Fork in the Road

I am currently the interim pastor of an American Baptist Church, here in Central New York.
They are basically conservative - the main disagreement have is that they accept (and in the past
have had) women preachers.

After a year and 1/2 the pulpit committee is finally making some headway. It is possible they might
have a candidate. However, they are considering sharing a pastor with another church, which is about 15 miles away. They were in the situation for five years. IMHO - that decision has caused the church to have virtually no growth. I have been there for 6 months. In that time, I have visited many members - some who haven't attended for years A few of them have come back.

Now, here is the situation. I am Southern Baptist - at the time - this is acceptable to me and the ABC church.

However,in our city there is an extremely small SBC church only 2 - maybe 4 members. The pastor is 85+ and has for the past year, showing signs of dementia. However, he refused to step down. (something I recommended a couple of years ago to the church. Yesterday, I found out the pastor is in the hospital - I think they said - due to infections. Well, the two active members have finally decided it is time for the pastor to step down - and if necessary - to possibly vote him out.
There was a short discussion - about me becoming the pastor

Here is the fork - the ABC church is paying me $800 a month. The SBC currently pay the pastor about $150 a month. Since I do not know how long I will be at the ABC church......

I do have some other retirement income - ( am currently semi-retired )

Some difficult decisions coming up.

 

Last month, the SBC church had a business meeting and voted to declare the pulpit vacant.
At that same meeting the church voted me as pastor. I then gave the ABC church 30 days notice.
This coming Sunday, will be my last week at the ABC church,
I begin my ministry at Christian bible on 1 Nov!
The pay is only about 15% of what the ABC church is paying -- thus a big pay cut.
As the church grows, my salary will as well also.

 

Thank you -
Mrs Salty is a bit concerned - as I just retired from my bi-vo job - so this is a step of faith.

 

Population of the City of Oneida* is 10,912 - The metro area outside the city would have another 2,000 population.
(Oneida is also a county - but the city of Oneida is not in the County of Oneida.)

Christian Bible Church has only had 2-4 members - there were maybe 5 or 6 others attending on a recurring
basis -but for whatever reason would not join. Though one individual told me that he would never join a church
because he would never put himself under the authority of a man. BTW, I was informed that the pastor had never
joined the church. He had been pastor for about 10 years. I did attend briefly - a few years ago, but I did not stay
due to the pastor.

Faith Baptist had been running about 6 people - but a couple of situations arose. We ended just having a Bible study
on Thursday nights - in an attempt to determine what the future would hold. Around that time the ABC asked me to
be interim pastor, of which I accepted. However, I did continue the Thrus night Bible study as Faith Bap. One of the
attendees was a member of Christian Bible, as that church did only had Sunday service. During the past few months
the CB - pastors physical and mental/emotional was declining constantly. At this point - Christian Bible declared their
pulpit vacant - and then asked me to be the new pastor. From a legal point of view -we had a church merger. Now here
is an interesting part of the story - one of the attendees at the ABC church - who came thur my visitation - used to be a
member. He told me that when he was a member (late '80's) there was an attendance of 80-100!

This past Sunday we had an attendance of 5. One person who wanted to come -had something come up - and
my wife did not come because she works every other Sunday at the hospital.
This week our DOM will be preaching - and he is excited about the future of Christian Bible and Oneida
of Christian Bible- years ago ( he recently moved back to NY from NC)

Hope this answers your question.