Carlton McLeod's message from the Burnings in the Soul Luncheon at the 2022 Knowing God conference in Ridgecrest, NC.

My name is Carlton McLeod, and I have the honor to serve Calvary Reformation Church in Chesapeake, Virginia. And to Brother Johnson, I do know what 10 minutes is. It's 20 minutes. Amen. Oh, man, I got a lot burning in my soul.

The need for, as has already been communicated, the unadulterated truth to be lovingly preached. The need for sound and solid biblical worldview to be inculcated into the hearts of our children and our homes and in our churches that we might combat the falsehoods of the day, including racism, including homosexuality, including transgenderism, including abortion, and the list goes on sadly. The need for the power of the Holy Spirit in our churches, empowering us and granting us courage and deeper love one for another and for lost people, and giving us the courage to keep on standing on scripture in humility. The need for courageous manhood and womanhood, the need for fearless evangelism and kingdom-oriented hospitality, and the list, as I said, goes on. But critical to much of what is needed in our day are strong local churches.

And strong local churches must be led by fearless, truth-declaring pastors and elders, preachers who will stand flat-footed upon God's Word despite the many disappointments and errors that will inevitably come in their direction. Well, friends, from what I can see coming out of COVID, Many pastors are either very tired from COVID and dealing with all the various things that came about, or very discouraged in the midst of their churches. Thankfully, not all, but many are. And many pastors and many elders are in need of great encouragement. Now, when one speaks of encouraging pastors, there is a segment of the church that rolls its collective eyes.

And all too common refrain is this, if you can't stand the heat preacher, get out of the kitchen, that kind of thing. And I acknowledge that to whom much is given, much is required, and pastors of course must be very strong and very courageous. But if you'll permit me for just a few moments, we rarely touch on what the pastor needs his flock to understand. Every once in a while, such a message needs to sound again, because again, pastors and elders in the day in which we live, they need encouragement. And it just makes sense to encourage those who are leading us in the battle.

With that heart, knowing that this lunch would not only include church leaders, but also church members, I'd like to quickly offer you, very quickly offer you, 10 things you need to know about your pastors and your elders, things that they probably aren't in a good position to actually tell you. Now again, my goals are not to cause any man to think more highly of himself than he ought to think or give glory to men in any way. My goals in fact are to encourage you and motivate you to pray more intensely for your elders, to encourage you to that end by saying things, again, good men will rarely say concerning themselves. Scripture tells us in 1 Timothy 3, this is a true saying. If a man desires the office of a bishop, reading from the King James Version, he desireth a good work.

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to whine, no striker, not greedy, a filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, How shall he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Now I don't know about you, but that's quite a list.

These qualifications describe a man called by God to be an elder, a pastor, an overseer, a bishop in the Lord's church, but he's a simple man nevertheless. And my heart this morning burns for hurting pastors. He's not perfect. He's not superhuman. He's just a man, but a man used by God for a period of time unto the glory of Christ.

And again, this list that we just read, this list of qualifications, is a very high bar. Consequently, such men who are striving to maintain that bar by God's grace need your love and your grace. Much will rise and fall based upon the leadership, the biblical wisdom and the faithfulness of local church elders, or more precisely, how God chooses to use them. And so these are 10 things that perhaps you didn't know that, and he'll probably never tell you because it sounds so self, maybe self-glorifying, and I'll say them today so that at the end of this, perhaps we'll pray harder for the men who lead us. Number one, he is biblically qualified, otherwise he wouldn't be there, but he has to work hard to maintain those qualifications.

The standards set by the Lord are very high for those who would lead the Lord's church. And so give him and his family some grace. Give him and his family some grace. There may be days where he didn't preach quite as good. Please don't go up after the service and say that wasn't as good as last week.

Give him some grace. There may be times where his children are not as well behaved as other times. Well, if you're a father or a mother, you totally understand that. Give him some grace. So he's qualified, but he's working hard to maintain those qualifications.

Number two, he loves you more than you think he does. He loves you more than you think he does. And this is for all groups of elders. If they're good men, they love you more than you think they do. And so because of that, remember the love of God and to give us gifts in the church like local shepherds.

And remember it particularly during tough moments where there's, where for some reason, I know this never happens in your churches, but disagreement has popped up somehow. Remember just how much your elders do love you. Number three, he hurts easier than you think he does. He hurts easier than you think he does. Therefore your words and your actions and your expressions, they matter.

He's not superhuman. He's just a man who wanted to serve the Lord, the Lord put in in a certain position just for a short period of time. And those emails, those letters, those calls are not calls. Those snarky text messages, they stay with him year after year if he's not careful. So he hurts easier than you think.

Be someone who builds up those who lead you, and not someone who's always looking for the latest flaw. And that's where Vodie Bakken would say, if you can't say amen, You've heard him before. Number four, he needs encouragement more than you think. So build that into your routine. It'll pay off long term in your church.

Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica and he said, "'Wherefore comfort yourselves together "'and edify one another, even as also ye do. This is supposed to be happening within the body of Christ. He wrote to the church at Ephesus in chapter four in verse 29 and said, Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and we often love that when it's going towards us, but can I just, you know, it's burning in my soul, can I encourage you to spend maybe, you know, a little more time thinking about how you might encourage that person that's laboring, that group of men that's laboring, maybe even those deacons who are laboring on your behalf? So he needs encouragement more than you think. Number five, he at times can be insecure about what kind of job he's doing for our Lord and for you.

True story, just today in this conference, I won't name his name, but just today I spoke to a very, very good preacher who has impacted my life greatly, and I said, he just finished preaching recently, and I said, hey, how'd that go? And he said, oh, I don't know, I don't know. I tell you, Carlton, I just, I don't know. I give the Lord my best, but I'm just, I'm not very good. And this guy's fantastic.

But that, such is the heart of good men. He can be, These kinds of men can be very insecure about what kind of job they're doing for you. And so he's particularly vulnerable when he's preaching or after he's preaching or slightly before. And so the week-to-week swings impact your leaders more than you think. Don't think he didn't catch that low offering.

Don't think he didn't notice that you haven't been there the last three months because you preferred watching it online. You know, it's real. And so I wanna encourage you to recognize that these men, although they're tigers and they're lions and they're Samsons and they're Davids, they're just men. And so please encourage them. Number six, he's greatly energized by unity and greatly drained by disunity.

Now we're, of course, we're not talking some kind of heavy-handed leadership where people don't have the encouragement to make their opinions known and so forth. But what we are talking about is that blessed state where churches have the same mind. Paul wrote of this as well to the church at Philippi, chapter two and verse one, he says, "'If there be any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, any fellowship of the spirit, of any bowels and mercies, you gotta love that King James language, any bowels and mercies, you really feel that. Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, being of one mind. Oh, I tell you what, if you're a leader of any kind, if you're a father, if you're a mother, how do you feel when the house is just humming along and the children are running behind you saying, is there anything else I can do, Father?

You know, is there anything else I can do, Mother? Shall I clean my room right now? I mean, you're loving it, right? How do you think pastors feel when it's you, when the church is unified and humming along and singing well and saying amen and getting after it and sharing the gospel? Oh man, it's just this wonderful cycle where everyone's getting fed and blessed and just go, but when there's discord and when there's disunity, or when we've allowed the enemy to come in and sow seeds of disunity, then I'll tell you what, it's just the most draining thing in the world.

So just please understand that. Number seven, He often sees more than you do. Your elders often see more than you do. And again, I don't mean that from a he's better standpoint in any way, but it's part of the duty of a shepherd. A shepherd is called to watch.

Reference was made just a minute ago to Paul's conversation and exhortation to the elders at Ephesus. In Acts 20, he tells them, therefore, watch and remember that by the space of three years, I cease not to warn everyone day and night with tears. Not only is he watching, but when you veer off into YouTube land and come back with some false doctrine or veer over into the wrong side of the bookstore and that thing wrecks your marriage or wrecks your heart, I mean, it hurts and he's watching it. So sometimes you may get instruction and you may not understand it initially and the elders may come to you and say, hey, you know, I saw this, and they're gonna be nice about it because that's who they are. I really want you to consider maybe, and he's kind of hemming and hawing because he doesn't want to offend you, but he's seen something most likely, and he's trying to communicate that to you in a way that doesn't offend you.

And he'll never say it like that, but I will today because you gave me the microphone. Number eight, he will eventually say something you don't like. It might be a doctrine that he gets over into that maybe you held a different position. It might be a program that he either wants to start or or most likely in this group discontinue It might be a correction, you know It could be something where where there's a rebuke that comes in the scripture tells us not just encourage but also to bring rebuke and correction at times. It might just be in the normal course of his if his Bible exposition, he runs into an area where the church is deficient or something that something has to happen.

And then we have to do this thing that we don't like to do. We have to change. Say it with me. Let's get healed. Ready?

Change. Y'all didn't say it one more time. Ready? Change. Right.

Because the word of God is supposed to change us. And in during those times, you know, you have a choice to make. You can get an attitude, or you can remember to obey them that have the rule over you, "'and submit yourselves, for they watch out for your soul, "'as they that must give an account, "'that they may do it with joy and not with grief, "'for that would be unprofitable for you.'" Number nine, He is sometimes concerned about how the trials of ministry will impact his family. So please take good care of the family. I could say a lot there, but I won't.

I'll just go on to the last one in the interest of time. Number 10, he is a target. They are, your elders are, they're targets of the devil. So please pray for them. And we'll end on that note, pray for your leaders.

Make sure that you're praying for your leaders. Paul said this to Rome and he said this to Thessalonica. He said it similarly to Philippi, to Corinth, to Ephesus. Listen to this, to Rome he says, now I beseech you brethren for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. He says, again, to the church at Thessalonica, I can't decide which one I wanna say there.

He says, brethren, pray for us. To Philippi, he says, for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. To Corinth, he says, Ye also helping together by prayer for us to the church at Ephesus, he says, praying always with all prayer and all supplication in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and all supplication for the saints. And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in bonds, and therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. If nothing else, what's burning in my soul is that we pray for the men who will lead us forward until the Lord comes.

Amen.