I've been doing some serious soul searching over a situation at my church. We hired a new pastor a year ago. After the first few weeks of his arriving, I wasn't much impressed by him. But, I decided that I would give him a year. A year (and a few months) has passed and I find that I actually dislike this man. He recently did forced out a church staff member who was much beloved by MOST of the church. I'm having a very hard tome with how this was done. This poor person was blindsided. Right before he confronted this person (who did nothing wrong, the pastor just wanted to add more duties to their already heavy workload!) he said to this person, "After this conversation our relationship will never be the same." To me this says that he fully intended to upset this person. I have other reasons for not caring for this person. He doesn't come out before service and greet the parishioners, his sermons are lousy and have nothing to teach, he doesn't attend many church functions nor does he attend coffee hour immediately after service..and on and on. This man doesn't even know my name and I'm an officer of the church AND I have the same name of his sister!!! However, he knows the name of the big contributers!! I also have personal knowledge of him being very nasty to a good friend of mine. Ok...so you may say "find a new church"..Not that easy. I've been a member for about 6 years and I love the congregation. Leaving them would be very difficult for me. This is a vibrant, giving church who is in serious need of good leadership. This is a very community oriented church that does community service and outreach. My plan so far is this: I'm going to resign from my position. I'm not going to pledge any amount to this church. I'm going to investigate other churches in my area...and I know that they will fall short of what I've come to love at my current church. I have cried over this situation. Does anyone have any suggestions? (I might also add that there have been several resignations after his latest stunt and I'm sure that there are more coming. Also, there are many people who feel the same way about him that I do.)
In other news: Herman and I are planning our trip to AZ to see Jackie! My mom will be coming along, too! I'm looking forward to this trip! Jackie will be able to visit with us for 2- 8 hour days!
Oh, one more thing: My friend's son Anthony is having his surgery today. They're removing 1/2 of his femur and all of his knee and replacing it with a prosthetic. This is the 15 year old boy I told you about in a previous post. He has osteosarcoma, a cancer of the bones. PLEASE...any prayers you can offer are greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Peace! :)
1 comment:
This is a tough situation....I'm sorry this is going on. It would be very hard for me to leave the church that I attend too. I can understand what you are going through...it sounds like the pastor is causing problems and that other people are doing what you are thinking about. Maybe it is best to resign and step away from what is going on. I hope you find something better. Good Luck!!
Have fun visiting Jackie!! Hope she is doing well! And definitely thoughts and prayers go out to Anthony and his family.
Take Care,
Michele
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