Living Church of God has had a rough patch lately with one mishap after another. While this has been a long term problem in the LCG, it has been pronounced over the last few weeks, leading many to ponder whether God is displeased with the church and its leaders.
An LCG source reports:
Two Sabbaths ago, Rand Milach (Kansas City pastor and member of the COE) passed out during his sermon as if he were being struck down. That same Sabbath Mrs. Byersdorfer, wife of another LCG minister fell at Sabbath services and fractured her hip. Last Sabbath, Bruce Tyler (head of LCG's work in Europe, Australia and Asia) had a major stroke and is not expected to recover. (Tyler has since died) Then a couple of days ago Scott Winnail (son of Doug Winnail, LCG headquarters minister) fell and broke one of his legs in 3 places. All of this on top of LCG member from Paris dying on her flight to Egypt.Mishaps happen every day in life, but when one thing after another happens in church leadership members start taking notice. Many are asking, "How could God be letting this happens to his "True Church?" Many members know first hand how dysfunctional the church has become over the last few years as Rod Meredith ages and how he has lost the capacity to make sound leadership decisions.
This dissatisfaction has carried over into the ministry and church leadership too. In the past the ministry got up at the following Sabbath service after the COE meetings and reported on the "best COE meeting ever" and that the "COE has never been more unified." That has not been the case this time around. One individual remarked that the COE was a compete mess. One COE member said that the the COE was NOT unified and another said that there were a lot of "issues" right now.
The COE meeting that took place in Charlotte a couple of weeks ago was a total disaster as tensions mount over doctrinal changes and budget cuts due to LCG's failing income. Normally after a COE meeting, the ministers talk about how unified and wonderful everything was. This time, there were no comments from the pulpit.Things have become so dysfunctional that members and ministers are leaving LCG congregations. There have been several ministers of late that have left LCG and taken their members with them. This has been confirmed by more than one person. The Charlotte Boy's are keeping a tight lid on this. They are concerned that if word leaked out about these defections that it would cause more division in the lay membership. Roland Lequoc's defection is just the tip of the iceberg.
The disunity of the ministry and membership of the LCG is having huge ramifications right now. Reports of coming doctrinal changes, possible church mergers, the appointment of rules enforcer extraordinaire as Meredith's successor, issues with financial abuse and waste in the Charlotte offices, the purchase of new luxury homes for the useless Living Church of God "university", and Rod Meredith's rapid mental/physical health decline, are creating a coming hurricane of upheaval.