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Monday, June 6, 2011

Churches are made up of people: More on Part 3

I have just a few minutes but there were a few things I wanted to discuss about Part 3 before I continued with Part 4.  I guess you could call this Part 3A. ;-)

As a refresher, you can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here as well.

Firstly, I recalled the timeline incorrectly.  After some thought, I remembered that William was already "in the picture" during this church upheaval.  This means that it was about a year after Russ' death when it all started...not just a couple of months.  In addition, I had spent the school year in Corpus Christi, TX attending a satellite campus of Texas A&M.  (One of the best years of my life!)  I think this could all be pertinent information in the great scheme of things.  The pastor's daughter was roughly the same age as I was.  Most likely her graduation and moving off the college helped spur this decision to leave on.

With all of that said, I'm sure some wonder about my decision making abilities.  Was it the right thing to do to try to "take the church away"?  I dunno.  I won't even pretend to know whether or not the youth pastor (YP) or the church board member (BD) made a right call.  I did believe at the time that they were listening to God.  But I never heard personally from God on their actions, other than when He told me my involvement with YP's ministry would go beyond the church.  Because of that, I knew without a shadow of a doubt I was supposed to follow YP.  I didn't question much else.  I'm generally a very trusting person (both a shortfall and strength!).

I do think that calling the police on church members (when not causing a disruption) was a poor decision.  I'm sure the new pastor (NP) thought it was a way to solidify healing.  But a little warning wouldn't have hurt.  "Hey, you are no longer welcome."  He did not do that.  He smiled and shook my hand when I entered the building. There was no indication I was not welcome.  And that is not right.

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