Were we told never to set foot inside First Church again? No! I think very few churches would disallow someone to attend their church. But my "termination" was immediate, meaning no Friday Night Thing the next day, no coming back to say goodbye, and no way of letting people know in a general setting. So why weren’t we there Sunday? Well, if we weren’t able to come and say goodbye, there really isn’t reason to. I definitely won’t be returning for the service… I know some of you (sometimes) enjoy it, but there’s no way I’d attend unless I was on staff – and now I’m not. And I wasn’t going to come to Sunday school seeing as how I’m out of college and not yet 35. So you may ask yourself, "Was I lied to when Chris and Kari said they were told not to come back to First Church?" and I say no, of course not. I was fired and told to clean out my things by Saturday, sure we received the "First Church is the body and you’re always welcome" and that’s great I suppose (albeit compulsory), but it was clear we shouldn’t show up expecting anything. Can you imagine us showing up, most everyone NOT knowing I was no longer employed, not being able to come to the 3rd floor, not going up on stage when they "appreciated" the pastors, and so on? Wow, that would’ve been awkward, no? One thing I want to make clear, we were NOT told to show up to say goodbye. We were NOT expected to be there to announce anything, as made clear by the prepared statements made to Sunday school. We were not given any warning this was coming, and most importantly, NOTHING WRONG OR INAPROPRIATE led to this decision by the church.
So why did they let me go? Apparently I didn’t fit the vision. And though I asked several times for the leadership of that church to assist me in that area by telling me what their goals were, what they wanted accomplished, all I ever received was silence. Not once did I receive a response as to what they wanted to see happen in that student ministry. I hope the new youth pastor (one with a degree, another area I didn’t measure up to) will be able to pry the vision out of them.
Some have asked what they should do now. It’s simple really. Do you love that youth group? Are your friends there, helping you grow and draw closer to Christ? Are their adults who love you and care about you? Then stay! Pray about it, visit other churches if you feel so inclined, but follow the leading of God as to what you should do.
There’s also been gossip and rumors. This makes me the most sick I think. If you have not received correspondence or spoken directly with myself or Stan you do NOT know the details or the story. Even if your mom, dad, or pet fly attended the SPRC meetings you STILL don’t know the full story, so why talk as though you do? You have no additional facts, no new revelations so why pretend to be something you’re not? Stop talking about it and move on, that’s how you end the drama.
We love you. We did not choose to leave you. Could/should this have been handled better? Definitely. It’s dirty and disgusting how this went down, but now is the time to accept it, not dwell on it. Embrace the new and remember fondly the past.
