[Apocrypha]

One of my uncle pastors who has been in the UPCI for over 40+ years in the S. Texas district was very sad reading the Forward about a year ago. He made the very canny observation that if you closely looked at the ministers leaving it was mostly 100+ member churches and the new church plants were not strong enough to financially offset the loss of giving power that these seasoned churches had which affected missionaries most hard.

Seriously, I know about 15+ young ministers who have started churches, usually against the wishes of the entrenched churches in the area who left the UPCI. There is still a strong territory system, even in major metros of 1+ million souls. As a young minister... WHY would I want to join the org just to get attacked for being too liberal for having a church full of new believers who didnt look, act, play the part. If I were a young church planter I would just go to the events I wanted to go to, maybe send my youth to the camp anyhow, and be neutral at best... which is what many churches are doing.