Over the course of the past few days, I've been thinking about who I've been friendly with over the years but am no longer friends with...particularly among people with whom I shared ministry in the past.
I started thinking about those broken relationships after receiving a very gracious note from someone who has been prominent in the CGGC who, in the note, regretted our lost friendship
Then, just the other day, I received an email from someone in the Conference which asked if Pastor ____________ and I are still friends, to which I replied, "No. Not even close. Sad."
As readers here know, I make truth a priority.
I've been in ministry for more than 40 years and, for years, subjugated my, I believe, God-given, obsession with truth in order to just get along in my denominational body...
...only to see that body decay at an increasing rate...
...and to feel my own godly sorrow increase to the point that it became impossible to bear.
And, so, I became, as the G. C. E. D. sometimes phrases it, a person of the Book, without reservation.
And, in only a few years, considering my advanced age, I've lost most of the denominational relationships I've had.
Taking the friendships I lost over my passionate opposition to the ERC's 2015 Strategic Plan as an example, I was of course, right about the Strategic Plan. Yet, no one has come to me apologizing for their role in our lost friendship, asking to renew the fellowship.
I take no pleasure in being accurate about the coming failures of the CGGC's programs and strategies. I felt the pain over the failure of the 2015 Strategic Plan even before the rest of the Conference voted to unanimously approve it.
And, I don't resent my former friends for disagreeing with me.
From the moment I took my first steps as a prophet, I understood how lonely the journey would, most likely, be.
And, on the other hand, people have come to me approving of my walk and even thanking me for it.
But, the truth is, very few church people and I are friends these days.
And, while I have no qualms about my intense focus on truth, there are times that I wish I had a larger universe of people to pal around with.
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Monday, November 27, 2017
The Shepherd Mafia won't go down without a Fight
I use three terms to describe the people who make up the leadership culture that took over in the Churches of God about 80 years ago and is responsible for the sad state the body is in these days:
Shepherd Mafia,
Mountaintoppers, and,
Hierarchs.
Each of the terms describes, in its way, who this group is and how it operates.
These men, they are almost all men...most of them more geezerly than I am...are heirs of a tradition they take pride in, a tradition they wholeheartedly believe in and love...
...a tradition that has taken control of our body which was once a radical and dynamic, growing Spirit-empowered movement...
...and, through their stewardship over the course of generations, has become a dying institution characterized by decline, decay and, now, crisis.
Yet, they still believe in themselves and in their institutional ways which the Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing has never blessed.
Based what I'm hearing,
1. The Shepherd Mafia's hold on power, at least in the ERC, has slipped...at least for this brief moment,
2. There are people, who are not me, who may be placing blame on them for our current decay,
3. In the past, the blamers were beaten down and simply eventually became Cynics, but a new group of Skeptics, who may take a run at the hierarchs, have energy and hope for the CGGC in the future,
4. But, the mountaintoppers are steadfast and still believe that they can tweak their failed values and ways to the point that they can convince the Lord to bless their programs and strategies.
In the ERC, there may soon be a tussle to determine which vision...which theology...will dominate our future.
---------------
Yet, it is the Shepherd Mafia that is battle-hardened.
----------------
The Shepherd Mafia has not dominated for all of these generations without challenge. And, since the days it was an upstart contender, it is undefeated.
It is the Floyd Mayweather, Jr. of the CGGC.
Where do you think the Cynics came from? From lost tussles with the mountaintoppers...and from the way the CGGC mountaintoppers fight, and win.
Why do you suspect the Apathetics in the CGGC/ERC are disengaged? There certainly no Apathetics in the movent in Winebrenner's day.
---------------
My own story, as I live out my geezerdom in the CGGC, is defined by the part I played in a recent assault on the institution led by the hierarchs.
Ten years ago, there was an energetic community across the CGGC functioning on and beyond Brian Miller's, CGGC in an Emerging World blog...
...calling for a new and different CGGC.
One in which there was little or no hierarchy,...
...one in which focus was on Kingdom expansion not church growth,...
...one in which focus was outward, not inward...
...one in which the pastor-as-parish-priest leadership model was abandoned in favor of a culture dominated by apostolic servanthood...
...one in which the clergy/laity division was deconstructed in favor of a body in which every believer is a disciple who lives actively in the world as a priest...
...one in which pastors were not providers of religious products and services consumed by passive members of a congregation's laity...but in which all spurred each other on to love and good works.
----------------
It's hard for me to understand why that vision was resisted on the mountaintop.
Being naive about this sort of thing,...
...it's still hard for me to apprehend how the General Conference hierarchs actually did negate it.
Ed said nice things about it...
..Lance always seemed to be on board and, in fact, was doing that podcast with Brian, Fran Leeman and me.
But, the CGGC truth is that, in 2017, while, in Findlay, some of that talk is still spoken, our body is further from living out that vision than it was ten years ago...
...and the enthusiasm for Kingdom expansion and a denominational body in which every believer is a disciple who is an active priest is a faint shadow of what it had been.
------------------
And, the Shepherd Mafia still dominates...battered but unbowed...Floyd Mayweather, Jr.,...reigning and undefeated champeen!
-----------------
In the east, the hierarchs have confessed that their 2015 Strategic Plan, presented with fanfare and adopted by the Conference without a dissenting vote, became mere words on a page.
The Shepherd Mafia created a new New Strategic Plan which it expected to implement in January.
Yet, this time around, there are dissenting voices...
...enough of them to delay the foisting of the plan on the hierarchs' minions.
----------------
Here are some ERC realities:
1. Unlike the gang in Findlay, the ERC powers that be never even talked the Kingdom, universal priesthood talk. They were always focused on church and the pastor-as-parish-priest leadership model...and they have that focus now more than ever.
2. Their Shepherd Mafia strongly believes in itself. These guys have successfully resisted many efforts to undo what have done.
3. The ERC hierarchs really believe in the church as an institution. Their new New Strategic Plan calls for the expansion of Conference to an Executive Director plus four Directors.
4. They are currently dictating the way the ERC future is imagined. What we have now is the option of approving their Strategic Plan, or not.
5. They remain undefeated.
In my opinion, the hierarchs must decrease so that the Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing can increase.
But, I'm afraid that they will have to be beaten...by people in the church...for that to happen.
They believe in themselves too strongly to repent.
At the beginning, at least, it will be up to you, Skeptics.
Shepherd Mafia,
Mountaintoppers, and,
Hierarchs.
Each of the terms describes, in its way, who this group is and how it operates.
These men, they are almost all men...most of them more geezerly than I am...are heirs of a tradition they take pride in, a tradition they wholeheartedly believe in and love...
...a tradition that has taken control of our body which was once a radical and dynamic, growing Spirit-empowered movement...
...and, through their stewardship over the course of generations, has become a dying institution characterized by decline, decay and, now, crisis.
Yet, they still believe in themselves and in their institutional ways which the Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing has never blessed.
Based what I'm hearing,
1. The Shepherd Mafia's hold on power, at least in the ERC, has slipped...at least for this brief moment,
2. There are people, who are not me, who may be placing blame on them for our current decay,
3. In the past, the blamers were beaten down and simply eventually became Cynics, but a new group of Skeptics, who may take a run at the hierarchs, have energy and hope for the CGGC in the future,
4. But, the mountaintoppers are steadfast and still believe that they can tweak their failed values and ways to the point that they can convince the Lord to bless their programs and strategies.
In the ERC, there may soon be a tussle to determine which vision...which theology...will dominate our future.
---------------
Yet, it is the Shepherd Mafia that is battle-hardened.
----------------
The Shepherd Mafia has not dominated for all of these generations without challenge. And, since the days it was an upstart contender, it is undefeated.
It is the Floyd Mayweather, Jr. of the CGGC.
Where do you think the Cynics came from? From lost tussles with the mountaintoppers...and from the way the CGGC mountaintoppers fight, and win.
Why do you suspect the Apathetics in the CGGC/ERC are disengaged? There certainly no Apathetics in the movent in Winebrenner's day.
---------------
My own story, as I live out my geezerdom in the CGGC, is defined by the part I played in a recent assault on the institution led by the hierarchs.
Ten years ago, there was an energetic community across the CGGC functioning on and beyond Brian Miller's, CGGC in an Emerging World blog...
...calling for a new and different CGGC.
One in which there was little or no hierarchy,...
...one in which focus was on Kingdom expansion not church growth,...
...one in which focus was outward, not inward...
...one in which the pastor-as-parish-priest leadership model was abandoned in favor of a culture dominated by apostolic servanthood...
...one in which the clergy/laity division was deconstructed in favor of a body in which every believer is a disciple who lives actively in the world as a priest...
...one in which pastors were not providers of religious products and services consumed by passive members of a congregation's laity...but in which all spurred each other on to love and good works.
----------------
It's hard for me to understand why that vision was resisted on the mountaintop.
Being naive about this sort of thing,...
...it's still hard for me to apprehend how the General Conference hierarchs actually did negate it.
Ed said nice things about it...
..Lance always seemed to be on board and, in fact, was doing that podcast with Brian, Fran Leeman and me.
But, the CGGC truth is that, in 2017, while, in Findlay, some of that talk is still spoken, our body is further from living out that vision than it was ten years ago...
...and the enthusiasm for Kingdom expansion and a denominational body in which every believer is a disciple who is an active priest is a faint shadow of what it had been.
------------------
And, the Shepherd Mafia still dominates...battered but unbowed...Floyd Mayweather, Jr.,...reigning and undefeated champeen!
-----------------
In the east, the hierarchs have confessed that their 2015 Strategic Plan, presented with fanfare and adopted by the Conference without a dissenting vote, became mere words on a page.
The Shepherd Mafia created a new New Strategic Plan which it expected to implement in January.
Yet, this time around, there are dissenting voices...
...enough of them to delay the foisting of the plan on the hierarchs' minions.
----------------
Here are some ERC realities:
1. Unlike the gang in Findlay, the ERC powers that be never even talked the Kingdom, universal priesthood talk. They were always focused on church and the pastor-as-parish-priest leadership model...and they have that focus now more than ever.
2. Their Shepherd Mafia strongly believes in itself. These guys have successfully resisted many efforts to undo what have done.
3. The ERC hierarchs really believe in the church as an institution. Their new New Strategic Plan calls for the expansion of Conference to an Executive Director plus four Directors.
4. They are currently dictating the way the ERC future is imagined. What we have now is the option of approving their Strategic Plan, or not.
5. They remain undefeated.
In my opinion, the hierarchs must decrease so that the Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing can increase.
But, I'm afraid that they will have to be beaten...by people in the church...for that to happen.
They believe in themselves too strongly to repent.
At the beginning, at least, it will be up to you, Skeptics.
Saturday, November 25, 2017
Scapegoating/Accepting Responsibility...Kevin Richardson
I see a disturbing pattern that may be manifesting itself in the ERC: Scapegoating.
Among the people who are in conversation with me and less than enthusiastic about the attack on my credentials, there is no convincing explanation of why the Shepherd Mafia did it.
Certainly, through this blog I expressed my opinion that the Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing was not blessing the ERC and that that same Lord would not bless the current program or strategy...whatever it was in the moment.
