Complex sentence: The traveling ministry consists of elders who travel from group to group, convention to convention, with special messages and are often highly respected by the rest of the people, while elders were more the day-to-day leaders of the groups.
Split into simpler sentences: The traveling ministry consists of elders who travel from group to group, convention to convention, with special messages. They are often highly respected by the rest of the people, while community elders are the day-to-day leaders of the groups.