Portrait of a Healthy Shepherd Leader - Vincent Latteri Elder Ordination

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Almighty God. [00:00:06] Speaker B: Hey there. If you're new to Restored Church, we [00:00:08] Speaker C: want to welcome you and thank you for tuning in. You're listening to a portion of our Sunday worship gathering. We believe the church is not an event, but a family you belong to. So we would love the opportunity to connect with you. If you want to learn more about our church or if we can help you in any way, please Visit our website, www.restoredtemecula.church and click on contact. With all that said, we hope you enjoy message [00:00:34] Speaker D: who haven't met yet. My name is Tom. I have the privilege of serving the church as elite pastor on eldership with the guys. And I have been, I have been looking forward to today for a very long time. This is a special morning for our church. And before we get into all the things, I just want to have like one quick thing to share with you. A week from today, this next coming Sunday, we're going to start a new sermon series. We're pressing Pause on Matthew. We've been. If you haven't been journeying with us, we've been going through Matthew for a long, long, long time. And what happens typically with like a long sermon series is God will kind of interrupt. He has a way of doing that, which is actually really beautiful. And I really feel like God has led us to press pause on the series for a couple months to do a series called who We Are. And really what it is is it's really just to help re infuse what makes Restored Church Temecula. Restored Church Temecula. What makes us a distinct expression of the body of Christ. There are so many praise God, there are so many faithful gospel preaching, spirit filled churches on the earth. And one of the cool things that God has done through putting his spirit in people is he creates unique expressions of his eternal global body here in different places. And we are distinct. And so what makes makes us distinct, what makes us unique, what makes Restored Church Restored Church. We're gonna be going through that for about seven weeks starting next Sunday. And so if you've been journeying with us for a really long time, this is as much for you as it is for somebody. If this is your first Sunday, okay, we're gonna be going through our values or just think of the things that make us who we are. So can I just ask you, please do whatever you possibly can to be present for those Sundays, because I really believe that God wants to do a unifying, strengthening work among us. And I guarantee you that God's gonna inspire you not because of a Spiritual gift on a platform. But God wants to inspire you to step into every area of your life empowered by his spirit, with purpose, with integrity, with honor, and with love. You with me next seven weeks. Okay, so there's that. Now in just a minute, I'm gonna call up Andy Rogers. He's gonna facilitate this morning for us. If you don't know Andy, he's a gift to our church. He is the founding pastor of the very first restored church down in San Diego. Yes, I had the privilege of part locally with Andy for many years and then trans locally together since 2012. I trust him. He's a godly man. He's not a perfect man, but he's a godly spirit filled man. And here's the coolest thing, maybe the coolest thing about Andy for the people in the room. He really loves our church. It's not lip service, it's not obligation, it's not duty. I believe it's a supernatural spiritual deposit in him and it's Christ in him, loving people. And specifically this group of believers that is Restored Church Temecula. So what he's going to do just to kind of set it up, I'm going to call him up in just a second. He's going to spend some time teaching on eldership and church leadership and what that means and contextualizing for us. And then he's going to facilitate the rest of the morning, which includes the ordination of the one and only Vincent Leteri. And so we are fired up about this. Yes, you can bless Vinny. You're going to bless him just a bit too as well. But without further ado, I want to call Andy up here. Come on up. We give him some love, like platform. All right, you got your Bible, you're good to go. All right, love you. Take it away. [00:04:11] Speaker C: Thank you, thank you. I'm going to pray real quick and then we'll dive into it. Father, thank you for this morning. Thank you for the reality that when we are reconciled to you through Jesus, that we're not just reconciled to you, God, but you reconcile us to one another, that you make us a family. Ephesians 2, that Mark just read from moves into Ephesians 3 that says where there is a wall of hostility between people, that you break that down, that there's so many things in our world that would seek to divide us from trivial things like just stuff we like we're into our preferences or hobbies, to our nationality or ethnicity or our race or our language, to politics, to music, to where we live. To the family we grew up in, there's just so many things that would seek to divide us. And I just pray, Lord, that as your people, we continue to walk into, living out and embodying unity and love and all the things. Jesus, Jesus, you never call us to do anything to one another that you haven't done to us. First you say forgive as you've been forgiven. You say as beloved children, love one another dearly. And so, Lord, I just pray that you. Yeah. Would use this morning to build increased unity, increased love, increased faith. And, yeah, Jesus, that you'd be honored for your goodness this morning. Thank you for the family we get to belong to. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Gotta watch the clock because I always forget. All right. Boom. All right, well, today's a really good day in the life of this church. You are ordaining a new spiritual leader in the life of this church, which is exciting, but I just want to tell you that you may. When I hear stuff like that, I'm like, man, it's like a formality. Like we're coming to a big, like, signing of a paper or something, you know, like, you know, Vinny's gonna get a new title. Like, that's great. You know, kinda like if you work in the corporate world, you kind of get called these meetings. People get promotions and you have to pretend like you care and you don't even know who this person is. And you didn't know people got paid that much. There was mugs like that. But you get called in, there's this moment and it's a bad lunch and whatever. This isn't like that. There is a formality and a title involved. There's a title change today, if you will. But just because there's formality doesn't mean it's not super meaningful to say today is just a formality. And I'm saying this because it's easy. You can just kind of check out, like, oh, it's like a business meeting at church this week. You know, they're changing offices or something. But that's like saying when my friends, Jonathan Nadia Lopez, who helped lead restored LA, had their new baby on the 4th of July. Lucy Lopez. Lucy Mirica Lopez. [00:07:10] Speaker E: Right. [00:07:11] Speaker C: It's like saying what happened in that hospital room was just a meeting to sign a birth certificate and formally, you know, formality, where they legally became parents and responsible for this little girl. Yes, there was a formality. Yes, there was a signing of a birth certificate. But after over 24 hours of labor, if you were to tell Nadia this was just kind of a formality, right? She'd be like, this was not a formality. [00:07:33] Speaker B: Right. [00:07:34] Speaker C: Something messy and glorious and beautiful happened. And a few months ago, my wife and I got to be at the wedding of our long term little sister in the faith named Sarah Ballard. She got married after years of faithful waiting and dating, and she became Sarah Janes. And her status was changed from single woman to married woman. But the amount of money in food and people and dancing tells you there was more than just signing a wedding license going on. Something glorious and beautiful and spiritual and wonderful was happening in the midst of a formality. We did sign a wedding license, but that's not what it was. My son, next week, my oldest son, he's gonna go take his written test to get his learner's permit, his driving permit, right? Now, many of you parents know that the legal formality of that test is happening at the most generic, boring, formal, government, building, the dmv, right? Which I think Catholics believe. I don't know the theology. That might be purgatory. I read somewhere it's very boring and life draining formality. But when your baby parents, when your baby boy becomes a driver, there is something beautiful and spiritual and absolutely terrifying that is happening, right? There's something weighty, and so there's spiritual weight to who leads in the church and in the Bible, actually, there is blessing connected in the Old Testament to who your leaders are. And there's curses tied to who your leaders are and restored to Mecca. I just want to tell you, you're like, which one are we? You are blessed. You're blessed. You need to know, this is not a perfect church. But, man, it's a healthy church. There's no such thing as a perfect church. Charles Spurgeon once said, if there was a perfect church, you could not belong because you would ruin it. And so would I. And again, one of the reasons it's healthy is that God has given it healthy leaders who love Jesus and love people. You do not have perfect leaders because they do not exist. But you have good leaders. You had Heather Berger up here as a significant kids ministry volunteer, elder's wife, significant leader's church. She's crying as she prays the gospel over these kids. That's leadership. And I'm just telling you, I've been around the block. It's rare. I used to be on staff at a very big church that was run like a business. And Scott. Where's Scott? Deal. Real deal. Deal. We worked there together. We won't get too into it, but we saw a lot of weird corporate stuff where it was like what God was doing was so secondary to what we wanted to do. And passing kids through kids ministry was just solving a spreadsheet to get people to come long enough to make the church gathering grow. And you have women crying over who is being placed them experiencing the gospel. In my role, I walk