Breaking in the new guy

I have mentioned this point before..............

That is a weakness in the general operation of Assembly of God Congregational Rule.............

If you get a Pastor who makes poor decisions, and reasoning members of the Congregation get fed-up and leave, that leaves more of the "sheeples" who fall under the influence of the Pastor, and about the only way to make him leave is for enough tithing members to leave so that he will eventually go somewhere else, because the Church can't support him.

Of course, by that time, the Church is in ruin from losing its financial, membership, and staff assets.

Example:

A church has a membership of 200 when Pastor Ross Perot arrives.

He starts implementing changes that are to his own self-interest or "vision".

Pastor Ross Perot is only able to keep 70 of the 200 people convinced that they should continue to go along with his "vision".

65 members of the church feel that they are wasting their time, assets, and tithes at that church.  They eventually get fed up and find new church-homes.

The Day of Decision arrives.  It is obvious that the church has lost 1/3 of its membership.  The remaining persons who see that things are going badly manage to get an Assembly of the Membership for a meeting, and some sort of "vote of confidence" on the direction of the Church that has cost the loss of attendance.

With 65 people gone, that only leaves 65 who will still stand up to the Pastor and his cronies.  The previous "minority" of 70 "sheeples" are now the majority vote, and you cannot change anything.

(I have seen manipulative pastors use this to their own financial advantage.  We had an A/G Church in Milwaukee that had in its Constitution and By-Laws that the term of the Pastor shall be "Year-to-Year" and that, at the Annual Membership Meeting, the members shall vote on whether to renew the Pastors Term-of-Office.....

This Pastor convinced the congregation that this rule put a cloud of uncertainty over any Pastor's head, and kept him from using his full Potential for the Church.....

He proposed a change to the Constitution, granting him as "Pastor for Life", and the Membership approved it.

Within 2 years, he tore the pews out of the Sanctuary, replaced the Worship Team, blackened the windows, and spent the building maintenance budget by turning the foyer into a coffee bistro.

The tithing adults left the church, the only folks remaining were the 15 to 25 year-olds [who do not have the financial means to support a church], and when the church ran out of funds ----- he left.)

So what I'm hearing is that they should've served better coffee so they could keep the finances rolling in?

Phillip Gross wrote:So what I'm hearing is that they should've served better coffee so they could keep the finances rolling in?  

Once they started serving the fancy-schmancy coffee for the 15-25 crowd, it was grounds for the older folks to leave. (3..2..1...did you get it?)

That's the unique beauty of an Old Man.


He has so much Wisdom that you look forward to hearing him speak,


And he is so Corny, that you cringe when he does.

That gave me a chuckle. I thrive on corny!

I thrive on coffee, not corny.

Addict...

Actually, since Cruz beat Iowa's ethanol lobby, there will be more corn for everyone!

joecool wrote:Actually, since Cruz beat Iowa's ethanol lobby, there will be more corn for everyone!

^         ^       ^       ^        ^        ^         ^         ^         ^

And it all starts right here.

Political 

Objection! Only the OP can call "thread hijack".

Phillip Gross wrote:Objection! Only the OP can call "thread hijack".

Overruled!!!

Animal farm 1982. Were living it right here and now. Grin!

Mark Jones wrote:Animal farm 1982.  Were living it right here and now.  Grin!

Dang kids don't know anything. George Orwell 1984 a have to read in hig hschool on commy life. all the barn yard animals rebel against the farmer and oust him out... only to find the pigs move into the farmers house and life is worse...grin Promises and good intentions galore.

So now you know. It's a good read. It will point out the failure of committes. Trusts, buds and if it sounds to good to be true it's not true. (At least that is what I got out of it grin)

You guys and your poly (Many lies) ticks. (blood sucking). It's amazing stuff and we just keep falling for it. Grin.

What this has to do with breaking in the new guy....0%

GRIN!

Mark Jones wrote:Dang kids don't know anything.  George Orwell 1984 a have to read in hig hschool on commy life.  all the barn yard animals rebel against the farmer and oust him out... only to find the pigs move into the farmers house and life is worse...grin  Promises and good intentions galore.  

So now you know. It's a good read. It will point out the failure of committes.  Trusts,   buds and if it sounds to good to be true it's not true.  (At least that is what I got out of it  grin)  

You guys and your poly (Many lies)  ticks. (blood sucking).  It's amazing stuff and we just keep falling for it.  Grin.

Not to hijack but you said Animal Farm 1982. If you said Orwell 1984 I know about that old timer. Old timers think cause you twice as old you always know more lol. Not directed at you Mark specifically but elders can fall to pride of old age. When I have different opinion on current events my father inlaw takes it as argueing and he knows better cause he is older. I just walk away smh knowing age is not always the number one factor in wisdom or knowledge.

So. Grasshopper. We lost the new guy topic. Overruled by Old age and sound reason! Ha!

Blame it on me Master Po everything is my fault.

Hey my son just got hired on at Walmart. They hired him on the spot.
So he is the "New guy" so were edging back towards being on topic.

Grin!

Now I'll really get us back on topic. The new guy wisely stayed out of tonight's duel at the leadership meeting. The Bethel influence will finally be dealt with, once and for all. The showdown is in two weeks and there are fence-sitters who will be forced to make a decision. Depending on what it is, it will likely result in the departure of myself or an elder. It's been a long time coming.

Well, I'm not a "church-hopper". I've been a member/attendee of three churches in the past 20 years.

However;

I will NOT stay at a church and financially support it, if I feel that it is going in a direction that I strongly disagree with.

One Caveat:

We did have a previous pastor who attempted to turn us into a wackadoodle cult. We almost left, but there was an insurrection brewing, and we elected to wait him out.

As we are on the cusp of officially starting our search for a new pastor, this elder is desperately trying to keep the door open for a Bethel clone. Emboldened by my stand, I saw one deacon stand up to him tonight for the first time in 3 years.

I take it that this "Bethel" thing is the quest for Heavenly Manifestations in the church?

If so, people should realize that you cannot force God into doing Parlor Tricks. I'm not saying that there are not bonafide manifestations, just that they come on His terms at His time --- even if we do everything "just right".

Wicked and perverse generation seeks a sign.