Tuesday was a hard day for all the church board members, as they tried to anticipate what "Denomination" representatives would say that evening. When seven o'clock finally arrived, even the calmest (probably Josh, despite his turmoil the previous night) had had enough.
Herb did not appear. “I told him,” said Carolyn. "I urged him to come. He just said that he'd already spoken his mind. He didn't seem to care what anybody else said or did."
"Okay," said Chuck. "I guess that's his choice. We'll go on without him." He paused. "Does anybody have anything they want to say before Del and I present our report?" No one responded. "Okay, let's go back and be sure that everyone understands that this is not an official investigation. What we say to you tonight is strictly our personal opinion, and is meant to be advisory only. What you do with it is your business.
“Having said that, I need to say that Del and I have had a lot of personal experience with these kinds of church situations, and what we say now informally is probably very close to what we'd say formally, if a case was ever officially brought before 'Denomination'’. So, consider what we say advice only, but be aware that it is probably good advice.
"Okay, on to specifics, and I apologize up front if we seem pretty blunt. We have to call things the way we see them. First, Josh, you've admitted that you haven't worked well with your board over the past few months. You've also admitted that, while you did respond positively to some of the board's concerns and suggestions, you only did so after things got pretty sticky. You also failed to follow through with some of those things you promised the board you would do, like giving everyone the opportunity to be in a small group.”
Margaret said amen. Everyone ignored her.
"Frankly, Josh, I'm surprised and disappointed in you for the way you've handled all this. In addition, I think you compounded the wrongs by willfully seeking your principal support from non-board members, and from others outside the church. You're not a brand-new pastor, who doesn't know the right way to do things, yet this has all been handled very unprofessionally."
Chuck paused for comment. There were frowns, smiles, and smirks, but no words. "All right, point number two, and this relates to church regulations. You admitted, Josh, that you didn't remember the rule about non-members participating in church business. That's forgivable; anyone can have a lapse like that. What disturbs us is that your compliance after being made aware of the error has been, at best, half-hearted. You've made it clear that you think the regulation is a bad one, and by allowing non- members to continue to hold key positions in your small group, after barring them from activities inside the church, it seems clear that you have only minimally complied with the letter of the law, and with none of its spirit."
There was the beginning of protest at that statement, but Chuck quickly cut it off. "Wait, everyone. Let me go on. I - we - respect Josh's feelings about how our denomination relates to other denominations. Obviously, we are all Christians, and so are all part of the Body of Christ. Be that as it may, you, Josh, are a paid representative of this denomination. Also, you are a pastor all the time. You can't turn it off and on, depending on whether you are in church or in someone's home. That's a useful way of justifying to yourself what rules you enforce and which you don't. Frankly, in our opinion, that doesn't wash!
"Any comment? No? All right, point three, and here it gets a little tricky, because we're getting into 'speaking in tongues.' What you say about the biblical justification for these is true... "
Don started to interrupt, but Chuck held up his hand in restraint. "Wait, Don. There are scriptures that speak about every manifestation Josh and the others described. But - and this is a big ‘but' - the scriptures are far from clear about their actual use or value, and it's obvious that most Christian churches have been getting along fine without them for fifteen hundred years or so. It's our opinion - and Del and I both have some knowledge of this subject - that these 'gifts of the spirit' are often badly misused, and never have we heard of a church that has profited from their use."
Del had remained silent to this point, but needed to reinforce that thought. "I'll go farther than that. I've heard of churches that literally fell apart because of ‘tongues’ and the self-proclaimed prophets who insinuated themselves into the congregations. Whatever good such things might have had associated with them in Bible times, there is no record of anything but bad that has come from them recently." He paused for his finale. "Chuck and I diverged sharply in how we wanted to present this topic to you. He took the 'soft sell’ approach, hoping a word to the wise would be sufficient. I disagree. This is nothing short of disaster for you and your church, and I feel that we should have a firm rule that these things will not be tolerated in our church - or in any Christian church, for that matter. Don't you know that it is this kind of behavior that was the first step and eventually the cornerstone for those who have gone into ‘holy rolling’ and rattlesnake worship, and worse?"
"I wish you'd been with us," said Carolyn, quietly.
Del turned to her, questioningly.
"If you had been with us when we sang and prayed and heard God speak, you'd never be able to say those things," she said.
Del shook his head. "You're deceived," he said, positively.
Chuck cleared his throat, and uncomfortably took charge again. "Well, that's our basic report to you. It's strong, I know, but it's what we feel, and I think it's well-reasoned. Any comment, Josh?"
Josh smiled, a little wistfully. "Not much, I guess. As you say, you're not giving me good news. Still, I believe you're giving it with the church's best interests at heart, and I believe you've made an honest effort to understand and respond in kind. I thank you for that. I disagree with your conclusions - very strongly in some cases - but I guess I'll have to deal with that, myself."
