Sunday, July 30, 2017

40 THOUSAND Page Views

Some time late yesterday this blog received its 40 thousandth hit.

To me, that's stunning.

I have no idea if that's a large number in the blog universe, but, 40,000?  That's roughly the population of the Holy City, Findlay, Ohio, ain't?

When I noted that fact, I looked back and skimmed this blog's first post.

I entered it four years and five days ago.

The post was rather lengthy and academic by the standards of what I write today.

Interestingly, while I probably didn't think in these terms at the time, it was a predictive prophecy...

 ...that General Conference staff's latest plan, to be unveiled at the 2013 General Conference sessions, but described in Ed's latest eNews, would fail..

...which, of course, as we all know now, it did.

In that post, I was very clear in detailing the reason for the failure.

Guess why I reasoned at the time that that carefully crafted plan would go bust.

Here's a hint: Apparently, nothing has changed on this blog.

The reason I predicted failure is that the plan didn't begin where Jesus and John the Baptist and the early apostles began. It didn't begin with REPENTANCE. 

We all know, four years down the road, that I was correct in my first-ever blog prophecy. The truth is that, in four years, the predictive words of this blog have been accurate 100% of the time.

Of course, it's not I who's responsible for that accuracy.

I have given myself to life in what I believe to be my calling.

Evidence that it is my calling can be found in the posts on this blog.

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Much has happened to me, at the hand of CGGC mountaintoppers, in these four years. My ministerial credentials have been challenged. The congregation I serve has been expelled from the CGGC.

Yet, as Lance unwittingly noted in the last eNews, the words I have believed to be from the Lord have accurately foretold the truth that the Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing would not bless the plans of the CGGC hierarchs.

To the point that Lance wrote to us on Friday about what "true" repentance is.

Some time ago, as I prayed about the significance of my calling and ministry among the people of the CGGC, I received the assurance that my gift and and ministry is, first and foremost, "a testimony against them."

Skim over these posts and you will see just that.

Fads have been embraced by the mountaintoppers. Plans--even Strategic Plans--have been devised and this blog has accurately described and foretold their futility and most importantly, the core spiritual truth that, saying it yet again, the Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing is not blessing.

This blog stands as a testimony against them.

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I love the CGGC as much as I did four years and a few days ago when I clicked "Publish" for my first blog post.

And, the Lord's call to the hierarchs and the people of the CGGC is precisely what it was then:

Repent.

We must repent.

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Lance's AMAZING 7/28/17 eNews: What to do about his Conflict with Dr. Richardson

You need to read Lance's latest!

Lance talks about a trend in the CGGC that he describes as "a sense of unsettledness and
discontent" that is increasing: a sense of fearfulness or restlessness.

He's referring to what, at least some in the CGGC think and feel about the decline of the CGGC.

I could write a month's worth of blog posts on what Lance has written.

Maybe I will.

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Just a few comments for the moment.

At one point, Lance declares how "true repentance" will take place among us and, in doing so, he's getting very close to echoing me and what you read on this blog.

I need to say that Lance is getting very close to saying what I've been saying but, as I'm reading him, on one point, the difference between us is still deadly. I hope to have the opportunity to make that point later.

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At this point, though, I'll compare Lance to the other highest-peak CGGC mountaintopper, Dr. Richardson, ERC E. D..

Lance is observing a sense of unsettledness and discontent, fearfulness, restlessness and he's considering what makes a repentance that is true.

He asks us to pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to agitate us.

Please do.

On the other hand, Dr. Richardson is saying, in effect,

"YAY GOD! Things are great in the ERC. Amazingly, churches are doing VBS and a church in revitalization has just remodeled its office and has written a constitution! Ain't things grand?"

These two CGGC titans are clashing.

There is extreme conflict between the messages they are preaching.

In fact, among the eagles nested on the two highest CGGC peaks, there could not be a greater conflict in vision.

Here's our deepest problem with this reality:

In a culture driven by shepherd values, it is natural to ignore conflict and hope we can all just get along.

But, if Lance is right about the need to achieve repentance that is true--and most of us know that time is running out and Lance is the one of the two who is correct--we can't afford to say, "Can't we all just all get along?"

We no longer have that luxury.

One of these two starkly different visions is going to have to be embraced and, and this is the life and death challenge in our shepherd-driven culture, the other is going to have to be despised, scorned and rejected...

...and, the person casting that vision is going to have to be dealt with, given the opportunity to repent and confess false vision and leadership sin, and be disciplined appropriately.

Since our early days, we've not had the commitment to principle to stand up against what is wrong. We need to make that commitment anew.

Only after there is repentance and turning and confession and, if possible, forgiveness, can this conflict be resolved.

If there is to be a future for the CGGC, we are going to have to stand for truth AND stand against error.

Repentance will need to begin with rejection of the hope that we can all just get along.

We must repent.

Friday, July 28, 2017

My One and Only Regret in the Credentials/Faith's Expulsion Sagas

I use this blog for several purposes. One of them is to create a journal of sorts.

What follows is an account, more for myself than for anyone else, of an incident of my past behavior--of a failure that plagues me.

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I have many regrets related to the way I've lived out my belief that I am called to be a prophet but nearly all of these regrets are connected to what I said and did in the first few months to perhaps year or so of that journey.

When I embraced that calling, I was flooded with emotion more powerful than I'd ever experienced and (small v) vision in brighter colors than I had ever seen.

And, in my anger, at times, I sinned.

I have had no mentor in walking in this calling. Far more people have opposed me for even believing in APEST and, then, for attempting to live it out obediently, than have either been supportive, or even neutral to it.

Walking this path has been difficult but, with trust in the Lord and His Word and with experience, I believe I've learned how to be a reasonably faithful steward of my calling.

But, I do have one fairly recent regret.

It's been about a year since the event and about a half year since the regret began to set in.

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In July 2016, George Jensen emailed me, on behalf of the ERC Commission on Church Renewal, asking me to supply the name or names of leaders at Faith so that the Commission could begin a conversation with the congregation related to the future relationship between the Conference and Faith.

I responded in the most positive and productive way I can imagine. 

George's note itself displayed serious misunderstanding about the nature of the community at Faith. 

So, I wrote to George saying that, based on his characterization of Faith in his note, if the Commission hoped for a positive outcome, it would need to have some background. 

