We are weeks away from the meeting where the Committee of Action will meet to decide how the Reallocation of Resources plan goes down. It is decision time. And, the Committee of Action is empowered by the General Assembly to make a decision.
REFLECTION ON THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
I won’t go into the details of how it went down. There is plenty to read and plenty of record to examine. What I will say is that Raymond Culpepper stepped into a chaotic situation, went to the floor mic, and invited the COG into a quest of trust. He said, “no tricks.” He stuck his neck out and the General Assembly put themselves on the line and trusted him implicitly.
THE COMING DECISION
Next month around 150 men will sit down and make the decision for how the Reallocation of Resources will go down. Sunday night, I spoke with Mark Williams. He shared that it looks like this meeting will be streamed live on the internet. In perhaps, the most powerful move toward transparency, it seems that we will be invited in to see how this “continuation of the General Assembly” will go down.
We will either see first-hand, the coming together of the Committee of Action as they execute the desire of the General Assembly. Or, we will see the protection of a system that has failed to live up to the expectation of the General Assembly and mandates that declare how monies are to be spent for mission.
DANGERS
As I understand, a number of Administrative Bishops and some administrators have asked that this decision be referred back to the General Assembly or stretched out beyond the promised 5 year time frame. Further, in meetings such as the Board of Church Ministries, there has been vocal push back against this initiative and even some of the people instrumental in bringing the change about. Should members of the Committee of Action attempt to extend the time frame or play games with the General Assembly, there will be fallout beyond our wildest dreams.
LEADERSHIP OF RAYMOND CULPEPPER
I was encouraged with the bold and decisive action by Raymond Culpepper at the General Assembly. Rather than being forced into change from the floor, Raymond Culpepper stepped onto the floor and tied his administration to the integrity of the execution of this motion. I spoke to Raymond Culpepper in San Antonio. Among other things, he looked me in the eye and said, “Travis, I will not let anyone touch the time frame.” There was zero equivocation. I believed him then. I believe him now. I am beyond encouraged by the good and honest leadership of Raymond Culpepper. I’m not the only one.
I’m proud of the guts being displayed in the face of challenging circumstances. There are tough decisions to be made. Some have already been made. That’s what leaders do. Leaders make decisions others don’t have the courage to do. The leadership challenge is significant. Not everyone has ability to rise to the occasion. Leaders do. Raymond Culpepper has. I believe he will.
A WORD TO ALL OF OUR LEADERS
These words are directed toward every leader: pastors, members, administrators. There is nothing more valuable than the mission (Matthew 28:19-20). I have been very silent…others have been very silent since the General Assembly, even in the face of pressure to speak up. To date, I’ve had nothing but positive things to say and with good cause. Good things are happening. However, we ought not miss the gravity of the situation that is soon coming to a close. There has been some pressure to change the terms laid out by the General Assembly. They won’t succeed. But, we ought to be mindful and communicate with our leaders our expectation that we follow through to the end on this item. It won’t be easy. But, it will be good.
Filed under: church of god |
Missional Church of God 
At the listening tour meeting yesterday, Dr. Culpepper said that the Int’l Office budget will be at approx. $15,000,000 by the target date. That’s down from around $25,000,000 for the last fiscal year. It certainly came across to me that he was leaving no wiggle room the commitee. The logistics of such a cut are enormous. The impact on the lives of men and women who have given most of their lives in serving the administrative needs of the church is heart-breaking. This is not an excuse to delay but simply a reminder that behind every $ there is a real live human being that will need our prayers as their life is turned upside down.
To me the difference will be around $4,000.00 a year assuming my tithe base remains static. As it looks now that will probally not be enough to offset the increases in property insurance we will see from the state office no longer subsidizing our payments.
Either way the mission remains unchanged.
I would just like to call everyone to prayer about this SERIOUS issue. Having now served on the Steering Committee, my eyes have been opened to the enormity of this task. I can say for sure that there is not enough “fat” to cut for a reduction of 1/3. We will have to cut meat…and possibly bone. However, this does not change my stance, nor does it weaken my resolve. The TOT must be cut by 5% in the next 5 years.
When you consider that the Int’l Office budget is currently at $25 million, that it was cut by $1 million because it went in the red $1 million, and that even with the now reduced budget, we are still on pace to miss budget in 2009 by $1 million….the thoughts of cutting another $10 million are SCARY, to say the least.
This is why radical realignment is required, now. We must restructure with the Mission in mind. Something that I am CERTAIN has not been done in the COG in my lifetime.
I could say much more….in fact, I did…and then deleted it. Let me just sum up by saying, “We desperately need prayer because we are desperate for a God-sized solution to this challenge.”
I’m praying and believing!
Jerry, I agree with you whole-heartedly. Prayer is important now and will be just as (if not more) important then.
I am encouraged by the level of transparency our leadership is showing. I once again believe in our leadership…a trust earned.
I have no idea what this will all look like when we finally get there, and I don’t think any of us really do…but if the Church of God is truly the Church OF God then I’m sure He’ll work out the details. He is not nearly as worried about this as I am 🙂
Regional concepts scare me, in light of growing up in the Pacific North West during the last round of reductions. I know it looked good for many of our churches initially, but in the long run it hurt our churches in Oregon and Idaho. Now many of those churches are doing better…maybe showing it takes at least a generation to really see the fruit from these kind of hard decisions.
So I guess you would say I’m committed to the mission and to prayer.
I did an extended piece on this subject here.
Travis,
Is there an agenda published for this meeting or do we have any idea of which direction they are leaning towards with the cuts?
Darrell Buttram mentioned his thoughts about the regional thing and I am concerned about that as well. I am in the Rocky Mountain Region and when they first spoke of the cut to TOT the rumors we heard we’re that we would become a super region with several other states out west. I hope these are not the kind of changes we see coming, but I would love to know what they are thinking.
Mark
Mark,
I think the combined regions will be a good thing. And, it is going to be the necessary thing I believe. I’m 6 hours from my state office. There are only two churches further south. I generally develop a quick ulcer when I get a call from area codes 423 or 813 (kidding). The mission is in my town.
For me, I say whatever it takes even if its my closest friend that’s on the receiving end of the cut. It comes down to mission and freeing up the church to more aggressively embrace the Mission of Jesus.
I’m not sure about the agenda. You’ll have to get someone with a better inside track on things. That isn’t me.
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