When the Building and Grounds Committee met we discussed the parsonage, the need for parking space, and the cost of repairing the parsonage. Several of the members had talked with other chures in the area to see what they were doing about parsonages as well. After some discussion it was voted to recommend to the full church the parsonage be pulled down and the space turned into parking. Thus the next business meeting, February had one major item on its agenda. In addition the personnel committee would be on the church agenda for the February meeting.
After my return from Seminary, I was relaxed and planning for the next two major events in the life of our church. One of them would be an event known as Friends Day. The major purpose of this event is to expose outsiders of the church or any church for that matter to church. Many people do not have any idea what a church is like and are nervous at the thought of attending one. Friends Day overcomes this objection by encouraging members to invite people, particularly people who do not have a church affiliation. The second major event is one I always enjoy and that is Easter. These two days were scheduled in the church calendar close together this year to hopefully use one event to build on the next. The business meeting in February was to resolve some issues and George, who was spearheading Friends Day had come up with questions and a need for funds. These issues would also be part of the February business meeting. Prior to the February business, I was approach by Darlene Christian. Her daughter was no longer employed and had also broekn with her last boyfriend and she had heard the position of church maintenance might be open. She wanted me to hire her daughter, Margeret for the position. I explained to her that I was not responsible for the hiring, that it was a matter fo the personnel committee and if she was interested in the position then she might submit her resume to them. Additionally, one of my friends apporached me about the position and asked if he might be hired. I gave him the same answer as I gave Darlene. As we approached the time of the business meeting, the church person came and said they did not have a person to reccommend to the church at the time and what did I want to do. I told her I would think on it and we would see what the business meeting would suggest.
Wednesday night came. We started our evening the same way I had always wanted. We opened with a short prayer meeting. A prayer meeting is where we take prayer request for the church and then as a congregation and individually we pray over them. I would provide a prayer list to the congregation and we would add or make changes as necessary. This practice helps the congregation to remember to put aside individual differences. In addition it reminds the various people attending we are there not as a social organization but as a people together seeking God's desires for the church. So with the prayer meeting portion ending we came to the business portion. The various committes made their reports and when we got to the Buidling and Grounds report, we discussed the recommendation to pull down the parsonage. This was discussed in full and the final decision was not one I really liked. They decided to remove the pasonage. However they also directed me to solicite bids for this purpose. I hadn't a clue as to how to go about this. The personnel committee came to the church with their report. There was some discussion about their report and finally I suggested to the congregation that rather than wait over an extended period of time, two months to our next business meeting we trust the committee to hire the best person for the job. There was a brief discussion of the salary and the church voted to turn the hiring authority over to the committee. In the meantime various individuals would clean the church. So it was we approached the Friends day and Easter without the parsonage coming down or a maintenance person. The next event to strike the church was girl scout cookie day.
Why should girl scouts and cookies cause problems within the church? The problem was neither because of the girl scouts or the cookies but rather the inexplicably poor timing on the part of a mother. During the girl scout cookie time several of our girls would make the rounds of the members soliciting cookie orders. While this did not cause a problem normally, when they began to do so during the worship service, at a time of fellowship to collect money several members of the church grew visibly upset. I attempted to broach the subject with their mother and was informed that there was no problem, ouch. More members became upset and finally I no longer attempted to broach the subject with the mother but took it to the deacons. After brief discussion where two of the deacons saw no problem and two could see the problem, they agreed to discuss it with the mother. My diary records, "I can't believe they don't see the problem of collecting money for cookies. What is next selling doves to the worshippers? Money changers back in the temple?" This issue was to cause some problems for one of our key families later on.
