Church Folk - Michele Andrea Bowen [106]
Rev. James put his hand on Theophilus's shoulder and said, "Now, son, I know your mama and daddy didn't raise you to let something as shallow as keeping a job stop you from doing the right thing. This here thing is bigger than you being able to pastor that church down in Memphis. It is about righteousness and God and doing right by God's people. You are a pastor and your job as a pastor is to teach, protect, and lead the people God has placed under you to shepherd. You and I both know that one day you will stand before the Almighty and answer to Him concerning how you did your job. And it has been my assumption all along that you, Theophilus, have always been about doing the right thing for your church, your people, and the Lord. Am I right or wrong about you on this?"
Theophilus acknowledged, "You are right, Rev. James."
Rev. James nodded his head as if to say, "I thought that was the case here." He looked straight at Theophilus again and said, "The way I see it, if you don't go up in there and carry out this here plan like we all planned it, whether you have some written proof or not, your church won't be worth much anyway. In fact, not a one of our churches will. For you see, Theophilus, this wickedness we 'bout to do battle with, if left to itself, will spread and spread and spread till ain't nothing left but the devil's ashes where God's houses used to be. And 'fore you know it, the church God gave you won't be nothing but an empty shell, just masquerading as something it once used to be."
"Way I see it," Booker said, "y'all as much to blame as those devils hiding out in preachers' robes. Y'all just as much to blame as they are. And you just as much to blame because when Bishop Caruthers, Rev. Washington, and that son of Ernest Brown's first started doing little bits and pieces of dirt, somebody should have stopped them dead in their tracks. Sometimes you preachers act like this denomination gave y'all some license to preach. But wasn't it God supposed to have picked you? You just need to put that there robe laying 'cross your arm on and march on in there and do God's work."
Theophilus knew that Booker was right. Every time a good preacher didn't take action against a corrupt one, it was like putting a stamp of approval on the man. If he was worth the ground he was standing on, he had to leave aside the denomination's politics and do God's work, which is what he had been called to do—to stand up not just for the church he pastored, but for the entire Church.
Theophilus raised his hands to the men standing expectantly before him. "I'm ready," he said. "You all just have my back covered in case one of these preachers gets a little too crazy when I get to calling out those names tomorrow."
"Jesus got your back, but we'll be there anyway," Booker said. "Don't you worry none, Theophilus."
It was not until the afternoon, long after the service had ended, that Essie was finally able to get Theophilus alone and ask about the meeting with Booker and Pompey. By then she was burning up with curiosity, suspecting that the story could be, as Miss Coral would say, "a doozy."
"Uncle Booker and Mr. Pompey found the preachers' club and saw everything with their own eyes," Theophilus told her. "And, baby, that place is something else. I believe plush was the word Uncle Booker used to describe it. And you wouldn't even begin to imagine how many preachers they saw going in and out of those rooms with some woman. They were some pretty women, too, if what Uncle Booker and Mr. Pompey said was true."
"How long were they there? Sounds like they didn't just walk in and walk out."
"No, they didn't walk in and out. They stayed about two and a half hours."
"Theophilus, why would Uncle Booker and Mr. Pompey need to stay at a cathouse for over two hours? I would think they would want to leave as soon as they got there."
Theophilus looked at Essie and stifled a laugh. There