I suggested that he, as Commission representative, and I have some conversation in confidence, in which I would speak frankly about Faith and, at the same time, I would have separate conversations, with people here, to prepare the way for positive interaction between congregation and Commission.  

(I've detailed all of this in the past.)

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I don't know who people think I am.

Occasionally, I catch wind of gossip spread about me and of things said behind my back and I can only assume that George, who has known me since the first day he showed up at seminary, must now buy into the gossip and rumors.

George, to my stunned amazement, rejected my offer to serve as an informal intermediary between Faith and the Commission.

His reasoning shocked me.

He suggested that, in our confidential conversation, I'd make (his word) "proposals" intended to manipulate the process and, because of that, to be fair to the Commission, he couldn't participate in the conversation I proposed.

How he, who'd known me for decades, would think that, baffled and, honestly, insulted me.

And, I began to lose perspective.

I sent George a reply in which I insisted, honestly, that my only motive was to enhance the likelihood of a positive outcome for the conversation.

And, George actually responded saying that he would participate in the confidential conversation I proposed.

Yet, by then, it was too late for me.

Rightly or wrongly,  I was stuck on my impression that George's initial response was rooted in gossip, rumor and innuendo and not in our decades-long personal knowledge of each other. I mistrusted his mistrust of me.

At that moment, and remember that this was shortly after the Credentials thing, I'd just had too much.

Incidentally, the premise for the Commission's action was that I'd recently been defrocked and that the Conference had to make decisions regarding Faith since I was no longer credentialed. I believed then and still believe that they were lying about that to justify themselves.

I told George that the Conference still had not informed me that action had been taken regarding my credentials. I insisted that I wouldn't do anything further until my status with the Conference was clarified. To this date, my status with the Conference still has not been clarified.

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Yet, this is where my regret lies.

In spite of the gossip and rumors spread about me since I began to live as a prophet, I've normally found it easy to turn the other cheek.

As a rule, I can turn the other cheek easily because I understand that what I myself say and do causes people to chafe.

Yet, I didn't turn the other cheek with George.

Just what was different about this one instance, I still can't say for certain.

I only know that I regret how I handled the situation.

And, that, ultimately, I withdrew my offer of mediation to promote a positive outcome for the conversation between the Commission and Faith...

...even after George accepted it.

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I have no doubt that, even if I had served in my proposed role as intermediary, Faith would have rejected what George told me the Commission was planning to propose.

The Commission was determined that Faith accept a pastor, a condition Faith would not have accepted.

This is a rare moment that I wish I could do it over again, though I know the opportunity is lost forever.

I might have been an agent of grace and mercy.

And, I wasn't.

I regret that.

And, I confess it.

Another YAY GOD VIDEO from Dr. Richardson

I've now watched this week's eNews video three times.

Just a few observations:

I couldn't bring myself to count the number of times Kevin spoke the words pastor, pastors, church and churches. Those words filled the video.

Kevin highlighted a successful revitalization project in the ERC. I want to be careful not to disparage what is happening in that ministry. However, I was struck by the fact that, for Kevin, signs of revitalization are a remodeled church office and a newly written constitution.

The words Jesus Christ were not spoken in the video.

Neither were the words Kingdom of God.

In my opinion, these YAY GOD videos are a mistake. Why change if so much that is good is already going on in the ERC?
John Winebrenner was renowned for designating a "mourners' bench" in services when he preached.
The Word says that the Lord will not despise a broken spirit or a broken and contrite heart.
Paul says that godly sorrow produces a repentance that leads to salvation.
Jesus and John the Baptist regularly challenged the religious of their day--to the point that both, of course, were put to death.
I wonder if Kevin really believes in the need for change. He's so dern in love with the status quo.

I do appreciate Kevin's honesty in giving us his take on the state of the ERC union. He's making it clear to us what it is that he values.

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

The Mountaintoppers and Me in a Future Doctoral Dissertation

Recently, I received a mailing from the ERC office informing me that the Conference is updating its mailing list and if I am still interested in receiving its hard copy newsletter I need to send an email to the Conference office secretary asking to be kept on the mailing list.

Of course I want to continue to receive it.

The ERC mountaintoppers initiated a one-sided process in which the status of my credentials was considered, never meeting with me, never making a charge against me and never offering me an opportunity to respond to the concerns they had about me.

Others on the mountaintop initiated a separate process which resulted in the Conference expelling Faith Community from the role of Conference congregations.

I, for myself, love the CGGC and the ERC.

Up until the time Faith began to be the object of the Conference's abuse, our people here were more than content to be a part its ministry. While we are concerned with the Kingdom, not the institutional church and its hierarchy, we were content to be in ministry among the people of the ERC.

We embrace, passionately, the Conference's doctrine.

We have put the CGGC Mission Statement into practice..

...and we pioneered in living out the central principle of the CGGC Vision Statement.

It is the Conference who turned on me, on US, despite my/our absolute loyalty to the teachings and practices of the CGGC.

But, love is patient, love is kind. It keeps no record of wrongs. It always perseveres.

I forgive the mountaintoppers. Doing so is not difficult for me. And, to the degree that the Conference in session may have sanctioned the mountaintoppers' unchrist-like behavior toward me, my love for it remains unphased.

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So, having been through the process of advanced academic training, I began to wonder how it would work out if, many years in the future, the mountaintoppers and I were to be part of a doctrinal dissertation in the area of American religious history.

A future area of study for religious historians almost certainly will be the demise of Christian denominations in the twenty-first century.

How would it go if a doctoral student, aware that the CGGC is on the list of groups that died during this era, did a study of us? (When I was in school, when profs found out that I was part of Winebrenner's group, they wanted me to do every paper I could on him and us. We were, at least at that time, fascinating.)

I think of Richard Kern's biography of Winebrenner and his chapter on the Winebrenner-(John Williamson) Nevin Controversy that took place in the 1840s.

What if, 150 years from now, A.D. 2270-ish or so, someone starts reading CGGC stuff as a scholar would, taking the eNewses and The CHURCH ADVOCATE, We Believe, the Statements of Faith, Here We Stand and all the newsletters and Healthy Church Updates and the emails they can access with that day's technology AND also read this blog and other things I write.

What conclusions do you suppose s/he would conclude?

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In the CGGC, we know that we're dying and our leaders themselves are telling us that we need to change. The ERC, at this moment, is attempting to change.