Friends Day was an unqualified sucess. Attendance in the church topped 140 that morning. George did a wonderful job and most everyone was excited at what the little church could do. This would be the third time I would see Cindie. This time she filled out a visitors card for visitation. I would also meet many others including my favorite group of people, teenagers. Another person to attend that morning was George's daughter, Sherri Green with her sons. I was most excited by one of my friends coming to the church that morning. George and I looked at the cards we had received and decided to divide them up. We set up teams to assist in visitation. That afternoon we stated the process of calling the people and setting appointments for visiting with them. Cindie's appointment was set during the day right after the Tuesday prayer meeting. I planned to ask one of the ladies of the church to partner with me. That Tuesday morning I mentioned I needed an assist to visit Cindie. No one volunteered. Well the appointment was set so off I went with two thoughts in my mind. Make certain the front door is open and sit in front of the open door. The house sat up on top of a short bluff and I parked down the road from her house and walked up to it. It was not much to look at but then it was a sound structure, the yard was fenced and I was greeted by a large black dog. I scratched his ears and went up to the porch. Knocking on the door I waited. Shortly the door was opened by a young woman looking a litle worn out. She had her vivid red hair drawn back in a pony tail and was very thin looking. Puffing on a cigerette she invited me in. I entered and she moved to close the door. I asked the door to remain open and she complied without asking why. I was shown to a couch and looking around the room was impressed with how clean it was. In my visitation I have seen homes in many states of habitation. Some of the homes were messy, some were fairly clean, some were clean for my visit. This was so clean I could have eaten off the floor. I asked her about her children, she had three. She told of their names. I asked about her huband. She was divorced. I asked about the man she was living with. He was out drinking. She told me her first two children were from a man in the valley. When she told me his name I did not connect him to some one I knew. That was to happen a few months later when I ran into an older gentleman and his wife. They were the grandparents of her first two children. I had met them at a church down in the valley and they were deligthful people. I was very sad to hear of his passing and was certain his wife of many years missed him terribly. I asked a little bit about her dreams and she glancing at a clock began to grow visibly nervous. I still had not connected her to the woman in the car from a year previous. Noticing her growing nervous I thank her for the visit invited her to attend services again and after a brief general prayer excused myself. After this visit I was to see the older two children, Heather and Daniel, in church frequently. Cindie's mother or sister would pick them up at the base of the bluff on Sunday morning and bring them on to church. Daniel is a character. He was at the time inquisitive, loving, implusive, and unable to sit still. By contrast was his older sister Heather. She loves her mother very much. In the presence of adults she wears a mask. The mask is quiet, shy, and responsible. However when the adults aren't looking the other Heather shows up. Then she is loud, loving, forward, implusive, and explosive emotionally. I watched these two with interest as I did all children. Children will tell you more about their parents by their own behavior than all the words the parents say. I think in the long run Cindie will be lucky because her daughter will be her life long friend, but first she will have to make it through the teen years. If their relationship can survive Heather's sneaking out of the house, lying to her mother, and general rebellion then they will enjoy each other. During this time one of the college students expressed an interest in working with the youth long term. Her first name was Carolyn. Carolyn was a city person who had come to the mountains and was attempting to make the adjustment. She was having problems witht he small town every one knows your business atmosphere. In addition her childhood had been rough but she had survived it to become a Christian. I talked to her briefly and then reccommend to the church that we ask her to work as unpaid staff with gasoline reimbursement. She was agreeable to it and so we added a youth minister to our small church. She began by planning several events with them. Included in it was a week long mission opportunity on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. She also supplied a youth column for the bi- monthly newsletter.
When I first came to the church I thought I would publish a monthly or bi-monthly newletter keeping people informed as to the events of the church as well as a source of encouragement to those who could not come to the church because of health reasons. The first few issues were small, approximately 1 to 2 pages. The mailing list was small as well. However during the past few months the newsletter had grown from its beginning of about 25 copies to after Friends Day of over 100. I needed help putting it together and Corrine who was working at CompUTech, a small computer firm in town and a member of the church was happy to help me. I appreciated it because in the months since she had been at CompuTech Corrine had learned a great deal. Rhonda and I discussed Corrine on a regular basis and I expressed my amazement with how much Corrine had progressed. Her typing skills were much better and her ability to think for herself creatively, once repressed was beginning to flower. Corrine make changes to the format of the newsletter that made it much better. In addition she frequently pointed out my grammatically mistakes or other errors related to events or typing. I would spend a week writing the newsletter and she would type everything up. Then I would edit it and finally toward the end of the month we would print it out. After printing the last page we would take an afternoon and fold and stamp each one of the newsletters. She was also helpful in doing other secretarial things around the church. Sometimes she would type my letters, and frequently would assist me in the wording. Occassionally she would type my Seminary papers for me, especially when my visitation schedule was heavy. I appreciated Corrine and her friendship. One of the awful things that happened in all of this was the loss of people who I loved so very much. Corrine for all her myriad of problems was one of those. I enjoyed Corrine's friendship because thats all it ever was. However I was to lose Corrine's help because, that spring the local Baptist Association would lose its secretary through forced retirement.
