On November 10, we hosted our sixth annual Elders Q&A. Thank you for your thoughtful questions. Our church is marked by Christ’s love, gratitude to our God, and a relationship of trust between our congregaton and our elders. You are a joy to lead even on the hard days. That’s owing in part to your faithful submission to your elders as we lead you in the Word (Heb. 13:17).
On this memorable evening we engaged questions from the the challanges of a large eldership, what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and whether we have a nursing mother’s room on Sunday. For more on our aims and process leading up to this event, read our invitation post.
Here’s a list of the questions we asked with the timestamps for the audio. We encourage you to listen to the entire Q&A for context and the spirit of the evening.
Our church has a very large elder team. That seems good. But also, could create challenges. What some challenges and opportunities to a large elder team? (16:13)
Chad, Give us a little insight into the elder team you were a part of. It was a smaller elder team, so compare and contrast for us. (21:32)
We used to have a different process for hiring pastoral staff that involved a congregational vote. For instance Abe Stratton went through a rigorous process culminating in a vote. Several hires in the years since then have not had that same process. Can you please explain the reason for this significant change? (25:11)
Questions on the Holy Spirit (33:00)
What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? When was a time you felt full of the Holy Spirit? Does it feel different than the normal Christian day to day walk with Christ? (33:05)
What do we make of the lack of attention, at times, in the New Testament to the Holy Spirit? (42:18)
Questions on Life Together in Membership (44:33)
How should our church think about meeting physical needs for those both in and outside of our congregation, especially in sister congregations? What is the framework you use for deciding when to make needs known? I was eager to hear more communication (in pulpit or from elders generally) about this [in the aftermath of the hurricane], especially since the felt needs were/are overwhelming. Why didn’t we hear more? (45:20)
I have been to churches that have “mother’s” rooms. It is a sound-proofed room with windows open to the auditorium so they can see the speaker and it has speakers so they can hear the sermon. Can we do something like that here at Heritage? I hear a question under that such as when should the kid be in the worship service and how is that going? (45:20)
Questions on Turning Fifty (55:10)
In this brief segment we shared plans for celebrating our anniversary and updating our auditorium. As we’ve begun to talk about year 50 we recognized that this merges nicely with some plans we have four our future focused on our auditorium. A master planning process for the whole site conducted in the last year and a half. Our auditorium has served us well. But it’s time to reinvest in that space. Our church was planted in 1976. On March 3, of 2026, our 50th anniversary, we plan to move our worship service into this Fellowship Hall to begin work on our auditorium. Join us at the January 26 Family Meeting to learn more about this season of celebration and investment which we’ll call, “The Next 50.” More to come!
Open Mic (1:02:51)
Is there an elder to church member ratio that you follow? How do you determine how many elders you need? (1:03:39)
Do the elders review the message from a preacher who comes from outside the church or within the congregation or is there more of an honor system and trust that the elders know this individual so we can trust that their message is a faithful message of the Word? (1:05:21)
Did you say that we’re currently looking to fill a staff position? (1:08:50)
We used to have a pastor of counseling and a counseling team that from my understanding formally cared for some of the counseling needs of the congregation. We don’t have that anymore. Are there plans to have a pastor dedicated to counseling or a formal counseling team in the future? (1:09:19)
Chris Gerber, tell us what we’re thanking God for as an elder team and what we are praying to God for as an elder team. (1:14:59)
As promised, if you submitted a question and we didn’t answer it at the Q&A, we’ll be in touch in the coming weeks to initiate a reply either over email or in person. Of course, as questions come to mind across the year, you can always just email us at elders@heritagegvl.com. This event is not the only venue for engaging our elders with a question. Rather, it is an especially public forum that we hope to set the tone and invite your engagement in more personal ways across the year.
For more Q&A engagement of this sort, review our recaps from previous years: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023.
Questions are normal. In our own family, Kristi and I probably ask one another a dozen questons a day. Our kids ask us more, especially the youngest. When we circle up at night, we’ll read the Bible, pray, talk about the day to come, and typically I’ll take questions to make sure we’re all on the same page.
It’s that way with church as well.
