I've had yet another surreal experience on this forum as I read these posts speculating on a situation that the authors of the posts have no personal knowledge of. I cannot express how utterly bizarre it is to read what people not connected with New Life Church have to say about our situation. (Of course there were a few very kind remarks as well.)
If you do not attend New Life and have not listened personally to the explanations of how things will work, why would
some of you speculate about the situation and then dare attribute motives of the worst kind to the main people involved? It's shameless.
Kim Komando, it was so charitable of you to liken David Bernard to Hitler and Rodney Shaw to Goebbles, Hitler's chief propagandist. Before writing such a witticism again, perhaps you should pause and carefully reflect--and dare I suggest, even pray--if it is ever appropriate to liken two decent men like Bernard and Shaw to two of history's greatest monsters. Whether you were serious or joking, it was a disgusting thing to write.
Kim, I gather that you may construe most things you disagree with as "propaganda." You refer to "Apostolic Identity" as though it were some sinister plot, best mentioned only in a whisper. Here's a link to what DB wrote about it in an update to the ministers of the South Texas District. (Point 7).
http://www.stxupci.com/september-update/#more-331. What he writes is polite and imminently reasonable. No one is holding a gun to a minister's head and forcing him or her to believe certain things or to belong to the UPCI. The UPCI officially endorses certain views about the new birth and holiness standards. If a minister doesn't also endorse these views, it seems reasonable for him or her to withdraw as DB suggests. There's no animosity here.
The following should excite many of you. I just saw the following update on RS's blog in which he responds to this thread. Yes it's true!
http://rodneyshaw.wordpress.com/2009...ew-life-church. It should prove enlightening to all--and will probably thrill some posters at the thought of more potential controversy (yay!). Certain posters' mouths will no doubt water as they parse every sentence trying to read between the lines to discover RS's true motives in writing such a blog post--surely the truth can't just be what he says. That would make for a dull forum, of course, and I realize that trying to divine hidden agendas is almost irresistible.
I thought I would do something novel and actually read the manual regarding the requirements for the GS regarding pastoring a church. I was surprised to discover that the basic qualifications and duties of the GS only take up about a page in the manual. Here are some excerpts:
Article IV, Section 2. Election of Officers.
1. The General Superintendent, the Assistant General Superintendents, the General Secretary-Treasurer, the Director of Foreign Missions, the Director of Home Missions, the Director of Sunday School, and the General Youth President shall be elected by the General Conference for a term of two (2) years, for a maximum of eight (8) consecutive years.
All the above offices shall be full time with the exception of the Assistant General Superintendents.
Article IV, Section 3. Qualifications and Restrictions.
1. In order to hold a general office in our organization, the following qualifications are required: A general officer must be at least thirty (30) years of age, must conform to the Fundamental Doctrine, must have been a minister in good standing with us for at least five (5) years, must have been ordained at least one (1) year prior to election, and must have proven loyal to the organization by cooperation in the up-building of the work. The only exception to the above is that the General Youth President does not have to meet the thirty (30) year age requirement.
2. No person can hold two executive offices at the same time.
ARTICLE V
RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF GENERAL OFFICERS AND RULES APPERTAINING THERETO
Section 1. General Superintendent.
1. The duties of the General Superintendent shall be as follows:
(a) To preside at all General Conferences.
(b) To call General Board meetings.
(c) To preside at all sessions of the General Board.
(d) To appoint all committees pertaining to the general work.
(e) To sign every credential, license, fellowship card, and church certificate.
(f) To be overseer of all general work in cooperation with the General Board.
(g) To attend all annual district conferences or in the event that he cannot attend, to delegate another general official to represent him.
(h) To withhold the issuance of license, credential, or fellowship card when he has reason to believe the applicant may be in question. The application is to be referred back to the District Board or to the Credentials Committee.
(i) To be General Overseer and General Manager of all divisions.
2. The General Superintendent shall act as President of the Corporation in all legal matters.
(a) He shall be authorized to sign all official and legal documents, deeds, and mortgages.
(b) He shall act as a trustee of all corporation property.
It never explicitly says that the GS cannot remain a pastor of a church, but the expectation, of course, is that in order to adequately fufill the role of full-time GS, the GS would be unable to also pastor. Which is why DB will not remain as senior pastor of New Life. (DB did, however, do a pretty good job being a full-time pastor, district superintendent, and president of UGST at the same time.) RS will take on the great bulk of pastoral responsibilities as of Jan 1, 2010, and full pastoral responsibilities in June 2011. Keep in mind that the General Board had no objections to this transitional plan--oh wait . . . it's another conspiracy!
Finally, if you would like to see some pictures from the election, here you go:
http://www.newlifeupc.org/pictures-f...toral-election. BE FOREWARNED, there are several smiles in these pictures. Lest some posters think the smiles were just meant to conceal the dastardly plan DB and RS had cooked up for New Life, I can assure you that we were all just happy for RS.
Blessings to you all.
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