Is the Governing Body overdue to make new appointments? (page 4)

MC RubberMallet

When you think about it it is pretty remarkable that Gerrit Loesch made it onto the GB. I wonder what they saw as so special about him.

He can speak numerous languages fluently (stated in the WT that announced his appointment). And he helped the big apostate scandal in Romania in the 80's along with Ted Jaracz (Proclaimers Book). Ted saw him as a valuable asset I guess. Once Ted liked you...

cedars

Billy

I tend to think that the current GB would drag their feet on the idea of actually appointing more members.

I wish this could be true!

On the one hand I HOPE they don't appoint anyone else, because this would decrease their chances of survival. Also, seven members for a Governing Body is a shockingly low figure. Imagine one of them were to suddenly die of a heart attack? That's not hard to imagine given all those luxurious meals they get through each week. We would then be down to only six members, all of them aging. The lower the number, the easier it is for the likes of you and me to point to how comparatively small the Governing Body is as a leadership core. It's very much a case of "how low can you go?!"

Possible reasons for not appointing new members? We've already mentioned that they may have reached a "comfort zone" with their decision making, and they don't want any young "upstarts" coming in and upsetting the balance of power. Another possible reason is some of them might ACTUALLY believe that "the end is near" so there is little or no point adding to the body so late in these "last days".

But the truth is, the Governing Body NEEDS to make new appointments in the interests of its own longevity and credibility. If they leave it too late to appoint new members, it might be that we are left with less than six members (remember that six seems to be the minimum, since there needs to be a GB member on each committee) and there will then be a rush to recruit someone. Many a poor decision is made in haste. If they let it go even lower than six, then there is the real chance that there will be few experienced members left to adequately train the newbies in the ways of the old order.

Cedars

nugget

I think they have several issues. Firstly for someone to be acceptable to the rank and file the person appointed would have to be elderly to retain the myth of the generation. They are moving many elderly out of bethel into the community and reducing the pool of bethelites to pick from. Not everyone of the right age is annointed and also has the capacity or will to be part of the GB. They have created the problem because even with the idea of the overlapping generation there is also the underlying theme that the end is close so they cannot appoint mature, dynamic people as they have been able to in the past. As time goes on they will have an increasing struggle. Unless they change the terms and reintroduce non annointed into the GB to provide the energy they lack they are stuck with a reduced number of aging annointed.

There is also an element of control not dissimilar to that opperating in congregations. Some bodies of elders make people jump through hoops and still come up with reasons not to appoint qualified men. They don't want to change the make up of the body of elders. They don't want to bring in new ambitious, energetic men who may want to rule the roost. Everything is comfortable and cosy why change the dynamics. The GB don't like to share and they know that who ever comes in becomes a party to the deception and needs to be as amoral as the rest of them.

dozy

Seven is a bit too low. Allowing for one guy being ill and a couple away on zone visits , giving assembly talks or vacation , there must be occasions when there is only 3 or 4 members in attendance. Traditionally appointments are announced for the 1st of September so maybe something will be announced shortly. Usually there are a couple of guys that are carefully groomed by placing them in the committees so presumably someone is in the pipeline. Sad to say , judging by the current members , the quality is very low & there is a very small pool to choose from.

Nugget is right about the situation in many BOE. We had a PO who vetoed virtually every appointment - no-one was good enough. Even brothers who moved in with recommendations he would be very skeptical of and try not to appoint. We used to joke that even if Jesus was in the congregation the PO would want to give him another 6 months to see if he was "sound".

But I agree with a lot of the posters that it would seem that the GB doesn't really have much power now anyway. Decisions are made by the committees , lawyers & accountants & the GB is basically a rubber stamping body. The days when Knorr , F W Franz & Rutherford basically ruled the WTBTS as their own private fiefdom are gone - it is essentially a corporate body nowadays.

Soldier77

Well, the annual meeting is coming up in a couple of months and that's when appointments are made. It would be a surprise to me if they did appoint one this year.

Playing Devils Advocate (from a JW PoV) they need (like Ceders said) to appoint a couple, maybe even 3 new members, preferrably in there 50's to get some "youngblood" in there. I mean, hell, there ARE over 12k annointed now right? Oh, I mean partakers.... That's a good pool to pull from...

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

I would agree that they probably have some prospects in the pipeline, particularly if one of the current members should croak.

I don't see that they particularly need more GB to "carry the load." It seems that so much is done (and probably decided on) by Bethel bureaucrats in Service, Writing, Teaching, and Legal, that having a larger GB in Brooklyn isn't necessary. And let's face it... these guys aren't that bright, so their meetings aren't going to be a brilliant think-tank. Actually, I think the number of GB could go down to three and that would be about right...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jocRd-aajW0