My Understanding of My Calling

Over the years I have been asked two questions about the things I say and do on this blog and in other settings.

1.  Why do you care so much about the CGGC since it is the clearly case that you disagree so vehemently with what it is doing?

2.  Why don't you just leave the CGGC?

I've been answering those questions, when asked, in the same way for years.  Indeed, there really is only one answer for me.  So, briefly, now, on this blog, I'll give my answer.

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I regularly--almost daily and sometimes several times in a single day--consult the Lord about His calling on my life.  I have been doing that for years.  And, from the beginning of that time, I have sensed the same answer, though I have come to understand my calling with slightly increased precision in the years since I began this regular conversation with the Lord.

In brief form this is how I understand my calling:

To uproot and tear down and to destroy and overthrow the pastor-dominated leadership culture and to build and to plant a servant community in which apostles, prophets, evangelists and shepherds and teachers are all empowered to live within their callings and, therefore, to prepare the saints for works of service.

Some of those words are strong, violent words but, perhaps you recognized them, the strongest and most violent of them are Bible words.

Since before I came to understand my calling with this precision and clarity, I understood that the Lord has placed me in the community that has descended from the ministry begun by John Winebrenner. 

Though it would not be necessary that I develop affection for the people whom the Lord has called me to serve, as it happens, I have fallen in love with the Church of God. 

The passion connected to my love for the Church of God does not equal the passion of the love I feel for the Lord but it remains one of the strongest passions of my life.

Though I may sense a change in the Lord's call on my life in the next moment, based on the standing stones in my life, I don't think that is likely.  And, while I may fall out of love for the part of the Kingdom John Winebrenner's ministry began, that doesn't seem likely either.

As long as my sense of calling continues and as long as my passion for the Church of God burns, I will continue on this path.

Blessings and love to all in the Church of God.

A Stinging Critique of ERC Leadership, Offered to Me Without Intention

Gang,

As you know, I am in communication with many people around the CGGC and, as you might imagine, the largest number of those people are of the ERC.

A few days ago, I received some comments about ERC sessions from someone who was present during a portion of the recent Yay God sessions. 

And, after those comments steeped for a night or two, it struck me that they are profound and that they hit at the essence of one of the key dysfunctions of the ERC and the General Conference from the highest mountaintops to the lowest valleys.

My friend said, essentially in passing:

A lot of excitement about church planting in North and South Carolina. Not much talk about failed church plants. I remember last year the great ado about the Fusion plant in Manheim, and I don't think it is meeting anymore, or if it is only on a limited basis.

Bingo!

 

One of the core traits in my Characteristics of the CGGC Brand is Cynicism. 

 

In the CGGC we are all cynical.  Disaffected members of churches are cynical about congregational leadership, pastors are cynical about the congregations they serve or congregations they have served in the past.  Many pastors are cynical about conference and denominational leadership. 

 

And, based on my time in Findlay and in ERC Commission membership, it occurs to me that the place cynicism exists with greatest intensity is in leadership's cynicism about the parts of the CGGC body that does not participate in its good old boy network.  I am also struck by the lack of respect leaders show to those people.

 

In the two sentences I quoted, it is evident why so many are profoundly cynical in regard to leadership:  Our leaders can't be trust to speak truthfully to us.  If fact, they set themselves apart from accountability to the larger body.

 

Year after year Conferences meet and, year after year, the phenomenon my friend described repeats itself.  We hear accounts of Pentecost-like blessing of the Lord on our leaders and the ministries the perform.  Yet, year after year, our numerical and spiritual decline continues.

 

Oh, how some of us yearn for the day when a leader stands humbly before the body to describe his/her dreams and efforts and also states transparently,

As for what I dreamed last year, there have been some disappointments.  Here are some of them....  And, with the Lord's help, and with your continued prayers and support, I will devote much of my energy in the coming year to understanding how what I dreamed last year was not blessed by the Lord and how, in years to come, I will be able to walk more humbly and faithfully in His will.

That never, ever happens in the CGGC.  There is no honesty.  There is no transparency.  There is no accountability.  There is no respect for the body--for the eldership.

And, let's be clear.  The Lord is not blessing what our leaders have been doing and the body becomes increasingly cynical about leadership.

