CGGC Trivia Question

There are currently six people in the CGGC holding the humanly-devised and unbiblical position, "Executive Director."

One of them once threatened me with legal action if I didn't remove him from my mailing list.

Which of them would you suppose it is?

Responses on or off the blog are welcome.

An Offer to Buy Faith a Church

Recently someone who doesn't know my history with the traditional church but who knows me through my job to be, using his words, as a person of "peace"--and who has some moolah--actually hinted that he would be willing to provide my "group" with a church building to be an actual church in.

He was literally willing to commit hundreds of thousands of dollars to support our ministry and actually called his real estate broker.

What an absolutely generous offer!

------------------------------------

I've had so many thoughts about the offer.

First, I've been trying to figure out the best way to explain to him how repulsive the idea of having a church building is to the group.

Also, this offer has served to help me understand how far I have moved from what people normally think of as living the Christian life.  I've been musing over the headaches we no longer have and the blessings that now are ours because we no longer possess property.  And, also thinking, "Ick!" over the prospect to going back to all of that stuff.

And, there is the realization that many people assume that we'd want to be a real "church" and to be that we'd need to have a sanctuary and a steeple and a pulpit and a set of pews.  For you New Testament plan people, where do you find those things in the New Covenant?

-----------------------------------

Interestingly, this same guy DESPISES "organized religion" yet he would invest heavily in the mission of our group which is devoted to living out mercy and practicing the love Jesus commands.

For him apparently, seeing people follow Jesus simply and primitively is inspiring!

------------------------------------

If the offer had come when we were still practicing progressive Christendom-ism, I certainly would have taken it as an answer to prayer.

Thank God, it didn't.

Gathering 12-28-14

Wow. Lots to note.

Today was Ward's seventy fifth birthday. Ward is intellectually disabled enough that he has been on SS disability for years, lives in a low-end assisted living facility on the dole and has a power of attorney, a sister who has been fed up with him for years.

Ward is one of those people who can--and regularly does--turn lemonade back into raw lemons. The people of Faith have been showing him mercy for years. Having said that, Ward is the sort of person who is responsible for the fact that our number has declined. Many grew tired of loving this quirky and bristly man

Look up the word curmudgeon in your dictionary. That sketch. It's Ward.

He's not a lot of fun to be around. He is one of those "least of these" who will determine where you and I will spend eternity.

We ended our gathering time giving him a party. He was pleased but I didn't hear him say thanks once. Our people oozed grace and mercy toward him. Neither are anything unusual.

I was so proud of our people. And, concerned about the lack of joy in Ward's heart.

--------------

On another level, we had a sort of business meeting in which we confirmed among ourselves that this would be the last Sunday that we take an offering. We no longer will have a budget or a Treasurer, though we may take offerings in the future to care for specific needs among the poor. Individuals among us expressed interest in contributing to the needs of pastors' widows in the Conference and in contributing to the Conference to defray some of its losses when the congregation defaulted on its mortgage.

Lots of questions about who and what we will be on the future.

Ed's Carefree and Defiant Insubordination...to HIMSELF: What Does it Say about Him?

Did you read the December 26 eNews?

Ed details his evening joyfully cavorting with his High Church CGGC and WTS buddies leading an Anglican Advent Mass on the Scotland campus of WTS.

And, remember who Ed is: Ed's the guy who bullied the new WE BELIEVE and the 2013 Statement of Faith through General Conference sessions in 2013--both of which declare the Bible as the CGGC's "only rule."

Strong and radical words. Words that other denominations usual omit from their own, well, Creeds.

Yet, for five years, Ed worked to put those words into our updated WB and our brand-spankin' new Statement of Faith.

Ed's also the guy who created the 2009 "New Testament plan" Mission Statement.  Where, in the New Testament, do you see the celebration of Advent Masses?

Jesus talked about the importance of the fruit a person's life produces (Matt. 7, John 15).  So, using Jesus as way of understanding Ed, what do you suppose is the truth about Ed?

What do you suppose this contradictory behavior is fruit of in Ed?

Gathering 12-21-14

I've been sick for more than a week and I had a bad night last night and wasn't sure I would even take in today's gathering. In the end, I did go.

I'm glad I did.

In a twist from the normal pattern, I, the guy who despises the whole idea of celebrating Advent, asked people to mention favorite parts of Scripture dealing with God becoming flesh. The comments were remarkable and exciting. And, our time in the Word ran longer than your sermon. AND, everyone was sitting on the edge of his/her seat up to the moment we had to cut off our time in the Word to respect obligations that some in the group had to keep.

Each passage mentioned had to do with the disciple's lifestyle of obedience to Jesus based on the Father and Son's actions in the incarnation.

So often when we gather, my mind reflects on what we used to do when we were, for example, celebrating Advent and what you are doing if you are typical of Advent celebraters. And I am both sad and angry.

What we do has become focused on what the New Testament says about gatherings. Today, as is normal, we didn't worship God. We provoked each other on to love and good works. We now understand, as the NIV says, "true and proper worship" is celebrating the Lord by offering our own bodies as living sacrifices out of love for Him and His incarnation and atonement.

Another great day for us in His Kingdom.

Coming Soon: My 2015 Update on the Characteristics of the CGGC Brand

I have been working on this for some time.

While little that I see has changed, I do think that the departure of the current CEO adds texture to the question of what our brand actually is.

If you have preliminary feedback, as always, your comments are welcome on and off the blog.

Feedback on My Incarnational Ministry at Weaver Markets

If you read this blog regularly, you probably have figured out that I consider myself to be reasonably faithful to the founding vision of the Church of God and to the talk of the Rosenberrian CGGC, though I despise and reject the Rosenberrians' walk.

I am still an ordained CGGC pastor, though I use the powers and privileges of that ordination in about the same way that Paul used his Roman citizenship--merely as a tool to enable him to have a greater impact as he took his gospel into the world.

I am not currently pastoring a church.  In fact, I reject, with all the passion I can muster, the pastor dominated leadership culture that has taken over the CGGC--and most of contemporary Western evangelicalism. 

As far as the so-called church is concerned, I now participate in two gatherings of disciples which have devolved out of what was the very traditionally seeker-sensitive ERC CGGC congregation called Faith Community Church.

I do not really serve in a leadership role in those gatherings.  Others are more verbal in the gatherings and provide more direction to the groups than I do.  I endeavor to be great as a servant in those gatherings and not to be a leader in the Christendom way.

If I do have a ministry, it is a viral one as one of the employees of Weaver Markets in Adamstown, PA.  In that ministry, I'm just bill.  I do several jobs in the store.  And, despite what my employers consider my tasks to be, I consider my real job to be that of embodying, as the Spirit gives me opportunity, the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

To leave the pastorate and to take on such a ministry is risky.  It's not always a pleasure, though, by the end of the day, it is usually a joy.  And, I often wonder if I make a Kingdom difference in what I do.  I usually feel that I don't, though I learned a long time ago to distrust my emotional take on how I impact others.

Recently, I received an email from a coworker which contained these observations about me personally:

You definitely have a wonderful way about you that draws people to you. Your level of intelligence and personal inner peace are what made me want to get to know you better as a friend. I think you are a terrific person, and a rare man among men and I don't even know you that well yet. The world needs more Bill Sloats! :-)

Oivey!

I never made that sort of impact while I was tucked away in my study for hours on end preparing sermons and running from house to house doing pastoral visits to shut ins or visiting the hospitalized members of my church.

Maybe there is more to this sort of Kingdom ministry than I could have dreamed.

House Gathering 12-14-14

Our gatherings are intensely spiritual, believe me when I say that. No two have ever been alike since we began to follow the biblical pattern of gathering which we have gleaned from several New Testament passages.

In some ways, today's was from another dimension. It fit the usual pattern in only the most vague way.

Today was very musical. I guess singing time last nearly an hour. We sang songs focused on the nativity and the incarnation, despite my personal desire to avoid Christendom Advent traditions. As we have before, we interrupted singing to read Scripture related to what we had sung and, then, to reflect on the significance of the Scripture.

As always when we meet in a home, we ate a meal provided by many of the people present and, as a part of the meal, took the bread and cup to remember His atoning sacrifice and love.

So, our gatherings really are profoundly spiritual and are led by the Spirit. I do have to admit that I was surprised, when I had stepped away for a moment, to hear, in the distance our group singing JINGLE BELLS, and, after I rejoined, FROSTY THE SNOW MAN and RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER.

I can only tell you that, in some strange way, it all fit together.

I'm sure you doubt that, as would I were I not there at the time

What the CGGC Claims to Believe about How to Remember that Jesus Came into the World

As Winebrenner Seminary invites the people of CGGC to travel to Scotland to consume its Anglican Advent mass, consider this:

What the CGGC claims to believe is that it is the Ordinance of Feet Washing and obedience to the New Command of Jesus to love one another is the proper celebration of our Lord's incarnation.

