doing God’s work for sure. But too many of these folks are getting out of hand. Somebody needs to stop them; somebody’s got to take a stand.”
“Now, here comes Pastor Landris. Already been on national television, unlike some of these wannabe, little shots around here. Do you have any idea what will happen if he sets up shop—hangs his shingle out, stating he’s open for business? We’re all sunk! Sunk! That man has charisma. He’s anointed,” Reverend Grant said. “I used to watch him all the time on television before he went off the air. In fact, I’ve preached more than a few of his sermons, word for word. Of all places, he would decide to move here.”
“This area can only support so many large churches,” Reverend Theodore said. “I just have a feeling if Pastor Landris gets things rolling, he’s going to put a lot of us slap out of business. I’m talking slap out, and that includes Reverend Walker and Poppa Knight.”
Reverend Knight started shaking his head. “This is kind of sad, y’all. We’re sitting here talking about a fellow preach-brother as though we were some gang members defending our territory. ‘He’s going to put a lot of us slap out of business’? Reverend Theodore, what’s that all about? We’re acting like he’s the enemy. He’s telling people about the Lord. He’s bringing people to Christ. Isn’t that the business we’re all supposed to be in?”
Reverend Walker squared his body in front of Reverend Knight. “What’s up with you? Sounds to me like you’re starting to like this fellow. You backing out? Having a change of heart? If you are, let us know, and we’ll be glad to let you out before you get in too deep.”
“Out of what?” Reverend Grant asked. “Out of the group, or out of our plan?”
Reverend Walker looked hard at Reverend Knight. “That’s entirely up to Poppa Knight here. Ain’t that right, Doc?”
Reverend Knight looked back at him and stood up. “I know you’re not stepping to my face with all that noise. I would suggest you take a few steps back and calm yourself down.” He waited on Reverend Walker to do as he had just suggested.
Reverend Walker snickered a little and took two deliberate steps back. “Better?”
“Better,” Reverend Knight said and sat back down. “Now listen to me. All of you. We are not thugs. Pastor Landris is still our brother in the Lord, regardless of what any of us think here. When I made that offer to him to give him that building at no charge, I meant it with sincerity. We are not about lying like that. After I spoke with him that first day, I admit, I did see something special in that young, dreadlocks-wearing, preacher—”
“Don’t tell us you’re bonding with him and would like him to become a part of our group?” Reverend Grant said.
“I’m merely stating that what I said to him today, I mean for us to keep our word on. If he comes back and tells me he wants the building, I want to give it to him just like I said I would. He will be putting his own funds into fixing the place up. He can use it for as long as he wants—”
“Within a reasonable time limit,” Reverend Theodore said. “We decided no more than five years.”
“Five years, with a clause allowing us to rescind it at any time at our discretion with written notification, three months in advance,” Reverend Walker said. “We’ve already decided and agreed that will be a nonnegotiable stipulation of his contract.”
“Yes, Reverend Walker. Five years with an anytime out-clause for us,” Reverend Grant said.
“The point is, I believe Pastor Landris is going to find the building’s location is not the best place to ask people to come. He’s not going to have that many people driving way out there to attend anybody’s church—including his,” Reverend Walker said. “More importantly, we’ll still own the building. If Pastor Landris takes Poppa Knight up on this offer, he’ll sink some big money into fixing it up, which will only increase the value of the building for later use. Better still, if we see things are getting too out of hand too soon, we can shut him down within three months. There’s nothing worse than having a large congregation with nowhere permanent to fellowship. That’ll scatter sheep pretty quickly.” He smiled.
“So all we have to do now is to wait and see what Pastor Landris decides?” Reverend Beam said, looking from one preacher to the other. “Then go from there.”
“I don’t think it’s going to take long, do you, Poppa Knight?” Reverend Walker looked at his friend. “And if you don’t hear from him soon, I’m sure you’ll follow up and impress upon him how this truly is a legitimate offer he’d be foolish to turn down.”
“I’ll do what I have to do,” Reverend Knight said. “I told him to pray about it—we’ll see which direction he takes.”
Reverend Walker clapped his hands again. “Wonderful! Well, gentlemen, shall we pray?”
Three of the five picked up a dried-out pastry and nodded before taking a bite. They bowed their heads, sitting in their respective places, as Reverend Walker led them in a long and fervent prayer.
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