The important thing about me in all of this, as I see it, is that I, with abandon, do what the (especially Findlay) mountaintoppers talk about:

The Bible as our only rule of faith and practice,
The church on the New Testament plan,
Incarnational living,
Focus on the expansion of the Kingdom of God.

It's this I-do-what-they-say thing and how the institution responds to it that would be worth a chapter in a dissertation on this era of the CGGC.

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Future scholar, if you're reading this? Have at it.

Monday, July 24, 2017

Another Fine Mess We CGGC Baby Boomers have gotten the Church in

In about the last decade, CGGC leaders of the baby boom generation have stepped away from important positions of leadership.

What a fine mess they have gotten us in.

I'm thinking of the three leadership positions with I am most familiar: ERC Executive Director, CGGC Executive Director and WTS President.

One obscure fact that the three men who currently hold those positions have in common is that, when they were still wet behind their ecclesiastical ears, they were students of mine when I was on staff at Winebrenner Seminary.

I've known them all for decades: Kevin Richardson, Lance Finley, Brent Sleasman.

And, while I've been critical here of things that Kevin and Lance have said and done about getting us righted for the future, readers of this blog should remember the many times I have declared the high degree of affection I have for both of them.

I know all three of these men and I like them and I love them.

When the jobs all three of these guys hold opened up, I would not have touched any of them with a ten foot pole.

Nearly ten years into the job, Kevin is faced with the task of attempting to save the ERC from disaster by leading what, to Conference insiders, is a radical restructuring of the Conference.

One year beyond his first General Conference sessions as CGGC E. D., Lance is acknowledging that the denominational crisis is so stark that 80% of remaining congregations are either stagnant or declining.

Most recently, Brent, still getting his feet settled on the flat ground in Findlay, has been forced to announce that the seminary has had to, essentially, cut ties with the newly acquired Scotland Campus which is located within the powerful Eastern Regional Conference.

I have no doubt that many are blaming Kevin for what has become of the ERC. No doubt, Lance's feet are being held to the fire for the increasingly rapid decline of the CGGC in the United States.

And, as unjustified as it may be (from where I sit), I guess that some are holding Brent responsible for the Scotland campus debacle.

But, the fact is that men of my baby boom generation were at the helm of CGGC institutions for many years. Those guys had their entourages of fellow boomers as their yes men and back snappers for all of that time.

And, the problems that Kevin and Lance and Brent are dealing with were made and shaped over decades and, most recently, by the men who were in office before them.

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The CGGC and its institutions are in crisis but let's understand how the crisis came to be and, to the degree it may be useful to place blame, please don't scapegoat the guys who inherited this inevitable disaster.

Kevin and Lance and Brent have their hands full but don't make their jobs more difficult than they need to be by making them responsible for the problems they inherited.

At this point, it's how they serve the Lord and His Kingdom for the future that matters.

Reactions to My Scotland Campus Post

I entered the post about the Winebrenner Scotland campus now being defunct on a SATURDAY AFTERNOON at about 3:00, a terrible time to attract blog readers.

Because of that, I imagined that whomever it is that would read the post would find it on Monday.

However, very shortly after I published the post, a regular reader of the blog sent me a note, off the blog, informing me that he'd received the Brent eNews and, in addition, an email from the ERC containing a link to the eNews.

We exchanged a few notes about why I didn't get the eNews. I mentioned that, in recent years, I've missed some key CGGC emails, the first that I'm aware of being the time my name was dropped from the list inviting MLI alumni to a reunion. (I, of course, don't know how many others I haven't realized I didn't receive.)

All I know, in this instance, is that I didn't get the Scotland Campus eNews. I have no idea why.

Anyway, based on what I was hearing, I began to suspect that only I might have been dropped from the mailing list for the Brent eNews, though I couldn't imagine why.

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Then, I checked my blog stats.

As soon as I published the post about the Winebrenner Scotland campus, that post drew an exceptionally high number of readers-- more than three times what I would have expected, even during a peak time of the week, more than nearly all of my 600 posts, period.

Curious.

We exchanged a few emails about that. I don't know what to think.

Were others who read this blog not sent the Brent eNews? While I don't know everything about who reads this blog and am often surprised to hear about this person or that person who does, I suspect that many of my readers are on the outs with people on the CGGC, ERC and even WTS mountain peaks nearly as much as I am.

The blog reader chatting with me suggested that people saw that something came in from Winebrenner, or about Winebrenner, and assumed that it was merely another a plea for $$ and ignored it until they saw me describing the Scotland Campus of Winebrenner as being defunct.

I joked that, while people are uninspired by the eNews and think so little of ERC leaders that they don't even read what they send out, they are captivated by what I write.

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Which part of that is the joke?

There is so much cynicism across the CGGC that a real problem on the mountaintop must be the desire to reach CGGC/ERC people who are now unreachable.

People either don't believe the mountaintoppers, doubt what they say, or worst of all, no longer care.

It may be that more people read my puny little blog post ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON than read that eNews or checked out the ERC link.

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I have no idea what the explanation of the facts is. All I know is the facts.

I wasn't sent the Brent eNews. And, people consumed my post about it voraciously.

I'd love to know your theories.

Saturday, July 22, 2017

The WTS Scotland Campus is now Defunct

I didn't receive my issue of Lance's eNews last week and I found that odd.

So, I did some googling and, very quickly, did find the issue. And, now I'm wondering if that eNews issue was produced but not mailed out, particularly now because the eNews appeared on schedule yesterday, exactly as it usually would.

When I found the lost issue, I discovered that Lance had allowed Winebrenner Theological Seminary President Brent Sleasman to send out a note.

In the note, which I couldn't find when I looked for it again earlier today, Brent explained that Winebrenner Theological Seminary would no longer be holding classes on the Scotland Campus in Pennsylvania.

I was impressed with Brent's note because it actually quoted Scripture. And, it also alluded to a biblical event--all in an attempt to give meaning to events that have recently taken place concerning Findlay and Scotland.

However, other than to know that Winebrenner is not holding classes on the Scotland Campus, I didn't understand anything about what has happened.

What I wonder about now is the not-receiving-the-note-in-my-mailbox thing.

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One of my Characteristics of the CGGC Brand is Cynicism.

One of the reasons I think the CGGC is dead meat without serious repentance is the cynicism of most of the people in the body.

