Q&A Evening

K on it and the other has an S on it. So what it means is he's not drinking my water. Pastor Andrew and Pastor Saul are going to bring the mics to you.

! We are going to do our best to kind of go back and forth as much as possible. And let me kind of explain at the outset that the question and answer period is a time in which we look for you to ask questions that will help you make a prayerfully informed decision.

And we're looking for you to ask questions that clarify a matter or you're looking for some further detail so that you have a better sense of God's leading in regards to our voting.

I am up here in a sense as the moderator. There will be several questions that I give to Pastor Shearer that come from one of two sources and I want you to know that in advance.

They either come from the questions that you have asked in one way or another in your watch care groups or your small groups and those have come back to me and I see a theme that lets me push them together.

And I will present some of those to Pastor Shearer so that the questions you've asked in Jack's group or in Tom's group or whatever, you get to hear the answer from Pastor Shearer directly.

Secondly, there are some questions that I am going to ask that were taken from the variety of meetings that we had with Pastor Shearer. And questions that you have asked were also asked by some of the deacons or in some cases in two or three different cases are repeatedly by the search committee.

And so I'm going to take either of those and bring them to Pastor Shearer as well. Let me begin with this as just an opening question and a foundational one. Pastor Shearer, are you in complete agreement with our confession of faith, which is our doctrinal statement, and our standards of service and our constitution that is our polity?

Yes. Okay. Questions? And I'm not going to run through a battery like nine of them here and then you get to go. So this side, Pastor Andrew, this is Pastor Andrew in future and still.

So this is your side, Pastor Andrew. Do you see anybody out there that needs to ask a question? Just point them out. Okay. Question? This side first.

On the right hand. My side is ready, Pastor. Your side is ready? Go for it.

Go ahead. Right here. Hi, my name is Carrie. I really appreciated the page you had about church music. And I really appreciated the sentence.

As long as the song is rooted in scripture and leads us to exalting God, we should feel free to incorporate it into our service. And then you made other references to theology of music and theology of song.

So I just wondered as a demonstration, what currently are maybe two or three of your favorite songs and maybe one of them as to why it is important and how it ministers to your heart? Sure.

We were listening to a song on the radio coming up yesterday, Christian Stanfill, and it was Cornerstone. You know the song Cornerstone? Wow.

Can you have a better song than Cornerstone? Well, it speaks about Jesus Christ, talks about what he did, lifts your focus to just the gravity of what he accomplished for us.

And it takes away the emotional elements. Not that emotion isn't important. I think you look through the Psalms and you see certainly there's emotion in the Psalms. And I think that's appropriate at times.

But certainly a focus on the person of Christ. That's great. I like the song Alive. Who did that one? Kerry Jobe?

Kerry Jobe. You ever heard that song? I'm trying to think of some of the lines. Basically, it's a resurrection song. It's perfect for Easter next week. But again, it talks about...

You probably know that song. How does that go? Oh, you don't know the song. Okay. Look it up on YouTube. It's tremendous. And again, just focusing on the person and work of Christ, what he accomplished.

And well done. The lyrics are good. The music is good. I think at times... I want to be succinct here. But at times, a song has good theology, but the melodies are hard to follow.

So from a congregational standpoint, it's hard. And so that's why it's good to have gifted men like Jonathan who are helping to weave those in. Stuart Townend, Keithan, and the Gettys are absolutely amazing.

Chris Tomlin is tremendous. Matt Redman, Paul Belosh. I mean, we are so fortunate in this age to have this rich environment of good music.

So it's good to weave music right now. There's a lot to pull from. So good question. Hi, Pastor Chair.

I was hoping that you could kind of walk us through your typical process in coming to a sermon series or what you decide to preach on. And just kind of the thought process and the time that it takes to go into that.

Well, good. Well, I've only done that once. The previous church that I was a part of, I wasn't part of the normal preaching rotation.

But back at Tabernacle, I knew that the church needed just a basic foundational understanding of what is the church. We need to start at ground zero.

So I spent about 33 weeks going through the book of Acts. So we went up to chapter 13. And then I knew, it became very aware of the fact that they needed to know who Christ was.

And I think it's always good for us to have a reintroduction to who Jesus is. Sometimes we like the Jesus of love. We like the Jesus who cares. We like the Jesus who helps the poor and oppressed.

