Marcus rose to his feet. “Thank you, Dr. Talbot.” He glanced around the table. “Before I begin let me inform you that our newly elected board member Brother Sanford Carrol was consulted throughout the progress of this project and has given us his enthusiastic support and the benefit of his expertise.”
Marcus paused for a moment to let the information sink in. Preacher noted that Carrol was nodding his head in approval. He smiled to himself. Marcus had covered all his bets. With less than fifteen minutes of discussion the agreement with the Hickoxes was unanimously approved.
Randle held up his hand for attention. “Mr. Chairman.”
Preacher nodded. “The chair recognizes Brother Randle.”
The old man didn’t rise from his seat. “I have listened carefully to the opening statements made by Dr. Talbot and I must say that no one agrees with him more than I. It is true that this ministry has grown and become in many ways too great a burden for one man to oversee. I would like to recommend that this board appoint an executive committee which will undertake an independent survey of all the activities of this ministry—pastoral, administrative and financial—with a view to improving the quality of our services to the community at large. This committee will report directly to Dr. Talbot and to this board all results and recommendations that may result from their study.”
“I think Brother Randle’s recommendation is well taken,” Preacher said. “I have only one suggestion to add. That the committee so appointed shall consist of the five new members of this board, because they will bring to their work a fresh and objective point of view, unencumbered by the habits and methods of the past. If Brother Randle agrees that this suggestion will serve the best interests of the church, the chair would be pleased if he would present this to the board in the manner of a motion for consideration.”
The old man made the motion incorporating Preacher’s suggestion. It was quickly seconded by Mr. Craig and Mrs. Lacey, then passed unanimously by the board with only the five members concerned abstaining.
Preacher rose to his feet. “I think this pretty well completes any official business before the board at this meeting, but before we adjourn I would like to inform the board that I plan to introduce in the course of my programs during the next few weeks each of my three associate pastors so that our vast television audience becomes aware of them and gets to know them. It is my personal conviction that it will demonstrate to all our strength and our depth of pastoral talent and convince everyone that this is a real church that will continue in its good work no matter what may happen to any one of us, that no one is indispensable to the Community of God Church except God Himself and His only begotten Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.”
A chorus of Amens went around the table. Preacher rapped the gavel again. “The chair will entertain a motion to adjourn.”
***
Joe paced angrily back and forth in front of Preacher’s desk while Beverly sat quietly on the couch near the office windows. Finally, Joe stopped his pacing and stared down at Preacher. “Have you gone out of your cotton-pickin’ mind, Preacher?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “You know what you done? You just delivered yourself into the hands of the Philistines. You know the old man’s just been waitin’ to cut you down to size, so what do you do? You give him all the weapons he needs to do the job.”
Preacher looked at him silently.
“If what you really want is out, Preacher, why didn’t you just step aside and turn it all over to them? ‘Cause that’s what’s goin’ to happen anyway. They’re goin’ to get rid of you and take over.”
Preacher looked at Beverly across the room. “Is that what you think?”
She hesitated a moment, then nodded. “It’s a strong possibility,” she said thoughtfully.
Preacher turned back to Joe. “What would you have done?”
“I would have told them all to go fuck ’emselves. I would have told them this is my church and I built it an’ I’m goin’ to keep it.”
Preacher’s voice was soft. “It’s not my church, it’s not any man’s church. It’s God’s church.”
“God didn’t have this church until you built it for Him,” Joe said.
“God had this church long before any of us were born and He will have it long after all of us are gone,” Preacher said. “Whatever I did was only carrying out His will.”
“You can’t tell me that now God is willin’ for you to turn over His church to those money-grubbin’, power-crazy Philistines,” Joe said vehemently.
“I’m not telling you anything of the sort,” Preacher said easily. “But before you pass judgment on them, think whether we haven’t been guilty of the same things you accuse them of planning to do.” He took a deep breath. “It seems to me that we have spent more time devising ways and means to gather a harvest of worldly goods rather than a harvest of souls.”
“You can’t do nothin’ in this world without money,” Joe said. “And you, better than anyone, know how expensive it is to do God’s work.” He glanced over his shoulder at Beverly, then back at Preacher. “Maybe you forgot how it was when we had no money but we haven’t. Remember how we got chased out of the Community? Remember how we couldn’t pay our bills with the gospel tent and how many times we went hungry so that we could give some money to the people who worked for us? Remember half the time we would have really been on our ass if Beverly hadn’t dug into her sock to keep us goin’.”
Preacher nodded. “I remember,” he said quietly. “And I will always be in your debt. It’s something I could never forget. But then was then and now is now. I also remember that it was Jake Randle who put up the money to make all this possible. And whatever his motives were for doing it, it was God who brought him to us.”
“We always knew his motives,” Joe said. “He never once took his eye off the ball. He wanted a certain kind of power and now he’s plannin’ to take it. That’s why those new guys are here. He’s got them jumpin’ through his hoop like trained animals.”