Leaders get away with things like writing a We Believe and a Statement of Faith that claims that "the Bible is our only rule of faith and practice" and then, immediately thereafter, writing a Strategic Plan without reference to the Bible, because the rest of the body is so cynical about leadership that it refuses to love the people in leadership enough to hold them accountable for what they do.

Still, there is a part of me that wonders if the Brent eNews was produced, but not sent out to anyone.

Is it cynicism that makes me wonder that?

Or, have I seen enough diddling with truth and honesty in the recent CGGC past to legitimately wonder?

I seriously don't know.

Still, that suspicion lingers on the edge of my mind.

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In any event, if you didn't get that eNews either, there was one. It contained a message from Brent. The Scotland thing still is. But, it's not Winebrenner anymore.

Friday, July 21, 2017

Will there be Scriptural References in the new New Strategic Plan?

The hypocrisy of CGGC leader gives me the willies.

The first time it assaulted my consciousness, it altered my attitude toward the CGGC institution forever.

That was in 2010.

I was a delegate to General Conference sessions.

As a matter of history, it was only one year earlier, in 2009, that our leaders in Findlay produced a first-ever Mission Statement which was approved by the General Conference Administrative Council and was published with fanfare in a lead article, written by Ed Rosenberry, in The CHURCH ADVOCATE.

During that same time, Ed was leading a Task Force working on rewriting CGGC credentialing standards.

In 2010, that Task Force produced a 10+ page document to be presented for approval by the General Conference in session.

Even though, while the Task Force was working, the CGGC Administrative Council had created a Mission Statement declaring that we establish churches on the New Testament plan, Ed's Task Force wrote that lengthy document WITHOUT EVEN ONE REFERENCE TO NEW TESTAMENT TRUTH.

Since then, I have never been the same.

I opposed the document on the floor so passionately that when I rose to speak about it AGAIN, the President told me that I could only ask a question.

(If you weren't there, I asked, "What is the capital of South Dakota?" And, after I sat down, Steve Dunn stood to protest on my behalf.)

My characteristic of the CGGC Brand, TO TALK IS TO WALK-ISM was conceived at that moment.

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Anyway...

...in the same way...

...you may remember that I went ballistic, in 2015, in my opposition to that now pathetically failed Strategic Plan.

I blogged about it here.

I don't recall blogging the point over which I was most furious.

I was most furious that the same ERC leaders who wrote the 2015 STRATEGIC PLAN were delegates, two years earlier, at the General Conference sessions in 2013 that approved an update to We Believe and a Statement of Faith that reaffirmed that, in the CGGC, the Bible is "our only rule of faith and practice."

YET, IN DEFIANCE OF THE AUTHORITY OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE, THERE WAS NOT EVEN A SINGLE REFERENCE TO THE AUTHORITY OF THE WORD IN THE 2015 STRATEGIC PLAN. 

Hypocrisy.

Insubordination.

Authoritarianism.

All of the people of the CGGC must, by the dictate of our highest earthly authority, be "ruled" by the Bible, the Word of God.

Even the leaders.

Even ERC leaders.

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By the admission of ERC leaders, the old New Strategic Plan of 2015 has been a disaster. It was only words on a page.

The question of the moment is if ERC leaders will submit to the authority of the CGGC church body and subordinate themselves to the authority of Scripture in creating and presenting the new New Strategic Plan in 2017?

Will their plan be God's plan?

"All Scripture is god-breathed and is useful..."

Will biblical truth be the foundation of the new New Strategic Plan?

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Here's a this-world prediction. THIS IS NOT A PROPHECY. IT DOES NOT COME FROM THE SPIRIT. It's my common sense opinion based on my involvement in the CGGC for many years:

ERC leaders will not include references to the Bible in the new New Strategic Plan. 

I think that for two reasons:

1. Their plan is not rooted in God's truth.

I trust the information I'm receiving, from my network within the ERC, regarding what the plan is and, based on what I'm being told, there is nothing of Jesus or the Book of Acts in it.

The plan begins with the assumption that the church is an institution with hierarchical leadership. The plan has to do with restructuring Commissions and rewriting job descriptions and, perhaps, restaffing, perhaps even, ultimately, changing Executive Directors.

It's institutional.

It's not concerned with obeying Jesus and it's not about walking by the Spirit and it's not about establishing our body on the New Testament plan.

And, excuse the hundred dollar word. If you have theological education you'll know it.

Even the most blatant eisegesis could not justify this plan. (Eisegesis is starting with your own idea and, then, finding Scripture to support it.)

I've read Dr. Richardson do eisegesis. And he is world class. He could hold seminars for Jehovah's Witnesses on taking Scripture out of context. But, based on what I'm being told about this plan, the eisegesis that would be necessary to justify this plan biblically would be so blatant to someone who loves the Word that it would be knee-slappingly laughable.


2. And, and this is built, in part, on the first reason but goes beyond it, it is more profound and it goes to the core reality that defines the CGGC's dysfunction and decline:

TO REFER TO THE WORD WOULD MAKE ERC LEADERS ACCOUNTABLE BEFORE THE BODY TO BE, AS PAUL SAYS, PEOPLE "WHO CORRECTLY HANDLE THE WORD OF TRUTH." (2 Tim. 2:15)

To cite Scripture as authority would bring ERC leaders down to the level of the remainder of the Eldership.

To cite Scripture as authority would put others in the position of being able, with evidence, to know that the ERC emperor is buck naked.

Years ago, I accused Findlay leadership of being popish in their authoritarianism. Then, I apologized to all the Popes of history and to the Roman Catholic church for comparing what CGGC leaders do to what the Popes do.

The Popes always submit to their own churchly authority and are careful to refer to Scripture, even if we see eisegesis.

CGGC leaders regularly defy the authority of the Eldership and, these days NEVER seek biblical authority for their plans. If you doubt that, look for biblical authority in the 2010 Credentialing Proposal and the despicable, failed 2015 old new Strategic Plan!

If the 2017 new New Strategic Plan includes references to the Bible, I'm convinced that there will be riots among ERC people who still love the Word. And, I suspect that ERC leaders think so, too.

ERC leaders can't make themselves accountable to the Word because they can't allow themselves to be assessed, by the members of the Conference, as people "who correctly handle the word of truth."

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Will there be Scriptural References in the new New Strategic Plan?

No.

According to the authority of the Eldership of the CGGC should there be Scriptural References in the new New Strategic Plan?

Absolutely!

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The Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing is not blessing the CGGC...