The body has to stop the move toward cynicism by calling leaders to account.  And, leaders must begin to humble themselves before the body and, more importantly, before the Lord.

May the Lord have mercy on us.

We must repent.

Gathering 4-29-15

This was the second gathering of our Wednesday, um, church plant.

Something exciting may be in the offing with this gathering and if it does I will be overjoyed to see it develop.

This is the one with a coworker of mine.

We have one of Evie's coworkers anxious to begin to join this gathering and others with whom we have incarcerated the gospel who are showing interest. It may be that, in time, we have a vibrant gathering of disciples taking our love for Jesus into our places of work!

How amazing would that be?!

Please join us in prayer that this will happen.

Gathering 4-26-15

I am deep down tired. Not today tired. Long-term tired. My job can be about as physically demanding as I can handle and I often have to work late on Saturday doing the most demanding work I do. Today I was, well, less than enthusiastic about having our house invaded by whomever it is might have shown up.

For all the advantages in meeting in your own home, there are about as many disadvantages.

Apart from being tired, the day started poorly when the person who volunteered to provide the biggest part of the meal texted to say that she would have trouble getting to the gathering. We made some phone calls to fix that issue. I-we-were stressed.

In the old days, when I would have been tasked to be the primary provider of the religious products and services, we would have been off to a really bad start. Fortunately, humanly speaking, very little depends on me in our group.

One of our guys who comes from the home had been watching TV and was deeply chagrined over the earthquake in Nepal. And, so Evelyn led us into a time of thinking about it that I could not have led on the best day of my life.

She reminded us that the whole earth is groaning as if in childbirth and that God is not affected by these tragedies so that in times like this we can still praise Him and give thanks to Him.

We had a sort of comparatively bland time of singing but a chatty time of praise. And, for us even, a rather robust time in prayer.

Word time, I thought, was shallow, however, we'd already had that profound conversation about nature, God and the earthquake.

All in all, a day that it was good that I wasn't the parish priest. Clearly, the body, and the Spirit, carried the day.

We have some vacation time in the near future. Not too soon.

Relationship, Righteous, Both?

I've been following the George Jensen/Stuart Delony thing that began with George's "prophetic moment" post on Facebook and it strikes me that those two guys are of a kind in a way that puts them in tension with ERC and CGGC leadership.

Both are driven by a concern with what is the right thing to do more than with getting along with others if getting along means compromising the right thing.

Their shared concern is counter culture in both the ERC and at the General Conference.

In those places, it is commonplace to timidly test traditional ways and to draw back at the first sign of resistance. This drawing back in the face of old ways has become the CGGC way of doing the right thing. This is unbiblical. It definitely defies the spirit of the Gospels.

What's more, and more unlike Jesus, in the ERC and CGGC it is commonplace not to confront what is being done that is unrighteous. In the ERC and CGGC, relationship reigns.

In the CGGC these days, we are going to have to care as much as early Church of God people did about living the radical life of obedience that Jesus commanded.

That is not to say that we can do that at the expense of life in community. But relationships in His Body must be rooted in His Lordship. That is not the case for us today. We content ourselves with the attempts just to get along.

I hope, George, that you will fight more tenaciously than ever for the concerns that prompted your prophetic moment. I hope you will have that conversation with bro Delony.

And, I hope our shepherd leaders will allow relationship in the CGGC to be rooted in Jesus and His truth--and in a shared desire to do what is right.

Gathering 4-23-15: Most Special of All

Evelyn was a late in life baby. Her oldest sibling was nearly as old as my mother. She had four siblings, two of whom are still living. The three, um, surviving children live hours apart and the two elders are not in amazing health. All are devoted followers of Jesus. Last night the remaining siblings assembled at the eldest's home for dinner.

When we prepared to sit at the table, Evelyn put grape juice and bread at everyone's place setting. After we sat down she asked us if she could lead in the taking of the Lord's Supper. Everyone agreed.

This is itself an amazing fact because they were raised in a very conservative family in which women were expected to submit and be silent. Even her brother, still a part-time pastor, willingly consented.

Her leading was powerful and poignant.

It involved asking each person to share intimate components of their walk with the others. Everyone accepted the challenge willing.

Things being what they are, not knowing if this will be the last time all of are together, this moment together remembering our Lord's sacrifice on the cross was a high point in family history.