But, honestly, as correct as I have been, my rantings here were not making any difference.
The Conference has always given the hierarchs everything they wanted and, until earlier this month, the Ad Council has always rubber stamped and given the hierarchs a blank check.
So, what was the attack on my credentials about? Why did the Shepherd Mafia go to all that trouble?
One theory is that, as the leadership culture was failing and the decay and putrefication of the Conference continued, the hierarchs were distracting the Conference, if even for a brief moment, from the reality of its failure by making a scapegoat of me.
Certainly, if the unsubstantiated gossip is true, a nice chunk of ERC Conference sessions in 2016 and a lot of the chatter had to do with me and not with the continuing failings of ERC leadership.
Actually, I wouldn't be thinking about scapegoating in connection to my story...
...except I'm beginning to think that scapegoating is what's happening right now with Kevin Richardson...and, that it's part of a pattern.
I've been contemplating writing a post on why Kevin can't be held responsible for the current state of the Conference...
...and I'll probably write it up in time...
...but, for now, I'm beginning to suspect that Kevin is going to be the current fall guy for the decades long failings of Conference leadership and that, if the hierarchs have their way...
...everything else will go on pretty much as usual and that the 2017 new New Strategic Plan will, in the end, be adopted...if they have their way.
----------------
Gang,
There's lots wrong in the ERC.
The stench of decay was present long before Kevin was elected as Executive Director.
It would be ridiculous to suggest that the other ERC Directors on staff have done good jobs and that Kevin alone has failed...and deserves to be fired.
And, please remember: The Shepherd Mafia was in place long before the current regime ascended the ERC mountain.
There's much more wrong with the Conference than Kevin can be held responsible for in the mountaintoppers' wildest dreams.
Don't scapegoat Kevin.
Among the people who are in conversation with me and less than enthusiastic about the attack on my credentials, there is no convincing explanation of why the Shepherd Mafia did it.
Certainly, through this blog I expressed my opinion that the Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing was not blessing the ERC and that that same Lord would not bless the current program or strategy...whatever it was in the moment.
But, honestly, as correct as I have been, my rantings here were not making any difference.
The Conference has always given the hierarchs everything they wanted and, until earlier this month, the Ad Council has always rubber stamped and given the hierarchs a blank check.
So, what was the attack on my credentials about? Why did the Shepherd Mafia go to all that trouble?
One theory is that, as the leadership culture was failing and the decay and putrefication of the Conference continued, the hierarchs were distracting the Conference, if even for a brief moment, from the reality of its failure by making a scapegoat of me.
Certainly, if the unsubstantiated gossip is true, a nice chunk of ERC Conference sessions in 2016 and a lot of the chatter had to do with me and not with the continuing failings of ERC leadership.
Actually, I wouldn't be thinking about scapegoating in connection to my story...
...except I'm beginning to think that scapegoating is what's happening right now with Kevin Richardson...and, that it's part of a pattern.
I've been contemplating writing a post on why Kevin can't be held responsible for the current state of the Conference...
...and I'll probably write it up in time...
...but, for now, I'm beginning to suspect that Kevin is going to be the current fall guy for the decades long failings of Conference leadership and that, if the hierarchs have their way...
...everything else will go on pretty much as usual and that the 2017 new New Strategic Plan will, in the end, be adopted...if they have their way.
----------------
Gang,
There's lots wrong in the ERC.
The stench of decay was present long before Kevin was elected as Executive Director.
It would be ridiculous to suggest that the other ERC Directors on staff have done good jobs and that Kevin alone has failed...and deserves to be fired.
And, please remember: The Shepherd Mafia was in place long before the current regime ascended the ERC mountain.
There's much more wrong with the Conference than Kevin can be held responsible for in the mountaintoppers' wildest dreams.
Don't scapegoat Kevin.
Friday, November 24, 2017
Whatever Happened to SERVANT Leadership?
I've become a student of change in the American institutional church.
I see lots of it...
...none of it is for the good, at least if following Jesus is the standard.
Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.
Jesus lived in the world serving the least, feeding the hungry, healing the sick...
And, He was clear in teaching how greatness can be achieved among His disciples: to be great is to become a servant.
The person among His disciples who yearns to be the greatest must become slave of all.
A few decades back, I was on staff at a seminary. At that time, that school, along with most was tweaking the wisdom of Jesus. We weren't in the business of developing servants of the King. We were about the task of developing servant leaders for the church.
I, personally, was never comfortable suggesting that training leaders, even servant leaders, was an appropriate goal of a Christian educational institution...but I was a greenhorn and no one asked me.
However, now, give me the day of the servant leader fad!
These days, churches have set for themselves the task of developing leaders, the very notion that we add the adjective "servant" be damned.
----------------
As I observe the movement in what the church says and does today, I see less imitation of Christ and more and more imitation of the world.
This cannot possibly be good.
It is not good.
We must repent.
I see lots of it...
...none of it is for the good, at least if following Jesus is the standard.
Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.
Jesus lived in the world serving the least, feeding the hungry, healing the sick...
And, He was clear in teaching how greatness can be achieved among His disciples: to be great is to become a servant.
The person among His disciples who yearns to be the greatest must become slave of all.
A few decades back, I was on staff at a seminary. At that time, that school, along with most was tweaking the wisdom of Jesus. We weren't in the business of developing servants of the King. We were about the task of developing servant leaders for the church.
I, personally, was never comfortable suggesting that training leaders, even servant leaders, was an appropriate goal of a Christian educational institution...but I was a greenhorn and no one asked me.
However, now, give me the day of the servant leader fad!
These days, churches have set for themselves the task of developing leaders, the very notion that we add the adjective "servant" be damned.
----------------
As I observe the movement in what the church says and does today, I see less imitation of Christ and more and more imitation of the world.
This cannot possibly be good.
It is not good.
We must repent.
Thursday, November 23, 2017
How it FEELS to Oppose This Strategic Plan Compared to Opposing the Last One
For me personally, there were two big items of news from the 2015 ERC Conference sessions.
One was that the Conference UNANIMOUSLY approved a new Strategic Plan which I alone publicly opposed, though due to commitments to my job, I was unable to oppose it on the Conference floor.
AND, as Conference was shutting down, near the end of the third day, upon the recommendation of the Standing Committee, the Conference Administrative Council, also unanimously, voted to recall my ordination.
I have suspected here, on this blog, that my vociferous, passionate, relentless and lone-voiced opposition to the 2015 old new Strategic Plan may very well have been the straw that broke the camel's back and inspired the mountaintoppers to take their action against my credentials.
In all of that, in 2015, those things felt normal.
----------------
Since I'd embraced the New Testament message that Jesus prepared apostles to be chief servants, even slaves, in God's Kingdom, not pastors to lead the church, and since I'd noticed His teaching that it would be normal for prophets to function in the Kingdom, so much so that He gave instruction on how to distinguish true from false prophets...
...and, after some prayer, began to live as a prophet,...
...I'd known nothing but powerful churchly opposition in the CGGC along with only a smidgen of curious interest, yet no support.
I do remember one person, back in 2015, writing to me, very privately, that he also had deep reservations about the Strategic Plan but, to my knowledge, he only confided that in me.
Back then, I was a lone wolf, a voice crying in the wilderness.
As, at that time, I always was about everything.
In 2015, that felt normal. But, what was the emotion of the normal feeling?
Earlier in my prophet walk, the strongest emotion was anger. By 2015, sadness over the state of the Kingdom/church was as strong as an emotion, but loneliness was also present...
...though, by then, I had accepted the fact that I'd probably always be alone, humanly speaking.
----------------
Since 2015, everyone from Dr. Richardson on down has apparently come to the same opinion about the 2015 old new Strategic Plan as I expressed back in the day.
I'm not sure that anyone, even those in closest contact with me, is actually saying, "You were right, bill."
But, the 2015 old new Strategic Plan has been placed on the ERC's trash heap precisely as, in 2015, I said it should be.
No one is defending the 2015 plan. Or said another way, these days...
EVERYONE IS AGREEING WITH WHAT THE LORD WAS SAYING TO ME AND THROUGH ME IN 2015.
How does that feel to me? Actually, and interestingly, I have no feeling about it.
===============
So, now it's 2017.
The hierarchs have announced that the 2015 Strategic Plan failed and became words on a page.
THEY decided, on their own, that it's time to create a new New Strategic Plan for the Conference. They held two rounds of meetings and planned to have the Ad Council rubber stamp it.
As in 2015, I spoke passionately against this new new plan...
...but, unlike 2015, when the plan was promoted in those Round Table Meetings, some expressed the same sort of concerns I'd been expressing.
And, though the hierarchs were adamant that the plan would be rubber stamped in November and implemented this coming January...
...the Ad Council didn't take out the rubber stamp, as it ALWAYS has done for decades.
----------------
In 2017, more than a few people are openly thinking what I think...
...but, and, understand, I get this...
...it's not that they agree with me.
As puny as this blog is, I suspect that almost no one who thinks what I think knows what I think.
The level of my influence is so minute that it is, essentially, nonexistent.
But some people are now thinking what I've been thinking, and saying, for years.
-----------------
How does that feel? I've been asking that of myself.
Do I wish that people were writing me and calling me to say,
"You were right, bill. Thanks for being true to the Word and courageous in the Spirit. Thanks for remaining true, even when nearly everyone who now thinks what you thought and think, pooped on you. Thanks for being ahead of your time."
Surprisingly, no. If that happened, I suspect I'd be uncomfortable.
And, I'm honestly wondering why.
----------------
I'm still really trying to figure out this prophet thing. I'm guessing I'm about 10% there. I certainly believe in it but don't really understand it.
I know that, for me, it's about the Lord and the Word. Being faithful in the moment is my measure of success. That's hard to measure, especially when, most of the time, I'm out of step with almost everyone around me.
-----------------
If you study the lives of the prophets of the Bible, you'll probably conclude that, emotionally, they were all a mess.
And, certainly, I am like them in that way.
One was that the Conference UNANIMOUSLY approved a new Strategic Plan which I alone publicly opposed, though due to commitments to my job, I was unable to oppose it on the Conference floor.
AND, as Conference was shutting down, near the end of the third day, upon the recommendation of the Standing Committee, the Conference Administrative Council, also unanimously, voted to recall my ordination.
I have suspected here, on this blog, that my vociferous, passionate, relentless and lone-voiced opposition to the 2015 old new Strategic Plan may very well have been the straw that broke the camel's back and inspired the mountaintoppers to take their action against my credentials.
In all of that, in 2015, those things felt normal.
----------------
Since I'd embraced the New Testament message that Jesus prepared apostles to be chief servants, even slaves, in God's Kingdom, not pastors to lead the church, and since I'd noticed His teaching that it would be normal for prophets to function in the Kingdom, so much so that He gave instruction on how to distinguish true from false prophets...
...and, after some prayer, began to live as a prophet,...
...I'd known nothing but powerful churchly opposition in the CGGC along with only a smidgen of curious interest, yet no support.
I do remember one person, back in 2015, writing to me, very privately, that he also had deep reservations about the Strategic Plan but, to my knowledge, he only confided that in me.