...in large part due to the hypocrisy, insubordination and authoritarianism of the people who consider themselves to be its leaders.

We must repent.

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

"Life by a Thousand Cuts"

In one of the many novels I've read, I came across the expression, "death by a thousand cuts."

The expression describes a failure that is the result of many small problems.

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In Dr. Richardson's eNews video a few weeks ago, the final section of the video mentioned a learning he took away from a recent seminar/workshop he attended on, I think, personal discipleship.

I was touched.

Kevin's eyes lit up and there seemed to be an enlivened tone in his voice.

He talked about hearing of the concept of the "primary receiver," which is a football term.

In every football pass play there is intentionality. By design, one player is the quarterback's first choice. The quarterback can only look at one receiver at a time. The primary receiver is the player who gets the quarterback's primary attention.

In discipleship, having a primary receiver means you focus your primarily attention on one person in your discipling efforts.

(Dr. Richardson's explanation of this is much more concise and helpful than mine.)

As enthusiastic as Kevin's explanation for the concept of the primary receiver is, I don't buy it.

It's not the life Jesus taught, as I read the Gospels.

As we, here, focus our lives on the teachings of Jesus, instead of identifying a primary receiver, we see, in every moment of our lives, an opportunity to reveal Christ's love to any and every person we meet...

...and we don't care how insignificant the "cut," or the act of love or mercy may be.

I believe that a significant factor in the growth of the Kingdom in the New Testament era is that EVERY believer functioned as a Kingdom priest.

As a result, the world of unrepenting people was receiving multiple cuts because all of those early Kingdom priests we all "cutting" many times every day.

And, people were drawn to Christ through the many acts of love and mercy they received from Jesus followers.

"Life by a thousand cuts."

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It seems to me that Kevin's Primary Receiver concept can work, but not in today's CGGC. It works for people gifted by Christ to be apostles and evangelists.

The problem with promoting the Primary Receiver concept anywhere in the CGGC is that, excuse me for sounding like a broken record, the Shepherd Mafia has driven nearly all of the apostles and evangelists out of the body.

I can't see Kevin, for example, with his shepherd gifting, and all of the time he spends attending meetings and doing managerial work in his office, adding many souls to the Kingdom by making an occasional toss to his primary receiver.

Even with his gifting and schedule, he could do an occasional cut among the people of the world.

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We need to deconstruct the CGGC parish priesthood and hierarchy and empower all of our people to be priests so we can, through our vibrant and universal priesthood, draw people into the Kingdom--to life by a thousand cuts.

To do this, we must do a 180 turn from the fallen ways we've been practicing for about 80 years.

We must change our ways.

We must repent.

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Righteousness, Low Church Sacraments and the YAY GOD Video

I have pointed out that Dr. Richardson believes that the church is all about the clergy providing low church sacraments to be consumed enthusiastically by members of the laity.

And, Kevin proves the accuracy of that insight every time he's presented with the opportunity. 

If you viewed the YAY GOD video, you saw that when he highlighted the good things that are happening across the Eastern Regional Conference, Kevin placed his laser focus, first and foremost, on churches in which baptisms are taking place where ERC parish priests have the opportunity to provide low church sacraments to a willing laity.

Kevin is a nice man. He's a sweet man. He's a good man. He's a sincere man.

He is our leading nice, sweet, good, sincere conservative Lutheran wannabe.

I read Kevin's writings carefully and I view his videos over and over again and I know, in the most general sense, Kevin is in favor of making disciples but what I see, in Kevin's thinking, is a sacramental definition of discipleship.

Here's what I mean by that:

Kevin defines discipleship in terms the laity's enthusiasm in consuming low church sacraments provided by the clergy. 

He demonstrates that he truly believes that with every whim.

So, left to his own devises, when he produced this YAY GOD video, he found his greatest joy in announcing past and future baptismal services.

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Now, based the information I'm receiving from my network within the ERC, the new Strategic Plan seems to be all about healthy pastors serving healthy churches and, in that way, Dr. Richardson is as good a fit to lead it as anyone.

He's probably the guy to lead a plan that envisions a Conference in which "healthy" pastors/parish priests provide first rate low church sacraments to "healthy" churches whose attenders comprise a laity which understands righteousness as consumption of its clergy's religious products and services.

And...,

...let the biblical notion that Jesus "has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father..." (Rev. 1:5) be damned!

Yet, based on what I'm hearing, that's the essence of the new New Strategic Plan.

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If that's the plan, I'm prophesying, here and now, that it's time to shut down the Conference office and give pink slips to Kevin and the rest of the staff. Dismantle the Commissions.

Doom is nigh.

Cut ERC congregations loose from the oppression of the institution.

Give them the opportunity to try to make their own way without the ball and chain that is the Conference hierarchy and the tithe it siphons off the top of every congregation's budget.

Absolutely nothing Jesus taught or did empowers the hierarchs' way of following Him.

The decades of CGGC numerical and spiritual decline has been built on that very model of ministry.

Tweaking that Jesus-defying vision of church by restructuring the Conference Commission structure and rewriting job descriptions is nothing short of an invitation to disaster.

When I first heard about the plan to do a new, New Strategic Plan, I thought that Kevin was a poor fit to lead it.

But, as I hear rumblings of what the plan entails, I'm concluding that Kevin is the guy to lead it and that the plan is a sure-fire disaster in the making.

If the ERC hierarchs simply want to put lipstick on a dying pig, let Kevin be the man who superintends the makeover.

If we want to serve Jesus and make disciples, then something else must take place.

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VIDEO TRIVIA:

Kevin does actually say the words "Jesus Christ."

For a vivid picture of his vision, though, count the number of times he says the words church/churches and pastor/pastors compared to his mention of Jesus.

Oh, and listen in vain for his Kingdom vision.

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A practical observation:

At some point, the Conference is going to have to gather and vote to approve the Constitutional changes the new New Strategic Plan demands.

One reason that the ERC is declining as it is, is that the Conference delegates, for decades, have simply and prayerlessly, and mindlessly, rubber stamped the whims of its hierarchs.

THAT RIDICULOUS "ONLY WORDS ON A PAGE" 2015 STRATEGIC PLAN--WHICH ONLY I SPOKE AGAINST--IS BUT ONE EXAMPLE.

Now, even the hierarchs agree with me about that debacle.

