Questioning a Fundamental Disciple Making Principle

In the November 18, 2016 eNews Lance addressed the reality that, while the CGGC has paid lip service to having, as its core goal, making "More and Better Disciples," it is not making disciples effectively.

I found his article provocative and I'm blessed that Lance mentioned discipling at all.

I pile the highest heap of praise I can pile up in noting that Lance is an extremely honest man. In the past, the eNews would never have acknowledged even the slightest flaw in our body.  In fact, it would have described a reality in the CGGC that would have made the record of disciples in Acts 1-6 seem pathetic.

Lance's article begins by stating, plainly and precisely, that the CGGC is not effective in making disciples. Thanks, Lance, for your honesty!

This honesty is no small thing. If the cynicism that is core to the CGGC Brand is to be overcome, honest communication from the Mountaintop will help kill it.

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Having said that, Lance makes an assertion about how discipling takes place that is not what I see in the Word.

Lance says, "Disciples of Jesus make other disciples of Jesus."

And, I suspect that that is conventional wisdom in the church today. However, it's not, as far as I can tell, New Testament wisdom.

As I read the New Testament, the truth is that APOSTLES make disciples of Jesus.

The Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John all contain similar versions of Jesus sending followers into the world to make disciples and all of them take place when Jesus is alone with the men He prepared to be apostles. Jesus never sent disciples in general into the world to make disciples. He could have. He would have, I believe, if disciples make other disciples.

The traditional name of the fifth book of the New Testament is THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.  And, that title is accurate.  The book is about Apostles making disciples.

I need to ask the people of our body why we have been failing to make disciples.

To me, the biblical answer is that we are parish priest led, by people who are, for the most part, gifted to be shepherds.

As I read church history, the movements that prospered were those who empowered people to function within their apostolic calling, even if they didn't call those people apostles.

Lance, many of us want our body to thrive in making disciples. I am convinced that we won't succeed in doing that until we both empower APEST and disable parish priest dominated leadership.

Embracing Xmas

I suspect that this thread may offend even the readers of this blog who, otherwise, are inclined to be sympathetic to everything I write here.

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I think the, "Put Christ back into Christmas," sentiment that floats around at this time of year is, very simply, tomfoolery. In truth, Christ never has been in Christmas, at least since the first moments Christmas became a big deal.

Until recently in the context of the 2,000 years of Christian history, Christmas either didn't exist or it was a minor part of the liturgical calendar. (I imagine that you've heard this from other bah humbuggers.)

December 25 meant so little at the beginning of of the history of the American republic that, when American Methodists decided to meet to organize after the Revolutionary War, they picked a date when the people prominent in the movement could conveniently travel and meet and they chose December 24 in 1784 to begin their Conference.

The truth is that Christmas became a big deal only after retailers developed a marketing scheme around it in the last century and Christmas took off as a scheme intended to induce people to spend money they wouldn't normally spend.

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But, I don't denounce Christmas simply because I abhor the materialism that is at its core. I abhor for, well, and I hate using this word, for theological reasons.

The biblical truth that there is no evidence that early disciples thought much about the birth of Jesus, let alone celebrate it.  When early disciples thought about the coming of Jesus into the world their focus was on the incarnation, or on the reality that God took on human flesh:

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness..."

Early disciples considered the powerful image of the creator of all things becoming human as the inspiration for how they themselves should think about living in the world.

These days, as we focus more on the story of the birth of Jesus, we think of Jesus, not as the inspiration for a life of servanthood lived in humility, but as a cute little thing we want to take in our arms and cuddle.

And, that is how most churchgoers live these days--as believers in a little, helpless Jesus, One who needs us and not as the eternal, holy, righteous Lord Who came into the world not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.

As the institutional church makes more of the nativity of its Lord, its Lord becomes smaller and weaker and His church, inept.

The biblical truth is that only two of the Gospels even mention the birth of Jesus and those two accounts do so only to prove the power of the Word in predicting the coming of the Anointed One, proving that Jesus is the Anointed One. There is no suggestion that Jesus should be worshiped as a baby, nor Mary as the Blessed Virgin.

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Having said that about Christmas as a holy day, I can tell you that as soon as I tossed out the Christ in Christmas foolishness, I was able to embrace the sweet, silly, secular Xmas season without guilt and with spectacular pleasure.

And, I do.