I am greatly encoruaged for your many questions throughout the year about the Scriptures, about a given sermon, and about how to love your church well and love your neighbors in Christ’s name.
Once a year we get to reinforce this culture of question asking and answering in a corporate way through our Elders Q&A, hosted this year on November 10 at 4:30 p.m.
Six Reasons to Join Us
By way of reminder, here’s why we host this evening each year.
To promote a culture of openness and vulnerability.
To model healthy question asking and answering.
To enhance our elders’ unity and insight into the ministry.
To clarify any ambiguities or gaps in our leadership for our members.
To instruct in biblical eldership and increase the visibility for our team.
To update the congregation on any timely projects or studies we’ve been working on.
We’ll plan for an hour and fifteen minutes. We’ll plan for dinner following.
Submit Your Questions by September 30
We’ll take questions in September. Our elders will have a few meetings in October to discuss as needed. Then, we’ll meet in November for our Q&A. If you have a question—think doctrine, church life, plans for our shared mission, etc.—you can get it to us in a variety of ways:
Tell. Communicate your question for the Q&A to an elder in person or through email. They’ll ask you to write it down so that we don’t lose your intent in translation, but you’re welcome to start with a conversation.
We’ll also have some time available in the evening to answer questions from you in a more impromptu style.
As a help in this process, aim to submit your questions by September 30. This lead time helps us notice recurring themes, know how to devote time to particular questions, discuss any topics as a team if needed, and order our time in a way that best serves the congregation. It also gives us time to follow up with you for any clarification and context as needed.
As you’ve come to expect, 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. Also, here’s the recap from 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 for those that couldn’t join us.
On November 12, we hosted our fifth annual Elders Q&A. We host these evenings becauase we love one another. Asking and answering questions is natural to any relationship of love and trust. We have plenty of both and we mean to keep it. Thank you for your thoughtful questions and your interest in our church’s good.
Read our invitation post for some more specifics on our aims and process heading into the event.
On this memorable evneing we engaged questions about the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day, about our philsophy of biblical counsling, how we go about praying for God’s global purpose among the nations, and everything in between.
Here’s a list of the questions we asked with the timestamps for the audio. We encourage you to listen to the entire Q&A for context and the spirit of the evening.
Overview of elder administrative team and responsibilities (7:05)
The Lord’s Day with the Lord’s People (9:14)
What is the Elders’ interpretation of the Sabbath? Do we keep the Sabbath now? How does that relate to Sunday worship? And if God commands Sabbath rest, then what do we do about so many moms rolling into Monday frazzled and dads fatigued after a day of church activities? I’m confused about how to balance God’s command for Sabbath rest and the need to be physically rested for the week ahead. (9:41)
What advice would you offer to introverts in the church? (17:50)
What night do the Elders meet and have you thought about putting it on the church calendar so that we as a church can be praying for you? (23:46)
Counseling One Another (24:47)
What is our philosophy of Biblical counseling? (25:11)
Talk about Biblical Counseling now and down the road—the state of Biblical counseling from a programmatic and staff member perspective. (28:54)
Are mental health issues sinful? (33:17)
Elder trivia (35:09)
Shepherding Together (38:12)
What is an elder-led congregational church? (38:22)
What is the difference between elders and pastors? (41:12)
What is the difference between a director role and an elder role? (44:44)
What changes are upcoming for how elders work together and lead our church? (47:30)
Elder trivia (54:01)
Our Times and Our Task (55:07)
What have the elders been studying lately as a group? (55:15)
Carl Trueman, in his book Strange New World, claims that the LGBGTQ+ movement is the most successful political movement of our age. What does Trueman mean by that? (57:07)
Define expressive individualism and why does it have a problem with religion today? (58:13)
How do we expose our kids to global missions? (59:56)
Open Mic (1:04:29)
On the Order of Worship today it had a passage above it that said adapted from Ecclesiastes. Why don’t we just read the real Bible passage instead of putting it into our words? (1:04:29)
What are the requirements regarding the timeframe for elder sabbaticals? (1:05:38)
Why aren’t our missionaries listed on our website and is there a way that we can make all of our missionaries a little more visible? (1:07:24)
Do I understand that when I hear the elders voted, it is all 14 of you rather than just the 11? (1:13:03)
In a world where truth can be anything that you set it to be, how do we evangelize people with God’s authority being the ultimate truth? (1:14:54)
What are the elders thanking God for? (1:17:17)
What are the elders asking God to do? (1:20:06)
Dinner instructions and closing prayer (1:21:59)
As promised, if you submitted a question and we didn’t answer it at the Q&A, we’ll be in touch in the coming weeks to initiate a reply either over email or in person. Of course, as questions come to mind across the year, you can always just email us at elders@heritagebiblechurch.org. This event is not the only venue for engaging our elders with a question. Rather, it is an especially public forum that we hope to set the tone and invite your engagement in more personal ways across the year.
