The most important person I had at that church was leaving. He led the youth group, drove the van to pick up kids, his wife led music and the children's ministry. They were key financial supporters of the church, two people who were dependable and had my back, and suddenly they were gone. At this point, the other board members began to turn on me, there was one lady in particular who seemed to have it out for me. I later found out that it had to do with something that happened decades before I was even born.
My grandfather was a pastor, and he was leading a church this lady was attending. While he was there he had an affair, which led to him leaving my grandmother with their four kids, and running off to Oklahoma with the woman who would become his new wife (this whole event triggered a lot of family chaos, as is to be expected, and part of me is still realizing I need to take some time and process this part of my story). Anyway, this lady who was now attending the church I was leading, around half a century later, couldn't get over what my grandpa had done, and began to take it out on me.
There was one board meeting where three of the four board members ganged up on me (I was 25 at this point), and tore me apart for two hours. I had to take on relentless attacks, with no one to back me up or support me, and this lady was at the center of it (As a result of this experience, I have a heart for young pastors, and pastors in small, struggling churches. If you ever find yourself in a situation like this here's my advice. You say, "This board meeting is over. I'll be in the sanctuary praying, all of you are welcome to join me." Don't sit there and take a relentless beating, force the situation to focus on connecting with God. If you want to talk more comment on this post and we'll connect.)
Sadly, this story didn't end there. This lady began to slowly turn the rest of the church against me. We had a weekly prayer meeting at one couple's house, two people who happened to be leaders in the church, and I don't know what was said, but I'm confident she turned them against me. She even called my "boss", in this denomination there is a district superintendent over several churches in an area of the state, and asked for an all church meeting to discuss the issues we were facing as a church. I was told to bring my strongest supporters, and she was told to do the same (I picked the wrong people to be my advocates, as this ended up similar to the board meeting).
One by one, people left the church. Those who remained began to complain and blame me. I continued to preach, visit people at home (this ended up only being with one couple, and these were two people who I loved and who genuinely loved me, more on them later), be involved in the community, focus on outreach, and try to inspire the people to serve, but all of it was to no avail. That meeting had pretty much sealed my time there, and shortly after this, the district superintendents decided to get me out of there.
I wish this story ended here. I'd love to be able to say I got out of that church and that was the end, but things don't work that way...
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
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