{"id":5652,"date":"2010-12-14T06:18:30","date_gmt":"2010-12-14T14:18:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/?p=5652"},"modified":"2010-12-14T06:56:25","modified_gmt":"2010-12-14T14:56:25","slug":"larry-salyer-leon-walker-are-directors-of-international-ambassador-outreach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/cog-news\/larry-salyer-leon-walker-are-directors-of-international-ambassador-outreach\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry Salyer &#038; Leon Walker are Directors of International Ambassador Outreach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/556.gif\" alt=\"Laodicea\" width=\"307\" height=\"230\" \/><br \/>\n<em>Ancient Laodicea<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/cogwriter.htm\">COGwriter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The situation related to the UCG crisis seems to be affecting more and more who were once parts of that organization.\u00a0 Some of which are now part of something called the International Ambassador Outreach (IAO).<\/p>\n<p>The website of International Ambassador Outreach states the following:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h2>Mission Statement<\/h2>\n<p>The mission of International Ambassador Outreach is to help meet  the financial needs of congregations and care for members of the Church  of God around the world.<\/p>\n<h2>Who are we?<\/h2>\n<p>The Directors of International Ambassador Outreach are all  long-time members of the Church of God. They recognize that recent  tumult in the Church of God has created financial needs for many  congregations, members, and elders around the world, both within the  United States and internationally. The IAO  is not a church nor will it  become one. However, it recognizes these financial needs that exist and  desires to help meet those needs.<\/p>\n<p>Our goals specifically are to provide:<\/p>\n<ol type=\"1\">\n<li>Financial       assistance to congregations globally in order to conduct normal church       activities,<\/li>\n<li>Financial       assistance to elders to assist in the execution  of their normal job duties       of caring for local congregations,<\/li>\n<li>Financial       assistance for \u00a0preaching the gospel       of  the Kingdom of God in all forms, including print, Internet and other        electronic media and all other suitable means,<\/li>\n<li>Scholarships       for qualified students at colleges,  universities, trade schools and other       acceptable learning  institutions,<\/li>\n<li>Assistance       to enable members of the Church of God to attend the annual biblical       festivals,<\/li>\n<li>Any other financial needs recognized by the  Board as fulfilling the purposes of IAO.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Perhaps it will update the above list and mission, but to me, it clearly shows the wrong priorities (such as Matthew 24:14; 28:19) and ignores biblical governance.\u00a0 Its initial focus, like UCG&#8217;s when it was formed, seems to be to insure that disenfranchised ministers are paid and to try to support the members who follow those ministers.\u00a0 While Matthew 28:20 does need to be done, that should be the secondary focus (Matthew 28:19-20).\u00a0 Also notice that Jesus said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel&#8217;s will save it. (Mark 8:35)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>International Ambassador Outreach lists the following as Directors with the titles as shown (note, I listed them in the order they and their bios appeared at IAO&#8217;s website):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Matthew R. Gus, Chairman<\/li>\n<li>Cliff Demarest, Director<\/li>\n<li>Arnold Cisco Mendez, Sr., Director<\/li>\n<li>Robert L. Paine, II, Director<\/li>\n<li>Larry Salyer, Director: Advisory Board<\/li>\n<li>Leon Walker, Latin America Advisor<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As regular readers of the COGwriter page should have noticed, I have not taken sides on the UCG crisis in the sense that I do not believe that either UCG nor the bulk of those that split off from it this year have actually indicated that they would repent and embrace Philadelphia-era church governance or the Philadelphia priority of public proclamation of the gospel.\u00a0 I have tried, as imperfect as I am, to give some information on both sides (those supportive of UCG and the main ones who have in 2010 turned publicly against it).<\/p>\n<p>But the bottom line is that just like I wrote over 12 years ago about those who rebelled against proper church governance in the old GCG, those groups and individuals all failed in my opinion to properly place their priority on public proclamation of the gospel, and thus with UCG and its splits this year, I see nothing to suggest that any will succeed in accomplishing that mission.\u00a0 UCG itself may make the biggest attempt, but even in the past year or so, its financial priorities suggest to me at least that it will not truly accomplish this.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is that few of those still in UCG believe enough in that priority to support the main group that has done that these past 12 years&#8211;which is clearly the <a href=\"\/ylcg.htm\">Living Church of God<\/a>.\u00a0 And no, LCG is not perfect, and yes it has had various rebels (and likely will have more).\u00a0 But, as the major COG that has retained the proper balance in Church governance (hierarchical with servant leadership), I believe that God will continue to use it (even if some day its name has to change again) to finish the Philadelphia-phase of His work.<\/p>\n<p>Any interested in supporting the remnant of the Philadelphia era of the COG should prayerfully check out LCG.<\/p>\n<p>Those not interested will either remain part of UCG (or where ever  they are), go with one of the former UCG break-away ministers\/groups like those paid by IAO, go  somewhere else, or drop out.  God will hold all accountable for what  they do and do not do.<\/p>\n<p><em>Some articles of possibly related interest may include:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/church_governance.htm\">Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government<\/a> What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical?          Which form of governance would one expect to have in the             Philadelphia       remnant? The people decide and\/or committee     forms,         odd dictatorships,  or   the same type that the     Philadelphia era         itself      had?<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/unity.htm\">Unity: Which COG for You?<\/a> Why so many groups? Why is there lack of unity in the Churches of God?         Has it always been this way? What can\/should be done about it?<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/ucg.htm\">Differences between the           Living Church of God and United Church of God<\/a> This article    provides          quotes information from the two       largest groups which    had their         origins      in WCG as well as       commentary.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/ylcg.htm\">There are Many COGs: Why        Support the Living Church of God?<\/a> This is an article for those  who          wish to more easily sort out       the different COGs. It really   should   be    a          MUST  READ     for  current and former WCG\/GCI   members or  any         interested        in     supporting the faithful   church. It also    explains a         lot   of  what   the   COGs   are all   about.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/work.htm\">Should the Church Still Try     to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did   Herbert            W.     Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work?<\/a> Some    say   the       Church     should mainly feed the flock now as   that  is   what   Herbert  W.       Armstrong    reportedly said.  Is that    what  he  said?    Is that  what    the    Bible says?   What did <a href=\"\/paul.htm\">Paul<\/a> and <a href=\"\/herbertwarmstrong.htm\">Herbert W. Armstrong<\/a> expect from evangelists?<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/laodiceachurch.htm\">The Laodicean  Church Era <\/a>has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. These are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ancient Laodicea COGwriter The situation related to the UCG crisis seems to be affecting more and more who were once parts of that organization.\u00a0 Some of which are now part of something called the International Ambassador Outreach (IAO). The website of International Ambassador Outreach states the following: Mission Statement The mission of International Ambassador Outreach [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cog-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5652"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5655,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5652\/revisions\/5655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}