As the Living Church of God continues to struggle administratively and financially it has to start cutting back on expenses. Jimmy Meredith can only redecorate so many offices and take so many all expenses paid trips to Hawaii till the money till starts going dry.
Imitating their mother church, the LCG is pulling the same trick that the Worldwide Church of God did decades ago when it had members dress up in Sabbath wear and answer phone calls in their homes. That experiment was a flop like so many others. It's the 21st century and they STILL can't come up with an original idea.
Jimmy Meredith writes:
Then like any good COG leader, Jimmy declares that if the program fails its the fault of the membership. Its success depends entirely upon the membership. No one in Charlotte could ever be held accountable!In an effort to potentially save a substantial amount of this expense, we are exploring the possibility of bringing our call center in-house. However, for this to happen we will need your help! This is an opportunity for Church members to let their lights shine and have a direct “hands on” part in preaching the Gospel. In order for this to be successful, we need many volunteers who are able to work from home and are willing to assist with our peak-volume call-in periods at different times throughout the week.
The success of this project depends on you!
One ringy-dingy; two ringy-dingy....
ReplyDeleteA gracious good afternoon, Mr. Meredith.
We see here that you want to cancel our call center.
We'll do better than that.
We're terminating your telephone connections.
We can do that.
We're the telephone company.
We don't care -- we don't have to.
Just like you.
Meredith is about to retire. He needs as much cash as possible.
ReplyDeleteLil' Jimmy and the other LCG ministers are also now accepting applications for members who want to serve by cleaning their homes, polishing their shoes and giving afternoon back rubs.
ReplyDeleteTheir reward will be the sweet satisfaction of serving one of God's true ministers.
Act now! Spaces are limited!
Well, telemarketing organizations in my area use "prisoners", (kind of like ACOG tithe slaves?), people who are incarcerated and on work-furlough, to staff their phone centers. Major corporations use call centers in India to support their products, and services. PBS uses volunteers. So, I have no doubt that church members could handle a few phone calls. Personally, I'd want them to sound like they didn't have a corncob up their butts, so I'd allow them to wear Levis, tanktops, and sandals so they could be comfortable, but that's just me.
ReplyDeleteThink of it as being Jehovah Witnesses on telephone as opposed to knocking on doors. Each of these "communicators" could be seen as conducting a personal ministry. Nah, on second thought, the ACOGs are against personal evangelism, and if LCG allowed it, they may be inadvertently grooming a bumper crop of ego-infested Bitter Bobs that will arise and afflict them in the future.
Bummer, dudes! This is another way you Armstrongites have pasted yourselves into a corner, and out of sync with the times!
BB
LCG is hemorrhaging money.
ReplyDeleteNothing is safe from budget cuts.
They are even considering cutting TV to put more focus on more modern and costs effective means of "doing the work".
Poor management and the use of unqualified men always meets with the same results.
Not to mention that karma is a bitch.
Every change is touted as a move forward, an improvement, etc. Didn't the PT come out on newspaper print for a while? I don't recall how they positioned that. Perhaps they said that more people read newspapers than magazines. Whatever. It doesn't matter what explanation anyone gives to these members. God's leaders have made a decision so it has to be correct. Build a second and third campus . . . a move forward. Close one or two campuses, another move forward. Never admit to a mistake or a lack of progress. Say whatever you have to say; do whatever you have to do to keep the money coming in.
ReplyDeleteYep it is hard to pay for things when you are having to put out substantial amounts on top notch lawyers.... I feel so sorry for them...NOT
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of the in-house call program is member retention. Give people an "important" job to do and they won't leave. Same purpose for the goto video, although it's not giving a job to the lay members its purpose is member retention, not outreach. That's why the various ministers aren't named in the video. They're already famous rock stars to the primary audience (existing lay members).
ReplyDeleteLikewise all the grandiose proclamations from Dave Pack and any othr COG leader are done for member retention, not growth.
When one ponders this, this situation could very well back fire if one or several members have seen the truth and now use it to tell those that phone in. Wow, some can have some real fun with this.
ReplyDeleteDoes LCG have enough members in INDIA to be able to handle the call center?? ;-)
ReplyDeleteI presume the church members will volunteer their labor.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI presume the church members will volunteer their labor.
December 9, 2015 at 6:18 PM
That is the whole point - free labor. Years ago in WCG, the main room in the feast ad building in Big Sandy was lined with cubicles and phones manned by local members to take all the calls that came in after a telecast.
I'll volunteer!
ReplyDelete