We tend to forget about the Jesus who was pretty in your face. Especially when it comes to the Pharisees. He was willing to engage them.

But he was a man of truth and grace. And the two beautifully commingled in his personhood. He wasn't afraid to tell his disciples even, Oh, you of little faith.

What's your problem? And yet it came across in a way that was tender and loving. So in my sermon series there, I knew that we needed to know who, what the church was.

We needed to know who Christ is. But my process of doing that is not to do it independently. My process is to engage the leaders in that process too.

Whether it be the staff or the deacons. Because they know the church better than I do. And I want to make sure that we're kind of in harmony with direction.

So does that help? Okay. Good. If I may, I'm going to step in behind that question. And you referred to preaching at Tabernacle. So let me ask this question.

Explain God's leading in bringing you to Tabernacle. And the circumstances of your coming to us. Okay. Good. Well, coming to Tabernacle was a long process.

And Tabernacle was one of many churches that we were looking at. There were a couple of basic criteria. We wanted a church where we sensed that there was a love for the scripture.

We wanted to go to a church where there was an interest in change. We wanted to go to church where the people were receptive to just the testimony of Christ.

We wanted to go to church where we felt like we were bringing and contributing something to the ministry. And we felt like all of those things were being met in coming to Tabernacle.

And probably two, three different dozen churches that we were engaged in just dialoguing with.

And very early on, at the very beginning of the process, Tabernacle was the church that God had said, this is the one. So we went. We met with them in October of one year.

And when we went to meet with them, they were the only, it was the only group of individuals we met with the search team. The only ones that could really answer some significant questions about, what is God teaching you specifically from his word?

How are you growing in your relationship with Christ? And at least from the search team, it was a church that we were getting some really great feedback and interest in following God's leadership for them.

We were convinced that that was where God wanted us to be. And so we were a little surprised when a month went by and two months went by and then three months went by and we hadn't even heard from them.

But we said, well, I guess we just need to lay this down. This is our kind of Abraham and Isaac. We're just going to lay this down and trust the Lord with it. And then the next June, after they had worked through several different individuals, they came back to us.

It was interesting because my dad's roommate came into town. My dad had dinner with him and said, hey, where are you going to go to, where are you going to, where are you staying tonight? I'm staying in Chillicothe. Where are you going to church tomorrow?

Going to Tabernacle? Tabernacle? And come to find out his uncle was one of the members of the search team. And so again, just God bringing a lot of different interesting factors together.

So they picked up things with us again. Then again in October, we met with them again. God continued to confirm his leadership to us there. And so we came and met with the church in January.

Accepted the call to go and were there by March. So two years had gone by in the process with them. And all along the way, we were praying and asking for God's wisdom and leadership.

And so circumstances of us leaving Tabernacle, there's a number of details that I don't need to go into.

But just to be short with this, is a church that has existed for 125 years. A church that, up until a couple years ago, had never practiced church discipline.

They had always just kind of pushed things under the rug. And so you can imagine a church like that, there are a lot of issues. And certainly there were. And there were four significant issues that needed to be addressed from a public standpoint.

And we had prayed as a church, we had committed to fast and pray as a church for the month of February. God, please help us to be a holy church. And wouldn't you know, God answered prayer.

And there in that year, having to deal with these four issues. And it became a little unsettling. Oh, the word of God is a standard. Oh, I guess it does.

God does expect us to act a certain way. And wow, there are some pretty heavy implications when I step out of line. And so there was, we'd been praying for an awakening.

There had been a significant awakening in the hearts of a number of individuals who were there. But a lot of the legacy members who were there were feeling like, oh man, we're losing our grip.

So, I remember after a business meeting, this would be this January. I was writing an email to Pastor Tom Wright.

You know him. And actually not Tom Wright, a pastor friend in Illinois. And I asked him a couple of questions. I said, how do you know when you've crossed the point of no return in your ministry?

And the second question I asked him was, how do you know when God's purpose for your ministry in a particular church has been accomplished?

Because let me tell you, I want to run to the finish line. I want to persevere. I want to endure hardship as a good soldier. I don't want to give up.

And interestingly, I was about ready to hit the send button on that email. And I get a call from Pastor Tom Wright who says, hey, you know, I'm not sure what your situation is. But would you be interested in considering the possibility of another opportunity at a sister church of ours?

