Sunday, February 19, 2017

Dr. Roderick Meredith Illness

As many probably know, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, presiding evangelist of Living Church of God (LCG), has been diagnosed with cancer and is greatly weakened. He is resting at home. Although he is in touch with the work through communication with Mr. Weston and others in the office, it appears he is unable to carry the workload he previously carried. LCG has made an announcement about this in their latest weekly update. Here is a link:
https://www.cogl.org/cgi-bin/cogl/weeklyupdates/cogl-wkupdates.cgi?action=view_wkupdate

Some time ago, Mr. Gerald Weston had been designated by Dr. Meredith as his successor as chairman of the board, presiding evangelist, and president of Living Church of God should Dr. Meredith be unable to fulfill those offices due to death or disability.

Mr. Weston has already been serving as president, under Dr. Meredith's authority, for several months. He has been stationed in the Charlotte office since July, I believe. He has thus had about 7 months to learn the headquarters operation, communicate in depth with Dr. Meredith about various aspects of the work, and be thoroughly prepared to take over leadership of LCG as needed.

Mr. Weston also has extensive experience that helps to qualify him for leadership of LCG. He has managed the work of God in Canada, leading the work there both of feeding the flock (managing the ministry and congregations) and preaching the gospel through TV and other means.

Canada has various regulations about the use of television in that country that are designed to encourage "Canada-produced" content. This is designed to prevent Canadian culture from being overwhelmed by American culture and programming. But this requires that our programming to preach the gospel in Canada be actually produced in Canada, not Charlotte. I think a side effect of this has been to create a training ground in Canada for Mr. Weston that has enabled him to gain experience in all or most aspects of the work.

It is apparent that God has guided circumstances to allow a well-trained, well-experienced man to take over the leadership of LCG in the event of Dr. Meredith's death or incapacitation. A transition of leadership seems to be approaching, and it should be a smooth transition. I count this as a blessing from God.

I think Mr. Weston is well-prepared to lead and guide LCG as an organization.

I have also been listening to Mr. Weston's sermons, and I think God has blessed him with wisdom and effectiveness in speaking and teaching.

This is also an example of government from the top down, as the Bible teaches. Mr. Weston has not been voted into office by the decisions of men. He has been appointed by one above him in authority, Dr. Meredith, and Dr. Meredith himself has been appointed by Jesus Christ as shown by his fruits. I have no doubt that Jesus Christ, as head of the whole Church of God, has guided Dr. Meredith to name Mr. Weston as his successor and that Dr. Meredith has responded to the leadership of Jesus Christ in naming Mr. Weston as successor.

UPDATE 5/20/17: Since this post, Dr. Meredith has died. Here is a link to a post about that:
http://ptgbook.blogspot.com/2017/05/dr-roderick-c-meredith-has-died.html