Alas. Just Another One...

I had been working at a PCUSA (presbyterian church in the USA) church for at least 23 years. i was doing everything, it seemed...
sound, childrens ministry, youth ministry (as a volunteer), van maintenance, driving, camps,
serving as a deacon for two terms, youth subcommittee for about 8,
being on the worship committee for at least 5 years.
(now, in retrospect, i see how rediculous THAT sounds..
hmmm..."worship committee"...maybe an oxymoron?)

I got to see several pastors come and be forced out.
saw lotsa politics. thoght i could steer clear of it.
I also noticed i was seeing the same people on session...
rotated in, and out...yes, for those same 20+ years!

the same people controlled the nominating committee, that in turn chose those
who made up the pastor nominating committees.
any guesses whose friends/spouses were on those committees?
(or if they were holding tanks for those that were to be rotated back onto session the next time around?)

strange...the same people in leadership...going through pastors left and right...
the church gaining a reputation of "eating pastors for lunch..."
and, "if they don't have ya for lunch, they'll eat ya for dinner."
the same issues with each pastor. only the names changed.
continually leaving broken servants of God in their wake. lots of them.

I thought i would be different, after all, i was only a volunteer.
(in fact, the second in a series of "volunteers of the year")
apparently not.

Alas. Just another one...

I then inadvertently caught the new
sr. "pastor", business administrator, and chair of personnel at the
in a lie. the new "pastor" decided i had to go.
he didnt have the guts (or some other more graphic biological term) to
tell me in person...he had the jr. hi director fire me. no explanation,
until i pried out of him the real truth. the kids were never informed,
told i had an "argument". nice lie. but with everything else that went on, no big surprise.
i was just "gone" (after 20 years) i have never gotten a call from
anyone at the church. the new sr "pastor" tried to get me moved to inactive
status per the book of order, until i caught wind of it &
copy/pasted the quotation of the book of order to them (in an e-mail)
which showed they were in clear violation. strangely enough, that plan
was corrected. and i still run into kids who wonder where i went. i
tell them the truth. that the new "pastor" of the church was caught in a
lie, and chose to get rid of the person that caught him, rather than
deal with the situation with integrity. if they ask, i also tell them
that that their previous jr hi director got rid of me because he didnt
have the guts (or same graphic biological term mentioned above) to
stand up to a jerk (or stronger term) of a "pastor". the kids are, of
course, sad. as am i. the youth group (jr hi & hi school) has gone
from 45 down to 10 or less. big surprise with that kind of
"leadership".

the same new "pastor" just canned the jr hi director, also.
what goes around comes around, i guess.


the incredible growth they hoped for with the new "pastor" hasn't
happened, either. I guess God doesn't necessarily bless jerks
masquerading as "pastors"....new or not.






Note:

i was setting up for an event at my new church, and recieved a page (yep, ive still got one of those things.) it was the youth director from the old church. (not the jr hi guy) who asked how i was, and other things, then apologized for how that stuff was handled. he admitted that the sr. "pastor" didnt have the *ahem* to face me after i caught him in his lies, so he had the jr. hi guy (who he was "mentoring"--some example--) and the youth director do his dirty work. (i.e. get rid of me) the youth director mentioned that the jr hi guy was kissing up to the sr. "pastor" and that he (the youth pastor) didnt have the guts to call the sr. on his crap. oh well. nice to know, anyway.

the youth guy left to continue ministry in another state, where he is doing really well in a ministry that fits him like a glove.

the jr. hi guy got canned, (by his mentor) and is now back in his hometown...doing...ummm...i dunno. last i heard he was working at home depot.

the youth group? still has 15 kids at the most. the church? average age is still 68 or so. the growth they thought the new "pastor" would bring...hasn't happened.