I love church problems. Especially those "did you hear about ..." They are the best because ..... To speak about them are to SOW DISCORD which means those that gossip about them are homosexuals. <-Abomination == Abomination ->
Some people like it when others are hurting. IF there is a church in ... Someplace in California.. that has problems, I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE PROBLEMS ARE !! I just want to hear "Pray for xyz church they are going through rough times" at that we can all pray and let God Fix it. This is still the Body of Christ.
May I say something rather personal here...I am the mother of 7 sons. For almost 30 years we worked in south Brazil and when we left that area we left our oldest son in charge because he had the same vision and shared the same burden...another one of our sons is scheduled to leave from this area we live in to a jungle area and work as a missionary. Both these sons proved themselves in the ministry. The other night my husband called another son that lives in this area and rumors have it that he is in line for this work. I heard my husband tell him son, if you think you are going to take this work when we hand it down it will BE the people that will love you, respect you and want you to be their pastor!
I do feel if a son has worked beside his father and is called and the people know and feel it then he is usually (not always) the one for the job...
I refuse to let a son or son in law destroy what I have worked all my life to build!
Anyway...what people have been talking about for the majority of this thread is the ISSUE at hand....is it right for a pastor to unilaterally change the by-laws to state he, not the church body, choose the next pastor? This is the issue at hand.
Do the by-laws give him that right? If not, then he does not have that right.