 To Talk is to Walk-ism rears its ugly head yet again.

The Second Annual Winebrenner Theological Seminary Anglican Advent Mass is Approaching. Watch Your Step

Gang,

I rarely comment on the happenings at the seminary because of my personal history with it as a past staff member. 

(As you will see, this post is only peripherally about the seminary.  Directly, it is about the members of the CGGC clergy who have an obligation to submit to the radical CGGC Mission Statement and faith documents.) 

I believe that an important part of my call as a prophet is to speak for the Lord to our church, not to or about the seminary.

Since the days I was on the seminary staff, however, it has seemed clear to me that, under its current leadership, it does not intentionally support the Churches of God.  In fact, what the recent first edition of the Scotland Campus Newsletter makes clear is that the seminary makes no bones that it supports "broad evangelical unity" generally and not the CGGC specifically.

Now, for the second year in a row, the Scotland Campus will be presenting an Advent Mass from the broad Anglican tradition.

Talk about capital B, Broad evangelical unity! 

Think of the history of the Reformation.  Which Protestant tradition was, by far, most distant from the beliefs that the Church of God has held most dear from its earliest days?  Which tradition held on to more Roman Catholic beliefs and practices?  By far!

As far as the seminary is concerned, I say, more power to you in your pursuit of evangelical ecumenism.  You are precisely on mission as you welcome and practice Anglican piety and present this traditional Anglican Mass.

However, as members of the CGGC, we, in recent years, have gone out of our way to embrace a way that is radical and highly focused. 

We are people committed by our new Mission Statement (2009) and We Believe (2013) a new animal, a 2013 CGGC Statement of Faith, to be people, as Winebrenner himself said it, of the "New Testament plan" and to have beliefs and practices dictated by the Word of God because the Bible itself is our "only" "rule."  This is harsh and extreme theological language.  Language that I did not compose.  Language that came for the mountaintop!

So, with the Word as our ruler, show me an Advent Mass in the Book of Acts or in the Epistles and I will be the first person in line at the Scotland Campus to consume the religious products and services purveyed that night.  If you can show me an Advent Mass in the Word, please do.  Because, I've looked and I don't see one there.

As the people of the CGGC, we are now a people who talk a radical talk.  That talk demands a radical walk.  Winebrenner Theological Seminary is mismatched with the CGGC because both its talk and walk are hyper moderate and, at their core, extremely ecumenical.

I say this:  To attend, or worse participate in, this Advent Mass is perfectly appropriate if you are an Anglican or if you are a supporter of the seminary who is not bound to the churchly authorities to which all CGGC people are bound.

But, if you are a CGGC member or clergy person, to even sniff that Advent Mass, will make you insubordinate to the radical things we now believe and claim we practice.

I didn't write the Mission Statement.  And, when I had the opportunity, I opposed the new We Believe.  As far as I'm concerned, the Statement of Faith was foisted on me through the popish behavior of the current regime in Findlay.  In itself, it makes my skin crawl!

But, as long as I hold CGGC membership--and more importantly, ordination--I am bound by our radical talk.  And, I will walk that radical walk.

-------------------

I believe that any CGGC person holding ordination who participates in the Advent Mass on the Scotland Campus should be defrocked on the grounds of insubordination to the authority of the General Conference in session.

Our NonGathering 12-7-14

One of the biggest lies that the Shepherd Mafia would foist on the disciple of Jesus is that "going to church" is an act of righteousness that matters to God and that He blesses it.

Hogwash.

The Word commands that we not neglect meeting together. That's it.

There are times when an introvert is profoundly blessed by moments in the Lord away from the noise and mayhem of the crowd.

This will be one of those days for us.

CGGC CEO Search/Winebrenner Thought Experiment. Fourth Thought Experient.

1.  The current CGGC leadership culture, which is--in its behavior-- theologically moderate, practices institutional churchism and which values mellow relationships over the radical love for God and one another modeled and commanded by Jesus, is controlling the search for the next CGGC CEO.

2.  In recent years, that very same leadership culture has called our church to recapture the spirit of its founder, John Winebrenner, is his most radical years, from 1829 to 1844, by imposing on our body the authority of Winebrenner's pursuit of the "New Testament plan" and the adoption of his extreme devotion to the Bible as our "only" "rule."

3.  It has assembled a search committee to find, for the CGGC, its next Executive Director who will, by definition, function from a corporate business model as a CEO, not from the New Testament model of Spirit-empowered, APEST giftedness.

Two questions:

• Will the CGGC College of Cardinals, AKA the search committee, elevate someone in the radical early Winebrenner mode in submission to We Believe 2013, the 2013 Statement of Faith and the 2009 Mission Statement who would have sided with Winebrenner in the 1820s, 1830's and 1840s or will they elevate an institutionalist happy to function as a CEO in the image of Ed Rosenberry?
• Should they elevate a Winebrenner type or a Rosenberry figure?

Gathering: 11-30-14

Groovy day, based on how I groove.

There is innate chaos, from a human point of view, when disciples gather in the way early followers of Jesus did.

In our case today, the "everyone has a hymn" part was, excuse the pun, dissonant. Some of our number came with Christmas carols. I was determined not to enable participation in the unbiblical tradition of Advent--though, as the Spirit led, in the end, I did suggest the singing of ANGELS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH, which became, before we sang it, HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING.

As we have often lately, we tossed out our normal pattern and spontaneously interspersed singing and the reading of the Word. As the Spirit led, we spent only a brief moment in prayer. (For us, prayer often lasts about half an hour.)

In the end, Word time began focusing on 1 John 2, jumped to chapter 1, settled on the Parable of the Prodigal Son and became an energetic conversation about whether to and how to deal with a young former attender of the Sunday morning show who's now pushing drugs in town.

We gather, as Hebrews says, to spur each other on to love and good works.

And that's what we did.

Groovy, indeed!

Ed's Belated Account of The Gathering

It's in today's eNews.

I've said it before. Ed is an awesome note taker.

When you read his account, take note that Ed does go out of his way to make the Kingdom about the church.

CGGC Leadership/Winebrenner Thought Experiment Number Three

In 1830, ten years after Winebrenner brought his prophetic/evangelistic ministry to Harrisburg in which he demanded the pursuit of "social justice" and radical conversion of any who would be a member of the church, he initiated the Church of God for people who shared his extreme way of thinking and living.

Can you envision any way that Ed Rosenberry would have left the institutional church to join with Winebrenner and his radical mob? 

 Which, if any, regional CEO would have joined the Church of God?

Another Thought Experiment: Current CGGC Leadership as a Part of Winebrenner's Story

Gang,

As I see it now, these thought experiments will come in a four (or perhaps, five)-pack.  Then, God willing, I'll make what I think is a point crucial to how the CGGC must approach its future.

---------------------------------------------

Previously, I wrote:

I've been thinking a lot lately about the record of John Winebrenner's tumultuous tenure as the clergyman of the Harrisburg German Reformed Church. The best known account of it is contained in Richard Kern's biography of Winebrenner.

And, as I think about things coming from CGGC mountain tops these days about reforming our "worship" and avoiding worship wars and all just getting along, I am absolutely convinced that if Ed Rosenberry and our regional EDs and, perhaps, every other current mountaintopper were part of that story, they would have kicked Winebrenner out of the church on his derriere.

If you doubt me and you have the book, read that chapter over. Winebrenner opposed everything we are now being told to value in our worship services.

Consider this question: How long would Winebrenner have lasted long if the Rosenberries and other EDs were on the church vestry?

 -------------------------------------

Now, imagine this:

A member of a CGGC Church Council calls Ed or your regional CEO and tells the story of their pastor saying and doing what the people of the Harrisburg Church reported to the German Reformed Classis about what Winebrenner was saying and doing.

How much support would have Winebrenner have gotten if Ed or the others were a part his story?

Gathering 11-23-14

One thing about the way we come together that is set in stone is that NOTHING, humanly speaking, is set in stone.

We have a pattern that we customarily follow but everything is flexible. There is never a sermon. We never know what songs we will sing--or how many we will sing or who will pray, or how many will pray.

Today was a day that we didn't follow the customary pattern. At one point we read a passage that we recognized as a familiar Scripture song. Someone said, "Hey, we should sing that." So, we did. Then we continued with the study of the Word.

Groovy, Spirit-directed time which felt extemporaneous in the way Paul describes New Testament gatherings in I Corinthians 14.

My sense is that in most Evangelical services, the most memorable element is the sermon. More often than not, in our gatherings the most memorable time for me is prayer time.

 Great way to start a week!!!