with leadership teams and I see the painful. Including this leadership team, I see the painful sacrificial choices that men often make behind the scenes to keep this church safe. The choices they have to make that make their life harder, but are loving. I once was on Herc Berger, was on Eldership down in San Diego with us. And we had a man who went through a like three to four month manic episode. He was bipolar. We have a friend, he's a clinical psychologist. She said it's the worst she's ever seen. And we were basically doing rounds a few times a week to be with him, to keep him safe because we couldn't make him go to the hospital. We were there the night before, we called the police to try to get him help because he was sawing into a wall 10 at night because he was going to remodel his house and he was in boxer shorts and he was using pots and pans. And they said, well, if he's not hurting anyone else and he owns it, there's nothing we can do. And he flooded the condo complex the next day. I literally said on the phone, I said, he's either going to cut through a wire and electrocute himself or cut through a pipe and flood the house. [00:11:32] Speaker F: And. [00:11:33] Speaker C: And that's what happens. And I was with Herrick when we were almost ran over by this guy when he was in a Jeep. And I was with Herrick when we did something illegal. But loving that his wife asked us to do, we put a GPS tracker on his Jeep because we didn't know where he was a lot of the time and we were worried he was going to hurt himself. And I know that during that time, Heather was home at night while Herrick's doing MacGyver stuff. There is a cost to this. I was once in. I went to Israel on a trip once and it was like a Bible tour thing. And I was with Tom and Ebony and just the consistency of these leaders. We were staying at a very bad hotel thing. It was like in a tour and it was all very cheap places, which was how we like it because we could not have afforded, like a big thing. We gave you Half off, and it was rough. But we were at the Sea of Galilee, and we were in a little hotel thing, and the rooms had the lowest water pressure of all time, and this is a party foul. I was in their room. We were hanging out one night, and I clogged the toilet. Okay. I've never, like, there are people who are like, I like to be served, or I like to serve, you know, like some. You know, there's the washer, the washer of the dishes. Person leaves the dishes to soak. You've heard that joke before. There's people, you know, and I typically like. I do too much. Counselors call over functioning. I tend to want to do too much. I don't like to be served. And Ebony also loves to serve people. And we were in a real serve off situation because, I mean, I know we. We all. We all poop. Just get it out there. You know it, I know it, everyone, right? I'm not making that the point of the sermon, but it was clocked, and there was no plunger. Okay. There's also no one at the front desk. There was no way to get a hold of these people. I'm like, I know, Lord. You walked on water. I just need you to make this water go away. And I'm just more. And EVs like, let me go in. I'm like, you're not coming in here. Like, Ebony, I will punch you. You cannot. My shame was so high. I was so mortified. She's like, I'll clean it up. I'm like, you're not gonna clean it up. [00:13:37] Speaker F: Right? [00:13:39] Speaker C: That's Ebony behind the scenes, serving in some of the most rough, gross, Seriously, like, ways that you would never know about that are thankless, that are just true to her character. She jumped right in there. And I can go on and on. Eric and Heather moving here. Mike stepping away from a career where he would have made a lot more money than being a pastor. There is sacrifice embedded into the. So these are not perfect leaders. They are good leaders, like, they really are. And so today, as we ordain a new spiritual leader in life, this church, I just want to say that as Tom and Mike and Herrick have been lovingly leading and doing their best to lead, they're not just going, hey, who do we want to lead with us? One of the things you see in the book of Acts is it says that they saw grace upon someone. And grace biblically just means help from outside of yourself. So it's like they saw that the power of God, God helping Them. And then they saw that person helping others, and so they saw that. And so one important thing to know is that when you ordain elders in churches, you don't ordain people who you think would do a good job in the role. You ordain people who have been living out the role, and you're just honoring what's already been happening. It's been said once you know what elders do. Elders eld, they care for people. They open up their home. They are invested in people, and they love God more than they love the people. And they want to help. The people love God more than the people love them as a leader. And so when that's happening, after a while you go, hey, would you want to jump in and do this? And so I just want to start today by saying, man, what are spiritual leaders? And why does this matter? I'm just going to quickly look at this. I have a little slide. In the New Testament, spiritual leaders have multiple titles. The Bible calls them elders, overseers, pastors. It can be a little confusing. There's like three titles, but really it's not three titles, really. It's describing the person, the function, and the posture. The person, the function, and the posture. One author says this find it helpful. He says an analogy can be made between an elder and a carpenter to help think through this concept. An elder oversees in much the same way that a carpenter builds. Elder is who the person is, and overseeing is what he does. A carpenter is the person building is what he does, just as a carpenter is also called a builder. Elders are also called overseers and shepherds because that is what they do and how they do it. They oversee and shepherd the local church. In a nutshell, the different titles given to the spiritual leaders of the early church reveal the various aspects of their work. Right? So again, there's elder is who they are. The Greek word pres butos, what that means literally is an old person, a mature person, a spiritually mature person. Because the Bible consistently teaches that discipleship is more caught than taught. It's been said that children don't remember what we say, but how we lived. People become like the examples they have around them, right? They become like the people we are as parents, not what we say. There is no such thing in do as I say, not as I do in the way God designed the world for humans to learn. One author says. He says a child is fooling around at the dinner table, playing with his potatoes with a knife. His father sees it and screams at his son to control himself. At the dinner table. The father thinks he's teaching the child not to have bad manners at the table. But his outburst teaches a stronger lesson. Treating someone with a lack of kindness and being a jerk is acceptable when you are angry or emotional enough. His words call for self control, while his example models the loss of it. Children often learn the lesson we embody more deeply than the one we announce. And this is so important right now. They just did a study on why people are leaving the church. It was like a four year study and everyone thought it was like deconstruction and toxic leaders and all this stuff. And it's not. That's a small portion. You know what the number one reason is? Moving to a different city. You know what the second one is? And it's close. Second, youth sports, I kid you not. And the idea is this is that if you tell your kids Jesus is the most important thing in your home, but you skip out on church three or four times a month whenever there's a tournament, do not be surprised when your kids no longer follow Jesus and drift away from the church. In college, because you never said this. Hear me? You never said this. But the embodied example, is worshiping Jesus important as long as something more important isn't on the schedule? So when they go to college, like, yeah, I have a final, that's pretty important. And there's this slow drift that happens. And so when the Bible says elders, it means a faithful example of what it means to follow Jesus. We'll talk more about this in a second. So that's who elders are. They're examples of what it means to worship, love, obey, and become like Jesus. They're not perfect in that. And there's qualifications. One Timothy, three Titus one. We don't have time to get into it today. Read those and hold your elders up against those. But the thing I would say is, DA Carson, New Testament scholar, he said what elders are called to be is not that special on paper. It's just being a Christian. Like it says they shouldn't be drunkards. It's not like Christians get to be drunkards, but not the elders, right? It's no like, I learned how to be a Christian by watching you. The majority of the church was founded when everyone was illiterate. The way you learn to follow Jesus was by watching leaders. What do elders do? They oversee. It's a Greek word, Episcopal, where we get the word Episcopalian. It means overseer. It literally means to be over and seeing. Pretty basic, really intense etymology there. The idea, it's connected to like a general or a. Or literally better for this, because we'll see in a second a shepherd who would be like up on a cliff looking over like sheep looking for wolves and looking for danger and looking for places they could fall off into. And so the idea is that you see threats and you want to protect the church. And the threats could be bad teaching, which we see all throughout the Bible messages that we hear. It could be people who are there to hurt people, you know, wolves or. I'm not trying to be funny about this. Like, people that are. I'm not saying this is a wolf. For the record, it's a new category. We've had times in the church where someone was like, into multi level marketing and they saw the church as like a soft target and they started inviting people over for dinner and they're like, man, I'm finally going to get to know someone at this church. Like, hey, how's your Tupperware? [00:20:02] Speaker E: Right? [00:20:03] Speaker C: It's like, right? It could just really hurt the church. It's seeing where the church is