And so that's how the arrangement took place. And I think step by step, God confirming to us that for a season, he wanted us to have a ministry at Tabernacle.

And it was a ministry that not only edified me and our family. This morning's message is something that I've had to take to heart.

You can't be a person of faith until God presses you in to have to trust. And so I've learned more and continuing to learn to trust God, continuing to learn how to rejoice in the midst of hardship, how to love people who aren't always treating you with love.

And that was, I think, a gift to me. But I believe as well it was a gift to a number of individuals at Tabernacle that God gave us the joy of being able to minister to.

Okay, Pastor Shearer, put your microphone back on. Question on this side now. Thank you. You got it. Are we okay, Gar?

Okay. This side next. Erin. It's just the service loop keeps pushing it.

Hi, Pastor Shearer. I'm Erin. Given your experience at your last church, I just want to make sure, will you continue to be bold here when we step out of line and we need to be held accountable?

Because that's going to be really important to our family, just to have somebody keep us in check, too. I just want to make sure that you still feel comfortable doing that. I appreciate that.

Thanks for the question. I would say yes. You know, part of what God has been trying to help me with over the years.

My dad would say that, Andrew, doggone it, you've got the gift of prophecy. I mean, I see things very black and white.

And I think that's probably why engineering was a natural fit for me. But through the process, what God has been helping or trying to help is knock off a lot of the rough edges, the sharpness sometimes, the lack of gentleness.

So, you know, I'll never be able to change the person I am. But hopefully there will be a tenderness to the process and there will be a patience in the process.

But I'm committed. I think the more committed we are to the scripture, the more committed you are to the standard, the more you are in love with Christ, the more you can't give a pass to the things that you see.

I'm reminded of 1 Corinthians 13. It says, love rejoices not in iniquity, but love rejoices in the truth. And so our expression of love for each other is expressed sometimes best in our willingness to confront.

So I, to be honest with you, I think I loved more these individuals than they'd ever been loved before. Because they'd never been loved to the point of rebuke. And I trust that God will continue to help me grow in love, tenderness and gentleness, but also the right kind of rebuke.

Pastor Andrew, your side. Do you have a question?

I shouldn't. Between when you left Tabernacle and when you will be officially here if the Lord works in that way, where are you worshiping?

Where are you praising the Lord? Sure. Well, this is week three. Okay. So I worship here today. Okay. The first week after leaving, we were on our way to Tennessee just to kind of unload, unhinge as a family, regroup as a family.

So we worshiped in Lexington, Kentucky, Emmanuel Baptist, pretty huge church down there. And then last week, we worshiped at a church out in Waverly.

We wanted to make sure we kind of got away a bit so we weren't running into other individuals. Not because we didn't love them, but we don't want a following. I think that's kind of where we are.

But at the same time, on Wednesday nights, we're going to a good friend of ours' church right down the street. And on Sunday evenings, going to another friend of ours' church the other direction.

So it's been great to be kind of filled up a little bit with gifted teaching from good friends and making connections there. So. Hi, Brother Shearer.

My name is Jeff. And we truly appreciate how Pastor Kenoyer has monstrous structure in detailing and giving us, prepping us when major decisions happening.

And, you know, far in advance, kind of a scenario would be like our small groups. He taught us, oh, it was at least a good year and a half before we even started, even started the process.

And I know you both have different personalities and different, you know, but do you have the same kind of feel for that, basically, I guess, is kind of the question.

Sure. Yeah, it's been kind of refreshing for me to kind of be here tonight and kind of see the process of this weekend. There's definitely a mutual trusting that's taking place.

But it's a trust that's been established and built over the long haul. As you are trusting your leadership, that's been echoed in so many of the prayers that you guys have prayed, is there is this reliability and a trusting of your leaders.

That's because of not only the investment that they've made in the process, but also because of their willingness to engage you in the process. And that's my heart as well.

I think healthy churches operate that way. So I appreciate that model and it's something I'm totally a fan of. Hi, I'm Molly Collins, and I'm wondering what made you want to become a pastor?

Oh, that's a good one. You know, I think it started early for me. I had the privilege of coming to Christ at a young age, growing up in a home of a pastor, seeing ministry modeled by my mom and my dad, seeing it modeled by both sets of grandparents.

And there was just already this fire in my heart for ministry. And as I continued to grow and given opportunities to teach and to serve in various contexts, I loved the Word of God and loved being able to communicate it to people.

