Circuit Overseers, their roles, and their spouses (page 2)

wheres caleb?

I loved all the co's that I ever met. They were great examples and people that I can always call my friends because they cared about me. They loved me more than I was worthy of. I was privileged to know them.

NOT!

Idealism that can never live up to the hype. As a jw, you have to accept the crap that you are left with. A well-intentioned company man and a wife who supports that endeavor.

Witnesses are not spiritual people. They are religious people. There is a difference.

The organization creates corporate men, not spiritual men. Any claim other than that is a product of their own delusion.

Broken Promises

In the 70s and 80s, most COs I knew lived in caravans as they traveled from town to town.

In the 90s, they all developed mysterious food allergies, as the other poster said. Some were hypoglycemic, others couldn’t eat wheat and other certain foods. It made it very difficult to cater for them, and it always seemed that the same ones looked after them. Usually the elders and pioneers.

DaCheech

I knew 2 CO's including Mario Beltrami, where he and his wife were "allergic" to food cooked in aluminum

Aussie Oz

All the ones i knew had a big V8 ford to pull a big caravan that was always parked behind the kingdom hall.

I always found them pretty ok, and the wives hot, sexy babes... HAHAHA NOT!

I do remember some having food alergies thats for sure

I see the wives as having been made to be a regular pioneer so that husband can climb the corporate ladder. Lots of times the wife is out in F/S while the C/O gets to do secret mens business with his underlings...

oz

metatron

The financial burden of having a C.O. isn't that great - with one exception: potential liability.

You've got these guys leading groups out in service with their Buicks, pretending to be volunteers, when they're actually employees of the WBTS, Inc. Think about auto accidents. Think about the Chain of Command, the Hierarchical Structure. Think about 'Deep Pockets' of the Watchtower, if anything goes wrong.

You've got a Catholic structure without the Catholic Cash. This has to have the Society's lawyers scared.

metatron

CuriousButterfly

Apparently, CO's have no job of their own outside the Watchtower activities and while my wife insisted that they did not 'take a vow of poverty' like the Catholic clergy do, they technically do.

They do take a vow of poverty since they do not have a regular paying job. Some have families and when their kids go off, the couple enters the circuit work. Most are given an apartment in the kingdom hall where they pay nothing. It used to be for years a pioneer couple or one spouse who was pioneering would rent the apartments. That all changed about 7-10 years ago they WTS did away with that and asked all who were not CO's/DO's to leave and find other housing. I heard it had to do with liability and plus the congregation was receiving rent, minimal but none the less they were making a little $ and that could lead to potential problems being a non-profit.

CuriousButterfly

CO's are burden to cong

1. apt

2. car & insurance

3. health insurance

4. weekly re-inbursement receipts: gas, drycleaning, groceries, supplies, etc..........

Yes they can be. One "tour" of a CO he was trying to be reimbursed for a $75 dinner. He decided to take his wife out on a date(s) and was notorious for passing the bill on to the ocngregation he was serving that week. I vocally questioned it and from what I heard he was talked to and was asked never to submit that again. MOST are frugal (at least the ones I see coming/going) but the younger ones feel entitled and IMO THEY chose to do this work and giving up the nice things is part of the deal.

That same CO who took his wife out and expensed it....his wife was always dressed to the nines, nail professionally done etc. She would show up like she was a high priced lawyer. I laughed and did not care, I wear and enjoy nice clothes too. It was humorous to see someone who is supposed to be simplifying their life look better than most.

SnakesInTheTower

CO's are part of the Special Order of Full-Time Servants. This was a religious order set up in response to the Internal Revenue Service (US) and SSA (Social Security Administration) and Department of Labor. They do take a vow of "poverty and obedience"...basically the equivalent of "barefoot and pregnant" ...with the CO and their wives being reliant on the Society and the local yokels for everything.

Society does not pay them more than a monthly stipend, plus an annual allowance for clothes,etc. Because they are part of an officially sanctioned Religious Order per IRS rules, the Society does not pay payroll taxes on them and no state or federal taxes are taken out. Neither are OASDI or SSD (retirement and disability) payments.

I wonder how this works if a single MTS (Ministerial Training School) graduate goes into the circuit work (or goes to bethel) early in life, never works a paying gig where he earns SSI credits, then gets hurt or eventually retires. What happens at age 62/65/69...where is their pension. And heaven help the poor sap that realizes the truth about the Truth and wants to leave the Lie.... no skills, no retirement....nothing but the street.

Glad I woke up before it was too late. I went through MTS...before MTS, I wanted to be a CO....after MTS...I thought hell no. How do I get off this sinking ship. Left the MTS program 4 months after graduating....left the WT 5 years later.

Snakes (Rich )

Desilusionnee

The wife of our last CO really prayed not to be sent in a territory they had been years before. And try to guess where they sent them...

She really wanted to cry but accepted it as Jehova's decision in order to mold her.

Poor thing...

Desi

chickpea

dont forget their dry cleaning bills!

one CO who had "served" the KH i had attended
ended up leaving the racket when his wife ended
up pregnant... the joke was the baby was a

"circuit breaker"

Circuit Overseers, their roles, and their spouses

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