Yesterday was the day

Yesterday, the entire congregation found out that we were asked to leave our ministry. What a day it was... (I am still pretty unsettled by things that have been said and done).

I had a talk with some of the elders before SS. Not the way I wanted to start my day, but it was inevitable. It was one of those talks where you leave the room the same way you left, with the same feelings and with not much changing. The basis of our discussion was on what was going to be said about our being asked to leave. Not much to say.

All throughout my Sunday School class it was just weird. Now that they know we are leaving, it is going to be that much more difficult to teach them. But overall, it was a good class.

We told the kids during Jr. Church. They were upset. Didn't know what to expect from them and got a lot more verbal response than from the ms/hs. So, with that group told we headed up to the service. Yeah, we weren't looking forward to this.

We stopped and prayed again before we went in. We got in part way through the sermon, so we wanted to sit down quietly without much distraction. It is def. getting more and more difficult to listen to a sermon and take something from it. So after the invitation, offering and a few announcements - we were up. One of the elders read a statement explaining some things and then I got up to read our statement.

I was not sure what to say/do. I read a motified version of what I had originally written. Not an easy thing to do. Amy said she had to tell some people behind her to allow me to speak. (They were "voicing" some opinions about us being fired, as in not wanting us to go) So after I read my letter and started to walk back to my seat, some people began to stand. They stood and clapped for Amy and myself and our ministry here at WCC. It was touching to see the support we have here.

Got to talk to a lot of people after the service. Some of them I had not met before, some I had only met a few times and others I have known for 4 years. It was actually quite interesting to see the support from people who are fairly new to our congregation. People expressed concern about the situation and assured us that they did not agree with us being asked to leave.

Not that we want to have people on our side - it is just nice to know we are not alone.

We are glad to be on this side of it. Now we are less than a month away from our exit (seems like forever ago we were told). It is going to be a long 3 months (dont' think i want to do it that way again).

Yesterday had at least one bright spot: the youth put together a surprise party for Amy for her birthday (which was Friday, see posts about me being a bad husband). It was encouraging to see the support and love from them (the ones we are here to minister to).

As we do enter the last month of our stay at this church, we know it has the potential to become even more difficult to be here. I ask for prayer. thanks.