And, for me, it was particularly powerful because it connected me to the way I understand the first disciples lived as a matter of course.

You can have your rituals if you like. But, give me the life we have every day.

Typically CGGC: What's Wrong with the ERC Strategic Plan

Gang,

If God is willing, I'll make some comments about the revised Strategic Plan presented this week at ERC sessions.

I invite everyone to think about these things.  This is not an ERC issue.  The Strategic Plan is a sincere updating and retooling of the old one that is very definitely Rosenberrian and bears the same unspoken and genuine core values as what has been going on at the General Conference in recent years.

Much of these unspoken and genuine core values are precisely what we must repent of.  For now, two observations:

1.  The first professed ERC core value is, "The Authority of the Bible as God's Word," yet no biblical authority is provided for even a single strategy in the entire plan.

(This is the Popism I have often spoken of in the past.  It is, apparently, leadership's contention that the leader and his team speak truth on the level of biblical truth simply by speaking it.  No biblical references or quotes are necessary when CGGC leaders make their proclamations, therefore, biblical authority is rarely, if ever, provided.)

I challenge ERC leaders to provide actual biblical authority for all points of the plan.

2.  (With much more of a big picture view)  The plan does acknowledge the failure of the old plan to succeed in reaching millennials, yet the new plan is really nothing more than an attempt to improve, by tweaking, the old, failed way of reaching the world for Christ.

Many who are not on the mountaintop will tell you that the ERC and CGGC as a whole need a complete retooling and not an attempt to do a better job of failing.

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I have no difficulty predicting failure of this new plan.  Without repentance, failure is inevitable.

My Big Picture Take on ERC Yay God Sessions

I am certain that I have a unique take on the recent annual gathering of the CGGC's ERC Shepherd Mafia.  I didn't experience one microsecond of it in person.

However, I have been in cyber conversation about it and following comments about it, as best I can, on Facebook.

Here's what I have gleaned: 

Some, no, certainly most among the verbal, were very pleased with what took place, seem to have had a joyful experience and were profoundly encouraged and blessed by the fellowship they experienced.  (Notice that the core of this joy is relationship oriented.)  However, others came away concerned at the very least, or perhaps even disgusted, by the disconnect between the sometimes radical simply Jesus talk and the ERC mountaintoppers walk.

This describes the norm for all of the CGGC, as far as I know it, in our day.

It is a characteristic of CGGC shepherd leadership to want all of its people to just get along but that they are inept at achieving that state.

What always seems to happen, in the end, is that people who are not entirely on board with what goes on among the leadership clique are not loved as Jesus loves the disaffected.  The CGGC "least of these" are ignored and their presence is pretended away.

For me, the primary takeaway from ERC sessions is not the joy of some or the concern cum disgust of others but that the great divide goes unaddressed--and, really, by both the joyful and the concerned.

The shepherd leaders who reign will often speak of Jesus' desire that His People be one as He and His Father are one.  Yet, the truth is, those very same shepherd leaders don't walk that talk.  They haven't walked it for decades and, based on what I'm reading, are no more interested in that walk today than they have ever been.

They must repent of that hypocrisy.  They must SERVE, not lead, the whole body.

Or the disunity will continue...

...and, others will not know we are Jesus' disciples by our love for one another.

Gathering 4-22-15

Yesterday was my birthday. It was also the birthday of the woman who is a part of the host couple of our Thursday gathering. For several years, the two couples have gone to the best known buffet in the area for the birthday celebration because that restaurant gives people celebrating their birthday their meal for free if they are with an adult who pays. We continued that tradition last night.

The food is okay and the variety is amazing. Each night of the week, this restaurant features a different item. Wednesday's feature is prime rib. Theirs is not USDA Choice but there's nothing wrong with it. The desserts are good PA Dutch fare--something the PA Dutch are renowned for.

The other couple brought their millennial son along. We know him well and enjoyed spending time with him for the first time in a while.

Now...

...one of the beliefs that we hold dear is that there were no sacraments among early disciples. Even though we take the bread and cup every time we gather we don't do it as a religious ceremony.

We read Acts 2 as saying that every time early disciples ate together they took the bread and cup to remember Him so we did that in the restaurant.