Back then, I was a lone wolf, a voice crying in the wilderness.
As, at that time, I always was about everything.
In 2015, that felt normal. But, what was the emotion of the normal feeling?
Earlier in my prophet walk, the strongest emotion was anger. By 2015, sadness over the state of the Kingdom/church was as strong as an emotion, but loneliness was also present...
...though, by then, I had accepted the fact that I'd probably always be alone, humanly speaking.
----------------
Since 2015, everyone from Dr. Richardson on down has apparently come to the same opinion about the 2015 old new Strategic Plan as I expressed back in the day.
I'm not sure that anyone, even those in closest contact with me, is actually saying, "You were right, bill."
But, the 2015 old new Strategic Plan has been placed on the ERC's trash heap precisely as, in 2015, I said it should be.
No one is defending the 2015 plan. Or said another way, these days...
EVERYONE IS AGREEING WITH WHAT THE LORD WAS SAYING TO ME AND THROUGH ME IN 2015.
How does that feel to me? Actually, and interestingly, I have no feeling about it.
===============
So, now it's 2017.
The hierarchs have announced that the 2015 Strategic Plan failed and became words on a page.
THEY decided, on their own, that it's time to create a new New Strategic Plan for the Conference. They held two rounds of meetings and planned to have the Ad Council rubber stamp it.
As in 2015, I spoke passionately against this new new plan...
...but, unlike 2015, when the plan was promoted in those Round Table Meetings, some expressed the same sort of concerns I'd been expressing.
And, though the hierarchs were adamant that the plan would be rubber stamped in November and implemented this coming January...
...the Ad Council didn't take out the rubber stamp, as it ALWAYS has done for decades.
----------------
In 2017, more than a few people are openly thinking what I think...
...but, and, understand, I get this...
...it's not that they agree with me.
As puny as this blog is, I suspect that almost no one who thinks what I think knows what I think.
The level of my influence is so minute that it is, essentially, nonexistent.
But some people are now thinking what I've been thinking, and saying, for years.
-----------------
How does that feel? I've been asking that of myself.
Do I wish that people were writing me and calling me to say,
"You were right, bill. Thanks for being true to the Word and courageous in the Spirit. Thanks for remaining true, even when nearly everyone who now thinks what you thought and think, pooped on you. Thanks for being ahead of your time."
Surprisingly, no. If that happened, I suspect I'd be uncomfortable.
And, I'm honestly wondering why.
----------------
I'm still really trying to figure out this prophet thing. I'm guessing I'm about 10% there. I certainly believe in it but don't really understand it.
I know that, for me, it's about the Lord and the Word. Being faithful in the moment is my measure of success. That's hard to measure, especially when, most of the time, I'm out of step with almost everyone around me.
-----------------
If you study the lives of the prophets of the Bible, you'll probably conclude that, emotionally, they were all a mess.
And, certainly, I am like them in that way.
Saturday, November 18, 2017
Is This A Transitional Moment for the ERC?
I believe that it's possible that the ERC may be on the verge of a historic transformation.
When I entered the East Pennsylvania Conference in the 1970s, as I've said several times, there were pro-Conference and anti-Conference cultures...
...the groups that exist as today's hierarchs and their Good Old Boy network and the Cynics.
In the 40 plus years since then, those groups have evolved. And, the diversity in what is now the Eastern Regional Conference has increased.
There were always those who just didn't care about the moving and shaking that goes on at the Conference level. And, these people still exist and are the people I call the Apathetics.
----------------
In the 70s, there was only one staff member, a "Conference Superintendent," who was a great guy, but, really, mostly an administrator who traveled to the churches as the Conference luminary. (He installed me at Duncannon and Logania more than 40 years ago.)
Later on, Conference staff expanded to two.
Now, it's an Executive Director, two Directors, two finance people (typical of an institution) plus an Executive Assistant.
And, soon, if the hierarchs have their way with us, and the new New Strategic Plan becomes reality,...
...there will be an E. D., FOUR directors, a finance person and an Executive Assistant.
Make no mistake about it:
The new New Strategic Plan expands the ERC as an institution and is, precisely, feces neatly arranged on a newly polished sterling silver platter.
-----------------
The hierarchs fully expected that the people of the Conference would roll over...
...as they always have before...
...approve the new New Strategic Plan thoughtlessly, as they normally do...
...and, then, allow the new New Strategic Plan to become words on a page...
...as their programs and strategies always become...
...so the hierarchs could, in the near future, justify their existence by putting together their next program and/or strategy.
----------------
But, not this time.
-----------------
Clearly, as they approached this past Administrative Council meeting, the hierarchs still expected the Council to roll over and rubber stamp their plan.
Read the Round Table PDF. They seemed certain that the new New Strategic Plan would be implemented on January 1, 2018.
They planned to do an end run around the Constitution by simply saying that they weren't suspending it. Which, of course, they were.
And, in the past, they would have gotten away with it...
----------------
...but, not this time.
-----------------
I, of course, don't know the particulars. I only know what would have happened in the past.
It's what happened in 2015 with the old New Strategic Plan.
That didn't happen earlier this month.
-----------------
The dominance of the hierarchs is now in question.
There is now a group of Skeptics unwilling, for the moment at least, to rubber stamp the hierarchs' plans. Some of the are fairly highly positioned.
It is historically significant that these Skeptics are able and willing to think and act independently of the hierarchs and their Good Old Boy network...
...and to doit without becoming Cynics.
They are unwilling to blandly vote, "Aye," and to rubber stamp the hierarchs latest.
And, that unwillingness is absolutely and truly historic. By ERC standards, it verges on the prophetic.
-----------------
Let me be clear, I'm acquainted with all of the ERC staff people, and being the geezer I am, in most cases, I've known them for many years. I know the hierarchs. And, even most of the people currently in the Good Old Boy network.
And, as individuals, they are wonderful people.
They are nice people. Individually, they are gentle people. They genuinely believe. They are perfectly sincere. They love the Lord.
As individuals.
But, joined together, they make up a leadership culture that has been devastating...deadly...to the church.
If the hierarchs who carry on the church-focused, pastor-dominated ways are permitted to carry on those church-focused, pastor-dominated ways one more time, the ERC may very well be burnt toast.
----------------
But, I see two hopeful signs that I want to believe are signs that the ERC could be entering a time of transition...of transformation.
1. The hierarchs blinked. They admitted that the 2015 old new Strategic Plan was merely words on paper.
Understand: They have never done that before.
They are not as self-confident as they have always been.
2. The Skeptics have arisen, seemingly organically, to, at least, question the will and the ways of the hierarchs and their good old boy network.
What has always happened...
...the thing that happened as recently as the 2015 old new Strategic Plan is not happening yet.
In 2015, the hierarchs planned...
...the Ad Council rubber stamped...
...the hierarchs then summoned the necessary enthusiasm to create fanfare for that Strategic Plan...
The Conference in session rolled over and, unanimously, approved...
And, as always, under the guidance of this leadership culture, no one did anything...
...until, in the context of the now advanced decay and putrefication of the Conference, the hierarchs panicked, attempted to foist the idea of a new Strategic Plan on the Conference...
And, the Skeptics said, "Now hold on!"
-----------------
And, now the Conference has a chance.
What we need to do is repent.
At this point, I don't see that happening but it may.
As I study the word, I understand that repentance is the fruit of an emotional process.
Jesus talks about that process in the Beatitudes that appear at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Study, especially, the first four blessings. Poor in spirit. Mourn. Meek. Hunger and thirst for righteousness.
We're not there yet.
Paul says, more succinctly, that godly sorrow produces a repentance that leads to salvation.
We're not emotionally on the path to repentance. But, we may get there, eventually.
-----------------
Is this a transitional moment for the ERC?
No.
Not yet.
But, the ingredients that must be present at the beginning of that process may, possibly, soon be present.
Pray for the Skeptics...and their prophetic ministry.
When I entered the East Pennsylvania Conference in the 1970s, as I've said several times, there were pro-Conference and anti-Conference cultures...
...the groups that exist as today's hierarchs and their Good Old Boy network and the Cynics.
In the 40 plus years since then, those groups have evolved. And, the diversity in what is now the Eastern Regional Conference has increased.
There were always those who just didn't care about the moving and shaking that goes on at the Conference level. And, these people still exist and are the people I call the Apathetics.
----------------
In the 70s, there was only one staff member, a "Conference Superintendent," who was a great guy, but, really, mostly an administrator who traveled to the churches as the Conference luminary. (He installed me at Duncannon and Logania more than 40 years ago.)
Later on, Conference staff expanded to two.
Now, it's an Executive Director, two Directors, two finance people (typical of an institution) plus an Executive Assistant.
And, soon, if the hierarchs have their way with us, and the new New Strategic Plan becomes reality,...
...there will be an E. D., FOUR directors, a finance person and an Executive Assistant.
Make no mistake about it:
The new New Strategic Plan expands the ERC as an institution and is, precisely, feces neatly arranged on a newly polished sterling silver platter.
-----------------
The hierarchs fully expected that the people of the Conference would roll over...
...as they always have before...
...approve the new New Strategic Plan thoughtlessly, as they normally do...
...and, then, allow the new New Strategic Plan to become words on a page...
...as their programs and strategies always become...
...so the hierarchs could, in the near future, justify their existence by putting together their next program and/or strategy.
----------------
But, not this time.
-----------------
Clearly, as they approached this past Administrative Council meeting, the hierarchs still expected the Council to roll over and rubber stamp their plan.
Read the Round Table PDF. They seemed certain that the new New Strategic Plan would be implemented on January 1, 2018.
They planned to do an end run around the Constitution by simply saying that they weren't suspending it. Which, of course, they were.
And, in the past, they would have gotten away with it...
----------------
...but, not this time.
-----------------
I, of course, don't know the particulars. I only know what would have happened in the past.
It's what happened in 2015 with the old New Strategic Plan.
That didn't happen earlier this month.
-----------------
The dominance of the hierarchs is now in question.
There is now a group of Skeptics unwilling, for the moment at least, to rubber stamp the hierarchs' plans. Some of the are fairly highly positioned.
It is historically significant that these Skeptics are able and willing to think and act independently of the hierarchs and their Good Old Boy network...
...and to doit without becoming Cynics.
They are unwilling to blandly vote, "Aye," and to rubber stamp the hierarchs latest.
And, that unwillingness is absolutely and truly historic. By ERC standards, it verges on the prophetic.
-----------------
Let me be clear, I'm acquainted with all of the ERC staff people, and being the geezer I am, in most cases, I've known them for many years. I know the hierarchs. And, even most of the people currently in the Good Old Boy network.
And, as individuals, they are wonderful people.
They are nice people. Individually, they are gentle people. They genuinely believe. They are perfectly sincere. They love the Lord.
As individuals.
But, joined together, they make up a leadership culture that has been devastating...deadly...to the church.
If the hierarchs who carry on the church-focused, pastor-dominated ways are permitted to carry on those church-focused, pastor-dominated ways one more time, the ERC may very well be burnt toast.
----------------
But, I see two hopeful signs that I want to believe are signs that the ERC could be entering a time of transition...of transformation.
