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21stcenturyministry

Balancing the council of 18 #PastorFocused

21stcenturyministry · Member Posts: 45 **9/6/17 10:29 pm**

Let's face it our organization needs a restructuring. I don't feel our current council of 18 model works because it tends to favor the fox watching the hen house. At the next general assembly I believe there should be a motion to make the council of 18 only current lead pastors of churches in good Tithe of Tithe standing. The requirement should be lead pastor of a church. I don't think the current majority of the mix of leaders on the council don't have the best interests of the local church they are either owned by the "system" State officials or career church of God office employees. I believe they are servants to a system that keeps the system folks perpetually on the golden titty of church of God international office and church of God state offices. Sure there are stand out pastors on the council but there is a lot of folks that are officials or haven't pastored in years. Current pastors in good Tithe of Tithe status would put a mix of folks invested in the church of God and it would show the church of God values pastors instead of positions. Because let's face it without local church pastors no one would have positions at all.

cogcia

Not going to happen

Friendly Face Posts: 122 **9/7/17 12:16 am**

The System that we created will never let loose of it's power.
This system is so self serving and power hungry that such a change
Would threaten that power. Honestly if the council of 18 has no more power than the state councils do it would make no real difference. Giving honest Council to the man that holds your job in his hands is not power it is a joke.
Councils in our system are controled bodies obligated to system leaders. Even our votes are control by a system that promotes who it chooses to promote. No one will be a leader unless the recycling system promotes them.

21stcenturyministry

Re: Not going to happen

Member Posts: 45 **9/7/17 1:35 am**

21stcenturyministry

21stcenturyministry · Member Posts: 45 **9/7/17 1:41 am**

So only 7 people on the council pastor and "pay the Bills". Something seems wrong about that. But I guess that is what happens when you have a general assembly in Nashville which is cleveland's back yard. you end up with folks who's claim to fame as a pastor was north cleveland's youth pastor for a couple of months on board. You also get all the family friends and churches of those close by. Wake up folks the church of God is losing influence and credibility.

Carolyn Smith

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 5922 **9/7/17 5:59 am**

It seems to me seeing the men mentioned that are on the Council of 18, that it not only represents "system" people, but also people who have maturity in the Lord and a lot of wisdom.

What you seem to have is a total disrespect for the system and any authority. This is not going to serve you well in the COG or any denomination, for that matter. IMHO, the best thing you could do to help yourself is to study authority and its place in the kingdom of God & His work. Once you have a Biblical model in place for what might work, work through the system to change it.
_________________
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spartanfan

I like 'em!

Golf Cart Mafia Underboss Posts: 3638 **9/7/17 7:45 am**

I really like this particular Council of 18. They are not at all like you are portraying them to be. We cry for "younger" and then bash them after we elect them citing inexperience. That's just stupid. And there are strong- very strong leaders who obey God over men on that list and you act like they are just interested in pleasing men and not in making righteous decisions. I like them - I like them a lot. I disagree with the entire premise of this post and I suppose it's made by somebody not on that list who has sour grapes over not being appointed to something. I'm not appointed to anything except my local church to pastor right now and I say that we have fine men on our Council of 18 that really want what's best for the Kingdom of God. I plan on voting for each of them that is eligible to continue at the next General Assembly - which won't be in Cleveland's "back yard." I can't believe you even criticized that. Sour grapes. I suppose the final answer in your mind is to put you and people like you on the Council of 18. I pay my tithes right and only got 2 votes to go on - that was probably wise of the Ordained Bishops too Smile

21stcenturyministry

Re: I like 'em!

Member Posts: 45 **9/7/17 8:13 am**

21stcenturyministry

Member Posts: 45 **9/7/17 11:28 am**

Does Cleveland serve pastor or do pastors serve Cleveland?

Redneck

Acts-celerater Posts: 664 **9/7/17 7:13 pm**

The COG is no different than our Federal Government. It is all hot garbage.

The system is set up to for everyone to aspire to be at Cleveland and to make $$$$.

It will take some time, but the COG will eventually dwindle down to an organization of old saints that reminisce about the glory days of the church.

I have essentially seen this in the COGOP, that I grew up in. I have been COG my entire adult life and the very same mentality is what I see within the "politics" of the COG.
_________________
That haircut of yorn may be citified, but your heart was shaped in a bowl.....................Briscoe Darling

21stcenturyministry

Council of 18 dream team

21stcenturyministry · Member Posts: 45 **9/7/17 10:15 pm**

All Pastor Council of 18 dream team

Tony Stewart city life
Mark Williams north Cleveland
Loran Livingston central church
Sam Luke victory tab
Marty baker Stevens creek
Kevin Harris Cooper City
Eliezar Bonilla abundant life
Steven lowery national cog
David fox lighthouse tab
William Lee Daytona deliverance
David smith family worship center Pueblo mm
Ben Prescott- Free Chapel Orange County
Niko Njotorahardjo- Bethany Indonesia
Nick park pastor Ireland
Doug Anderson Rose Heights
Joe dobbins twin rivers
Tony Scott church on strayer
David Cooper Mount paran