"I want to say something," said Donna, quietly. "I want to apologize to all of you for my attitude and for some of the things I said last night. I hurt some of you, I didn't help solve anything, and I certainly didn't glorify God. I really do apologize - to you, Margaret, in particular." She paused, and gave a little laugh. "It’s funny, in a way, that I really saw how wrong I was, during one of those meetings that you just said had never done any good for anyone! Until it happens to you, I guess you can't really know how it feels to have God tell you to your face that you've screwed up. But He did tell me, and I heard."
"Praise the Lord," whispered Pete, Ev, and Josh, almost simultaneously.
There was a general hush for a moment, but only for a moment. "So, what are we going to do?" demanded Don.
"About... ?" Chuck looked a little mystified.
"You just gave us your report, and the verdict was that he was wrong on all counts. What are we going to do about it?"
Chuck hesitated. "Well, I guess that's up to you - the board, I mean. Remember that this is just our opinion, not any kind of formal action.”
Don was squirming, and getting more and more frustrated. Connie came to everyone's rescue. "What I think Don is asking is, do you have any specific recommendations to give us? That might be helpful, even if they are just personal opinions."
Chuck looked at Del, who shrugged in general concurrence. "Okay, I guess we can do that. Let's see. I guess mine would come down to two very basic recommendations: one, bring all your activities back under the safe umbrella of the church - no more outside groups or advisors; and two, bring this board back together again, and don't do anything without full board knowledge and concurrence. Del?"
"I'll just add one thing, and that's to repeat what I said before. Drop all this 'tongues' business like it was a hot potato. Get as far away from it as you can. It's deadly!"
On that note, they adjourned.
***
By prior arrangement, the "Tuesday group" members of the board adjourned to the Allen's, where the others were already gathered. Mike and Karen had been dropped off there on the way to church, so were there when Bill, Debbie, Charley, and Bob arrived. The college kids had been briefed on the Monday meeting, and everyone was waiting impatiently for the next report. Josh filled them in quickly.
"Bummer," Charley said, clearly summarizing everyone's feelings. "But what happens now?"
"I'm not really sure," replied Josh. "Obviously, I have to make some decisions."
"We have to make some decisions," corrected Pete. "We're all in this together, remember?"
Josh smiled. "Thanks. I apologize for sounding like the great omnipotent poobah. We are definitely in this together, and we all have a stake in what happens."
"Not to be too negative about it," began Paul, "But the ‘decision,’ whatever it is, is almost certainly not entirely in our hands. Even though tonight wasn't ‘official,’ neither Don nor 'Denomination' are going to let it ride. The board is going to have to take some kind of action."
"But how can we?" protested Jenny. "The board is obviously split in our opinions."
“But, to look at it another way," mused Donna, "Why shouldn't we take action, when we are obviously in the majority? Ted and Connie don't seem too concerned; we can satisfy them if we do a little better with communication and protocol. And Herb doesn't seem all that interested, anymore," She turned to Carolyn. “Isn't that right?"
Carolyn nodded slightly. "I guess so. I don't know what he's thinking or feeling, anymore. Frankly, I'm worried. But in answer to your question, I don't think he cares what the board does."
"So, if we vote, we win." Donna suddenly looked at Pete, with shock on her face. "Oh no, now I'm using win and lose words in church!"
Pete made a face at her. Paul responded. "I don't think it's just a matter of votes, now. We've been lucky so far that the whole congregation hasn't become involved, but some people do know, and there are lots of rumors flying around. It wouldn't take much to sway some of the ‘uncomfortable’ ones to a negative vote.”
"Paul's right," said Josh. "And God is not going to be glorified if members of the congregation start choosing sides for or against their pastor."
"And there's another point that Paul made," Evalyn added. "We are going to be under scrutiny by 'Denomination' - from Del, particularly, I would guess. He was so upset about our meetings that I know he won't let things go on as they have been."
“But how can he stop us?" asked Bob. "Isn't this our own private business?"
"It is, but he feels so strongly about it that he might go after Josh. You know, he might try to convince ‘Denomination’ that Josh is the cause of all the trouble, and if he was out of the way things might return to normal."
"But that wouldn't work!" exclaimed Charley. "It would be awful for Pastor to be fired, but we wouldn't stop doing what God wants us to do."
Evalyn hugged her. "I know you wouldn't, but Del doesn't know that, so he might try what I said."
"Bummer," repeated Charley.
"Let's not carry this too far, tonight," advised Josh. "We're all tired, and nothing's going to happen right away. Let's spend a little time praying before we call it a night."
They did.
* * *
Ted and Connie had had as much of the Whites as they wanted for a lifetime, it seemed, but it was important to start figuring out the next step. Consequently, they invited Don and Margaret home for coffee. Don was obviously pleased with the report from ‘Denomination,’ but was equally frustrated by lack of any obvious follow-up. He said so.