I'm not into the gift giving and receiving thing but my brother's family and we adopt a needy family every year and investigate what would make a groovy Xmas for it and buy oodles of stuff to empower that, though much more of what we give is designed to meet geniuine needs, not material wants.

And, I especially love the seasonal music. It's the only music I listen to on the radio. It's with the music I become sentimental, and amused as well.

Some of the music is about Christmas, more of it is about Xmas but a lot of it is merely an attempt to romanticize and glamorize brutally cold weather.  I hate cold weather.

SLEIGH BELLS RING? (I'm listening to that one right now.) Have you noticed how much of the music is about non-church bells?

My three favorite Xmas songs are, without a doubt:

1. HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS, which was introduced in the movie, MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, and was first sung by Judy Garland. Did you know that the second line was supposed to be, "It may be your last," but Garland wouldn't sing that so it was changed to, "Let your heart be light."  This is an amazing Xmas anthem!

2. I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. I'm enough a geezer to have a father who served in World War II. The song was written in honor of the men and women in the military during that war. I can get very sentimental about that as I watch my dad leave us as he slips into dementia.

3. THE CHRISTMAS SONG. Did you know that this song was co-written by the Velvet Fog? I'm not crazy about chestnuts but I could listen to Nat King Cole all day long.

(I also get a special hoot out of the Porky Pig version of BLUE CHRISTMAS, which you almost never hear on the radio. I understand for the politically correct reason that it might offend s-s-s-stutterers.)

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I  encourage you to join me.  Become sentimental about cold weather and the silly little secular Xmas season.

Don't sentimentalize Jesus. Lift Him up, don't make Him little.

Drawing a Line in the Sand Between God and Us

That's what the ERC is doing in creating a new Strategic Plan after Dr. Richardson had the insight to admit that this kind of planning is foreign to Scripture because, after that, he said, in effect, yet all of us know better than to live by the wisdom of the Word, at least in this case.

Key to the vision Dr. Richardson cast for the creation of the new Strategic Plan is his plea that all of us join together in prayer, asking God to fill the strategic planners with His wisdom in developing the plan that we, nevertheless, understand is foreign to the wisdom of His Word.

That is saying, in effect:

"Lord, we're drawing a line in the sand between You and us that WE won't cross over.  Please, Lord, defy your own wisdom and step over that line we have drawn and come to us and bless our planners as they defy your wisdom. "

Can anyone see how self-focused, tradition-bound and foolish this is?

It's akin to faithless people in the Old Testament trying to figure out where to put the altar to Baal in reference to the temple and then asking the Lord to bless them as they gather at Baal's altar.

This is a radical image but, based on the Lord's continued lack of blessing on the CGGC, we need to consider it seriously.

Does anyone think that the Lord will bless this Strategic Plan?

Gathering: 11-20-16

At this moment, the time is 8:24 and we, mostly Evie honestly, are preparing to host our first house gathering in, as far as I can tell, slightly more than three months.

The house looks fairly nice.  All of the detritus of my parents' move is safely out of sight. And, because Evie's preparing a classic Thanksgiving meal, it smells wonderful.

One complication: Our heat pump went on the fritz a few days ago and the guy we use to maintain it is, inexplicably, on vacation until after Thanksgiving and we've decided to tough it out.  We have a fireplace that makes a pretty fire more than it produces heat and we figured that the heat produced by cooking and body heat will keep everyone comfortable.  Yesterday the high temperature was 69 but, by about 8:00, it was snowing and now its in the 30s, cloudy and windy and the temperature inside is currently 67.

I'm looking forward to gathering because I think that one reason Evie and I haven't been sacrificing enough lately is that the gatherings we have had have not been in a home and, therefore, have not lent themselves to the spurring of each other on to love and good works.

I pick up the folks from the home in about an hour...

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Well, the temperature peaked inside at 70 degrees, the meal was tasty and it was nice having the gang back in our home.

Two of the guys from the home missed.   One, the guy I call Bennie has a very bad cold.  Our friend Ward, though, has had a mild stroke and is in a rehab setting.

Our Word time, which is usually very powerful, wasn't today.  It was interactive as usual and centered around the theme of thankfulness.

Sadly, our sixth grader, was filling us on the real, politically correct, story of the first Thanksgiving, which he accepts.

Bizarre!

With that in the background, it was difficult to get to a biblical concept of giving thanks.

Still, being together in our home base was sweet.