For more Q&A engagement of this sort, review our recaps from previous years: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
Questions are good and normal and needed. In any meaningful relationship, we ask questions to get clarity for any number of reasons: so that we don’t make assumptions, so that we can be helpful in our life and work together, and so that we may reason together when that’s needed.
Our relationship—elders and congregation—is not so different in that respect. We love one another and mean to work well together for our shared mission. So, let’s engage in a little Q&A, hosted this year on Sunday, November 12, at 4:30 p.m.
What’s the Purpose of This Q&A?
Here’s an important clarification we make each year: this event is not in response to a crisis. This event is not for the airing of opinions. Don’t worry if you’re new around here and scared of an event like this. This is not one of our more embarrassing evenings in a year, but one of our most encouraging evenings.
God’s charge to elders is to be prepared to apply and proclaim the Holy Word in season and out of season (2 Tim. 4:2). It reminds them of their charge to cherish Christ so much that they can answer with Christ at any time (1 Pet. 3:15). It also gives individual elders an opportunity to minister to everyone all at once (1 Pet. 5:2).
In bullet points here is why we host this evening each year:
To promote a culture of openness and vulnerability.
To model healthy question asking and answering.
To enhance our elders’ unity and insight into the ministry.
To clarify any ambiguities or gaps in our leadership for our members.
To instruct in biblical eldership and increase the visibility for our team.
To update the congregation on any timely projects or studies we’ve been working on.
We’ll plan for an hour and fifteen minutes.
Get Us Your Questions by September 30
If you have a question—think doctrine, church life, plans for our shared mission, etc.—you can get it to us in a variety of ways. Include your name with your questions so we can follow up if that’s needed.
Tell. Communicate your question for the Q&A to an elder in person or through email. They’ll ask you to write it down so that we don’t lose your intent in translation, but you’re welcome to start with a conversation.
We’ll also have some time available in the evening to answer questions from you in a more impromptu.
As a help in this process, aim to submit your questions by the close of September, September 30. This lead time helps us notice recurring themes, know how to devote time to particular questions, discuss any topics as a team if needed, and order our time in a way that best serves the congregation. We’ll certainly consider any questions that come in after that date.
As a reminder, 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. Also, here’s the recap from 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 for those that couldn’t join us in previous years.
On November 13, we hosted our fourth annual Elders Q&A. Why do we host an event like this? It’s not because we have problems (we have those!). It’s because we are working out God’s plan for our maturity and our mission through biblical eldership.
Elders are one reason Paul left Titus in Crete:
This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. —Titus 1:5
A well ordered church—a church ordered toward her maturity under the shepherding care of elders—is a chruch well loved by Christ. Our Elders Q&A is one way we seek to carry out our biblical responsibility to our Lord and to you as elders.
Read our invitation post for some more specifics on our aims and process heading into the event.
Thank you for all of your questions. Your questions give us insight into our church as well as an opportunity to serve you with answers that we pray please our Lord. Here’s a list of the questions we asked with the timestamps for the audio. We encourage you to listen to the entire Q&A for context and the spirit of the evening.
