Church Leadership | Lawrence | June 28, 2026

Spring Lake Church – Lawrence

Sermon: Church Leadership

Teacher: Jack Guerra

Passages: 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, 1 Peter 5, Acts 20, Hebrews 13, and Ephesians 4 

In “Church Leadership,” we explore what Scripture teaches about the calling, character, and responsibility of church leaders through passages including 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, 1 Peter 5, Acts 20, Hebrews 13, and Ephesians 4. God calls leaders to shepherd His people with humility, integrity, sound doctrine, and servant-hearted care. This message reminds us that healthy leadership equips the church to grow in unity, maturity, and Christlikeness. Join us as we discover God’s design for leadership in His church. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, good morning. Hope everyone is ready for a great week, warm week ahead. How many prefer hot weather? Okay, how many prefer cold weather? All right, sorry. This week the hot weather people are gonna win. So uh but today we're gonna continue on in the series we've been in right now, entitled Uncomfortable. And it was a fun series, even in the planning. You may or may not remember before we even had a title for this thing. Uh we threw something out on social media and said, what are the topics churches aren't discussing that we should be? And we had enough topics come in that we could do a year-long series just on the idea of what makes church folk uncomfortable. And what we did is we narrowed it down to 12, and that is this summer series. Uh Arlen kicked it off right here, talking about politics, everyone's favorite thing to break open. Adam followed that up with, you're gonna die. So that was a warm, fuzzy moment. And then today I'm gonna be talking about church leadership and more specifically, church hurt. And you don't have to be in church long to realize, oh, these are normal people who are still faulty and not perfect. And yet God has used this and puts this together for his plan A for how to have a light in this world. But then what does that look like for us to work together in seeing this done right? And you say, well, this is a new phenomenon. It is not at all. You can go in scriptures, go all the way back to the book of Acts, and you don't have to get a couple of chapters in, and you see people starting to get hurt or offended by another group. Either one talked more harshly to the other, one was forgotten about in the process of a ministry, somebody's favorite ministry wasn't highlighted enough, a people group felt left out. It doesn't take long for people to be people, for humans to show up being human. And it can show up in a lot of different forms today as well. And sometimes it's pulpit to pew, and sometimes it's pew back to the pulpit. My fourth year here, there was a group that wanted me out. I know, surprised me too. And they wrote the elders, which is the proper thing to do. One person did because there was a, as people do, there was this email chain going around. They wrote to elders, asked for a meeting, and the elders said, Jack, we want you there, but we want you to be quiet. Because I'm so good at that. And we did. We had this meeting and we went in, we talked. Here's the deal. Not a single complaint had to do with a doctrinal issue. Nothing. It had to do with song selection, it had to do with service times, it had to do with uh um uh favorite ministries versus their favorite ministries, and why aren't my ministries getting more time? The only thing that you could say was close, where the word Bible was even used, was my my opening illustration was too long and I didn't use the Bible till too late in the message. That was it. That was the closest thing they had. And it got to the point as the discussion was kind of unraveling that that one of their team looked at the rest of them and said, Is this all we got? But it's people being people. We I know I know I've known this happen a couple of times, but there's one pastor I'm acquainted with now. Someone came up to him and said, Listen, you're my shepherd, so I expect you to be on call 24-7. And that's the mentality. How would you feel if a boss said that to you? And there are pastors because we do this for Jesus, they'll try. And it's a great way to burn out a pastor or a marriage. Now, in the role I'm in, there's different things when people get upset. I've been accused of manipulating things or skewing a vote or setting my own salary. By the way, I do not do that. Uh, we have a finance team here. We have an elder board, which is our highest leadership team. I'm one of the elders, but I don't set any of those numbers. Matter of fact, they had me leave the room when they even have the discussion. And we, it's it's not Jack's show. It's not at all. Like what you're sitting in here had to do with an elder board who prayed through and asked God where we're going. We have an elder nominating committee which puts in all the legwork to make sure we get the right people in the room for the right season of the church's history. So it's not a one-person show, but sometimes people feel that. Like I said, I get that. It kind of goes with a territory. Before I go any further, though, do we have any previous or present elders or elder nominating people in the room? Can I just see a show of hands? Got one here, one over here, a couple of them. Guys, listen, say thank you to these folks because they're the ones who help us stay six months to a year to three years out with where this church is going. So it is not one person. We've got amazing people. We have a finance team. I won't get into all of it. We have a class here called lead. And actually, right now it's going on here. We do it quarterly. And if you want to kind of see behind the curtain of how we do things as a church or leadership in the role and