and with All Your Soul
and with All Your Strength
Tony Wheeler, Ph.D. | Superintendent of Pastoral and Church Health
On June 1st, 2024, I completed my third year of being the Superintendent of Pastoral and Church Health. In this role my desire is that no pastor in EFC-MAYM would ever feel that they are alone as they keep their hands to the plow loving people, casting vision, overcoming hurdles, striving for constant victory in their private lives, and fighting the spiritual battles that come their way. Our churches are fantastic in their understanding of how to love and walk well with their pastors and families, but sometimes an unbiased, non-judgmental, caring ear can help and that is what I believe to be my most important role as Superintendent of Pastoral and Church Health. I have had the honor of being that listening ear for many of our pastors and families this past year. I am thankful to the Elders for allowing me to be available.
My secondary role is to walk with church leadership when they also are facing situations where an outside, caring, perspective might be helpful in navigate confusing, emotional situations. I have also been able to walk with a number of church leadership teams in the recent months. I’m not saying that I was the catalyst in any way, but I was allowed to be involved in a number of conversations and resulting decisions that have brought great health and movement in our churches. What an honor!
I desire to give support and aid in three primary areas which will hopefully bring health and encouragement:
- Provide compassionate care for EFC-MAYM pastors and their families.
- Provide congregational care for EFC-MAYM churches that are searching for a new pastor or are in acute crisis, conflict, or in need of special assistance.
- Provide personal training and practical resources for EFC-MAYM pastors and churches as they seek to nurture healthy marriages, families, and congregations.
Thayne and I, along with our fantastic team, continue to offer proactive information and processes to our leadership community in a desire to encourage a deepening, renewed, alive walk with Jesus. We believe the spiritual depth of our overall leadership in EFC-MAYM will translate into deeper, more powerful experiences and work of Christ in our churches’ and surrounding communities. Our podcasts, regional retreats, pastoral sabbath retreats, and monthly newsletters are pieces of our efforts from afar to achieve this end. We have received feedback from a number of our leaders and churches that these efforts have been encouraging. Thank you, God!
We also meet regularly as an EFM-MAYM staff to stay connected and in good communication with each other.
The future of EFC-MAYM is bright. Our church leaders are seeking and obeying the leading of Jesus. Intentional discipleship and outreach offering care and hope are growing and we are seeing the fruit in the health, strength, and numbers in many of our churches. We are progressing in our attempt to obey the mandate given by the Lord to his church.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,” Deuteronomy 6:4-9.
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