Did having a Bethelite travel to your congregation and deliver a talk motivate, encourage, or excite you?

by miseryloveselders 21 Replies latest jw friends

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  miseryloveselders

  I ask this, because I just got wind that at my hall, we're paying the travel expenses for a Bethelite to come and do our Memorial talk. I don't know how much this is going to run us, but I fail to see the practicality of it. He's not delivering a special Memorial outline or anything. He's going to come here and deliver the same outline any one of the local elders would deliver. Matter fact, thats the only reason I can think why the body consented to this, because that way none of them have to do the talk.

  There's one particular brother who pushed for this. I love him as a brother, and as an older man I have respect for him. I also respect him for what he does for other people, particulary older ones, and those with health problems. However, like everyone else, myself included, he has his flaws. One of which being, he places too much value upon brothers with titles. I recall during one WT Study, there was a picture of either a GB member, or another WT heavy, and he commented on the picture saying, "that's brother such-n-so, and his wife such-n-so, and the example they're setting, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda..." The conductor at that point had not asked anyone about the picture, or who the couple was. Later after the meeting, another brother approached me and sarcastically said, "I'm glad he made us aware of who they were, because we were all wondering!" When the CO comes, or the DO, or any heavy for that matter, this brother will be the first in line to take them out to dinner. He's a company man, and he's all about impressing the bosses.

  Having a Bethelite do the Memorial talk is a big deal for this brother, and I'm sure he sees this as being a big deal for the congregation too. Which brings me to my question for you. Did having a visiting speaker do anything for you?
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  punkofnice

  We had a London Bethel speaker. He had a strange comb over and a monotone voice.

  It was like hearing 'Foggy Dewhurst' out of the UK TV show 'Last of the Summer Wine'.

  Truly dreadful! I thought it was one of the worst things ever and I was an Elder and very much all for the 'trooOOOooooOoOoooth' at the time, too!

  He read the concluding prayer from a sheet of paper. (I hope I'm not mocking someone who is very ill).

  This is the stuff I really don't miss now I'm not going to meetings anymore!
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  dozy

  Our PO at the time (who sounds a lot like your WT conductor) persuaded us to get a retired CO who was up on holiday to give the Memorial talk a few years ago. It was a dreadfully boring talk & highly embarrassing with all the visitors at the hall. Thankfully we didn't need to give him any cash - it would have rubbed salt into the wound if we had to give the guy expenses as well (personally I think he should have paid us.)

  There seems to be some sort of perception among some r & f JWs that Bethel brothers are better speakers and / or more "spiritual". Some do give good talks but most are no better than your average Joe Elder. And working in the Bethel laundry washing dirty underwear or stacking cardboard boxes in the print room doesn't exactly make anyone more spiritual.
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  DesirousOfChange

  It's all about bragging rights.

  "We had Bro Bethelite give our Memorial Talk."
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  Quentin

  Can't remember. From time to time some would pass through on vacation. They gave talks, sometimes, one gave a special talk about Bethel. As I recall it was so-so. These guys were on vacation, wanted to rest, enjoy themselves. kh I was in didn't appear to push them about anything.

  Most of these guys would chat you up if you asked questions, seemed most just wanted to enjoy being in nthe free world for a change.
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  Outaservice

  The only thing that 'excited' me was when a talk was cancelled due to bad weather!

  Outaservice
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  Franklin Massey

  From my experience, most Bethel speakers are no better at engaging and captivating the audience than the average local speaker. We have some fantastic speakers in our circuit and it really shows when, say, at an Assembly, the visiting Bethel speaker puts everyone to sleep while a local brother has the audience's rapt attention. It's a often a title thing. Something to get excited about. Although I appreciate the efforts of any humble brohter who fulfills the assignment to come visit us, expectation usually exceeds reality.
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  cantleave

  We had london Bethel speakers on a few occasions. I never thought the talks were any better than a good congregation speaker.
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  mamalove

  Nope, they were all run of the mill JW talks. Nothing I can remember stands out.
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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Even Bethel was disappointed with the quality of most of those speakers going out from Bethel. While I was there, the arrangements and titles for "Bethel speakers" was formed, disbanded, and reformed a couple of times. It was a many sided problem. Bethelites had nothing special to offer with material, really. Public Talks and the Memorial are standard outlines with little room for deviation. They could get creative with Saturday Night programs during the times that those were allowed. Doing additional programs by Bethel Speakers went in-and-out of favor.

  As for the actual speaking ability, many were terribly boring. Others were overly dramatic and bombastic. Of course many just recycled most of the material they had used and heard, even spreading false stories and rumors as if they were gospel. But you really can't get creative when restricted to WT boundaries. I would say that all of the outlines produced by Teaching were ackward to use if I tried to stick closely to them, and be logical and understandable.

  From my experience, there were lots of Bethelites that boasted about where they were going to give the Memorial. For many of them, I thought, "sad that a congregation would waste their money on flying in a such a crappy speaker."