going, vision, direction, calendar planning. You can see what part of the flock is growing and healthy. You know, who's hurting, who's in sin, who is ready for leadership development. Like just seeing where different sheep are at because you care about them and you know them. Elders also should oversee the whole church, not just their favorite part. Elders are not a, like a. A representative in Congress. Like, I'm the elder that represents the youth ministry. I'm the elder that represents gcs. And then you fight for your right to party, okay? They are there to look at the entire thing going, hey, we want to keep the whole thing healthy. And again, the metaphor most commonly given to elders is shepherd. And the other one is parents, spiritual parents. When me and my wife talk about what we meet weekly, we talk about how our kids are doing as part of that, we're not advocating for man. Liv's my favorite. Cal's my favorite. Clive's my favorite. And we're beefing over that. That'd be so dumb. We're going, what do they each need? Where are they each struggling in their character? Where are they each needing some care? What do they each have going on in their calendar this week? And so that's the idea of oversight. And then how do elders lead? So elders are immature. Sorry, not mature. Imperfect yet mature. Examples of what it means to love, obey, and become like Jesus. What do they do? They oversee. But how do they do it? And again, it's like a shepherd. Not as a CEO, not As a general. And so what I want to say is I remember one time I gave this sermon in Ireland, a version of this, and I was talking about shepherds and sheep. And I was like, because I've been in SoCal for a so long, not like I grew up in Ireland, I'm from SoCal. But I was like, it's not like we see sheep every day. They're like, dude, we see sheep every day. And I was like, okay, touche. But it's like, man, what, what do shepherds do? What does flesh and blood shepherd, like, leadership look like? And to answer that question, we're going to look at 1st Thessalonians, chapter 2, verses 1 through 12. You guys can turn there if you have Bibles, which I would highly recommend bringing. Paper Bibles. Paper Bibles, Never. I've never experienced a paper Bible where a fantasy football update popped up. So, or, or a passive aggressive email from a boss. I' but in like First John, it's like, boom. So I'd recommend paper Bibles when you're at church. So a little context. Paul wrote First Thessalonians to encourage the Thessalonian churches in their faith, to reassure them about those who had died, they had friends who died, they were martyred during persecution. He's encouraging them to continue. He's encouraging them saying, here's what's awesome about you. He's saying, continue to hang on to the faith even though people have, have died or left, they're in the midst of persecution. But here's what I love most about First Thessalonians. One of my Bible college professors told when we were, we did a class on First Thessalonians. And he said that in Ephesians and Romans, we see the theology of Paul the preacher as clear as day. He said, but in First Thessalonians we see the heart of Paul the leader. The heart of Paul. And so I'm going to read the whole text. It says, First Thessalonians 2, verse 1. It says, for you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our visit with you was not without results. On the contrary, after we had previously suffered and were treated outrageously in Philippi, a little Philippi shade. As you know, we were emboldened by our God to speak the gospel of God to you in spite of great opposition for our exhortation or our challenge to you to grow in your faith. For exhortation didn't come from error or impurity or an intent to deceive. Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. So we speak not to please people, but rather God who examines our hearts. For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy motives. God is our witness. And we didn't seek glory from people, either from you or from others. I've met many leaders who want glory from people. And if I'm honest, there's parts of my heart that want it if I'm not careful. Verse 7. Although we could have been a burden as Christ's apostles, instead we were gentle among you as a nursing mother nurses her own children. So that's what Vinny's going to be up to. Spiritually breastfeeding. Verse eight. Just kidding, Vinny. Just kidding. We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives because you had become dear to us. And just say real quick about verse eight, Spiritual leadership is not just talking up front from a mic. It's being with people. It's knowing people. It's walking alongside people. It's letting them again, if you're an example, your life has to be able to be seen again. I won't name names, but me and Scott once were at a church. The lead pastor had a green room, okay. And the younger pastors would escort him to his car with armed security because someone might want prayer or to talk to a pastor. And we literally would walk him to the car just in case, you know, a crazy fanatic wants prayer and a pastor have to pray for. Does that make sense? That's not God's way. He's a good man. There's a lot of good things about him. But that aspect of his ministry did not reflect what ministry in the New Testament church looks like. Says for you remember our. Again, you have to be able to be known. For you remember our labor and hardship, brothers and sisters working night and day so that we could not burden any of you. We preach God's gospel to you. You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devoutly, righteously and blamelessly we conducted ourselves with the believers. As, you know, like a father with his own children, we encouraged, comforted and implored each of you to walk worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. Okay, so a couple ideas here. And my message is called the Portrait of a Healthy Shepherd Leader. And because I was trained to preach this way, and because it's awesome, I have alliteration. I've got five Ps, right? Five Ps. The first one is Proclaimer he says that Paul says they were emboldened to speak the gospel of God to you in spite of great opposition. Even in the face of great opposition, Paul speaks the truth. Spiritual leadership requires courage to say hard things that people don't want to hear that they need to hear. Ferdinand said, once leadership is taking people kicking and screaming where they want to go, right? It's the kind of thing that goes, tells a kid, I love you, but you need to get this shot right. It's never been more controversial to say, sorry, guys, I love you. You need to eat protein. I think my middle son would just eat food you can get at a gas station if we, you know, he's like, I think Doritos is a good dinner. It's not right. He doesn't have the wisdom to see that. And so spiritually, it's the same way. And this is important because when I think of the leader who embodies this, I think of one of our lead pastors, Brad Sarin, at Restored la. He courageously protects his church every time he preaches by saying stuff they don't want to hear. And they love it. They keep coming back, right? Because again, my hunches. Tom didn't tell me to talk about team sports. I just know it's the suburbs. And I also know that data and it's dangerous spiritually. So I brought it up, right? I know. That's why I know some of you guys here are like, you saying you hate softball. I'm not saying I hate softball, but I'm saying we need to think creatively about how we. But my point is, I don't even need to defend it. My point is like, I'll speak to you about that. My point is to say things that maybe people don't want to hear that have demonstrated they've been bad for people spiritually when they're just engaged with an unthoughtful way. We're the most message to generation in the history of the world with social media. We have again, if you ever watch YouTube, there are ads inside of ads inside of ads. It's like ad ception, right? There's so many messages. There's a lot of bad messages. And so we want to protect the church from those things by proclaiming hard things. And it's spiritual, but sometimes it's physical. I worked with, again, a church in Northern Ireland, and their church existed through the guy that's there. His grandfather led a church, a Protestant church, and the 70s, 80s, and it was when the IRA during the Troubles, when the IRA and the UK were having a beef over if Northern Ireland should be a part of of the UK or not. And thousands of people died. It wasn't about Protestants or Catholics. It was about, do you think Ireland should be governed by Ireland or England, or England should govern it. And there was a lot. There was thousands of deaths, many of which as part of the Good Friday Agreement, they've agreed to never solve, just to bring peace to the nation. Which is wild. But when he was a baby, his mom was playing piano at his grandfather's church and he was in a playpen on stage. And when the IRA came in and shot up the church and killed 12 people, the first three people killed were three of the four elders who went out to the front to stop them from coming in. That is eldership. It's not on top, it's out front. Does that make sense? So proclaiming and protecting are a part of what it means to be an elder, as we see with Paul. Also, they're pure. Verses 3 through 5 He says, I'm not doing this out of impurity. I'm not trying to please people. I'm not trying to get glory from anyone. In other words, the person is consistent. They aren't different with different people. They aren't trying to gain things from those they lead. They aren't using ministry to meet their own needs. They understand that, that this work isn't about them. It's about Jesus first and foremost and about his people second. I have a story some of you might have heard me read before, but I think it's really helpful. It says, when John and his followers wrestled with his place in the story, John the Baptist of the coming of the Messiah, he chose the metaphor of the friend of the bridegroom. This is still the best metaphor for us to understand our role as leaders within the church. We are the friends of the groom. Therefore our joy is accomplished in the coming together of the bride and the groom. He says. Think of two best friends. One falls in love, the ring is bought, the