1. The hierarchs blinked. They admitted that the 2015 old new Strategic Plan was merely words on paper.
Understand: They have never done that before.
They are not as self-confident as they have always been.
2. The Skeptics have arisen, seemingly organically, to, at least, question the will and the ways of the hierarchs and their good old boy network.
What has always happened...
...the thing that happened as recently as the 2015 old new Strategic Plan is not happening yet.
In 2015, the hierarchs planned...
...the Ad Council rubber stamped...
...the hierarchs then summoned the necessary enthusiasm to create fanfare for that Strategic Plan...
The Conference in session rolled over and, unanimously, approved...
And, as always, under the guidance of this leadership culture, no one did anything...
...until, in the context of the now advanced decay and putrefication of the Conference, the hierarchs panicked, attempted to foist the idea of a new Strategic Plan on the Conference...
And, the Skeptics said, "Now hold on!"
-----------------
And, now the Conference has a chance.
What we need to do is repent.
At this point, I don't see that happening but it may.
As I study the word, I understand that repentance is the fruit of an emotional process.
Jesus talks about that process in the Beatitudes that appear at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Study, especially, the first four blessings. Poor in spirit. Mourn. Meek. Hunger and thirst for righteousness.
We're not there yet.
Paul says, more succinctly, that godly sorrow produces a repentance that leads to salvation.
We're not emotionally on the path to repentance. But, we may get there, eventually.
-----------------
Is this a transitional moment for the ERC?
No.
Not yet.
But, the ingredients that must be present at the beginning of that process may, possibly, soon be present.
Pray for the Skeptics...and their prophetic ministry.
Thursday, November 16, 2017
A Christian Personality?
As you know, I intentionally live as a subject of the Kingdom of God in an incarnational way.
For many years, I worked, in a variety of capacities, as a minister in the church.
I finally resigned from the role of congregational pastor about five years ago, though I continued to have a prominent role in the ministry at Faith.
Now, I work as a Front End manager in a super market.
It's a humble job. A humbling job at times.
But, I do it gladly, more as an ambassador of the Kingdom than a missionary of the gospel, though there are elements of both in what I do and how I do it.
From the beginning, when I was first hired at the store as a part-time geezer bagger, I attempted to function as a servant, a slave even, of the store's customers as well as my co-workers. And, I believe that I was viewed as a servant by most people.
And, I found a sort of joy in the job and how I did it.
But, the joy was, and still is, a sort of secondary joy.
I serve one and all because Jesus commands His disciples to be servants. I don't do it because serving comes naturally, or even easily, to me.
On the job, I'm serving Jesus, not the person in front of me.
And, I'm fine with that. Jesus taught that self-denial is essential to those who would follow Him. Many times in a day on this job, I have opportunity to deny myself.
------------------
But, there's a guy I work with who seems to totally groove on the job of being in the role of a servant.
He's a bagger and, moment by moment, he seems to be in his element, going above and beyond in serving the customers, as well as his co-workers.
And, what he does day in and day out seems to come from the core of who he is. Serving seems to bring him a joy that is essential to who he is, not, as it is in my case, a secondary joy.
He serves organically. I serve intentionally.
I've known him now for more than four years and he seems to be a natural servant who finds joy in setting aside his own interest for the benefit of others.
He is good at serving, creative about it.
He proclaims himself to be a believer in Jesus and his lifestyle highlights his talk.
Man, do I, well, envy him!
No doubt, he has his own spiritual struggles. But, what gives him joy reinforces his claim to be a man of God.
How great is that!
For many years, I worked, in a variety of capacities, as a minister in the church.
I finally resigned from the role of congregational pastor about five years ago, though I continued to have a prominent role in the ministry at Faith.
Now, I work as a Front End manager in a super market.
It's a humble job. A humbling job at times.
But, I do it gladly, more as an ambassador of the Kingdom than a missionary of the gospel, though there are elements of both in what I do and how I do it.
From the beginning, when I was first hired at the store as a part-time geezer bagger, I attempted to function as a servant, a slave even, of the store's customers as well as my co-workers. And, I believe that I was viewed as a servant by most people.
And, I found a sort of joy in the job and how I did it.
But, the joy was, and still is, a sort of secondary joy.
I serve one and all because Jesus commands His disciples to be servants. I don't do it because serving comes naturally, or even easily, to me.
On the job, I'm serving Jesus, not the person in front of me.
And, I'm fine with that. Jesus taught that self-denial is essential to those who would follow Him. Many times in a day on this job, I have opportunity to deny myself.
------------------
But, there's a guy I work with who seems to totally groove on the job of being in the role of a servant.
He's a bagger and, moment by moment, he seems to be in his element, going above and beyond in serving the customers, as well as his co-workers.
And, what he does day in and day out seems to come from the core of who he is. Serving seems to bring him a joy that is essential to who he is, not, as it is in my case, a secondary joy.
He serves organically. I serve intentionally.
I've known him now for more than four years and he seems to be a natural servant who finds joy in setting aside his own interest for the benefit of others.
He is good at serving, creative about it.
He proclaims himself to be a believer in Jesus and his lifestyle highlights his talk.
Man, do I, well, envy him!
No doubt, he has his own spiritual struggles. But, what gives him joy reinforces his claim to be a man of God.
How great is that!
Evidence that Supports My FECES Theory
Yesterday I suggested that one of the dysfunctions of the CGGC is that there are people in the body who, if leadership pooped and placed their work product on a platter, would exclaim, "Ain't that purty?!"...
...all because the CGGC is so dominated by shepherd values that only relationship matters.
I've received some, say, fascinated, tepid disagreement on that observation, off the blog.
But, I'm all the more convinced that the Feces Theory describes a key dysfunction of the CGGC that must be turned from if we, as a body, are going to have Kingdom impact in the future, as we did in past days when we were a thriving Spirit-empowered movement.
As a prophet, I see reality from a big-picture, 40,000 foot perspective. Here's what I see from way up there, and, I'll focus on the ERC with which I am most involved and familiar:
Since I entered the Conference more than 40 years ago, Conference leadership has been aware of the Conference's spiritual and numerical decline and has been developing programs and strategies to reverse the decline.
Yet, during all those decades, the rate both of spiritual and numerical decline has increased to the point that the tone of the current hierarchs, in promoting the new New Strategic Plan...
...can't we all agree...
... is desperate?!
Read the PDF if you doubt that.
History makes it clear that all of those programs and strategies, designed to reverse our decline were...
...Feces on a platter.
And, with every initiative, in the past...every last one of them...there has been a chorus of prominent people in the Conference prepared to sing, in four part harmony, "Ain't that purty!"
Every stinkin idea that has come down from the mountaintop in recent decades has failed. Everyone of them has been quickly abandoned, or conveniently forgotten, and replaced as the platter was reloaded with the next pile of crap...
...which was, of course, received the obligatory, and enthusiastic, chorus of praise.
---------------
As an example, consider the much ballyhooed 2015 old New Strategic Plan.
It was presented to the ERC Conference in session with great fanfare and, I'm told, unanimously approved...
...the chorus, as always, sang its praises in harmony...
...only to see the old New Strategic Plan unceremoniously dumped within a year as mere "words on a page."
-----------------
Is it any wonder that there are so many Apathetics, Cynics and, thank God, now, Skeptics, in the Conference!?!!
On this blog, people who are sincerely and genuinely unconvinced by the 2017 new New Strategic Plan have been called, "Snipers."
Yet, if history holds, this plan will soon be acknowledged to have been a load of crap.
What can possibly be wrong about being initially careful about taking a full whiff of what's on the loaded-up platter that is the 2017 new New Strategic Plan?
History, it seems, demands a high degree of caution.
We must repent.
...all because the CGGC is so dominated by shepherd values that only relationship matters.
I've received some, say, fascinated, tepid disagreement on that observation, off the blog.
But, I'm all the more convinced that the Feces Theory describes a key dysfunction of the CGGC that must be turned from if we, as a body, are going to have Kingdom impact in the future, as we did in past days when we were a thriving Spirit-empowered movement.
As a prophet, I see reality from a big-picture, 40,000 foot perspective. Here's what I see from way up there, and, I'll focus on the ERC with which I am most involved and familiar:
Since I entered the Conference more than 40 years ago, Conference leadership has been aware of the Conference's spiritual and numerical decline and has been developing programs and strategies to reverse the decline.
Yet, during all those decades, the rate both of spiritual and numerical decline has increased to the point that the tone of the current hierarchs, in promoting the new New Strategic Plan...
...can't we all agree...
... is desperate?!
Read the PDF if you doubt that.
History makes it clear that all of those programs and strategies, designed to reverse our decline were...
...Feces on a platter.
And, with every initiative, in the past...every last one of them...there has been a chorus of prominent people in the Conference prepared to sing, in four part harmony, "Ain't that purty!"
Every stinkin idea that has come down from the mountaintop in recent decades has failed. Everyone of them has been quickly abandoned, or conveniently forgotten, and replaced as the platter was reloaded with the next pile of crap...
...which was, of course, received the obligatory, and enthusiastic, chorus of praise.
---------------
As an example, consider the much ballyhooed 2015 old New Strategic Plan.
It was presented to the ERC Conference in session with great fanfare and, I'm told, unanimously approved...
...the chorus, as always, sang its praises in harmony...
...only to see the old New Strategic Plan unceremoniously dumped within a year as mere "words on a page."
-----------------
Is it any wonder that there are so many Apathetics, Cynics and, thank God, now, Skeptics, in the Conference!?!!
On this blog, people who are sincerely and genuinely unconvinced by the 2017 new New Strategic Plan have been called, "Snipers."
Yet, if history holds, this plan will soon be acknowledged to have been a load of crap.
What can possibly be wrong about being initially careful about taking a full whiff of what's on the loaded-up platter that is the 2017 new New Strategic Plan?
History, it seems, demands a high degree of caution.
We must repent.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Saying Goodbye to One more Promotion on my Job
I've mentioned that not so long ago, I experienced very serious vertigo and was admitted to the hospital for observation.
I didn't have a stroke.
I wore a heart monitor for more than 24 hours. No problem there.
And, no diagnosis.
There is a suggestion from a personal friend who is an ENT doctor that I have Meniere's disease, but I'm doubtful about that.
My primary care physician is treating me as if the vertigo was a type of migraine headache brought on by exhaustion from the job and anxiety related to my father's failing health.
I've also said that, in response to my health problems, I volunteered to step down from my managerial position at the store.
The HR guy didn't want me to leave the management team and asked me what I'd like him to do for me. I told him. He discussed the idea with the rest of the managerial team in my department and they agreed...And, have been more than generous in accommodating my wishes.
However, because of that, in my opinion, I don't really carry my weight on the management team in the way I'd like to...
...and, I believe, I should.
There is one more possible promotion coming up within a year or so, which I suspect I was a lock for...until I asked for special consideration because of my health.
Now, I'm guessing that that won't work out.
I have no regrets.
As it is now, I'm able to live Kingdom values incarnationally, as one of the rest of the crew on the job, even though I am a manager.
I'm doing what I do for the Kingdom as best I can, though, certainly, not perfectly.
I'll plug away at that.
And, give thanks to God.
