The Bad Shepherd

Micah 3 

Then I said,

“Listen, you leaders of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel.
Should you not embrace justice,
²     you who hate good and love evil;
who tear the skin from my people
    and the flesh from their bones;
³ who eat my people’s flesh,
    strip off their skin
    and break their bones in pieces;
who chop them up like meat for the pan,
    like flesh for the pot?”

⁴ Then they will cry out to the Lord,
    but he will not answer them.
At that time he will hide his face from them
    because of the evil they have done.

⁵ This is what the Lord says:

“As for the prophets
    who lead my people astray,
they proclaim ‘peace’
    if they have something to eat,
but prepare to wage war against anyone
    who refuses to feed them.
⁶ Therefore night will come over you, without visions,
    and darkness, without divination.
The sun will set for the prophets,
    and the day will go dark for them.
⁷ The seers will be ashamed
    and the diviners disgraced.
They will all cover their faces
    because there is no answer from God.”
⁸ But as for me, I am filled with power,
    with the Spirit of the Lord,
    and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression,
    to Israel his sin.

⁹ Hear this, you leaders of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel,
who despise justice
    and distort all that is right;
¹⁰ who build Zion with bloodshed,
    and Jerusalem with wickedness.
¹¹ Her leaders judge for a bribe,
    her priests teach for a price,
    and her prophets tell fortunes for money.
Yet they look for the Lord’s support and say,
    “Is not the Lord among us?
    No disaster will come upon us.”
¹² Therefore because of you,
    Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,
    the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.

I have to start this blog by admitting that I’m delving into somebody else’s business and that I’m not without sin, so I probably shouldn’t be casting stones. That being said: I’m delving and I’m casting.

One of the churches that I work for has had an interim pastor since January of 2022. He is charismatic, confident and delivers sermons in a way that you would never know that behind the scenes he is determined to level this church by any means possible. To be honest, I didn’t see him as charismatic; I saw him as dramatic. I didn’t see him as confident; I saw him as arrogant. And from our first meeting I knew that he had ulterior motives.

Let me describe that first meeting:

Because I deal with the finances of the church, I was invited into the finance committee meeting so that I could answer questions and explain the new format for reporting expenses and income to the church body. I presented a detailed budget report that shows the current months’ expenses (salaries, utilities, etc.) and compared those figures to the year to date expenses. It breaks everything down by where the money coming in is designated to and where the money going out is being paid to. As soon as this man saw my detailed report he requested that I provide the church with a simplified version that wouldn’t show as much detail. He wanted a basic heading for “Salaries” rather than being broken down to show, for instance, “Secretary Salary”, “Pianist Salary” and (you guessed it.) “Pastor Salary”. He was asked why he preferred to simplify it this way and his answer was literally this: “I don’t want someone to take that piece of paper away from the church and go to the gas station and let it fall out on the ground and then someone on the street might know how much I make.” I about broke my neck to look at him and in the instant that we made eye contact I knew he had a nefarious plan and that he knew I knew it.

Since then he has taken it upon himself to fire people (the cleaning ladies) for no reason, then hire his wife to do the job for more money. He has attempted to change the church bylaws. He has pitted church leaders against each other. He has drawn a very healthy paycheck, even on days that he is the guest preacher at other churches (for even more pay) while paying the people who fill in (his buddies, of course) far more than the budget allowed. He has made himself the end-all-be-all, judge, jury and executioner and the final say on all matters. He has called me personally to threaten me not to listen to his opposition. There are far more liberties and actions he has taken that are too numerous to bore you with today. But by far, the absolute worst thing he has done is that he has created a small army of minions that stand behind him.