Not Sacrificing Enough

I have pointed out many times in the past that I believe that a core characteristic of the CGGC brand is "To Talk is to Walk-ism."

That means that actions count for almost nothing in the CGGC.

In the past, especially in Findlay, big, radical talk was common but all action was bland, moderate and tradition driven.

Honestly, I'm not picking that up from Lance.  His talk is forward-looking and what he himself does matches his talk.

Recently, here in the ERC, we've witnessed some serious talk-ism from Kevin Richardson, co-writer of WE BELIEVE and its radical position on the authority of the Bible in the CGGC, in his promotion of a new Strategic Plan even though he admits the idea of a Strategic Plan is foreign to Scripture.

While I continue to defend the authority of the Conference in the face of Kevin's defiance of its position on the authority of the Bible, I have to acknowledge that, here at Faith, we are struggling against Talkism in our own setting.

One of the, well, Characteristics of the Faith Brand is that, in the New Covenant, worship has nothing to do with gathering and singing and hearing a sermon. For us, true and proper worship is to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.

We believe that passionately.

This morning Evie said to me that, lately, she and I have not been sacrificing enough.

And, as soon as she said it, I was convinced.

But, I will say this in our defense. Evie and I will change this deviation from our core belief immediately whereas, previously in Findlay, there was no intention to live out radical talk.  The talk itself, truly, was the walk.  And, with Dr. Richardson, I'm convinced, based on past actions, he thinks he possesses the authority to lead the Conference in doing something that is foreign to the teachings of Scripture, even though, in doing so, he's defying Conference authority as well as the Word.

As the NIV says it, in Jesus, "true and proper worship" is about personal sacrifice.

We will begin to do that again.  Now.

A Report to My Commission

The most outrageous item for me to report is that the Conference still neither confirms nor denies the flurry of rumors, that surfaced during the spring, that my ordination was recalled.

And, more to the point, if the rumors are based in fact, Dr. Richardson and his staff are insubordinent to the authority of the Conference by not following its directive to recall my ordination.

If the rumors are based in fact, the inaction of Conference staff is suggestive of one important dysfunction that goes far in explaining why this Conference of the CGGC is in, especially spiritual, decline.

Jesus teaches that those who would be great in the Kingdom would be slaves of all.  That attitude of hyper-servanthood is entirely missing from ERC mountaintoppers. They view themselves as leaders, not slaves.

I'll ask what I frequently ask.  Is it any wonder that the Lord of all power, mercy and grace is not blessing us!

A second item: I've heard nothing from the ERC Commission on Church Renewal about the possibility that they may recommend the depantsing of Faith Community.

For all I know, they've already recommended it and, for all I know, Faith has already been depantsed.  That would be true to form.  The Ad Council already defrocked me before I even knew that the status of my credentials was under review.

I'll repeat the question about the Lord's blessing.

One final note, I have become aware that some heavy-duty lies about me were spoken on the floor of Conference last spring and the person who spoke them has, perhaps inadvertently, acknowledged speaking them.  I'm doing my best to follow the teachings of Jesus in approaching a person who sins against you. So far, it's not going well but I am resolved.

To be fair to the person who spoke untruthfully about me, that person believes that his misrepresentation of me was justified under circumstances he recalls being in place. As I say, I am resolved.

My Calling

I've written this up here several times over the years.

I came to understand this in almost exactly in these words for the first time nearly ten years ago.

I pray over this more than anything else I pray about, always asking the Spirit to show me I'm off base, if I'm off base.

It derives from Jeremiah 1:10, Romans 1:1 and Ephesians 4:11-12.  This is it:

To be a servant of Christ Jesus called to be a prophet and set apart to uproot and tear down and to destroy and overthrow the church's pastor dominated leadership culture and to build and to plant a servant community in which apostles, prophets, evangelists and shepherds and teachers are all empowered to live within their callings and, therefore, to prepare the saints for works of ministry.

From early on, I've struggled with the words, "to destroy and overthrow."  These are words that appear over and over again in Jeremiah. Jeremiah carried them as a part of his ministry for decades. They are especially challenging in a shepherd dominated spiritual world.

But, I'm taking them seriously today more than ever.

Sick

I point out, so frequently that I think it annoys some of the kids who work with me, that I'm a geezer.

A few months ago, I was offered and accepted a position in management in the super market I've been at for the past few years.

