Today our Sunday morning service met at 10 am instead of 9 and 10:45. We were told ahead of time that it would be a sort of groundbreaking event. The pastor in charge of the region of the denomination (American Baptist Churches of the West) gave a sermon that, I think, will mend the major problems we've been having as well as greatly improve morale for the pastors and elders.

He began by telling us the story of Eli and his sons from 1st Samuel 2:12-36. He went to great length telling us about Eli's sin, and what God honors and dishonors (v. 30). Then he went on to tell us about how, since the regional headquarters is in the same town here, he has prayed for our church frequently since he's been here. He explained some of the church's historical problems - how it had been like a "country club" for members (there were only about 90 people attending when pastor Mike came about 4.5 years ago - now he's built it up to 400+), how pastors had been mediocre at best, and how whenever they showed any leadership at all, the church chewed them up and spit them out. He really didn't mince words. Then he read a letter that had been sent to him anonymously. It was hateful and slanderous toward the leadership of the church - at one point you could hear one communal gasp of disbelief going around the sanctuary. As he said, that sort of infectious behavior is not welcome, and if whoever wrote it wanted to live that way, they had better find some other church to infect.

Then he gave anyone involved a chance to repent before God (nobody did, even with the promise of anonymity - I suspect the culprits {I have no idea who was involved and don't really care to know}). And followed by having the congregation (whoever would) commit to doing the following whenever they heard anything about another member: say "That's nice. Now I'm going to tell him or her what you said and that you said it." Pretty good policy if you ask me. Then he had the pastors and elders stand at the front of the church and enlisted us to come up, shake their hands, and tell them "As you serve God, I support you."

The whole thing as WAY overdue, but very much needed. When I came back here last summer, most of the members I knew were gone. From then until now, the elders and pastors have been stressed out about all the gossip and divisiveness to near the breaking point. I should know, my dad's one of the elders. Pointing out and doing so much to exterminate this corruption is an answer to many many prayers. Now, as the speaker said, we should be a Blues Brothers church - "On a mission from God" to reach out and save the lost of our community. Praise the Lord.

Wow, that's very direct, but it sounds like it's very much needed. I'm not sure the "I'm going to tell them what you told me" approach is the best option, but it definitely sounds like it's the time for drastic measures. Please keep us updated on the situation.