Chris Riser lied to the congregation.
A gentleman was proposed as an Elder to the congregation at GCC in 2013. A 2-week period was given so that anyone with an objection could come forward and comment on this person becoming an Elder. We were instructed that all comments should be sent to one particular Elder as a contact point for all.
Whether or not you agree that this person should have become an Elder is immaterial for this post. What is important is that when it came time to announce this person was now a new Elder, Chris, from the pulpit, stated that there were NO objections.
I present my included letter as exhibit “A” to this falsehood.
There was no reason to lie. He could have simply said that there was a concern raised, and it was considered by the Elders, but decided it did not warrant preventing this person from becoming one.
I know of at least 1 other person who talked with the elders and I had heard that there were 3 others who raised objections themselves. I hope they will be willing to share their story too.
A disturbing pattern has become evident in all of my dealings with Chris, that is “unity above all else including the truth.” This is how cults are born. His insistence that everything has to have the illusion of unity is manipulative, deceitful, and dangerous. It has disturbed me that no one in leadership has been willing to reign Chris in. There are good people, friends, and family who attend Grace. My fervent prayer is that they see the truth and it sets them free.
31 Aug 2013
Paul,
I have wrestled greatly in what I would write about the proposal to install _____________ as an Elder at Grace Community Church.
I am opposed to this action. I have nothing personal against _________, however my observations are that he is lacking in several areas.
I have not seen evidence in his ability to teach, it does not appear to come to him easily and possibly not at all despite efforts to instruct him in the art. He does not seem to have control over the students and appears to show favoritism to the men/boys in his class over women/girls, this point would speak to a need for more maturity before ___________ would be qualified.
There is also questions of judgment. The projects he has heralded were not done without issues that should have been caught, cost over runs, not taking advantage of free offered professional labor, and poor choices for stall construction just to name a few.
Understandably some of the issues stemmed from whomever was giving final go ahead to the plans that were offered. Like the fact that there are no cleaning closets for supplies and materials and that we have food stuff next to cleaning chemicals where we do have limited storage. Or water pressure in the bathrooms, or poor water heater design, turning on the hot tap before you go to the bathroom so you can have tepid water once finished was an easily avoided issue that should have been considered before construction.
There are other areas, he lacks people skills and comes off distant, not exactly what we want or need at a crucial junction in Grace’s History. Installing ________ would only further erode confidence in the Leadership at Grace.
I understand the need for another Elder, ________ is just not ready.
In my opinion apologizing to the Membership of Grace for having a short-sighted view on disciplining Dave Smith and countering the edict that he may never be an Elder again, then asking for forgiveness from the body for doing so. Recommending Dave as an Elder once again would solve the Elder need issue and go a long way to restoring confidence in the Elder Board.
Paul my desire is to point out an area where I believe we are about to stumble as a church in as best a respectful manner as I can.
Scott Williams