I didn't have a stroke.
I wore a heart monitor for more than 24 hours. No problem there.
And, no diagnosis.
There is a suggestion from a personal friend who is an ENT doctor that I have Meniere's disease, but I'm doubtful about that.
My primary care physician is treating me as if the vertigo was a type of migraine headache brought on by exhaustion from the job and anxiety related to my father's failing health.
I've also said that, in response to my health problems, I volunteered to step down from my managerial position at the store.
The HR guy didn't want me to leave the management team and asked me what I'd like him to do for me. I told him. He discussed the idea with the rest of the managerial team in my department and they agreed...And, have been more than generous in accommodating my wishes.
However, because of that, in my opinion, I don't really carry my weight on the management team in the way I'd like to...
...and, I believe, I should.
There is one more possible promotion coming up within a year or so, which I suspect I was a lock for...until I asked for special consideration because of my health.
Now, I'm guessing that that won't work out.
I have no regrets.
As it is now, I'm able to live Kingdom values incarnationally, as one of the rest of the crew on the job, even though I am a manager.
I'm doing what I do for the Kingdom as best I can, though, certainly, not perfectly.
I'll plug away at that.
And, give thanks to God.
Feces on a Platter?
Gang,
The image that is at the center of this post came to me out of nowhere and has stuck in my mind and it has the feel, to me, of a tame version of Isaiah's vivid prophetic image that appears in Isaiah 20.
----------------
Probably the most destructive characteristic of the dysfunction of the Churches of God, General Conference derives from the reality that, in the church body, relationship rules.
Shepherd values dominate the CGGC's dysfunction.
We pervert the fierce, passionate, sacrificial love Jesus commanded and lived. We live in a festering pool of bland and lukewarm tolerance.
We judge others based on the degree to which they comply with what denominational leaders do...
...because, in the CGGC universe, mild acceptance to the whims and ways of leaders is valued.
----------------
I am convinced that, if the hierarchs of the ERC had pooped and arranged their work product on a silver platter, there are some in the ERC who would examine it and exclaim, "Wow! Ain't that purty?!"
----------------
And, in truth, it's from that paradigm, as far as I can tell, that the people who are defending the new New Strategic Plan are defending it.
Understand, at this point, I'm not saying that the new New Strategic Plan is feces on a platter.
What I'm saying is that the strongest argument for it is that it's our leaders' work and we should support them...
I know for a fact that there are people who love the Conference who are thinking theologically about the new New Strategic Plan and are deeply concerned and are raising profound questions, perhaps even objections...
...and the most meaningful reply I'm aware of to their concerns is,...
...as the defenders set their jaws,...
"It's...your...leaders'...poop!"
----------------
This plan is all about churches, pastors and hierarchical leaders...
...and none of that stuff is anywhere to be found in what Jesus did or taught.
It's time to openly assess the content of the new New Strategic Plan based.
We must repent.
The image that is at the center of this post came to me out of nowhere and has stuck in my mind and it has the feel, to me, of a tame version of Isaiah's vivid prophetic image that appears in Isaiah 20.
----------------
Probably the most destructive characteristic of the dysfunction of the Churches of God, General Conference derives from the reality that, in the church body, relationship rules.
Shepherd values dominate the CGGC's dysfunction.
We pervert the fierce, passionate, sacrificial love Jesus commanded and lived. We live in a festering pool of bland and lukewarm tolerance.
We judge others based on the degree to which they comply with what denominational leaders do...
...because, in the CGGC universe, mild acceptance to the whims and ways of leaders is valued.
----------------
I am convinced that, if the hierarchs of the ERC had pooped and arranged their work product on a silver platter, there are some in the ERC who would examine it and exclaim, "Wow! Ain't that purty?!"
----------------
And, in truth, it's from that paradigm, as far as I can tell, that the people who are defending the new New Strategic Plan are defending it.
Understand, at this point, I'm not saying that the new New Strategic Plan is feces on a platter.
What I'm saying is that the strongest argument for it is that it's our leaders' work and we should support them...
I know for a fact that there are people who love the Conference who are thinking theologically about the new New Strategic Plan and are deeply concerned and are raising profound questions, perhaps even objections...
...and the most meaningful reply I'm aware of to their concerns is,...
...as the defenders set their jaws,...
"It's...your...leaders'...poop!"
----------------
This plan is all about churches, pastors and hierarchical leaders...
...and none of that stuff is anywhere to be found in what Jesus did or taught.
It's time to openly assess the content of the new New Strategic Plan based.
We must repent.
Monday, November 13, 2017
There's already Xmas Music on the Radio
I'm not much of a music person these days.
When I listen to the radio, it's usually news or talk.
In fact, the only music I look forward to listening to on the radio is Xmas music.
Very little of that music is about Jesus. A lot of it is about Christmas itself or Santa Claus. Probably at least as much is simply about what people enjoy about snow or cold weather. I remain unconvinced. I HATE cold weather.
I blogged last year why I think it is counterproductive, as a disciple of of Jesus, to make a big deal out the nativity.
No doubt, I'll beat that drum again.
But,...
I stumbled on Xmas music for the first time this year on November 11.
November 11!?!?!?!!!
There's definitely such a thing as too much of a good thing. And, this, in my opinion, is an example of it.
Anyway, the local station that's already doing Xmas music does a countdown around Christmas day of listener's favorite Xmas songs.
So, you go on line and vote, listing the song as performed by a specific artist, voting for as many as three songs.
Here's my three in order:
1. I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, by Bing Crosby. (I've been sentimental about this one because it makes me think of my dad as we watch him die...very, very slowly.) Dad was in the army in WWII. He was home for Christmas but only in his dreams.
2. THE CHRISTMAS SONG, by Nat King Cole.
3. HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS, by (of all people) James Taylor because he uses the original lyrics and because he does the song very well.
Interestingly, Evie voted for the same three songs...
...by the same artists...
...but with James first, Bing second and Nat third.
When I listen to the radio, it's usually news or talk.
In fact, the only music I look forward to listening to on the radio is Xmas music.
Very little of that music is about Jesus. A lot of it is about Christmas itself or Santa Claus. Probably at least as much is simply about what people enjoy about snow or cold weather. I remain unconvinced. I HATE cold weather.
I blogged last year why I think it is counterproductive, as a disciple of of Jesus, to make a big deal out the nativity.
No doubt, I'll beat that drum again.
But,...
I stumbled on Xmas music for the first time this year on November 11.
November 11!?!?!?!!!
There's definitely such a thing as too much of a good thing. And, this, in my opinion, is an example of it.
Anyway, the local station that's already doing Xmas music does a countdown around Christmas day of listener's favorite Xmas songs.
So, you go on line and vote, listing the song as performed by a specific artist, voting for as many as three songs.
Here's my three in order:
1. I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, by Bing Crosby. (I've been sentimental about this one because it makes me think of my dad as we watch him die...very, very slowly.) Dad was in the army in WWII. He was home for Christmas but only in his dreams.
2. THE CHRISTMAS SONG, by Nat King Cole.
3. HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS, by (of all people) James Taylor because he uses the original lyrics and because he does the song very well.
Interestingly, Evie voted for the same three songs...
...by the same artists...
...but with James first, Bing second and Nat third.
Sunday, November 12, 2017
The most Perceptive Thing I've Heard Dave Draper Say
It was very early in my time at the seminary. And we were in a group that was spitballing about religious products and services Winebrenner might provide in the future.
Someone in the group mentioned the possibility of a degree in Youth Ministry.
And, Dave said, "I believe that you almost need to think of working with youth in terms of cross-cultural ministry."
Bingo!
----------------
How many times has the following scenario worked itself out in the church in recent decades?
A declining church, with an aging membership, is searching for its new pastor/parish priest and the geezers who sit in the back quarter of the room every Sunday say,
"We think we should hire a young pastor so (he) can bring in the youth because we don't have teens anymore."
What invariably happens is that the young pastor who is hired has absolutely no gift for reaching the youth culture and fails to attract teens. And, though the young pastor tries to carry out the marching orders, in the end, that pastor finds (him)self in trouble because no teens show up and the shut-ins are being neglected, (he) is fired, an older pastor who knows how to visit shut-ins is hired, stays for a dozen years or so, so that when that pastor retires, the youngest person in the church is 40, maybe, 50something.
---------------
The truth is that, in the Book of Acts, ministry was highly specialized and focused around, well, APEST gifting.
And, there's really no mention of pastoring in the Book of Acts as the job is understood today.
There's mention of prophets, an evangelist, and teachers...
...but, predominantly, the Gospel spread during that generation, through the work of apostles.
And, even within the universe of apostles, there was specialization.
More than half of Acts follows the activity of Barnabas and Paul and, ultimately, Paul and his entourage taking the gospel...
...to the Gentiles.
---------------
One reason that the church today is declining and putrefying is its attempt to create a pastor dominated leadership culture in which the pastor is a parish priest who develops spiritual products and services to the church's laity...
...and to the unchurched world...
...in a one-size-fits-all way...
...so that the pastor/parish priest is...
...part missionary, part evangelist, inspiring preacher/prophet, teacher and, above all, comforting, nurturing shepherd.
Two observations about the pastor-as-parish-priest, failed and failing, leadership model:
1. It kicks what the Spirit empowered in the Book of Acts in the nether regions and,
2. For those of you in the ERC CGGC, it's what those well-intentioned Connecxtion groups in the new New Strategic Plan are designed to enable.
Jesus spent years preparing an apostolic culture to spread the news of His life, death and resurrection. Jesus explained how the gift of prophecy would function in God's Kingdom.
The Book of Acts describes the Spirit's work in empowering apostles, prophets, evangelists and teachers in highly specialized, not one-size-fits-all, pastor-as-parish-priest ministry.
Certainly not parish priests providing religious products and services to the laity and unchurched masses.
------------------
Dave's insight into youth ministry is spot on...
...but applies to a broader universe.
Much of the church today is focused on parish priest leadership. Jesus announced the coming of a Kingdom expanded through apostolic servanthood and sacrifice.
The former never prospers. The latter, empowered by His Spirit, always does.
We need to change our churchly ways to His Kingdom ways.
We must repent.
Someone in the group mentioned the possibility of a degree in Youth Ministry.
And, Dave said, "I believe that you almost need to think of working with youth in terms of cross-cultural ministry."
Bingo!
----------------
How many times has the following scenario worked itself out in the church in recent decades?
A declining church, with an aging membership, is searching for its new pastor/parish priest and the geezers who sit in the back quarter of the room every Sunday say,
"We think we should hire a young pastor so (he) can bring in the youth because we don't have teens anymore."
What invariably happens is that the young pastor who is hired has absolutely no gift for reaching the youth culture and fails to attract teens. And, though the young pastor tries to carry out the marching orders, in the end, that pastor finds (him)self in trouble because no teens show up and the shut-ins are being neglected, (he) is fired, an older pastor who knows how to visit shut-ins is hired, stays for a dozen years or so, so that when that pastor retires, the youngest person in the church is 40, maybe, 50something.
---------------
The truth is that, in the Book of Acts, ministry was highly specialized and focused around, well, APEST gifting.
