A Dust-Covered Man on a Dust-Covered Horse

In the Civil War, U. S. Grant was stuck. He needed to capture Vicksburg, but he could not get through the swamp on the east side of the river. Grant made a risky move. He had his men march down river through the swamp on the western side so he could attack Vicksburg from behind. The maneuver was risky because he cut himself off from his supply line. Shelby Foote related why the men followed him with such a risky plan.

[During the Vicksburg campaign] the men knew they were cut loose from their base of supplies, but Grant himself gave them confidence. They believed Grant knew what he was doing, and one great encouragement for their believing that was that quite often on the march, whether at night or in the daytime, they’d be moving along a road or over a bridge and right beside the road would be Grant on his horse—a dust-covered man on a dust-covered horse—saying, “Move on, close up.” So they felt very much that he personally was in charge of their movement and it gave them added confidence.

This story showed Grant shepherding his men. He made sure they were going in the right direction and they were not going astray. I thought this was a vivid illustration of what an elder does for a church. Grant was covered with dust like his men. An elder should be involved with his flock and the church's daily battles. Grant had two commands. First he told them to move on so they would reach their goal. Second Grant told them to close up. This command meant close up the ranks: Stay together as a unit and don't fall behind. An elder should encourage his flock to move on toward knowing Christ, and helping others to know Christ. An elder should make sure the members of the flock should close up: shepherd the flock so no one goes astray through false teaching. The ministry of the ministers of the Word, according to Ephesians, should be maturity of the body and unity of faith. An elder should teach the Word in such a manner so the congregation can "Move on, close up." Here are some of the verses about elders preserving unity through the ministry of the word.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (Ephesians 4:11-13, ESV)

He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. (Titus 1:9, ESV)