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.

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

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.