wedding set. But the groom has an assignment with his job that sends him overseas. He can communicate with his bride over email or occasional phone calls, but the nature of his job is such that traveling back to help with wedding details and even some of his future bride's needs is just impossible right now. He is of course distraught in not being able to be there to help her with the wedding preparation of her day to day struggles. Always weighing on him is the nagging sense that he cannot really look after her to protect her until he returns. So he engages his best friend. Help me bro. Keep an eye on her, make sure she's okay, make sure nothing happens to her. And if there's anything she needs, try to help her. And so he does. At first towards friend. But then over time, something happens between the friend of the groom and the bride. The groom is mentioned less and less in the relationship, is less and less about the groom and and more about them. Until one day the friend realizes he's in love with the bride with the way she makes him feel. Important, strong, helpful, handsome and so on. And worse even still, she is in love with him. She has forgotten the groom and now relies and now loves the friend of the groom more. She has come to trust him and rely on him. And the intimacy that was meant for the groom has been stolen by the friend. This is a broken picture of ministry, counseling, preaching, discipleship and more. It is a broken picture of leadership that loses sight of its right place. So we exist as leaders to help Jesus and his church connect. We are not there to take the place of Jesus again. We embody Jesus from the perspective of like we want to treat people the way Jesus would treat them and they experience what he's like as we love them, but we're not trying to replace him or get our own need met through through ministry. It's when it gets really dangerous and really weird. 1st Thessalonians 2. 7 it also there's this idea of the next p is parent. First Thessalonians 2. 7 says, Although we could have been a burden as Christ's apostles, instead we were gentle among you. As a mother nursing her own children, healthy church leadership doesn't take again its primarily primary place from the stage. It takes place as you slowly, patiently reparent people in the gospel. One of my kids struggled with a medical condition and it was really intense and it was really hard. And it required me and my wife to be very patient, to disrupt like all of our plans for about six months to a year and to learn everything about this condition. And we made our life walking alongside our kid as they worked through that issue. That's what pastoral ministry is like. It's being there, nurturing, patiently helping people become the person that God has called them to be [00:33:08] Speaker A: again. [00:33:08] Speaker C: When I think about this kind of leadership, I think about Herrick Berga Herrick is a patient man. [00:33:14] Speaker B: Right. [00:33:14] Speaker C: I'm sure Heather's like most of the time. Right? [00:33:16] Speaker A: Right. [00:33:17] Speaker C: We all have someone who knows we're not perfect, but Herrick is so patient. I would actually argue he's least patient with himself, but he is gracious, I think, to a fault at times. He desires to understand the other person. He listens. He'll listen to you share really hard things from your life for a really long time and in no way want you to feel bad about that. Like, he wants to be there to do that. And it's wonderful. I just want to thank you for that. Yeah. Yeah, Seriously. The next thing is pattern. Pattern. I already mentioned this, but there's this idea that leaders are accessible and observable, and it doesn't mean you have coffee with them every week. You know, again, there's a lot of people, but they are known by quite a few people. And you can be known by the people that know that. Right. So, again, as churches grow, it's not possible for leaders to meet with every single person, but there's a reality that they're investing in people. One of the problems I mentioned about that big church wasn't that that guy couldn't meet with everyone. It's that he didn't have time to meet with the staff. He would literally call in to the staff meeting like he was on Larry King Live back in the day. He'd call in from his house, and we all had to be there. It's like, I'm above this or too important for this, or we couldn't get access to him for spiritual direction. And so it's not that you have to meet with everyone, but you're accessible to people. Like, you're investing and reproducing your life into others, and then they can do the same with others. And so there's this pattern. Paul says, you remember our labor and hardship. You were witnesses of how we devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly conducted ourselves. There's a pattern there. One of the things I was going to say about that, in the words of the Apostle Paul, if God wants me to remember, he'll remind me, because I forgot. But it was going to be good. He tells the Corinthians, like, if this doesn't make sense, God will make it make sense later. So I hope that happens here. But they live out a pattern. And one of the things I was gonna say. I already mentioned Ebony's insane desire to serve me in a way that I felt. She's serving me like Jesus. When Peter's like, don't wash my feet, I'm like, do not wash my toilet. Right? She's the same in front of people and not in front of people publicly. That's the idea. There's Integrity. So it's observable, but it's consistent. I had a. It's really funny. One of my friends, he's a clinical psychologist, and he graduated from Cornell University, and he's a big deal psychologist guy. And we went away for a weekend for like a birthday or something. For me, it was like a guy's weekend. And so it was a couple of lead pastors and a couple of dudes who were not pastors. Not like they were bad boys, but they weren't pastors. You know what I mean? And I remember my buddy, he goes. He goes, tom is fascinating, psychologically funny thing to say. Yeah. And he goes, dude, he is so consistently the same person. He's like. I've seen him talk at events and, like, when we're, like, hanging out in the back and whatever we're having. I think we got dinner, we had like, hibachi or something. And, like, the way he talks to people, the way that he is talking about God, the way that it's like he's the same guy consistently, which is fascinating and beautiful and clinically informed. You know, the data. Data proofs from this guy, if he was here, he's like, that's not how data works, Steve. That was an anecdote. But. But I'm a smart. He's a smart anecdoter, right? There's consistency behind the scenes. We had a restored lead pastor's retreat with spouses a few months ago. And I was just. I'm anagram7. I like to have fun. I'm enfp. Like, I like to have fun, right? You know, foods, food, you know, drinking. Not a lover of wine, but some wine pool, you know, whatever. And so I try to, like, give ample free time. And the big criticism I got from all these selfish leaders was there wasn't enough time for prayer ministry. It's the secret stuff we're doing on retreat so we could have laid hands on each other more and prayed. And so it's a consistent pattern. And one thing I wanted to say about Tom, you know, think about the thing that my friend said is, I have a thing on mirror neurons, but it's going to go too long. And I already brought a psychologist into it. We learned through example. You can look it up. Mirror neurons, Wikipedia editor, whatever. But one of the things about Tom and about elders in general, this example piece, that's also true of Vinnie Letteri. I was gonna say it, like, in a Spanish way and roll the R's. And it's Italian, but it's Italian American. And he's like, just say, like, terry, like you're tearing something. But what's true of all these men, Tom, Mike, Vinnie, the idea of example is if you live your life like they live their life, you will become like Jesus. Doesn't mean they're perfect, but you'll love Jesus more, you'll obey him more, and you'll become like him. You'll obey the Bible more. And again, I see these guys behind the scenes. This is what would be true of you. You would become more generous, you'd become more loving, you'd become more sacrificial, you'd become more devoted. I have many times I've been on trips and I'm trying to find Tom, and like, he's out praying somewhere. It's so annoying. I'm like, dude, I get it. You're spirit, you're consistently spiritual. Where do we find breakfast at this place? It's like he was out, you know, out with the guys, out with Jesus, with the guy. And then lastly is patience. And I think I define that as we were patient with people. We don't define them by their worst moment. We don't put them in a box. The heart of the gospel is transformation. One of our values in our family of churches is renewal. So we don't want things to stay the same. We want them to get better. Okay? We believe in sanctification, progressive sanctification, which doesn't mean you become more progressive politically. Everyone, relax. It's a theological term that over time, if you are. I'm not trying to fight anyone or get into that. Sorry. I also have ADHD and no medicine today, so you're welcome. We're progressively, slowly but surely being. We're being transformed from one degree of glory to the next. And good leaders, they don't put people in boxes and go, man, you. You sucked when you got here. It's like, no, that's the point of the gospel. We all suck. And Jesus takes us from something broken and turns us slowly into something beautiful. Good leaders don't go. You're defined by your worst sin or mistakes. They give you a chance to grow. Now, that doesn't mean if you're. If you're. Here's the problem. Sometimes it's. Sometimes, go, man, I want a leader who's gracious. And by gracious, they mean I want someone to. I want the church to be a hospital. And by hostile, I mean a place where I never have to get better. That's not a hospital. Right? That's like a leper colony. Okay, that's not what the church is. The church is a place where we get slowly but surely get better. So we have to be willing to receive and learn from the doctors and do the treatments and that kind of thing, but patiently going, I see this in you. And again, there's this idea of being a spiritual parent with my kids. I