Missional Church of God

Emily Stone says that coming out of the General Assembly, we’ve been blowing off steam here on MissionalCOG.  I’d have to agree.  Some of the main culprits can be found creating fodder for reformation critics who have begun gathering intel for the 2010 General Assembly in this thread.

So, let’s shift gears and help these church leaders get serious and move forward with a serious topic and a question for you.  What are the biggest opportunities you see available for the COG to take advantage of? I’d like to hear your thoughts.

I believe the greatest single opportunity for the COG lies in Church Planting. I believe there are two primary sources of capital available in the COG for significant Gospel Advancement.  They are: Read more »

Check out my Top 10 Takeaways from Made To Stick.  You can also check out some of my other Book Reviews here.

Here are some quick hits of what is taking place in the COG Blogosphere.  The most interesting pieces are highlighted in TALK SOUP, which will be a weekly MissionalCOG feature.  Check it out:

• Pete Zefo tells his story via video about how he came to know Jesus.  It also includes how he came to be a resident at the Smokey Mountain Children’s Home.
• Jonathan Martin talks about Agenda Item 2 and his participation (incident) in the discussion on women.
• Jonathan Stone uses the “S” word to describe the state of Church and Pastor’s Councils in the COG following this General Assembly. Read more »

To date, MissionalCOG.com hasn’t had any rules. Until today, we’ve never deleted a post. We’ve had some unwritten values such as transparency, authenticity, mutual submission, and respect for one another. Those unwritten values have helped us engage in open, honest dialog. Nearly all of our posters/contributors have shared under their own names, which has created a really wonderful community. Read more »

Faith News has a ton of great info posted now from the General Assembly.  Check it out here.  If you’re having a difficult time understanding how Agenda Item 2 went down, you can get up to speed in a few of the news pieces below: Read more »

Raymond Culpepper’s Commissioning Address can be viewed here.  I also twittered the service (plenty of typos).

I can only speak for myself, but…

I passionately believe that that “suddenlies” of Pentecost still happen (I’ve said that many times). I believe they happen in moments where people have been brought to the precipice of chaos, at least from our perspective. The uncertainty of what to do next is often combined with a pressing reality before us that forces us into an atmosphere of crisis, which imposes a subjective dependency on God’s grace and mercy that presses us through a threshold of the yet unknown into the presence and renewed purpose of God. And, He never fails.

I believe a “suddenly” moment is what happened on Wednesday afternoon. After all, we say we are Pentecostal. I believe there are still moments of grace and power when God transcends human process and sequence and “suddenly” provides a “realization” that exceeds our present capacity or limitation. Read more »

In just a moment, Kelly and I will go to the Alamo Dome one more time before we leave San Antonio for vacation. I’ll end my time away from Life Pointe Church by speaking at New Hope Church in Tennessee where Tom Sterbens pastors on Sunday, August 17. When I return home, I’ll take my oldest daughter for her first day of school. I’m ready to get back. I’ll feel very encouraged on my way back.

Here are some of the reasons why I am encouraged:

• The General Assembly proved it CAN BE the highest governing authority in the COG. Read more »

I presented the following substitute motion this morning. It was ruled not germane. I appealed from the decision of the chair to the body. The body was required to vote with the ruling of the chair or with the appeal. The General Council upheld the appeal in the range of 950-625 (not precise).

That substitute motion reads: Read more »

Of the Council of 18, 13 are not under appointment by the Executive Committee. 11 are pastors, including Nick Park and Tony Scott. The complete list of Council of 18 members are below: Read more »

So far, the Ordained Bishops have elected five men (4 are pastors/not under appointment by the EC):

• Bryan Cutshall
• Loran Livingstone
  
• Bill Isaacs
• Tony Scott
• David Cooper

Today will be interesting. I’d like to say that we’ll hit the mark of 13 pastors/Ordained Bishops who are not under direct appointment by the EC that we’d like but, there’s no way to know. Our state overseers have such familiar names and there was a significant jump among some of the really wonderful men that serve in that position in the second round of voting. So, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Presently, we have reduced the list to the top 65 names. I made a motion to identify pastors on the list after one or two others asked that pastors be identified. It was seconded. The moderator overruled that motion. I appealed from the decision of the chair. The appeal failed.

A note about that:

• Managing your tone is hard work when your heart is pounding in your neck. I could have been talking to Santa Claus and I would have had a hard time measuring my tone. My hat goes off to Brother McGuire for being able to keep a measured voice as he moves through the meeting.

Some other notable highlights are that:

• it looks like Jentzen Franklin will be going on the Council of 18.
• The challenge of identifying pastors and, especially international pastors is significant.
• One international pastor who is showing well is the former homeless drunk, Nick Park.

