In the hill country of Judea, a shepherd would walk up to a crowded sheepfold at dawn. This was a stone corral where a whole neighborhood kept their flocks mixed together overnight. The shepherd would simply start to talk. Maybe a familiar phrase, maybe a little song. And out of that, his own would lift their heads and come. “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out... the sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:3–4). They didn’t sort themselves out by branding or paperwork. They knew him. They had heard that voice a thousand times, and it belonged to someone who had never once let them down.
That is the picture Jesus paints of Himself, and it is the pattern He hands to every man who would shepherd His flock. A shepherd is not a name on an organizational chart. He is not a CEO barking orders from behind an office door, standing on some higher level while everyone else mills around below him. He is out there in the middle of it — in among the people, knowing them one by one. He knows your past, with its failures and its hurts. He knows what you’re carrying right now. He knows your personality, your family, your needs. And he truly cares. Real shepherds aren’t aloof and separated from the sheep; they are connected to the ones they serve, and the sheep know it.
Watch how the shepherd moves in John 10: “He goes ahead of them” (v. 4). He doesn’t drive the flock from behind, herding frightened sheep down a road he’s never seen. He walks out in front. He checks the trail. He scouts for danger. He finds the green pasture before the sheep ever arrive. Every place they have to go, he has already been. That is no small thing to ask of a man, and it explains why the shepherds among us are seasoned, spiritual men who have walked the walk and are a good way down the road of life. They can lead you toward Christ because they have been where you’re going. And when the wolf comes, the good shepherd doesn’t calculate his own safety — “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
We don’t always see the weight of it. Our shepherds “keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account” (Hebrews 13:17). That verse should stop us. There are hours of the night the rest of us sleep straight through while a shepherd lies awake — praying, wrestling, weeping over how best to help someone work through a hard thing. They spend themselves on problems that are rarely easy and never fun. There is no higher honor given to a man than to be entrusted with the care of souls, and there are few heavier burdens.
But here is the part we tend to forget, and it’s the reason this matters for every one of us sitting in the pew. The shepherd’s nearness only does its work if we let him near. Scripture places a real responsibility on the sheep: “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church” (James 5:14). Call for them. The burden is on us to make our needs known. If we keep our shepherds in the dark — nursing a struggle in private, hiding a hurt, waiting until we’re drowning — we cannot then charge them with neglect for not acting on what they never knew. Sometimes we hold back out of fear of criticism, or a worry that our problem is too small to bother anyone. Let that fear go. Your shepherds are always on your side. They want to be the first to offer compassion. They want to be the first to pray for you and help you carry the load.
So Paul urges us to know our shepherds and to “esteem them very highly in love because of their work” (1 Thessalonians 5:12–13) — to be so well acquainted with them that going to them feels natural, not awkward, and not reserved only for emergencies. Get to know them before the storm comes. Learn their voice.
The shepherd is already looking for you. He knows your name. The only question left is whether you’ll come when he calls — and whether you’ll go to him when you’re the one in need.
Here at Cornerstone, we make a deliberate effort to keep our shepherds available. At the end of each service, when a person comes forward, one of them will be up front to receive them. If they don’t feel comfortable doing that, two of them will be standing at the back entryway after the service, and two more will be standing near the elders’ office if the person needs more privacy. This happens every Sunday after the service. Also, our elders meet every Thursday evening, and a sign-up sheet is posted on the back bulletin board. A person can check the box if they want to meet with them, and they’ll know they want to meet with them.