This event would lead to the lose of Corrine as my helper. This lose would lay another brick in a pushing soome one into my life. While I had nothing to do with it other than vote for it as a member of the Association's Board, the forced retirement led to an acrimonous scene at the general spring meeting. The person who was secretary to the Association had been there for many years. She was a pleasant woman with many good qualities and strong in her church. Over the years she had added to her skill set when sudden she became very ill. Finally with a stroke she was in no position to continue her work. I missed her and when she tendered her resignation at a business meeting I as well as the rest of the board reluctantly accepted it. When then turned the job of hiring a replacement over to the DOM after discussing salary and working conditions. Later she would try to revoke the resignation but by then we were well down the road to finding a replacement and she still had not recovered. During this time she reccommended a relative for the position but the Director of Missions (DOM), did not accept the reccomendation. For most of the Spring he would use college students to answer the telephone and assist him in other activities. The local firm where Corrine was working was having difficulty in making ends meet and Corrine had progressed enough that she could realize her dream of being a secretary. After talking with Rhonda, I suggested to her that she apply to the Association for the position and use myself and Rhonda as references. She was surprised about this and after some coaxing put together her resume and submitted it to the DOM. He called me regarding her reference and I told him how she had helped put together the newsletter and her role in our church. Since he regularly received a copy of the newsletter, he was familair with her work. I suggested he check her other references and he did. Finally after about a month he notified me that he planned to hire her. I agreed not to say anything until he had spoken to her first. Then one day the following week she showed up and my office and with tears in her eyes thanked me for all my faith in her. I was happy for her. We discussed the newsletter and her ability to continue helping. I discussed it with Jim Collie, the DOM, and he agreed that she would continue to assist me with our church newsletter as long as she had no work for the association to do. So my helper departed for the Asociation and I was back to myself, a part time youth minister, who around this time began having personal problems, and a rotating maintenance person. This rotation though was slowed when during one WMU meeting Martha Gardner suggested that her daughter, Cindie do some of the cleaning. So Cindie entered the church as the maintenance person, volunteer. Finally the personnel committee after reviewing her work decided to hire her as the maintenance person. I was delighted because I remembered how clean her house had been. The week she was hired I sat down with her and went over the various areas of the church, the checklist of cleaning responsibilities to assure all areas were clean, and were her supplies were kept. The I shook her hand and she left. I remember as I shook her hand, how calloused and dry they were, that hands of a real worker.
As mentioned earlier a key event in the church is the Vacation Bible school. Planning for this event should begin in February but we were a little behind. Part of the problem was the inability of our Music Director to committee to a weekend. This inability to commit was in part due to other paerts of her life not delivering information as to their schedule until late. Our Music Director, Glenda, worked as head of grounds for a small college in the area, Clinch Valley, part of the University of Virginia system. In addition she was a Girl Scout leader which lead to one of the conflicts in the church, and her daugthers were actively involved in a local swim club. This coupled with all the responsibilies she had picked up through the years lead to a very hectic schedule. Her interest in the church and church music was sincere and she was a good music leader. However her interest in Vacation Bible School and her understanding of it was just not there. This year we had a difficult time setting the schedule because she was unable to attend any meetings or say when she would be available to lead the music portion of VBS, a tradition of the church, until late spring. Thus it was not until May that we had a date for the VBS. My wife would lead Vacation Bible School this year, with the comment, "I'll lead it this year but only this year. Next year you will have to find some one else." "Ok," I replied, thinking maybe Mary Price who normally led it would get well or maybe one of the younger women would head it up.
