Leaders of the Lord's Recovery

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Freedom

As far as I'm concerned, the LC has always had a leadership problem, and at the most basic level the problem is that there are lots of ineffective leaders. As it turns out, that is not just coincidence. It is one of the side effects of WL's elder-appointing game. I'm not out to judge anyone for their inexperience or unsuitability as leaders, but at the same time, every single LC leader is someone who has made the decision to function as a leader. When the opportunity presented itself, they were the ones who stepped up to the plate. So there is thus an assumed individual responsibility for their either successful or failed leadership.

I can say somewhat confidently that one of the things that was particularly frustrating about the LC was having to follow ineffective leaders. As it turns out, ineffectiveness is merely the surface of the issue, and at worse, an 'unassuming' style of leadership has been a front for behind the scenes manipulation and control. I have encountered LC leaders who are overtly authoritarian (these types are less common). The other type would hardly be identifiable as elders, but they have the ability to rule with an iron fist behind the scenes. What is problematic is you can't tell what's actually going on unless you are really familiar with who these leaders are.

Great points here.

As a longtime church deacon constantly implementing the elders' direction, I found it nearly impossible to work with those who could never make a decision and live with it. Oh sure, we could preach endless messages about learning to follow the Lord within, but when the decided (and prayed over) direction of the church could be instantly altered by some ten minute phone call from headquarters, then all those teachings become useless. There was frankly no pattern of spiritual leadership on the local level.

During the run up to the GLA quarantines, TC in Cleveland ordered one of his workers, escaping LSM's Chicago takeover, to come and takeover our place. The two existing elders, both of whom had migrated to start the church some 20 years earlier, were sideswiped to make room for TC's boy "elder." How discouraging is that? My feeble attempts at protecting the church were useless when the local leaders lined up behind him.

Thus the true character of the so-called "local" churches was openly manifested for me to finally see: franchisors in Anaheim and Cleveland manipulating pawns in their established franchises to gain advantage over their opponent. Why would these pawns cooperate? In the game of chess, if the pawns can advance to the other side, without first getting knocked off or captured, then they get to be anything they want. How good is that!?!