Introductory (0:00)
Together in Membership (7:10)
What are HBC’s values? What particularly is the HBC leadership actually asking the HBC congregation to commit to beyond the broad mission statement? (7:28)
How should we lovingly lead/speak with a fellow HBC attender that is hesitant to join as a member? (17:12)
We haven’t baptized anyone in a while. Why is that? Also, how are baptism and the Lord’s supper related? (22:19)
Abe, what are we doing by way of update to our membership interview and introduction process at Family Meetings and why? (29:55)
Elder trivia (31:45)
Together in Truth (33:33)
Is the Holy Spirit a force or a personal being? (33:50)
Which comes first, the Spirit’s work or our faith? (36:20)
If we can do nothing to earn our salvation, what does living a life of faith even mean? (40:45)
How can we be faithful in parenting our children as we meet people/see people who identify as LGBTQIA+. (44:48)
Have we considered regular systematic theology electives? (52:46)
More elder trivia (53:05)
Making Plans Together (54:06)
What types of things are we doing as a church to prevent burnout of our church staff and engage more leaders? (54:25)
Heritage has done short-term mission trips in the past. Will we ever do them again? (56:50)
In the budget process, Jason mentioned that we were putting some money into a building fund. Can you expand on that? (1:00:30)
What is the wheel of time? Give us an update on some church calendar adjustments coming in 2023 (1:03:20)
Introduction and details for a new annual Spring theology conference: Unsearchable (1:05:03)
Still more elder trivia (1:05:58)
Open Mic (1:06:58)
What does a typical elder meeting look like on a Wednesday night? (1:06:58)
How are the elders seeing God at work in our church body? (1:10:34)
What are we doing collectively as a church body to serve our community? (1:14:13)
When you talk about baptism, practically speaking, if you have an 8-year-old who professes Christ, how long until they can be baptized? (1:19:09)
For the LGBTQIA+ plus if someone’s name is Justin and they want to be called Justina, what does a Christian do? (1:23:09)
An update from Abe on the Stratton family (1:27:09)
Closing prayer (1:31:31)
As promised, if you submitted a question and we didn’t answer it at the Q&A, we’ll be in touch in the coming weeks to initiate a reply either over email or in person. Of course, as questions come to mind across the year, you can always just email us at elders@heritagebiblechurch.org. This event is not the only venue for engaging our elders with a question. Rather, it is an especially public forum that we hope to set the tone and invite your engagement in more personal ways across the year.
For more Q&A engagement of this sort, review our recaps from previous years: 2019, 2020, 2021.
There are many voices out there competing for our attention. Some are babbling, some are asking questions, and some are offering answers. Social media and mass communication lends itself to church leaders not knowing who is asking what questions and lay members not knowing who to trust for answers.
One of my favorite things that we do as a church is our annual Elders’ Q&A. The people we worship with week-in and week-out ask questions to the same elders who have taught them and prayed with them year after year. We see many different gifts exercised at once. We get to know one another better. I love it. And I’d love to see you November 13 at 4:30 p.m.
What’s the Purpose of This Q&A?
This event is not in response to a crisis. This event is not for the airing of opinions. God’s charge to elders is to be prepared to apply and proclaim the Holy Word in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2). It reminds them of their charge to cherish Christ so much that they can answer with Christ at any time (1 Peter 3:15). It also gives individual elders an opportunity to minister to everyone all at once (1 Peter 5:2).
In bullet points here is why we host this evening each year:
To promote a culture of openness and vulnerability.
To model healthy question asking and answering.
To enhance our elders’ unity and insight into the ministry.
To clarify any ambiguities or gaps in our leadership for our members.
To instruct in biblical eldership and increase the visibility for our team.
To update the congregation on any timely projects or studies we’ve been working on.
We’ll plan for an hour and fifteen minutes. If your hunger is for more than answers, don’t worry. We will have supper together afterwards.
Get Us Your Questions by October 9
If you have a question—think doctrine, church life, plans for our shared mission, etc.—you can get it to us in a variety of ways:
Text. 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 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 so that we don’t lose your intent in translation, but you’re welcome to start with a conversation.
We’ll also have some time available in the evening to answer questions from you in a more impromptu style.
As a help in this process, aim to submit your questions by Sunday, October 9. This lead time helps us notice recurring themes, know how to devote time to particular questions, discuss any topics as a team if needed, and order our time in a way that best serves the congregation. We’ll certainly consider any questions that come in after that date.
As a reminder, 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. Also, here’s the recap from 2019, 2020, and 2021 for those that couldn’t join us in previous years.