We reflected together on the ways we betray Him and what is new for us in Him. A brief and, for me, meaningful discussion developed after that about what is new for each of us.

I am convinced that we need to give all of our moments to Him and that doing that in community is especially important.

You can have your Sunday Shows and your rituals. I'll stick with life shared together.

An ERC Sessions Exercise

FOR ALL ERCers:

To keep your mind occupied during sessions, count the number of appearances of the name Jesus and the phrase Kingdom of God in the ERC Strategic Plan.

An ERC Prophetic Call (not by me)

Check out George Jensen on Facebook!

May the Lord bless you, George.

Truth matters.

https://www.facebook.com/george.jensen.52?fref=pb&hc_location=friends_tab&pnref=friends.all

Gathering: 4-19-15

I will spare you the superlatives. It's always honest and from the heart but it does get repetitive, does it not.

As always, we are clear about why we gather, i.e., to spur each other on to love and good works. It's the ways we find to do that that surprise me.

Quite a few years ago, we began to talk, from time to time, about the lies we told in a song we have just finished singing. The classic, for us is, I SURRENDER ALL. We can't sing that one without referring to our corporate prevarication.

Today, we were gearing up to sing LOVE LIFTED ME and took note of the absolute commitments mentioned in the second stanza. We agreed that at any time we were about to sing a lie during that song that we would sing, but put a hand over our mouth.

The less inhibited among us actually did that. Then, both before and after talked among ourselves about honesty and about the way we, too often, do things mindlessly when we gather with other disciples.

This group can be extremely lighthearted yet intensely serious at the same time.

We had a few tense moments discussing the fact that the twelve year old in the gathering was actually visited at home by a local police officer because he was bullying a girl his age. Tough moments. I suspect that we will be working on this issue for some time.

We had an extended and varied time of prayer lasting, I'd guess, nearly a half hour.

After all of that, we were nearly two hours into the gathering. Evelyn had pointed out early on that LOVE LIFTED ME was based on the story of Peter walking on water. So, we read that story and talked each other through it and used Peter's faith and doubt to direct us through a time of self-examination in taking the bread and cup.

A new gatherer, Sue, a former coworker of mine, had prepared the main course of what turned out to be an amazing meal.

By the time the last people left our house, we were nearly four hours into the gathering. Amazing, eh.

The Lord is good!

Gathering 4-16-15

I am a morning person. Not to the degree I was when I was younger, but the best time of my day is before 10:00 a m.. So, these evening gatherings are a bit of a challenge for me.   

We started our gathering late because the man in the host couple, who owns his own business, had a very bad and stressful day and was delayed in arriving. Fortunately, Evelyn had organized most of the meal and I helped her prepare it.

But, there was a distracted feel for the gathering from beginning to end. For that reason, the intimacy of the relationships we share was especially sweet and, really, saved the evening.

True to the tone of the evening, the approach to taking the Lord's Supper was arranged in an impromptu way but it worked well for me.

We spent much of the evening attacking big picture issues, including how to minister to a very troubled woman who has come to the Sunday gathering and needs more of Jesus than we can give her through a gathering. That discussion will need to continue. Incidentally, she, like Matt, is a former coworker of mine. She found out about our group through Matt.

We also discussed, at length, a request from someone who is a colleague in ministry with me, to visit our meetings as part of a wish to understand how we do ministry. (Incidentally, he is not the first to suggest something of this nature.)

We concluded the evening with more discussion of chapter seven of CRAZY LOVE.

This discussion was extremely challenging. All of us live very simple lives, at least for white Americans. The question of the evening had to do with the spiritual danger of materialism. Compared to others I know, none of us own much nor love stuff much. But, we do own stuff and enjoy it. Nothing was resolved last night. I suspect all of us left the gathering convicted.

As always, the purpose of our gatherings is to spur each other on to love and good works. I, for one, felt the spur.

YAY GOD! or Woe is Me in 2015 for the ERC?

We ERCers are only a few days from the SIMPLY JESUS extravaganza AKA the ERC 2015 Conference sessions.

A question in my mind is:  Will the gathering be the extravaganza it has been every year for the last twenty or so, and will it, therefore, be a continual recounting of the ongoing brilliance of staff members and a nearly endless listing of their Pentecost-like successes over the previous year OR will it be, well, a transparent accounting, by those king/queen pins who take the stage of some successes and even more failures?

