The ERC is Defunding Care for its "Greatest Resource"

At the very beginning of October, ERC E.D. Dr. Kevin Richardson published a new
Healthy Church Update, his monthly article to the people of the Conference.  In it he declared his love and appreciation for the ERC's pastors.

That issue of Healthy Church Update was, in my mind, the most memorable, poignant and powerful he has written.

Dr. Richardson began sentimentally describing his regular visits to ERC "worship services."  He said,

One of my great joys as Executive Director is to worship among our churches.  I love to arrive at a church early on a Sunday morning.  I always take time to pray for the pastor and his family and the church before entering the building.  I have found that it is hard for me to sneak into a worship service...(When I am able) I love to sit quietly and simply watch the pastor as he greets people and gets ready for the morning worship...I know how important those moments are leading up to the start of the worship service and many if not most of our pastors are using that time well.

After that, Dr. Richardson recalled a moment in the past when he was asked what he considers to be the greatest resource of the ERC.  He remembers that his response was immediate and required no thought,

I was asked one time what the greatest resource the Eastern Regional Conference had.  The answer came quickly-our pastors.  Our dedicated men and women who are serving well the people of God.  Servants of the Lord who preach the Word of God and love the people of God.  Pastors who long to see God's kingdom grow and multiply.  Faithful men and women who like Jesus give their very all for the church.  Outside of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, our pastors are our greatest resource.

Later in the article, Dr. Richardson recalled his own trepidation as his preparation for ministry came to an end and as he anticipated his future life in church leadership:

When I concluded my master's level seminary education, the time came to leave school and dive head first into ministry. I confess that I was not prepared for leadership in the local church. I had heard horror stories for three years of pastors who were stressed out and leaving the ministry. As students we were consistently warned of the hazards of pastoral ministry. I felt as though I was being led to the slaughter.

Yet, his fear was allayed with the reading of one very important book.  Dr. Richardson testifies,

But that changed for me during my last semester by reading "The Heart of a Great Pastor." This book by H.B. London and Neil Wiseman encouraged my heart then and still does today.

He includes this quote from the book:

Let's admit that every pastor stands at the center of what makes ministry meaningful for him. The springs of fulfillment are internal and personal. The whole thing starts with that first stirring in your soul about ministry; no one else heard the dialogue and debate between you and God. Because God called you, it means you measure fulfillment differently from people in other occupations or other pastors. It means you are fulfilled when God is most pleased with your ministry. (62)

With London and Wiseman's insight as his backdrop, Dr. Richardson offers this sweet picture of the challenges and the joys of the life of the man and woman in ministry:

Being a pastor has tremendous challenges today-but the rewards far outweigh the challenges.  Pastors have the greatest joy of all-the joy of sharing the Gospel and helping lost people find Jesus.  But there is more, oh so much more.  Pastors have the privilege of dedicating children to the Lord and then watching them grow up in the Lord.  Pastors have the joy of officiating marriages and being the first to say, "I now pronounce you husband and wife."  Pastors represent Christ in the midst of crisis and challenges, in emergency rooms and in nursing homes.  And pastors have the privilege of speaking the last public words on behalf of a saint God has called home.  It is in these moments that pastors are most like Christ and perhaps God is most pleased with our ministry.

Then the ERC E. D. offers, from his heart, this personal, and as I've said passionate and poignant word of appreciation to the pastors of the Conference (with my emphasis):

October is Pastor Appreciation Month.  To every pastor in the ERC, to every man and woman who has responded to God's call and is serving well our Lord Jesus Christ and His Church, I say thank you.  You are the greatest resource we have.  Remember your calling, maintain a healthy balance to life and ministry, and serve well with the smile of God upon you. Scripture says, "Here is a trustworthy saying:  If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task" (1 Tim. 3:1). May you be appreciated and celebrated this month and above all may you bloom where God has planted you!

Never, have I read Dr. Richardson express himself more eloquently.  Never have I known him to communicate so tenderly.  The power of his appreciation moves me.