It has surprised me how much more exhausting the work is compared to what I had been doing, some parts of which was pretty heavy physical work.

The exhaustion has physical and psychological components.  In the job, I'm in demand constantly and the pressure on my introvert-ism is unbelievably intense.

On Monday, I began to feel a worse than normal cold coming on and, starting out with the level of exhaustion that has become normal, my energy level tanked below what allows me to keep up on the job.

Half of Tuesday and half of Wednesday I am lead manager of the front end of the store, so I contacted the guy who works the other manager shifts on those days and told him that I'm only going to work when I'm manager.  

It's hard for me to take the time off because this is Thanksgiving time and our workers are really pushed.  But I believe I have done the best thing if I'll be able to survive Thanksgiving week itself with my coworkers.

I think back to my days as a CGGC parish priest when, if I felt tbis way, I'd just slow down for a few days and no one would notice and I wouldn't have given it a passing thought.

Like many so-called laypeople, I will lose money for the hours I don't work and we're not rolling in it these days.

Who Has Plans for Whom?

At the height of my participation in the institutional church, I was a pastor of enough consequence I had a paid, full-time secretary.  Looking back, I'm impressed with myself. Neither Jesus nor Paul had a secretary, let alone one who was full-time!

My secretary's favorite Scripture verse was that, "I know the plans I have for you," verse in Jeremiah. A good verse, no doubt.

I've been thinking about that verse a lot lately since Dr. Richardson of the ERC noted that despite the fact that the idea of a Strategic Plan is foreign to Scripture, he believes we all know the importance of planning and that he and other ERC mountaintoppers were undergoing a process to create a new Strategic Plan to replace the one the Conference approved only last year with great fanfare and joyous enthusiasm.

The idea that disciples of Jesus should come up with plan after plan in the hope that their plans would succeed, excuse the vivid verb but I think it fits, RAPES a most basic truth contained in the Word of God.

The Lord is the creator of all things and He alone possesses power and authority. It is He alone Who can plan.  It is for humans to seek to live under His authority, to seek and to do His will, to understand His plan and to obey Him.

As well-intentioned as Dr. Richardson and his colleagues may be, we all know that previous plans have not been blessed by the One who possesses all power and authority.

Can't they see that it is for the Lord, not for them to plan?!  Well, we know that Dr. Richardson, at least, can see that. He said so in so many words. He, apparently, thinks he can improve on biblical wisdom. Is that blasphemy.  Or, is a more grievous sin, if there is one?

Having a Strategic Plan is, indeed, foreign to Scripture.

But, ERC mountaintoppers are determined to plan any way.

God help us.

God forgive Dr. Richrdson and his fellow planners.

We must repent.

Why, According to Dr. Richardson, I am in trouble in the ERC

This is no secret. He's said it to my face several times and, based on reports I've received, he said it to the Conference in session.

I'm in trouble for pointing out things like his recent assertion that, despite the teaching of Scripture, he is leading the Conference in writing another Strategic Plan.

All I've done is stand for the authority of the Bible and, in our CGGC setting, his need to submit to the authority of the Conference.

I'm know that I'm personally involved in this, but this strikes me as being similar to Herod imprisoning John the Baptist for pointing out his sin.

There must be massive repentance across the CGGC.

My Take on the Election

I used to be a politics junkie who followed election intrigue as if it were a sport.

Part of my repentance in recent years has been to leave all of that behind.

Jesus said that His Kingdom is not of this world and so I don't pour my own self into this world in the way I once did.

On the other hand, it is my belief that when He said that we should give to Caesar what's Caesar's, for disciples of Jesus in a republic, voting responsibly is a necessity. So, I followed the political season and voted.

In my job I literally talk to hundreds of people every day and it stuns me how candid people often are in those conversations. I suppose that I've had hundreds of brief chats about the election over this long political season and the conversation continues.

By far, the prevailing sentiment this time around has been that people disliked both of the major candidates.

When there was passion for one of them, in my experience, it was exclusively for Trump, never Hillary. But most people were voting for the candidate they despised less.

Living in Pennsylvania, most who planned to vote for Trump expected to lose the vote in this state due to the efforts of the Philadelphia machine to produce a majority for Hillary. It is certain that 100% of dead voters in Philadelphia voted straight Democrat.

It was a real stunner that Trump prevailed here.  He campaigned hard in this part of the state, holding about half a dozen well-attended rallies which produced a huge turnout on election day.  Our wait at the polls was our longest ever by far.

