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!
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