have seen them at their absolute worst. Okay, Speaking of poop, not to bring it up again in one sermon. I've seen them in some rough stages, right? I don't define my 16 year old by his diapers when he was one. [00:40:20] Speaker E: Right. [00:40:22] Speaker C: In the same way. Or the temper tantrum when they're three, or the disrespect in a moment or whatever. And recently, one of my sons, he gave me permission to say the story once, but I didn't get it again. So I'm just gonna say one of my sons. But he started at a new private school and he had to wear a uniform. And he was bummed about it. To say he was bummed is an understatement of the year. Okay? He was angry, he was yelling, he was like, stonewalling, saying rude things. Therapists talk about the four horsemen of divorce. He was exhibiting all four of them to me as his dad. It was like stonewalling, yelling, contempt. And I had to pull him aside and I said, you know how we talk about being a man of courage and sacrifice? We read books and we watch movies where men do heroic things. Do you know how they learned to become a man who does heroic, courageous things? They learn to put what they want aside for the good of something bigger than themselves. I was like, I get it, bro. I don't like the uniform either. I wouldn't want to wear it. I'm not in charge of the school. But the school is awesome, so they could use better fashion or whatever, but, like, I get it. This is not the coolest outfit you're ever gonna wear in your life, but you're learning a lesson that later on is gonna allow you to say no to yourself. When courage is needed, when everything in you. Because courage isn't the absence of fear, right? Courage is doing the right thing, even when you're afraid. And so it's learning to say no to the worst parts of yourself, to move. And that night, that very night, man, this is like I was on the toilet. I don't know, it keeps coming up. Sorry, Vinny, this is. The Lord's going to take this smell and turn it into flowers in a second. But that's why I wasn't doing. That's why I wasn't helping. So he was letting the dog out, and we saw a ton. Who let the dogs out? Him. And we had seen coyotes recently in the area. One morning I got up. This was the creepiest thing ever. We have a chain link fence, and it's a school right behind us. We're right on the back end of a school. I saw two coyotes sitting crisscross applesauce, not growling, silently, looking at my dog. They've gotten cats and dogs in the area recently. They were still around as far as I knew. And I hear, like, what sounds like a demon growl. And I hear my son yelling, poppy. Poppy. Which is our dog. And I'm like, whoa. And it sounds awful. And as I run out, I come out and it's like, kind of over. Poppy's got blood all over him. He'd been attacked not by coyotes, but by two raccoons. Might sound funny. They got wild teeth. They're wild. They have hands. Like they're doing wild stuff. [00:43:09] Speaker F: Huh? [00:43:09] Speaker C: Four raccoons. Sorry. Four raccoons. There's a video side note. The thing about our yard at the time, because I'm not a great property manager, is there was no lights in our backyard for a while. So I. So it's Calvin and him. But we have a security camera, like, ring camera thing. And we check it, and. I think I'll get this emotional, but I watch my boy, who has no shirt on, no shoes on. He came down from his bed upstairs to let the dog out, which he doesn't like doing. He's a little lazy, right? We talked about doing stuff he don't like doing. And we watch him and he. You just watch me. [00:43:53] Speaker G: He goes, poppy. [00:43:55] Speaker C: And then he said a cuss word, said the S word. He went. And then he just. You watch and you watch. Literally, you watch his face and you watch him go. And he just grabs a skateboard and he runs into the darkness and screams. And you see our little dog kind of limp back with blood on him, and you see our son running into the house with him. Now I bring that up to say, and maybe like, adhd, what's going on? No, no, no. Remember earlier in the day, we were just talking about doing things that he was scared? It sounded scary to me. Again, I was occupied and I ran out terrified, right? It sounded so scary. It was so dark. And he just knew something's attacking our dog. And I'm going. And he didn't know it could have been a coyote. And he ran out and did that. Does that make sense? And so this is what God does in people's lives all the time. There's these low moments where we're defined by a sin or an issue. And then God develops us and transforms us. And good elders do. I'm not a perfect dad, but I was a good dad that day by talking to these things through him. And we talked about it, and that was on his mind. And so the idea is that we want to see people grow and be transformed. And so they're patient. Paul says he was patient. Tom and I once ministered. It's my last story, and we'll move into the ceremony. We ministered at a church in South Africa, in rural South Africa. And when we got there, it was a wild place. The walls didn't connect all the way. It was like a 100-year-old farmhouse. I can't go into the story too much, but we found out there was a bat in our room for, like, two hours. It was a small bedroom. I got up to go to the bathroom. I got to the toilet. There's a frog in the toilet. Not making this up. I turn around. My buddy James runs out another toilet. So Paul says, we're the scum of the earth. That's what apostles are. So. So. So my buddy runs out, and he goes. He goes, tell me why the biggest moth in the world's in our room right now. And then there's a video of this, too. And he goes, it's a bat. And a bat just nosedives at us that have been in our room for a while. It's very rural, very rugged. You know, pastors travel, you know, big dogs. And. And the next day, it's church. And it's at this. This farm. And we get there, and it's. It's just a weird room like. Like when we have a Zulu translator. And it's. It's just all kids, like, Tracy would have been like, this is revival. It was like, 100 kids. And then there was, like, 15 ladies, and there was, like, seven dudes. And I was like, man, why do the dudes just stand in the back, like, smoking cigarettes? It's kind of a vibey, kind of jazz bar preaching situation. And the pastor, he planted the church and started a farm to feed people in the area. He goes, no, no, no. Like, all these kids pretty much are AIDS orphans. Most of these women are grandmas. Those guys are taxi drivers who have vans that they'll take them in later. And I remember after. After the service, this is a common thing you say to church planners because they're pretty new. And I said, hey, who do you have any elder candidates? And he didn't like, laugh at me or go like, dude, did you see the church? It's children with a straight face. They had a soccer field behind the house, and there's a bunch of kids playing, which is the other kids. And he said, they're probably like 12 years old, like, playing right now out there. That's the patience. Ministry is not a fast thing. That's the patience that's required in ministry to go. You're not defined by your lowest moment and where you start how messed up or immature you are. There's a process to become like Jesus and eventually lead in his church. I was with Colton Moore recently, friend of the friend of the show. Also kind of a Vinnie Letteri look, like, so, man. And he said, man, one of the best things Tom ever did for me is he told me no. He invested in me, told me no. And he is an incredible young leader. Like, he's about to plant that church in, like two months. He's a son of this house, and it's just so beautiful. But he didn't like it at the time. That makes sense. And so leaders are patiently walking with. But also it takes some time. And so Those are those five Ps. I think we know what the other P could have been. But right now, what we're going to do is I want to move into a special moment in the life of this church, and we're going to ordain Vinny onto eldership. And to get started with that process, I want to invite Vinny and Jenny both up to the stage. Give. The Bible says Paul says to outdo one another and showing honor. It all says to honor your leaders. Should be a life verse for everyone, right? That's like one of my favorite verses. I'm just kidding. But it's in there. And we're also going to touting one another and showing honor. And so again, we worship Jesus. We're not in leadership to be complimented or encouraged. We worship Jesus. But when we're able to honor those, it's really special. We went on a trip with our kids last week, and my oldest son, like, he's just gotten, I think, a lot more thoughtful, man, it's a lot of crying today. And he just said, man, thank you for bringing us on this trip. Like, this was so cool, dad. Like, he didn't have to do that. And so when we can honor people that have led or cared for us, it's this good thing. And so in the spirit of outdoing one another and showing honor and honoring those who have labored amongst you, we've asked Brittney Frad to come on up. We asked her a husband as well, Marshall, but he was called in. He's a police officer. He was called into work. So give it up for Brittany as she comes on up. We just want to ask people who've experienced Vinnie's ministry firsthand to share. [00:49:47] Speaker F: Marshall's really sad that he can't be here. So I'm speaking for both of us. So the question was, why are you grateful for your Jenny and Vinny's ministry? And as you guys know, Marshall and I met in gospel community, so. And they are our leaders in our gospel community, so they have known us throughout our whole journey. And you guys have just ministered to us, like, individually and as a couple. So. Well, before we got married, like, you just poured into us when we were trying to figure out how to be in a relationship with each other and with God. And then as we prepared for marriage, like, you celebrated us, but then you really, like, were spiritually helping us grow at that time, too, and, like, through encouragement, but also with challenge, because you love us. So, yeah, like, there's something really special about you guys is, like, you seek people out. It's like you see them before they know that they need you guys and know Jesus. So, yeah, you offer to pray for us. You tell us that we're not alone and that you're there with us, but