May, came I was called by my mother. She notified me my grandfather, now 94, had a stroke and if I could I might want to visit him because the family did not think he would last long. My mother is from northern Minnesota and so after some discussion with my wife, I decided to ask the church for a week to visit with my grandfather. I asked Phyllis if she wanted to go but she was reluctant to leave her interpreting charge since it would be difficult to find a temporary for her. Besides, "I have only seen them twice and the last was over three years ago." Once again I was to travel without my wife of 18 years to attend to something that would disturb me emotionally. It was a long drive out of the mountains but I finally arrived in Duluth Minnesota where I stayed a week with my cousin Steve. I visited Grandpa each day during that time and only once did he wake long enough to realize I was there with him. Much of the time he slept and I visited with my Grandma, my Uncles, Aunts, and many cousins. Steve, his wife Patty, and I went to a Mexican restuarant in Duluth one evening. While we were there Steve suggested I have a beer. I thanked him and explained that our church covenant did not allow for alchol. He said Virginia was along way and no one would know. "Yeah, but I still remember the last time you coaxed me into doing something I shouldn't." "When was that?," He asked. I said, "Remember the duck pond and what happen?" "Oh," he replied. At this point his wife was a little puzzled. We explained that when we were children my family had come to visit and my father said to not go swimming but Steve assured me no one would know if we did and so I went swimming with him and Jeff, his brother in the duck pond. My father found out and we, my brother and I were whipped. Steve told his wife, "Yeah and he and Jeff had to go to confession." I said, "So I know what will happen. I'll have one beer and you will call the congregation and tell them I was drinking like a lush up here, no thanks. Besides I will not violate the church covenant." With general laughter we moved on to other memories and had a delightful evening. Steve and Patty shared how they were to take their Youth group to Paris, France that August for the Papal visit. I was happy for them. One of my cousins' daughter, Krissy, asked me to meet the man she was dating at this time and I was glad to. We attended the movies together and I felt he was a pleasant young man and wished her the best. She felt like they would eventually get married. After a week I talked with my grandma and Uncle John and departed back to the hills of Virginia.
Arriving back to the congregation I loved and missed, I sat down in my office to think and prepare for the coming summer. The summer is a time of travel for most of the church families so attendance would be down. The college students would depart for other areas but Carolyn informed me she would remain in the area. In addition we had a full summer planned for the Youth. The previous spring several of the church youth with my daughter, Kathryn leading the way, said they wished to be involved in Impact '97. This is a summer mission opportunity. Also they were interested in attending the annual Youth Evangelism Conference, held in Richmond each year. So their summer would be filled with opportunities to raise the funds for both of the events. Phyllis planned the Vacation Bible School. I worked with the Youth and carolyn on raising money for Impact and YEC. I hoped that one of the key families in the church, Enie Ward's would get involved with the mission trip. Matt Ward had started out planning to go on the mission trip but when the date was announced it would interfere with the family vacation plans. Matt would also be unable to go to YEC because he was involved in the local High School football program. Though Matt expressed an interest in both, his parents objected and he was unable to obtain their support. An addtional worry was the parsonage. Though the church had voted to demolish it we were unable to find someone who would do so for a reasonable fee until Wilma Hubbard volunteered her son to take the buidling down for the materials in it. Wayne had done some work for me previously and he was a consciencous worker. While he was not the fastest in the world, his work was of sound quality. The church agreed to this arrangement in one of its Business meetings. On top of this I had prayed over and discussed with several of the church leaders the idea of small group study for the church. As mentioned earlier, most people were excited about the growth of the church, some though expressed concern over growing to big. They were concerned they would lose the intimacy of the small church if they continued to grow at their current pace. Though I assured them that this would not be so, they began a behind the scenes discussion of all the things going wrong in the church. When people make the problems of the church a focus of discussion but refuse to put forward constructive ideas on how to resolve them, they are no longer part of the solution but have become only a focus for the problems. My wife brought to my attention that we had many activities for the youth but none for the children. In the meantime the Youth were pushing for more activities. The older members of the church wished more visits and some of the members complained of neglect. At the same time they complained of neglect they would be the last to inform the church office of events in their lives. One of the focal points of the discussion of the wrong things was to take place at Norton Community Hospital. Several of our members worked there and would gather together at lunch. All the time they would not bring these things to my attention but would point them out to others. Thus the active restistance to church health formed. So there you have it in a nutshell the problems facing the church, key members not wanting to deepen their involvement, a slow project involving a key family of the church, the fast growth, over 24 baptisms in a year and half, the lack of service to vital elements of the church, and everyone wanting more time.
