Heroic Church Membership

Becoming the spiritual leader that your family needs you to be, your pastor has prayed you will be, and God has intended for you to be! Saving the hometown church one member at a time.

"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."

-1 Peter 2:5

Written by – E. Cory Sexton

Heroic Church Membership

© 2022 by E. Cory Sexton

Cover created and designed by Daniel Ertley

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form- electronic, mechanical, recording, or any other - except for brief quotations embodied in critical articles or printed reviews, without prior permission in writing from author.

Printed and Published in the United States of America

This effort is dedicated unto the God who loved me and gave himself for me at Calvary.

And to my wife, Karla, who has loved me unceasingly, believed in me unwaveringly, and followed me unselfishly. She is my heart and my biggest fan. She has always encouraged me to write.

Hey Karla, I did it!

Recommendations

One of the most effective methods used to influence the thinking and beliefs of others, is personal testimony. God showed the Apostle Paul this method in Acts 22:15 and Paul used it many times but especially before Agrippa the King in Acts 26:12-20. Pastor Cory Sexton has employed this method in his work Heroic Church Membership. He provides an honest and straight forward account of his own journey as a saved and yet struggling Christian in understanding what involvement, responsibility and dedication was required in becoming a church member. In this manual of instruction about what true church membership should look like, we are provided with a clear picture of the spiritual temperature of the average church and its lack of orienting and nurturing the new member to his/her participation in the life of the body. If we should take a survey in today’s modern church world, I think we would find a great vacuum existing in the believer. Many know that they are saved but haven’t a clue as to what true church membership is all about. Heroic Church Membership could not have come at a more needed time. In it, Pastor Sexton addresses the issues confronting the church and its members in a loving, truthful, and encouraging way. I personally believe if this practical manual could find its way into the hands of Pastors, then to their membership and was implemented, it would be used by God to take us back to a Biblical understanding of what the first church practiced as they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers. In this treaty we see God’s wonderful grace in the lives of two people who gave themselves to be faithful to the Lord. Then we are introduced to Typical and A typical church membership. He then ushers us on to doctrinally sound instruction regarding sacrificial selflessness and service, and then to the stewardship of the believer as it relates to the financial needs of the local church and how each member can serve. My prayer is that our great God will see fit to cause this book to be widely distributed and used by all local churches.

- Gary Deems

D. Min. Th.D. Ph. D.

Pastor Sexton has given us something we have needed a long time: a brief, well-reasoned explanation of what sets the great church member apart. His prescription for anemic Christianity, heroic sacrifice, is the polar opposite of the me-centered Christianity so prevalent in our day. Sacrifice has always been the hallmark of heroism, but it has seldom been applied to church membership in such a clear and undeniable way. I say undeniable because of the abundance of Scripture given to substantiate each point. This is not a man’s opinion piece – it is a practical explanation of basic Bible Christianity.

Potential uses are limitless. It could be placed into the hands of a new convert, studied in a new-members class, or given to the person who asks, What does God want me to do? The first answer to that question is: Become a heroic church member. The disciplines, experience and Spirituality that would be developed by that focus would cause God’s churches to flourish as well as provide practical basic training for those called into wider fields of service. Written by a man on the front lines of God’s work, this book explains it all!

- Tom Miles

Retired Church Pastor - 54 years in the Ministry

Senior Pastor at Crooked Creek Baptist Church 29 years and 5 months

We are told in First Kings 14:25-26 that Shishak, king of Egypt took away the treasures of the house of the Lord. Pastor Cory Sexton, in this book, Heroic Church Membership, clearly unveils for us the treasures that the god of this world, Satan, has taken away from the church, the House of the Lord. In my more than fifty years of being a Christian I don’t believe I have ever read anything that even comes close to pinpointing the problems with the church membership of today as this book. I will not list those treasures here but highly recommend that you get a copy of this book and see for yourself the things that are missing in our churches today. I believe you will be as intrigued, convicted, challenged, and enlightened as I was. Thank you, Pastor Sexton.

- Dr. Jack L. Lawson

Pastor Emeritus, Jackson County Baptist Church

Jesus loves the church! Any doubt about our Lord’s affection for His Body, the church, is laid to rest when we read the words Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; – Ephesians 5:25b. In his book, Heroic Church Membership, Pastor Cory Sexton implores church members to love what Jesus loved and sacrifice for what Jesus sacrificed for – His Church.

In a day when professing Christians are searching for the most convenient option to check off the church box, Cory Sexton pleads with them to take a look at church from a different perspective. Sexton reminds his reader that church is not a place for consumers, but contributors. He reminds us that ordinary church ministry is extraordinary when it’s done with a sacrificial and Christ honoring spirit.

If you would like to know what Biblical, Christ honoring, eternity impacting church membership looks like, this book is a must read! Pastors and ministry leaders will benefit from reading this material and passing it on to their congregants. Together, church leaders and laity can use this book to recapture a Scriptural vision for Christ’s love – the local church.

- Stephen Burrell

Pastor, Faith Baptist Church. Jefferson, Georgia.