And, there's really no mention of pastoring in the Book of Acts as the job is understood today.
There's mention of prophets, an evangelist, and teachers...
...but, predominantly, the Gospel spread during that generation, through the work of apostles.
And, even within the universe of apostles, there was specialization.
More than half of Acts follows the activity of Barnabas and Paul and, ultimately, Paul and his entourage taking the gospel...
...to the Gentiles.
---------------
One reason that the church today is declining and putrefying is its attempt to create a pastor dominated leadership culture in which the pastor is a parish priest who develops spiritual products and services to the church's laity...
...and to the unchurched world...
...in a one-size-fits-all way...
...so that the pastor/parish priest is...
...part missionary, part evangelist, inspiring preacher/prophet, teacher and, above all, comforting, nurturing shepherd.
Two observations about the pastor-as-parish-priest, failed and failing, leadership model:
1. It kicks what the Spirit empowered in the Book of Acts in the nether regions and,
2. For those of you in the ERC CGGC, it's what those well-intentioned Connecxtion groups in the new New Strategic Plan are designed to enable.
Jesus spent years preparing an apostolic culture to spread the news of His life, death and resurrection. Jesus explained how the gift of prophecy would function in God's Kingdom.
The Book of Acts describes the Spirit's work in empowering apostles, prophets, evangelists and teachers in highly specialized, not one-size-fits-all, pastor-as-parish-priest ministry.
Certainly not parish priests providing religious products and services to the laity and unchurched masses.
------------------
Dave's insight into youth ministry is spot on...
...but applies to a broader universe.
Much of the church today is focused on parish priest leadership. Jesus announced the coming of a Kingdom expanded through apostolic servanthood and sacrifice.
The former never prospers. The latter, empowered by His Spirit, always does.
We need to change our churchly ways to His Kingdom ways.
We must repent.
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Who/What has Authority in the CGGC?
I was powerfully impacted, when I happened upon the promotional folder for the first ERC Strategic Plan and was punched in the face by its listing...
...BEFORE ANY SPECIFICS OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN APPEARED...
...of the ERC Core Values, the first and most prominent of which was...
THE AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD .
That was then, this is now.
It struck me in reading the PDF of the ERC new New Strategic Plan, that there is no mention of the ERC Core Values...
...or, for that matter, what the writers of the new New Strategic Plan accept as authority over them...
...and, of course, all of the rest of us.
So, I began to examine their fruit.
There are two fruit I notice. One is big picture. The other is purely personal.
On the big picture level, I see that the entire new New Strategic Plan is focused in the activity...
...and authority of the hierarchs.
The Connextion Groups flow from their wisdom and authority.
All that is done emanates from Commissions guided by ERC staff members.
And, obviously, the PDF offers no biblical authority to guide the Connecxtion groups or the Commissions and their staff members.
From time time, I call CGGC leaders Popish.
Here's popism to shame any Roman Catholic pontiff.
IN THE new NEW STRATEGIC PLAN, IT IS THE HIERARCHS, CERTAINLY NOT THE NEARLY UNMENTIONED WORD OF GOD, WHO ARE NOW THE AUTHORITY IN THE ERC.
On the personal level, I asked numerous people many times the charge leveled against me to justify the attack on my credentials.
No one ever remembered an actual charge...
...even Dr. Richardson, actually...
...but absolutely everyone recalled that I do have this blog noted for...
...criticizing my leaders.
All I've ever heard is that my credentials were attacked because I attacked the mountaintoppers.
My trust in the authority of the Bible was never an issue, nor was my acceptance of the orthodox doctrines of the Christian faith, nor was my loyalty to the teachings and practices of the Church of God...
But, in the attack on my credentials there was another...
...higher?...
...authority?
The CGGC/ERC hierarchs.
There is a boatload of apathy and cynicism and skepticism across the CGGC.
And, I believe one prominent reason for it is that the hierarchs, as far as most of us are concerned,...
THINK MORE HIGHLY OF THEMSELVES...
...AND FAR TO LITTLE OF THE LORD AND HIS WORD...
...THAN THEY OUGHT TO THINK.
We must repent.
...BEFORE ANY SPECIFICS OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN APPEARED...
...of the ERC Core Values, the first and most prominent of which was...
THE AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD .
That was then, this is now.
It struck me in reading the PDF of the ERC new New Strategic Plan, that there is no mention of the ERC Core Values...
...or, for that matter, what the writers of the new New Strategic Plan accept as authority over them...
...and, of course, all of the rest of us.
So, I began to examine their fruit.
There are two fruit I notice. One is big picture. The other is purely personal.
On the big picture level, I see that the entire new New Strategic Plan is focused in the activity...
...and authority of the hierarchs.
The Connextion Groups flow from their wisdom and authority.
All that is done emanates from Commissions guided by ERC staff members.
And, obviously, the PDF offers no biblical authority to guide the Connecxtion groups or the Commissions and their staff members.
From time time, I call CGGC leaders Popish.
Here's popism to shame any Roman Catholic pontiff.
IN THE new NEW STRATEGIC PLAN, IT IS THE HIERARCHS, CERTAINLY NOT THE NEARLY UNMENTIONED WORD OF GOD, WHO ARE NOW THE AUTHORITY IN THE ERC.
On the personal level, I asked numerous people many times the charge leveled against me to justify the attack on my credentials.
No one ever remembered an actual charge...
...even Dr. Richardson, actually...
...but absolutely everyone recalled that I do have this blog noted for...
...criticizing my leaders.
All I've ever heard is that my credentials were attacked because I attacked the mountaintoppers.
My trust in the authority of the Bible was never an issue, nor was my acceptance of the orthodox doctrines of the Christian faith, nor was my loyalty to the teachings and practices of the Church of God...
But, in the attack on my credentials there was another...
...higher?...
...authority?
The CGGC/ERC hierarchs.
There is a boatload of apathy and cynicism and skepticism across the CGGC.
And, I believe one prominent reason for it is that the hierarchs, as far as most of us are concerned,...
THINK MORE HIGHLY OF THEMSELVES...
...AND FAR TO LITTLE OF THE LORD AND HIS WORD...
...THAN THEY OUGHT TO THINK.
We must repent.
Friday, November 10, 2017
The ERC Core Values are Absent from the new New Strategic Plan
So, I went to my book case yesterday to the Church of God section to find those Forney CHRISTIAN ORDINANCES books that I'm offering and I discovered that I have kept the beautifully designed promotional piece prepared for the first ERC Strategic Plan.
I looked it over and discovered, prominently displayed, the assertion that the mission of the ERC grew out of "the core values that surfaced from answers to questions proposed to determine who we are and where we are going."
In the material I've seen being used to describe and promote the 2017 new New Strategic Plan, I've seen and heard nothing about those Core Value.
Clearly, those values no longer exist at our real-life core.
Do you remember the days when the people of the ERC openly embraced and talked about our Core Value?
I actually do.
And, do you remember what the first and most prominent Core Value was? It was,
The authority of the Bible as God's Word.
In the very impressive folder that promoted the old Strategic Plan, Scripture is prominent.
The cover page contains only a quotation from Jesus.
The first section of text is, simply, John 15:5, 8.
Then, while the document is heavy in explanation of the Strategic Plan, God's Word seasons the text.
---------------
FYI, in the PDF of the 2017 new New Strategic Plan, there is no reference to the authority of the Bible as God's Word. For that matter, there's no mention of our Core Values.
In the PDF of the new New Strategic Plan, biblical authority is never cited as the reason the hierarchs want the Conference to do what they want us to do.
What, for instance, does the Word say is a healthy, life-giving church, or pastor, or regional leader?
Who, according to the new New Strategic Plan, knows?
To be fair, while the new New Strategic Plan promotion doesn't cite the authority of the Word to justify even one element of the plan, it does conclude with a quote of Proverbs 3:5-6. Those verses, however, are used to motivate, not to suggest the the plan is rooted in God's truth or the teaching or the life of Jesus.
----------------
What concerns me, based on the content and promotion of the new New Strategic Plan, is that it documents the decline of the role of God's truth in the ERC.
There is no biblical authority cited for any element of the plan.
There is no reference to the Core Values of the Conference, which acknowledges that the authority of the Bible is our first and most prominent value.
And, most disturbingly, there is what seems to me to be the rise of what Bonhoeffer dubbed cheap grace in the plan.
I've criticized the CGGC for its nearly 30 year old tepid definition of what a disciple is but I'm still puking over the new definition of what a disciple is provided in the recent Chuck Frank video promoting the new New Strategic Plan.
Brothers and sisters, we are going to in the wrong direction.
We are theologically bankrupt and corrupt.
The first thing we need to do is return to our first and most prominent value, which we were still in touch with when we tried our first Strategic Plan:
The authority of the Bible as God's Word!!!!!
I looked it over and discovered, prominently displayed, the assertion that the mission of the ERC grew out of "the core values that surfaced from answers to questions proposed to determine who we are and where we are going."
In the material I've seen being used to describe and promote the 2017 new New Strategic Plan, I've seen and heard nothing about those Core Value.
Clearly, those values no longer exist at our real-life core.
Do you remember the days when the people of the ERC openly embraced and talked about our Core Value?
I actually do.
And, do you remember what the first and most prominent Core Value was? It was,
The authority of the Bible as God's Word.
In the very impressive folder that promoted the old Strategic Plan, Scripture is prominent.
The cover page contains only a quotation from Jesus.
The first section of text is, simply, John 15:5, 8.
Then, while the document is heavy in explanation of the Strategic Plan, God's Word seasons the text.
---------------
FYI, in the PDF of the 2017 new New Strategic Plan, there is no reference to the authority of the Bible as God's Word. For that matter, there's no mention of our Core Values.
In the PDF of the new New Strategic Plan, biblical authority is never cited as the reason the hierarchs want the Conference to do what they want us to do.
What, for instance, does the Word say is a healthy, life-giving church, or pastor, or regional leader?
Who, according to the new New Strategic Plan, knows?
To be fair, while the new New Strategic Plan promotion doesn't cite the authority of the Word to justify even one element of the plan, it does conclude with a quote of Proverbs 3:5-6. Those verses, however, are used to motivate, not to suggest the the plan is rooted in God's truth or the teaching or the life of Jesus.
----------------
What concerns me, based on the content and promotion of the new New Strategic Plan, is that it documents the decline of the role of God's truth in the ERC.
There is no biblical authority cited for any element of the plan.
There is no reference to the Core Values of the Conference, which acknowledges that the authority of the Bible is our first and most prominent value.
And, most disturbingly, there is what seems to me to be the rise of what Bonhoeffer dubbed cheap grace in the plan.
I've criticized the CGGC for its nearly 30 year old tepid definition of what a disciple is but I'm still puking over the new definition of what a disciple is provided in the recent Chuck Frank video promoting the new New Strategic Plan.
Brothers and sisters, we are going to in the wrong direction.
We are theologically bankrupt and corrupt.
The first thing we need to do is return to our first and most prominent value, which we were still in touch with when we tried our first Strategic Plan:
The authority of the Bible as God's Word!!!!!
Using the Strategic Plan as an Excuse to Enlarge ERC Staff
You all absolutely must be reading the new New Strategic Plan PDF.
