It is well documented by Ireland himself that he was an aethist prior to forming Christ Church. Now, don't launch off on me as an aethist basher. I am not. But this sure is suspicious like a Zebra changing his stripes. When he was in College, he was a G-d basher. This is well documented in his own words. See the NY Times article posted on the VORT website. Anyway, it seems that one day he woke up and saw the green light, if you know what I mean. He had claimed that he had been a "consulting engineer" prior to that. That would have placed him as a consulting engineer at around the age of 25. Well, as an engineer myself, I can tell you folks that you do not "consult" in the engineering field til you have some considerable experience in it. This experience comes from working for large corportations for extended periods of time first. My suspicion is that he was a terrible engineer (maybe that is why he does not understand how to use NFV growth calculations, etc.) and needed a way to make a living. And he found one. The green light turned on.
I've worked with several engineers who were in their mid twenties. They were VERY sharp people. Obviously, craig, your stature took a bit longer to rise to that level. So you imply that no one could possibly exceed the the level that you made it to. Such simple reasoning on your part is so revealing.
And in your study of Ireland's past, your seathing rage kept you from realizing that he toiled with a very small congregation for many years. It is only very recently that the growth has taken place. So I guess in the early days of CC when the money wasn't flowing in, you figure Ireland just worked his tail off because he knew there eventually would be a payoff, right?
It couldn't be that he really wanted to spread the Gospel of Jesus? Naw, that couldn't be it, could it Craig?
In my humble opinion, the simple answer is that he is in it for the money which is clearly demonstrated by the way in which he comports himself. After all, he was featured in the December issue of "Church Business" magazine. That says a lot to me. Church business is almost an oxymoron for true believers. And I will not be baited regarding my own engineering qualifications other than to say that I retired financially independent at the age of 49. And no, I was not born with a silver spoon. My wife and I started with nothing. Our house is paid off and we have plenty of money in the bank. So, our success has something to do with my abilities in the Engineering and Technology field(s).
