Quote:
Originally Posted by Hope
I know when I began to write the history many were interested to know how the eldership worked and how our relationship with WL and the LSM worked. The way the thread has gone has given an excellent opportunity to take a look at some of the service of the so called leading ones.
In Dallas, the elders were usually the last to leave the hall. Many nights my phone rang after mid-night. Poor old George Whitington, the papa elder and master bond-slave was deluged everyday as soon as he arrived from work. There was a dear sister, (one of the junior high students who was saved in Waco) who lived with George. She once told me that she would never marry an elder because she had seen how much George and Cleo, his wife, had to lay down their lives to serve others.
Serve others? There were many young people who wanted your prayers and advice as to college, dating, engagement, marriage, where to live, what job to take, their parents, their boss and on and on. I have had college students call me at 2:00 in the am. They could not sleep because they were so worried about what to major in and wanted to talk. No problem. Slaves do not have the right to chose when they are called to duty.
One of the most difficult matters to handle was a request for fellowship regarding marriage. I cannot count how many times I heard WL give the advice of "the elders should not put people together." "If the marriage does not work out then you will be blamed, the church will be blamed and the Lord's Testimony damaged." But I never heard him say anything about what if someone approaches you about their getting married. Are you just to utter some platitudes on marriage? What if you see the relationship leading to over the cliff? Should you just say nothing less you be accused of manipulating people? In my own experience, 95% of the time I had no particular impressions regarding a couple. They got the general Biblical help and I wanted to be sure that they realized I was for them and available. That needed to be demonstrated. It could not just be a nice slogan. It does take time to demonstrate your love and care. George and Bob Bynum were outstanding at this and far ahead of me.
Forget about the errant teachings for a moment, I and the other elders made lots of mistakes, lots of mistakes. The tragedy was that the mistakes were with real people not with objects.
In Christ Jesus there is hope for us all,
Hope, Don Rutledge
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Hope, thank you for sharing your experiences as an elder. I had no idea of the sacrifices you endured. I don't think it's fair nor healthy to generalize when referring to elders, brothers, or sisters in the church. Just as there were elders that craved power, control, and manipulated, likewise were there elders who served, and didn't seek the power and control others sought. Rather they labored to keep marriages together when situations arose. Francis Ball was one such brother. There are other brothers like Francis, but like American media outlets it's easy to focus on the negative reports than the positive reports. I'm sure when negative reports about abuses in varying churches, my reaction is how could this happen? You summed it up with deputy authority.
Terry