If you are an ERC-er, you do have a voice that can, by the grace of God, bring change.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Dr. Richardson's YAY GOD Video

Yesterday I viewed the latest ERC eNews video.

And, when, in the past, I've called ERC Conference Sessions, the YAY GOD Sessions, this is what I mean.

In the video, Dr. Richardson highlights, in about three minutes, wonderful things that are happening across the Eastern Regional Conference.

Imagine, now, that drumbeat playing for three consecutive days and you have the ERC YAY GOD Conference Sessions.

Now, if you're not from the ERC, you have a frame of reference.  If you are from the ERC and missed the YAY GOD testimonials at this year's, reportedly, more sober gathering, you have a bit of a fix for your addiction.

The thing about this YAY GOD thing is that it's always true, as I'm sure Dr. Richardson's YAY GOD Video is true. But, it's not the TRUTH.

The TRUTH is that ERC ministries are failing, churches are closing, ERC pastors are burning out and their families are being stressed, many congregations possess few if any pew sitters under the age of 40, for some its the age of 50, for others it's even the age of 60 and that, in practice, for most in the ERC, discipleship is defined as sitting a fanny down in a pew for the Sunday morning show.

But, Dr. Kevin can still do the YAY GOD Rap.

It's as if they only know one song, when all's said and done, they just have to sing it.

After watching the YAY GOD video, I have to ask: Why should the pastors and churches of the ERC go through the difficult process of change when there are so many things about the ERC to say, YAY GOD! about?

Paul instructs that we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling and that it is godly sorrow that produces a repentance that leads to salvation...

...but there are so many reasons to say, YAY GOD!

YAY GOD? Yeah, right!

My Mom's Mission Statement

The hypocrisy of the CGGC kills me.

The writing of the Mission and Vision Statements and the rewriting of the radically biblical We Believe all of which are divorced from behavior destroys all possibility that the body can walk in the power of the Spirit.

Paul says that everything that does not come from faith is sin.

And, we talk a huge talk completely unmatched by anything in our puny, little walk.

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On the other hand, my mom has never heard the terms Mission and Vision Statements but her life has vision and she is on a finely honed mission.

For years, she's talked about caring for my eight-years-older-than-she father until the end of his life.

That is all she lives for.

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Yesterday she fell again.

And, her health, for the moment at least, is in rapid decline.

She's been in the ER the last two days. Bottom line: She's bed ridden and will be in the nursing home part of the nursing home, perhaps for the rest of her life.

Dad and she will be living separately.

And...she's falling short of what has been her all-consuming life mission.

ALL CONSUMING SENSE OF DESPAIR ROOTED IN A BELIEF IN A FAILURE TO ACHIEVE LIFE'S MOST CRUCIAL TASK.

My question: How do you help someone genuinely living on mission deal with failure to achieve the mission?

In this case, it's a matter of life and death on a emotional, physical and spiritual level.

HEARTBREAK.

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

A Day that Began with Glory and Ended in Hell

Yesterday, July 11, was quite a day in which I wept tears of joy and, nearly, tears of despair--on the job.

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The day began wonderfully.

Tuesday, on the job, is tough always. It's the shortest-handed day. And, this time I was scheduled to be in charge for my whole ten hours plus, because we have so few workers, do the job hands on a lot of the time as well.

Very early on the day, a woman went through the lane where I was running my register. Her items added up to $12.19. She had a can of Maxwell House coffee and a few related items. And, then, she couldn't find her debit card.

She was disoriented, which is not unusual very early in the day. Many people don't wake up well.

After a brief moment in which she couldn't find her card, I began to feel as that I should pay her bill. So, I got out my card and inserted it in the chip reader saying quietly, "I'll pay it for you."

Either she didn't hear me or didn't understand. She asked if I was going to pay and I paid while I answered.

She thanked me and, as people often do, let me a little further into her life.  She told me that her nephew had just died and she was taking the coffee to join the family as they gathered.

I expressed my sympathy and said, "I just want to show you God's love in a practical way."

And, she began to cry.

We finished the transaction and there were no other customers, or employees, nearby. So, I asked, "How did you nephew die?"

"Overdose."

Something about that really hit me--probably because drug dependence has touched the lives of so many people I know--I began to tear up as well.

She told me that she had to drive into Lancaster which, at rush hour, can be hairy and she was concerned because she was having trouble focusing. I promised to pray for her and, later, when I had a free moment, I did.

By that time, another customer appeared. I said to my new friend, "Take care." And, I moved on.

A moment later, I felt something bump against the back of my left calf and I turned around. The woman was there and, when I turned, she hugged me. Then she left.

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Not much after that, Evie texted and told me that mom's doctor had ordered mom to go the ER. The concern was that she had a broken hip.

As I've been writing, mom's health has been declining and I was deeply concerned.

I wanted to leave work to be with her but, on that day, there was no way I could leave the store.

And, the joy I'd been feeling from having a moment as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God was more than replaced.

I soon realized that I had to get myself in a position that I, the Kingdom ambassador, was not dealing with the public.

The remainder of the day was misery.

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As it turns out, mom doesn't have a broken hip but they did find arthritis and suspect she has a muscle strain.

She is in a ton of pain and taking Vicodin plus extra Tylenol and Naproxen.

And, the pain continues.

Sunday, July 9, 2017

The Leadership Style of Jesus

If you read this blog regularly, you know that I think institutionalized western Christianity's recent faddish pursuit of leadership development is both theologically corrupt and doomed to disastrous failure.

As far as theological corruption is concerned:

In a kingdom, the only leader is the King. So, when an institutional hierarch presents him/herself as a leader who hopes to develop other leaders for the Kingdom of God, something that closely resembles blasphemy takes place.

I've challenged the self-perceived leaders in my own faith tradition to think carefully about the significance of what they are doing when they present themselves as leaders hoping to develop other leaders...but, to no avail.

As far as doomed to disastrous failure is concerned:

When I think about leadership as Jesus practiced it, I have to guffaw at the image of today's denominational hierarchs attempting Jesus-style leadership.

Imagine it happening:

When Jesus presented Himself as a leader and challenged others to commit to His leadership, He offered this invitation (I'll translate literally):

"Come after me." (That adverb could also render the invitation, "Come behind me.") 

The adverb there is opiso, the same word Jesus used when He said to Peter: "Get behind me, Satan." (Mt. 16:23)

And that is how the leadership of Jesus worked.