I love the joy of the mutual and shared inspiration that happens, like those aha moments that happen. And you can benefit from that personally in your own study, but also when you're being able to share that with individuals and you kind of see the lights come on for them.

And then even in conversation and discussion of a class where there are thoughts that are brought, you're like, you know, I didn't think about that. And so I think that just the joy of teaching and being taught was a part of my life.

But also there were some key moments in my life. One key moment happened when I went to the Teen Leadership Conference in Clark Summit, Pennsylvania.

It happened in my sophomore, junior year of high school. And God used that conference to really help me just commit myself in a whole new way, not just to ministry in my church, but ministry wherever I went.

Okay? And then as a sophomore in college, there was a speaker that came. And that was another really major moment in my life where it was clear God was calling me to ministry, full-time ministry, not just a lay ministry.

And I gave my life to him to do that wherever he opened the door. So those are two of the significant moments in my life where I felt like God was calling me to ministry.

Good question. Pastor Shear, you had written that discipleship and counseling are part of your ministry, and we appreciate that.

I speak for myself. I think most of the people here that we are a church of broken people, robed in righteousness. We have been blessed by biblical counseling.

Can you describe what biblical counseling is in your ministry? It's good. Well, I remember the first time taking some biblical counseling classes at the Master's Seminary.

And I hadn't really thought a whole lot about counseling up until that point. And it took us to 2 Peter 1.

I think it begins in verse 3, where it talks about the Word of God is sufficient for everything that pertains to life and godliness. God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. And certainly the Word of God is kind of the wellspring of wisdom and life.

And as we said this morning, Peter says, you alone have the words of life. So true counseling, I believe, has to begin with an understanding of the Word.

And I think it has to begin with an understanding of ourself, that a lot of the things that are involved in life that lead to various situations are symptoms of issues, whether they're sins or just tendencies that are harmful.

So my counseling is often one-on-one. It's over a period of time. It's less formal than it is formalized.

I love the fact that you have the new thetic counseling opportunities. I plan on taking advantage of that if God gives us the opportunity to do that.

But more just getting into the Word, looking at what it says, applying it to life, and growing through the process. I'd like to point out that there's a physical testimony here of TLC teens.

So if you haven't been to TLC yet, witness its payoff, right? Okay. Thad had his hand up, please.

Hey, guys, on this side, you need to kind of buck up a little bit. This side is like bang, bang. And I know your name. Thank you, Molly.

You came through and relieved him a little bit. Pastor Shira, I'm Thad. An area that I really need to grow in is learning how to minister to my wife.

How do you do that with your wife? How do you spend time with her and encourage her? That's good. Well, I would resonate with my brother down here. What's your name?

David. David. David. That this is a continuing area that we have to refine, isn't it? Learning how to love like Christ loved the church. Who can do that?

But what we have tried to do is set aside times where we can connect. Sometimes it's like in a commute. So I pick up the phone and make sure that on the commute, it's just her and I on the phone downloading on the day and seeing what's taking place.

A lot of times it happens on walks. So we get away from the house. We're pulling away from the kids, making sure that we're connecting. But, you know, my wife is really communicative.

I mean, she doesn't have any lack of words. And so she's usually the one to initiate when there's issues. And I'm saying that positively, okay?

I'm not trying to put her down. She takes the initiative quite a bit. But, you know, she's a part of what's going on in my life in relationship to ministry.

She probably, more than many pastors' wives, is connected to the hurts that I have and the hard things that are taking place in the ministry because she's become such a good friend through those hard times and in thinking about the Scripture together.

And what's really cool is it's kind of like the sine waves canceling each other out. For those of you who are engineers, I know there are some of you in the group, so.

When I'm doing well, sometimes she's not doing so well. So that helps bring a measure of calmness to her home. When I'm not doing well, she, by God's grace, seems to do well.

And she just has the right words to speak into my life from the Scripture. So God gives us grace in that. And when we're both not doing well, we just look at the Word together and pray together.

And God helps. This side. I think Tyler had his hand up first. It's all right.

Okay. Hello, Pastor Shear. My name is Tyler. And my question is, how would you minister to people that are unbelievers that you know?

That's good. Well, our ministry to unbelievers happens a lot in our community, okay, or in our neighborhood. I'll give you a quick example.

