Jim Franks is President of COGWA

The COGWA Ministerial Board of Directors has named Jim Franks as president, David Johnson as secretary, and Jason Lovelady as treasurer of COGWA. Here is a link to the announcement from COGWA:
http://members.cogwa.org/news/september-1-2011-member-letter/

Mr. Franks is a member of the board, and so will have to resign from the board before he takes office as president.

Of all the positions in COGWA, the most powerful is the presidency. The entire board is more powerful in the long run, but no one man of the seven men on the board is as powerful as the president. It is fitting that the most powerful position be filled by one who is judged as most competent and qualified, and since the ministers in electing the seven members of the board presumably voted for those they felt were the most competent and qualified, it is not surprising that the president would be one of the seven board members.

Clyde Kilough, Dave Johnson, Dave Evans, and Jason Lovelady have been named to a task force to research a permanent headquarters location and advise the president.

What still needs to be done is to name five members each of two committees (Doctrine Committee and Moral and Ethics Assessment Committee) and to name operation managers for departments such as ministerial services and media (preaching the gospel). Also, the vacancy on the board that will be created when Mr. Franks resigns to accept the presidency will have to be filled. The board can still operate with six members, but some decisions must be made by a vote of 5 ballots of all board members, so it may be important that the vacancy be filled relatively soon.

Qualifications for membership on the two committees include the requirement of 20 years of service as a minister, and for the Moral and Ethics Committee include the requirements that members be at least 60 years old and not members of the board. Members are nominated by the president and approved by at least five members of the board.

Operations managers are nominated by the president and approved by a simple majority of the board.

The vacancy on the board left when Mr. Franks resigns to become president will be filled by an election by the ministry. There will be two men on the ballot. As I understand it, those two men will be those two who received the most votes in the last election among those who were nominated but were not elected to the board.

To fill all these positions will take a few weeks, so it is understandable if this process goes to around the time of the beginning of the Feast. I would think that Mr. Franks will move quickly to nominate important operation managers and these can be approved by a simple majority vote of the board, which would require four board members voting to approve. Since at least four board members besides Mr. Franks approved his selection as president, it is likely those same board members will approve his recommendations for director of ministerial services, media director, etc. So I think these matters, which may be the most critical for the effective administration of COGWA, will be taken care of quickly.

The requirement that many decisions require approval by five out of seven members of the board will not be a major problem organizationally as long as there is general unity among the ministers in COGWA. Right now, that unity seems to exist. There is an apparent spirit of cooperation. This may be partly because of the recent trial these ministers have gone through together coming out of UCG, as well as a sincere desire on the part of many ministers to behave like Christians. A shared trial can create emotional bonds. But in the long term, if that spirit of unity and cooperation does not continue, it can be a problem. There can be deadlocks.

Suppose that four years from now when new members of the board are elected there is division among those on the new board. Suppose they are divided 4 on one side and 3 on the other on some important issues. How would they appoint a president when his present term expires, either re-electing Mr. Franks or electing a new man? Someone would have to compromise. If the division becomes as sharp as it was in UCG before the split, there could be a deadlock. Probably that won't happen for a long time, but it is a possibility.

But for right now, COGWA seems to be moving ahead with its organization. I expect the next announcements will be about the nomination and approval of the major operation managers or about the election to fill the vacancy on the board left when Mr. Franks resigns to assume the presidency.


More to come...