Elder-Preacher Relationships

Elder-Preacher Relationships | Gossip | Gratitude | Leadership | Leadership Selection | Overseeing | Shepherd-Shepherd Relationships | Shepherding

A Planned Program of Shepherd Development
ByJerrie Barber August 2, 2016August 2, 2016

Jerrie, We’ve just appointed five elders. Four of those have never served as a shepherd of God’s people. Do you think you could lead a workshop to help them in beginning this work?” The phone call arranged a weekend with the congregation’s elders and wives in Gatlinburg November 1, 2, 2013. That phone call was…

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Communication | Elder-Preacher Relationships | Goals | Grace | Gratitude | Individual Responsibility | Leadership | Shepherding

Trade Your Preacher for a Better One!
ByJerrie Barber June 21, 2016November 9, 2020

“I get tired of hearing the same preacher Sunday, after Sunday, after Sunday. In two years (from 1998), I’ll have been at Berry’s Chapel seven years. In the year 2000, if I could have three months off to travel, listen to other preachers, rest, and do some special study, it’d be a great blessing to…

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Elder-Preacher Relationships | Grief | Individual Responsibility | Termination | Transition

When a Preacher Fires the Church
ByJerrie Barber June 7, 2016November 14, 2019

I talk to many preachers who’ve been relieved of their preaching responsibilities. From their experience and mine (The Best Day to Fire Your Preacher; 3 Ways I Helped Get Myself Fired), I know it’s a painful time. I remember the loneliness and helplessness of that experience. I’ve stayed in contact with friends for several months…

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Anger | Elder-Preacher Relationships | Individual Responsibility | Leadership | Shepherd-Shepherd Relationships

Whose Heart Attack Is Most Important?
ByJerrie Barber May 17, 2016June 11, 2026

He was the most powerful “head elder” I’ve ever met in more than five decades of preaching. When a meeting wasn’t going his way, he’d say, “Well, it’s time to go out and greet the people.” (We met before services.) Without a word, the rest of the elders rose and followed him out of the…

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Communication | Conflict | Elder-Preacher Relationships | Gratitude | Individual Responsibility | Leadership | Overseeing | Shepherding

When Your Preacher Becomes THE Pastor
ByJerrie Barber April 5, 2016January 28, 2022

Why don’t people respect the authority of elders? Don’t they know the church is to follow the elders — not the preacher?” The Bible does teach that ordained men are to oversee each congregation. I’m sure there are strains of the preacheritis virus around that infect some people. Let me share with you something else…

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Communication | Conflict | Elder-Preacher Relationships | Grief | Individual Responsibility | Leadership | Overseeing | Shepherding | Termination | Transition

Buying a Tombstone…
ByJerrie Barber March 15, 2016December 10, 2024

I’m shopping for two items: an Apple watch and a tombstone. One seems more exciting than the other, but I want to buy both. With the watch, I look forward to more enjoyable runs, sending and receiving messages, checking on news and weather, and looking at emails. With the tombstone, I’m reminded I won’t be…

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Communication | Elder-Preacher Relationships | Gratitude | Growth | Leadership | Shepherding

What Preachers (I) Wish Elders Knew About Preachers (Me)
ByJerrie Barber January 19, 2016November 3, 2024

This was an assigned topic for three preachers at the 21st Century Luncheon on March 2, 2009. Two other preachers answered this question. Three elders made a corresponding presentation about what they wanted preachers to know about elders. This was my response. I don’t wish for elders to know anything about preachers. Preachers are as…

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Elder-Preacher Relationships | Influence | Leadership | Sheep | Shepherding

Good Shepherds I Have Known:
ByJerrie Barber December 15, 2015December 15, 2015

Near the end of my first New Shepherds Orientation Workshop, an elder asked, “Who is one of the best elders you have ever served with?”. My mind went to Ed Riadon in Madisonville, Kentucky. We met first when Gail, Jerrie Wayne, and I stayed in their home in November, 1968. We were in Madisonville to “try…

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Communication | Conflict | Elder-Preacher Relationships | Grief | Individual Responsibility

3 Ways I Helped Get Myself Fired
ByJerrie Barber July 7, 2015August 1, 2022

In a previous post, The Best Day of the Week to Fire Your Preacher, I told of the way my dismissal was mishandled. There is certainly a better way and a better time to tell a preacher he needs to leave. But the elder who did this wasn’t a vicious man. He was a gentle…

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Communication | Conflict | Elder-Preacher Relationships | Leadership | Overseeing | Shepherding

The Best Day to Fire Your Preacher
ByJerrie Barber June 16, 2015July 6, 2022

It was Sunday, December 19, 1976, 10:20 a.m. I had just taught a Sunday School Class. An elder gently asked me to step into the elders’ office. When the door was closed, he said, “Brother Jerrie, I think you ought to think about resigning today.” What a shock! That had never entered my mind. After…

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