And this is what I try to use as kind of the common approach. When we first moved into our house a little over a year ago, we had a lot of help.

And that help happened to park what I was soon to understand was my neighbor's yard, okay? And he came storming over to let us know that he wasn't happy with what was taking place.

And it snowed a couple of days later. And as I'm shoveling our driveway, I'm thinking to myself, uh-oh, I'm shoveling this snow onto his yard.

Is he going to be angry at that too? So, but I realized the Holy Spirit prompted me, I think, say, you know what? Maybe this would be a good opportunity for you to shovel his walk, shovel his driveway.

So my son and I got our shovels out, shoveled their driveway. And wouldn't you know, a conversation took place, about 30 minutes, with one who was really, I mean, he was ticked off.

And he actually apologized. And a relationship began. And an opportunity to share the gospel happened. And so I think that as we allow our words to be always with grace and seasoned with salt, God will put opportunities in your path to share the gospel.

And that's been my general approach to that. Pastor Sher, let me take one of the questions that actually came up several different times. I remember first time the question came was when we met together with you as deacons.

And we asked the question about weaknesses, and I appreciate that you did an answer not applicable. You know, we respect that there are weaknesses. But Thad, you asked the question about evangelism, and your comment was that was not a strength.

Can you kind of repeat the answer that you gave in that? Do you remember? I don't remember the answer. Okay. But anyway. Maybe you can repeat my answer. Good.

You alluded to it in the morning Bible lesson as well. Yes. So how do gifts and obedience come together?

Sure. Well, you know, I think that the things that you're not gifted in are the things you have to work harder with. I mean, and if you're part of the Sunday school lesson this morning, you know that just because you're not gifted in something, that you're all of a sudden alleviated from that responsibility.

That's not the case. That every one of the gifts have a complementing command in the Scripture. That although you may not necessarily be gifted at evangelism or gifted to hospitality or gifted in mercy, which would be the three probably weakest things in my life, I'm still commanded to do that.

So how does that happen? Well, guess what? That's why we're a church. So there are some of you who are gifted in hospitality. There are some of you who are very gifted in evangelism.

There are some of you who are really gifted in giving and teaching and leading. So how does this come together? Well, it comes together as God gives gifts so that you naturally excel because of the Spirit's work in your life, coming together with those who are weak so that you can help promote and nurture those weaknesses in somebody else, and they can use their strengths to complement your weaknesses so that you're all growing together in the process of becoming more hospitable and more passionate about evangelism and more gifted in giving and fill in the blank.

I think that's one of the joys of the church is not saying, Oh, he's just give up on that guy. He doesn't know what he's doing when it comes to hospitality. But I think God puts us together to learn that process.

Or, you know, I think also not to say, Well, that's not my area of gifting, so I'm off the hook. Well, guess what? You're not off the hook. You're called to grow.

And so this is an area of weakness for me, but it's also an area where I've paid a lot of careful attention to. From the time I was in college, every single week I went to Cincinnati to share the gospel through open airs.

I went on several mission team trips to help fan the flames of this issue in my life, the desire to share the gospel.

God gave me a wife who is very effective in evangelism, and walking with her and growing from her has been a help to me.

So just because we're not necessarily gifted in an area doesn't mean that we are alleviated from the responsibility. So I just have to work harder.

So God's been trying to build that area of my life. You just mentioned, again, Cedarville. And a little bit ago, based on Molly's question, you mentioned Cedarville and called to full-time ministry, and now here you stand after being in a couple churches.

I'm curious, I want to hear the story of the engineering part, and where did that come in with the call to full-time ministry, and how did you get from there to here? Yeah, so, you know, it was clear to me that God wanted me to be in ministry.

And yet, at the same time, when I was trying to make a decision about where to go for college and what to major in, a man in our church says, you know, Andrew, if you're going to go to seminary someday, can I just encourage you, especially having grown up in Cedarville, of all places, I mean, town of 2000, I mean, as Christian of a community as you can get, can I just encourage you to do something different as a major?

And I'm glad I followed his advice. I liked math and science, so I followed his advice and took engineering. His, this man's thought was, who knows, maybe God might use that to open the door for ministry somewhere you never imagined.

And certainly God has done that. But also helped us in transitional times to be able to provide for family when ministry wasn't an option.