I received an extremely trustworthy set of notes on Dr. Richardson's keynote address from last year's, otherwise, YAY GOD retreat and found some reason for hope.  Kevin hinted that all may not be perfect in the ERC and that the future for the Conference may not be entirely bright.  Good for him!  (YAY KEVIN!)  At least that honest talk was talked, even if I, in my wilderness setting, have not seen evidence of its walk as of this time.

Sadly, due to my commitment to my full-time job, I will, again, be absent from the gathering.  I am asking (perhaps off the blog would be best) for impressions that come to your mind and feelings that you feel during the sessions.

Will the tone be, YAY GOD!

Or, will there be an appropriate sense of "Woe is me?"

Repentance never comes until we experience what Paul calls "godly grief."

Prophets in Church History

Ephesians 4:12 & 11 say that until we all reach unity in the faith etc., Jesus will continue to give His Body apostles, prophets, evangelists and shepherds and teachers.

Institutionalists may choose to take over leadership in the Body--and they have--by substituting their own parish priest oriented and shepherd dominated leadership culture for the Spirit's leadership but, in the end, it is still Christ's church.

You may know that my training is in history. Since I discovered APEST, I have spent a little time poking around, looking for APEST people in our history. Apostles are easy to find, as are evangelists. Prophets are there to be found, but to find them requires knowledge both of history and of the New Testament.

In later posts, I'll mention some prophets from church history. Most are either obscure figures or have been made prominent by circumstances beyond themselves. All I will mention will be known to you, if only by name.

Can you think of any?

Gathering: 4-12-15

Writing this in phases.

Prior to the arrival of fellow participants:

We are doing the main course, this week, which is a chicken based casserole, which is cooking. The coffee is perking. The house is as clean as ours gets. It is comfortable.

We bought the ingredients for the meal. Matt--his last full day with us is today-- loves to cook. He was up before 6:00, cooking it.

We are all sitting and waiting for the mob, which will begin to trickle in in about twenty minutes.

The preparation for this gathering of disciples is, for us, genuine worship, as Romans 12 talks about it. It is sacrifice and service offered to the Lord and His people.

Today is a beautiful, sunny spring day. The golf course is greening and birds are chirping. An easy day to praise God.

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The stragglers are actually still here in the afterglow of a wonderful 3 plus hours.

Lots of praying today. Lots of singing, much of which contained lyrics that are, themselves, prayers.

Today the word was spoken and applied at the same time. One of our women, who is divorced, came asking for prayer because her ex is trying to reconnect with her and their son.

What developed was a conversation about the nature of forgiveness and of the place the fellowship of other disciples in allowing the Lord to speak His wisdom into our lives. Much Scripture was spoken.

The thing that impresses me most in our gatherings is the unqualified transparency that our people practice among each other. Such was the case again today as we confessed our sins and fears and sorrows and victories among ourselves.

We concluded our time in the Word by forming a circle around our friend and praying for her.

Evelyn led a powerful time in the Word in preparation for the taking of the bread and the cup.

The meal was awesome, as we have come to expect.

SIMPLY JESUS: A Primer for ERCers

As you could not avoid knowing if you are from the ERC, the theme for this year's Yay God sessions is, SIMPLY JESUS.

It seems to me that the very idea of doing what the Conference schedule calls for and suggesting that you could label those activities "SIMPLY JESUS" takes the concept of the oxymoron to stratospheric heights that even no CGGC Yay God Conference has yet achieved. And, it strikes me that the planners of this blasphemy and the people who participate in it without objection or qualm are inviting divine judgment.

So this is what I suggest ERCers do:

Pick one of the four Gospels and read some it every day between now and the end of Conference. When you have read it through, start over and begin reading it again and keep reading and reading until the end of Conference. Pay attention to how Jesus lived, what He said and how He commanded and instructed His followers to live. Imagine His notion of simplicity, of purity, for the individuals who follow Him and, also, His notion of simplicity, purity within His church.

Then judge the ERC gathering by what Jesus actually did and commanded and taught. Take honest stock of ERC's leadership's performance of Jesus' simplicity.

