Elders

We believe that elders are pastors are overseers, the words are synonyms for the same role throughout the New Testament. We believe in the plurality of elders, and we don’t recognize a distinction between “staff” and “lay” elders. Though the elders at TEC are (very) different in personality and have various interests and spiritual giftedness, we don’t have a “senior pastor” or “lead pastor” or any other nomenclature used in many churches today.

We heartly recommend Biblical Eldership by Alexander Strauch from which we pattern much of our elder roles and responsibilities. We’ve also taught about the qualifications for elders from Titus 1:5-9 which is available in Part 1 and Part 2.

Here’s a brief introduction to each elder in order of oldest to youngest.

David Light

Dave has loved the Lord since his late 30s. From the time of his conversion to Christ he’s thrown himself into Bible study and life on life discipleship. He and his wife, Gale, have been married for 53 years. They’ve got two grown and baptized and married children, four grand-children, and two great-grandsons. Dave has been serving as an elder at TEC since the start of the church. Email Dave

Jim Martin

Jim turned to Christ by faith alone out of his family’s Roman Catholicism and has been leading as an elder for over 40 years, including serving in that role at TEC since the start. He and his wife, Gail, have been married for 43 years. They’ve got four grown and baptized and married children along with fourteen grand-children. Jim helps us express our loves through budgets, and coordinates a lot of the building projects. Email Jim

Sean Higgins

Sean first had the desire to be a pastor before his senior year of high school in 1991. He went to three different Bible colleges and then graduated from The Master’s Seminary. He and his wife, Mo, have four believing and baptized children, the oldest of whom is married with two sons of her own. Sean’s role includes having his mouth open a lot, and is regularly helping lead the liturgical charge during Lord’s Day worship through the ministry of the Word. Email Sean

Jonathan Sarr

Jonathan and his wife, Sonja, have one graduated and baptized daughter, two baptized highschoolers, and an almost kindergarten-aged daughter. Jonathan’s role includes leading the musical/singing parts of our liturgical charge each Lord’s Day, and his pastoral assignment includes being the Headmaster of Evangel Classical School. Jonathan has been serving as elder at TEC since 2012. Email Jonathan

Philip Kulishov

Philip and his wife, Nellya, have been married for almost 12 years, with two young, baptized sons and a younger daughter. Philip’s day job includes oversight of manufacturing companies, managerial training, and enculturation efforts. Philip has finished his year of testing and is in line to be affirmed as an elder in 2024. Email Philip

One recurring question we receive regards the more public parts of our pastors’ work, especially the preaching/pulpit parts.

Do all elders need to participate in up-in-front teaching? What are the differences between elders who rule and elders who preach/teach (a distinction found in 1 Timothy 5:17)? Are we perhaps excluding otherwise qualified men from helping in the work of shepherding by holding an explicit, or even implicit, expectation of public ministry?

Here’s a numbered list answer:

We do NOT see any difference in ruling authority among elders. In other words, there isn’t a “senior” pastor or boss elder; all the elders/pastors have an equal say in decision making. This is crucial requirement for a true plurality of elders.
We DO see differences in responsibilities, including that some elders will do more up-in-front leading and teaching. But just because one pastor may speak more does not mean that he is the The Dude.
We expect that EVERY elder would be “apt to teach” (per 1 Timothy 3:2). We acknowledge that certain men teach better in smaller group/one-on-one settings, but we also think that every elder should be willing to participate in the up-in-front work.
All of the above work toward demonstrating to the sheep that they are pastored by the plurality of elders, not just a subset of elders, and certainly not just one elder/pastor.

The summary here is that we want the flock to see and hear from all the pastors, while also recognizing that week to week not all our faces will be the same amount of visible in the rotation.

Read about our annual Elders Affirmation Process here