Did I meet these challenges successfully, No. Did I try? You be the judge. With the Youth Leader's personal problems growing a few of the college students who had stayed the summer began to snipe at her. This created additional problems which I finally addressed by calling the students into my office and telling them the Youth program had one leader and if they wished to be involved then follow her lead but to stop the sniping. To counter the accusation of lack of children activities I attempted to enlist Donna Miller once again. This attempt met with mixed results and she and her husband began to attend infrequently. Yet she did plan one activity of the children. Unfortunately when the activity came around she had to work at St. Mary's hospital. None of the other mothers stepped forward to assist her. So I chaperoned my first childrens activity with the assistance of some of the youth. The upshot of this was a complaint by one of the families of inproper and inadequate chaperones. When people complained to me at how slow the parsonage was coming I attempted to contact Wayne and his wife. Their family consisted of the two adults and one son of the wife's previous marriage. He had been involved in witchcraft, drugs (as his parents were), and other activity which were detrimental to his life as well as to others. In addition Wayne was booked solid and preforming a difficult project for a client in Scott County and his wife was suffering from a form of musclar degeration. Thus the parsonage coming down was a distant 8 or 9 on their list of projects to do. However each time I would bring up the project to them their resentment would grow a little bit. In the meantime, the leaders complaining, other members of the Wells clan, would complain more. When I suggested to them the church could afford to be patient they became impatient with me as well. In the area of church intimacy we began to develop more opportunities for the members to be involved with each other outside the doors of the church. For the youth we held activities every other week combining fund raising with prayer, Bible study, and fun activities. Matt and his friend Steve assisted in several of these activities though they would not be able to go on either of the trips. For the adults the enlisting for small group leaders had be complete. The locations were decided upon and the training had begun. There were to be two small groups. One would be lead by George Statzer and the other one to be lead by me. George was upset over the fact there were only two but I explained this was a step in the right direction as next time it would probably grow.
The next event in the church was the Youth going to Impact '97. They had trained for this, raised the money for it and so it was with delight and satisfaction the five youth from our church and two from another church left for the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The chaperones would be myself and Bobby. Bobby had been married to one of the ladies of the church, Denise Riner. Denise and he had one child, Trey. Trey was going on the trip and his birth father would chaprone. I would get to know Bobby on this trip and came to like him. He was very reserved and lived in Dallas, Texas. We took two cars to Impact as we had no other transportaion. One was a car Bobby had rented and the other was my old Fifth Avenue. We would sleep on the floor of a school on the Eastern Shore and repair housing and roofs in the area for about a week. Our little group was broken up and merged into three other teams. My daughter was assigned to the team where I was the fellowship leader. While driving to the Eastern shore we travelled through Roanoke and down toward US 58 which ran along the southern border of Virginia. I remember as we driving along an empty stretch of highway, a squirrel suddenly dashed out of the field next to the highway and before I could do anything the car had run over the squirrel. Heather Rouse asked me why I hit the squirrel and I explained I didn't see it until it was to late. She said why did it jump at the car. I tried some humor and said it was a rabid squirrel who attacked the car. Trey riding in the car at the time made up a song on the spot to the tune of "Grandma got runover by a reindeer." After a 9 hour drive, we finally pulled up to the High School where we would sleep on the floor that week. The boys were along one wing of the classrooms. The girls were along another wing. Our small group was swallowed up by several of the larger churches from the Eastern part of the state. Of that week I remember one comment by a youth from a church in the Hampton Roads area. "Why are you here? Why didn't you stay on your side of the state? Aren't there projects in your area?" One of my youth asked me why some one would say that. I told her, "It shows a provencial attitude. Missions is about helping people in all areas. The Bible says we are to help people in our hometowns, in the areas around us and all across the world. I am sure that young man doesn't understand missions." The youth enjoyed their work. Each evening as they came in I would look for them. Every day it was the same, sweaty faces, dirty clothes, tired youth but with a certain inner glow. Bobby and Trey grew closer together during this time. It was fortunate they did, as later a serious tradegy that impacted all of Wise County and changed lives forever would occur. But I get ahead of myself. At that time we had no idea a tradegy would engulf our lives. On the trip back the Youth were a little more subdued. Trey and his father were much closer now. The girls had the addresses of many new friends. The youth as a whole had been exposed to poverty outside of the mountains as well as a different attitudes and lifestyles. They had seen the way others lived out their christian faith and seemed a little more reflective. Their next event would be the Youth Evangelism Conference, YEC.