Then, whatever it is that you conclude, obey Jesus in reference to those people. Do something: Praise or confront.

I can remember, even in the days I aspired to inclusion in the Shepherd Mafia, annual complaints about the wasted time at Conference, but never anything more than complaints. I believe it's time for the soft, rumbling anger over Conference to end.

If you don't like it and you love the Lord, and if you love the church, speak and act.

One Core CGGC Dysfunction

Gang,

I engaged in the following email conversation, slightly edited to shield identities, regarding the CGGC Bishop post.  The person writing to me's words are in bold, mine in italics:


We've had a bishop for a couple years. You're late to the party.  

 

--- ------was upset about it awhile back.  

 

In reality though it's a black church thing not a high church thing.  There are many bishops in the black church but no pope.  

 

I think you're right to question the use of the title but you should do it for the right reason.  High church isn't where Victor is leading.

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I think it's for the right reason.  For the reason of polity.  There are no overseers in an Eldership.

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Sure there are.  It relates to the use of the KJV by much of that community.  Elder overseer and bishop have all been translations of 1 Tim 3:1.   KJV is the most well known English translation historically. 

 

Bishop is a pastor in many black churches.  

 

I think it's a poor choice because of the connotations with high church but I know that Victor claims no higher role than you or I.

 

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

 

I will probably blog this but this is the core dysfunction of the CGGC.  We have principles to which we agree.  Terminology has always been crucial to us.

We, by principle, don't use that term in that way.  But, in order to assist in mellow relationship, we set aside principle.

This exactly why, in the end, we stand for nothing.

Relationship ALWAYS trumps truth in the CGGC.

Always

 

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Think, for a moment, based on what you know of Winebrenner and the early Church of Goders.  Can you imagine that they would have allowed a person with the authority of the Eldership serving a congregation to use the title "Bishop?"  (BTW, Winebrenner did use the term Bishop in the Church of God in another context, though, I believe, he did it only briefly.)

Of course not.

In that day, the Church of God was highly principled.  And, where there was firm principle, there was no compromise, no matter what relationship might have been at stake.

These days, I can't think of any principle that guides the CGGC that would not be trumped by the perceived need to set it aside for the sake of mellow relationship.

In the CGGC these days, there is a high degree of cynicism and very little genuine sense of community.  Why?  Because there are no firm principles among us that are unassailable, or beyond compromise among us.

If you can name one such principle, please do on or off the blog.

We are dying precisely for that reason.  We, in the end, stand for nothing.  There is nothing that we all know we can commit to, nothing all of us would fight the good fight over.

Of this, we must repent, if it's not already too late.

Gathering: 4-9-15

There are moments when being involved in three different gatherings--and having been a so-called "planter" of each one--feels like a burden.

There is even a touch of reverse talk-ism that I deal with. I say gathering is not an act of righteousness in the eyes of the Lord and yet I participate in three some weeks and Evelyn, sometimes, in four!

We have a lot of real life going on these days. My former coworker, and extreme extrovert, Matt still lives with us and participates in every gathering he can get to. And, yesterday was a very stressful day here. So, I really wanted to cocoon myself away for the evening. But, we feel a burden for all the churches....

No worries. In fact, joys abounding.

This gathering always begins with the bread and cup. I led for the first time in a long, long time, what turned out to be a wonderful, interactive reflection on the prophecy of the New Covenant from Jeremiah 31.

Then, as we sometimes do, we discussed Francis Chan's, CRAZY LOVE. And, we ended up hitting on a familiar theme: Struggling to understand the difference between practicing mercy and enabling further sin.

Sadly, I have to say, we never get any wisdom on this struggle from any source in the CGGC. I don't say that we are further down that road than anyone else in the body. But, we know of no one else engaged on the struggle to the degree we are.

Anyway...

...I was not looking forward to the gathering, but enjoyed it--which doesn't matter in our world--and was blessed by it, which does matter.

IOW, I was spurred on to love and good works.

So, Now the CGGC has a BISHOP!

As the Rosenberry era in the CGGC closes down, things just get strangerer and strangerer.

I was reading through a site run by one of the ERC commissions and and saw a picture with the strangest of captions. There were three men pictured in the photo and the caption read: Bishop Glover and Dr. Steve in Raleigh.

