Morning all:
Last night was a hum-dinger at church. You'd have thought it was July 4th with all the fireworks, and I don't mean LITERAL fireworks. Our church split last night and the pastor resigned. Many people resigned over some things that had been going on for only five or six weeks.
The pastor, assistant and one lady in the church were trying to push through a change to the by-laws of the church allowing for people of most denominations to be admitted by statement of faith, baptized baptist or not. Our church constitution and bylaws weren't followed, members weren't notified, just the ones who were for the change, and it was a mess. Vivian and I were blindsided with this yesterday, and we were quite upset with not only the pastor, but the deacons as well.
Yesterday morning it was announced that one of the deacons (the former head deacon at one time) who also held the present treasurers position of the church resigned by letter. He was quite ill for the past five or six weeks and now I know why. This has made him physically sick, and nearly gave him enough stress to have a heart attack. He was out of town yesterday and will be for a few more days because his aunt in Alabama had a major heart attack and they don't expect her to live. He gave the head deacon a letter to give to the pastor to read following the service to the congregation. It gave his resignation, asked for his membership in the church to be terminated, etc. I was physically ill after this. So was Vivian. These people are our dear friends. They don't make such decisions lightly. They've been at this church for over 30 years.
Last night, the pastor dragged the meeting out for over an hour with unnecessary discussion and a "feigned" prayer meeting. He preached AT the congregation yesterday instead of TO them, and it was in conjunction with his agenda to have the constitution/bylaws of the church changed. He stated in the deacons meeting that the deacons were promoting a "Satanic doctrine" by holding fast to Baptist doctrine and polity.
Anyhow, we went to lunch with the head deacon to catch up on all that was going on...not to gossip, but to get both sides. We'd heard the pastors side in the sermon and by his actions. After an hour or so of discussion, Viv and I decided after praying about it, that we needed to vote against the change as it was proposed. If they would give more time to study the issue, properly write it into the constitution/by-laws, maybe. But, the pastor wouldn't allow it. We voted against it. I hate voting against my pastor and the assistant. The assistants wife said we were putting denominationalism above Christian ethics/love. She resigned all her positions, relinquished her membership and then left the service after a big feigned show of emotion and pleading. She said she didn't hold to "Baptist doctrine", but to Christian ethics/love/doctrine. It sort of blurs denominational lines, and it hurt many of the people.
The no's won with 18 votes. The yes' had 10 votes. The deacons immediately called for the pastors resignation, and he offered two weeks notice, which I don't think he'll fulfil. The pastors wife got up and accused the head deacon of promising the assistant the position of pastor if he voted "NO" on the subject. This was disproven, and Viv and I lost confidence in both sides because of the handling of the situation. WE both resigned our positions, though they weren't accepted by the deacon board, and neither were our requests for our membership to be relinquished. They said not until we've had time to "cool down" and study the subject out. For the next few weeks, we will be attending, but will not be active to see how things go.
Please, people, pray for this church. They've been such a lighthouse in this community, and to let this issue split the church has been hurtful to friends of many years, and to new Christians, too. Some will not be back.
Anyhow, this all made it hard to sleep. I'm removing the pastor from the website of the church, as well as the assistant, and then either relinquishing all rights to the site and turning over billing to the church, or will be deleting the site all together. I need prayers for wisdom. I'm not angry, just disappointed.
Sorry to dump on everyone. Just new we could get prayer here for healing in the church/community. I hate the devil and his divisive nature.
I will be praying for all today as I pop in and out. Forgive me if I seem a bit cranky. Still trying to adjust to new meds, pain levels, etc. But, should be back to my "old self" (you poor people) soon.
Have a great day!
T