So much that is important is there waiting to be seen.
Buried in the proposal, put together by the institutionalists responsible for the plan, is the proposal that the size of the ERC staff be expanded to seven positions, six of which are full-time.
Seven.
Among the shuffling of titles is the completely new "Director of Communication."
I've heard nothing about what the job description is for the position...
...but I'm guessing that the ecclesiolaters on the top of the ERC mountain do not have in mind...
...empowering someone to preach and otherwise communicate the truth and Word of Jesus.
No doubt, the idea is to have someone communicate the glories and wisdom of the leaders of the ERC.
But,...
Leave it to the ERC hierarchs to think that the answer to the decline and putrefication of the Conference is to increase the size of the administrative staff.
What's the chance that the Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing will bless this?
----------------
We must repent.
So much that is important is there waiting to be seen.
Buried in the proposal, put together by the institutionalists responsible for the plan, is the proposal that the size of the ERC staff be expanded to seven positions, six of which are full-time.
Seven.
Among the shuffling of titles is the completely new "Director of Communication."
I've heard nothing about what the job description is for the position...
...but I'm guessing that the ecclesiolaters on the top of the ERC mountain do not have in mind...
...empowering someone to preach and otherwise communicate the truth and Word of Jesus.
No doubt, the idea is to have someone communicate the glories and wisdom of the leaders of the ERC.
But,...
Leave it to the ERC hierarchs to think that the answer to the decline and putrefication of the Conference is to increase the size of the administrative staff.
What's the chance that the Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing will bless this?
----------------
We must repent.
Thursday, November 9, 2017
MILLENNIALS IN THE STRATEGIC PLAN: This Post Contains Real Comments
I sort of apologize for that last, blank page, post but I was telling by showing.
The ERC's new New Strategic Plan plan ignores the issue that we are driving away people under the age of 40, perhaps 50...
...though it acknowledges the problem.
I have a few observations:
One is that the issue appears to be important, at least to my readers. The blank page post got more hits in the first 24 hours than any post in more than a month. Some people do care about the ERC having a future! And, that is a good thing. A very good thing.
I literally beg you to read the PDF containing questions and answers from the Town Hall meetings. The issue of reaching young people was raised and no reply, from leadership, was recorded in the notes.
----------------
In my opinion, for at least the last 30 years, ERC leadership has cared about pleasing the geezers in the churches who PAY THE BILLS.
They've favored church boards over pastors who've brought, to the church, sinners who are rough around the edges. And, they've dumped on pastors who've prioritized reaching youthful people with the message of Jesus over caring for shut-ins.
Perhaps the best way to describe the new New Strategic Plan is that it carries on those values.
----------------
I am a person who lives and works among millennials. I know millennials and love them...and, I believe, that love is returned. They do seem to enjoy geezers who are authentic. They are far from offended by a joyful, robust Jesus-focused lifestyle.
----------------
As much as the hierarchs of the CGGC don't want this to be true,...
Clearly, it's what I write on this blog that inspired the challenge to my credentials...
Yet, what I write here makes sense to millennials who love and follow Jesus...
What I write, backed by the incarnational way I live, blesses those millennials...
...it attracts them...
...and, while people like Lance talk about valuing missional and incarnational living,...
...what I write here, in concert with our lifestyle, is treated, by the CGGC and ERC leadership culture as if it is a curse.
...and, they have cursed it by attacking my credentials and expelling my ministry from the CGGC.
---------------
If the new New Strategic Plan works perfectly...
...and, as far as I can tell, even most ERC insiders are already convinced it will crash and burn...
...It will only take care of the Boomers and Builders still around...
...and be viable for what? 10? 20 years?
THIS PLAN IS LITTLE MORE THAN AN ATTEMPT TO PERFECT THE VERY DYSFUNCTION THAT HAS DRIVEN THE CGGC DECLINE FOR GENERATIONS.
IT GIVES NO THOUGHT AT ALL, AND MAKES NO EFFORT, TO MAKE JESUS MEANINGFUL TO PEOPLE YOUNGER THAN THE BABY BOOMER GENERATION!
----------------
We must repent.
The ERC's new New Strategic Plan plan ignores the issue that we are driving away people under the age of 40, perhaps 50...
...though it acknowledges the problem.
I have a few observations:
One is that the issue appears to be important, at least to my readers. The blank page post got more hits in the first 24 hours than any post in more than a month. Some people do care about the ERC having a future! And, that is a good thing. A very good thing.
I literally beg you to read the PDF containing questions and answers from the Town Hall meetings. The issue of reaching young people was raised and no reply, from leadership, was recorded in the notes.
----------------
In my opinion, for at least the last 30 years, ERC leadership has cared about pleasing the geezers in the churches who PAY THE BILLS.
They've favored church boards over pastors who've brought, to the church, sinners who are rough around the edges. And, they've dumped on pastors who've prioritized reaching youthful people with the message of Jesus over caring for shut-ins.
Perhaps the best way to describe the new New Strategic Plan is that it carries on those values.
----------------
I am a person who lives and works among millennials. I know millennials and love them...and, I believe, that love is returned. They do seem to enjoy geezers who are authentic. They are far from offended by a joyful, robust Jesus-focused lifestyle.
----------------
As much as the hierarchs of the CGGC don't want this to be true,...
Clearly, it's what I write on this blog that inspired the challenge to my credentials...
Yet, what I write here makes sense to millennials who love and follow Jesus...
What I write, backed by the incarnational way I live, blesses those millennials...
...it attracts them...
...and, while people like Lance talk about valuing missional and incarnational living,...
...what I write here, in concert with our lifestyle, is treated, by the CGGC and ERC leadership culture as if it is a curse.
...and, they have cursed it by attacking my credentials and expelling my ministry from the CGGC.
---------------
If the new New Strategic Plan works perfectly...
...and, as far as I can tell, even most ERC insiders are already convinced it will crash and burn...
...It will only take care of the Boomers and Builders still around...
...and be viable for what? 10? 20 years?
THIS PLAN IS LITTLE MORE THAN AN ATTEMPT TO PERFECT THE VERY DYSFUNCTION THAT HAS DRIVEN THE CGGC DECLINE FOR GENERATIONS.
IT GIVES NO THOUGHT AT ALL, AND MAKES NO EFFORT, TO MAKE JESUS MEANINGFUL TO PEOPLE YOUNGER THAN THE BABY BOOMER GENERATION!
----------------
We must repent.
I Have Four Copies of C. H. Forney's, THE CHRISTIAN ORDINANCES
Three were given to me by Harvey Gossard, from his personal library, when we were both on staff at Winebrenner. One, never used and is in mint condition, I picked it up from the General Conference office many years ago.
This is not Forney's much more important, 1906, THE PHILOSOPHIC BASIS OF THE ORDINANCES, from which the current, and unique, CGGC position on the ordinances is based.
Harvey's three copies were once in the Findlay College and, later, WTS libraries. They had been donated by the estates of:
T. M. Funk,
D. M. Bare, and,
George Sigler.
You may be familiar with one or more of those names.
The books are marked as Withdrawn from the library collection.
The books from Harvey's library are all in good condition at least.
This is a hard bound book.
And, historically speaking, this book by Forney is important because it gives a picture of the Church of God as it decides how to continue in its own primitivist vision in the face of the emergence of the the Holiness and Pentecostal movements and their primitivist energies.
I don't need four copies of the book.
If you'd like to engage me in conversation to propose that one of these copies become your own, you can write to me and I'll gladly consider you as a candidate.
I'll respond to requests both on and off the blog.
Blessings to all who find inspiration in the history of our movement.
This is not Forney's much more important, 1906, THE PHILOSOPHIC BASIS OF THE ORDINANCES, from which the current, and unique, CGGC position on the ordinances is based.
Harvey's three copies were once in the Findlay College and, later, WTS libraries. They had been donated by the estates of:
T. M. Funk,
D. M. Bare, and,
George Sigler.
You may be familiar with one or more of those names.
The books are marked as Withdrawn from the library collection.
The books from Harvey's library are all in good condition at least.
This is a hard bound book.
And, historically speaking, this book by Forney is important because it gives a picture of the Church of God as it decides how to continue in its own primitivist vision in the face of the emergence of the the Holiness and Pentecostal movements and their primitivist energies.
I don't need four copies of the book.
If you'd like to engage me in conversation to propose that one of these copies become your own, you can write to me and I'll gladly consider you as a candidate.
I'll respond to requests both on and off the blog.
Blessings to all who find inspiration in the history of our movement.
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Reading the PDF of the ERC Round Table Meetings
It seems to me that ERC hierarchs have backed off on their push to implement the new New Strategic Plan effective January 1, 2018.
In fact, as I've noted, they can't figure out how to bring one of the Commissions into existence.
Beyond that, I'm not exactly wildly guessing that, if the hierarchs had pushed that point with the Ad Council last week, they would have gotten approval. At the very least, any approval they received in pushing forward would have been given in the face of opposition.
Don't be surprised if what I've been calling for, i.e., a vote by the Conference in session becomes the reality.
As I've said, as I understand the covenant we have with each other, only the Conference in session has authority to implement the new New Strategic Plan that has been proposed.
It's time for the people of the ERC to face up to the dysfunction of the Conference and to repent of it.
The Good Old Boys need to think of themselves as slaves to all. And, the Apathetics and the Cynics have to accept the reality that we are called to live as the Body of Christ.
Please read those PDFs.
They provide valuable information that can inform a prayerful and Spirit-empowered conversation of the challenges that face us.
The notes on the question and answer time at the Round Table Meetings are, to me, useful in illustrating how the plan may not be executed effectively.
But, by all means, develop your own informed opinion.
In fact, as I've noted, they can't figure out how to bring one of the Commissions into existence.
Beyond that, I'm not exactly wildly guessing that, if the hierarchs had pushed that point with the Ad Council last week, they would have gotten approval. At the very least, any approval they received in pushing forward would have been given in the face of opposition.
Don't be surprised if what I've been calling for, i.e., a vote by the Conference in session becomes the reality.
As I've said, as I understand the covenant we have with each other, only the Conference in session has authority to implement the new New Strategic Plan that has been proposed.
It's time for the people of the ERC to face up to the dysfunction of the Conference and to repent of it.
The Good Old Boys need to think of themselves as slaves to all. And, the Apathetics and the Cynics have to accept the reality that we are called to live as the Body of Christ.
Please read those PDFs.
They provide valuable information that can inform a prayerful and Spirit-empowered conversation of the challenges that face us.
The notes on the question and answer time at the Round Table Meetings are, to me, useful in illustrating how the plan may not be executed effectively.
But, by all means, develop your own informed opinion.
Reports, Rumblings and Rumors I'm Hearing in the ERC News...as well as some Editorial Comment
These are dynamic times in the ERC.
It is now, as Jane Austen once wrote, "a truth universally acknowledged" that the degree of decline and directionlessness of the ERC is a serious problem.
Probably the last people to realize this are the highest ranking people in the hierarchy. But, these days, even they are facing, at least some of, the facts.