So, so just trying to follow the advice of godly men who were speaking into my life. So, does that answer your question fully? Okay. Microphone is coming.

Well, wait till it comes, please. Thank you. Everybody wants to hear. Besides the Bible, what books and authors have greatly influenced you?

And then what pastors have greatly influenced you? Good. Wow. Wow. So, there's so many books to mention, but I'll just, I'll just, I'll share, I'll share a couple on, a couple different genres.

I'm not given to history, but I've really grown in my love for the history of godly men and women throughout the ages. And so, I don't know if you ever read Eric Batax's book on Bonhoeffer.

It's a hefty book, but it's well worth the read. My daughter just finished a book on George Mueller. A.T. Peterson? Pearson?

A.T. Pearson? Great book. John Piper's written a number of really helpful biographies. I love those. As it relates to missions, Piper's book, Let the Nations Be Glad.

You can't go wrong. His book, When I Don't Desire God. His book, A Hunger for God. If you ever are thinking about fasting as a discipline, read that book.

As it relates to the theology of the Old Testament, According to Plan, by, oh, I had it. Green Goldsworthy, thank you.

And, as it relates to the person of Christ, the gospel according to Jesus by John MacArthur.

And, so, those are just a few. But, Piper and MacArthur are men who just really built into my life. Recently, Chandler and Francis Chan.

Both of those guys kind of provide kind of a contemporary and relevant perspective with the gospel. I love C.J. Mahaney.

I've listened to him. Steve Lawson is another pastor who I really appreciate. Of course, Alistair Begg. I think your staff goes up to his conference quite a bit. So, David Jeremiah.

This side. Are you familiar with Dave Ramsey?

Yes. And, how do you feel about how he handles scripture and finances? Well, that's a, I know who he is. And, I started walking through Dave Ramsey's financial piece with a couple of individuals.

We only got through the first three lessons, I think, before they kind of dropped off the map. I know Dave Ramsey's really been helpful for my sister and her husband.

They went from being $30,000 of debt to two years later having no debt on a pastor's salary. So, I know the concepts that he presents work.

I didn't, I want to be really careful here. My perspective, I didn't really see his use particularly of the scripture.

Just more the concepts. So, I can't really be a judge of his theological posture. But, I know he's doing good work and I know it's working.

So, that's all I can comment. How do I handle money? I give it to my wife. Is that a good cop out or what?

Larry Burkett, money matters is what we've kind of been following. This side. Steve, right here in the front. Thank you.

I think, actually, Todd, you had your hand up, but we'll catch you later. Deacons are, and search committee is. How do you see the role of senior pastor elect?

The time between now and when Pastor Kenoyer retires. Well, I'll tell you, when I first heard about the opportunity, I was thinking, wow.

What a great, what a great thing. To be able to step into a church and not to have to carry the weight of leadership. To be able to really engage with people and build relationships with the folks who are here.

That, that, that, that's something that I, I think is, is tremendous. And I think there's a lot of wisdom in the process of thinking through it.

So, from, from my perspective, I, I see it as a, is really healthy and wise and something I'm, I'd be looking forward to. Is that, so, so the role itself, I, I, I guess, I, I see that for me as being a supporting role.

Okay, to pastor Tim. And, and, and, and being able to, to offset whatever, whatever responsibilities that, that he wants to, to let me run with. I see it as an opportunity of helping to, to provide leadership and oversight of, over various things, whether it be small groups or Sunday school, whatever, whatever's put on my plate.

So, I feel like I have a, a pretty wide array of, of experiences. But, I just trust the, the guys who are here to, to point me in the right direction.

And I'll just, I'll just run with it. My daughter says I, there's nothing I can do that'll embarrass her.

So, here's my best shot. As a father of teenage daughters, and being a daughter that's a couple years, having a daughter that's a couple years younger, who looks up to the other teenage girls, what are your views on casual dating versus courtship?

That's good. Well, we actually talked this past week. My, my oldest couple of daughters are thinking, hey, you know, maybe this is the right time for us to write our dating paper.

What's that? Have you, have you started that yet? Am, you know? Okay. Our, our thought is, you know, especially in high school, we'd like our kids to be friends with everybody.

Okay. There's just too much pressure, in my, in my view. There's just way too much pressure in high school. And it just seems so premature. Here I am talking, though, having dated and married a high schooler at the time.