A Thought Experiment: Current CGGC Leadership as a Part of Winebrenner's Story

I've been thinking a lot lately about the record of John Winebrenner's tumultuous tenure as the clergyman of the Harrisburg German Reformed Church. The best known account of it is contained in Richard Kern's biography of Winebrenner.

And, as I think about things coming from CGGC mountain tops these days about reforming our "worship" and avoiding worship wars and all just getting along, I am absolutely convinced that if Ed Rosenberry and our regional EDs and, perhaps, every other current mountaintopper were part of that story, they would have kicked Winebrenner out of the church on his derriere.

If you doubt me and you have the book, read it over. Winebrenner opposed everything we are now being told to value in our worship services.

Consider this question: How long would Winebrenner have lasted long if the Rosenberries and other EDs were on the church vestry?

Old Wineskin-ism: The Well-Intentioned Rosenberrian Error

As the CGGC moves forward and attempts to fill Ed Rosenberry's sasquatch-sized shoes, I have been trying to assess what are the most important changes the body needs to make.

(I have been very clear about my conviction that we need to eschew the big-business model upon which our current leadership scheme is built and not to follow recent tradition and have the CGGC Ad Council appoint another person to sit behind the huge desk in the corner office whose task is to be its "CEO." 

But, as Isaiah understood from the beginning [see chapter 6], I am resigned to the reality that this message will not be received and that leadership will continue to defy the "rule" of Scripture.  Therefore, the CGGC certainly will soon have its next CEO.)

Viewing Ed's tenure from the 40,000 foot perspective that prophets have, I see several things that, I suspect, few, if any, others see.

One of them is that Ed attempted always, and in many ways, to put new wine in the old, decayed CGGC wineskin.

There is much dysfunction and sin at the core of what the CGGC has become.  Ed has, at the same time, enabled that dysfunction and attempted to introduce new energy into a body that is diseased and dying.  This practice is schizophrenic and destined to failure.

It seems to me that Ed has always been too kind-hearted, too fearful of conflict and too much of a shepherd to confront the many sins that are killing us and has hoped to bring change to the CGGC core by tweaking and adding what is new to what is decayed and tradition bound.

The Word makes it clear that this is unwise and, in fact, impossible.  God's apostles and prophets have never done this and the Lord never blessed this strategy when the institutionalists and traditionalists of the Bible attempted it.

The Lord's correction has always involved a first step of confronting sin and calling for confession and repentance.  "If my people who are called by my Name..."  These are things Ed has consistently refused to do.  In fact, it seems outside of his nature to even consider them.

--------------------------------

Four thoughts:

1.  As a result, even the CGGC institution is faltering--as the most recent financial report from Bob Stephenson, the financial plea from Jim Thomas for assistance for those in the pension and, in the ERC, as a recent communication from the financial gurus have made clear.

2.  The new CEO will have to do what shepherds find difficult--probably impossible--and confront core sins using Jesus in the temple as his/her model.  Hence we will need someone as our next CEO who is not gifted to be a shepherd who is also someone who will "uproot and tear down [and] destroy and overthrow" (Jeremiah 1:10) the shepherd dominated leadership culture.  (This will probably result in the spilling of metaphorical blood--most probably the metaphorical blood of the CEO.)

3.  We must repent on the big picture level.  Tweaking has been shown to fail both in Scripture and in our own story.

4.  The best way to move forward really is to cast aside the CEO leadership model that has been failing since the first days of the 35,000 by 2000 campaign.

Gathering 11-16-14

Today was much of the best that gatherings modeled on New Testament gatherings, which disdain evangelico-Christendom traditions, have to offer.

We avoid worship wars by expecting that everyone will have a hymn for the body and that the gathering will join enthusiastically in singing it. Yesterday we sang music from the 1700s, 1800s, 1900s and 2000s. No one begrudged a brother or sister their musical passion.

Everyone led to pray aloud prayed aloud. I didn't have us on a stopwatch but the last time I noted, prayer time had extended more than twenty inspiring minutes.

Keeping with the New Testament model, there was no sermon in which everyone else passively consumes the spiritual wisdom of one person. On this occasion, we noted the surface contradiction between Matthew 5:16 and 6:1. The wisdom and spiritual struggles that torment many of us contributed to a blending of the wisdom of the group.

As we explored the truth together, I realized that no single "preacher" could have edified us all as effectively as we all edified each other. (1 Cor. 14:26)

It saddens me that so few have the sort of experience we now take for granted.

A Bible Question Probably no CGGC Person Can Answer

My guess is that no CGGCer can answer beyond a surface level--if even that--because the Shepherd Mafia has effectively killed off the spiritual gift of teaching in our body.

Without looking it up: What are the differences between the words euaggelizo and kerusso?

------------------------

It has occurred to me lately that the one APEST gift/calling that is most threatening to the Shepherd Mafia may very well be the gift of teaching because teachers could and would calmly and factually expose the values the mafia foists on the body as not being Word-based.

That is a truth our mafia dons can't afford to have exposed.

Pseudo Francis Chan Quote

I heard Jonathan Falwell attribute this to Francis Chan. And, it is in his book, CRAZY LOVE. But Chan quotes it from Tim Kizziar.

It is a stern warning to the Western Church and, especially to the CGGC:

"Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter."

Our Gathering THIS Sunday

This is one of those relaxed Sundays that we planned ahead of time not to gather with our Sunday morning group. We will be joining a nephew who, as a child, was preached the "if your go to the altar and pray the prayer you are saved forever" gospel.

And, he has embraced that gospel!!!! He's a nice guy who has always been a hit with the babes, has dumped two wives and is now shacking up with a woman who, as it turns out, is a former coworker of Evie.

Our gathering this Sunday will be with them.

Last week the gang crammed into our house. Today we gather with the woman at the well and her newest stud--our nephew--whom we love.

And, I believe that both last week's and today's gatherings have more of what Jesus taught and incarnated than most churchians have on their plates.

I only wish we had more people in our lives who saw this walk in the Word.

Ed's eNews Blog

Two observations:

1. Have you noticed that no one has yet commented on any eNews blog posting?  This blog, with a puny mailing list, gets more comments than eNews.  I wonder what this lack of conversation is fruit of.  Doesn't anyone read the eNews?  (At one time someone who resides very close to the top of the CGGC mountaintop told me that I am one of only three or four who ever read it.)  Is it that no one cares?  Is it the cynicism that is essential to the CGGC brand?  Is there another explanation?  [Note:  Any comments would have to be placed on the blog by someone who runs the blog.  The comment page states, "Your comment will be posted after it is approved."  It could be that comments that have been made have been censored.]
2. Have you noticed that there has been no mention of The Gathering?  Did Ed not attend?  Is it that the topic, the content and proclamation of the Gospel, isn't worth eNews mention as far as Ed is concerned?  Is it that what McKnight has to say is too 'hot button' and creates tension in the "Mellow Relationships over Truth" characteristic of the CGGC brand?  It is a curious thing that this event, which Ed promoted so aggressively, has not been mentioned since it took place.

I applaud Ed for creating the blog as a vehicle for conversation.  It is sad that we are not in conversation.

Pastoral Call

I stopped functioning in the role of a parish priest/pastor years ago. I can't describe the role I have drifted into but my calling is not to be a parish priest. I'm not good at doing that stuff. I hate it and the Lord has never blessed it.

However, I sort of fell into that role yesterday. A guy who gathers with our Sunday and Thursday groups had some outpatient surgery yesterday and Evelyn cooked their evening meal, which I delivered. I hung out for about a half hour.

As I drove away I realized that what I did ended up fitting the parish priest role.

What a blast from the past!

I enjoyed it but I'm glad it's not expected.

Filling Ed's Size 19 1/2 5Es

You probably don't know this but, at about the time I created this blog, I created another blog called THE ED ROSENBERRY BLOG.

I've written ten posts for it but I never felt freed by the Lord to publish any of them.  Those posts have served as a sort of journal for me in the months since.

The description of the blog states:

Through his profound impact on the Eastern Regional Conference and the General Conference as their Executive Director, Ed Rosenberry is now the second most influential person in CGGC history, behind John Winebrenner, exceeding even C. H. Forney. This blog is dedicated to assessment of Ed's influence and speculation on what his legacy may be.

And, until recently, I believed that. 

Now, I'm not certain that he's still number two. 

The circumstances surrounding Ed's resignation defy understanding to me.  And, being the cynic that I am about the things that are spoken from the mountaintop, I don't think we know the whole story.  I have long since stopped taking anything Ed says or does at face value and I certainly don't take his explanation of his resignation at face value.

So...

...I'm not certain that Ed is still number two, behind only Winebrenner, in the CGGC.  But, the impact of his leadership certainly has been great.

