Generally speaking, the function of the prophet is to bring a 40,000 foot perspective to the things of the people of God, i.e., to articulate, as well as a human can, what the Lord sees from the vantage point of eternity.
Prophets, generally, are uninvolved with the nitty gritty. They are not gifted to do that. They deal with big picture issues. Read Isaiah or Jeremiah or study the Gospels' accounts of the ministry of John the Baptist.
As I've commented on Dave Williams's videos, my perspective has very big picture.
What I'll do here is different. I'll consider, as best I can, nitty gritty, rubber meets the road, issues.
I've been thinking about how these groups would impact me if Faith had not been expelled from the ERC and if I still qualified to participate in the groups.
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Dave's plan will be cumbersome, at the very least, for bivocational parish priests.
I'm imagining Dave's plan being foisted on me with the life I have now.
I have a job that is full-time, consumes my passion and which I see as, itself, a ministry.
In addition to that, I have my obligations to the community here at Faith, which are different--and LESS demanding--than the obligations of typical ERC parish priests, due to the fact that we actually do practice the priesthood of all believers here.
But, in my opinion, far more important than the ministry on my job and my ministry to the congregation...
I HAVE A FAMILY!
I have a wife whom I love and, as hard as it might be for hierarchs like Dave and Dr. Richardson to understand, enjoys my company, especially in those rare moments that I have energy to invest in our relationship.
And, while we don't have kids and grandkids, I have a mother and father whom the Word commands me to honor.
Both mom and dad have dementia. The quality of their lives, at this point, demands we be connected to the people who care for them at the home.
And face it, most bivocational pastors do have parents AND children in addition to our family obligations!
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So, now the hierarchs are telling bivocational pastors, like I would be if they hadn't trashed me...
...that the core of our new New Strategic Plan is bringing you into Connextion Groups so you can be a healthy pastor and lead a healthy church.
This can not work!
What world are Dave and Dr. Richardson living in?
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The fruit of what the hierarchs have done demands a return to the days of Leave it to Beaver in which:
-the church is at the center of the culture,
-every parish priest has a full-time living,
-the clergy/laity divide was taken for granted as a good thing,
-people aged 18-35 years embrace church as a central part of life and
-the wisdom of monsignors and Bishops was regarded as having authority on the level of Scripture.
Those days, and even Dave knows this--watch the first video--are gone...
...and they are not coming back.
And, we shouldn't even want them back...
...but the ERC hierarchs passionately do want those days to return...
...and the new New Strategic Plan seems to assume that the hierarchs can cause those days to return.
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A few years ago, the ERC staff created a goal of traveling to every church to meet with the pastor and church council.
The feedback I've gotten from that leadership program is that the ERC staffers left the churches with the message that the one thing that makes a good church is...
...a church that pays to the Conference, its FULL CONFERENCE TITHE.
Apparently, the ERC hierarchy does not exist to serve but to BE served!
As in the case of that leadership activity, these Connextion Groups are, in the end, for everyone who is not a full-time pastor--and for every church not being served by a full-time pastor--all about the churches and pastors being around to justify the existence of the Conference staff.
For many, probably most ERC pastors, these Connextion Groups will be an unacceptable burden.
Involvement in them will demand sacrifice from pastors who are living in the 21st century world and are already overwhelmed.
Many of them simply won't be able to participate, even if they want to, and, if they sacrifice to participate, other obligations, probably to family, will have to be sacrificed.
The plan is unhealthy, unworkable and impractical for many ERC pastors who are already overburdened.
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