Three Ways My Ministry is Received in the CGGC

I have been thinking about what I write here, and how other things I say and do, are received in the CGGC.

I see three responses.

1. The, He's a leper, response.

This was, according to still unsubstantiated rumor, the response of the delegates to ERC Conference in session a few years back.

According only to what some have told me, the motion was made, and debated and approved, on the Conference floor that my ordination certificate be recalled by the leaders of the Conference.

To this point, it has not been recalled. Still, several people tell me that the Conference in session took that action.

And, that rumored action is one way my ministry is received by some.

By some, I'm considered to be a pariah, someone worth only being cast out.

2. The, Just ignore him and maybe he'll shut up or go away, response.

I get a lot of this, though, after all these years, that sentiment has proved to be baseless and wishful thinking.

As an example? My posts on the CGGC eNews blog. So far, for the most part, comments I enter on the blog have been accepted by the administrator and have been published.

Yet, while others' comments receive a response from time to time, my just dangle out there as if, as I've said before, they are out-loud flatulence in polite society.

I have no idea how many people actually read the eNews and I don't know if more people read it than read this blog or not...

...and, of course, the mountaintoppers in Findlay don't know that either.

It's possible that this blog has a larger or, at least, more highly focused and motivated readership that the official CGGC blog.

And, I wonder if the mountaintoppers are afraid not to accept my comments for publication out of fear that more people would know they didn't publish than if they do.

Either way, there might be one comment they didn't publish. I don't remember.

But, they always ignore what they publish from me.

Across the CGGC, there's, apparently, a lot of ignoring going on.

3. Active acceptance of and engagement with me and my words.

This is, by far, the least common response.

It comes from some very high CGGC peaks as well as some deep and forgotten or nearly forgotten CGGC valleys. And, many CGGC elevations in between.

I never expose the identity of these people and always carefully protect their anonymity if I mention them in passing.

I often wonder how open these people are about being in contact with me, though I never ask.

If I'd ever be tempted to keep quiet, it is for the sake of these people that I'd always keep going, as long as I'm able and I believe that the Lord is giving me a message.