I love elders for another reason: they are God’s plan for leading his churches. God has always provided shepherds for his people. He gave Moses, Samuel, and the judges to Israel. He raised up Israel’s shepherd par excellence, King David. And yet, all these men, including David, failed in one way or another. The kings after David increasingly led God’s flock into idolatry and injustice. And so the prophets began to speak of a coming shepherd, a new “David” (for example, Isa. 9:1–7; Ezek. 34:20–24).