I'm hearing chatter from a diverse network of people, all of whom love the ERC and are concerned about its future. Many of whom have strong opinions and some of whom have direct, first-hand knowledge of important happens. And, some of whom have asked me to keep what we discuss under my hat...a request I, most certainly, will honor.
It's a fact that news that comes from the ERC mountaintop to the unwershed mere unconnected pastors and members and attenders of ERC churches is controlled and, often, propagandized to a degree that might have made Mao and Stalin jealous.
So, here's some of what I know and am able to pass on:
By his own word, Kevin Richardson will no longer be ERC E. D.. He will vacate that office in a "few weeks."
As recently as about a month ago, he was going to stay in place until a new Executive Director was identified.
However, as a result of the ERC Ad Council meeting on November 1, his tenure was cut short.
----------------
There have been serious problems with the hierarchs' plan to have the ERC Ad Council foist the new New Strategic Plan on the Conference without the approval of the Conference in session.
ERC movers and shakers have been unable to figure out how to form one of the new Commissions envisioned in the new New Strategic Plan...so, at the moment, the plan would be unfoistable by the hoped-for implementation date of January 1, 2018.
----------------
There seems to be some degree of uncertainty, even among the eagles who soar above the highest peaks of the ERC mountain range, as to whether on not the hierarchs are actually able to foist the new New Strategic Plan on the Conference through the Ad Council.
You know my take on that, and others, I believe, share it...
...that the Commission structure is written into the ERC Constitution directly and that, therefore, only the Conference in session can amend the Constitution.
Others see authority, in the Constitution, within the Ad Council to appoint Commissions. They, apparently, take that authority to allow the Ad Council to rewrite the Constitution, at least in this case.
My opinion on this is that the mountaintoppers have become accustomed to operating without accountability and, in the past would have done their foist job using the Ad Council and would have gotten away with asking the Conference in session to amend the Constitution as a matter of "just a little bit of paper work" to, you know, uh, "make it official." But, for the moment at least, times have changed. There is an important, and I'm guessing, growing, but disorganized, group of skeptics in the Conference. And, people are now actually paying attention to the potential abuses of power that happen on the mountaintop.
----------------
What I know, from multiple sources, and am able to say is that the whole new New Strategic Plan is not in a position to be implemented on January 1, even if some would still like to be old school and foist it on the Conference.
----------------
My overall sense is that, on the mountaintop, there is still a high degree of confidence in the new New Strategic Plan, in spite of the fact that even the hierarchs acknowledge that it can't be fully implemented as of the moment.
It is also my overall sense that, below the mountaintop, even just few peaks down, there is both skepticism and lack of confidence in the plan.
It's also my sense that the groups I'm calling the Cynics and the Apathetics remain uninvolved. You can note the pathetically low attendance was at the Town Hall meetings was as strong evidence of that.
----------------
My prediction is that the approval of the new New Strategic Plan will become an issue for the Conference in session to resolve. A few thoughts about that:
There are actually some in the Conference who are NOT hierarchs and mountaintoppers who don't want the Conference to decide this issue...
...who would prefer to have the Ad Council decree that there is a new Strategic Plan and what the content of the plan will be.
And, at the moment, even if approval of the plan is taken to the Conference, the dynamics of the Conference have not been repented of by either the Good Old Boys nor by the Cynics nor the Apathetics...
...and that the new New Strategic Plan will be approved by the Conference in session...
...and, in the end, become, again, merely words on paper.
----------------
Before anything else, we must repent.
It is now, as Jane Austen once wrote, "a truth universally acknowledged" that the degree of decline and directionlessness of the ERC is a serious problem.
Probably the last people to realize this are the highest ranking people in the hierarchy. But, these days, even they are facing, at least some of, the facts.
I'm hearing chatter from a diverse network of people, all of whom love the ERC and are concerned about its future. Many of whom have strong opinions and some of whom have direct, first-hand knowledge of important happens. And, some of whom have asked me to keep what we discuss under my hat...a request I, most certainly, will honor.
It's a fact that news that comes from the ERC mountaintop to the unwershed mere unconnected pastors and members and attenders of ERC churches is controlled and, often, propagandized to a degree that might have made Mao and Stalin jealous.
So, here's some of what I know and am able to pass on:
By his own word, Kevin Richardson will no longer be ERC E. D.. He will vacate that office in a "few weeks."
As recently as about a month ago, he was going to stay in place until a new Executive Director was identified.
However, as a result of the ERC Ad Council meeting on November 1, his tenure was cut short.
----------------
There have been serious problems with the hierarchs' plan to have the ERC Ad Council foist the new New Strategic Plan on the Conference without the approval of the Conference in session.
ERC movers and shakers have been unable to figure out how to form one of the new Commissions envisioned in the new New Strategic Plan...so, at the moment, the plan would be unfoistable by the hoped-for implementation date of January 1, 2018.
----------------
There seems to be some degree of uncertainty, even among the eagles who soar above the highest peaks of the ERC mountain range, as to whether on not the hierarchs are actually able to foist the new New Strategic Plan on the Conference through the Ad Council.
You know my take on that, and others, I believe, share it...
...that the Commission structure is written into the ERC Constitution directly and that, therefore, only the Conference in session can amend the Constitution.
Others see authority, in the Constitution, within the Ad Council to appoint Commissions. They, apparently, take that authority to allow the Ad Council to rewrite the Constitution, at least in this case.
My opinion on this is that the mountaintoppers have become accustomed to operating without accountability and, in the past would have done their foist job using the Ad Council and would have gotten away with asking the Conference in session to amend the Constitution as a matter of "just a little bit of paper work" to, you know, uh, "make it official." But, for the moment at least, times have changed. There is an important, and I'm guessing, growing, but disorganized, group of skeptics in the Conference. And, people are now actually paying attention to the potential abuses of power that happen on the mountaintop.
----------------
What I know, from multiple sources, and am able to say is that the whole new New Strategic Plan is not in a position to be implemented on January 1, even if some would still like to be old school and foist it on the Conference.
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My overall sense is that, on the mountaintop, there is still a high degree of confidence in the new New Strategic Plan, in spite of the fact that even the hierarchs acknowledge that it can't be fully implemented as of the moment.
It is also my overall sense that, below the mountaintop, even just few peaks down, there is both skepticism and lack of confidence in the plan.
It's also my sense that the groups I'm calling the Cynics and the Apathetics remain uninvolved. You can note the pathetically low attendance was at the Town Hall meetings was as strong evidence of that.
----------------
My prediction is that the approval of the new New Strategic Plan will become an issue for the Conference in session to resolve. A few thoughts about that:
There are actually some in the Conference who are NOT hierarchs and mountaintoppers who don't want the Conference to decide this issue...
...who would prefer to have the Ad Council decree that there is a new Strategic Plan and what the content of the plan will be.
And, at the moment, even if approval of the plan is taken to the Conference, the dynamics of the Conference have not been repented of by either the Good Old Boys nor by the Cynics nor the Apathetics...
...and that the new New Strategic Plan will be approved by the Conference in session...
...and, in the end, become, again, merely words on paper.
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Before anything else, we must repent.
Friday, November 3, 2017
Who owns this ERC Strategic Plan?
I'm in conversation with what I think is an important and representative group of ERC people.
Speaking anecdotally, no one communicating with me thinks this strategic plan will reverse ERC fortunes...
...though they tell me that there are some who are enthusiastically on board with it.
On or off the blog, do you believe in it? If so, why?
Speaking anecdotally, no one communicating with me thinks this strategic plan will reverse ERC fortunes...
...though they tell me that there are some who are enthusiastically on board with it.
On or off the blog, do you believe in it? If so, why?
Kevin Richardson Oozes Grace
You may have read Kevin Richardson's article, published on November 2, entitled, With Thanksgiving, in which Kevin announces that, suddenly, he will not be in the Executive Director office until the new E. D. is in place but will leave the role "in a few weeks."
This announcement came the day after that special Ad Council meeting which I understood was called to settle issues related to the search for the new Executive Director. I don't know if Kevin had any advanced notice of the change.
You may remember that I called for an Interim Executive Director to be appointed, so obviously, I don't oppose the decision.
Clearly, Kevin and I have had our differences. His impact on my ministry and of the community here at Faith, is well-known to those of you who read this blog.
I've been very open here about my conviction that Kevin was taking the Conference in the direction of becoming theologically conservative Lutheran wannabes. I thought he was too committed to the pastor dominated leadership culture and, wrongly, not advancing apostolic servanthood. I criticized him for being obsessed with the church and unmotivated to advance the Kingdom.
And I own all of that as I take this moment to hold Kevin up as a man of grace.
Kevin's article is a litany of thanksgiving.
----------------
In the ERC, we are, one way or the other, about to travel on a bumpy road.
The hierarchs know, by now, that change must happen, and it must happen soon.
From what I'm hearing from people still in conversation with me...
...and, all of these people reside a fair piece up the ERC mountain,...
...there are many, very different ideas about the direction the Conference should travel in the future.
Who doesn't know that we are broken?!
We are unified in rejecting where we are now...
...but we are as divided as we have ever been about how we will be able to reverse our decline, decay and putrefication.
And, as we work through these issues, many more people are going to be in the position Kevin is in now.
--------------
Kevin,
You have just led more powerfully than you ever have.
You have shown us one way we can, one day, again, be walking together in the blessing of the Spirit...
...as we were in our first generation.
You had choices in handling the decisions others made about you.
You created an example that gives us the possibility of having a godly future by choosing to give thanks.
Bless you...
...and, blessings on you and Ruth and Molly and Tessa.
This announcement came the day after that special Ad Council meeting which I understood was called to settle issues related to the search for the new Executive Director. I don't know if Kevin had any advanced notice of the change.
You may remember that I called for an Interim Executive Director to be appointed, so obviously, I don't oppose the decision.
Clearly, Kevin and I have had our differences. His impact on my ministry and of the community here at Faith, is well-known to those of you who read this blog.
I've been very open here about my conviction that Kevin was taking the Conference in the direction of becoming theologically conservative Lutheran wannabes. I thought he was too committed to the pastor dominated leadership culture and, wrongly, not advancing apostolic servanthood. I criticized him for being obsessed with the church and unmotivated to advance the Kingdom.
And I own all of that as I take this moment to hold Kevin up as a man of grace.
Kevin's article is a litany of thanksgiving.
----------------
In the ERC, we are, one way or the other, about to travel on a bumpy road.
The hierarchs know, by now, that change must happen, and it must happen soon.
From what I'm hearing from people still in conversation with me...
...and, all of these people reside a fair piece up the ERC mountain,...
...there are many, very different ideas about the direction the Conference should travel in the future.
Who doesn't know that we are broken?!
We are unified in rejecting where we are now...
...but we are as divided as we have ever been about how we will be able to reverse our decline, decay and putrefication.
And, as we work through these issues, many more people are going to be in the position Kevin is in now.
--------------
Kevin,
You have just led more powerfully than you ever have.
You have shown us one way we can, one day, again, be walking together in the blessing of the Spirit...
...as we were in our first generation.
You had choices in handling the decisions others made about you.
You created an example that gives us the possibility of having a godly future by choosing to give thanks.
Bless you...
...and, blessings on you and Ruth and Molly and Tessa.
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