He simply cannot understand that the elders were pastors, and they are clearly mentioned. Just a lame excuse. The spiritual gift is that of pastor, but the shepherds were the elders. I already refuted his nonsense.
Your pejorative language is unhelpful in having a full and frank discussion which is what we should be doing.
I know what he is getting at because I have developed an open mind that enables me to sift through everything that is said. Perhaps I should explain for your benefit and anyone else who has not grasped the scriptures pertaining to this subject.
Today the leader of most churches is "the" pastor. I think I can say that without fear of contradiction. In the NTC, "the" pastor was NOT the leader.
In the NTC the leadership was always plural as in "Elders." Paul told Timothy to go and appoint Elders in all the churches. He did not tell him to appoint pastors. Point one.
The Elders had four main functions. One, to oversee the church. Two, to teach. Three, Shepherd the flock and four, discipline. One and four would have been done in a collective manner in their oversight of the church. Point two.
It says in 1Timothy 5:17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. This tells us that some Elders teach doctrine and some do not. The Elders that rule well and this is not spelt out in detail, are worthy of double honour. We are told by a lot of non-theologians that means they were paid a salary. Point three.
Not so for two reasons. One in the discussion about money in the NTC generally there is no indication at all that the Elders were to be paid. And two the Greek word for honour here is the same Greek word when it says to give honour to Jesus. If it means to pay, then we have to pay Jesus for what he is doing. Point four.
An Elder may have a shepherding function but it does not indicate that only the Elders have a shepherding ministry. In a new church start-up that I was asked to lead, we needed a pastor as I do not have that gift. I did not say to someone I want you to be the pastor of the church. We got on with the business of being church and I watched to see how the cookie crumbled. One man was a standout and it was as clear as day that he would take care of the shepherding ministry of the church as he was always doing things for people. I did not ask him to do things. He just did. The anointing was on him for that ministry. Point five.
The same with teaching. Some Elders teach some do not so it is clear that teaching is not exclusive to Elders. You can have the gift of teaching without being an elder (Ephesians 4:11) Point six.
Plus I have checked every verse in the New Testament that talks about or alludes to leadership and not one of them mentions the pastor.
If you can find in scripture especially in the original Greek which is what I use a lot of the time that what I have said is not the case, do let me know.