March 11, 2026

Certain parts of the Bible are easier to read than others, but all equally inspired. there are several chapters toward the end of 1 Chronicles given to the organization of David’s kingdom. Chapter 23 describes the organization of the Levites. Chapter 24 records the organization of the priests. Chapter 25 describes the organization of the musicians. Chapter 26 lists the organization of the gatekeepers. Then comes the military divisions in chapter 27 along with the tribal leaders.

When I was younger, it was common for people to pick a “life verse.” Since I was even more snarky than I am now, I chose 1 Chronicles 26:18. In the King James Version (not Lebron, though he did come from my area), it read, “At Parbar westward, four at the causeway, and two and Parbar.” I loved watching the confused looks as people wondered what that meant. At the time, I had no idea what it meant either. I just thought it sounded funny. Only later did I come to find out how important this actually was.

I Chronicles 26 describes the gatekeepers whose task was to protect the Tabernacle area and then the Temple from people who were not permitted to be there and from people who would try to defile the Temple through pagan rituals. In that sense, these gatekeepers had a sacred task to help protect the worship life of the nation of Israel, the Old Covenant people of God. In order to promote and protect Israel’s spiritual life, there were specific people tasked with specific roles that reflected the seriousness of this.

The church is the New Covenant people of God. The organization of the church is described to some degree in the book of Acts, but is prescribed in the books of 1-2 Timothy, and Titus. Good, biblical organization in the church (think: qualified elders, qualified deacons, meaningful membership) promotes and protects good theology in a church. The heart of a church is the gospel but good organization can help protect that.

This past weekend, we had pastors and leaders from several area churches and from several churches from outside of our area, come here for 2.5 days for an event that we call a Weekender. We explain and expose to these brothers what a healthy church is and how it functions. It is so gratifying to see the light bulb go on as these guys see how the practices of a church are intended by God to work in harmony with the very purpose of the church. One of the highlights for the attendees is observing one of our elder’s meetings.

We are not a megachurch and we don’t have a national voice, following, or anything like that and have never pursued that. We simply want to be a faithful local church that promotes and protects the gospel and when the Lord allows us, help other churches do the same. Thank-you for your faithfulness to Christ, his gospel and his church. By his grace we get to care for one another, our missionaries and influence others.

Grace and peace,

Bob