There are already several outlets across the internet where you can find out who was elected to which offices.  We haven’t posted it here yet, so I will fill in the blanks.

YCE Director: Tom Madden

YCE Assistant: Gary Lewis

HM Director: JImmy Smith

HM Assistant: Larry Timmerman

WM Director: Bro LeRoy (I missed his first name…oops)

WM Assistant: Victor Pagan - he became the first international to fill this position in world missions.  The moment he was elected the place lit up.  I don’t know him, but a few people around me were pretty excited about it.

So far there are 5 members of the Executive Council (council of 18).  They are, in order of their nomination: Bryan Cutshall, Loran Livington, BIll Isaacs, David Cooper, and Tony Scott…4 of the first 5 have been pastors.  On a side note, both Tom and Travis are still on the ballot - in fact, on the nomination ballot, Trav got more votes than TL Lowery…what is the COG coming to?

You can check out the resurgence meeting here, but it was pretty cool.  Dr. Mike Chapman kept us on target from a governmental perspective while Travis, Jerry Lawson, and a few others discussed the substitute motion options for the realignment of funds.  I had to bail early, so Trav or Tom will have to fill in the last 1/2 hour.

• 3,172 unique readers today so far on MissionalCOG.com.
• 391 unique viewers on the Mission of Jesus Resurgence Meeting video. (170ish peak all at one time).
• $640 raised last night to go towards buying the US Military troops video gaming systems and plasma tvs for the USO.
• “Anthems for a Broken World” Project introduced to raise $500,000 for Mission in 2009.

Presiding Bishop - Raymond Culpepper

1st Asst - Tim Hill

2nd Asst. Mark Williams

3rd Asst. David Griffis

Secretary General - Wallace Sibley

The moment where Wallace Sibley was elected was electric.  For the first time in history an African American was elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the Church of God.

Click on Crowd Status for all of the known COG GA Twitter Feeds.

You can watch and participate in the Mission of Jesus Resurgence Meeting in San Antonio by clicking here.

The meeting will begin at 9:30 PM Central Daylight Time (10:30 PM eastern). The live streaming video will feature a chat forum to the right of the video where you can pose questions, which will be read aloud in the meeting. You’ll also be able to interact with other viewers in real time.

GUEST BLOGGER, Harold Bare, Ph.D., pastor of Covenant Church in Charlottesville, VA

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My thoughts are shared today after 40 years of study and research on Church of God executive structure. These efforts to study and research have been made with the desire to bring about a more positive and effective structure.

The propositions presently being entertained by you in your forum are:

• Proposition #1: Elect at least 13 pastors to Executive Council.
• Proposition #2: Reduce funding by local churches to general headquarters to 10% and mandate 1/3 of this amount coming into International Headquarters be designated by the General Assembly for World Missions.

Both are in heart well intended and would potentially bring about some improvement. The problem that would remain is that the system is broken. Even if both of these propositions were to pass, we would still have an endemic flaw that is not General Assembly [GA] mandated.

By fiat the Executive Committee [EC] has commandeered the power of the General Assembly [GA]. Read more »

Weeks ago, I wrote concerning the heart of the Church of God and I wrote about our “Heart Song.” I guess for me, that’s where I’d like to end up…one final examination of our heart.

Yesterday, I drove to Cleveland and met with Julian Robinson, the Director of the Business and Records Department. I had never met this man before, what a gracious gentleman. I value forthrightness greatly and he was/is that. He informed me up front that there may be information that he was not empowered to disclose. I told him I understood that. There were no mixed words- only straight answers to questions that fell within his purview. That’s cool.

Anyway, perhaps the most enlightening information I received was when I asked him a question regarding deficit or delinquent money not sent (unpaid) into headquarters with monthly church reports. It’s staggering. Check this out:

Read more »

OKAY, here’s the deal:

Unfortunately, when you are “defenDING” something it can be misinterpreted as being”defenSIVE.” And from a debate standpoint, the degree to which an observation or viewpoint can be proven to be subjective (defensive)…then the validity of that viewpoint is diminished substantially. What a masterful shift is accomplished at that point.

For years there has been a call from the pastors on the front lines of the Church of God to downsize the COG administrative mechanism in terms of International Headquarters. Whether or not that is a justifiable request, I do not know. However, motions have been submitted unto that end. What is absolutely amazing is the “redirect” that is handed back again and again in the last two General Assemblies:

Here it is, “You want a cut? Here’s your cut: World Missions.” Read more »

One thing that really excites me about our location for the Missional Resurgence Meeting is the location, the San Antonio USO. The staff there has been exceptional in providing a space where military families can eat for free and gather while visiting in the City of San Antonio. They’ve also gone out of their way to open their doors up to us.

The environment is phenomenal. The 10,000 square feet of excellently located space is easy to get to. Read more »