Assembly Clichés

[summer007]

Shin,  Delila's Story is in the  Assembly Experience section. Theres part I,II and part III. and possibly on Geftakys site, although I hav'ent checked for it there I thought I saw the Title on the article list.....Summer.

[summer007]

Shin, Please when you add cars,make them convertibles its so much nicer with the breeze in your hair...Is the Gold Lady a 13 day blond or ala Natural??? Yes and add lots of bling!!! Very shiek...I thought I might be treading on hallow grounds with the GL nice to see your so open!!! I like that.

[shinchy]

Shin, Please when you add cars,make them convertibles its so much nicer with the breeze in your hair...Is the Gold Lady a 13 day blond or ala Natural??? Yes and add lots of bling!!! Very shiek...I thought I might be treading on hallow grounds with the GL nice to see your so open!!! I like that.

Thanks for the tips. She's neither blonde nor brunutte, but elegantly bald (with a halo to boot) and gold skinned. She's the archetypal diva with many manifestations : Josphine Baker, Marlene Dietrich, Audrey Hepburn, Nina Simone, Alek Wek, Grace Jones, etc.

[matthew r. sciaini]

Al:

Thank you for your response to my cliche-strewn post.

In reference to my use of the word "bullcrap",  I was intending to use a more direct term, but I guess what I used was direct enough to convey what came out of George Geftakys' mouth.  

The reason for such directness is because for YEARS I wanted to throw my shoe or hymnbook or something at him because he was saying nonsense and then he would turn to Scripture to attempt to legitimize it.  We did not feel the liberty to call black black, or white white,  and had been ever so subtly trained to doubt even our own minds when it came to the preaching of George Geftakys, or indeed, of anyone in leadership in our local assemblies.   The things that would have constituted unacceptable behavior for a garden-variety assembly member (and I am not saying they shouldn't) were OK for George Geftakys.

Let me give one example.

I remember sitting in a missionary convocation a couple of years back on some Sunday afternoon, when George came up with the bright idea of calling Nigeria so that Samuel could partake of the glorious convocation with the rest of us (never mind that while it was 4:00 pm in Fullerton it was midnight in Nigeria).  I found this rather strange.

Later on I spoke with another garden-variety brother like myself (though older and having two grown daughters) and we came to joking about calling each other at 2 or 3 am.  Eventually we came around to where we admitted that we wouldn't do that to each other unless it was really an emergency.  And THEN I said, "But brother George called Samuel in the middle of the night in front of several hundred people with seemingly no shame whatsoever.  How is that any different than you or I doing it?"  He said,  "Nice try, but it is not the same."    I don't think he would say that now.

Matt

[shinchy]

Thanks Marcia!  

[al Hartman]

In reference to my use of the word "bullcrap",  I was intending to use a more direct term, but I guess what I used was direct enough to convey what came out of George Geftakys' mouth.
 

Matt,

     I hope you realize that my remark about "male bovine fecal matter" was posted tongue-in-cheek.  While I, myself, am much too spiritually mature to use a term like "bullcrap"  (indeed, I cannot even bring my fingers to touch the keys in a sequence that would produce the word "bullcrap"), nonetheless, I'm sure that no one will fault you for using "bullcrap" as a term descriptive of the old maestro's words.  But out of respect toward those of a more tender disposition than yours or mine, you may want to consider referring to his message as being composed of meadow muffins, road apples, or buffalo chips...  Your call.

al        

[shinchy]

Sermonettes for Christianettes.

[matthew r. sciaini]

All:

Not only were there ways of speaking, but ways of acting as well.  These are not, properly, cliches (sorry, am not sure how to make the accent) but TRENDS.

For instance... in the late eighties...

I had my Franklin planner....

later I got my JW bag....

These, I think were the only two trends I can think of in which I partook.....

but now, for more cliches......

The saints and the "ain'ts" (on ANOPs)

It's what you learn after you know it all that really counts... (taken from Harry Truman, 33rd president of the United States)

Odious and Soon-touchy (corruptions of the names of fine Christian women Euodias and Syntyche, in the New Testament)

Did you know that Paul was a southerner?  He was reckoning a lot, according to the KJV.

If you throw a rock down a dark alley and you hear a scream, that means you've hit something (courtesy of Tim Geftakys).

fallen by the wayside (not continuing in an assembly endeavor)

The secret to an afternoon meeting is....the joy of the Lord or a light lunch, depending on GGs whim.

I'll be lecturing to the angels for ten thousand years on the attributes of God (supposed to encourage us during seminars).

jaspers (referring to people that are not supportive of the old Geftakys ministry)

....oops, some more footage coming

.....check the mike........and.......