Here in Pennsylvania and across the country, it was a surprisingly good day for the GOP.

Donald Trump is not a Reagan conservative and most GOPs in Congress are.  Who knows what will happen in the months to come?

Were I still a politics junkie I'd be ecstatic.

That's the political news from Lake Wobegon, PA, "where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the children are above average."

Does Anyone in the ERC Have the Authority to Say, "Yet"?

I continue to be stunned over Kevin Richardson's recent article promoting and justifying ERC mountaintoppers decision to develop still another Strategic Plan, only one year after it published the last one with great fanfare and enthusiasm.

Kevin admitted straightforwardly that the words are not in the Bible and that the concept itself seems "foreign to Scripture. "

Then he said, "Yet..."

How does any human being who claims to believe, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful..." say that?

I have to ask, based on this fruit Kevin produced, how much authority Kevin think he has.

And, I'll say this:

NO POPE WOULD HAVE EVER ATTEMPTED TO INTRODUCE EVEN THE MOST RADICAL INNOVATION TO ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH DOCTRINE OR PRACTICE WITHOUT USING SCRIPTURE TO JUSTIFY IT.

Not even one Pope in all of history would have said, "Yet."

Can you see how far we have fallen?

The CGGC has authority issues.

We all know that God is not blessing what we do.

Can there be the slightest question why.

Kevin must repent and publicly confess this sin.

All who are willing to give any human the right to say, "Yet," must repent and confess in tears.

We must repent. This is bad.

Gathering Such as It is: 11-6-16

We try, as best we can, to live by the wisdom that says:

The important thing is to keep the important thing the important thing.

At this point we have far more life going on than we can handle.

Mom had cataract surgery last week on a cataract that was so huge that the doctor couldn't guarantee anything as far as results are concerned.   In the end, everything turned out nicely--a sweet answer to prayer.

Evie accompanied her and I spent the day sitting with dad who, in the most common way of assessing dementia, is well into stage 6, out of 7.

That sort of time with dad always exhausts me.  The mini strokes have killed dad's attention span, so that it extends only for about a minute but the strokes have also left him a sweet, simple man.  He and I spent about four hours together.  He slept some of that time and then repeated the same few questions dozens of times. Where's your mother? Why is she away for so long? Who's with your mother? How did she get there? When will she be home? Why is this taking so long?

I had no difficulty being patient but there is something about seeing the man who raised you reduced to that level of existence.

All this is to explain that neither of us have the emotional wherewithal to do all that is involved in hosting a Gathering. So, we are taking a large number of the regular gang out to lunch.  The folks from the home always enjoy the outing but they do miss seeing Lizzy.

After that, we will probably start a small fire in our fireplace and drift off to sleep.

There is a huge sale going on at the store. I'm not sure that I mentioned that a few months ago I was offered a management position at the store. In my new position, very busy times just about kill me.

A nice Sunday afternoon nap will probably hit the spot.

Join God in the Work He is Doing: NOT

Fifteen to 20 years ago, a microfad that spread across the CGGC was doing the interactive study of Henry and Richard Blackaby and Claude King's, Experiencing God.

Many of the CGGC engaged in the study and spoke enthusiastically of the depth of its biblical wisdom.

The study is well done, not only because it is profoundly biblical, but also because its central idea is clearly communicated.

The central idea is that the essential act of Christian discipleship is to join God in the work He is doing.

The authors of the study present numerous examples from the Bible that that is the way men and women of God live.  The most powerful biblical examples are drawn from the life of Jesus Himself.

It is clear, from the study, that the person who lives righteously has no plan, that s/he has no goal but to be a willing instrument in God's hand.

And, in announcing the ERC'S decision to create a new Strategic Plan, Dr. Richardson seems both to acknowledge that truth and to spit on it.

He declares that the idea of a Strategic Plan seems foreign to Scripture. "Yet," he says, to paraphrase, we all know that for humans plan is a good thing.

Is there anyone in our body, apart from me, who is appalled not only that Kevin could say this but so brazenly lead the Conference on a path that he himself understands defies biblical authority.

Does anyone else recognize that he is holding his own authority above the authority of the Word of God!?

The Lord hasn't blessed the Strategic Plans of the past.  And, He will not bless Kevin's vision this time around.

I know very well that I am a lone voice crying in the wilderness.

