It is a truism played out all over the world that service staff in public places are largely invisible. Who notices the people who clean your hotel room? Or bellmen, or wait staff in large venues? It’s not without warrant that in so many spy stories, operatives pose as waiters or kitchen staff when they want to infiltrate a facility unseen.

Why is this? I believe it’s because they fill a humble role. They serve. They are not the prominent players. They’re not celebrities with big followings, or executives, or outgoing sales agents. Their work is low-key and not intended to draw attention. A problem is usually in play if they are noticed.

And in a church, every real leader is first called a servant. Every true spiritual leader serves first the Lord, and then His people. But no one ever outgrows the title or essential identity of servant. Jesus said, “The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:11-12)

We have been so blessed to have an extensive train of officers throughout our years.

Ruling Elders: Clark Buurma, Kevin Calkins, Adam Davidson, Jim Davie, Clint DeBoer, Clarke Freed, Alex Frost, Jerri Gable, Dick Greene, David Hallock, Holland Henderson, Jason Jacobs, Shawn Jones, Scott McBride, Frank McCaulley, Tim Mitchell, Dean Nederveld, Jack Plating, Jim Prevatt, Greg Riching, Steve Scruggs, Jonathan Secrest, Dwight Smith, Timo Strawbridge, John Sweet, John Tucker, Matt Tucker, Justin Wilson, and Steve Wilson.

Deacons: Braxton Bone, David Boulware, Justin Bryan, Robbie Davis, Andrew Eisner, Bruce Gaynair, Jeff Sandman, James Spence, Adam Spafford, and Will Yancey.

Pastors: Drew Bennett, Joe Brandi, Lyle Caswell, Josh Floyd, Brian March, Stan McMahan, Tony Myers, Brown Peterson, Ted Sinn, David Springer, and Ben Turner.

As we have given many of these away to help start other congregations, it is a constant reminder of our mission to reach our region for Christ and of how greatly we need the Lord to raise up the next generation of leaders.

Soon, we will ordain and install our next class, with over 20 new officers. The work to train up this next class of officers has taken almost a year. It has included months of class work, along with life-on-life training and support, and the candidates who have completed all of this preparation represent a great cross-section of our congregation. Some of them have been here for years, and some are newer to Lakeland and to Trinity. But all of them share a commitment to Jesus and to you, our congregation.

Please pray for these men and their families! Please give thanks for God’s redeeming work in their lives, and His work through them to be a blessing to our church. As they have served faithfully and with grace and humility behind the scenes, our church has been blessed because of them.