then you remind us of the truth of the gospel. And you also, like, you're so rooted in Jesus that we know that when we come to you or when we're with you and being ministered by you, it's not advice. Like, it's from him. We can really trust that. And you guys are really funny, so it makes it really, like, really easy to talk to you also. And you're genuine and humble, and you say, hey, we've been through that and this sucks, and it's okay. And, like, we're with you, so you just really have like, been instrumental for Marshall and I individually with our spiritual growth, but also just as a couple. So we're just extremely grateful. Okay. Why are we happy that you are in eldership, just with all the things on the screen? Like Andy said, you're already living it, and we've already got to experience it. Like, the way that you've loved Marshall and I, the way you've, like, you love and lead your family. The way you lead our gospel community and the way you love your community. Like you are so on fire for Jesus and you love people so much and so well and you want them to know him, like truly know him too. So yeah, we've just been blessed by you and like what a gift this is gonna be for our church. So we love you guys. [00:53:12] Speaker C: Thank you, Brittany. Now I want to call up Mike, Ebony and Tom. Give it up, give it up. AB you're going to go first I think. Is that you? [00:53:36] Speaker E: So I'm not going to. You can check on me if I don't go in order with questions. It was just, I feel like in praying for you guys there was a lot of beautiful things that came up and I feel like this week too it's just a testament to God and what he's doing because I had been tired and foggy and I felt like when it came to praying for you guys there was just clarity. It was so beautiful. So he brought up a lot of moments and pictures. I've had the privilege of not only I feel extended time in our GC because of the pandemic getting that season and really kind of a really hard, hard time for everyone. But being able to be with you both in that season was so special and fast forward I feel to a really hard season for me and just taking the time to receive and coming under your guys leadership in your gc. Man, God is good and you guys have always, I feel from the beginning have been brother and sister and it just has shown time and time again. A specific example that I wasn't planning to share but that came up in Andy's story. Talking about messes and cleaning up. A lot of people have helped us move that gc. I mean just in ways where I'm like oh Lord. I just constantly think about it, the service that the sacrifice and coming to help me and pack and it just meant so much. It really was family. Family. But the picture of like the washer and dryer and like changing things out and like just like stuff that was collected and gathered muck wise over time underneath and. And Matt I was like oh this is a mess. And I remember thinking like I don't [00:55:37] Speaker A: want to clean this up. [00:55:38] Speaker E: Like this is, I'm not doing this. And you know, just quickly got on your hands and knees and you're like no, get the paper towels, we're gonna do this. And you just. Jenny, I'm speaking to you specifically in this. Just you weren't afraid to get in there with me. And I really think that's a bigger picture of maybe what God's doing. And yeah, I don't see full yet. Finney, like, man, you really with joy for us in that move. And you were sharing it with us, like the highs and lows, like you've shared those with us. And you were even treating it kind of like it was yours as well. In the most beautiful way. Like, seriously, in the most beautiful way. There was this like, oh, yeah, like, let's fix this. Let's do this. We can do. And what a blessing. And I really do believe there's more to that picture. What came up. I'm gonna try and make this quick. What came up in praying for you guys. And I know this seems backwards because, Vinny, this really is your ordination, but God has made to become one. And so, Jenny, I am actually starting with this verse with you. He brought up Hebrews 3, 3, 4. For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house. Now, every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God. And. And I just felt it was like, pressed on my heart. He's like, I'm her builder. Tell her. I'm her builder. And he's considered worthy of more glory. And he has more honor than the house. He is lovely, trustworthy, loyal, and committed to you as the overseer of your soul. So it just felt like that was something for you. There's more we'll share later, Vinnie. As I was going through my notes and prophetic words, because I was like, lord, help me. It was. He's like, go through your notes from five years ago, January 19th. There was stuff for both of you. So I don't know the significance of that day, but for you, he had. He was reminding me of a picture and this idea of you as this character that some of us might know as man of Steel, but not in the superhero sense. What he was highlighting for you in that was the phrase not of this world. So I feel like he wants me to remind you of that and implying that your belonging and your calling is indeed in his kingdom to come. So with that I got these verses. John 17, verse 15. I'm going to start with and go through 19. This is Jesus praying for his disciples. He's praying to the Father. I am not praying that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is Truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. I sanctify myself for them so that they also may be sanctified by truth. So just to kind of sum up again, I could probably go 45 minutes to an hour just talking over YouTube. The prayer, my prayer is that you both would be able to reach this wondrous knowledge of his great love and plans for you both, Vinny, in knowing that he is your source of joy and strength. And I've seen both of those already, but it's like a deep knowing for you. That's my prayer in this next chapter of your guys life. Love you both. [01:00:17] Speaker A: All right, guys, wow. Some of you may know, some of you know, some of you don't know. I've known this couple for, gosh, over 10 years. I mean, we've had the chance opportunity of journeying together for a while in different ways. But I was thinking about actually Andy preached on it first. Thessalonians 2, 8. We cared so much for you that you were pleased to share with we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our lives because you have become dear to us. I think so much of what I wrote down about you guys is summed up in that I think of there's a couple different things, but a couple different stories. But as a whole, when I sit down to talk with you guys, I'm like, okay, how often does Jesus not come up in our conversation? That's probably only 10% of the time, maybe like 90% of our time that we're talking. The Lord comes up in some way, the gospel, the good news of Jesus comes up in some way. And it ministers to me in such a deep way to be able to have that kinship, that connectedness, not in the things of this world, but in him. And so I just. And it sounds like so many of the other people in this church have experienced that as well. You guys are already ministers of the good news within this church and it's beautiful. And you know what's so funny is like often you know what people really care about, but when what they talk about. And we see that in you guys. And so that was the first thing I was really encouraged by. Specifically recently we got a chance to talk, just the two of us, about coming on as an elder. And it wasn't rose colored glasses or anything like that. There was a deep humility in you, but also a desire to love Jesus bride in a beautiful way. And I was so encouraged by it. I was Just like, I never questioned it, but to hear the way that you were speaking of this, like, just encouraged my heart in such a way that I was like, oh, brother in arms, we get to do this together. Sister in arms, we get to walk together in this. And so I was just so encouraged by that. I just wanted to share that, like, you saw it as a privilege to serve his bride in this way. And so, yeah, thank you. One of the other things I was thinking about was you guys, like, the humility and also this teachability thing. Teachability, by Jesus, I'm gonna qualify that. This humility, though, like, man, the amount of questions and curiosity you have, man, it blows me away. Like, you ask questions that I haven't even thought about ever. But I love it because you think in a different way. You think in the way that God has created you to think, and you ask questions in that way, too, with humility and curiosity to know deeper, like, what it is that he desires. And so the source that you go to, I see so often, is you're a guy that's, like, in the Bible, you're a man of the Word that wants to go in and be like, what does God have to say about this? And I want to have a conviction of how I follow this as well. And so, you know, just the wild questions, like, these things that we're. I don't think we're going to know on this side of heaven, but you're still asking and still searching. And there's something beautiful about that. I know many of you guys know this because you've heard the questions, but it's beautiful and it encourages me because I know that, like, as an elder in this church, the place that you're going to is to him and his Word. And that makes it safe for the people of this church to be able to trust you in that way, because you know that you're going there. Jenny, I was thinking about this conversation we had at dinner one time, and you guys were going through the book that you're, like, just getting ready for all this and all that stuff. And we were talking about what God was showing you and how you were so challenged by it. And I was like, yes, but it wasn't just that you were challenged because someone could be challenged and be like, I don't want to do that, but there was this humility in your. Like, God's showing me this, and I actually want to walk in this, and it's not easy, but I want to learn more and I want to do it. Humbly and so just that teachability by what the Lord is showing you, it's a quality that not everyone has, but it's deeply rooted in humility. And that actually makes it safe and gives, like, quite honestly makes you save people for this church. And so I'm so