I’ve worked in churches for 20 years or more and I’ve seen all kinds of pastors, good and bad. I’ve learned that you can get anyone to bend over backwards to do and say whatever you want by telling them some variation of this: “You’re special to me.” As soon as a person is told by their leader, their boss, their pastor that they are personally important to them you have them in the palm of your hand. You can literally make them offer up their own mother on a spit. And that is precisely what this man has done. He has convinced good men, kind, respectable men, men who love their church family to stand up and tell old ladies to shut up. Literally. The division lines have been drawn not only through the church, but between friends, families, households. And the thing is, he sees the damage that he’s doing and rather than changing his M.O. to prevent the division, he doubles down. He shuts down those who want to make statements against him. He ends meetings when he faces opposition. He and his minions stand up and relocate deacon meetings to exclude the deacons that see the injustice that’s been done.

This morning, the man who has been the most vocal stood up to speak in church after the service ended. He was joined by his wife as well as several others who know that this man is destroying the church. One of those people was my mother, who dragged herself and her oxygen tank to church in spite of her poor health because she knew that this deacon needed her support. The “pastor” planned with the person running the sound booth to respond in the event that this man attempted to make a statement. And that response came. As soon as he opened his mouth the music was blared over the speakers at top volume, the lights were turned off and the people were told that the service was over. A lady who has been part of the church, whose husband has been a deacon for many years, attempted to speak as well and one of his yes-men literally told her to shut up. It was chaos. People were wailing, hugging, saying their goodbyes and vowing not to darken the doors of that building as long as this dictator was in charge.

He claims to be a military man. He claims to be an evangelist. He claims to know how to fix a church that needs leadership. What he is is a coward. A false prophet. And the church was healthy when he got there, but it’s already over the cliff and in a freefall to a hard ground due to his selfishness and greediness.

No, this isn’t “my” church and they aren’t “my” monkeys. But as an employee of the church who knows for a fact and has personally witnessed his reign of terror, I am going to protect these people even if it means the end of my job there. He demanded that I ignore his opposition. What he may not know yet is that I AM his opposition.

I wonder… where did he learn to be an arrogant, manipulative extortionist? Was it in the Navy? Georgia Tech? Because I don’t think those traits are taught in seminary.

*Update #1: This guy changed the locks on the doors to keep out the people he can’t control, and that includes me. He actually asked the secretary to tell me that my services were no longer required. Of course, I told her that since she is not my supervisor, she doesn’t have the authority to deliver that news. So, he attempted to deliver it himself. He called and left a message for me to call him back. I didn’t answer because, to be honest, I needed time to decide what my response would be. I needed to calm myself and answer with wisdom rather than ire. So, I sent him a text asking him to email me. When he did, I replied to him, adding my responses in the body of his email. This is how that went:

[Name redacted],

I have copied the text of your email and replied to individual statements as they are made.  My replies are in blue. (I’ve highlighted them by underlining, since WordPress won’t work with me.)

[Name],

I called you on Friday in hopes of setting up a face-to-face meeting. I was unable to take your call, but I would have no issues with a face to face meeting.  These are always preferable in this type of situation. I agree.  Secondarily, would be a phone call. However, you have made it clear you have no intention of actually talking to me. No, I haven’t.  I have found conversation to be helpful, people tend to understand things better when they actually communicate. Your backdoor approach How condescending. is not helpful and leads to misunderstandings, and often unnecessary hurt feelings.  

Working on a church staff has its perks and its responsibilities. You have provided invaluable help to the church, particularly with the financial software. We appreciate your help immensely. It has been my pleasure and my ultimate goal to assist and protect the people of [Church], some I have known since childhood.  However, the job comes with a high degree of confidentiality expected. You have violated that trust. Anything I have shared with anyone at [Church] was information they, as contributing members of the church, had the right to know.  I have not violated any confidentiality.  I have simply provided those who asked with the information they requested.  I believe that you and I had a conversation to that effect earlier, and we agreed that if people are supporting the church financially, they had the right to know exactly where their support was going.  No personal information, information not intended for public knowledge, has been shared with anyone.

