When I was an elder, I always absolutely HATED it when the brothers wanted to bring in someone from Bethel to give the memorial talk. They would go around the table, and ask for names or suggestions. If none were given, they seriously would ask all the elders to start making calls and see if they could come up with someone.
I asked ¨ẄHY? ¨ !!!!! What is the big deal here!? We pay literally THOUSANDS to fly some guy out here and put him and his wife up for the better part of a week, and WHY????? What in the name of all that is sacred makes this dude any better than anyone else? Oh, NOTHING!
So again, why bring him across the entire country for a ¨vacation¨"on our dime? So we can hear a mediocre speaker? Watch other elders play kiss-ass? How does that benefit the publishers? Oh, it DOESNT! It just frosted me! What a complete waste of congregation money. There was always some stupid excuse, and we ended up hosting some moron that didnt know hardly anyone anyway. Every. Single. Time. It was always the same song and dance.
One time, the elders in our congregation got frustrated with my questioning them, and basically said ¨OK, YOU do the memorial talk this year and see how it goes!¨
So I did, it went just fine, everyone was very appreciative. The best thing that came out of that memorial talk was the older lady that stood up at the end, after the final prayer, and came up to the elders (who are always sitting at the front of the hall), and loudly told them ¨I am just thrilled to see a LOCAL man giving your service! I know him! He did work for me last year and was so kind! I get so tired of hearing sermons from all these high and mighty types that no one knows!¨
I couldn´t help but snicker.
Last year, we had a Bethelite hosted and flown out to give our memorial talk. Clear across the country. Only 1 of the elders knew him, a friend of a friend. He was a fat, pompous, little man, and a terrible speaker. It was almost embarrassing, and a miserable attempt at a talk designed for the public and those yearly attenders... Many of the friends complained that their money had been tossed in the wind.
SPECIAL Bethelite speakers?..... nope, dont think so. Just kiss-assers looking for a free trip out of the hell-hole.