Whether he's still number two or not, Ed has been extremely influential and has, as I've argued in the past, exercised authority in our body in a way that most Roman Catholic Popes never dreamed of.

Filling his shoes will be extremely difficult.

How we do it will matter.

It is my hope that the Search Committee will stop searching.  It has declared that it is searching for the next CGGC CEO.  I hope that it will submit to the authority of the Eldership and to We Believe and the new Statement of Faith and go back to square one and allow the Bible to be its "only" "rule."  I hope it will report that it can't, in good conscience, defy the Word and foist another CEO on our body.

If it doesn't, I promise to submit to the Eldership and our faith statements--even though I disagree with them on this point--and to resist the Search Committee and any and every thing the next CEO attempts to do. 

I promise to do it like a little brat with a tummy ache in the throws of the terrible twos.  I will because I see that as an apt description of Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist--and even Jesus--when they dealt with faithless religious institutionalists who ignored the Word of the Lord.

Please pray for the people on the mountaintop.  Pray that the Spirit will lead them to repent of their avowed search for another CEO.  Pray that He will convict them of this folly.  Pray they will submit to Him and to the authority of the Word and of CGGC body itself.

And, if they don't, be prepared yourself to submit to the Word and to the authority of the Eldership!

House Gathering

For the past few months, one time a month, we squeeze our whole group into our living/dining room, with some on the floor. We do the 1 Cor. 14:26 thing with anyone and everyone calling for a hymn, any and everyone praying and, of course, no sermon-no one assigned to speak or teach. The highlight is always the taking of the bread and cup as a part of a world class meal to which many of the participants contributed-including a ten year old who brought bags of chips and popcorn (my potato and vegetable.) ;-)

What a wonderful time! There is absolutely nothing like it.

There was a long time I believed in this before I began to live it. My only regret is that I held on to tradition for so long.

It is likely that we will have only house gatherings within a year.

Can't wait!

Pressed Beyond My Incarnational Limit

Last evening at work a new coworker with whom I have quickly become friendly asked me join him and some friends for their weekly Saturday night small stakes poker game.

I couldn't.

I couldn't even want to for the sake of the gospel.

I'm remembering Jesus hanging with Matthew and his friends and I'm feeling like a Pharisee.

I'm happy not to be a pastor and to be a disciple living in the world and for the opportunities to be salt and light. I rejoice in the life I have. Clearly, though, I have a way to go in figuring it out.

Feedback on The Gathering

I have heard from one person who attended The Gathering and am involved in an interesting conversation with him.

The essence of it has to do with acknowledging that most of us have probably preached a false gospel, and that a challenge for many pastors who buy McKnight's take now have to explain to their people that a past pastor who led them to Christ preached a false gospel to them.

This is not an issue to be addressed by a shepherd dominated leadership culture.

-----------------

A thought: Shepherds understand that there is truth and that there is error but they find it almost impossible to acknowledge and confront error, even within themselves.  They also have difficulty standing boldly for truth.

Only One of the Problems with the New WE BELIEVE

It is irrelevant.

One important illustration of how:  Have you noticed that when the CGGC Regions dealt with the issue of same sex marriage, in their Conference sessions, that they couldn't point to the authority of We Believe?  WB gives our body nothing to address the whole bundle of issues having to do with sexual righteousness.

Now, remember:  One rationale leadership used to justify this theological disaster was that the church needs, from time to time, to revise its statement of belief so it can speak to its age. What a joke!

How many ways has our culture changed since the 1980s?  How has WB empowered the CGGC to reach our changed world!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!

The reality is that, unlike its predecessor, this We Believe is entirely disconnected from the spirit of its age.

We need seriously question the LEADERS who suggested that it is relevant--and not only the soon to be departed Ed.

My Nomination for the Next CGGC Executive Director

No one.

The CGGC is at a point where it has to either, well to put it indelicately, poop or get off the pot as far as the authority of the Bible is concerned.

Our current leadership spent five years writing and promoting a new We Believe defining the Bible as the only rule in the CGGC. The Ad Council gave it its authority.

Now, in the wake of Ed Rosenberry's resignation, the same leadership has launched a search for a new Executive Director--a position for which there is no support in the Word. They continue to define the holder of that position as the "Chief Executive Officer" of the denomination.

Show me a CEO under the "rule" of the Word.

If we hire another CEO, the people of the CGGC will have to choose an authority: the Word or the CEO.

I, for one, will never even consider submitting to the authority of another denominational CEO.

Trash this search.

Open the Word.

Start over.

Every day with, uh, bill...

Friends,

I've got a lot going on in my life these days and I don't have as much time as I'd like to do the sort of blogging I've done on this blog in the past in which I write lengthy comments, going through many drafts, often, over a period of weeks or months.  I do continue to work on those threads.

However, lately I've been thinking of adopting the method of my friend Dan Horwedel in his excellent blog, "Every day with dan..." and to make more personal observations often shorter in length and without any thought or care that they might provoke dialog and, certainly, without the intention to respond myself.

So, somewhat in that vein...

-------------------------------

It is our intention at Faith to discontinue the practice of taking an offering.  We hope to do that soon.  My goal personally is that we will do it beginning on January 1, 2015. 

We still have an obligation to our current landlord--to fulfill the financial obligation of our lease.  I hope we can pay it off early.  We do have one or two other small obligations that we will need to meet.  Then, as far as I am concerned, we will no longer funnel money through the church.

I think I can say that we all believe that Jesus taught, or at least endorsed, tithing. (Mt. 23:23)  As for me and my house, we will continue to give.  We simply no longer believe in tithing to a local church.  We see no biblical basis for such a practice.

So, as soon as we can, we will be setting our Church Treasurer free.

Reflections on the MLI Reunion

If you read the eNewses of September 26 and October 3, you know that past participants in the Missional Leadership Initiative were invited to come together about a month ago, as Ed says it, "to return for a kind of reunion with an agenda."

I don't have many reflections worth mentioning, but I believe some of my insights have value--especially as our body considers how it will move on from the Rosenberry era.

I can detail two realities that I, very personally, think are worth mentioning:

1.  I wasn't invited.

I didn't even know there was a reunion planned until I read Ed's brief mention of it in his article on the recent GC Ad Council meeting.  The following week's eNews was Ed's account of the MLI gathering of Eagles--as a fait accompli. 

I was stunned to realize that it had been planned and held and that I had not gotten even a sniff of it from my brethren and sisters in Findlay.

I wrote a note to a friend whose heart has some passions for the Lord and the world that are similar to mine, who has also completed MLI, asking if, like me, he also wasn't invited.  To my surprise, he told me that he had been invited.  At that point I began to wonder how small the universe of the excluded is.

In his reply, noting that I was not invited, my friend asked, "What's up with that?"

While I have my thoughts, I think that his is a good question.

Before MLI was even a twinkle in GC Leadership's eyes, I was calling for missionality in the CGGC and I was living it and participating in it in my local setting.  Since my two years in MLI ended, I have continued to support the goals of MLI and still, today, live out missionality with a passion that is at least as great as anyone in the CGGC.

So indeed, "What's up with that?"

What could have possessed the people making the decision to exclude me from having the opportunity to share my missional joys and sorrows, my triumphs and failures, in community with my brothers and sisters on mission in the CGGC?

I do have a theory.  But, I do not know.

2.  In spite of my absence, my presence was felt.

A telling passage in Ed's glowing account of the successes of the CGGC missional and of the denomination in general is this:

"Friends, God is alive and moving across the CGGC. Heed not the naysayers."

 Obviously, Ed could not forget that there are those inside the CGGC who reside beyond the borders of his preferred world in which we all just get along and in which the CGGC word is spoken and received in unity and with power.

But, "naysayer-s?"--in the plural?  Who, besides me could Ed mean?  Who, besides me, in the CGGC is actually saying nay?

Certainly, Ed's innovations have been opposed by minorities--sometimes fairly large minorities--but actually speaking nay?  To me, it feels very much as if I am a lone voice crying in the CGGC wilderness.  I know that some agree at least on points that I make.  They tell me so.  But, no one I know of is voicing--i.e., saying--nay.

Now, please understand, while I may be saying nay, I'm not saying what Ed says I'm saying.  I'm not denying, as he says, "God is alive and moving across the CGGC."  To this moment, I neither confirm nor deny that He is.  I've never really talked about that at all and I rarely have thought in those terms.

I can say that what I see around me is churches that are either--with very, very few exceptions--struggling to hold their own or are declining and some of them are declining rapidly.  I acknowledge that there are some exceptional stories of churches doing well--but not nearly enough of them to justify Ed's glorious accounts of growth across our body.

But, I will say now that, according to the standards established by the Bible which is, our "only" "rule," that God is NOT alive and moving across the CGGC.  Certainly, the institution of the CGGC is in better shape than it was when Ed's regime began. 

