CVBC is an independent, non-denominational elder-led Christian church.
We seek to pattern our local church leadership after the New Testament model. There is no evidence in the NT of having a lone leader of each church ("Senior Pastor") on the one hand, or of having majority-rule congregational voting on the other hand. In fact, there is no clergy/laity division found anywhere in the New Testament!
Rather, every member is a part of the Body of Christ with his own unique gift and contribution (1Cor12). The head of the local church is Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. We do need some kind of leadership structure, and that is the shared leadership in the plurality of elders. Some of the elders at CVBC may be part of the paid staff, but ministry decisions are made only on unanimous consensus of the council of elders.
A good analogy to an elder's function is that of a sheepdog -- a sheepdog doesn't try to get sheep to follow him and his direction, he tries to get the sheep to follow the direction of the Shepherd!
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There is an excellent book (and accompanying summary pamphlet) called
"Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership"
, by Alexander Strauch,
that you should read if you are interested in this topic. Strauch has
written another book,
"The New Testament Deacon,"
that is also
good for illuminating the Scriptural role of the deacon. If you don't
want to buy one at your local or online bookstore, they
are both available from the CVBC library.
There are also several web pages where you can explore the concept of Biblical Eldership further:
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| Tom Arneberg | tom@arneberg.com | 726-4074 |
| Dan Burns | daniel_burns@charter.net | 726-0164 |
| Jim Haley | jhaley@ecol.net | 723-5753 |
| Stuart Krause | stuartk@masonshoe.com | 288-5986 |
| Bryan Kriehn | bjkriehn@msn.com | 726-0674 |
| Marty Schultz | CVBC.Marty@gmail.com | 382-4530 |
| Jon Strand | jstrand@sehinc.com | 723-0796 |
| Keith Tompkins | MrT43@aol.com | 720-9277 |
| Jim Woldhuis | cvbc.jim@gmail.com | 271-1339 |
| Dennis Wolf | lennywolf@gmail.com | 382-4327 |
| Dave Bishop | dcbishop@charter.net | 726-1887 |
| Joe Cherrier | wiscjoe@hotmail.com | 720-7718 |
| John Griffith | jhgriff@sprintmail.com | 288-6924 |
| Mark Hedrington | hedringtonm@AyresAssociates.com | 874-6140 |
| Brad Robb | bradleyrobb@hotmail.com | 720-7646 |
| Darin Thomas | darin.r.thomas@gmail.com | 720-7823 |
| Willy Wendler | wlw93@juno.com | 726-9332 |
| Glenn Woods | glenn.woods@us.nestle.com | 861-4155 |
| OPEN | Administrative Director | ||
| Jim Woldhuis | Teaching Elder | JimW@cvbc.net | 726-1339 |
| Brian Webb | Director of Youth Ministries | BrianW@cvbc.net | 723-2872 |
| Linda Balsiger | Director of Children's Ministries | LindaB@cvbc.net | 382-4858 |
| Terri Tompkins, Bev Woldhuis, Dora Wood | Director of Music Ministries | music@cvbc.net | 723-2872 |
| Libby Krause & Chris Kriehn | Administrative Assistant | secretary@cvbc.net | 723-2872 |
| Mary Jorstad | Building maintenance and cleaning | janitor@cvbc.net | 568-4486 |