Steve is Steve Dunn. Bishop Glover is Victor Glover, a very nice guy who loves the Lord, without a doubt.

But, Bishop?

Bishop!!!

Does the CGGC have beliefs about the nature of the Body of Christ?

If brother Victor, a church planter, is a Bishop then what is ERC Director of Church Planting, Chuck Frank? ERC E.D. Kevin Richardson?

And, GC E.D. select, Lance Finley? I guess that would, indeed, make him Pope.

Pope Lance! Has a pretty consistent CGGC feel, eh?

There was a time, a few years ago, that I was universally maligned for describing Ed's behavior as popish.

Well, now, I guess now that fits.

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"Bishop." In a publication of an ERC Commission.

Is there any CGGC talk that we actually walk!

Creeping High Church-ism has crept onward and become the CGGC reality.

Heads need, metaphorically, to role at the ERC Yay God Sessions this year!

An ERC Bishop! Can anyone possibly guess what's next?!!

NonGathering: Easter When Every Day is a Holy Day

Our Sunday group won't meet today. This is the second consecutive day celebrated as Easter that our group decided not to meet.

Last year, we did do Easter, just not together. We decided, essentially to outsource Easter. Evelyn and I and the couple who was already hosting the Thursday gathering took some residents of an assisted living facility to a traditional, Christendom, contemporary Seeker-Sensitive "worship service" with the thought that we would like that sort of thing as a change of pace.

It didn't go well. And, I think, for reasons unique to each of us. At least one of us thought, that that church's show wasn't good enough, if we were going to go to a show. None of us, by that time really wanted to be merely consumers of religious products and services. We were accustomed to being participants in gatherings.

Anyway, for a variety of reasons, none of us were interested in repeating that experiment.

One year later, as Easter Sunday approached, it happened that hosting that day would have been inconvenient for us and everyone else just said, "Oh, okay." It was no big deal. That that decision was so easy to make surprised me.

We will be spending the day with my parents and my brother and his wife. I doubt, but don't know, if anyone else will be taking in an Easter Sunday show at a local church. I tend to doubt it.

This is a good time to assess where I, at least, am on my journey compared to last Easter. And, I have to say that I am more confident than ever that I am on the correct path.

As the title of this post suggests, I live with the notion that every day, moment even, is holy. I don't think I was able to learn that until I began to work at my so-called secular job.

Every instant of my life, I am accountable to live as a subject of His Kingdom. To celebrate one day in recognition of the resurrection seems phony and even foolish to me.

Also, in our gatherings, every gathering is a celebration of others' "Holy Week." To set one week aside as holy seems artificial to me. And, I can't bring myself to do it. My conscience won't allow me to without feeling sinful.

I am not suggesting that everyone in our gathering shares all of these convictions

A Pretty Big Shocker Buried in the New CHURCH ADVOCATE

Did you see that the CA wished "blessings" on Justin Meier in the wake of his resignation from, apparently, the whole CGGC?

It was sort of buried in the middle of page 9.

When I saw it, I sent Justin a note expressing my conviction that he brought much-needed giftedness to the CGGC.

I'm way out of the CGGC loop. I read all the official stuff, more closely than anyone I know. But, I'm never in conversation about real life stuff and I hear no gossip. People converse with me about issues of truth but never share news.

So, I can only wonder if Justin was First Runner Up in the CGGC CEO pageant.

If so, I'm sure he was too scary for the conservative devotees of Shepherd Mafia religion on the ADMINISTRATIVE Council.

Anyway, there was no eNews news I saw about Justin leaving. Considering all the hats Justin wore, that is revealing. Sort of demonstrates that eNews really stands for EDnews, a thought many have hinted to me over the years.

Anyway, Justin, as I said to you, I'm sorry to see you go.

Gathering 4-2-15 (and the House Church 15)

No matter where you are or what you're doing, a norm establishes itself.

What we experience in our "organic gatherings" is of such a different quality compared to "going to church" that it's hard even to, well, compare the two experiences.

Anyway, in many ways, last night was just normal. But, then, what a normal!

It is the emotional and spiritual intimacy about these gatherings that is exceptional. And, we experienced that. What was not present so much was the spurring on to love and good works component of meeting that Hebrews 10 defines as core to the gatherings of disciples.

But, for good reason.