But, when I read the Word--in both Testaments--I see, as fruit of God's blessing, two things taking place among God's people:

First, they repent.
Second, the turn from their evil ways.

While Ed often reports of his travels to the churches and Regions across the CGGC, I can't recall a single account either of repentance or of conversion under his leadership.

By the standard of the Word, since Ed has raised the issue, I don't think God is alive and moving across the CGGC. 

Clearly, the institution has been undergirded.  But, as far as I can tell, God's work is still not being accomplished.  Hearts are not being moved.  Lives are not changing.

-----------------

So, these are my reflections--in absentia--on the MLI Reunion.  Sorry I missed it.  I, and the people with whom I serve here at Faith, no doubt, could have benefited from an invitation.

But, alas...

Organized Hypocrisy in Action

My thirteenth Characteristic of the CGGC Brand is Organized Hypocrisy:

13.  Organized Hypocrisy.  There is illogic and outright contradiction among the things the CGGC claims to be true about itself.  This illogic and contradiction is, in reality, deeply rooted, highly intentional and carefully executed.  A hypocrite is an actor: "...a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings."  It is a positive and essential value of the CGGC to speak one message and to, without qualm, act out another that is entirely disconnected from that avowed principle.

This characteristic of who the CGGC is and what it does is depicted vividly in leadership's search for the new Executive Director, or as the job description has it, the new CEO.

Note the Job Description for the position which defines the ED as the CGGC's CEO and describes that person as its overseer of personnel and its programs.

This description is a copy and paste from the innocent days when our leaders created the position as part of a series of changes they attempted which featured the 35,000 by 2000 program--which, of course, failed miserably, so miserably that recently Ed Rosenberry was celebrating 28,000 in worship in 2013.

My question is:  What in the WORD is a denominational ED who is a CEO overseeing personnel and programs?!?

The hypocrisy is particularly stark and outrageous because the same leadership team worked tenaciously for five years to gain the adoption of a new We Believe which states, "We believe the Bible is the inspired, infallible authority, the Word of God, our only rule for following Jesus in every aspect of our life" and then added a 2013 Statement of Faith which affirms, "We believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice."

These two statements created afresh two authorities over all of the people of the CGGC:

1.  The Bible as our, well, ruler, that which rules us, and,
2.  The two declarations of the CGGC Eldership both of which denote that the highest authority in our body is the Bible.

All of the people in the CGGC--especially those who reside on the mountaintop--must, therefore, be ruled by the Bible.  They must based on the authority of the CGGC community represented by the General Conference in session.

So, the first question is:  What in the WORD is a denominational ED who is a CEO overseeing personnel and programs?

The answer, I think we can all agree, is nowhere.

If you find such a person in the Word, please show us from the Word.

A second question becomes:  Where do the powers that be get off defying the Word and the
Eldership by creating the search for a denominational CEO who oversees, uh, personnel and programs?  Where in the Word do you find church personnel and programs?

This is quintessential and highly organized hypocrisy!

There is illogic and outright contradiction among the things the CGGC claims to be true about itself.  This illogic and contradiction is, in reality, deeply rooted, highly intentional and carefully executed.  A hypocrite is an actor: "...a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings."  It is a positive and essential value of the CGGC to speak one message and to, without qualm, act out another that is entirely disconnected from that avowed principle.

A third question:

Why shouldn't all of the mountaintoppers who are a part of creating the search for a new CGGC CEO not be tried by the Eldership for insubordination?

I can see no reason.

CGGC Executive Director Job Description--Makes MY Skin Crawl! How About Your's?

I pasted this straight from CGGC.org.  It didn't paste perfectly, though the text is all there.

If you don't recognize it, it comes, with only the slightest tweaking, from the wisdom of the same group of people who came up with 35,000 by 2000:  The same people who defined "More and Better Disciples" as an increase in average attendance in worship services.

Can you say, "Institutionalism?"  Can you say, "Hierarchy?"  Can you shout, "TRADITION!?"

I don't know if you can.  But, the Ad Council and the Search Committee certainly can.

Can you say, "Repentance" or "Change?"  Can you act under the "rule" of God's Word?

Clearly, they can't.

This has to be stopped before it's too late!

-----------------------------------------

Note:  Bold Italics are my emphasis

GENERAL CONFERENCE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

A. Position Description
The General Conference Executive Director is the chief executive officer of the Churches of God, General Conference. His primary role is that of vision caster and overseer of the personnel in Findlay and programs that serve the local churches in the conferences of the Churches of God, General Conference.
B. Organizational Responsibilities

1. Responsible to: Administrative Council of General Conference
2. Responsible for: Spiritual and managerial oversight of Directors, staff and programs of the Churches of God as directed by the Administrative Council
3. Related closely with: Administrative Council Members, General Conference staff and Directors, Conference Leaders, Winebrenner Theological Seminary, church leadership and other denominational leaders in the larger Body of Christ
C. Position Qualifications
The following qualifications shall, to the degree possible, be regarded as minimum requirements, excepting where the person by reason of experience or related skills, has demonstrated abilities.
1. Experience
a. Have at least 10 years experience as an effective servant-leader with sufficient evidences of team success   b. Have had leadership responsibilities in the management and administration of the larger work of the church, (e.g. Conference/Region or General Conference level)
c. Have had sufficient involvement in ecumenical endeavors and relations to relate to interdenominational activities
d. Have had adequate exposure to the total ministries of the church to provide a broad experience compatible with the inner workings of the Churches of God
e. Have demonstrated skills in personnel management, corporate planning and finance, along with experience in problem solving and crisis management
2. Education a. Wherever possible, hold a degree from a recognized theological seminary. However, training in theological studies, management, business/personnel administration coupled with demonstrated performance in these areas may serve to satisfy this requirement.
b. Possess biblical knowledge supportive of an adequate perception and understanding of the church should be viewed as an essential part of the educational foundation of the person.
c. Hold a personal theological position that is biblical and compatible with the We Believe statement of the CGGC.


3. Personal

a. Evidence personal integrity, good moral character, Christian commitment, and financial responsibility (1 Timothy, Titus)
b. Evidence an understanding of the fear of the Lord and knowledge of God (Proverbs 2:5) in deliberations and decisions
c. Be a person given to neatness and good taste in matters of dress and appearance and have reasonably sound health
d. Manage own household well and be willing to do extensive travel, given the broad scope of the church and its various ministries
e. Demonstrate a loyalty to the Churches of God and her traditional doctrinal position, possessing the respect and cooperative support of the church
D. Job Summary
1. The Executive Director - General Objectives a. Develop a team to minister effectively to the Churches of God in the following areas:
1) Church Planting

2) Cross-Cultural Ministries

3) Finance

4) Denominational Communications

5) Transformational Ministries

6) Publications

7) Stewardship and Capital Development

8) Personnel

9) Administration

b. Develop working relationships with the Conference/Regional Leaders (appointed and elected) of the Churches of God, General Conference
c. Coordinate vision casting and program development with Winebrenner Theological Seminary
2. Managerial Roles
a. Planning
(1) In consultation with the Administrative Council and conference/regional leaders, develop a strategic vision for the Churches of God, General Conference.
(2)Develop short-range and long-range plans for denominational growth, development, and renewal for ascertaining needs, setting objectives, developing strategies, proposing programs and budgets, evaluating results, networking regions and churches, and identifying external resources.
(3) Design effective systems for recruiting, training, and deploying General Conference personnel on the basis of spiritual giftedness and expertise.
b. Organizing
(1)Oversee the development of an effective organization by nurturing a relational chain of concern and span of care.
(2)Work with the General Conference Team to develop position descriptions and oversee the selection of personnel to accomplish effective ministry.
(3)Oversee and facilitate the development and implementation of action plans for General Conference ministries.
(4)Conduct regular Directors and staff meetings to insure coordinated, resourced planned activities.
c. Leading
(1)Clearly communicate the denominational strategy to all denominational membership and leadership.
(2)Recognize, recruit, test, train, empower, and deploy persons to minister, based on character, faithfulness, gifts, education, experience, and availability.
(3)Be available as advisor and resource person to the Administrative Council, conference/regional leaders and WTS staff.
(4)Handle personnel problems at the General Conference office which have not been settled through regular procedures.
(5)Network resources to provide opportunities for growth to all churches.
d. Controlling
(1)Meet regularly with the Executive Committee of the Administrative Council to evaluate progress and problems related to the denomination.
(2)Meet regularly with Directors of Ministry and staff to review progress and expedite team proposals for needed change.
(3)Monitor and evaluate new changing paradigms in cross-cultural ministries.
(4)Provide evaluation of all Ministry Directors and staff.
E. Recurring Priorities 1. Regular involvement in seminars and events to continue to gain knowledge, skills, and experience.
2. Assist General Conference team to recruit and train competent people to be part of the Churches of God ministries.
3. Motivate General Conference staff to quality relationships and a lifestyle of Christian discipleship.
4. Facilitate the redefining and refining of objectives, programs, and job descriptions for Directors and staff ministries.
F. Specific Areas of Oversight
1. Staff
a. Oversee the enhancement of skills through training
b. Guide in strategic planning of programs
c. Make sure a variety of opportunities are available for spiritual growth and enrichment
2. Possible Programs

a. Regional and Conference Visits

b. Special Programs

G. Scheduling

1. Reports

a. Specific reports requested by Administrative Council

b. Triennial report to General Conference

2. Meetings

a. Regularly scheduled staff meetings

b. Scheduled Conference Leadership meetings

c. Administrative Council and other meetings and services as needed
d. Conferences for personal edification
e. Serve on Winebrenner Theological Seminary Board  

DESIRED ATTRIBUTES FOR THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Gang,

 

I pulled this off of CGGC.org this morning.  As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would say, "The game is afoot."

