Being Very Serious (Part 41)

The cost of conducting business on an international level at our General Assembly escalates tremendously every two years. Since I am not pastoring now I am not sure of the amount asked by our AB for each church to provide for their pastor to attend. But I know many retired Bishops won't get to attend the Assembly because of limited personal budgets. I personally think the vote of any retired Ordained Bishop is just as important as the next man's, but again because of those financial limitations many will not have the opportunity to cast it. The same could be said of our bi-vocational pastors who cannot afford to attend.

We have utilized the technology for computerized voting on the Assembly floor for years and I'm sure there is some technology available that would permit qualified men to vote via the internet by computer or smart device-but somehow that technology is not yet incorporated into our voting system. Because of this the choices of many will never be expressed on the GA floor.

Retired ministers and bi-vocational pastors get frustrated at not being able to be present to vote their choice or conviction. Some have been a part of this denomination for the majority of their lives.  Just because a church has a lot of members (bloated lists) doesn't mean they always have the money or means to send a pastor to these meetings even if they make the attempt. I do believe that every Assembly is an important one because of the elections, resolutions, and items on the agenda as well. However, many eligible voters will not be able to make it to Nashville even as close as it is to SC due to the expense that is involved.

To my knowledge we have never been given a reason in the past why the technology to vote through the internet has not been investigated or implemented by our leadership. Some would say it's too costly to invest in that type of technology. Huh? How much do we allot for GA's technology anyway? We've cut the overall cost of the GA by moving Teen Talent away from it as well as cut into our crowds for services. We rent the technology used to cast ballots and vote. We who have used that same tec both in general and state meetings know it' not perfect. In fact there is no perfect system out there. But if an attempt were made to include everyone in the balloting and voting that is qualified and unable to attend,  I believe it would show our membership that we really cared about having everyone's opinion on matters of leadership and doctrine across the board. To me the opinion of a pastor of a church under 50 is just as important as the opinion of a mega-sized church.

One of our nearby states took up an offering like we used to do to send their retired ministers to the Assembly. When they didn't get enough money to do so one of their churches offered to make up the difference. That's how important the ministers of that state felt it was to have representation present in Nashville. Several churches in other states are assisting the retired ministers who attend their churches to go. All of this issue could be solved and money saved if we could use internet voting. We can watch it on the internet, so why can't we use the internet to express our opinion and vote?

This may never happen in my lifetime, but it's food for thought for future leadership. Some will say, "If you really wanted to be here you would make the sacrifice." That sounds all spiritual and such, but as the old saying goes "you can't get blood from a turnip." When you get one check a month it's different than being on a regular payroll. I never anticipated having to give up my church early because of health issues, but it happened. That doesn't stop me from caring about the future of my denomination. I just pray that with the technology of today someone will come up with a plan that will include the majority of those eligible in the decision making process in the not so distant future.