Alan Pollock

I am no theologian. I am simply a man who loves Jesus and loves serving Him. For over a decade I served as an Elder in a local church — a season I am grateful for, though I have since stepped away.

If I am honest, I find myself discouraged by what the local church has increasingly become: a business model, run by a CEO who directs leaders and members toward a vision that is more entrepreneurial than biblical. It is an entrepreneur's paradise. But I do not believe it reflects the model Scripture gives us for the local body of Christ.

I want to be clear — I am not discounting the local church. I believe it is an integral part of God's plan to reach and minister to communities across the world. But I hold a simple conviction: the local church should be led by Elders and taught by a Pastor and teacher.

A Pastor is a shepherd. And a shepherd, first and foremost, follows The Shepherd — living humbly and in submission to Him.

He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. Isaiah 40:11

A shepherd smells like the sheep because he is with them. He does not manage them from a distance. When one strays, he leaves the ninety-nine and goes after that one — not out of obligation, but out of love — and brings them back to the safety of the flock.

A shepherd is not more concerned with the latest building project than he is with leading the sheep into fields where they are nourished. The sheep are the mission. They always were.

What you will find here are random thoughts — things that rise in me, usually in the quiet of the morning, as I sit with Scripture. I am not a writer by training. I am simply someone who cannot keep these things to himself.

They are not a replacement for your own personal devotion to God. Please do not read them as a substitute for time in His Word yourself. They are simply what is in me, and I want to share them.