The Commissioning

Aug 31

8 min read

This is a message for the Commissioning of Tim Gleason given on 8/31/2025

5 Gates Church.

Rockford, Ill.

Intro.

Years ago, I was a part of some leadership training where I was employed. During one exercise, we had to imagine our team was seemingly stuck on an island together. There was no sign of rescuing, and our task was to appoint someone on our team who we thought could help get us off the island and to the safety of the mainland. Yours truly was appointed that leader. I must humbly admit, I was not appointed the leader of our group to guide us off the island because of my great leadership skills, but rather because of my gifting as a builder. Most of us on our team had known each other for a while and they had seen me use my building skills in many ways and they had determined that for this task, I would be the one who could guide us as a team to fabricate whatever was needed to get us to safety.

God places certain skills, heart postures, or what we sometimes call “giftings” within a person for the purpose of guiding his people deeper in devotion to him and to represent his character to those around them. It’s important to realize that the giftings spoken of in the Bible are different than what many of us have an idea of as being gifted. We may consider being gifted as one who is elevated or highly favored over another. Truthfully, we all have areas where we are weaker than someone else and we have areas in our lives where we may be stronger or more equipped, too.

Message

We are all called to discipleship.

We are all designed to follow Jesus Christ and to bear his image to this world and to live in such a way that the world would know the character of God. The design of the church is to commune with one another, but also to teach and be taught so that you may be able to go out and show others the same way of life. Within the church, God doesn’t just gift certain people with leadership qualities so that they may be elevated or rule over others, but rather to help equip others to minister to help build them up, to disciple them for the purpose of healing, for unity, to pave a way for heaven to come to earth though the communion of the saints.

“He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:10-13

In the first-century church, the appointment of pastors or shepherds had a different purpose than building something to get people off an island. It’s an anointing. Our reaction to hearing anointing may often be like when we hear gifted. Who doesn’t want to be gifted or anointed, but to be anointed means to be set apart for a mission or a purpose. A purpose that is not desirable. It’s not for the faint of heart. Just like the prophets of the Old Testament, they had to go against the grain of culture. They had to say the things that no one wanted to hear. They had to risk relationships to save souls.

Setting ourselves apart to God is our natural response when we begin to truly understand God’s faithfulness in our lives. We are all called to live as anointed or called to be set apart to the Kingdom of God, but God places not desirable giftings, but spiritual burdens on certain people. Burdens to care for his people. Burdens to be willing to live a lowly life, one that is of sacrifice for the love of God and the love of his people.

Today we are not here on our own accord and certainly not by our own power. We are here to affirm what we have witnessed the Holy Spirit communicating through Tim. Church leadership is a matter of the spirit of God. I’ve often joked about how a person can enter seminary with a passion for God and to know his word but leave filled with only head knowledge and lose the heart they entered in with along the way. Bible colleges often can equip for the works of ministry but only skim the surface of solid theology. We are here today because of the works of the Holy Spirit. The only thing Tim has done to place himself in this position is to be obedient.

We also stand here today because of what’s been established. Wayne was a special kind of pastor, but we also believe Wayne had the gifting of apostleship. Apostles are visionaries, they are builders, they move where they hear God telling them to move and they plant where God tells them to plant. The establishment of Gates began a long time ago, and even when Wayne was called into duty to establish 5 Gates, it was incredibly undesirable. The building was in shambles, there was not funds, and it’s located statistically one of the most challenging areas of our country. Yet, Wayne obeyed, as an apostle, to establish 5 Gates and Holy Spirit University to see God move through a desperate community.

Through his time at 5 Gates, we set our eyes on what Wayne saw and the discipleship efforts he put into his relationship with Tim. Wayne didn’t pull Tim’s name out of a hat, but rather he saw what God was doing and agreed to equip Tim to shepherd the flock at 5 Gates. This has never been Wayne or Peggys church, it’s not Tim’s church, it’s the movement of God within a community and we are coming together agreeing with the work of the Holy Spirit in Tim’s life as a shepherd.

A pastor is a calling to stand in the fields and watch over sheep, to weather storms, to stay steadfast to lead sheep through the small gate that leads to incredible pastures. The Bible gives us qualifications for Elders, overseers, and pastors. The early church emphasized spiritual qualifications rather than formal training or social status. The leaders were often chosen based on character and Conduct: The emphasis was on moral integrity, character, and adherence to Christian teachings the trustworthy character needed to be trusted with the hearts of the people.

These qualifications, as seen in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 are as follows.

Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

We clearly have a lot of division within Christianity, but I have learned to be open to the Holy Spirit teaching me which practices of different denominations are aligned with his word, rather than simply dismissing something just because they may have different beliefs. Last year I attended the ordination of catholic priests in Milwaukee, my cousin being amongst one of those men. It was the largest group of priests that the Catholic church had ordained I a very long time. At one point within the service, all the candidates took a place in the center of the church and laid down prostate on the floor. Each one being prayed over as the contemplated their defining moment of faith. Each one of them was simply doing what they believed God had asked them to do, but the laying down on the floor represented the acknowledgment of a spiritual death.

This part of the service was the representation of a funeral, a walking away from an old life and stepping into the life that was meant to serve the Lord wholeheartedly as a shepherd.

-Laying on of hands/prayer

Ed Caputo, Peggy Ahrens, 5 Gates representatives…

The name Christ means “The anointed one”. The one who has been set apart as the redeemer, the restorer, and the healer and he has empowered you through his spirit to go forth and minister in the same way. We believe, in accordance with the Holy scriptures that we are designed to bear the image of God and as a church to partner with him in the ministry of reconciliation for all creation. It is that same spirit that we declare the same words that Jesus spoke about himself from Isaiah 61:1-3

Tim, The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on you, because the Lord has anointed you to proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent you to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,^[^a^]to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Closing statements and exhortation.

Today, we celebrate the new life that God has established for Tim. Today is both a funeral and a birth. We stand together in awe at the goodness of God and his redeeming power, and as a family, we come into agreement with what God has done in and through Wayne. We stand back and look at what has been done in and through 5 Gates. We stand back and acknowledge what God has done in Tim and whatness Tim’s obedience to the Holy Spirit and it is by that spirit and upon these testimony’s that we anoint and set Tim apart for the Pastoral call that we see placed upon his life.

In the Old Testament, there’s what’s called the Nazarite Vow. The Nazarite Vow was an opportunity for people to consecrate themselves unto the Lord. It was a decision of dedication, of living different, and there were many different steps of obedience a person needed to take in order to fulfill this step of dedication. One of these steps, that we share today is the laying on of hands signifying the person’s dedication to the service of the Lord. In that same spirit, we partner with those who have made this commitment to the Ancient of Days and we pray the priestly prayer along with Aaron as we say,

“The Lord bless you and keep you;, the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

The difference we witness today is that the Nazarite Vow was for a temporary period. What we are affirming today is what we believe God has had for you both today and unto eternity. Today does not signifying the beginning of a job or a title, but rather an affirmation of your design by the hand of God. May the Lord who establishes all things, keep you today and all the days to come. In trials, in doubt, in fear, in joy and in abundance, may God’s spirit rest on you mightily, in Jesus name.

chrió: To anoint

Original Word: χρίωPart of Speech: VerbTransliteration: chrióPronunciation: khree'-oPhonetic Spelling: (khree'-o)KJV: anointNASB: anointedWord Origin: [probably akin to G5530 (χράομαι - use) through the idea of contact]1. to smear or rub with oil2. (specially, of divine purpose) to anoint3. (by implication) to consecrate to an office or religious service