place you're in in life, I'd encourage you to look into that class. It's a message for another day. I also understand that there are people who have been on this side of the podium, this side, the speakers, who have used it to manipulate people, who have used it to bend things for what they wanted, have used it for their own financial prosperity, and it is not how Jesus said to do it. That is not what this role is to be about. I've said in too many sermons where a pastor had an ax to grind with someone who was in the service, and instead of doing it how Jesus said, like go to them and have the discussion, they would throw shade at them by using it as a sermon illustration, maybe or maybe not using the name. That is not the biblical way to deal with things. We don't need to name names. But how many times on a national scale have we seen pastors who people trusted? And it turns out they had a whole second life going on, or they were doing things very unscrupulously. They may have had people helping them along the way. Once again, it's a mark of a lack of integrity and character and doctrine. How do we do it? How do we do it right? What I want to do is I want to look at seven verses on the front end. We're going to go through scripture, and you'll have some extra ones in the UVersion Bible app that I just don't have time to cover today. But we're going to look at those verses about what are some of the examples of what biblical leadership is supposed to be about. And then how do we handle church hurt? What is legitimate and what's not? I'm going to give you a few uh just kind of a synopsis of it, and then I'm going to give you some personal thoughts and some other things tied in at the end. So let's jump in, jump in. On the screens will be the passages and no points. It is not a pointless message, but it will not have points on the screen. Let's start with 1 Timothy chapter 3, beginning at verse 1. And once again, UVirgin Bible happen has all the passages as well. It says, Here's a trustworthy saying whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him. He must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, if his own family, how can he take care of God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap. So Paul starts here by going, okay, this is what it should look like on the inside. This is the character traits we need to be looking for. And in this message today, I'm going to use some different terms for leadership that the passages use. My goal is not to give you a history lesson or break down all of the different leadership roles in the first century church. We know in the book of Acts alone there are six different leadership shifts in leadership and what the church leadership looked like in the early church. But you're going to hear terms like shepherd, elder, teacher, overseer. We could go to Titus and you'll see the women who are in leadership and the terms used for that. The goal isn't terminology, the goal is what's the right heart of a leader. Timothy Titus also starts with a list like this that gives us traits of a leader. 1 Peter gives us what this should look like involved in the church. 1 Peter chapter 5, beginning at verse 1. It says to the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ's sufferings, who also will share in the glory to be revealed. Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, watching over them, not because you must, but because you are willing as God wants you to be, not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve, not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. So Peter gives us three exhortations here. What's the leader supposed to look like? First of all, lead gladly and willingly. Realize God has blessed you with this opportunity. So do it with a good attitude. A grumpy person here, I'm telling you right now from experience, it will lead to grump, grumpy people here. I have been in too many churches where you'll hear the pastor's heart and it comes across so hard. And guess what the language is of the people who sit under that ministry, sit in that ministry. It's the same heart. It can be harsh or judgmental. Peter's saying, Man, be glad you can do it. Let people see the joy of the Lord in you. I had a pastor I worked for in a different state, but it was in the snowbelt. And every time it snowed and attendance would dip, he would blast the people who came to church in the snow. I'm like, that's the wrong group to be talking to. But it became attention, and that that overall demeanor became the trait of the church. So Peter's saying, one, do it gladly, willingly. He says, two, do it eagerly. Realize the importance of what you're doing. Have a good heart and then serve eagerly. The motive is the work and not the income. The motive is the work and not the income. On our staff are a number of people who had seasons of life, myself included, where we stepped out of full-time ministry. And every one of us, outside of a role with a title of pastor or director on it, still did full-time ministry. Didn't need to be paid for it. I was selling cars. You have no idea how many people I was like, come here, we're gonna pray behind the RAV 4s. Like, give me your hands. And we're praying. Because the motive is the ministry and not the money. He says, one, do it with a good attitude. Two, do it eagerly, realizing you're making a kingdom difference. And three, he says, you be the example. This is not do as I say, not as I do. You be the example. Live it before you speak it. Live it before it ever leaves your mouth. Why? He says, because the chief shepherd, Jesus, is going to come and he will reward those who do it faithfully. Next passage. First Timothy, we're going back to Timothy 5, verses 17 through 19. It says, the elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those who work in preaching and teaching. For scripture says, do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain, and the worker deserves his wages. Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. One, this kills gossip. Like make sure you have facts before you start saying something or go into leadership. And then this idea of double honor, what does this what does this look like? It is not saying that the pastor should make double what everyone else in the room makes. Double honor is two parts. One, yes, take care of the pastors. Don't be stingy. But also, there's an honor, there's a respect there, and that they're teaching, they're studying, and they're proclaiming God's word, which leads to truth and life. Respect that. Double honor there. And then take care of the pastors. I was, this goes back a little ways. I was looking at seminaries. There was a certain seminary I went and visited. And they told me they're like, hey, there are churches here who will hire you to be their pastor while you're in seminary. I'm like, cool, that covers the basis. I go, I get experiences, you know, experience at it. Sounds like a win. He goes, here's the deal though. They don't want your resume. They don't want to hear about how good you do. They want to know the bottom line dollar, the what's the lowest number you'll take for your pay. And that's how they pick their pastor. I had a friend, his name was Scott. He was at the seminary before I got there. And he got into a church and it grew and he connected with the people and his family settled in. And he great, he was about to graduate, and he went to the church board and he was like, Listen, this has been a great season. I'd be honored to stay here as your pastor. And their response to him was, We found someone cheaper. That's how you find a family of God, right there. Don't be cheap. That's Paul saying here. And before you go, well, Paul's writing because he's rich, Paul's writing this from prison, not a Bentley. And we've seen that happen too, unfortunately. So take it in balance, realize what the what the message is right here. Once again, we have a median. If you go through lead class, we talk about how we get where we are with our salaries. There's a median scale. We have a finance team that does all of that. There's more behind the scenes. James chapter 3, next passage, verse 1. It says, Not many of you should be teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. With greater responsibility comes greater expectations, even by God to us. We don't take what we do lightly. And I want to tell you from a Spring Lake perspective, those who are on this teaching team, I don't need to poll them. I know how seriously they take the Bible. I know how seriously they take digging in and bringing uh pre proclaiming truth from scripture. And I'll tell you this we bet anybody who comes on these platforms, and I don't care if it's the musicians or the people doing announcements, their life should be a reflection of Jesus. And if that's in question, they're not here. So hopefully that's something you can trust. Acts chapter 20, verse 28. It says, Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. Always remember this. It's God's church. You don't need a big 10 by 15 picture of Jack in the lobby. It is God's church bought with his own blood. So if it's with his own blood, who was crucified for us? Jesus. Jesus is God. He's saying very clearly here, God paid for it with his own blood, his own life. That's Jesus. It is not Jack's church or Troy's church or Dallas's church or Dan's church or Mark's church or any other pastor. And I use their names. These are guys in this area because I know they would stand behind that statement as well. It is always God's church, and his name gets top billing. Nobody beside him. Hebrews chapter 13. We're going to read verse 7 and then verse 17. Hebrews 13, 7 says, Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way and of life and imitate their faith. He's saying here, remember your leaders who teach, but don't just go by their words. There's a lot of people who can run their mouth. Listen, you don't get a nickname like Yakki Jackie for no reason when you're a kid. Let's keep that in here. Don't just listen to their words. Does their life live out with their teaching? And if it's complementary to what you're teaching, what does Paul say? He says, imitate them. The writer of Hebrews says, imitate them. If it's not, you don't give them any attention. And if it does match up, look at verse 17. This is much easier to do. It says, verse 17, he says, have confidence in your leaders. Why? Because their words and their deeds match. Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Once again, they're in it for the ministry, not the money. Their heart is a shepherd's heart. He says, Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit for you. It's a joy to minister to people who love each other as a community. It is a joy. And that's why Peter said earlier, like, do it with a good heart. Do it with a glad heart. It's easy to do when we're living this out. This is not done out of a blind faith. This is earned trust. It's proven over time. At Spring Lake, we try and say you get what you see is what you get. If you go through ministry class uh our membership class, it's one of the fine finer points I hit on. What you see is what you get. We should be the same people at Walmart that you see in the pulpit, that you that you see in a traffic jam during construction season on 172. I understand I live in a glass house. I understand when I go out to eat, when Amanda and I go out to eat, we run into people we know and we run into people we don't know. When Amanda and I were friend zoned with each other, I would go down to Port Washington. We'd sometimes go to a movie, go to dinner, because it was just hard to be here, or from sometimes for me to go to her