At about the time that Josh was arriving home, Debbie and Bill were meeting for dinner. Bill obviously had something heavy on his mind. Debbie thought it was her trip to California. It wasn't.
"I had a meeting with the pastor after work."
"Oh, is he home already? How did his trip go?"
"No, not Josh. The pastor; my pastor."
"Oh." The wheels started to turn. “Oh! You hadn't planned that, had you?"
"No, he called me at work just after I talked to you. He asked me to stop by the church on the way home."
She waited for him to continue.
"It wasn't good news."
"I guessed that. What happened?"
"He asked if I was still associating with 'the other church.’ When I said yes, he got really upset."
"Oh, Bill!”
"He went on and on about how wrong things were, and he tried to get me to say I'd never go back. When I couldn't, he told me that he would have to seriously consider whether or not he could keep me on as youth pastor."
"Oh, no!" She grabbed his hand across the table. Bill tried to smile at her, but there were tears in his eyes.
"He doesn't need to 'consider' anything. He's already made up his mind that I’m out, unless I completely give up on our group."
She couldn't say anything. She could feel his hurt so deeply.
"It's so wrong," he said. "There's so much good going on with Josh, but I feel so committed to my kids. God can't want this to be an ‘either-or' situation!"
"He doesn't, Bill." She shook her head, slightly. "This must be how Donna and Pete are feeling, too. The situation is a little different, but it's the same quandary - not being able to fully support Josh, without some personal loss."
He nodded. "Probably so."
* * *
The Whites and Blackers were having their meeting to work out terms for Josh to stay on as pastor. After a half-hour, both Ted and Connie were regretting inviting the Whites over. Still, they knew that the conversation couldn't be put off any longer. They listened as Don and Margaret took turns going over and over old ground.
"So, Don," Ted finally interrupted, "What do you see as the bottom line? What needs to happen for Josh and Evalyn to stay on as pastors?”
"I don't want them, at all."
"I know that, Don, but I thought we had agreed that it could do a lot of harm to the church if we don't find some way to compromise. You don't want to force a real split, do you?"
At times, Don would have welcomed a big open fight, if it would get rid of the Feltons. Still, he wasn't stupid, and he understood why Ted was pushing for some type of board settlement. "Well, whatever we do, it has to be strong. Josh has to see that he's been wrong, and has to guarantee he'll do things our way from now on.”
Make him eat crow, Ted thought, but he didn't say it. "So, what are the key points? Connie, be secretary, please."
Don thought. "Well, first he has to get the board together and talk about any changes he wants to make."
"Reasonable," said Ted.
"And he has to let us see his sermons before he gives them," offered Margaret.
"Unreasonable," objected Ted. "No pastor anywhere that I know of has to clear his sermons with the board."
"But that's been half the problem!" protested Don. "We never know what he's going to say. He's a loose cannon. Write it down, Connie."
Connie looked at Ted, who shrugged. "Write it down, for now. We'll discuss it with the others, later. Okay, what else?"
"No outside groups," said Margaret.
Ted started to object, again. "No outside groups except those specifically agreed to by the board," amended Don.
"And no non-members involved, either in church or out," Margaret declared.
Ted closed his eyes in frustration. "Write them both down, Con. Anything else?"
"And no meetings with 'Holy Roller’ pastors... "
"Oh, for pete's sake, Don!"
"Or allowing any ‘Holy Roller' activities in our church," Don concluded, triumphantly.
Ted left the room abruptly, feeling that it was the only alternative to throttling two board members to death. He spent two or three minutes calming down, then returned to the living room, trying to look and sound casual.
"So, if that's the list, I guess we should see how the other board members feel about it. Maybe we can get together tomorrow afternoon."
"I'll make some contacts," offered Connie.
Ted ushered the Whites out the door just as fast as he could without being blatantly rude. As the door closed, he turned to Connie and made a motion that could only have been a pantomime of wringing someone's neck. She giggled.
"They are awful, aren't they?"
"Words cannot describe just how awful!”
"And the rest of the board isn't going to buy any of this, are they?"
"Certainly not, especially when you consider that those two and us are the only ones interested in this, at all."
"So, why are we?" She was serious.
"Well, it's certainly not because I agree with Don and Mag in any way! Well, in only one way: I do believe that Josh has caused a lot of this trouble by not working with the board. Beyond that, my strong motivation is to keep the congregation from being pulled into some kind of battle where they'll have to take sides."
She thought about that. "I agree with you; but, also, I believe that a lot more good than bad has come out of all this. I wouldn't want to see it end."
"Neither would I, Connie. Neither would I."
***
"Josh? Milt Thomas here. Let me read you something out of a magazine. Are you ready?"
"I guess so, What's this all about?"
"Just listen. It's a classified ad: Seattle-based Christian publishing house seeking assistant editor for fiction/non-fiction books. Send resumé, or inquire for further information."
Josh was dumbfounded. "Where did you find it? You can't have been home more than an hour or so!"
"To tell the truth, I remembered it when we were talking this morning, but I wanted to be sure I remembered it correctly before I brought it up. It's a classified ad in a journal I read. Do you want the phone number?"
Josh felt unreasonably elated. "Milt, is this the job?"
"I don't know if it's the job, Josh. You need to find that out. Maybe it isn't. The magazine is a couple of months old, so maybe this particular job isn't even available, anymore. But I strongly recommend that you take it as a sign that you're on the right track."
Josh nodded to the telephone. "I certainly do take it as that." He shook his head. "Wait until Ev hears about this!"
Milt hung up after giving Josh the phone number. He turned to Ev and the kids, who had been listening with interest to the one side of the conversation. "Wait until I hear what?" asked Ev.
Still dazed, Josh told them. "Now, please, no quick reactions. I don’t know if we're going to do this. I can't even find out anything more until Monday. So let's just talk a little about it, and then let's pray together. Okay?"
The idea was too new to provoke in-depth discussion, but Josh was pleased that there wasn't a strong adverse reaction from anybody.
"What's Seattle like?" asked Karen,
"I don't know the city very well, Karrie, but it looks a lot like Portland. Lots of water and trees, and mountains nearby. Mt. Rainier is a volcano like Mt. Hood, only bigger and with more glaciers."
"Sounds pretty."
"It is," said Evalyn. "One thing I've always liked about Seattle is all the ferry boats. They run all over to islands and other places that people live. Some people commute back and forth to work on them."
"That'd be neat," decided Karen.
"Any immediate thoughts, Mike?" asked Josh, and knew he was tempting fate.
Mike shook his head. "I still don't want to move." He paused, and considered. "But if we did go, there might be worse places."
***
Josh and Evalyn discussed it in greater detail after dinner. The fantastic way everything was happening thrilled Ev, and caused a new worry for Josh. She seemed to be taking the job and the move so much for granted that he felt compelled to warn her about getting her hopes too far up.
"Maybe it won't work out, Ev."
"Oh, I know. I won't go off the deep end. But, really, I think it will happen. I feel it really strongly! So, I think it's right to be doing some planning - just in case."
"Okay, but I don't want to see you disappointed."
"Thanks, but I've been disappointed before. The anticipation is still fun."
"So be it. I'll call Monday, and see what I can find out."
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