Has it really been so long since I last blogged? Time has sure flown by and so many things have changed since I last wrote. Wow. I still cannot even believe some of it. I am still dealing with some of it.
The last I
wrote, I was filling in for our church secretary as she was away on an extended vacation. Actually, her and our pastor was (as they are married). Pastor had been with our church for eight years and even on his day off, he didn't get a day off. I have been filling in and helping around the office for three years, so I can attest to the number of phone calls the man would get even on his "days off."
Next thing you know, our Board had asked for our Pastor's resignation. I won't get into that a whole lot other than to say that I personally didn't agree with it and still don't. I don't think he deserved it either. Our pastor is well-respected in our District, is obviously gifted for the pastorate, and is one of the most godly men I know. He has truly modeled what it means to be a Christian to me and everyone in his care.
I got to see a whole different side of one of our Board members. I truly respected him and thought so much of him, but he spoke to me in a most ugly way for expressing my concerns over what the Board had done and his attitude towards me is still no better. He went from commending me on what an excellent job I was doing of taking care of the church offices to barely being able to contain himself in my presence. He has had more than one sarcastic remark for me and at this point, I try to just avoid him.
Unfortunately, I spoke to the wrong Board member. I know many others who expressed their concern and disbelief that our Board would do what they did, but were not spoken to the way I was. I made the mistake of speaking to a man who made it plain that the Board does not answer to the members of the church.
Yeah, that shocked me too.
Well, it just got worse from there. They read our Pastor's resignation on a Sunday morning and named our Interim Pastor that Wednesday. The Board had him filling in for our pastor while he was away. I was quite dismayed by their choice, but not surprised. It is obvious that two of our Board members really like him. He has preached at our church throughout the years I have attended and I have never cared for his preaching. A lot of people at our church do not, but since he used to be the youth pastor there he is well thought of.
He made it quite clear, that very first Wednesday, that he did not want me as his secretary and that he planned lots of changes. Since I wasn't applying for the job, I wasn't too concerned. As the video projectionist and webmaster for our church, my hands were already full. Plus, I was leading our IMPACT TEAM as we went door-to-door evangelizing and am still very active in W.A.R. While I had a number of people tell me that I should apply for the secretarial position, and I loved the work, it really would have been a lot added to me and our family.
Time passed and I still had not been relieved as secretary. The Board had not had me put it in the bulletin that they were looking to fill the job and had not said anything to me about training anyone yet, so I decided to give my two-weeks notice. I figured that would get the ball rolling and if in two weeks they hadn't found anyone, at least I would know they were looking and I would continue to help out until they did have someone. Plus, they were paying me less than what they paid the secretary but my daycare removed the credit I got for working at church. After daycare and my gas back and forth to church, I was lucky to be making $25 a week.
So, I gave my two-weeks notice and headed out for the weekend. My husband and I helped move our pastor and his wife. We were so excited to be able to go with them and have some time together. We had a wonderful weekend and visited
Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. It was just the best time!
Monday morning came and I was back in the office as usual. Our Interim Pastor came in very early that morning, which should have been my clue ... but wasn't. He asked me how our trip with Pastor went and I was excitedly telling him about the church we visited oblivious to what was about to go down.
He asked me to step in his office and praised me on what a good job I did. Then he apologized that they had not kept me up-to-date on the secretary search but they had someone and she would start the very next day. They didn't need me to train her or anything. All they needed was my keys. I was all cool with it, though I did think it was weird that I wouldn't need to train her as Assemblies of God churches do a lot of paperwork and unless she had been a secretary in an AG church, she would have no clue. Plus, there was the PADD report and I knew she wouldn't know how to do that. So, I asked him if he was sure, he said he was and I said okay. I explained that my keys were actually the secretary's keys, they belonged to that office and I would hand them in at the end of the day.
And, it would have been all good had he stopped there. He didn't.
Then he went on to say how my relationship with our pastor and his wife made it difficult for him to work with me. That kind of set me back a minute as I had always treated him with the utmost courtesy and respect. I had bent over backwards to make him feel welcome. I told him I did not feel that was fair and that my friendship with Pastor had nothing to do with him. He said it didn't, but that it did.
That is when the conversation got really weird. He sat down across from me and told me that while I had a lot of potential, he could really work on some stuff with me but I would have to learn to trust him and now was probably not the time. He told me that he didn't want me touching any computer without his express permission and that he didn't want me taking on any tasks without his permission either. Suddenly, I realized, this was more than him just telling me that they had found another secretary and I asked him if he just wanted the secretary's keys ... or my keys as well. He said he wanted my keys.
Suddenly, all the years of service that I had given my church meant nothing. Working from morning until night, barely able to stand anymore, hurting in places I didn't even know existed ... none of that mattered. He was stripping me of all of my duties.
Why? I really don't have any clue and he never said. The only theme that was repeated was that he had an issue with my friendship with my pastor and his wife ... and honestly my friendship with them is none of his business.
That day and the next I was really hurt by what was done. It wasn't biblical, but then there was never a biblical reason to ask for our pastor's resignation either. But, God has given me peace on it. So, now I am kind of sitting back and waiting to see what the Lord has in store for me.
I know one thing ... it is amazing how a couple of men can get together and change everything overnight. It can be a real shame too.