community. I'm not kidding. One time on a Friday night, I'd gone down, we had Panera, came back, and I kid you not, Saturday night, uh Saturday night service, Saturday night service, someone came up to me and said, I heard you were in Port Washington last night. It's like, really? I have a family member who came a couple of Easters ago who lives in Port Washington and recognized you. I need to live and I want to live in such a way that someone sees how I treat my wife or my kids or staff or the Walmart employee or the waitress or waiter at the restaurant and says, he lives what he preaches. And not because I'm putting on an act, because going back to the first chapter and verse we looked at, I want it to be what comes out of me. We'll get more to that later. Sorry, getting ahead of myself. Last passage, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11 through 16. It says, So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and the teachers. Why? To equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Why does he want this for the church? Verse 14. Then we'll no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is ahead that is Christ. From him, the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. Every supporting ligament, that's where each of us connects. Building each other up. That's why God put this together. This is the goal. A mature body of Christ that looks like Jesus. So if we summarize these, first of all, the leader has a heart of a shepherd. And I don't care if it's uh a kids' teacher or a G4 group leader or a biblical counselor or a pastor or a worship leader, we have the heart of a shepherd like Jesus did. It's a heart willing to serve out of sacrificial love. Secondly, is there's a practical and responsible care, a feeding, a teaching, a protecting like Jesus did. And then thirdly, there's character and integrity like Jesus had. We follow his example. So now let me give you a few insights from this. Some are mine, some are others. I'll be glad to have the conversation. After, if you if you want to hear that. But before I do, I want to remind you of something. I heard this a few weeks ago, and I think it is so true for the church. Safe landings don't make the news. Plane crashes do. Do you know every single day in the United States there's over 45,000 flights with 2.9 million passengers? And almost every day, those plans land safely. Planes land safely. That means every two days, the equivalent of the entire state of Wisconsin gets on and off an airplane safely. But that's not what we see in the news. What do we see? We see when there's this horrible plane crash, and there are people who won't get on a plane because of a crash that happened in 2017. I would say the same thing about the church. There are a lot of churches doing great things around this city, the state, this country, and this world every Sunday. And they're making an impact and they're being a light in their community. And they're bringing the truth of Jesus in love the way Jesus told us to. But those aren't the ones that make the news. It's the plane crashes that do. But remember, there's a lot of good ones out there. Not liking a kid's ministry, not liking a certain personality on an elder board or a song on the worship team, that's not a plane crash. That's a personal preference. We have to keep that in mind in this whole process. I would say on the bigger scale, how do we avoid the plane crash? The big word we saw in the scriptures, and it's true today, is is there accountability? That should be a huge warning sign when there's no accountability. When the spotlights that are on you are brighter than the light that shines from in you, you're cooked. I'll tell you right now, if God would have given, put me in a position with the success that Spring Lake has had, if I was in my 20s and 30s, I would not have handled it well. It would not have been pretty. God had to do the work in me to prepare me before he ever could do this work through me. And that in work is not pretty. And it's tough, and some of you have been there. But it starts with accountability. Are people free to obey God or terrified to disappoint a leader? What does scripture say? God did not give you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. When a person or a brand becomes more important or more holy than the truth of God's word, there's a problem. When shoes or a clothing line is seen as more important or highlighted more than the scriptures, we've got an issue. And that is an accountability issue. If a pastor or anyone is more concerned about their likes in social media than they are with life change within their church, there's an issue. There's a challenge and a problem. And there is an accountability that needs to happen. I had a professor in college, he pastored for 50 years, and he told us in class, I still remember this. He said, Beware of anybody whose battle is pride and insecurity. Pride says, I have to be the one who's seen, I have to be the one who's on top. Nobody can replace me. Insecurity says if someone becomes more popular than me, they got to go down. And how many ministries are built up on tearing somebody else down? That's an accountability piece. Watch our hearts. Do we care more about what people think or about what God knows about us? There's no allowance for arrogance before a holy God, and believe me, God is not insecure. He is not going to buckle hoping you like him. He's not too worried about his likes and dislikes on social media. Whatever you won't deal with, and I say this our, we talk about this as a team at the church, whatever you won't deal with, we'll deal with you. Leaders, I'd encourage you, and once again, I don't care what level of leadership, don't tolerate Jezebel and don't be bought by them. And bought can be money, it can be notoriety, it can be promotion, it can be