YEC, is an annual event in Richmond with a trip to King's Dominion and many small group meetings focused on the idea of teaching the Youth to share their faith with others. There is also several rallies designed to encourage the youth to deepen their relationship with God. The youth of the church would attend this event under the leadership of the youth director, Carolyn. I would not be involved in this as there was Vacation Bible School coming up, small Group meetings, and the Nonimating Committee. The youth returned from YEC with a sense of a deeper commitment as well as a closer bond with one another. I was particularly impressed with the fact that one of the high school football players had risked his spot on the team to attend YEC. Jason Rouse was the youngest son of Corrine. He was more serious than his brother and a defender of his sister. However later his faith and lifestyle would change. At the time he had spent his summer working for one of the church families, Kenneth and Wilma Hubbard, cutting their yard and generally helping them out. Kenneth had been injured in a mining accident. The accident had almost crushed his pelvis and left him with a permanent limp. He was tall and had once had coal black hair. Wilma was short of stature with what was once strawberry blonde hair. I enjoyed their company. One day Kenneth and I were out talked next and an old small truck I had picked up from a local car company. The bedliner was coming loose and I was toying with a screw. Kenneth saw me doing it and gave me a small wench that fit on a keychain to fix it. When I tried to hand it back to him, he refused and in the slow drawl of his said, "Preacher, you keep it. You need it." I was at a loss then because I was not use to receiving things from people. I tried once more to hand it back but finally not wanting to insult him I kept the wench. I still have it today.
Not only did I have the three activities of, VBS, Small Group planning, and Nominating Committee but also I was asked to sit on an ordination council of a gentleman from a church I had once preached at. He was a Dean, nicknamed Jigeye. I liked him a lot and met with the other council members att eh local associational office. Jigeye was Phyllis Dean's second husband. For some people this is an automatic out and my wife, Phyl asked me about it. I said, "Well God used and Ass to speak to His people and He uses me so I don't see where he can not use this man as well." In any case the ordination council only provides a recommendation to the local church requesting one and does not ordain the candidate. The meeting was in the early evening hours and we read over Jigeyes comments to us and then he came in and sat down. I remember feeling sorry for him because he was so nervous. My dairy records, "I spoke to him about how hard it is, "to be a prophet to your own people." I asked him about this and mentioned how hard it would be because you would receive little respect and many would remember you from before. I wanted him to understand that being a preacher is tough. It is one of long hours, small reward from your congregation, with lots of prayer because we can't do anything only God can. In any case unlike a previous ordination council I had sat one we did recommend to his home church he be ordained to the ministry. I saw him several times after that and wish him the best. I understand his wife later divorced him but that is their story and not mine.
Moving on to VBS which would be the next event in the church. That year the VBS director was my wife, Phyl. She did a marvelous job. Glenda worked well with the music portion but her schedule was very full and a few times she did not make it. This upset some of the workers. I tried to calm them and several times they appeared calm. However I suspect they just went home and continued complaining to each other. The number of children involved was slightly higher than the previous year but still no where near what I thought the church could have. The biggest problem it appears was the willingness of the people to open their church to the community. During this week I drove my car around town to pick up some children from various families. Most of my pick ups would be from the projects over near the Walmart. I had visited these apartments several times in following up on visitors. After VBS was over Phyl said to me, "I did it this once but don't expect me to do it next year." "Then who do you think should do it?" "I don't know," she replied, "some one other than me." With VBS over my attention was pre-occupied with the Nominating Committee and the Small Groups.