Then we make state council appoint and decide state overseers
I think that would give us good checks and balances in the church of God and bring us back to health as an organization. These are folks that earned the right to be on the council.add to or edit this list however you like

SouthGeorgiaBoy

Re: Council of 18 dream team

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1037 **9/8/17 12:57 am**

[quote="21stcenturyministry"]All Pastor Council of 18 dream team

Tony Stewart city life
Mark Williams north Cleveland
Loran Livingston central church
Sam Luke victory tab
Marty baker Stevens creek
Kevin Harris Cooper City
Eliezar Bonilla abundant life
Steven lowery national cog
David fox lighthouse tab
William Lee Daytona deliverance
David smith family worship center Pueblo mm
Ben Prescott- Free Chapel Orange County
Niko Njotorahardjo- Bethany Indonesia
Nick park pastor Ireland
Doug Anderson Rose Heights
Joe dobbins twin rivers
Tony Scott church on strayer
David Cooper Mount paran

Your list here shows just how out of touch you are. I can name about six here who do not deserve or would not even meet the criteria as it relates to correctly reporting tithe of tithe to serve in an elected or appointed position. Yes there are some good guys on this list but not all for sure.

21stcenturyministry

Re: Council of 18 dream team

21stcenturyministry · Member Posts: 45 **9/8/17 9:09 am**

[quote="SouthGeorgiaBoy"]

21stcenturyministry

Member Posts: 45 **9/8/17 11:21 am**

Thoughts???

Da Sheik

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1865 **9/8/17 12:29 pm**

I have tremendous respect for authority and leadership. Having said that, I spend very little time worrying about who is serving on any particular council, board, or committee. I have never been asked to serve on an international level, but I can tell you from serving on the state level at various stages and positions, it can be a thankless job. If I'm never nominated for another board or committee position again, I would be perfectly fine with that. I encourage those who have a desire to serve in that capacity. At this phase in my life and ministry, I feel my efforts are best spent in my community.

I am an advocate for less administrative pork. I do like the model of having pastors serving at the highest levels. It seems to work effectively for the Southern Baptists. But then again, they are autonomous, which brings us back to the initial conundrum that centralized government presents.

I better stop. I'm starting to sound like Bro. SheepDog
Laughing

21stcenturyministry

Member Posts: 45 **9/8/17 12:54 pm**

@dasheik Centralized government can work we just have a lack of checks and balances. I think a pastors only council of 18 will allow oversight. I think state councils selecting state overseers would fix a lot as well. This would show us that we are pastor and church focused. I don't necessarily like the think younger plan even though I love what they are tying to do and have great respect for those involved. I think we need a new plan named pastor focused. I like that #pastorfocused. I might just have to work with that.

cogcia

Respecting leadership

Friendly Face Posts: 122 **9/8/17 9:49 pm**

I honor and respect leadership but I have totally lost respect for
The way leadership is done in our denomination. We have lost our
Way. We have become system focused and not harvest focused. Pastors
almost become prisoners in a centralized from of government. You either learn to deal with it or you lose everything. Our leaders serve the system because the system serves them well. You can't fix leadership issues because in our denomination our leadership holds all the power and local pastors only know who to vote for because they are promoted by our system. Extremely few of people that get into Denominational leadership will nwwever pastor a local again.
They can be great leaders that serve the denomination well, but not serve the local church well.

21stcenturyministry

Re: Respecting leadership

21stcenturyministry · Member Posts: 45 **9/9/17 4:27 pm**

Tom Sterbens

Re: Not going to happen

Golf Cart Mafia Capo Famiglia Posts: 4508 **9/10/17 8:42 pm**

[quote="21stcenturyministry"]

21stcenturyministry

21stcenturyministry · Member Posts: 45 **9/10/17 8:48 pm**

Nope I'm just someone out of the loop. I don't want to get rid of anyone in Cleveland I want to enhance Cleveland. I want to see pastors have a real checks and balance system. I think it would help Cleveland to think outside of the box and allow new things to happen because we as pastor will have heros to look up to in ministry that are doing what we hope to be doing some day. The church of God needs to make a spotlight to the churches that are performing well and make them model churches for there regions. The only way this happens is if we give pastors power and make the church of God pastor focused by giving them the council of 18. Right now pastors really don't have any power. A step towards officials who also pastor churches would be massive. It makes me sad when I see a pastor step up to the Cleveland arena because I know it means they are walking away from traditional pastoring. I think we should have both officials who occupy an office and pastor. Let me just say this men like mark Williams who step into pastoring after leading office are rare. Mark Williams is a hero in my book.

21stcenturyministry

Re: Not going to happen

Member Posts: 45 **9/10/17 9:00 pm**

[quote="Tom Sterbens"]