The life of a Circuit or District Overseer

by LDH 21 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  LDH

  Although they frequently point to the Apostle Paual as the 'original Circuit Overseer," the WBTS has set up a system which is NOTHING like what Paul did.

  Paul was not a burden to ANY congregation. Yet, today the COs and DOs (at least here in the states) have the following life:

  Car is paid for
  housing is paid for
  medical is paid for
  dental is paid for
  free money from every congregation
  free new clothes from at least one dumb ass per congregation
  and jackasses like my parents who give them their charge cards and tell them to go buy whatever they want every time they roll through town!

  In MHO, the economy is really tightening up and the rank and file just don't have the money to pay for this anymore. Of course, nitwits like my parents (there's some in every cong) will continue to increase their subsidy of these grown men and women.

  On another thread ("how many do you know like this?") a poster made the following point: Recently the cong was asked to pay for dental care for the CO and wife. A pub noted that 'half the kids in the cong have rotten teeth and they have perfect smiles.'

  What are your thoughts on subsidies for grown men and women?

  Personally, since there was no form of modern communication in Paul's day, it was necessary to have traveling overseers for the early Christian cong.

  But now, with everything so centralized, what purpose do the DO and CO serve except to whip the rank and file into another frenzy?

  Lisa
• 

  TweetieBird

  Great post, Lisa.

  I agree with you completely. My mother is one that continually contributes to the CO's/DO's but especially the retired CO's.

  "By doubting we come at truth" -Cicero
• 

  battman

  LDH,
  IMHO I think the current $ arrangement is
  much more cost effective than being stuck
  with fixed overhead/payroll. When I see a
  CO with a very frayed belt, pants, coat etc
  then I know it might be nice to take them
  shopping.

  I do not regularly see CO dressed very fancy
  and with their schedule etc they must be under
  quite a bit of pressure. Also must be very difficult
  to always be dependent on "handouts" no matter
  how graciously given. More pressure.

  The following is a true experience:

  LOL, "but we really need the CO's and DO's said
  an elduh making a sheparding call on me several
  weeks after the 911 attacks. Why within two days
  the 'message' came from Bethel to the DO's then
  to the CO's to the local congregations to get out
  and try to reach the inactive ones in this 'time of
  the end' ". Two Days????? hahahahahahahaha

  What did they use?? the Pony Express???????
  I was ready to puke for sure. Proof that the WTS
  is God's organized organization because they are
  so organized that they were able to mobilize the
  troops in only two days, wow what an organization.

  Like what about using secret decoder rings or such,
  HHmmmmm?? maybe try e-mail??? no can't use
  that instrument of the Devil. Wait a minute we have
  a web site, maybe we could hide the secret code
  and preaching instructions in a picture of the new
  system!!! hahahahha puke hahahah puke hahaha

  i think i am losing it, as if i ever had it

  cheers to all,

  battman
• 

  msil

  they are just like all religions...

  Religion is evil
• 

  battman

  LDH
  < Which is where you'll be able to buy a PREVIOUSLY OWNED sedan, and just
  think, it was driven by one of those spiritual GIANTS we know and love: The COs and DOs.>

  Thank goodness a source of spiritually clean cars at last.
  I always worried about buying a used car and not knowing where it came from.
  Could be demonized for sure. Like maybe sombody had a open container of
  alkeehaul or maybe some maryjuanna seeds could have fallen under the seat.
  What pray tell if they had had s-x in the back seat!!! Maybe the car had been
  owned by an apostate?

  Feeling much better about where to get my next sled.

  battman
• 

  OUTLAW

  LDH,check out my post on the other thread"how many do you know like this"its right under your last post...OUTLAW
• 

  ISP

  The R+F pay for everything. Mags, hall bills, assembly hall bills, hall building projects,...the CO/DO's are just another expense.

  What is for sure the WTS isn't going to put its hand in its pocket. So if times get hard....it will get harder...but only for the dubs. The WTS is pretty well insulated.

  ISP
• 

  wheelwithinwheel

  Living out of a suitcase used to be the biggest challenge ... then came trailers and RV’s ... nowadays most have a well-furnished apt. I remember a D.O a while back complaining about his little Reliant or Aries (not enough room for publishers and literature and too light in the snow). Yeah, he finally got his Oldsmobile. Today all expenses taken care of. Even warantee service for the car is usually looked after by a designated min. serv. Next the sisters will be asked to clean the C.O's apt. twice a week.

  Every "worldly" concern the "Joe" publisher has to face is not an issue. Leaves plenty of time for the C.O. to get on with more important things. Like telling the pubs. not to worry about tomorrow and what they will eat or drink or where they will live ...

  An easy scripture to quote when you're a C.O
• 

  NeonMadman

  Now wait a minute...

  Putting aside, for the purpose of this discussion, that many CO's and DO's are obnoxious, judgmental, unloving, and promote a hypocritical and totalitarian organization, why are they really any different from the clergy of any other religion, most of whom get paid for their services? The scriptural position is clearly in favor of a paid clergy. Note the following from 1 Corinthians chapter 9:

  4
  Don't we have the right to food and drink?
  5
  Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas[1] ?
  6
  Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living?
  7
  Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk?
  8
  Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn't the Law say the same thing?
  9
  For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain."[2] Is it about oxen that God is concerned?
  10
  Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.
  11
  If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?
  12
  If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
  13
  Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?
  14
  In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

  Taken in context, the 9th chapter of 1 Corinthians is a strong argument that those who take the lead among God's people should not be expected to serve on a volunteer basis, but have a right to be paid for their services, even supporting themselves and their families. Later in the chapter, Paul points out that he personally chose to be an exception to this rule, preferring to work on a volunteer basis:

  15
  But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast.
  16
  Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

  And the Society loves to quote this one from 1 Thessalonians 2:

  8
  We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
  9
  Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.

  So, say what you will about the performance of the Watchtower's traveling overseers; there is nothing unscriptural about them having their physical needs taken care of by the congregations or individuals. If you think there is, then you are still stuck in Watchtower-style thinking.

  Tom
  "The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan
• 

  Room 215

  An anecdote: recent on the Circuit Overseer's visit to our congregation, one older brother was the only one out in service with him on a weekday afternoon. ``Your car or mine?'' the brother asked the CO. ``Oh no brother, we can't use my car; the Society doesn't want us to drive the friends around-- something havng to do with car insurance.''
  This is not first-hand info, but comes from a reliable source.
  There are exceptions, of course, but as a group these itinerant pains-in-the posterior are among the most arrogant, imperious people I've ever met, full of themselves and sublimely out of touch with life in the real world. It's nauseating to watch the locals fawn over them even as they get beaten down by the overseers' relentless drum beat of ``more, better, faster.''
  Squandering one's life by living out of a suitcase in exchange for the approbation of losers who share the same delusion-- no thanks.