Cheryl

Lin,
You are so right in that it is the word of God i.e. the message that has the authority and not the teacher. What has always puzzled me is how some speak about the “pulpit” as if it is some godly thing that has authority. There is no “pulpit” in scripture just as Paula points out. Does it not show our humanity when we refuse someone access to the “pulpit” when there is nothing about a “pulpit” in scripture? I think that we have gone way past scripture in our trying to have a hierarchical rule of one person over another in the body of Christ.