Make for yourself a complete model of the first century. Read the book of Acts from beginning to end, reading Paul's letters in their appropriate location, and find for me one single reference to either of your "offices" as you understand and teach them today. You will find no such support in the pages of God's Word!
From A.D. 30 to 70, you will find zero references to the position of "pastor." The "pastor" was invented by Martin Luther in the 16th century. Reform merely seeks to improve the existing religious institution. Restitution seeks to restore the early Congregation with its beliefs, practices, and traditions. The practices of the Catholic priest grew out of the priestly practices of the pagan religions. These practices, somewhat diluted, slipped into Protestantism. The "pastor" is merely a revision, a reform, of the priest. There is little difference between the two. The position of "priest" in the Lord's Congregation did not exist until the 4th century.
In all but one of Paul's nine letters to congregations, there is zero mention of elders. If elders, the way you understand and teach them, are biblical, then why were none of Paul's letters addressed to such individuals during their crises? Surely the issues faced by the Galatian congregations and the congregation in Corinth would entreat the elders to stand up and do their job. Why are none of Paul's letters written to the supposed "leaders" of these congregations?
Philippians is the only letter to address elders, and this 13 years after he had first planted them! We are not sure when the Philippians received their elders, but none of the congregations had elders after Paul had founded them and left them on their own.
Paul selected a number of believers from the many congregations he had planted and sent them to Rome to plant a congregation. Chapters 12-14 of Romans address every problem Paul had encountered through community life. Surely this would be the place to address the position of elders, if there were any truth to your understanding and teaching on the issue.
The only way you can support your concept of "leadership" is by engaging in proof text methodology, ripping randomly isolated sentences out of their immediate context and forcing them to back your godless interpretation. You have abused God's people for far too long, lording it over them with false teachings that are not derived from God's Scriptures.
You need to pay attention to the New Testament and read it carefully, because the elders mentioned in Scripture did not conduct themselves in the manner with which you do. They did not have any special authority. Jesus was clear on this issue. What kind of authority does a slave have? What kind of authority does the youngest member of a family have? Biblical elders did not make decisions independent of the entire congregation!
Biblical elders emerged from within the community life of the congregation they grew up in. There was first a very strong brotherhood in place before elders had appeared. This incubation period preceded the selection of elders. They had to be trusted by everyone, their lives known by everyone. Elders were to exemplify a certain kind of life (Acts 20:22-35). Paul shared with these elders the kind of life they were expected to lead, using his life as the example. Only in four of these 13 verses (vv. 28-31) does Paul address elders, and his actual instructions are in only two of those verses. The elders Paul was speaking to in this passage were later rebuked by him in a letter written to Timothy!
"Our elders are proven men who obtain their position not by purchase, but by established character." —Tertullian
"As to anyone who teaches principles to live by and molds the characters of others, I ask, "Is he not obligated himself to live by the principles he teaches?" If he himself does not live by them, his teaching is nullified. ...His student will answer him like this, "I cannot practice the things you teach, because they are impossible. You forbid me to be angry. You forbid me to covet. You forbid me to lust. And you forbid me to fear pain and death. This is totally contrary to nature; all living creatures are subject to these emotions. If you are so convinced that it is possible to live contrary to natural impulses, first let me see you practice the things you teach so I will know they are possible." ... How will [the teacher] take away this excuse from the self-willed, unless he teaches them by his example, so they can see with their own eyes that the things he teaches are possible? For this very reason, no one obeys the teachings of the philosophers. Men prefer examples to words, because it is easy to speak—but difficult to act." —Lactantius
"[The elder] should be chosen in the presence of the people under the eyes of all, and should be proved worthy and suitable by public judgment and testimony. ...For a proper ordination, all the neighboring overseers throughout the same province should assemble with the congregation. The overseer should be chosen in the presence of the congregation, since they are intimately familiar with his life and habits." —Cyprian
The early Congregation was entirely participatory. When everyone speaks in a meeting and is involved in the decision making, modern-day "eldership" cannot usurp authority. When one person does all the talking and everybody else does all the listening, a brotherhood is impossible to grow up. The first century had no sit-and-listen mentality. This is evidenced from chapters 11-14 of 1 Corinthians. All decisions belonged to the apostles (the church planters), the Lord's people, and the Holy Spirit! God's people walking into a meeting, sitting down, passively listening while being ministered to by elders, and then walking out is not the first century model, nor is it the biblical model!
The letters to Timothy and Titus were not referred to as "pastoral" letters until after the Reformation. They were known as apostolic letters prior to this; three letters written by a church planter to church planters. Consider this: Titus and Timothy had been with Paul for over a decade, being trained personally by Paul as church planters, trained with other men such as Gaius, Aristarchus, Secundus, Sopater, Tychicus, and Trophimus, and living in community life for about two decades. When Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy, Timothy was already in Ephesus. Ephesus already had elders, as they were invited by Paul to meet him in Miletus about 5 years earlier. Do you really think they needed to be told what the qualifications of an elder were? Think carefully before you attempt an answer! It would appear that Timothy was either about to appoint elders in a city that already had elders, or to add elders to the existing base.
Are you aware that 1 Timothy 5:17-22 concerns elders? That it concerns elders in Ephesus? Specifically those Ephesian elders that met Paul in Miletus? If an elder is charged by two or more witnesses, what is supposed to happen? Timothy, a non-local itinerant church planter, is to bring the offending elders before the entire congregation in Ephesus and rebuke them! The elders are not being disciplined by the people, by some "head elder" or "super elder," or by some "pastor." They are disciplined before the entire congregation for not being Christ-like by the outsider, the non-local itinerant church planter! Elders were not to be shown partiality (v. 21). This keeps elders in check. The watchers are to be watched.
You pastors and elders need to examine yourselves in light of the truth of God's Word, resign your position, and become a part of community life, allowing biblical elders to grow out of the congregation according to the evidence of their lives. Elders are not to run other people's lives! A body of people strong in functioning and brotherhood will never allow such men to become its elders. The man-invented office of "pastor" was eisegetically taken from a single verse where they refused to translate it accurately as 'shepherd' the way they did every other occurrence.
Clergy simply are not biblical, and the money you fleece from the flock is even less biblical. When addressing the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:22-35, Paul reminds them how he took no money from them. The early Christians bear testimony to this, believing it to be heretical for a congregation to pay any salary to its shepherds. Instead, the congregation financially maintained its shepherds on the same basis it supported widows and orphans. This meant that shepherds had the necessities of life and little else. Are you prepared to accept this lifestyle? If not, know that you have not been appointed by God, and that your position is illegitimate! You might be called an "elder," but you are not an elder! Least of all scripturally.
P.S.: Do not attempt to abuse Scripture like a Charismatic by falsely citing such verses as "Touch not the Lord's anointed" or "Submit to those whom God has placed over you." You are neither anointed by the Lord, nor has Yahweh placed you over anyone! Slow your role and curb your authoritarian dictatorship. When did Yahweh place men in authority over His people? Jesus' words were very clear on the issue: "Do not possess authority, for you are brothers. The greatest among you will be as a slave and as the youngest member of the family." When was it Yahweh anointed you? When did Yahweh place you in authority over anybody? It is a sign of deep internal weakness and first magnitude insecurity on your part to even attempt to quote these verses to someone. You pastors and elders do so on a power trip, attempting to avoid being held accountable for your actions by the people. You teach outright heresy? "Touch not the Lord's anointed." You abuse this scripture as if it is a get-out-of-jail-free card. You proof text these verses and quote them out of context exactly like the Charismatics who use Elijah with the old woman as a tithing text.