He was prolly crying because he had to write the check for the Hall mortgage and utilities due to lack of contributions.
BP
Excellent commentary. There is nothing wrong with being an independent businessperson. Many elders are
independent window washers, janitors, etc. Others went to college before becoming spirituallly serious and
are in a good financial situation (while telling others to remain without an education).
That said, most elders have decent to good finances at home. The trade-off for being elevated to elder is the
expectation that you will be able to raise enough funds to cover any shortcomings. Yes, the elders are greatly
expected to give more if the flock doesn't. Not a great hardship if you have 10 elders, but when there are less,
the costs can really pile up.
To avoid the C.O.'s wrath, the elders will beg and plead the congregation for donations, then they will just write
the checks on their own if they don't get it.
While I contributed in these crisis times, I learned to balance my personal giving by only covering the shortfalls.
If the congregation covered the expenses, I gave nothing. I reached in the pocket when the BOE figured how
much each elder should give to cover a problem. That way, I averaged out to the same as I was wanting to give
anyway.