[aron]

I would like to add something about the 'gavitas' that djohnson speaks about. In every congregation I meet in it seems there are at least a few 'elder sister prayer warriors' that I always seem to gravitate to. You know, grey hair, short, thick, always smiling. In one fellowship I would wander off for six months and when I stopped in this particular sister would greet me, beaming, "There you are! I've been praying for you!"

They mean business. The world holds little attraction to them. Like Anna the prophetess, every day they are in the temple, serving the Lord. I always like to be friendly with them so they add me to thier 'prayer list'. Perhaps that seems selfish but I use this example as what, for me, it means to lead in the church, and what it means for me to be in authority. When these sisters pray, it gets done.

I respect outward position, which is basically the 'will of the people' putting someone into a role: pastor, minister, elder, deacon, youth leader, etc. But to me that gravitas, that spiritual weight, that I am attracted to and submit to, is the result of a walk with God, a walk that has deposited the weight of heavenly gold into a frail earthen vessel. When I use the word 'submit to' I don't use it in the worldly way of 'obey the commands from' but rather in the spiritual way of 'align myself with a particular spiritual flow'. Hope that is precise enough.

Interesting, because in my youth, as a rough and tough American male I wasn't too impressed with 'little old ladies'...now that I have been down the road a pace or two my impression is the exact opposite! I may be dull, but I do recognize spiritual authority when I see it.