Kenny's Ordination

Welcome and Explanation of Service

This is Amazing Grace - Patrick

Charge to the Candidate - Tim

Enough - Patrick

Charge to the Church - Heath

His Mercy is More - Patrick

Prayer of ordination

Dismissal

Thank you so much again for being here. Pastor Tim spent his time speaking to and challenging Kenny and Monica. It’s my task to now charge the church in light of Kenny’s ordination.

If you have a Bible open to Ephesians 4. Church, there are four things I want to remind you of today.

Let me read the passage to you, then we can talk through it...

Ephesians 4:11–17 CSB

And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part. Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thoughts.

The first thing to note from these passages is that

1. Christ has already ordained Kenny

You see the reminder at the very beginning of the section of Scripture, “And He Himself has given these gifts to his people.” We need to be reminded who is the giver of spiritual gifts.

1 Corinthians 12 is the largest section in the Bible about Spiritual Gifts and it is interesting at the verbs Paul uses to describe God’s work in our gifting...

In Verse 7 He gives the gifts. In verse 11, He distributes them as he wills. In verse 18, He arranges how he wants. In verse 24, He he puts the body together for the sake of unity. And in verse 28, he appoints leadership in the church.

You see, God is active in this whole process. We are simply catching up to what we all know to be true of God’s working already in Kenny’s life!

It was not our job earlier as the ordination council and it is not our job now in this service to decide whether Kenny should be a pastor, because Christ has already gifted him as such! He has the gift of Pastor/Teacher that we see in verse 11, that is obvious to all of us! The question on the table for the council was instead, “Is Kenny devoted to living up to that calling of pastor with God’s help?” That answer was a resounding YES from the council and so, we want to acknowledge his role as PASTOR in our church.

To those from Lindsay Lane East, recognize that Kenny has been gifted by God to serve Him in the way that we have tasked him to as Associate Pastor. But that doesn’t mean he is above accountability. We as pastors need to be checked by those in our congregation. We are mere men serving God with a very important calling. But I will ask you to listen to him. This ordination council confirmed earlier that we see God’s hand at work in his ministry and in his life. A man gifted of God to lead, serving God faithfully… That’s a man you want to get behind, amen?

That leads to the second part of this charge.

2. Let God use him to equip you

The gifts that Paul mentions here have been given for a particular purpose in the church. And, big shocker here, the gift of Pastor/Teacher doesn’t mean that we can and should do everything in the church. In fact, Paul says here…

Ephesians 4:11–12 CSB

And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,

You see this? Kenny has not been uniquely gifted to meet the needs of the whole church. He has been uniquely gifted to help equip the church to meet the needs of the whole church! Do you sense that important distinction?

As Kenny leads out in the roles he is filling, listen and follow what God leads him to say and do! God has given him to East to help every member of our church to be equipped for the work of ministry! Together as your pastors, we will do our best to lead you well, but you have to accept our equipping, our teaching, our leading!

We also ask that you pray for him and for Monica! Commit to lift him in your prayers as often as you think of him, because Satan desires nothing more than to see good pastors fall. Pray for their marriage, pray for strength as he serves, and pray for wisdom and direction for his ministry.

If God has truly given Kenny this gift to equip you as the church, the best thing you can do to affirm that calling and to encourage Kenny in what he is doing is to...

3. Serve faithfully and fully

As Kenny and I equip, we ask that you do the work of ministry. Find your place of service in our church and give your time and energy towards it! Don’t wait for us to take the first step. We are actively equipping you so that you can serve others. Do what God has gifted YOU to do!

And the outcome of this process is the most beautiful thing...

4. The Goal? Everyone looking like Jesus.

When do we get to stop? When can Kenny and I stop equipping and you stop doing the work of ministry?

Ephesians 4:13 CSB

until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.

All of this is working toward the growth of the whole body! The people that have been at East for most of its 7+ years of life, the 10 first time guests we have had in the last two weeks and everyone in between! This is a team effort for a team-focused outcome! When Kenny is using his gifts to equip you to use your gifts to serve others, that’s when we will see crazy things happening in our community and the piece of dirt God has given to us! It is a beautiful system God has put in place! Let’s stick to the plan that is proven to work, amen?

Lindsay Lane East, if you so commit to respect the authority by which Kenny has been gifted, let God use him to equip you, and serve faithfully and fully alongside others towards the goal of ultimate sanctification in our body, let it be known by saying AMEN!

We now come to the Ordination Prayer. A