I'm glad you are awaiting my reply, but I hate to tell ya that it's going to be the voice of the 'other side'.
My step-father served as an elder for all of the 5 years I lived with him and my mother, and on a few occasions we entertained Circuit Overseers in our house for the week they stayed in our congregation. Let me just add that we were not well off financially, in fact, we were just above the poverty line for most Canadian families. My dad worked at a factory and my mom had MCS and was unable to work, so she did alot of phone witnessing from home.
We had absolutely no money to give a CO, we (and I say we, because unline some of the other aspects of the faith I disliked I usually truly looked forward to these visits) just wanted to extend our hospitality to our brother and made sacrifices to do so. We had a modest house with a den that could be used as a bedroom so they usually stayed in fairly simple surroundings. Meals were never lavish affairs, but we had a great time with them all the same. I was always especially interested in hearing stories from far away places, stories that did not necessarily revolve exclusively around preaching, but usually meandered into explorations of other's cultures and countries (some had been missionaries in Africa and South America). Living in a whiter-than-wonderbread small town, I would eat this stuff up gleefully.
After dinner my mom would sometimes get out her acoustic and we'd sing and stuff, or sometimes the CO would have slides from other places and we'd get the popcorn out and have a slideshow. On a few occasions my younger sisters and I put on little bible skits for them, and they always found those so special. I remember thinking quite proudly how good we were at drama productions.
The CO's I knew never drove fancy leased vehicles, usually 5-10 year old models that were well maintained. I never questioned that as, hell, you wouldn't want to break down somewhere in the rural areas we lived in, especially with the schedules they maintained. I recall him and his wife always being of fairly simple tastes, which usually fit in quite well with our very simple lifestyle.
What did we get in return? Not much, really, other than friendship and hearing experiences. My dad was never really favored for extra 'positions' or privileges, but he did get assigned to alot of things because he had this sincerely quiet and compassionate nature that drew people to him (my mom is the fanatic, but thats another story altogether). I can definately say that no money ever exchanged hands, cause we never had any. Although we did those skits, we were never selected to participate in dramas at assemblies, but looking back, maybe it was because the CO saw that we were already quite talented in that regard and so maybe he wanted to cultivate some abilities in others? Or maybe it wasnt favoritism that he used to pick people?
I don't really know, but I do know that making a blanket statement about all CO's is just not right. The couple I knew personally were decent simple people, as far as I knew.
Just another perspective.
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"Well the God I believe in isn't short of cash, mister!"
Bullet the Blue Sky, Rattle n Hum version