 

Read it over.  I'd appreciate comments here or off the blog.

 

Two, I believe, crucial theological questions to bring to the denomination's "next chapter:"

 

1.  What APEST gifting(s) do the powers that be have in mind?

 

2.  Who, among the great men and women of God in the Bible, resembles this description?

 

-------------------------------------------

DESIRED ATTRIBUTES FOR THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The next Executive Director should possess a combination of personal and spiritual character and professional experience that will enable him/her to lead the denomination to its next chapter of influence in the Kingdom of God. A deep commitment to Christ as Lord, personal character and integrity, proven and effective leadership skills, passion and enthusiasm, and a strong work ethic will be necessary to guide the Churches of God, General Conference. Beyond this, other specific attributes will be important. The next Executive Director will be:
• A person called by God to this position with a deep commitment to Christ and unquestioned personal integrity;
• A forward-thinking visionary who is strategic in thinking, planning and action;
• A strong communicator, gifted listener and inspiring influence;
• A person who is committed to local and global multiplication of disciples and faith communities;
• A person with proven leadership skills who is able to inspire trust, build consensus and lead appropriate teams;
• A person who holds the core values of the denomination deeply and intuitively;
• A person who can articulate to current and emerging generations that the Kingdom of God matters;
• A visible leader who is able to move comfortably among congregations of various size and cultures of various diversity.

eNews Shocker: ED ROSENBERRY RESIGNS

In a surprise move, Ed Rosenberry resigned as CGGC Executive Director effective June 30, 2105 as a part of his report to the most recent meeting of the CGGC Administrative Council.  Ed announced his resignation to the denomination in the September 12 article of the CGGC eNews, the weekly email update on his comings and goings.

In announcing the resignation, Ed said, "...there are challenges, but good things are happening too."  If the position has not been filled by the effective date of his resignation, Ed has offered to continue at the board’s pleasure as needed.

In explaining the decision, Ed noted: "The priorities God laid on my heart back in 2007 are being met...It’s time for next-generation leadership to take the helm" and, "Linda and I are convinced the Lord is leading us into a new phase of ministry...We believe the Lord would have us be engaged in church planting in Pennsylvania."

Response to the resignation by the Ad Council was businesslike.  This announcement of a search for Ed's successor appeared in the same edition of the eNews that carried the resignation:

The Churches of God, General Conference, based in Findlay, Ohio, is now receiving applications for the position of Executive Director of the denomination. Bill Reist, CGGC president, is serving as the chairperson of the transition team along with eight others from across the Church.

An application, position description and desired attributes of the Executive Director will be available on the Churches of God website after October 1, 2014 or by contacting wreist@collegefirst.org or revrockey@gmail.com. Applications received by December 15, 2014 will be given priority, with a decision to be made, Lord willing, by March 31, 2015.

For more information regarding values, beliefs and history of the CGGC you may visit http://www.cggc.org/about/ online. Please direct all inquiries pertaining to the Executive Director position to the e-mail addresses above and not to the CGGC offices.

The last paragraph of the announcement seems to suggest an openness to the hiring of someone from outside the CGGC.

-------------------------------

A few editorial comments:

1.  The CGGC is now at a crucial moment in determining its future for the Kingdom.  How it moves forward in regard to the opening in the position of CGGC ED may, in fact, determine if it has any future for God's Kingdom at all.

2.  I believe that the make up of the 'transition team' is crucial.  There truly is a Shepherd Mafia in the CGGC.  In recent generations, that small group  has chosen its next leader.  The two people we know are a part of the transition team are both Shepherd Mafia "flockists."  In my opinion, they are both men of integrity who are good-hearted.  They are, however, insiders who have prospered from the leadership culture which has led the CGGC's numerical and spiritual decline for generations.  Bill is, perhaps, the leading intellectual among insiders.  Jeff is a highly respected progressive.  Interestingly, neither are from the denomination's largest region, the ERC.

If the transition team is to act according to the leading of the Holy Spirit, it seems extremely likely to me that at least four members of the transition team will have to come from outside of the good-old-boy network that has been hiring CGGC leaders.  For this to happen, the insiders will have to begin by engaging in a significant act of repentance.

We should all pray that such repentance will take place.

3.  I already know exactly who I think should succeed Ed.  I have been thinking about how Ed should be succeeded for a long time.  I will announce who I think should be the next ED on a future thread on this blog, if God is willing.

Two hints:  I don't think it should be me and, if you are reading this and hoping for my support--or, more likely, hoping not to receive my support--it's not you, either.

4.  The CGGC needs to take this opportunity to, as the Old Testament prophets preached, turn from our wicked ways and live.  Through his resignation, Ed has made repentance and conversion a real possibility for the CGGC.  I pray that the CGGC body, from its highest mountain peaks to its most humble hollers, will seize upon this opportunity.

Five Point (Justin) Meierism

Justin has an article in the last CA entitled, "Is THAT a CHURCH?"

It's brief, concise, thoughtful and well done.  And, in the way of the Calvinist, it contains five points--this time describing what is true of, as Justin says, "any church."

The article is very provocative.  It has spurred a lot of thought in my mind.  I'll make some comments later.  For now, here are the Five Points of Meierism, describing, in his phrase, "what makes a church a church:"

1. It is a group of believers who gather together for worship to honor and glorify the God revealed to us through the Bible.

2.  They gather together for teaching and edification from God's word, to experience transformation through the power of the Holy Spirit for God's glory.

3.  They gather together for the ordinances. . ..

4.  They strive to be a foretaste of God's Kingdom on earth for their community and everyone they have contact with to help others experience God's love and glory.

5.  They partner with Jesus, on His mission, to multiply disciples, leaders, and churches for the furtherance of the Kingdom and for the glory of God.

---------------------------

One comment to begin:

This article is a line cast into the deep and treacherous Sea of CGGC to Talk is to Walk-ism.  If there is no repentance of that dreadful sin, the line will catch nothing and we will continue to lose touch with our world.

I'd appreciate your thoughts about what Justin has written and what it might mean to the CGGC culture.

Reading THE CHURCH ADVOCATE (August/September, 2104)

Gang,

As I always do, I've been reading the latest issue of The CHURCH ADVOCATE with great interest and care.  There is some very good stuff in this one.

I've just read Lance Finley's very stimulating article.  It touches on thoughts I've been thinking and, interestingly, it coincides with a post I've been planning. 

Lance's article climaxes by inviting one and all to attend The Gathering in Findlay in October and to hear Scot McKnight present insights on the content of the Christian Gospel as it is detailed in his awesome book, THE KING JESUS GOSPEL.

The first part of Lance's article is a challenge to consider the possibility that what many of us think Jesus' gospel is, is not what Jesus' gospel is.  Lance writes with conviction and he writes well.  His brief article is positive and provocative.

I've read McKnight's book and I believe that Lance is correct:

We would all be well served to question our own definition of the gospel and we should all be prepared to realize that there is much error in what we think about the very essence of Christian truth.

Thanks, Lance.  Well done.

(FYI:  I have also read Justin Meier's five point definition of the church and found it to be as provocative as Lance's article.  I also found Justin's article to be far more radical than Lance's.  I'm very curious about how Justin says will fare in the CGGC's To Talk is to Walk universe.  If God is willing, I'll write more about Justin's article later.)

---------------------------------------

For now...

...having read Lance's article, I am prepared to prophecy in a way I rarely do:  I will prophecy predicatively, that is, I will offer a picture of what will happen in the future.

As is the case with many prophecies of the future that appear in the Word, my prediction comes with a condition, and it is the typical condition:  "Unless you repent and turn from your sin...

