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Fascinating.
I'm stationed in Okinawa right now and the pickings are very slim here unless one is comfortable with liberal, pentecostal, or charismatic theology and I am not.
I attend an SBC Church out in town and am struggling with whether I should continue to attend. The issues are diverse but I'm staying for the time being out of a sense that God may be calling me to serve this congregation. There are many hungry people at the Church and I love worshipping with Americans, Japanese, Filipinos, and the other missionaries here. Anyhow, pray for me.
It's encouraging to see the SBC talk about this because this issue is at the heart of why the congregation is so weak and immature with two Pastors that left the Church in an immature state and no real discernible leaders or anyone very knowledgeable in the Word after nearly 15 years. When a Church is seeking to grow men to the Eldership it gives the Godly something to aspire to and measure themselves against. The single pastor/multiple deacons model creates a cult of personality where, often, it is the Pastor who is expected to know the Word and there is little expectation for the men to know the Word.
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