught fire and we needed to move out immediately. We were able to save most of our belongings because we only had smoke and water damage. Thankfully the fire did not reach our unit. Our new friends at Heritage stepped up to help us. We had folks give us money that we had never met before. We had people help us move. Needless to say we were impacted by the love we felt from Heritage. God’s love for us was on full display. We kept coming back because we knew that much was made of Jesus at this place. I think a lot of what God has done for me has revolved around growing through the faithful preaching and then applying that knowledge in Shepherding Groups.
Let’s back up and learn about your conversion. How did God save you?
I am not actually sure when I was converted. It could have been as a child when I prayed for forgiveness from my sins. However, I believe most likely I was saved as a teenager. At a prophecy conference my church was having, I remember being struck by the fact that I did not know if I was ready to meet God. Previous to the conference, I struggled with assurance of my salvation. It seems that I did not fully know the grace of God. I was trying to add my own works, to get myself worthy enough to be saved by God. That night I sought counsel from my pastor. He showed me that I could add nothing to what had been done for me. There I bowed in submission to the Lordship of Jesus and accepted his grace by faith.
You desire to serve vocationally as a pastor. How did God grow that desire in you?
The pastor that led me to the Lord took an interest in me and we began to meet together. I was discipled by him and he began to show me how to study the Bible. It was here that an interest in the pastoral ministry began to grow in me.
You’re pursuing a degree. What degree and why?
I am about to finish a Master of Divinity. It seemed like a good degree to achieve for pastoral ministry. While I have much still to learn, I believe this has been a good foundation for learning how to study the Bible and rightly handle the Word of God.
Tell us about Jen! How does she complement and strengthen you as a husband?
Jen is the best! We just celebrated our 10th anniversary this week. Everywhere I am weak she is so helpful in shoring up that weakness. She has been most helpful in the raising of our daughter Julia. I remember having extreme anxiety about the future with a new baby, and Jen did a stellar job keeping life going for us when I was struggling emotionally. She is super talented. I love seeing her lead us in congregational singing through her skill with the violin on Sunday mornings.
So, you’re an intern for the Summer. What does that even mean?
I will be learning and leading: I’ll be learning by reading and writing on about a dozen books, chosen for how they connect our theology to ministry practice. These books will also help me understand some of the thinking behind our own ministry here at Heritage. I will also be learning about pastoral ministry by observing staff meetings, elder meetings, and shadowing on Sunday morning. In terms of leading, I will be leading through various public opportunities such as evening prayer and electives during the summer.
On Sunday evening our family concluded our tour of all thirty-one Shepherding Groups. It took two years. We’re human beings and church members first, so we’re eager for the regular grind and grace of one group. But we’re glad we did this.
Let me tell you what we saw.
1. We saw you open your homes.
Here is a hallmark of the Christian church: hospitality. Let me put some numbers to this. We have about 30 Shepherding Groups. Each group meets twice a month for about two hours. That’s sixty hours of in-home hospitality on the calendar every month. You can probably make that ninety hours if you consider the lingering conversation and eating that goes on at times well into the evening. Some of your houses are large and spacious. Some of your houses are smaller and more quaint. Some of you start on time (sorry for being three minutes late!). Some of you are more chill and trickled in (we wondered if we were at the right house). Some of you had chips and queso, and others fancy looking hors d’oeuvres. Jesus ate a lot of food in people’s houses, and so did the early church. Thank you and keep it up.
2. We watched you care for the least of these.
There’s an interesting connection between hospitality and how we take care of one another. Paul writes in Romans 12:13, “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” These are different things but they are related. Jesus instructs us, “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matt. 25:40). He speaks here concerning the least among his disciples. By meeting in homes, you have learned about one another’s needs and you have met them. You counseled a brother who was out of work. You helped a sister with transportation. You spent time with a lonely widow. I could go on, but get this: as our Shepherding Group ministry has matured, we have found that our church’s benevolence needs are being taken care of within the groups themselves. I have seen it: you take care of one another. Know that you’re doing it not just for but to Christ.
3. We observed leaders listening, loving, and leading.
Here’s what elders are called to do: “shepherd the flock of God that is among you” (1Pet. 5:2). Shepherding requires proximity. I could not be more pleased to find our elders, deacons, and Shepherding Group leaders partnering for your spiritual oversight and care. It is a sacrificial thing for our elders to rotate between groups, growing in their knowledge of and love for you up close. I have not witnessed heavy hands, or arrogance that wants to be the center of attention. Quite the opposite, and true to the leaders I’ve come to know and love, I have witnessed tenderness and affection, Scriptural instruction and protection. This is Jesus loving you. This is Jesus loving his church.
4. We witnessed God knit your hearts together in love.
I don’t like knitting, but I love Paul’s words to the Colossian church: “I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you . . . that [your] hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love” (Col. 2:1–2). What’s the point? Relationships merely? No, but in order that we might “reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:2–3). The Colossian church had its different characters, Jews and Greeks, “barbarian, Synthian, slave, free,” yet together they could say, “Christ is all” (3:11)! Knit together, they experienced the one treasure that is Christ. So too our old and young, our single and married, our students and our educators, our employed and unemployed, our white collar and blue are brothers and sisters before anything else.
“It has taken time.” We heard that numerous times. “I love these people. This group really loves one another, but it has taken time. We never would have hung out together.” We know there are meetings where not everyone is there. Some meetings are boring, some are awkward, and some are tense. The burdens of others are burdensome. Grind isn’t a bad thing for Shepherding Groups. It’s part of what they’re for and we should say so. But let us say that there is grace for this grind, and there is grace in the grind.
Keep showing up. Keep putting in the time. Keep saying together, “Christ is all!”
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If you’re not in a Shepherding Group, now is a great time to get connected. Learn more and get involved at the Shepherding Group page.
If our trek through Genesis is teaching us anything it must be this: there is no salvation in man, only in the Lord. The title of this past Sunday’s sermon, “The Lord Remembered Noah,” captures the heart of Genesis 6–9, and the anchor of our hope.
To encourage you during the week and to help us all sing better on Sundays, from time to time I’ll highlight a song here on the blog.
With this theme of the Lord’s salvation in mind, we’ve been singing a new song over the past few weeks, “The Lord is My Salvation”
Lyrics
1. The grace of God has reached for me,
And pulled me from the raging sea.
And I am safe on this solid ground:
The Lord is my salvation.
2. I will not fear when darkness falls,
His strength will help me scale these walls.
I’ll see the dawn of the rising sun:
The Lord is my salvation.
Chorus Who is like the Lord our God?
Strong to save, faithful in love.
My debt is paid and the vict’ry won;
The Lord is my salvation.
3. My hope is hidden in the Lord,
He flow’rs each promise of His Word.
When winter fades I know spring will come:
The Lord is my salvation.
4. In times of waiting, times of need,
When I know loss, when I am weak.
I know His grace will renew these days:
The Lord is my salvation.
5. And when I reach my final day,
He will not leave me in the grave.
But I will rise, He will call me home:
The Lord is my salvation.
Gloria
Glory be to God the Father,
Glory be to God, the Son,
Glory be to God, the Spirit;
The Lord is our salvation.
The Lord is our salvation.
