He's been there about 3 years now. Upon his arrival Ed and Edith were among the smiling "We're so glad you're here" congregants who shook his hand after that inaugural sermon. Those early Deacons and committee meetings (that he was required to attend but had no "vote" in any decision making) always seemed respectful of his insights and suggestions.
But, alas, the honeymoon didn't last very long.
He wasn't meeting up with Ed and Edith's expectations.
"Pastor, your sermons tend to be a bit too long." "OK. How long do you think they should be?" "Fifteen minutes should be just about right."
"Pastor, we don't think you should be taking the youth out of town to do missions projects. There are plenty of things to do right here."
"Pastor, if we do missions projects (handicap ramps; storm damage repairs) here for people we'll be taking income out of the hands of local tradesmen."
"Pastor, we think you should only use this version of the Bible when you preach."
"Pastor, don't you think the church grass is getting a bit high?"
"Pastor, you didn't ask the visitors in church to stand and introduce themselves. We like it when you do that." (Never mind that it embarrasses all of them...except maybe vacationing pastors.)
Essentially Ed and Edith and their cohorts had constructed a list of what they found lacking in their pastor.
Not surprisingly "something else" suddenly opened up for their pastor, and he announced his resignation. Ed and Edith were flabbergasted. How could he leave them? It was even said to him that if he left God would "get him".
If you ask the pastor his answer would be, "As quickly as I can". Ask his wife, by the way, what she thinks about their leaving and she just smiles.
Now they're back to square one. Once again Ed and Edith will chair and select the new pastor search committee. Smiles everyone! Smiles!
(And yes, everything above is based on a real story.)
For other posts in my Ed and Edith series click on "Evangelical Ed and Edith" under Labels on the right of this page.
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2 comments:
This is why our pastors here actually lead, and the rest of us follow. How self-centered and controlling Ed and Edith are. If we ever even tried to treat any of our pastors this badly, I'm quite sure they would patiently explain to us the error of our ways:)
This is not to imply that just because someone is a pastor that he is above scrutiny.
We all know the horror stories of pastors with questionable motives. (See the previous post on Absolute Power.)
But the majority of pastors I know truly desire to follow Christ and lead His flock.
Unfortunately, this Ed and Edith installment is a true story. A current story. Only the names have been changed.
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