So, I, I guess, take what I say with a grain of salt, because, uh, maybe I've learned from experience. Uh, but, um, part of what my, my dad did for me and what we're kind of passing on to our kids is, uh, write a paper for us.

Help us understand, what is your desire in dating? What are some of the things that you're looking for in a future spouse? Um, what do you commit to do and not do in a dating scenario?

And, and how are you going to just kind of think through the process and, and, and building convictions and looking at the scripture and, and, and kind of setting safeguards early before you get in the heat of the moment.

So, um, that's kind of the, the process that, that we're working through. But, but especially in high school, we just want our kids to just enjoy relationships without the pressure of dating.

Hey, Pastor Sher, uh, just was wondering without the gory details, but I'm sure you and your wife, I'm assuming, kept some of the details from your kids.

But how are you helping your kids with the transition? That's good. How are we helping our kids with the transition? Um, hmm, how are we helping?

You know, here's what's. Can I interrupt just for a second? Sure. No, I'm not going to massage it. I'm going to, I'm going to give you a very, very careful perspective.

I care a great deal for this bride. And your well-being depends upon him having a good heart. So, he has been beat up.

And I've listened very carefully for the tenderness with which he has endured that. And I've watched to see if his children are overwhelmed. Kids are a better barometer of where a man's heart is than most men know.

And his kids are okay. Okay. But let me, let me address that a little, a little bit too. Yeah, fill it in. But that's the overview.

That's good. I, I, I think it's another testimony to the grace of God, really. Because, to be honest with you, I think my kids have just been as friendly and as engaging all the way up to the end.

I mean, it was our last Sunday of saying goodbye. And during the fellowship time, all over the church, shaking hands, greeting people, giving hugs. And I, I guess all I can say is, just the Lord was really kind.

The Lord was really kind. And, and I think, um, I'm reminded of a situation. And this was actually while I was, uh, sharing the gospel down in, in Cincinnati as a college student.

Somebody came up behind me and put a choke hold on me and said, give me all your money. And it was really being forceful. I was like, what is going on here?

I was looking at the person, my, the person I was sharing the gospel with. They were watching the situation and they were like, kind of like this. Okay?

So I knew it was no big deal. Okay? He was trying to make it like it was a big deal. As if it was a, a, a live scenario. And then he was wondering, why didn't you fight back?

Why didn't you resist? Okay, all of that to say that how we respond as parents to a situation with joy, with love, with faith, with confidence in the sovereignty of God.

They're gauging their response based upon ours. And I, I just think God has been very gracious to help us as parents respond well and not be hurt so that our kids could respond well.

And, um, and just continue to love and all the way up to the end. I was like, they didn't even know any different. Not that they didn't know what was happening. They just, it's like, okay, I know that things are happening, but my dad still loves him, so I guess I'll love him.

And I think that's, I think that's all I can say. This side. It's a long walk.

Don't throw the mic. Pastor, given that the role, or in our scripture we are taught to go and teach all nations.

Given that your dad has served as pastor and as missionary, give us some examples of the role of missions in your ministry. And then also how you emphasize missions in your ministry.

That's good. So, uh, when I was a pastor in Illinois, had the joy of leading a team to Queretaro, Mexico. Um, that was a great experience.

And a lot of the, I think Andrew, he's doing a great job. Just the preparation. A lot of the, the real ministry is happening up front with the team.

The teaching and discipling and training this group of individuals so they're ready for the field. And then, uh, it was interesting that, that God used that experience with that group of individuals I took to Mexico.

When they came back, because of the preparation, because of what God did during that week of ministry, they said, man, we are doing this in Aurora. So for the next year and a half, every single week, they were plugged in to reaching the Hispanic community in our, in our town.

Um, so that was, uh, that was, that was one real privilege that I had. Um, I, uh, I engage the missionaries.

We have some missionary friends that we, we engage regularly. Um, both through letters and emails and phone calls. I've had the, the privilege of going with my dad to the Ukraine and also to Russia.

Uh, I'd like to do that again. He's asked me to do that again, uh, next year. Um, and if there's an opportunity to do that. So, so I, I want to make sure that, that my own experience is saturated in missions so that I can continue to commend that to, uh, to the people in the church.

But, um, that's maybe just, uh, an example of, of how I do that. Thank you. Hey, Pastor Jerry, my name is Josh.