encouraged by that. The last thing I wanted to say was your guys relationship is just fun. I love being your friend. I love being around you. The silliness, the funniness, the way that you guys have this, like, fun banter, but is so respectful and so loving towards each other. And I think that people see that in you and they realize, oh, man, they don't take themselves too seriously, but they do take him seriously. And that right there is something that, like, I mean, I just. I love you guys deeply. I'm so excited to be able to walk alongside you in this capacity in the season. And yeah, my prayer is just that you would experience more of the fullness of what God has for you. And I know that, like, so much of this is stepping into something that you feel convicted that he wants you to step into. And I know that he's gonna continue to build you more into his image through this process. And my prayer is that you guys would give yourselves over to that. [01:05:48] Speaker F: And. [01:05:49] Speaker A: Yeah, I can't wait to see what happens, so. Love you too. Give me a hug. [01:06:01] Speaker D: Okay. I'm going to try to be quick. No guarantees. I'm going to do something a little weird. I'm going to talk to them about you for a second, and then I'm going to talk to you. You guys still with us? Okay, good. So this past year, Ebony and I spent several weeks, probably a couple months, really over the course of two, three months, we spent several weeks exploring the potential of eldership with Vinny and Jenny. We talked about what eldership is biblically. We talked about the practical practice. What does it look like? What does it look like in this context? Like in Temecula, in restored church? And we spent a lot of time really talking about whether or not it was something God was truly calling Vinny into. And one of those evenings, they come over to our house, we have dinner, and we'd talk. We'd go through this stuff and go through the Bible, go through just some content and have the conversation. And one of the evenings that they came over to the house, Vinny brought his tools with him. He brought his tools with him. And the reason he brought his tools with him is because we just moved into this new place and our old place had, like, a regular Gas, you know, so called gas, whatever for your, you know, your stove and your water heater and your dryer and those kinds of things. The new place has propane gas. And so my dryer was. Was like the kind for the old regular kind of gas, but now I needed to move it over to, you know, the propane gas. So Vinny brings his tools over. If you don't know this about Vinny, he has an expertise in home appliances. He's gifted at like a thousand different things. This is just one of the things he's like got expertise in. And many of you know that he serves you in those ways as well. But what happened that evening was that he utilized his tools and he began to take apart my dryer. And as he's taking it apart, he identifies this small part deep inside the dryer. And that small part, it needed attention. It needed to be adjusted, it needed to be swapped out. This seemingly small part in the center of the dryer, it needed attention because it was a part that was really critical to the functioning of the dryer. It was if the dryer's gonna work at full strength, if it's gonna work at full power, if it's gonna function the way that it was designed to, that small, tiny little part that was kind of hard to get to. He said it was easy. It was not easy. That small little part. For the dryer to function the way that it was designed to, it needed attention. And God has been consistently bringing that picture up to my mind because I believe that that's what God, or I should say, I believe that's how God wants to utilize Vinnie for our church in this season, is that there are parts of our community that need specific attention from people with specific giftings and specific tools, even that they're even in development themselves. But I believe that that's what God. That's a picture of what God wants to do with Vinny and with Jenny. In this season through our. In our community. I think. You can tell a lot about people when you look at their children. Nylam and Liam, Will you guys stand up for a second? Nobody in this room is flawless, perfect. We're all figuring it out. We're all trying to follow Jesus. These two young people are extraordinary. You can talk as an adult, you know, you engage with young people, and there's a whole slew and spectrum of how, you know, young people will interact with you as an adult. [01:10:04] Speaker A: You know what I mean? [01:10:06] Speaker D: As long as I've known these two, they've looked me in the eye. They've speak with kindness and thoughtfulness and respect and humility and not perfection, but just like loveliness and even like a unique strength that's not an accident. That comes from godly parents. And so you guys can give them some love. You guys can sit. I just wanted to honor you. I'm going to try to keep this brief. I'm sorry, Sorry, not sorry. Vinny is gifted at a lot of things. I'll start with you, Vin. Gifted at a lot of things. But I think my favorite thing about you, Vin, is your desire for both you and the people that you care about and love. The desire to really know God. And not just in like a knowledge sense, although that's important, but in the biblical meaning of a know, intimate, knowing, closeness, union and your pursuit of that and your desire that other people would experience that knowing God in the deeper ways. Because that's where the transformation comes. That's where the peace comes. That's where the joy comes. I love that you love this church. I love that you love these people. I love that you care deeply about them. I love that you serve this church faithfully and sacrificially. Talk about eldership being like spiritual parenting, spiritual fathering. That's what fathers do. And I've seen you do it time and time again, even when it costs you. It's admirable, Jenny. If you guys know Jenny, like, she has what I would call an admirable faith. What I mean by that, I've watched Jenny throughout the years demonstrate a level of trust in God that's honoring, even where she kind of puts other people in a healthy way, kind of in check of like, no, no, no, no. God's trustworthy. Let's not forget this admirable faith is not just acknowledging that something's true. It's acting in light, as though. As acting as though it is. Jenny cares deeply about people. She's one of the most approachable people I think I've ever met in my life. There's a kindness in her that's just. It's disarming. It's spectacular. And maybe the most important thing about Jenny is that she keeps Vinny in line. And so I'm gonna shut up now, but I just wanna tell you guys how thrilled I am, how proud I am, how encouraged I am of watching, like, having kind of a front row seat of watching God do things in you, do things through you, and prepare you for this season. And then you, with faith, with trust, with joy, and I think with sobriety, saying, yes. And that's the foundation of the kingdom of God. Your yes, God willing, will result in more yeses to the lordship of Jesus Christ. And so I honor you, I bless you. I love you dearly. I'm so, as the young people say, hyped. Andrew, take this microphone for me and lead us. [01:13:25] Speaker C: Thanks. And obviously, it's a little bit longer today. There's no music back end. If you're like, man, how long? But big moments are worth taking a second on, you're not going to remember being 15 minutes later or whatever out of here. You will remember being here and what it meant. So, yeah, so right now we're going to move into a time where Vinny is going to take his elder vows. And these are rooted in Acts, chapter 20, Paul's address to the Ephesian elders before he leaves them. Primarily rooted in that text and some other ones in the pastoral epistles might seem really formal. Like, this is really intense, man. It's so funny because we're so used to the church tradition we're in, it's like low church evangelical. It's like, this is so low key compared to, like, a priest ordination or. It is very fancy and very long and very ornate. And so. But this is something that's important and weighty. I just want to take a second. Also, Vinny's already seen these vows, and he said, I can agree to these. I'm not springing these on him because he actually texted me back. He's like, dude, these are sobering vows, but I can agree to them. And one of the things I have loved is that when I met with Janny, Vinny a few times to talk about eldership, I just said, hey, do you feel one of the qualifications of an elder is it's a noble task. It's a noble thing to desire. And I said, do you have a desire? He's like, I don't know if I have a desire for eldership, but I have a desire to obey God. And I think God is calling us into this role because he said, you know, he wasn't like, I know eldership's not easy. I know. It's just like being a parent. It's like, parenting is glorious. You don't want a parent who's always complaining about being a parent, right? Like, oh, no one wants to grow up with the parents like that. You don't want pastors like that either, Right. So there's a cost. It's a glorious, amazing thing to do, but it's hard. But he just said, I know, it's not an easy thing, but I want to do it. I want to obey Jesus. And so these vows are really him saying, hey, I want to follow Jesus into the things that God called, calls elders to in scripture. Does that make sense? And so, Vinnie, I'm going to. Yeah. Read through these lines very wedding ceremony style. I'm just going to read each line and if you can agree to that, I just want you to say, I do. Okay. So, Vinnie, if you endeavor to do the following. Yeah, say I do. Do you vow to live what you preach transparently and with integrity? [01:15:40] Speaker G: I do. [01:15:42] Speaker C: Do you vow to be consistent under pressure? [01:15:45] Speaker G: I do. [01:15:46] Speaker C: Do you vow to do the work of an evangelist? [01:15:49] Speaker G: I do. [01:15:50] Speaker C: Do you vow to model what it means to be spirit led and spirit empowered? [01:15:54] Speaker A: Great. [01:15:55] Speaker G: I got my own. [01:15:55] Speaker C: Good for Tom the tech guy. [01:15:57] Speaker G: Test, test. [01:15:58] Speaker B: I do. [01:16:01] Speaker C: Do you vow to preach the whole