Tulsa: A Description from a Coordinator of the Meeting

[Joseph Miller]

Originally Posted by irish1

So Bro. Steadfast is with a committee member from the Tulsa meeting personally, one-on-one, face-to-face, actually speaks with him and knows him and received firsthand information and people here refuse to believe him. You know better than actually speaking to the man? Basically you are saying that this committee member is an out-and-out liar and that Bro. Steadfast is inferior to you intellectually because you can see through the lie from your laptop miles and miles away but he cannot speaking in person to the individual.

Search the world over and you will not find a better preacher nor a more respectable man than steadfast.

Originally Posted by Joseph Miller

Search the world over and you will not find a better preacher nor a more respectable man than steadfast.

Thank you Gentlemen!

After perusing the posts on the thread I once again reiterate:
The truth isn't as sensational as the fabrications... but it's still the truth and that's all that matters.

For the record, when I asked him point blank and he answered me the Assistant General Superintendent was sitting right beside me and never questioned it one time.

The indication is that it was an 'understood' thing as to why they were having this meeting.

Ultimately truth, Gentlemen, is a faithful friend.

[Steve Epley]

Originally Posted by Steadfast

Thank you Gentlemen!

After perusing the posts on the thread I once again reiterate:
The truth isn't as sensational as the fabrications... but it's still the truth and that's all that matters.

For the record, when I asked him point blank and he answered me the Assistant General Superintendent was sitting right beside me and never questioned it one time.

The indication is that it was an 'understood' thing as to why they were having this meeting.

Ultimately truth, Gentlemen, is a faithful friend.

Well that is NOT what they are telling all over the country. This is interesting. LB has been actively speaking to your independent neighbors trying to soliticit them. JH-TM-AL-CD-SM-JC I have spoken to many of these guys. Then my contacts out West like RG-JW-VM are saying the same thing?

[Pastor G]

I believe you were told what you say you were told, Steadfast... However, I have corresponded with one of the men listed on the Tulsa flyer, who has already, as people say, turned his card in and has used the term "alternative fellowship" when describing the meeting that is to take place... It sounds like either some of the men on the post card have different ideas of what is to take place... Or some are not ready to admit it..

God Bless

[bishoph]

Originally Posted by Steadfast

We had several candid conversations about recent events and I asked the coordinator point blank if the meeting was going to be a 'preaching' type meeting, a bloodbath or what... only to be told that what they want to do is NOTHING that would require anybody to leave the UPC. They simply want to talk options, hear suggestions and reiterate our goals as Apostolics.

I know this will seriously upset some people to know that it will neither be a...

• Gripe session
• UPC bashing meeting
• Flashback to the vicious splits of days gone by or
• A 'let's march out and make a statement' type meeting.

It's a meeting to gather suggestions and find a way to network men together who have begun to lose faith in the direction the Apostolic movement as a whole is going.

And, for what it's worth, I've talked to many who are involved or going to this meeting and have yet to hear any viciousness in their voices. Just a little sadness for the most part.

Thus, what most have surmised, heard gossiped about or interjected their own fabrications about... simply isn't true.

I think many have missed the heart of this threads beginning post! Steadfast did not deny that a new fellowship of some sort will be formed. Rather he addressed the spirit and attitude in which these men are working. In fact if you look at the bolded areas he addresses the intentions of the coordinators. It is their desire to find a way to network brethren together yet not make them have to leave the UPCI/or other organization.

[Steve Epley]

Nicodemas came to Jesus by night,

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by Steadfast

Thank you Gentlemen!

After perusing the posts on the thread I once again reiterate:
The truth isn't as sensational as the fabrications... but it's still the truth and that's all that matters.

For the record, when I asked him point blank and he answered me the Assistant General Superintendent was sitting right beside me and never questioned it one time.

The indication is that it was an 'understood' thing as to why they were having this meeting.

Ultimately truth, Gentlemen, is a faithful friend.

I suppose time will tell what the truth is. There are many men of "this crowd" who have already pulled out of the UPC over the last few years. And when they are not speaking in front of an Assistant GS, some of the coordinators have expressed a great deal of antipathy for the UPC as a whole.

My impression is that they would love to see a huge ground swell at Tulsa that will sweep these men into the national offices that "they deserve;" but they don't know for certain that they'll see such support so they're hedging their bets by being respectful whenever a UPC official shows up.

There are men on the flyer who have complained for years that they've been elbowed out of the positions that their talents have made them worthy of (and they may even have a point!). There are a lot of different agendas at work here.

What I have seen is a bunch of guys who were raised and trained to really despise some of their brethren. While some of the "coordinators" have a kinder spirit than that, there is something of a groundswell to be finally rid of "the compromisers" one way or another.

[rgcraig]

Originally Posted by bishoph

I think many have missed the heart of this threads beginning post! Steadfast did not deny that a new fellowship of some sort will be formed. Rather he addressed the spirit and attitude in which these men are working. In fact if you look at the bolded areas he addresses the intentions of the coordinators. It is their desire to find a way to network brethren together yet not make them have to leave the UPCI/or other organization.

Not sure that's correct. Some of these men have already turned in their cards - - they aren't planning on staying in the UPCI.

[Steve Epley]

In the last 5 years I have know several men who have left the UPC NOT one that I have talked with are interesting in forming or joining anything. Some are going to Tulsa as observers but have no intention of joining.

[CC1]

Originally Posted by Steve Epley

Well that is NOT what they are telling all over the country. This is interesting. LB has been actively speaking to your independent neighbors trying to soliticit them. JH-TM-AL-CD-SM-JC I have spoken to many of these guys. Then my contacts out West like RG-JW-VM are saying the same thing?

I don't know why there is any pretense about what they are doing. They are established men, not novices.

They are not some fly by night preachers rashly making a move. They have been increasingly unhappy for years and are finally doing something about it.

Why be coy?