GLEANINGS — September 7, A.D. 2014                                                                                                              "Proto-Pastors"
"...I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding." (Jeremiah 3:15) "Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul." (Acts 13:1)
Thus is both foretold and described what we today might call the "pastoral staff" at one of the early church's most vigorous and influential congregations. Paul adds further instruction at 1 Corinthians 12 - 14.
We should note something right away. According to the old covenant Scriptures on which those of the new covenant depend, Luke's example, and Paul's instruction, God calls a plurality of men to be prophets and teachers. When Joshua's zeal for his teacher Moses got the best of him, Joshua asked Moses to forbid that elders Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp of the Israelites in the wilderness. Moses' response was, "Oh, that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!" (Numbers 11:29)
As in the ancient church, to this day cults and false doctrinal systems most frequently arise when one teacher, having a mindset utterly unlike that of humble Moses (Numbers 12:3) is elevated above others and regarded as the great authority. This can occur even where the Bible gets a formal nod as the ultimate authority – but that one leader is considered to be the only one who can rightly interpret the Scriptures. 
Second, we should be aware of the danger of being "tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine" (Ephesians 4:14). The absence of sound and meaty doctrine quickly makes Christians and churches much dimmer lights in the world, and much less savory salt on the earth. Paul charged Timothy and warned him concerning these dangers:
"I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." (2 Timothy 4:1-4)
And so we have presbyteries, i.e. regional bodies of elders who are apt to teach, mutually accountable to one another, and whose eligibility requirements include a high standard of competence in rightly dividing the Scriptures. Even in a small congregation, there must be a local body of elders consisting of at least two men.
Doctor Luke goes on in Acts 13 to outline the work of those "proto-pastors." At the Holy Spirit's instruction, and reminiscent of Jesus' appointment of the twelve and the seventy to go out "two by two," that body of elders appointed two of their number (Barnabas and Saul) to a specific task.
As the book of Acts records, the result of this Biblically defined approach to pastoral and didactic (teaching) labors was the founding of more congregations and the strengthening of those that already existed.
Is exalting one man as a "superstar" pastor/teacher superior to the Biblical way? Are entertainment oriented emphases in Christian worship, and "marketing" models of evangelism more effective to root and ground us in love, and make us grow in the knowledge of God? Is it right for Christians to minimize the importance of sound and meaty Scriptural doctrine, and replace it with confidence in the ways and precepts of  men?