counsel of God in a spirit of grace? [01:16:04] Speaker G: Yeah, absolutely, I do. [01:16:07] Speaker C: Do you vow to guard the whole flock against heresy, sin and division? [01:16:11] Speaker G: Yes, I do. [01:16:12] Speaker C: Do you vow to carry out the threefold role of an elder to shepherd, oversee and teach with Jesus at the center? [01:16:17] Speaker G: I do. [01:16:18] Speaker C: Do you vow to live sacrificially and generously? [01:16:22] Speaker G: I do. [01:16:22] Speaker C: Do you vow to serve the church in prayer? [01:16:25] Speaker G: I do. [01:16:26] Speaker C: Do you vow to carry out church discipline on cases of unrepentant sin that harm the soul of the person and the health of the church, even when [01:16:34] Speaker G: it pains you, even when it's painful? I do. [01:16:38] Speaker C: Do you vow to always point people to Jesus, the good shepherd and great Commissioner, and to help cultivate a healthy church community? [01:16:45] Speaker G: I do. [01:16:45] Speaker C: And do you vow to serve under the lordship of Jesus? [01:16:49] Speaker G: Absolutely, I do. [01:16:51] Speaker C: Right now it's going to get a little interactive in here. So if you are a member of restored Temecula, would you stand? If you're a member of this church, would you stand? I'm now going to read some statements that are really around you receiving Jenny and Vinnie as elders. So if you agree to them, say I do. If you don't agree to them, please talk to us offline. Don't do, like, do you have any forever hold your pee. Like, hold the peace. You could talk about it later. You also were given an opportunity to share if you had concerns before, but they've been presented as. I know, but. Do you restore Temecula? Do you receive Vinnie Leteri as an elder of this community? If you say so. If you agree, say we do. Do you vow to do all that you can to aid him as he desires, to protect you lead you and feed you here at Restored Church, even when that includes submitting to discipline. If so, say we do. Do you commit to pray for Vinnie, his family, his ministry? If you. If so, say we do. [01:17:59] Speaker B: All right. [01:18:00] Speaker C: Right now I. You guys can grab a seat. And we're going to close Harrigan. Heather, would you come on up here? And we're just going to pray for them. We're going to have. Yeah, three of us pray for them, but we'll all gather around. Marlo, would you come up as well? Let's lay hands on them. [01:18:22] Speaker A: Maybe. [01:18:22] Speaker C: Eric, if you could kick us off. Tom, if you want to close us. If someone wants to pray in between, feel free to pray. [01:18:41] Speaker B: Father, I want to thank you for this couple. The word that came to mind this morning was faithful, just as you are faithful to us. I think the gospel has made a deep impact in this household, in this couple, in this man. And they've experienced a revelation of your faithfulness. And I think it has produced fruit. And so I want to thank you for a faithful life. Someone who has a couple, who has. In a family that's been faithful, what they've been given. And I thank you for this moment. It's been faithfulness in small things. It's been faithfulness in big things and everything in between. God, that I believe is a huge part of why we're here today. And so I pray for your blessing over them. I pray for this would be a moment that marks their lives, their household, their history. That there would be something of a before and after. Not that they're intrinsically different today than they were yesterday, but rather that there's just been this moment where we as a community have been able to recognize what you've been doing all along and partner with you in it. And get to say yes, just as they've said yes. That we get to say yes and move forward together as a household of faith, if you like. God, a community, a people, your people. God, thank you for all that you've done. We're so grateful to you for Vinny, for Jenny, for their household and God. May there be many more years of fruitful ministry ahead, many lives. God touched that there would be. They would be key players in many transformation stories and that it would all be for your glory. The praise of Jesus Christ. [01:20:51] Speaker D: Father, thank you. [01:20:53] Speaker A: Just as Herod prayed. You are faithful. And I thank you for the faithfulness of Vinny and Jenny. To step into what you've called them to. To say yes to you. Grateful for how I've Seen you at work in their lives. How they've received the gospel as such good news. And how you've. [01:21:17] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:21:17] Speaker A: How you've gifted them to be able to share that with others as well. How. That they are people of character that reflect your values, your kingdom values. And they are not. They're unashamed in showing that to others, God, that you've made them witnesses to this church, but even far beyond that. And I pray, God, as they step into this. What they've already been doing, but they step in, in intentional ways that you would fill them afresh with your spirit to be able to carry out the work that you'd have for them, that you'd give them deep conviction in those places and ultimately just to love your bride really, really well. Yeah. Lord, I pray for protection over their household and ask God that your hand would be upon them, that you would. Yeah. That you'd surround them, that they would know that you are present with them, God, that you protect their hearts, you protect their children. We thank you. We thank you for this couple. So look forward to what you're going to do in and through them, for your kingdom work. We pray this in your name. [01:22:35] Speaker D: And in closing, Jesus, I just want to bless you. What an absolute gift, the transformation that you began so many years ago in these two. The way that you've invaded their lives with your grace, and that grace has been taking ground in them ever since. It's so powerful and beautiful. I thank you for the ways that you have already served this precious church through these two wonderful people. I thank you for the many ways moving forward that you're going to bless this precious church through these two wonderful people. I thank you that you filled them with your spirit. And even just now, I want to pray for an increased filling for them. Apart from you. We can do nothing, Jesus. But when we abide in you, the impossible can be possible. The kingdom of God can advance. And so my prayer is that you would fill them, you would empower them, you would bless them, and that would be so contagious. In the same way your grace has invaded their lives, I pray that they would be conduits of invading grace in the lives of these people and anybody who comes in contact with them. I'm so thankful and I honor you, Jesus. There's nobody like you. We worship you. We thank you and we praise you for the gifts that you've given us in this incredible couple. It's in your holy and beautiful and wonderful name that we pray, Jesus. Amen. [01:24:02] Speaker C: Vinnie, I commission you to Serve this church as an under shepherd. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Restored Temecula, I present to you for the very first time, your newest elder, Vinnie Letteri. We are, we're almost done. But I did ask Vinny and Jenny just to share, briefly share their heart for you as the church. And then in Vinnie's first act as a newly installed elder, he's going to send you out with the benediction. [01:24:42] Speaker G: Okay, we got about 45 minutes or so and I want to try to honor your time. I know we're already over. You want to come down here with me? This was not easy, it was sobering. But we love you. Jesus really cares about his bride, like a lot. And I desperately want you guys to know how much you're loved. To the degree that you can understand. The love that he has for you is to the degree that you will. That you'll submit to him more, that things will make sense, life will make sense. It can be really difficult at times. But I desperately want you to understand and experience the profound nature of his great love. So much so that he left perfection, entered his creation just for you, which is the whole purpose. In John 13, there's this like scene where he washes the disciples feet. It's like really beautiful. I can't imagine being there and Jesus being like, hey, take your shoes off bro, I'm gonna wash your feet. Like, oh, like no. [01:26:05] Speaker C: Like what are you. [01:26:06] Speaker G: And he says, man, if I don't wash your feet, you can have no part with me. He came to serve part of this process and part of what we're going to be doing is going to be washing your feet, loving you, trying to point you really to Him. I'm deeply flawed. I'm deeply flawed. Guys, my son is shaking his head. Yes, I'm a sinner, man. I really am. But by his grace, I'm here following him and I desire that you would see his beauty. So this is just going to be a very quick benediction. Benediction is really just like pronouncing a blessing over us. So may the Creator God, the one who left creation. Sorry, left his perfection to enter his creation, the One who loves us with such depths that we really honestly can't understand them or comprehend them. Would he bless us? Make his face to shine down upon us? Would he unite us as a people who desire to offer him praise because he is worthy and he is glorious and he is good. I'm just going to quickly pray for us guys, and we'll be done. Okay, Father I feel really honored, Jenny, and I feel honored. But really, I want this morning to be about you and about your glory and about your faithfulness. So thank you for not giving up on any of us. Thank you that you're trustworthy. Thank you that you're good. Thank you that you're the kind of father that we always desire to have and hope to have and really need. The one that loves us but also gives us correction when we need it. Would you be with us? Would you watch over us? Would you unite us? It's in the name of Jesus that I ask these things and we all say together. Amen. Thank you restored. Love you guys lots. Enjoy your Sunday. Supposed to tell you to please go get your kids and relieve our kids workers do we need to do chairs today? And we have to do chairs so if you're able to stick around that'd be amazing. And K through 5 are in room 511, FYI. Okay. Love you guys. [01:28:50] Speaker F: It.