.....I'll tell you, friends, saints of the most high God, that the greatest testimony to Jesus Christ is to the God of changed lives......most of you I met when I was between the ages of 38 and 42 (uhhhh.......he's forgetting his audience again).......and God has been doing a great work all these years (I actually heard him say this on a tape FROM 1975, when the ministry had only been around four or five years).......let's pray that God will raise up testimonies in every community (as if He was not already working...this was a big issue for some people..there was doubt on the part of many as to whether God was working if the Assembly was not in a locale)......that God may get His increase.  Some of you here think that one church is as good as another...but God has established HIS TESTIMONY in Fullerton and wherever His people meet;  we're not just playing church(some of us were, but it was hidden from us).  

.....Is there a little cobweb in your life, or a little "cupcake" that is keeping you from truly surrendering all to God?  You don't want to miss out on the kingdom for those things, do you?  (yes, he actually said, "cobweb" and "cupcake")

Now I want to tell you something, brethren.....I have secrets that God has given me...and I don't share them with just anybody......brethren have to be faithful to know them (appealing to desire to be in the inner circle, wouldn't you say?) .....I know one time I told a brother some of the secrets that God had given me and he was really unfaithful....(I wonder what that means)...it was so sad......

...But I've been laboring in the kitchen of heaven, preparing a meal for you dear people.....

....and the Lord gave me a poem while I was at the throne (OK, I've combined a few things here).....

the poem is about "this-ness" (yes, he actually used that term once or twice)

...emptied fulness always full....(kind of a combination of Gertrude Stein and e.e.cummings sprinkled with holy water)

OK, more footage later...over and out....

no thanks for the memories?  

Matt Sciaini

[al Hartman]

[size=20]UGH!!![/size]

...must...
              ...remember...
                                    ...not to eat...
                                                          ...before...
                                                                          ...reading...
                                                                                            ...here...

 

[shinchy]

Matt,
I remember seeing people at seminars in the mid-90's with their Franklin planners. I also remember George using the term "eucatastrophe," the joyful turning to the good, as he defines it, at another seminar (1996?). During another seminar, he mentioned that when he was younger, he wrote a Christian play and God did not want him to put it out. It seems to go with his oft repeated saying that he was raised in the dancehalls.

[matthew r. sciaini]

Al:

Holy bulimia!!!

I do also remember at one of the more recent seminars that GG said, "In that day, the day of the Lord's coming, will you be ashamed of me, brother?  Will you be ashamed of me, SISTER?  This before I or many of us knew that a few sisters had anything to be ashamed of concerning George Geftakys.

Matt

[d3z]

I tried using a Franklin planner when in the assembly.  It was always just frustrating.  Now, I actually use one regularly.  Once I figured out that I should plan based on my priorities, rather than GG or someone elses, it became a useful tool to me.

Of course, Franklin is a Mormon run company.

[outdeep]

I tried using a Franklin planner when in the assembly.  It was always just frustrating.  Now, I actually use one regularly.  Once I figured out that I should plan based on my priorities, rather than GG or someone elses, it became a useful tool to me.

Yeah, let's start a list of things that were actually good ideas until Betty got ahold of it:

Franklin Planners
Accoutability
Life Together by Bonhoffer
Holistic Cancer Therapy
One Minute Manager
Christians living together
Youth Prison Ministry
Christmas Projects
Natural Foods and nutrition
Household chores
Books by M. Scott Peck
Child Training and Discipline

[Mark Kisla]

I tried using a Franklin planner when in the assembly.  It was always just frustrating.  Now, I actually use one regularly.  Once I figured out that I should plan based on my priorities, rather than GG or someone elses, it became a useful tool to me.

Yeah, let's start a list of things that were actually good ideas until Betty got ahold of it:

Franklin Planners
Accoutability
Life Together by Bonhoffer
Holistic Cancer Therapy
One Minute Manager
Christians living together
Youth Prison Ministry
Christmas Projects
Natural Foods and nutrition
Household chores
Books by M. Scott Peck
Child Training and Discipline

It's amazing how someones deeper life philosophy can suck the joy right out of something, if you let it.

[matthew r. sciaini]

David:

I actually "got a promise" for getting a Franklin Planner back in April of 1988.  Imagine what a complete rube I was!

I remember that I was excited about doing all those chart pages and making up all these high-powered lists for which the Franklin company provided the template.  When I shared this with a brother at the old Fullerton assembly, he just said to me, "why don't you just try to be a normal guy?"  If you knew me back then, you would know why he would say that.

This coming year, I will get some sort of date book to keep track of things, but I won't be doing the Franklin planner thing for a while if ever again.   It was indeed another item which spoke of assembly lemmingism and the herd mentality par excellence.

Matt