WHO WILL SPEAK FOR US?

On Friday July 25, 2008 a great servant of God and His Church passed from our midst, Dr. John W. Conley. Dr. Conley was was a great preacher and a great friend of preachers. He will be sorely missed by many people.

John Conley is the most recent great statesman the Church of God has lost in the last five years. A number of our great preachers and leaders have gone onto Heaven and they have left behind them a huge void that somehow needs to be filled. To say the Church of God suffers from a leadership crisis would be a gross understatement. It appears to me we are sorely lacking the type of individuals who have the name recognition among the Church as a whole and who has the overwhelming respect of the majority of our pastors to stand before us in times of upheaval or crisis and say, "This is the way we should go" and have an overwhelming majority of people agree with them and follow them and that person be right!

I vividly recall my first North Carolina General Assembly meeting. The people in attendance were wrangling over an issue that had been bothersome to them for quite some time. Being brand new in the State I had know idea what all the fuss was about but it was very obvious to me that several people were very passionate about the issue being discussed and no more than two of them could agree on any single point. I couldn't help but wonder what I had walked into. I had no idea who any of these people were and why this was such a big issue. After some time a gentleman in the back of the sanctuary asked to be recognized and was so recognized by the chairman. The gentleman stood to his feet and began to speak in a very even, sure voice. He was not upset. He was not emotional. He had simply been listening and assessing all the points of view that were being voiced on the matter at hand. In essence he stated he had been listening to all the different points of view and in his opinion he laid out very simply what he thought the Assembly should do. Everyone listened. More importantly everyone calmed down. What this man said made more sense than anything else that was being proposed. Someone made a motion to do what this good brother suggested and the motion passed overwhelmingly! The brother who stood and spoke was Forrest Plants, Senior Pastor of Hickory First Church of God. He had been in the state for many years and he had a proven track record with the Assembly members.

Such a person is what we are so sorely lacking on the national level at this current time. This is a common topic among pastors when we get together. People are very concerned for the future of the Church and we are floundering without the solid leadership we enjoyed in years past. I have been told by older ministers who are among those that have passed away that there was a time in Anderson when a contentious subject would arise in our national assembly and someone like Dr. Dale Oldham or Dr. Boyce Blackwelder could stand and speak and enjoy the respect and sentiment of those in attendance.

Who will replace the John Conleys, the O.L. Johnsons and the others we have lost in recent years? How can someone rise to their prominence in the Church today? Pastor Danny Goins and I discussed this very subject just yesterday during a chance meeting at the local hospital. Brother Goins has an interesting and valid opinion on this matter. He feels one of the reasons we no longer have people who enjoy the majority's respect as in days past is because we have no way of introducing our best and brightest to the Church as a whole. Years ago this was accomplished through our camp meetings and local church revivals. I think he is exactly right! Many of the people that come to my mind were great camp meeting and revival preachers. They went from place to place declaring the great message of the Church of God and people got behind them and their message. The vast majority of our congregations no longer host revival meetings. Furthermore our pastors no longer encourage attendance to camp meeting services and as a result camp meetings all across the country are dying.

These two trends are not so much the fault of the laity as it is of the pastors. If a pastor doesn't promote camp meeting people won't go. On the other hand if a pastor promotes camp meeting and people do go they almost always enjoy themselves immensely! They not only enjoy the services but they enjoy being with God's people. The same is true of revival meetings. When I was a child local congregations supported one another. We attended and participated in one anothers revival services. No more. Why? Are we afraid if we promote someone elses meeting we may lose some of our people to that host church? Are we so insecure that we think our people will hear better preaching than what they are accustomed to hearing at the home church? To me such thinking is carnal and childish. I came to the conclusion a long time ago that whatever church I pastor will never be "everyones cup of tea." Some will like what is served and stay and others will not like what is served and move on. That is life. Grow up and get over it!! There are much more important things at stake than our egos.

So I come back to my original question, who will speak for us, us being the majority of the church, those who have "seen the Church" and want to see the Church go forward in holiness and power? Church we need to pray for our leaders, both present and future. We need to plead with the Lord to raise up individuals who we can get behind and support. Men and women who will have the mind of Christ and a heart for God. Who will they be?

Just something to think about.

Pastor Jordan