Thank you for your report Lost in Fog. I attended an elders school in 2003-4 that discussed at length the Shepherding program. I took away from the school that the GB was backing off of the official shepherding visits to include shepherding visits while in service, informal visits at the kingdom hall, before and after the meetings, on the phone etc.
As a member of the service committee, the P.O. called a meeting soon after the school which talked about shepherding visits. The other two on the service committee were adamant that the "congregation was not being shepherded properly" and that we needed to produce a program in addition to our current shepherding schedule to 'harass" the publishers. I asked them directly at the meeting if they attended the same "elders school" that I had attended because we had each went away with different ideas.
Over my protest, they presented to the body of elders a "new shepherding program" and during their presentation, they had the audacity to say that it was a "unanimous" decision by the Service Committee and the P.O even asked me to indicate that it was.
In front of all the elders present, I said, "No, it wasn't unanimous, and I do not agree with anything more than the scheduled visits that we have agreed to".
It wasn't long after that I had resigned as the other two service committee members had formulated accusations against me. I had the support of many of the elders, but the "liberals" wanted more control over the congregation's families intimate personal lives and I didn't want it. It was this moment that I began to wake up to the controlling entities within the congregation and their high control religion.
My Point: The way Watchtower presents their material at the elders meeting can be interpreted many different ways.
Be Careful of what you say.