It was a blessing to read this book. Pastor Sexton certainly put into words what many pastors are seeing and feeling in their own churches. Even on the mission field we have seen and heard for ourselves the lack of understanding of what a church member should look like. This wonderful book Heroic Church Membership clearly and biblically answers those questions for anyone that is looking to understand what their role is in the local church. In a day and age where the average church goer gets caught up and lost in a multi-campus mega-church growth movement, and the pastoral teams are losing touch with the membership, Brother Cory does a tremendous job of laying out biblical doctrine, and practical theology of the local church. He clearly shows how, through a lack of biblical understanding and commitment to one’s local church, the family and community are affected to their detriment.

Brother Cory, thank you for your pastor’s heart for your people and for the local church, as a whole. My prayer is that God will use this book to stirhearts to the point that each reader will see his or her need to be the heroic church member God has called them to be, all for the furtherance of the gospel, the edification of the body of Christ, and ultimately to the Glory of God!  

- Missionary Jason Hamby

Far North Director

Macedonia World Baptist Missions Inc.

The local church is the agent by which God primarily works today. Workers are raised through the local church, and the Gospel is proclaimed from the local church. Every child of God should belong to a local church.

Pastor Cory uses Biblical truth and personal experience to speak on this vital subject of church membership. My prayer, along with that of Pastor Cory, is that every Christian would become a Heroic Church Member!

- Jeffrey Bush

Vision Baptist Missions, President

Endorsement for Heroic Church Membership:

Few things are needed any more today than for Christians to take church membership seriously. Cory Sexton has written an excellent book on that very subject. Based on his own personal journey, along with his many years of experience as a pastor, Sexton’s book is a welcome tonic for what ails many Christians: an anemic church membership. The combination of practical help and personal presentation makes for interesting reading. Not only should church members take church membership seriously, but so should pastors, according to Sexton! Whether you are a pastor or a church member, Your church needs you, sacrificially! This book tells you how to do that.

​David L. Allen

​Distinguished Professor of Practical Theology

​Dean, Adrian Rogers Center for Biblical Preaching

​Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary

Foreword

O

ur society is more connected than any previous generation before us. Social media unites us with friends we’ve never seen, followers we’ve never known, and family we’ve never met. We know what people eat, where they vacation, when they change jobs, and how they feel about certain political situations based upon a digitalized thumbs up and thumbs down system. In this viral age, it is possible to process a lot of information about others without ever really knowing them on a personal and intimate level.

Granted, such connectivity is convenient, it is easy, it is the way of the world; however, it tends to create superficial (perhaps even artificial) relationships. As virtual interaction becomes the normative means of communication in our culture, the more detached we get from real, meaningful engagement.

God designed the church to be something altogether different.

Although technology has been and can be a tool for church ministry, it cannot be a substitute for the actual church itself. By sheer virtue of our name, the church is the assembly. It is the calling out and the coming together of believers in a local community who unite their faith, their lives, their attendance, and their gospel efforts for the glory of God. Like a natural body, the church has many parts, many members that exist together in a harmonious and synchronized fashion. A body part that is isolated from the whole quickly loses its life and vitality. Even so, it is impossible to be the church without being part of the church, the Body of Christ.

In the pages ahead, Pastor Cory Sexton does a remarkable job at detailing the privileges and responsibilities of being part of the local church. He not only accentuates the scriptural mandates of church membership, but he calls upon each believer to take seriously their involvement, their spiritual giftedness, and their covenantal obligations of the assembly. In Heroic Church Membership you will be challenged, admonished, and greatly encouraged to take ownership of your membership. This is a great and timely read for our remotely engaged generation.

-Kenneth Kuykendall

Acknowledgments

A

esop states that a man is known by the company he keeps. The Psalmist says, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standish in the way of sinners, nor sixtieth in the seat of the scornful. The Proverbs state He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. I Have been blessed by some good company. I say blessed not just because of the character of the men I have known, but because God superintended my steps so that I would be exposed to such men in the first place.

I am thankful for these men and there are too many to list, but they have helped me, they have trained me, they have pushed me to be better, they have challenged me to study more, and now, I see that any wisdom I possess has been handed down to me from other men whom I have had the pleasure to work under and learn from.

The first such man was of course my father. My father invested an inordinate amount of time and energy in me and because of it we have become friends first and foremost. I have sought to do likewise with my own children. My mother has doted upon me and has always made me feel special. For these two I am most thankful, and I seek to honor them with my life.

Second only to my Salvation, the greatest gift God has ever given me is my dear wife and our precious children. My greatest joys find themselves in my family. I have truly loved being a husband and a father. We are a unit, nothing comes between us, we are built to last. I seek to make you guys proud with my every effort.

Lastly, to the Heroic Church members at Hoschton Baptist Church, thank you for allowing me to be your Pastor and Shepherd. I sincerely pray that the Lord will allow us to finish what we have started together. Special Thanks to Leila Scoggins, for her editorial and design work, she is a trooper, and she has been a tremendous help in this project.

Contents

Introduction

A Testimony of God’s

Grace in Salvation

A Testimony of God’s

Grace in Restoration

What is the Biblical Role Of

The Local Church

What is Biblical

Church Membership

Typical Church

Membership

Atypical (Uncommon)

The attributes of

Sacrificial Selflessness

The attributes of

Sacrificial Service

The Attributes of Sacrificial Financial Support

What Your

Church Needs?

How Can You Become What

Your Church Needs?

Appendix:

Reasonable Church Membership I

Unity, This Pastors Dream Psalm 133:1-3

Reasonable Church Membership II

Reasonable Church Membership III

About the Author

Introduction

I

have had the dream of writing a book for several years but