Will Renfrow Ordination

Well, good evening. 

Turn with me in your Bibles to Acts 13:2-4.

Let me just start by saying thank you to Pastor John and to those of you who are members of Living for opening your building and facilities to us tonight.

You know, As we began to think about ordaining Will we understand that living water is a huge part of Will’s life in even his call to Ministry.

I know that Will and Tara have spent many years here learning and being equipped.

And so we wanted both churches to be apart of this special day for Will, and so logistically speaking, it just made more sense to meet here so that we could accommodate any and all people who may want to come and support Will.

So thank you for allowing us to do this here.

But I must this church is done more for me and even now for our church than just opening a building for one night.

Since becoming the pastor of Mt Pisgah about 9 and a half years ago, there are a few people that I trust and I will call that I know will give me good sound biblical godly advice and one of those men is your pastor John.

So I want to thank him for being a friend to me and even a mentor. 

And I want commend the leadership as a whole and here. 

Both Pastor LeBron, and now your current leadership—  John, Josh, Will, Joey… Let me just say— y’all are blessed here.

And I’m sure that there are others that have played a great role in equipping and serving alongside Will. 

And so I want to say on behalf of Mt Pisgah Baptist Church thank you to the leadership AND THE membership here at Living Water for a job well done of pouring into Will and Tara, because we now benefit from your faithfulness. 

Having said all that tonight—

My task tonight is to speak to all of us here and explain biblically why we are here.

What is it that we are doing tonight? 

We call it an ordination service. 

If you have kids, you told him what you were doing tonight they probably said what does ordination mean? That sounds painful.

Because we don’t use that term ordination that often in the church.

This isn’t something that we do every week. Right?

This is a special service.

So I think it’s important for us to understand:

Biblically where does this come from? 

What is our role here tonight? 

So first, what is ordination? 

First, when we look at the New Testament, there are several instances that speak of the church setting apart officers for specific service in the church through the laying on of hands.

So there’s something we must understand here tonight…

The church is not calling Will into the ministry.

The church tonight is recognizing and affirming and even setting apart, a man that God has called.

And this is the pattern that we see in the New Testament.

Let me show you an example of this.

Listen to what it says and Acts chapter 13:2-4

Acts 13:2–3 ESV

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Here, we see Barnabas and Saul being set apart by the Spirit for missionary work.

While this passage is not directly about ordaining pastors , it does give us a pattern: 

God calls, and the church recognizes and affirms that call through prayer and the laying on of hands. 

Later in Acts 14:23, we see Paul and Barnabas appointing elders in every church.

So you take these together, these passages show us that ordination is biblical: God calls, the Spirit equips, and the church affirms.

And then we look at Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus— 

We understand these two men are men that Paul had appointed and set apart as elders in their respective areas

Timothy is in Ephesus and Titus in Crete.

Listen to what Paul says to Timothy:

1 Timothy 4:14 ESV

Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.

Paul is reminding Timothy not to neglect the gift God had given him.

That gift was not the office itself, but the spiritual abilities for ministry—the Spirit’s enabling to teach, preach, and lead God’s people.

Paul’s point is clear: don’t ignore what God has entrusted to you.

And while Timothy’s gift was unique to him, there’s also a broader truth here: ministry itself is a gift. 

I remember at my ordination, there were three preachers…

You’re welcome for only having two tonight.

but I’ll never forget that one of them said: “Benji, you are not God’s gift to the ministry. Ministry is God’s gift to you.” 

And that’s true. It is a privilege and an honor to serve Christ’s church.

And we must not neglect to use the gifting and calling God has given us.

But the purpose of showing you that passage is to show you there was a point in time in Timothys life where the church affirmed and set him apart for service. They ordained him.

Paul in both letters that we find to Timothy, takes Timothy back to this laying on of hands to encourage timothy towards faithfulness. To remind him that the church had set him apart to a specific role and he needed to be faithful to that role.

Then yo go over to titus and Paul gives instruction to Titus, charging him to set apart and appoint elders in every town in Crete.

Listen to what Paul says in Titus 1—

Titus 1:5 ESV

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—

So as Titus goes throughout Crete this region, he would need to appoint and set apart elders for every church that would be started in these communities and towns.

So Paul tells Titus, its his job to appoint elders, pastors, and so there is an aspect and a duty that we have as the church to set men apart for this service.

So again we’re looking at the question— is this a biblical thing that we are doing? And i believe its clear that it is.. 

This has been done done all the way back during the time of the apostles.

And so Baptist Christians, also known as biblical Christians, Amen? Amen?