We had issues to discuss related to the ending of our lease at the property in Ephrata.

AND, the host couple presented a sonogram demonstrating that they, at long last, are about to become first time grandparents!

In these gatherings, the Word is not central, as is the case in Protestant/Evangelical services. The Lord is, through the intense focus on the taking of the bread and the cup. Such was the case last evening.

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One other note.

Since I stopped being a parish priest, a terrible fit for a prophet, my health has improved. My energy level increased and I lost a lot of weight.

However, all these house gatherings are beginning to their toll. The meals are so amazing that it's hard not to reach for seconds. And the desserts...!

I haven't stepped on a scale but I may soon need to wear a larger waist size!

Cancer Plus Five

It was five years ago today that Evelyn found what turned out to be two tumors side by side in her left breast. Together they were large: 5.4cm x 3.7cm.

Much has happened since then. Chemo, two surgeries, radiation and years of taking an oral chemo drug (which Evelyn is still taking).

And, she is cancer free.

Looking back, the months between the discovery of the cancer and the successful surgeries turned out to high points in our lives. There were moments, since then, when changes took place that caused fears to resurface. During the cancer time, both of us, Evelyn especially, experienced moments of fear approaching despair often interspersed, within minutes, with times in which our love for the Lord and our trust in Him achieved heights we have not reached since.

I have often heard Evelyn witness of the extraordinary peace she attained at what should have been moments of anguish and desperation. These days, she genuinely wishes she could have the walk with Him she had then.

Five years later, do we want to go through it again? Of course not.

But we do understand the blessings available to us when walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

Why Do CGGC Leaders Play Fast and Loose with Truth?

It's a fact that the people I get to deal with who are CGGC mountaintoppers are high church, liturgical types. Ed Rosenberry is. Kevin Richardson, of the ERC, is.

It is the reality that Evangelicalism these days is fadding toward being high church. And, so, it stands to reason that CGGC mountaintoppers would be hopping on that bandwagon . Faddism is a characteristic of the CGGC brand, so I get that.

What I don't get is the CGGC mountaintoppers need to talk the opposite talk.

Guys! If you like dressing up in priestly finery, fine. If you want to wear seven pound crosses on chains around you neck and groove on the Holy Days of the Catholics' liturgical calendar, fine. Millions do. I, for one, disagree with you, along with many others. Still, we can have an honest, and passionate debate about church and discipleship and the Priesthood of all Believers.

But, in the CGGC, there is nothing to debate because the high church mountaintoppers talk a more radical primitivist, organic, low church church talk than even I do.

Even I would not have resurrected Winebrenner's "New Testament plan" phrase for a Mission Statement and even I, as I've said before, won't go so far as to agree to the Bible as my "only rule." It is the high church, Holy Day observing mountaintoppers who wrote that language in the CGGC.

Understand. It is the mountaintoppers who developed that language and fought for it and approved it.

I simply don't understand why they do that. Clearly, they don't live it. Clearly, they want to live something that is quite the opposite of their talk. So what possesses them to talk the talk they talk?

I honestly would love it if someone could explain this to me satisfactorily.

It is as if they NEED to be perceived to be hypocrites.

There is a boatload of cynicism toward the mountaintoppers across the CGGC. And, is it any wonder why?

Don't they understand that not living what you profess suggests a lack of integrity?

Don't they understand that people won't follow them if they themselves don't practice what they preach?

So, why do they do what they do?!?!!!

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And, there's a companion question to go with that one: Why are they permitted to do it?

Gathering 4-1-15

This was the second meeting of this group. It was pleasant and it aligned with the mission Evelyn and I have for life in community in Christ, i.e., it serves the purpose of spurring participants to a life of love and good works.

I am convinced that the Lord wants us to invest, as the Scorecard heretically says, time talent and treasure in this gathering.

There is only one person in this gathering apart from us and so, by current CGGC church planting standards, there is no way that this is a legitimate church gathering.

The third gatherer is one of my coworkers.

We don't know the future yet. Here is one thing I already know about the present: The quality of my testimony in my workplace has already been affected very, very positively, and not only with the coworker who attends.

Will the number of gatherers increase, something the SM values? I don't know.

But, for now, doing this, as the song, YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE, says, it "feels" so right.