Several of the members of the nominating committee came to me and asked when they could meet. They had tried to get together but Glenda was never available. I said, "Well talk to her and then set a meeting that fits her schedule. If she don't come I would suggest you hold your meeting. Then later talk to her and see if she has any objections." As far as I knew that is what they did. In any case with the increase in members there was a larger pool of volunteers to draw from. We had to expand our Sunday School and added new members to several committees. Martha Gardner would benefit from this since several of the members were from her extended family. The composition of the nominating committee also changed as several long time members were able to move responsibilities to over individuals.
Around this time I met with the deacons who attempted to pass on some concerns of some members. The general concern was we were growing to fast. A second concern was a feeling but their groups that we were losing people. I listened and was alittle stunned by the second charge but I held my peace. After they left I went over in my mind the various people who had been at the church when I arrived. I checked the membership rolls as well. The upshot was I could find no evidence of people leaving. Then I sat down to think since the evidence conflicted with the testimony. Finally I decided it was perception. With the increase in people attending, the fellowship time, a time where everyone stood and shook peoples hands was a little more difficult. It was harder to see friends because there were more people. I took the deacons comments to two ladies of our church who were Freewill Baptist. I liked the two a lot, Enda and her sister. The two ran a second hand shop near the local airport. I enjoyed visiting with them and frequently listening to them. I mentioned the deacons concern to them and they were quick to suggest that it was not true. So it was with alittle bit of puzzlement I continued planning for Small Groups.
Small groups is a way to accomplish several objectives for the church at once. These objectives are, deepen each members relationship with God, create a group of people who are fairly intimate with each other, introduce members to a depth of friendship most people do not have, and provide people with an opportunity to expand their relationship with God and fellow church members outside the walls of the church in a non hostile environment. Done correctly it also acts as a non hostile introduction into Christianity and the church. In this way people in the community would be able to join. So it was with George and several other members I continued planning small groups. We had sign ups in August with the Small group leaders to be appointed through the nominating committee process. Additionally remodeling of the church steeple had been accomplished, an old oak threatening to fall had been cut down, and inside remodeling by the Building and Grounds committee had begun.
With the addition of small groups, the increase in members, the church newsletter, an inability to replace Corrine with a volunteer helper, an increase in my internal church responsibilities, and an increase in my extra church responsibilities several of my responsibilities for writing or communicating outside the church failed. I discussed this with the Tuesday morning prayer group of Eleanor, Christina, and Darlene. After about a week I suggested we hire some one to help with the newletter as well as some one to answer the telephone on Tuesday morning during prayer meeting. The reason for the second duty was several times during the previous year we had our prayer meeting interrupted by telephone calls. After some discussion we decided to bring this to the deacons. I brought the idea to the deacons and after some discussion and no resolution I said I would bring it to the business meeting in August. It was shot down in the August business meeting. While I listened to the discussion I could see several of the members had not understood how much the workload had increased. Letting the matter drop for now I would continue on. Around this time Darlene suggested her daughter do the work for free. While on the surface it sounded like a good idea I had had enough contact with Margret to realize this would be a problem. One reason was during one visit I received the distinct impression, Margret had made a pass at me. I went home and discussed it woth my wife. Phyl said, "If she made a pass at you then do not visit her again unless you take a friend. Also you might want to limit your visits to a very brief few minutes." The next time I visited with her, I took Mike, my instructor in TKD, with me. I picked him up and we went to her trailer. After a brief conversation I left. We got in the car and Mike started to laugh. I asked him, "Whats so funny?" "You are," he replied, "a woman makes a pass at you and you left her trailer like the wind." "She made another pass at me.?, I asked. "Sure, you saw it." I said, "No Mike I didn't I left because Phyl and I agreed to limit contact with her." He laughed some more. In addition he would take the story to the local training hall. And tell it with relish to his friends. However the new church year was beginning.