----- Original Message ----- 
From: "H Dorrington" <hjdinfl@...>
> "There *is* an authority that is inherent to the public administration of 
> the Word,
> whatever form it takes, in the worship service."
>
>  Then again I ask a very valid question, if you sing a Psalm do only the 
> elders sing? If a hymn or song is taken from Scripture, who may sing it?

It's not a valid question when you don't treat what I've said seriously. 
"Public administration" and "public participation" are two different things.

>  From your statement, would not the administration of the Word fall on the 
> speaker who asked the person to read the passage they had picked? Under 
> your system it would seem to also exclude a man who is not an elder from 
> reading Scripture before the assembly.

Elder oversight does not preclude those with the possibility of being 
qualified from reading or preaching.  Since a woman can never be qualified, 
such a practice does not include women.  In fact, this happens every Sunday. 
The leader of the worship team is our piano player.  But she does not lead 
the worship in front of the congregation, for all the reasons mentioned in 
this discussion.  And as for children, our children's *program* is handled 
in the announcement section of our gathering, before the call of worship (we 
have a call to worship and benediction because we believe the scriptures 
teach that what happens in the worship service is *different* from 
everything else that happens in body life; this is why the nature of 
corporate worship is an important doctrine to us)... for all of the reasons 
mentioned in this discussion.

Pastor Chad Richard Bresson
Clearcreek Chapel
Springboro, OH
http://breusswane.blogspot.com