Information you were given was confidential. I emailed you on September 9^th and in that email plainly stated that if you had concerns or questions, you could contact me. You did not email me on September 9th, you emailed [Redacted] and instructed me to read the email.  It did not come to my personal email address.  What you did on September 9th was call me (on my birthday, by the way, which you wrote in the card you had me mail to myself) and threaten me not to listen to [Redacted], a deacon who has been a trusted member of my Christian family for many years and the man who hired me to assist in the office.  I did not agree to read the email you sent to [Redacted], as it was not sent directly to me and, even if it had been, I don’t report to you.  I report to the person you told me not to listen to.  You chose not to do so. I have never been hard to reach or talk to, you could have contacted me if you had a problem with how I was handling things. Frankly, since you are not a church member it would have been none of your business anyway. I am not aware of a single disagreement or cross word between the two of us in the past so I am a little confused at your level of angst toward me. You are correct: there has not been one cross word between us.  What good would it have done?  I am aware of how you handle people who don’t agree with you.  The end result would have been the same.  

I am willing to hear your side, but it certainly appears you have used your Facebook page to rail against a pastor that you believe to be a dictator and liar (if I have incorrectly surmised that you intended those posts for me, I will certainly apologize for the misunderstanding). Those posts mentioned nothing about [Pastor].  But if the shoe fits, then by all means feel free to wear it.  Maybe actually reading the article I posted (which may or may not have been in reference to you) would provide you with some information on how to not come across as a liar (which, by the way, I never called you) and a dictator.  Even if I was not the one you were referring to the posts were still inappropriate. Nothing in my social media is ever inappropriate.  Ever.  Hard to swallow?  Maybe.  Too close to the truth?  Probably.  Controversial?  Sure.  But NEVER inappropriate.  Notwithstanding, you are not in any position to make a judgment call on my actions since you know nothing of the “other side.” Your actions are certainly not in keeping with Christian deportment, nor are they acceptable for someone who has been given the trust of confidentiality as a member of the staff. You are not in possession of all the facts. Most of them do not pertain to you. If you had followed biblical direction, you would have contacted me first. You are however, an employee of the church. Your services will no longer be needed. Unfortunately, as you are an Interim Pastor and no more permanent in your employment than I am unless there has been a vote cast by all members of the congregation, you do not have any authority to relieve me of my services.  That would have to come from the personnel committee after a 2 week notice along with a recommendation and vote in a called conference.  (See section 16 of the bylaws of [Church] Baptist Church.)  Since you are a contract employee you have not been fired. You simply will no longer be called on for assistance. Again, we thank you for your previous service, it has been invaluable to the church, and due to this fact, it is a regrettable and disappointing decision we have made. If you are owed any pay, it will be forwarded to you. You may simply discard your church key.

Again, I am available for conversation should you so desire.

Blessings,

Pastor [Name]

  (Below he quoted my Facebook post.)

Obviously, it needs to be repeated again. A “leader” who shuts down his opposition is a dictator, not a leader. If Micah 3 makes the temperature of your face get a little hotter when you read it, then it might just be directed at you. I’m disappointed and disgusted today. Shame on you and everyone who supports you. You know who you are.

And I added this below:

The above quote is definitely my words.  I maintain that they are vague and not explicitly pointed at any person in particular.  However, it seems that you took it as if it was directed at you.  Perhaps you should consider why it hit a nerve rather than lashing out against me.
[Name], the irrefutable bottom line is this: [Church] Baptist Church has seen more division, dissention, hurt, lack of communication, etc. in the time since your arrival than any of the people there have seen before.  The healthy, loving congregation that you came to fill in for has been decimated, leaving battle lines between families, friendships, Christian brothers and sisters.  

I know that you dismiss my opinion because I’m not a church member.  But, I am the daughter of a member of [Church] and have been involved in that church in some capacity since I was a child.  If you take a moment to glance around the cemetery you’ll see headstones bearing my family’s names.  I feel a deep connection to the church and have a protective natural impulse.  So, because of that I’m asking you to put your pride and position aside for a moment and consider what I’m about to say.

If you, as a man of God, truly want to see [Church] Baptist Church survive without a split: If you truly have any concern for the people and relationships that that will destroy, you will do the only thing that you can possibly do to preserve the congregation and that is to walk away.  I care far more about those people and the community that God has placed there than I ever did a paycheck.  Can you say the same?    Or is your need for dominance more important? 

