The Wait Is Over - Part 2

(I had no idea telling this story was going to take me so long! It looks like I have to make it a 3 part series or I'll never get my house pulled together in time for our small group tonight!)

I left off the story with Michael's second interview scheduled for Wednesday, August 8. It was for a part-time position at an older, traditional church and we were looking at it as good practice for interviews. Not as a job he intended to take.

To understand what happened in the week surrounding this interview, you have to know a little bit about the last four years. In January of 2003 Michael was hired as the part-time music pastor of a small Assembly of God church. (His full-time job is an elementary school music teacher.) During the first two years he built up the band and introduced tons of new songs to the congregation of about 80. About that time, the pastor took another job and the church went through the process of hiring someone new. Michael was a visible and active leader throughout the six month interim.

The new pastor was from the west coast and, though he was AG, he was not nearly as conservative as the two AG churches Michael and I have been involved with. Additionally, both the pastor and his wife are talented musicians. Though they both repeatedly said they did not want anything to do with the music portion of the service, they were always involved in it. Michael's job responsibilities began to diminish and he had no opportunities to grow. By the time we left in August, his job was down to leading the band practice and singing four songs at the beginning of each service. After those four songs, the pastor and his wife would lead three or four more songs - at random - no one, not even those at the computer knew what they would choose. It became a scramble for words every week. The communication between the pastor and Michael was weak to say the least. Some weeks we would arrive to find out there was a guest speaker. Or that there were other presentations. Or that it was communion week. No amount of asking for this information ahead of time helped. Still, we worked hard to keep our attitudes in check and Michael did his job for the Lord, not for the pastor. I also began to find that scripture verses appeared pulled out of context on occasion. We knew we didn't agree point for point with all he preached, but it was becoming more and more difficult to ignore.

In the spring, the pastor set up revival services with a lady named Nancy Harmon. She's a televangelist on TBN and she was scheduled to be with us Sunday through Wednesday. On Sunday morning our service began at 10:30. Michael and I left at 1:10 and she was still going. I didn't agree with several of the things she was teaching (not to mention how long she preached for!) so I told Michael I didn't intend to go to any of the other meetings. He went because he had to lead the opening worship, but I kept the kids at home.

As we look back, what happened at these services marked the beginning of the end of our time at this church. There were several things I couldn't find scriptural backing for. Many, many things I'd never seen before. And all of it was very emotionally driven. It just didn't sit well in my spirit. On Wednesday night, Nancy called Michael and the youth pastor forward and admonished them to let loose. To not be so uptight. Then she prayed over Michael and pushed him in the chest. When he didn't fall back (as in 'be slain in the spirit' or 'fall out') she pushed him again - harder, so that he did fall. Then, and yes it gets worse, she demanded that he speak in tongues. She told him that if he didn't have that gift, now would be a good time to get it. Can you even imagine???? He was absolutely humiliated. As soon as he could he stood up and left. When he got home, he could barely tell me what happened. It was a long time before I got the whole story. We were both shocked to find out the next day that the pastor had agreed to have her stay on for extra night as well. Neither of us went to the final service.

Michael sought the advice of several friends and other pastors before going to talk with our pastor. He had been well prayed over before the meeting. Our pastor listened to what had happened, but his response was less than helpful in our minds. He didn't take sides, but neither would he acknowledge that what she'd done was wrong. Still, we knew that our regular Sunday services were not like this and we decided to put it behind us and move forward. That is, until we found out she been invited back this summer for another week of services plus training for the youth in the mornings! We were shocked. He had invited her back KNOWING exactly what had happened to Michael.

But you know, God is good. Early in the spring, my aunt and uncle had asked us to go on vacation with them and we committed to the last week of July. The exact same week Nancy Harmon would be at our church! No small miracle in our minds! We thanked God so many times for that perfect scheduling conflict. And we thoroughly enjoyed being away!

You need to know all of that to understand all of the events that took place the week of August 8, as well as the decisions we were making. I'll get Part 3 (I still can't believe I had to do this in parts! laughing...) up as soon as I can.