That adverb is the essence of Jesus-style leadership.

When Jesus led, He literally, physically, led.

Jesus went from place to place and the people who embraced His leadership challenge went behind Him...

...literally.

In a physical way, they actually followed Him...from place to place. In the most literal way, they walked in His steps.

The leadership of Jesus was literally leadership and following Him was following Him. There was nothing symbolic or metaphorical about it.

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Now, do you see the humor?

In my denomination as an example, the executives who occupy offices in the headquarters buildings hope to develop other leaders. Yet, imagine those hierarchs practicing Jesus-style leadership.

Can you picture anyone going behind your Bishop or Executive Director or whatever his/her title might be?

What would that person do? Sit on a chair in the back of the corner office for hours on end as the leader boned up on reports written by other denominational hierarchs? Then, sitting in that same corner office chair, watch the leader tap away on a keyboard, writing his/her own reports?

Then, what? Mosey, following behind the leader down a hallway to a meeting room to doodle, in the back of the room, while that, uh, leader leads a meeting of one of the many committees, commissions and task forces of which s/he is a member?

And, the next day, sit, I guess in the back seat (trunk, perhaps) of a car while the leader drives, or is driven depending on the denominational budget, to an out-of-town conference or committee or commission or task force meeting, then sitting in the back of the room?

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Today's church leaders can't develop leaders because they are not followable!

While they presume the ability to lead in the Kingdom, the lives of the self-proclaimed leaders in the church bear absolutely no resemblance to the life Jesus lived.

Peter and James and John could go behind Jesus because Jesus was going somewhere...

...And, where Jesus went and what He did when He got there was followable...

...And, doing the things Jesus did and repeating the things Jesus said are precisely the things that make a person righteous. Obedient. A disciple. A FOLLOWER.

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The adverb opiso absolutely pollutes the Gospels but it also appears a few times in the New Testament in Acts and in the writings of Paul and Peter and Jude and in Revelation.

But, never as a part of a leadership challenge. Neither Peter, nor Paul nor anyone else after Jesus presented themselves as a leader to be followed. None said, "Come behind me."

They used the verb mimeomai. Can you see the word mimic there?

Modern translations make it imitate. "You yourselves know how you should imitate us." (2 Thessalonians 3:7) Mimic. Not follow.

Paul and his coworkers didn't suggest people should follow them. Jesus is Lord. Follow Jesus. And, imitate us as we ourselves follow the Lord.

The problem with the hierarchs today is that, while it's a laugh for them to think that they should be followed in the way Jesus was followed, it's tragic to think they would be imitated in the way Paul or Silas or Timothy could be.

I personally know some hierarchs. On the level of who they are, they are mimickable.

But, as hierarchs, fulfilling their job descriptions written by the institutionalists of previous decades and generations, the notion that someone would imitate what they actually do with their lives is knee-slappingly laughable.

Pardon me for framing it this way, but we must drain the institutional swamp.

We must repent.

Friday, July 7, 2017

"How Dare You Take what I Write Seriously!"

A newsletter is a shepherd thing. It's flock- focused--especially in the way CGGC mountaintoppers do it.

For me, there's one every week from the ERC.

And, of course, there's the eNews from the General Conference, which is not really a General Conference newsletter as much as it is about the whims and reflections, the travels and the dreams and the nightmares of the current occupier of the corner office in Findlay.

And, there have been times that The CHURCH ADVOCATE has been little more than a flock-following newsletter.

And, I read all of them...with care...and I take them seriously.

No one who writes for the various denominational publications has ever told me that I shouldn't read them carefully or take them seriously but, as I've said in the past, one of them has told me that he wishes I wouldn't read him as carefully as I do.

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In a shepherd driven religious body in which relationship is everything and truth is virtually nothing, what a mountaintopper writes, by the very nature of the body's cultural values, means nothing, except that s/he wrote something to make contact and maintain the relationship.

And, if a person lower on the hierarchy reads what's written at all, the content of what's written is not taken seriously. Merely noting that something was written is enough to maintain the tepid, tolerance-oriented relationship that the CGGC today is built on.

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One way that I bring APEST balance to the CGGC community is to read what mountaintoppers write as if truth matters.

Hence, I noted recently that Dr. Richardson has written that he believes that the church is built on pastors functioning as Middle Ages parish priests when, at the same time, he wants to lead the Conference in changing direction to abandon the very model of ministry he believes in.

And, just yesterday, I noted that Lance believes that people who are gifted to be shepherds and teachers are actually discredited and underappreciated in the church today and that we have to take care as we embrace ministry driven by apostles, prophets and evangelists.

Huh?!

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I'll say this:

No one made Dr. Richardson promote, as central to the ministry of the church, the parish priest as the provider of cradle to grave religious products and services to a passive laity. And, on his own, Lance urged us to be careful to give credit to and to properly appreciate shepherds and teachers as we conduct ministry under the giftedness of APEs. 

I've known both of these guys for decades. I love and like both of them.

But, our body is in a free fall decline.

And, despite the relationship-is-everything values that have driven our body during all of the decades of its decline,...

...truth matters.

We need to seize the future embracing truth, being served by men and women unafraid of the truth.

We must become people who, at least, consider the value of truth.

We must repent.

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Lance on APEST in the latest eNews

Last week's eNews was on a very personal topic for Lance however, even then, Lance stepped aside from the personal to address a big picture issue.

He mentioned APEST and noted the importance of recognizing all of the gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4:11-13.

He noted that, for too long, the "church" has tried to function without the "gift expression" of apostles, prophets and evangelists and he, then, added this phrase,

"alongside pastors (shepherds) and teachers."

Lance then laments that when the role of the APEs is embraced that same conversation often discredits and underappreciates the role of shepherds and teachers.

I have three comments:

First, I don't know who in the CGGC is discrediting and underappreciating shepherds and teachers. To this moment, the CGGC I know is still all about shepherds and teachers! What is one thing that the General Conference has actually DONE that diminishes the roles of shepherds and teachers??? What is a single thing DONE that places too much emphasis on the APE gifts and the people in the body gifted to be them? My network of correspondents in the ERC is leading me to think that the proposed restructuring of the Conference will focus significantly on the issue of the health of the PASTOR. Discredit? Underappreciate? the role of shepherds and teachers? I'm not seeing anything close to that anywhere in the CGGC.

