Four Reasons the Next CEO Must be an Outsider

Gang,

It is likely that the time is near that word will come down from the CGGC mountaintop that a new CEO has been selected to run the CGGC corporation.

Yet, as far as I know, no selection has been made by the search committee and, certainly, the Ad Council has not yet met to place its rubber stamp on the recommendation.

I think that, if we are going to have a new CEO foisted on us, that that man, and we all know that it will be a man, must come from outside the CGGC. 

I say this for four reasons:


1.  The Rosenberry reign has left the CGGC much more deeply divided than anyone except me, apparently, seems to be willing to acknowledge.

Think about the division in the 2010 and 2013 General Conference sessions and the opposition ON THE FLOOR OF GENERAL CONFERENCE--at one time, nothing more than leadership's rubber stamp--to initiatives presented by CGGC GC staff. 

2.  The increasingly strident distrust of and, perhaps, even resentment toward some of the people whose names are being mentioned as possible successors to Ed as CEO.

Recently, I was having a chat with a CGGC clergy person in which we were throwing out scenarios about who the next CEO will be.  And, he shocked me when he said, very transparently,

"I'll tell you this:  If it's ------ ----- [a current mountaintopper very highly regarded in Findlay], I will hand in my ordination!"

I was in Findlay when Wayne was chosen and Evelyn was on General Conference staff at the time.  And, I was well connected when Ed was elevated. 

And, I heard none of this stridency toward others in the small pool of possible CEOs from within the CGGC.  There was the standard curiosity, of course.  And there was low-level anxiety.  But I know of no one who was prepared to bolt from the whole CGGC body before the selection was made.

Think back.  Things have changed in the CGGC.  And, they have not changed for the better.  The time for us to begin to be honest about the rising level of cynicism and anger toward those who run things.  There is unrest in the camp.

3.  (And, this will, no doubt, be the most offensive of my arguments among some.)  The "de-pentance" of the pool of potential CGGC CEO candidates.

I acknowledge that I'm speaking out of my own subjectivity here. 

There was a time when there was a community of young guns in the CGGC who courageously embraced the spirit of these times and were willing to walk in the Spirit wherever the Spirit might lead. 

These were people unafraid of the criticisms the Emerging Church (now a faded fad) was leveling at the traditional church.  They distrusted tradition.  They were cynical regarding evangelicalism's fads of the month.  They embraced the possibilities offered by organic church and simple church.  Those people were saying things promoting Kingdom and denouncing the Christendom church and hierarchical, priestly leadership.  They opposed the church as institution.  They yearned for the formation of a Christian movement in their own time and hungered and thirsted to be a part of it.  They were, truly, ahead of their time.

These days, those voices are silent and the people who held that vision have become church-focused, institutional and traditionalized.

In short, the people once anxious to function as apostles and prophets have been Christendomized, in short, in the CGGC context, "Rosenberried."  They are now meek and mild priestly Christendom progressives acceptable to the CGGC mainstream that superintends our decades-long spiritual and numerical decline.

None of them, in my opinion, are fit to lead the CGGC into the next decade in the blessing and power of the Holy Spirit.

4.  The perceived corruption of the current batch of CGGC leaders by more than a few in our body.

I was very intentional in publishing my blog post on corruption and collusion in the 2013 General Conference before I published this.

My guess is that the person who made me aware of the issue will not pursue his evidence.  He is a humble and truly a gentle man.

But, I've been in some behind-the-scenes conversations since them.  Now, I am certain that, as soon as many heard about it, they immediately thought this sort of corruption is possible, even COMMONPLACE--among the current regime of CGGC leaders in several of our regions.

This being the case, no one--at least no one currently perceived to be on the mountaintop--is capable of leading the body with the trust of the entire body.

We must repent. We must bring in new blood.

The best way to do this is to no longer have a CEO.  But, because we probably still will, we need fresh, outside, blood in the position of CGGC CEO.