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Committees....

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by Reynolds, Feb 17, 2019.

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  1. Reynolds

    Reynolds Well-Known Member
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    I don't know why, but committees have always annoyed me. They spend more time talking about doing something than it would take to just do it. We are about to build a new sanctuary that we don't need. I almost laughed out loud when I heard that we now have a "stewardship committee" to oversee the construction. I guess what it's always been called, building committee, doesn't sound Biblical enough.

    Not long ago, my father in law was on the "house and grounds committee." He was replacing the front doors to the church. He had the door frames out and another committee member was driving by and saw him. He stopped and told my father in law that the whole committee wanted to be involved. My father in law packed his tools up and drove off. About three hours later, the pastor called him and asked him if he was going to come back and finish. My father in law said, so and so is so smart, let him and the rest of the committee do it. The pastor said, they don't know how to do it. My father in law said, well they should have left me alone and it would be done. Long story short, the church didn't have any doors for several days.
     
    #1 Reynolds, Feb 17, 2019
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2019
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  2. JonC

    JonC Moderator
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    I agree. They should be called buildeth counsels.
     
    #2 JonC, Feb 17, 2019
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  3. Squire Robertsson

    Squire Robertsson Administrator
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    My home church is organized for ministry, not decision making. IOW, yes we have commitee\groups but usually, there is one person taking the lead.
     
    #3 Squire Robertsson, Feb 17, 2019
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  4. Van

    Van Well-Known Member
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    When I first became involved in church leadership, we would have meetings and eventually one or more topics would be tabled, put off till the next meeting. In business, we sought input from all stake holders, but then drove to a decision, so that the business would provide for the stakeholders.

    So I was frustrated, and thought to myself, this is no way to run an organization. But as the years rolled along, I began to need more time for prayer and study and consultation, I understood, why the more senior leaders behaved the way they did. When you are going to be held accountable for your stewardship, you want to do your best to stay in the center of His will.
     
    #4 Van, Feb 17, 2019
  5. Jerome

    Jerome Well-Known Member
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    I just had to chuckle about this from the organ of the SBC, Baptist Press:

    SBC President JD Greer Appoints Committee on Committees

    The guys pushing something called the 'SBC Leadership Diversity Initiative' are ecstatic about about how 'diverse' this 'Committee on Committees' is:

    SBC Voices: Committee on Committees Is So Diverse

    The Baptist Press article gives a rundown of the Ethnic and Gender makeup of Greear's 'Committee on Committees':

    Ethnicity

    50% are White
    50% are non-White (= 24% African American + 15% Hispanic + 7% Asian + 4% Other/Multi-ethnic)

    Gender

    34% are Female
    63% are Male
    [I'm not sure what 'gender' the remaining 3% would be, it doesn't say!]
     
    #5 Jerome, Feb 17, 2019
  6. Reynolds

    Reynolds Well-Known Member
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    We have always joked the our nominating committee is a "committee to appoint committees."
     
    #6 Reynolds, Feb 17, 2019
  7. Reynolds

    Reynolds Well-Known Member
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    Some things need prayer and some don't. If the lights in the church sign don't work, fix them, don't pray about them. If the windows leak, fix them, don't pray about them. If the fire Marshal tells you that your fire alarm system is not working correctly, fix it, don't pray about it.
    Our house and grounds committee took over 2 years on the fire alarm. The Windows still leak and the sign still does not work. They are "handling it."
     
    #7 Reynolds, Feb 17, 2019
  8. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    Actually, I have been in SBC churches that called that committee- "The committee on committees"
    I prefer to call it the nominating committee!

    Committees do have their place in churches - if done properly.
    Suppose you have a "Sunshine" committee - one of their jobs is to
    send out get well cards, birthday cards, ect.
    There is no need for the entire church to vote on which individuals receive a card or not.

    But there might be a poblem in the church, if the committee voted 5 - 4 to send the pastor
    a get well card after his heart operation!


    One other thing - I am familiar with a church - that years ago - was running well over 250 people.
    They had a dozen committees or so - well the church split - with about 50 members remaining - then
    they actually got down to about 30 members - BUT they still maintained their dozen or so committees.
     
    #8 Salty, Feb 18, 2019
  9. Van

    Van Well-Known Member
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    Not knowing the details, I think a Leader should sit in on the committee meeting and find out why they think non-functional signs, leaking windows, and malfunctioning fire alarm systems do not need to be fixed. Can they spend money (do they have an approved budget) or do they just make recommendations.
     
    #9 Van, Feb 18, 2019
  10. Reynolds

    Reynolds Well-Known Member
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    They have to get spending over $500 approved by deacons, but they never asked for the money. We (deacons) actually sent them several memos requesting they get the items taken care of. We finally called in the chair of the committee and asked her why the alarm was not fixed. She said because "The fire Marshall is stupid and we don't think we need a functional campus wide alarm." She was instructed to fix it anyway.
     
    #10 Reynolds, Feb 18, 2019
  11. RighteousnessTemperance&

    RighteousnessTemperance& Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, that's one to chuckle at. Looks like their math is just off--calculates as 66% male (45 of 68).
     
    #11 RighteousnessTemperance&, Feb 18, 2019
  12. Jerome

    Jerome Well-Known Member
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    Good to know those remaining committee members are actually males, and not intersex, 'trans' or what have you. Thank you for crunching the numbers, makes sense the quota is right at 1/3 female & 2/3 male for gender, and exactly 1/2 White & 1/2 Non-White for ethnicity.
     
    #12 Jerome, Feb 18, 2019
  13. Van

    Van Well-Known Member
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    Did your "requesting" memo's have a "please arrange for the listed repairs and provide the arranged date for each repair" as soon as possible to the Deacon board?

    I think a lot of our problems arise from the lack of clear lines of authority.
     
    #13 Van, Feb 22, 2019
  14. David Kent

    David Kent Well-Known Member
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    I think that is called a project manager.
     
    #14 David Kent, Feb 22, 2019
  15. David Kent

    David Kent Well-Known Member
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    What do you have deacons for if it is not to get the work done. Seems as if you have too many chiefs and not enough indians.
     
    #15 David Kent, Feb 22, 2019
  16. Reynolds

    Reynolds Well-Known Member
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    Here lies the problem. The chair woman of the house and grounds committee is best friend of the pastors wife. The pastor defends her. Only 3 deacons have enough back bone to buck the pastor. One of the other 4 even admitted to me that he knew the pastor was wrong but did not want to stand up to him because his wife would give him Hell if he did. Too many women wear the pants in too many of the families in our church.
     
    #16 Reynolds, Feb 22, 2019
  17. PastoralMusings

    PastoralMusings Active Member

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    Do you know what a camel is?








    It is a horse built by a committee.




    ‘Nuff said
     
    #17 PastoralMusings, Feb 22, 2019
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  18. Van

    Van Well-Known Member
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    Well we can agree on this: The bottle-neck is usually at the top.

    God bless

    Van
     
    #18 Van, Feb 22, 2019
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