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You may, perhaps, understand when I say that I was perplexed when, a few days ago, I received a note from the Conference publishing next year's budget and which emphasized the central role Dr. Richardson played in its development:

Under the leadership and direction of Kevin Richardson, Executive Director

and the approval of the ERCCOG Administrative Council, the 2016 Budget

has been established.

It is probably no surprise to anyone in the CGGC that, like the rest of the CGGC, the ERC is declining at an exponential rate.  And, as you would expect, money is becoming increasingly tight with each passing year.

With few exceptions, the 2016 entire budget reflects significant belt tightening.  Most of the Commissions' budgets were trimmed.  One was eliminated and absorbed into other Commissions.

On the other hand...

...It is worth noting that, in spite of the belt tightening foisted on nearly everyone else, as income declines, Dr. Richardson was able to find money in the 2016 budget to offer a small INCREASE in Staff Salaries and Benefits and that the money put into the "Conference Office Account" remained the same.

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I mentioned that the proposed budget perplexes me.  Actually the increase for the staff and office doesn't perplex me and it doesn't surprise me.  Those folks know, without doubt, that the church is an institution. 

What leaders did here is perfectly consistent with the Conference leadership model I have been railing against for years.

So, the increase doesn't perplex me and it doesn't surprise me but it does infuriate me.

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What perplexes me, after Dr. Richardson's poignant and tender expression of appreciation for the ERC's pastors and his declaration that our pastors, apart from the Gospel and the Holy Spirit, are the Conference's greatest resource is this:

Dr. Richardson's budget removes all funding for Pastoral Care Workers and explains that "Pastoral Care Workers will be discontinued...."

I am perplexed.  I don't really know how to understand this.

If the man whose leadership and direction established the budget believes that, apart the Holy Spirit and the Gospel, our greatest resource is our pastors, why doesn't his budget reflect that conviction?!  Why is care designated for pastors specifically ended?  Where is the foresight, the view of the future in that?

Was Dr. Richardson lying about his appreciation for the role of the pastor and his conviction that we have no greater resource than our pastors?  Is Dr. Richardson, well, a liar?  I've known him for more than twenty years and I can't believe that.

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I am, indeed, perplexed but here is my theory:

Number 15 on my list: Sixteen Characteristics of the CGGC Brand, Pre-Finley-Findlay is:

Organized Hypocrisy.  There is illogic and outright contradiction among the things the CGGC claims to be true about itself.  This illogic and contradiction is, in reality, deeply rooted, highly intentional and carefully executed.  A hypocrite is an actor: "...a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings."  It is a positive and essential value of the CGGC to speak one message and to, without qualm, act out another that is entirely disconnected from that avowed principle. 

Is this the explanation?  It certainly fits what Dr. Richardson said and then did.

It is par for the course for CGGCers, and particularly CGGC leaders, to say one thing and do another thing that is exactly inconsistent with what is said.

Do I think Kevin lied?  Do I think he is a liar?  Of course not!  He is a good and sincere man who loves the church and wants the best for it.

But, he certainly has also imbibed hook, line and sinker, the value system by which the General Conference and the ERC operate.  Organized Hypocrisy is standard operating procedure in those worlds.

I am absolutely certain that when Kevin wrote that note of appreciation for ERC pastors and when he stated his conviction that the ERC's greatest resource is its pastors that his eyes tingled with tears.  I'm certain that if he would go back and reread what he wrote about our pastors, he would say that every word of it speaks his heart.

And, I am equally certain when it was decided that the Conference's program designed to care for its pastors would be defunded, he did that with a cold heart.

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I'm a geezer in the CGGC.  I've been around.  I know nearly all of the leaders of the General Conference and the ERC personally and well.  I believe all of them, Kevin included, to be good people.

But, I also know them to be believers in the CGGC way, which is deeply institutional and which, I also believe, defies the Word in all of its essential values.

We need to repent on the big picture level--the level of values, the level of the system.

And, I am convinced, we need to remove every leader who carries out our unbiblical and institutional values.

Kevin is not really a liar.  But, living according to the CGGC system, what he said about pastors and what is doing in regard to them does not fit.

No wonder that another CGGC characteristic is Cynicism.

We needed to repent a long time ago.