"What do you really want out of this?" Ted asked him.
"I want the Feltons out of the church!"
"Do you, really? It seems like that will be very hard to do, since you don't have any support on the board."
"That may be, but we haven't taken this to the congregation yet. I think there are a lot of people out there who, if they knew what was going on, would be on our side."
"Maybe so, but is that what you really want?" pursued Ted. "I agree, you could start a real war, but it seems to me that it would hurt the church as much as it would hurt Josh. Do we have to shake things up any more than they are, already?"
Don considered that. "Well, I guess I'd prefer to get it over without more problems for the church, but how can we do that? Josh made it plain tonight that he had no intention of backing down, or changing his mind."
"Maybe so, but I don't think he wants the congregation brought into this, either. If he was willing to make some changes... "
"He isn't," interrupted Don.
"But if he was, what would be your bottom line? What would he have to do to make things right enough to put this whole situation behind us?"
Don didn't say anything. "Is there anything that he could do?" pursued Ted.
Don shook his head, but not adamantly. "I don't know. I'd have to give it some thought."
"Well, why don't you? We're going to have to have a board meeting soon, and it seems like a good idea for us to come into it with a definite proposal to be acted on. Be thinking about it, and the four of us can get together and draft something."
After the Whites had gone, Ted and Connie returned to their coffee in the living room. "What a pair!" exclaimed Ted.
Connie was pensive. "What do they really want, Ted? Do they know?"
He shook his head. "I doubt it. I think it's pretty much pride and stubbornness, now. That's why I was hoping to find a way to let them 'win' without causing a major rift in the church."
"And without setting back the obvious good things that are going on?"
He smiled. "That, too. But we've got to protect Josh. He's pretty vulnerable right now, and I don't think Chuck and Del will wash their hands of this business. They're going to be watching closely, and will want to see some definite signs that normalcy is returning. If they don't, and if we can't shut up Don and Mag, well... ”
***
"This is very serious, isn't it?" Evalyn asked, later that night.
Josh nodded. "I don't know how things might go, but I think it's going to be pretty hard for us to stay here, regardless of what we might want to do."
"Because of 'Denomination'?"
"Yes. I think you and Paul hit the nail on the head. We might be able to straighten things out with the board - even with Don and Mag, although that would take divine intervention, for sure! But even if we do, I think Salem will be watching us very closely. Del obviously thinks we're leading the church down the path to Hell. Chuck is more understanding, but he obviously saw a lot he didn't like."
She was silent for a few moments. "Have you given any more thought to what we were talking about last night?"
"Oh, you were awake. I wasn't sure."
"Sure, you weren't sure, waking me from a sound sleep to tell me that you were considering leaving the ministry!"
He grinned at her. "Well, maybe I was sure, after all." He got serious, again. "Really, I have been thinking about it, but I haven't come up with anything very specific. The way things are going here, we may not have any choice in the matter, but I'm not thinking about it merely as a way to get out of our present predicament. I really wonder if there isn't something better for us than pastoring."
"Like what?"
"Like, I don't know. Christians do lots of other things besides pastoring churches. There has to be some place where we could make enough to feed ourselves, while doing what we feel God really wants us to do with our lives."
"You do know that this isn't just your decision, don't you?"
He looked at her questioningly. "Ev, I wouldn't leave you and the kids out of the planning process, We're a family!"
"I know that. I was thinking about Pete and Donna, whose continuing livelihood may depend on us. I'm also thinking about all the other people in the congregation who are very content, having you as their pastor. We have to consider them, too."
He pondered. "I really hadn't thought of Pete and Donna. That is a problem isn't it?"
"Maybe not a problem - or at least it's God's problem, ultimately. But it has to be a consideration."
***
"Josh and Ev are going to get kicked out, aren't they?" Donna asked it as a question, but more like she was seeking confirmation of what she already knew.
"It seems very possible," Pete responded from the bathroom. "I can't see how they can do what the folks from Salem want them to do, but I don't see how they'll let them stay around if they don't do it."
"That's what I thought, too," she said, mostly to herself. "So, I guess we better start thinking seriously about what we're going to do, too."
He came to the doorway. "I didn't get that."
"I said that we needed to start thinking about our future, too.”
He came over and sat on the bed. "I guess so. But remember that it isn't definite that they're going, and it isn't definite that we're out if they do go."
"Not definite, but a pretty good bet, wouldn't you say?"
He crawled under the covers. "Yes."
"Do you have any ideas?"
"Not really; do you?"
"No." She thought for a moment. "When are we going to get some?"
He shrugged. "Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?"
He put his arm around her. "Well, not tonight, so it must be tomorrow."
She cuddled close. "I'm worried."
He kissed the top of her head. "I know. I am, too.”
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