Second, (perhaps due to the translation he was quoting from) Lance committed the nearly unforgivable sin of equating the spiritual gift of being a shepherd with the institutional church's invention of the role of the pastor/cleric/parish priest. THERE WERE SHEPHERDS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT BUT THERE WERE NO PASTORS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT! As long as the mountaintoppers continue to write the parish priest into the New Testament, the CGGC will be out of step with the Holy Spirit and the will of God!

Third, this blog never, ever discredits or underappreciates the gifting of the shepherd and teacher. I've been understood as doing that and I've been accused of doing it for years. But, I don't do that and I never will. However, I do attack as openly and aggressively as I can the institution that perverted an essential and critically important spiritual empowerment to invent the role of the congregational pastor.

Thanks, Lance, for raising the issue. I hope, probably against hope, that there will be more conversation about it than my rant here.

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I'm adding this comment about three hours after publishing what comes before.

I've been thinking about Lance's assertion that when people call for a rediscovery of all of the APEST gifts they often do it in a way that discredits and underappreciates the work of shepherds and teachers. 

And, I have to say that I HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN MANY CONVERSIONS THAT CALL FOR THE REDISCOVERY OF APEST GIFTS AND I HAVE NEVER, EVER HEARD A PERSON ADVOCATING APEST DIMINISH THE IMPORTANCE OF SHEPHERDS AND TEACHERS.

I do suspect that shepherds holding institutional power feel threatened and imagine that that happens. But, in my experience, it has never happened. 

Ever!

Quite to the contrary, advocates of APEST love and embrace the shepherd and teacher gifts and yearn to live in 1 Corinthians 12 mutual submission with those people. 

If what Lance describes actually happens in his presence, he needs to associate with another set of people. 

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Degenerative Disc Disease...and Living in the Kingdom of God

I have it.

I'm a geezer and, by my age, back problems are fairly common.

Shortly after I began working at the Front End of the store, nearly four years ago, I twisted my back and messed things up, had an Xray, got a note from my doctor excusing me from a week of work, returned to work with my back still feeling tender but survived.

Last week, off the job, I did too many twisty things and, suddenly felt a, uh, twinge, and knew things were out of line.

They still are, though I've kept up my work schedule...so far...in pain.

I have more responsibility now than I did then and others on the management team would be effected if I'd call off from work, so I'm trying to struggle through. But, it's not easy and I don't want to create more serious, permanent physical problems for myself.

I realize that I often don't have good judgment when dealing with things like pain and injury. And, I don't take advice well. So, this is a real emotional as well as physical struggle.

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At times like this, I think about how I got to the place I am at.

For many years, I lived a financially and physically comfortable life as a congregational pastor.

But, the time came, as I immersed myself in the Word, that I reached the point that I didn't believe in the life I was living.

I concluded that there is no place for a congregational pastor in the Kingdom whose coming Jesus preached. It also had no place in the so-called church that developed as a result of the ministry of the Apostles in Christianity's first generation.

For a few years, I tried to live in my prophetic calling while I still worked under the title "Pastor."  But, that didn't work for the congregation or for me.

If there is no place for a congregational pastor in the Kingdom of God, there is certainly no place for a congregational pastor living as a prophet in the Kingdom of God.

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So, I now work at a job I can believe in. I am in the world. As a pastor, I was so involved with parish priest duties that I was rarely in the world.

I dumped the title of pastor and see myself as an ambassador, not of the church, but of the Kingdom and as a herald of the King.

Degenerative Disk Disease would be no issue if I was still a pastor/parish priest but it is now. We'd have a lot more money to live on if I was still a parish priest but, I sleep better at night, even in physical pain, than I did as a pastor.

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And...

....as I've said a few times before, I am practicing what many on my denominational mountaintop preach.

One of the dysfunctions of my Conference is that it talks what it talks yet it expelled what's left of the ministry here where we practice that talk.

And, rumors continue to circulate that the Conference recalled my credentials in 2016. (I have difficulty believing that because I was never charged with any "crime" against the Conference and there is no one more openly and aggressively supportive of church doctrine and Mission and Vision than I am.

And, of course, I've never been advised that my credentials have been recalled.

So, I struggle with a bad back and live as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God and as a herald of the King, living the life advocated by church, uh, leaders...

...as a voice crying in the wilderness.

Go figure!

Who could make this up?

Sunday, July 2, 2017

Watching My Mom's Body and My Dad's Mind Deteriorate

It's been a tough month emotionally for our family.

As I've posted, mom fell and, to use laymen's terms, crushed her tailbone about a month ago. There is no way to repair the damage.

Mom's tough. In all my years, I've rarely heard her complain, except about the behavior of my brother and me as we were growing up.

Since the fall, she been telling us how bad the pain is and she grunts and groans when she moves. She been on a narcotic for the pain. Last week, Evie and she met with her doctor to address the issue of pain management and possible addiction to the drug.

Through all of that, dad is oblivious. His dementia is so advanced that he doesn't remember that she fell or that she is in pain. And, it seems to be beyond him to care.

His memory is all but shot. He still knows mom but usually doesn't understand that they are married--or what means. He still recognizes me and usually knows my name but usually doesn't understand that I am his son. He knows Evie but can't put it together that I am married to her. (He responds when we refer to him as dad but it may be because he thinks that dad is a nickname.)

As far gone as his mind is, his body's still mobile. He moves slowly, using his "stick," but he can still ambulate.

And, that's a problem.

Mom can't keep up with him and, in her pain, doesn't care to.

And, with dementia herself, often doesn't use good judgment when dealing with dad.

So,...

...the staff of the home is suggesting that they move to a smaller room on another floor of the facility where there will be more contact between the staff and mom and dad.

Currently, mom and dad have a very nice two room apartment. The move will be a major step down for them.

Mom seems to be okay with the move. I take this to be an indication of how intense her pain is.

Dad, on the other hand, doesn't understand or, from moment to moment, remember. We've re-explained the move and the reasons for it more times than I can count. And, they only found out about the move six days ago.

He's never accepted change well. So, the stress of his understanding and resisting will he hard on us all, especially mom. Dad's sweet. But he can be a handful.

The move takes place tomorrow.

Unfortunately, tomorrow, July 3, will be one of the busiest days of the year at the store and I'm scheduled to work for ten hours.

The rest of the family will be around for mom and dad, and I'm thankful for that.

The emotion of all of this is crushing. All of us are exhausted.