“I’m not ready to pass judgment on anyone,” Preacher said. “I accept that God works in His mysterious ways. Perhaps it will be that they are better equipped than I to carry on His work. If that is so, I shall be happy to give it to them.”
“And what if it turns out that they are doing Caesar’s work, not God’s?” Joe asked.
“We’ll have to deal with that when we see it,” Preacher said.
“It may be too late then,” Joe said sourly.
“You’re on the committee,” Preacher said. “You’ll know what they’re doing.”
Joe shook his head. “They’ll let me know only what they want me to. I’m jes a nigger Daniel in a den of white lions.”
“You won’t be after you’re on national television,” Preacher said. “I’ve heard you preach. They haven’t. You’ll put them all away. One program and they’ll be pussycats lying at your feet.”
“Don’t kid yourself,” Joe said sourly. “I know how the old man feels about niggers. The only reason he puts up with me is because I’m money in the bank. But he ain’t goin’ to let me on the air and get any more important.”
Preacher smiled. “You’re wrong. There’s nothing he can do to stop you.”
Joe squinted at him. “Tell me.”
“You heard what I told them at the meeting,” Preacher said quietly, “that I would introduce you all on the air over the next few weeks? What I didn’t tell them was that you’re going on the air this Sunday. I’ve told no one up to now except you and I don’t intend to tell anyone else. Not even the program director. That means they won’t know until we’re actually on the air. And then there will be nothing they can do about it.”
Joe broke into a broad grin. He slapped at his knee and laughed. “I should have known better than not to trust you.”
“You would do better to place your trust in God,” Preacher said, “than in weak and foolish men.” He rose from his chair behind the desk, walked to the window and stood there looking out. After a momen
t he turned and came back to them. “Besides, I’ve had it with the old man’s secret war. He might as well learn right now that I intend to run this ministry as I believe God intends it to be run. And if he doesn’t like it he’s going to have to come out in the open and say so.”
“He’s tough. He’s going to fight you,” Joe said. “You might lose.”
Preacher looked down at him. “I might,” he nodded slowly. “But God never will.”
Chapter Fourteen
“It’s over,” Jane said, a tone of finality in her voice. “I’ve thought about it and thought about it but there’s no use. It won’t work. I know that now.”
Preacher sat on the couch opposite her. “You know what’s happening. We’ll have more time. I’ll only be doing one program a month now.”
She looked at him steadily, then raised the glass of white wine to her lips. “You don’t understand, Preacher,” she said. “It’s not that at all. Maybe I wasn’t cut out to be a minister’s wife. I guess I never really understood the commitment it takes, the restrictions we live under. I just never really felt free living in Churchland. It was like living in a fishbowl with absolutely nothing to do, just swimming aimlessly back and forth.”
“It’s not as bad as that,” Preacher said.
“Maybe not for you,” she said. “You are preoccupied with your work. You never stop. You travel, you move around. People pay attention to you, to what you do. I have nothing to do there. Just stay in the house and wait for you to come home and go to sleep.”
Preacher was silent.
“I’m planning to buy a house here,” she said. “Once we’re settled in and the children are in their new schools, I’m going back to work. I have to feel useful. I don’t like the idea of my brain turning into jelly.”
“Are you going back to work for your father?” he asked.
“No,” she answered. “I’m tired of his trying to run my life too. I won’t have too much trouble finding the right job. I’m good at my work.”
“I know that,” he said.
She took another sip of her wine. “I told him that and he didn’t argue with me. He only asked one thing.”
“What?”
“Not to file for a divorce at this time. He said the church is going through a difficult period and that a divorce could do it a lot of harm.” She paused for a moment, looking at him. “Do you feel that way too?”
“Not for the same reason,” he said. “The church should be strong enough to withstand the problems of any of its members be they ministerial or lay people. I guess I don’t want a divorce because I don’t like to admit failure.”
“But we have failed,” Jane said without rancor. “We’ve never really built a marriage, we’ve never really had a marriage. We’ve had children together, we’ve lived in the same house together. But the only time we were on the same wavelength was when we got stoned and fucked. Outside of that we lived in different worlds. Your world was somewhere else, a world I could never share, a world in which I really never existed.”
He was silent for a moment, then took a cigarette from the package on the coffee table between them. He lit it and let the smoke drift out slowly. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“You shouldn’t be,” she said. “You didn’t lie to me. You told me up front to get rid of the child. I was the one who insisted we get married. You never even once told me that you loved me, not in the same way as people who are really in love.”
He drew on his cigarette without answering.
“I was foolish, I guess,” she continued. “Maybe even naive. I thought because I was pregnant it was a sign that we were in love—otherwise it couldn’t have happened. I know better now.”
“How are the children?” he asked.
“Fine,” she said. “They like it here. There are more things for them to do, more places for them to go.”
“Do they ask about me?”
“Not really,” she answered. “Sometimes when they see you on TV they point and say That’s Daddy, but that’s about all. They do ask about Grandpa, though. After all, he spent more time with them than you ever did.”