As Baptists, we recognize two offices of the church. 

We recognize the office of pastor or elder or overseer. 

And we recognize the office of Deacon. 

For both of those offices, we have this thing called ordination. 

And ordination is where the church affirms what God’s calls on the life of a man to a specific service.

In some cases, God saves and equips a man to serve the church and then the church affirms and sets that man apart for the office of service as Deacon. 

And deacons are to serve the church.

In other cases, God saves and calls a man to be a pastor and then the church’s responsibility is recognize and affirm what God has done in his life. 

And very importantly, in both of these cases, the Church’s job is to look at what God has said are the qualifications for these two offices and make sure that we are only affirming men who meet the biblical qualifications that God has stated in his word.

I do not believe that God calls men to the office of pastor or deacon, who are unqualified according to the biblical standards.

And so its our job as a church:

to look at God’s word

then examine the man

And then when that man aspires to this office and it is clear that God has called and gifted that man for a specific type of ministry, then it’s the church’s job to affirm to recognize that man and what God has done.. 

Now let me just say— Sometimes the church may have to look at a man and say I’m sorry you’re not qualified according to what the scripture say.

Sometimes the church may have to look at a man and say not right now.

But other times it’s clear that God has called a man who meets the qualifications and that man obediently responds to that internal call from the Lord at which point in time it is necessary that the church would affirm that and set him apart or ordain him.

So tonight, that’s what we’re doing. 

Will, tonight, We are affirming that in you.

We are all here tonight in love, in prayer, and in support.

Specifically, Mount Pisgah  whenever the laying on hands happens tonight it’s important that we understand that we are recognizing Will as a pastor both within and of our church. 

And then specifically for those of you who are from Living Water tonight, you’re here to celebrate what God has done through the ministry of your church in calling a man to this role.

How special is this? —that two churches could come together to celebrate what God has done in Will’s life.

So we have answered the question is this a biblical thing? 

We’ve answered the question: what are we doing here tonight?

Now I want to end by answering the question: why is it a good thing that we’re here tonight?

I want us all to be aware that God is good in calling men to be pastors. 

It is a part of his goodness and his grace that he would continue to call men to be pastors.

That God has called many different types of people to serve his church. These are all considered gifts to the church.

Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 4- 

Ephesians 4:11–16 ESV

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

From these verses, we see—God is the one who calls. God is the one who gifts. 

He’s the one who equips men to serve his church.

And when those men operate, according to God’s call and his spirit and his word, it is a gift to the church. 

And it is a good gift to the church because those men have been called and given by a good God who has a good purpose for us.

That purpose was laid out in those verses that we just read. 

Don’t miss the wonderful benefits of this—

Whenever men operate how God has called us to this is what happens: 

Verse 12 says— the Saints are equipped for the work of ministry. 

Verse 13 say— there is a collective unity in the faith and the knowledge of the son of God. Verse 13 also says that we grow to mature manhood and the statue of the fullness of Jesus Christ.

Verse 14 says that—when these men equipped the Saints for the work of ministry and that knowledge deepens, and there is a strong foundation that we are no longer like children that are tossed to and fro.  We’re doctrinally Sound and better because a good pastors and teachers.

Verse 15 and 16 says that we grow up in every way into Christ  the whole body being equipped so that every joint every piece of marrow within the body every single member is built up into Christ and in love.

As I think about this question: why is it a good thing that God gives the church men to be their shepherds?

It’s evident in my life. 

I’m so thankful the day I was born I was born having a dad who was a pastor who has been faithful.

I’m thankful that whenever I went off to college and was out from under my dad’s roof that I found a faithful pastor there named Ben Skaug. 

I’m thankful that whenever I move back home and to seminary, the God bless me with another faithful pastor and Jonathan Barbee.

And then he called me to be a pastor, but even as a pastor, I have pastors in my life that I’m so thankful for- they pour into me.

I’m thankful for men like Ernie Perkins 

I’m thankful for men Lebron Crisp . 

I’m thankful for men like Jeff Gaskins. 

I’m thankful for men like Mark George. 

I’m thankful for men like Dean Connor.

I’m thankful for men like John Goudelock.

I’m thankful. 

I would not be where I am today without the pastors that God has called and gifted, and given to me in my life. 

And so, Will…. my prayer as we ordain you tonight is that you would consider this gift that God has given you , and my prayers that you would would be a gift to any and everyone that would come into contact with you.

Whether you have an audience of five or 5000 , be faithful, Shepherd, the flock of God among you, and be faithful to the one who called you.