...what I am saying will happen, truly will happen." 

I suspect that many of you will not find the prediction shocking.  But, I want to say this before it happens (...unless there is repentance, of course.)

Here's the prediction: 

This year's gathering will, in the end, will be the same tragic and colossal waste of time and human and financial resources in the CGGC that 35,000 by 2000, Natural Church Development and TCAT have been.

So, to be specific:

Unless we repent and turn from our sin, this year's gathering will, in the end, will be a tragic and colossal waste of time and resources.

Of all the "Characteristics of the CGGC Brand" that I have identified, the one that is most applicable here is number 10: To Talk is to Walk-ism.

Perhaps the greatest danger to the CGGC's future is the reality that, in our body--especially in the last half dozen years or so--we seem to live believing that to say something means to have done it. 

That is: It is a core value of the CGGC that for us to say that something is true about us makes it a real-life truth about us.

-------------------------

So, what will happen if Scot McKnight convinces CGGCers--ones who have not repented of To Talk-ism--that they need to rethink the gospel?

What has been happening recently, is that they will agree that we need to rethink the gospel.  AND, having done that two things will happen:

1.  Having thought that we need to rethink the gospel, they will think we have walked the walk of rethinking of the gospel and, most tragically--AGAIN--

2.  Not one thing will change as far as the shepherd-dominated dysfunctions that drive our sin and the decline that is the fruit of our sin.

----------------------

In Lance's article, he asks his readers when was the last time they thought about the content of the gospel.

Coincidentally, I have been doing that and I have been doing it for years. 

In fact, I blogged about the CGGC's false take on the content of the gospel years ago on Brian Miller's blog.  I have been meditating feverishly on the content of the gospel since long before I read McKnight's book.

And, I will add this:  One of the convictions that underlies much of what I blog here is that what the CGGC does, from the top down, is fruit of belief in a false gospel.

--------------------------

Here's a second part of the prophecy:  Unless what we do changes radically after Scot McKnight leaves Findlay in October, we will be heaping more burning coals of God's wrath on ourselves.

-------------------------

As it stands now, I will be unable to attend The Gathering because of commitments I have to my job and my family.  But, if you can...

...please attend The Gathering.  And...

...please leave prepared to live differently and to demand that we all live differently!

If God is willing, I will write more on this thread later.

My Personal Missional Myth: BUSTED

A few months ago I was exchanging a wide-ranging series of emails with a member of the ERC staff on topics covering, among others:

• the Region's Sexual Misconduct Policy,
• the differences between Organic/Simple/House Churches and the typical Evangelical Christendom congregation that is the norm in the CGGC and
• the so-called "metrics" included in the latest CGGC "Scorecard," AKA Statistical Report, (most of which are not actually metrics because metrics are quantitative measures and most of what the CGGC tries to assess are issues of quality--i.e., attributes that can not be counted).

In doing so, the staff member raised the question of how the group with which I gather, still calling itself Faith Community Church of God, is actually doing.  And, I entered in writing, for the first time, thoughts that had been dancing through my mind for some time.

I admitted, and not happily or joyfully, that we are not doing well--in two ways.

First, we are not doing well in terms of the values touted by CGGC and ERC leaders which we reject.  But, of course, that is to be expected and that doesn't bother me at all. 

For instance, our worship attendance is not increasing, though we never, ever count the number who attend our version of the Sunday morning show.  We dedicated no infants last year and would have spurned any request to do so because to do so would absolutely violate the  CGGC's Mission Statement's claim that our gathering is based on "the New Testament plan" and because to do so would violate the new We Believe's assertion that the Bible is our "only" "rule."

Second, what does irk me, hurt and concern me, however, is that we are also not doing well in terms of what we do believe in and value.  To use language that drove the conversation on Brian Miller's blog, we are not turning out to be externally focused. 

Far from it, in fact.  In fact, we appear to be increasingly internally focused--at least as a group. 

It stuns me and befuddles me that what I was certain would make us externally-focused hasn't done that at all.

I still embrace a goodly portion of what I was taught in the Missional Leadership Initiative and in what is asserted in missional literature.  Because of that, I began by redefining righteousness in our gathering. 

I abandoned, intentionally and verbally, the CGGC's conventional wisdom that I have describe in my Characteristics of the CGGC Brand as "False, Flock-Based Righteousness" in favor of biblical teachings from three sources:

1. The "Sermon on the Mount,"
2. Jesus' teaching about the Day of Judgment in His sheep and goats prophecy in Matthew 25, and
3. James' definition of "religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless" in James 1:27.

Doing so was a radical change in my teaching and unsettling for others in the group. 

Up to that point, I had towed the CGGC line.

I had actually once promoted growth in numbers at the Sunday morning show as a sign of a legitimate growth in righteousness.  I once encouraged people, for instance, to invite others to "church" on Sunday.  I once defined success by increasing participation in small group involvement, e. g., the size of the Youth Group or Women's Fellowship or a midweek Bible Study...

...but then, I repented of all of that thinking and I turned away from it.

The time came when I began to teach that many people who are preparing for the Day by doing those things will be counted among those stunned to hear Jesus say to them, "away from me you evildoers."

There were two responses to that abrupt and radical change in teaching.

1.  Many people at Faith rejected the new teaching.  They wanted to believe that the Lord is really glorified by church attendance and that small group attendance is fruit of sanctification.  In time, those people vamoosed.

2.  Others, a smaller number, were convinced by the simple arguments for the new teaching from the Gospels and from James.

You might very well be amazed by the lives that some of the people who remain at Faith are living:  Lives lived straight from the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 5-7 and from Matthew 25 and from the Epistle of James.  These are people who add verse 10 when they cite Ephesians 2:8 and 9.

They are people of Micah 6:8 who act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with their God.  They live radical lives of repentance which bear fruit, not in flock-based faux righteousness but in the righteousness Jesus taught and lived.

However, here's the shocking truth about those same people:

If anything, they are more inward-focused as a group than they were when they were people who lived the values embodied in the CGGC Statistical Report.

They have busted to pieces my personal missional myth.

I believed that if they grew in personal righteousness that, as a result of that act of conversion they would, naturally, become people of the so-called Great Commission.

Very simply, they have not.

They do meet to encourage the others among us to grow in lives of mercy, grace, love and forgiveness.  They confront each other over sin and help each other understand what the life lived and taught by Jesus looks like...

...but they actually resist bringing others into the koinonia they share.

They are as a group, more internally-focused than ever, though, oddly, as individuals, they are very kingdom-oriented.

Why?

I can't say for certain.

I'm playing with the idea that they have become what my own APEST equipping (which is extremely prophetic) produces. 

Prophets lead repentance and preach righteousness--and that's what we do.  We are unbalanced in the way shepherd-dominated, parish priest, pastor led congregations are.  The specific abuses are different in the end, but they are abuses nonetheless.

I have hoped, for some time, that a genuinely apostolic person would take interest in us.  But, if the Lord has called any to us, s/he has declined His leading.

At any rate, we are at a bit of an impasse.  We've gotten to where our journey has led but not to the place we hoped to be.

Interestingly, we have asked the appropriate renewal people in the ERC and CGGC for assistance only to be told that they have nothing available that will assist us.

I am at a loss.

The Whitewashing of the Story of Midwest Regional Conference Sessions

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness."  (Jesus, Matthew 23:27)

----------------------------------

We are well into the CGGC's Yay God Tour 2014.

The eNews has reported on the goings on in the ERC, ARC, GLRC and MRC plus the California Eldership in a way that could make anyone want to add those accounts to the end of Acts 2.

Same old, same old.

About the time of the meeting of my own ERC this May, I picked up an old ERC Conference Journal from about five years ago and skimmed through that docket which projected the same tone of awe and praise for the Lord's amazing blessing on the Conference that we read this in this year's eNews articles. Interestingly, Conventional Wisdom today is that five years ago things were really not so grand, after all...

...but, of course, all is groovy now!

Because I could not attend ERC this year, I asked several others who did attend to give me their impressions. 

After highlighting many of the reports by Commissions, staff people and one member of the Conference invited to give a testimonial to the effectiveness of a leadership program in transforming his congregation, one of my friends said with intense frustration, "I’m tired of the Hype..."

My sense is that many in the CGGC are tired of it, too.

----------------------------------

I was particularly struck by the totality of what I read about the Midwest Regional Conference gathering.

The first thing I read about it was not in the eNews.  It from a blog posting of a CGGC friend who is a member of that Conference.  Like me, my friend is no longer draws a salary from his calling.  And, like me, his current job kept him away from his Conference's sessions.

In his post entitled "Missing Conference," he articulated much of what is in my heart but with a feeling and sensitivity that is beyond my gift and calling.  His words are poignant to me.  I feel them deeply.  Because he also speaks for me, I quote him at length.  Consider his words as coming from me, if I had his tender heart.

