Wertzy commented on a previous post of mine..and within is comment he said:
I still don't understand why so much money and design work goes into a church, but the local Boys and Girls club just gets a rectangular concrete building.
Amazing! Nick..you dont even know. I know that a few choice people that read this feel exactly the same way..huh? I certainly do. If you dont know..my church is in HUGE financial disorder..I think I mentioned that before. The reason why we are in trouble is because of our nice new "kick ass" building (that is for you t...you know who you are..). We have to let our two associate ministers go. That makes me sad. I heard from another person from the church that says the reasoning coming from the elders isnt so much the financial issues but that they want the church to be more of a new testament church..which I guess would mean not having paid ministers. Way to disguise everything. HELLO??? Huge deficit anyone!! And why are we keeping Jeff? hmmm... Thanks Nick for the good comment.
4 comments:
Rose, it is JB. I hope I am not the person you are quoting in your comment. If it is, I am saddened because you missed my point. Josh and Matt were let go because of financial reasons. I had seen where $60,000 had supposedly been "earmarked" for the kitchen wing. I am pretty sure that money does not exist. We have kept track of what should be in the building fund, and "borrowed" against it to pay bills. My point was that GOD controls all the money anyway, so we have to look at the underlying reasons. The "kick ass" building is not the reason for our trouble, although it is a symptom thereof. Perhaps it is because there was no clergy in the early Church as you say, or perhaps our congregation is under judgement. Maybe there is an attitude issue with tithing or we have neglected the community as Nick pointed out. My point was that we should try to look for the bigger picture that GOD wants us to see. The danger is that one might get tunnel vision and focus on the mundane details rather than the supernatural why.
Obviously, you are entitled to your opinion, but it is hurtful to hear you indicate that you think everything has been intentionally disguised. It actually sort of tears me up inside.
I am pretty sure that Jeff will not remain at our congregation as a paid minister.
For what it is worth, I hope that if you leave it is because of the travel time and not because of your hurt.
Maybe we shouldn't talk about it anymore, although that is not in my nature. I perceive that I have made you feel worse in trying to give you a sounding board. Forgive me if I have, please.
You did a good job at work today (yesterday). I know I seem short with everyone, but as you know we are severely understaffed, and the extra falls on me. I am happy you work for our company and especially me.
Let me know if you need anything.
Your friend,
JB
test. My other comment did not post, I think
hey, JB, watch my blog. what's funny is that despite the fact all of this totally adversely affects my family, it might just turn into a career option for me. i'm certainly pursuing it.
to all - i don't think a church having paid staff is unbiblical by any stretch of the imagination. what i DO think is unbiblical is having them if your finances are out of balance and paying them is preventing you from taking care of the community. josh has been struggling with that for over a year. ever since they put everyone on a spending freeze, josh has felt guilt that b/c he has to provide for his family and has bills to pay, even though he's needed there, his paycheck is preventing the church from reaching out like it should.
however, i certainly don't think that the $4000/month increase from josh and matt leaving is going to make as much a dent as not having a mortgage 4x that size. there is not ONE DAY that goes by that i don't dream of what NWCC could do for the whiteland community with $16k/month. it's staggering to me. exciting, and yet amazingly sad, b/c that's not how we chose to invest the money our congregation is giving. it makes me wonder who we could have touched, helped, shown the Gospel to in a real way that we haven't b/c of bricks and steel. whew.
yeah, most of that will be on my blog i'm sure.
Ty, - JB here.
Your comment is well thought out and you present sogent arguments. I would agree with most of what you say. I think, however, there needs to more clarification on the "paid" staff issue.
The is certainly biblical precedent for paid leadership in a congregation. (I Tim. 5:17). However, a clergy system is totally unauthorized in the New Testament. So, it is sort of a fine line. A lot of congregations treats the "Staff" as their priests, i.e. - handling all the "religious" duties. I think you will agree that this type of clergy system is not scriptural. Most "Ministers" have to continually fight to have people not treat them as priests.
Actually, your point about not even hiring staff while chained to a mortguage is very well taken. Don't take this the wrong way, but that is why I was against hiring both Josh and Matt. I have seen it happen enough that I knew we were in for a hurtful time, and be dragging the new ministers through it.
Anyway, just bear in mind Romans 8:28. It WILL help you. Yes, the finances are crap and things are hurtful, but GOD does have great plans for you and Josh and Matt and Jesse. For what it is worth, I am sorry that it came to this.
Let me know if I can help. If I have offended you, please forgive me. It was unintentional.
Take care,
JB
Post a Comment