accolades. Don't be bought. Stay true to what scripture says. Stay true to the ministry God has called you to. And I want to throw this in here too, because I think it's important. Be careful of YouTubers just because they have a lot of likes. I've known some of the pastors, I've met some of the pastors of some of these guys that are big names, and they may get hundreds of thousands of views, and they're sitting in churches of 50 and 75, and they go to their pastor and say, I don't need to listen to you anymore. Look at all my followers as they sit in their basement and proclaim judgment on how many ministries of people they've never met. Be careful of YouTubers with no accountability as well, social media people with no accountability. How should I respond when I see this happening? First of all, I want to challenge you in your response. Make sure to start with, you're being discipled by shepherds and not celebrities or AI. By shepherds, people who know you, people you can interact with, people that you can see their life personally. If they're three time zones away, I can promise you you probably don't know them too well. You can learn from them, but they're not shepherding you. Make sure you're being shepherded by shepherds, discipled by shepherds, and not celebrities. How do I respond when I see this stuff go down? It should still shock and grieve us. But it should also drive us to Jesus and not cynicism. Why? Because Jesus is our saving grace. Not any pastor, not any teacher, not any counselor. Jesus is our saving grace. And for some people, that's shocking news. Keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. You're connected to Jesus, and we love the church. And remember this: Jesus is always faithful. Don't forget that. Don't live in fear of the church or any church leader. We live in fear of the Lord, and it's a holy awe. It's an understanding that that's who we give an account to. As we respond, don't respond to Jezebel like Jezebel. Keep a clean and pure heart. What does that mean? Jezebel, when she saw somebody rising up, the prophets rising up, her words were kill him. He's starting to take power, and it's rubbing me the wrong way. And unfortunately, how many of us have seen that on a social media post? Watch me obliterate the other side. I make them look foolish. Don't respond to Jezebel like Jezebel. Keep a pure and right heart. Respond in wisdom and not wound. Respond in wisdom and not wound. I'd encourage you go read Matthew 18 for what's the best way, how we're supposed to do it. And if it's time to leave, and it may be time to leave, leave in peace. Leave in peace. Let the Holy Spirit deal with what needs to be dealt with. You speak the truth in love and leave in peace. Here's the final thought I want to close with is this. Please be praying for church leadership here at Spring Lake, throughout Green Bay and beyond. Pray for those and leadership. The maximum amount of people you can reach is also the maximum amount of people you can hurt. Pray for leadership. If the enemy, if the devil can take down a leader, he can scatter a flock a lot of times. Especially if things have been out of line. And this enemy we have, the devil, he is nothing if not patient. We read about Jesus out. He's in the garden. Oh, he's in um on Mount Temptation and he's praying, and it says the devil comes to him. Temptation, temptation, temptation. Here's the rocks. Make them bread. Jump, angels will catch you. Like everything that could be a physical or a temptation. And Jesus passes everyone with flying colors. He's Jesus. He quotes scripture. It says, Then the devil leaves him for an opportune time. If the devil would do that to Jesus, you don't think he would do that to us? Pray for one another and please be praying for leadership. And the final thought I want to close with is what I said already. Remember this safe landings don't make the news. There's a lot of good churches, a lot of good pastors, a lot of good Sunday school teachers and G4 leaders and biblical counselors and worship team. There's a lot of people who love Jesus. Don't get sucked into the lie that there's not. And let's keep each other lifted in prayer. Would you bow your head to me, please? In the room right now, I'm not going to ask for a show of hands. There may be some of you who have been burnt over time. And it's hard because we call it a church family for a reason, and nobody can hurt you like family can. I'm going to close in prayer for the churches around this area, and I want to pray that our hearts are right before God and with each other. Lord, we do thank you for the church. We thank you for the family you brought together. I thank you so much for Spring Lake. As we've walked through so much in life together, both personal challenges that I've had to face and God, challenges where we've just kept each other's arms lifted up and our eyes on you and our hope and our encouragement in you as well. Lord, I pray for the churches around Green Bay. I thank you for the men and women who lead these churches in different roles of leadership. I thank you, Lord, that they are lights in their communities and the homes of those who show up. We pray, Lord, for your strengths, your wisdom, your character and integrity to be evident in each of these places of worship. I pray, God, for those who may be in the room this morning, who have had their hearts stepped on and broken, who have felt either misaligned, misunderstood, maybe even abused in a process of what's going on in a church. God, I pray your Holy Spirit is exactly who you are, and that is the great comforter. I pray healing to a heart. I pray, God, that we remember our trust is first and foremost and always with you. And may we be a representation, the body of Christ, in a way that brings you glory and honor. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.