Among other things,  he said:

"... like my friend [i.e., me] who wrote a similar post, I too wish I were there. . .There is that group of people (usually found at the top of the leadership structure) who have this total disdain for anyone with even a smidgen of prophet in them. They don't like to be challenged, don't want to hear truth, and mostly they probably just have a giant fear of conflict. . .Contrary to what many people think, people like me are not really angry at others, and we don't want to be troublemakers. We're actually trying to be helpful! There are things that we feel need to be said.  Personally, I really WANT to fit into the group and be a part of discussions and help try to make things better.  But it's frustrating. And I can't explain it very well. . . I'm tired of fighting the battle. I'm tired of caring. I'm tired of trying."

I, for one, think he explained it VERY well.

Can you feel the despair, the anxiety in those sentences--the yearning for a genuine fellowship that is in the Spirit, rooted in passion for commonly embraced truths.  Can you feel the love for Jesus?  Can you feel the pain of separation?

I can sense, in those words, similar moments when Elijah and Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Jesus and Paul felt their own longing for fellowship in the Lord with the religious institutionalists in their own times and places.

Now, contrast the passions, sorrow and laments contained in my friend's sentences with the jubilant, gleeful account of Midwest Regional Conference sessions contain in Ed's eNews published on June 27. 

As is the case with all of Ed's accounts of the gatherings of the institutional CGGC, Ed's account of MRC is absolutely pentecostal.  According to Ed, the Word was preached with clarity.  The Ordinances were celebrated with authenticity and power.  Reports of God's blessing on renewal efforts were promising.  Accounts shared regarding church planting and the growth of the seminary were exhilarating.

You'd think that if there are tears shed among the people of the MRC, they can only be tears of joy.

But, that is not the whole truth, as my friend's yearning, anxiety and despair make clear.

---------------------------------

One surprising characteristic of the CGGC Shepherd Mafia is that when members of our body are hurting--as my friend is--those people are not reached out to with compassion.  They are not nurtured.  They are not encouraged.  They are not restored.

Their suffering is pretended away.

Their existence is whitewashed, expunged from the CGGC record.

I trust that there is much truth in Ed's account of the goings on at MRC sessions.  But, as always, I know that Ed's truth is far from the entire truth.

It strikes me that, in Jesus' description of Judgment Day in which He likens that Day to the day that a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, Jesus says that it is not only what we do in His Name that will matter, it will also matter whom we do it. 

He promises to say, "Whatever you did to the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you did to me."

Yet, in the eNews CGGC today, there are no least of these remaining among us.  All is joy.  All is blessing.  All is peace.  All is strength and growth and power. 

The existence of those in despair has been covered over with whitewash that dazzles the eye.

Like my ERC friend, I am tired of the hype. 

Like my MRC friend, "I really WANT to fit into the group and be a part of discussions and help try to make things better."

Awaiting the day that the CGGC feels the godly sorrow that produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret.

Ed Rosenberry Trashes the Thesis of Jim Moss' RETURNING TO OUR FIRST LOVE

FYI, I attempted weeks ago, privately, to engage Ed in conversation about what he has said.  To this point, he has ignored that invitation.

--------------------------------------------

In my Same Sex Marriage thread, I passed on this comment by one of several people who responds to this blog under the radar and away from the gaze of the dons of the CGGC Shepherd Mafia:

"I would think with all those who have a Dr. degree in the conference there would be more Theological treatises coming out."

I agree entirely.

It is a historical reality that, when the Body of Christ is thriving, issues of theology, even philosophy, are discussed energetically, vibrantly.  Consider, for instance, the philosophical and theological tones Paul strikes in Romans and Galatians, in which he explores the meaning of the Gospel in terms of secular Roman law and its concepts of condemnation and justification.  Read Hebrews for theology and philosophy.  Consider the many volumes that comprise the Works of Luther and of Calvin from the age of the Reformation.

Or, much closer to our theological home, read through the writings of John Winebrenner and C. H. Forney which, these days, are still mentioned in CGGC polity classes but which are deemed too deep today for any setting that is not academic.  (And, note that we have to reach 100 to 150 years into our past in the CGGC to find important works with theological significance.)

The one person who is the exception to the death of serious thinking and writing in the CGGC in recent decades has been James Moss, Sr., who is now retired yet is still producing provocative works that attempt to keep thought alive in the CGGC.

There are two reasons very close to my heart that I consider Jim's book, Returning to our First Love to be his most important work. 

First, the book is rooted in the study of CGGC history.  It is a careful examination of "church planting" in the Church of God from our movement's first days up to the date of the books publication in 1995. 

Second, the book is, the most rare of all rarities in the CGGC, a call to repentance--a call to change who and what the CGGC has become and to return to the spirituality, vitality and obedience that once were the core realities that drove the Church of God.

Because I love Moss' book so dearly for those reasons so important to me, when I read the recent issue of The Church Advocate I immediately noted that, in his brief article at the beginning of the issue, Ed Rosenberry--in a single sentence--thoroughly discounted and trashed the central idea in Jim Moss's great and important book. 

Say what you might say in favor or in criticism of Ed Rosenberry, you must acknowledge that he is a powerful writer who possesses the ability to write, as he did here, in a single sentence, what requires others an entire book to write. 

But then, uprooting and tearing down, destroying and overthrowing and more easily done than the building and planting Jim attempted.

The offending sentence (in its context):

"(John Winebrenner and other Church of God founders) wanted to see a Church committed to making disciples and establishing congregations in Jesus' name. [This sentence itself is a subtle, clever and, in my opinion, devious misrepresentation of the truth.  (Now here is Ed's devastating sentence:)]  That mission has remained the prime objective of the CGGC to the present day."

The very title of Moss' book, which argues that what once was the prime objective of the Church of God is something that must be returned to, reveals what Jim attempted to build and what Ed is dismantling.

Moss' book is clear in demonstrating that our body had lost its founding vision/first love/prime objective and, for a time, completely abandoned all attempts to establish churches in Jesus' name or for any other reason. 

Moss includes one chapter explaining, with great insight, twelve reasons why so many CGGC churches have closed and another chapter offering twelve additional reasons why our body stopped planting churches.  Included in this list is, "A turning aside from our first love" (p.113), something Ed Rosenberry now asserts the CGGC never did!

Everyone who has even a modest knowledge of CGGC history knows that Jim Moss is correct.  And, the truth is that, if any person living today knows CGGC history better than Jim Moss, it is Ed Rosenberry.

----------------------------------------

Oddly...

...I vividly recall a conversation that Ed and I had about CGGC history during the days when we still held two-sided conversations.

I had just led a break-out session on Church of God history during the annual sessions of ERC several years ago and Ed, Linda and I chatted casually after long everyone else moved on.

Ed told me that he had, by that time, put together an outline for a History of the Churches of God. 

I told him to his face that the outline he described was impressive and timely and I strongly encouraged him to write the book because I am, to this day, convinced that our body could benefit from his insight.

His outline is simple:  The Church of God began as a movement; it changed and became an organization and that it has ultimately become an institution.

Ed described his purpose in writing such a history of our body as a call to return to our movement days.

Implicit in his outline is the very argument Jim Moss makes in Returning to our First Love, that is, the CGGC did really lose its first love and that it must become what it used to be. 

That being the case, clearly, there was a time that Ed rejected his recent assertion, "That mission has remained the prime objective of the CGGC to the present day."

--------------------------------------

I think it is time that I be clear about what is implied in much of what I write here:  Ed Rosenberry is a problem for the CGGC but Ed is not our most serious problem. 

Ed is a problem because he has, for instance, stated that he (now apparently) believes that the church is an institution and that leading the institution of the church is very similar to leading an institution like a bank! 

Ed pushed for nearly six years for a revised We Believe which affirms that the Bible is our "only" "rule" and then advocated the observance of Lent, something foreign to the pages of the Bible. 

Last December, he donned a priestly collar and to lead a high church Advent Mass from the Episcopal tradition at Winebrenner Seminary.

Ed regularly flaunts his opposition to long-established and to recently affirmed teachings and practices of the CGGC and he does it, apparently, without shame or guilt.

But, the real problem in the CGGC today is that the CGGC body, as a whole, allows Ed to make these theologically corrupt and inconsistent statements and take these actions without a word of admonition. 

Ed incarnates To Talk is to Walk-ism.  But, he does it with permission.  And, not only permission.  He does it with support.  Everyone who reads this and is a part of the CGGC, apart from me, is Ed's accomplice.

Our problem is with Ed only to the extent that he incarnates the dysfunctional CGGC culture.  But, truly, our greatest spiritual issue is with the lack of love for--and obedience to--truth.