During my brief tenure as a regular pioneer, the CO, who never said so much as hello to me before this time, and the service overseer pulled me aside to ask me why my hours were low. I didn't want to tell them how depressed I was at the time, so I said that everything was fine. I thought that it was sad that it took something like a time report to get his attention.
In one of my last meetings with the elders before I submitted my letter of resignation, I told them what a joke I thought the position of a CO was. The apostle Paul is usually used as a example of a travelling overseer. In his epistles he mentions by name those in the congergations that he visited, so it was obvious that he had a deep and personal relationship with many of the members of the congregations he corresponded with. If the CO's know the names of any congergation members, it's probably only the pioneers or the elders. In a week's time, it's pretty difficult to get to know any members of the congregation. Ultimately if anyone does benefit from the CO's visit, it's the regular pioneer's who have part-time jobs and are able to meet with the group during the week. Otherwise, you may only have a brief moment to exchange a greeting after one of the meetings before he's pulled away by an elder who has an urgent matter to discuss with him. When he does send any correspondence, it's just a stock letter that he sends to every congregation that he visits, only changing the name of the congregation. In my opinioin, CO's are glorified babysitters for the WTS whose job it is to make sure that elders are in full submission to the GB and that every publisher in the congregation is reporting at least 10 hours a month. There was one CO who had a reputation for being a hardass. His name was Jack Thomas, but he was affectionally known as "Jack the Hack". (Hack was used in this case not to describe someone who is dishonest, but because he was like an axe that one would use to hack at a tree). To Jack Thomas, one's relationship with God was directly related to the hours they reported each month. From the platform he was very straigtforward about his position, and did not hesitate to remind congregations that their chances of surviving Armageddon was dependent on their evangelistic efforts.
Many Witnesses feel that Jesus Christ's direct representative is among them. They have such reverence and awe over mere humans.
That is very true. My brother, who is now disfellowshipped, was always annoyed with how our congregation would respond to a CO visit. People who were usually late were always on time. And although Saturday meetings for service were usually low, during the CO's visit it was hard to find a seat. I think that for the rank and file the higher a person is in the WTS hierarchy, the closer they are to the GB. I have witnessed cases where the DO would come to visit (I had an opportunity to meet Sam Herd when he was still a DO, a few years before he became a GB member. He seemed like a nice guy.) and once the news spread to other congregations, the Sunday attendance easily doubled. My mother said that she actually saw someone ask Herd for his autograph! And he gave it to them!
For some, I think that the CO is supposed to be a problem solver. When I lived in Baltimore, where there was a lot of feuding between different families. So when the time arrived for the CO to decide who he would work with that day nearly everyone would raise their hand . Everyone had their version of the events that transpired during his absence, and they wanted to make sure that when any decisions were made that he was one their side. They wanted to assure the CO that whatever he may have heard from the opposing side that their version of events was the right one. I found the whole situation a bit humorous.