Um, I was just wondering, what are your thoughts on drama ministry in the church for some of us who may not be musically gifted? That's good. You know, we, we actually had a drama ministry at Tabernacle.

And I think it can be really beneficial. Uh, you know, David Jeremiah would be a good example of that. Where, um, you know, at least for a time, he would actually have it as kind of a, a living illustration of the point he was going to make in his sermon.

So, I, I think it can be helpful, just as, as, as long as it doesn't, it's not distracting. Um, so there's, I know there's some, some real dynamics about that. But, uh, you know, I think it's up to, to the leaders of the church to make sure that it's, it's appropriate for the body.

It's appropriate for, so that's, that's an important consideration as well. We have been doing this for about an hour and a half.

And that doesn't mean that I intend to cut you off. But, I am not entirely sure of how long we need to go, okay?

There is no bad question that, that desires good information. But, at some point, we'll probably say, okay, we're good. Um, we want to ask all the questions we can in advance of voting next Sunday.

Um, and if you are going to be out of town because of providence, you know what providence means? That's God's plan. You know, you're going to be gone. Some of you are going to see families.

Some of you are going to, you know, ask for a, for an absentee ballot. Okay? You don't count for the form, which, I'm sad about that, but, you know.

That has to be in writing. It has to be in writing. To Tom Zentz. Stand up, Tom, so everybody knows. Or the office. Or the office. There we go. Okay, we have to have that.

Is there any other question you want to ask? You can ask offline later. Go ahead.

We have a mic. Don't wait until the microphone comes. What role do you see your wife playing here at church? Yeah. Well, my wife's primary ministry is a ministry to our family.

And she does that very well. And because of that, it frees me up to ministry here as well. But she also loves people.

Okay? So, I'm probably not as much of a people person as she is. And she just loves getting involved in the lives of individuals. I mean, to a fault.

It's like, who are you talking to now? Good grief! Texting and messaging and emails. And it's just a real, it's a passion of hers.

She does it well. And because of it, I mean, she's got these relationships scattered across the country. I mean, wherever she goes, she's leaving a trail of really good friends.

One of whom she's been investing in hours and hours and hours. She's really having a hard time in a marriage. And because of her contribution and prayers and speaking into her life.

Not only helping to keep the marriage together, but just really helping this woman respond in a godly way. But she loves the Word of God. She loves to teach.

People really feel encouraged when she does share. She digs into the Scripture consistently. I'm sure that if God gives us the joy of coming, she'll be looking for the godly ladies that she can wake up with at 5 o'clock in the morning to pray once a week.

That's something that she enjoys as well. She left that back in Illinois. But she, those are some of the things that I know she'll do. She's also very administrative. I mean, she's just got this, yeah, she's just, so, like, pulling together VBSs and helping with planning.

And those kinds of things. She does a good job with that, too. Okay, we're going to give this side one more time. Okay. Donna. Hi, Pastor.

My name is Donna Jones. Being a parent of an autistic child, how would you minister to somebody like that or of any age with a disability? Well, you're talking to somebody who has no experience.

Okay. So I know what I would do, first of all, is find somebody who I respect, who has done it, so they can speak into my life.

I think that's where I'd start. Certainly, investing in prayer, asking for God's wisdom is another step in the process. But I would start by talking to godly people you trust who are experiencing it, too.

But I can't give you any other. Well, because my son, Bradley, and we met earlier, we can't have to ignore it. It was that, in order, about eight months, it was my son, she just came to me, you better know the first try.

Huh? Well, maybe it was me just... I think maybe Pastor Tim just warmed him up for me.

Okay. Let's stand together. I'm going to close with a word of prayer. Father God, we are thankful for the blessing we have of being your children.

reminding ourselves again that it is your grace that found us in our absolute dismayed and broken state. Unaware of our sin and the hardness of our hearts, and you brought us to the place of conviction, discovering the hardness of our heart and our need for Christ, and you brought us to the Savior.

We're together this evening because of you. We're together this evening because we desire for your leading in calling a man to be our senior pastor-elect. Give us a week of prayer and careful, thoughtful deliberation and further research where there is a need, and then we come together next Lord's Day.

We're together and safe. And safe.

And safe. And safe. And safe. And safe. can't it. And safe. And safe. And safe. And safe. And safe. And safe. Thank you.