I urge you to remember what your purpose for coming to [Church] was.  It was to help the church find a permanent pastor.  It was to provide support for them while they searched, guidance to them while they were without a leader and a minister until they had one of their own.  Whether you’ve fulfilled that purpose or not; whether you’re in the right or not; whether you’re doing the right thing for the church or not, the fact remains that damage has been done.  If your supporters succeed in protecting you, those who still want the search committee to do their job will move to other churches.  I’m sure you’ve noticed that some have chosen that route already, even if only temporarily.  If that group succeeds in ousting you, your supporters will leave.  Either way, the church will divide.  The only way to prevent that is for you to voluntarily bow out.  And for their sake, I hope that you do.  

[my signature]

So, since that was sent and he was unsuccessful in removing me other than by locking me out of the building, he was forced to place the issue of me in the hands of the personnel committee. Now, since the deacon he has been silencing was the person who hired me, but he had unofficially removed him from the committee (he, of course, failed to follow the proper procedures as outlined by the bylaws) that fell in the lap of the new chairman of the personnel committee, my cousin. For reasons that are explained earlier in this post, he has garnered the support of my cousin, but maybe not as much a he thinks. So, my cousin called me to discuss how he signed a letter as the chairman that the pastor wrote to me, dismissing me. I received this letter and noted that only the pastor and my cousin signed it. So, no proof has been available that an actual personnel committee meeting took place on this and that only the two of them were in agreement. Always bypassing the standard operating procedure to push his own agenda.

Soon after that he placed the deacon under “church discipline” because of his “angry outbursts” and called a church conference to vote to have him excommunicated from the church. What he wasn’t ready for was the number of people who would attend that conference. That was clear when he chose a Sunday School classroom to hold the conference in rather than in the fellowship hall or sanctuary, which would have accommodated the number of attendees. He started the meeting by disinviting anyone who was in attendance who was not a member of the church. Then, admonishing those who were in attendance who had not been present at church in a while. (Those who fit that description had withheld their attendance because they had the same opinion of this guy that I did when we first met.) Then, he opened up the meeting for comments from those who had something to say. Several people gave input, both for and against the vote, but the biggest voice came from the smallest person. A 100 year old lady stood up on her walker and told him, with her 100 year old finger pointed at his face, “We don’t like you and we don’t want you here. YOU are the problem.” Drop. Mic.

The outcome? No, there will be no excommunication. He is no longer under church discipline. His deacon status is yet to be determined. In fact, he may just take himself, his family and his sanity to another church. One that isn’t being mind-controlled by a dictator. One that appreciates his selfless service to the members. One that considers his passion rather than dismissing it. One that values his wisdom. One whose members are too strong to be influenced by one man’s high horse.

It has been laid to rest… for now. What happens next will be determined by whether or not the pastor heeds the people who have been sensible enough to tell him what they think, rather than parroting back what he wants them to say. My prediction: He will either decide that it’s not worth the fight anymore and leave or he will stay until he dwindles the congregation down to nothing, thereby eliminating his ultimate reward – the paycheck. If and when he’s gone, people will blink and wake up and realize that they’ve had a burlap sack over their heads. Maybe people will return, maybe they will find churches better suited for them.

Either way, those people have so much healing ahead of them.

*Update #2: The same day I provided the last update, the pastor resigned. Thank God. Now, He can start to put the pieces back together.

*Update #3: He has rescinded his resignation, is calling himself “The Pastor” and with that, he announced to those present that the finance secretary (aka ME) mismanaged the finances of the church and put money where it didn’t belong, so they would have to hire an auditor to straighten everything out. Let me translate that for you: The secretary had no idea how to do what I did, no one there has any idea how to do what I did and now they’re in a hole because they got rid of the person who came to help, so instead of admitting that he was wrong and bringing me back, he threw me under the bus and shot the church in the foot.