Won't some of you whose voices are heard, speak up?

God's way for us is to repent, not to form our own new plans.

Everyone-did-what-was-Right-in-his-own-Eyesism

I'm convinced that I need to add a new characteristic to my description of the CGGC brand.

The end of the era of the Old Testament Judges was a dark time for Israel. The Word describes that as a time when "everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

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I have noted that a characteristic that defines the CGGC identity is cynicism. By that I mean that mountaintoppers behave as if they have limitless authority and that many of the clergy and most congregations simply ignore leadership out of unabashed cynicism.

For many years I've heard the pastors and people of the CGGC say that they don't care what leadership says we believe or how it describes our mission or vision or strategic plans because, they say, "We do what we believe is right no matter what 'they' say or do."

And, for all those years I've seen CGGC mountaintoppers spin their statements of belief and vision and mission and devising their plans without making serious effort to extend those thoughts and plans to the entire CGGC body. In that way, mountaintoppers practice their own kind of "in-our-own-eyesism."

This dynamic seems to me to extend to the very core of the CGGC identity.  It seems to me to be a characteristic of the CGGC brand.

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What's wrong with this way of thinking?

Many things are profoundly wrong with it but, among people who think of themselves as disciples of Jesus, it spits in the face of Jesus commanding all who call Him Lord, "Love one another as I have loved you."

In one word, this "own-eyesism" is an actual sin.

As long as we practice it and fail to repent of it, the Lord will not bless us.

We must repent.

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FYI, I'd place it as item 11, immediately after Cynicism.

Defying the CGGC's Belief that the Bible is Our Only Rule of Faith and Practice

Recently, in an email exchange, an ERC mountaintopper asserted that I am, using my term, in deep doodoo with the Conference because of my criticism of leadership.

I responded by saying what I have said a few times here:

I don't ever criticize leadership.

The CGGC is, to use the theological term, Presbyterial, that is, it is a body in which the highest earthly authority is the Conference--as our founders called it, the Eldership.

The CGGC truth is that its greatest earthly authority is found, not in any Executive Director or Council or Commission or headquarters building, but in the actions and declarations of the General Conference in session. After that, in my ERC for instance, the second greatest authority is found in the actions of the ERC in Conference session.

When I appear to be critical of Kevin Richardson or of Lance or or even an Ad Council, it is because I, a credentialed elder in the body, am exercising my obligation, as an elder, to promote and defend the authority of the Conference, the Eldership.

And, that is all I ever do.  And, as the Lord gives me strength, I will always do it.

What I say next is not about Kevin Richardson.   It is about the integrity of the whole CGGC and the authority of the Eldership.

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As an elder in the CGGC, I am appalled by Kevin Richardson's recent justification of ERC leadership's decision to create a new Strategic Plan.

In the most recent General Conference, our highest earthly authority, in session updated WE BELIEVE and created a Statement of Faith both of which speak of the Bible as our "only rule," to quote the Statement of Faith precisely, of faith and practice. Kevin was a writer of WE BELIEVE and a delegate to General Conference.

The words of WE BELIEVE and the Statement of Faith are strong and absolute words. They are radical.  Our General Conference chose them. They, therefore, have authority over the CGGC body.  No one forced the General Conference to adopt so radical a position on biblical authority.

But it chose them.  And, now all of us--ALL OF US--are bound to submit to them.

"Only rule of...practice."  Those words don't really leave any wiggle room.

I myself am nothing more than a member of the CGGC Eldership who accepts the authority of the earthly body which I pledged to serve.

As a member of the Eldership, Kevin Richardson stuns and offends me.  To justify the creation of the new Strategic Plan he says this:

You can't find the words (strategic plan) in the Bible and even the concept seems foreign to Scripture.  Yet, in our hearts we know the benefits of good planning.

"Only rule," Kevin. Highest earthly authority.

Can you imagine how John Winebrenner would have responded if an elder in his day had written those word!!!???

Forget Winebrenner.

Kevin's words defy the 2013 proclamation of WE BELIEVE and Statement of Faith. They are insubordinent to the authority of the General Conference.

I'm not criticizing Kevin personally. I continue to have a great amount of affection for him in spite of everything.

But, I am defending the Eldership--the integrity and authority of the CGGC.

If we cared about truth, Kevin would be in trouble.

The Lord will not bless this.

There must serious repentance in our body.