Who is really in charge of a church, and who is called to care for it? In this first message of a two-part look at biblical eldership, Elder Rick Gonzales walks through five aspects of eldership: Jesus as the head elder, the appointing of elders, the responsibility to teach and preach the word, the strength of a plurality of elders, and the qualifications of elders. Along the way he shares stories from Solid Rock's 33 years as an elder-led church, including the premarital counseling he and his wife received from an elder couple and the pastor search and vision process. The service opens with a devotional reading on joy versus happiness and closes with a communion message from Pastor Matthew Mletzko. The takeaway is that a healthy church rests on Christ as its head and on shared, gifted leadership, with the qualifications of elders coming next Sunday.