Again he was silent.
“Children are like animals. Instinctively they know their places in relationships. They respond to affection when affection is shown, to attention when it’s given.”
He ground out his cigarette. “You’ve made your case. I guess you’ve about said it all.”
“Have I?” she asked. “I wonder. I’ve listened to your sermons often enough. I’ve heard you quoting from the Scriptures that the God you worship is a demanding God, a consuming God, that nothing in this world must be allowed to come between you. Did you ever wonder that Jesus died without even once declaring His love for a woman?”
“Jesus declared His love for all the world and all the people in it,” Preacher said. “He died so that we might live.”
“I don’t argue that,” she said. “But is it possible that Jesus gave so much love to all that he had none of His own left to give to any one woman?”
“If you’re saying that I am like Jesus,” Preacher said, “you’re not making any sense at all.”
“That’s not what I’m saying,” she said quickly. “What I am saying is that you give all the love you have in you to everyone in the name of Christ and that you have none left of your own to give to anyone. Not to yourself and not for yourself.”
“I can’t make you understand,” Preacher said. “There is so much work to do and so little time in which to do it.”
“You’re wrong, Preacher,” she said. “I do understand. Only too well. That’s why I feel the way I do. I’ve finally come to realize that the only way in which you can do your work is to be free. Any personal life you might have would only be another millstone around your neck.”
His voice was low. “That makes me seem pretty awful. And selfish.”
“You’re nothing of the sort, Preacher,” she said. “You’re just trying so hard to be all things to all men because you believe that’s the way the Lord wants you to be. Maybe that’s true. But I can’t believe that Jesus Christ in His mercy asks anything more of you than to first be yourself.”
He rose to his feet and looked down at her. He took a deep breath and spoke in a voice tinged with sadness. “I shall pray, Jane, that it is not the devil speaking through your lips, trying to turn me from God’s work.”
She returned his gaze evenly. “And I too shall pray, Preacher. That Jesus Christ, in His mercy gives you the vision to see yourself as you truly are. A human being. Like all of us. Not a man trying to assume God’s role on this earth.”
***
Preacher stood on the pulpit platform elevator below the auditorium stage and listened to the choir as they sang above him. He watched as the small television monitor in front of him flickered and sprang into life with the helicopter view of Churchland, then panned to the crowds thronging their way into the theater and then, following the people down the aisles, gradually panned up to the stage and the huge golden cross hanging on the backdrop.
The choir faded as the professional voice of the announcer came through the speaker and the main titles began to appear on the screen. “Ladies and gentlemen, from Churchland, Texas, the Community of God Church of Christian America Triumphant and its four thousand nine hundred and seventy-one affiliated churches throughout the United States are proud to welcome you to our weekly program, ‘Sunday Morning at Churchland.’”
The announcer paused for a moment to allow the applause to swell and then, as it faded down, spoke again. “Ladies and gentlemen, your pastor, Dr. C. Andrew Talbot!”
The applause began to rise again and the director’s voice in Preacher’s earphone crackled. “You’re on your way, Dr. Talbot.” Unconsciously Preacher nodded as the elevator rose. The applause was still ringing in his ears as the platform came to position on the stage.
Preacher waited a moment, then held up both arms for silence. Gradually the applause died down. “Brothers and
Sisters,” he said, his voice echoing through the speakers, “in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, I welcome you.” The applause began again but he quickly held it down by continuing to speak. “Today is a very special day for me and, I hope, a very special day for all of us in the Community of God. For this is the first day in which I am no longer alone in this ministry. I have found three brothers, three good men, three wise men, three men whose faith in our Lord Jesus Christ will extend my strength and the church’s strength to expand our work for the Lord.”
The director’s panic-stricken voice crackled in Preacher’s earphone. “That’s not the script for today, Dr. Talbot! We’ve just blown all the cues. Shall I put the script on your monitor?”
Preacher pressed the red button on the pulpit which connected him to the control booth high in the back of the auditorium. “No,” he whispered. “Just take your cues from me as best you can.”
He released the button and looked out at the congregation. “Today I take pleasure in bringing to you the first of these wise men who will share my ministry. This is a man I have known many years, a man who has steadfastly been at my side throughout the long years of struggle to establish this church. A man who traveled the country with me, preaching the Gospel first from a van, later in a tent, in the rain and snow of winter and in the heat and drought of summer. A man whose faith and love in Jesus came not from words alone, but from struggle and doing battle with the forces of evil and the courage to confront Satan to his own face. A man who, more than any other, has helped build the affiliated churches of the Community of God into a viable and great force for the gathering of hundreds and thousands of souls for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A man under whose leadership our newspaper, The Major Minority, has brought to the attention of everyone the real needs of the members of our congregation so that they may survive and be able to clothe and feed their families, do battle with all the injustices that man does to man under the influence of Satan, and deal with the realities of life in Jesus Christ and not in the vain promises and theories of pie in the sky offered by the ungodly.
Spellbinder Page 26
