Chapter 5

            Aaron stood nervously at the front door of the church.  And yet he smiled and shook each member’s hand as they entered.  Charles is usually quite punctual, he thought, I hope he is today.  Most people had already arrived when finally he saw Charles’ car pull up into the parking lot alongside the church.

            Aaron left his post and moved in his direction, looking for every spare moment he could use to persuade or reaffirm that Charles was not going to preach on having multiple wives. 

            Charles climbed out of his car with two Bibles and a notebook under one arm.  After locking the door, he looked and saw Aaron hurrying towards him.

            “Good morning brother!”  he called out heartily as Aaron was two rows of cars away from him.

            “Good morning,” Aaron returned the greeting as he closed the gap and grabbed this morning’s ‘special speaker’s’ hand.

            “Hey, I know” he continued  “I told you you could speak on anything you wanted . . . but you weren’t by any chance going to speak on this polygamy thing, were you?”

            “Why?”  Charles questioned.  “Do you want me too?”

            “NO! . . . I mean, no -- don’t you see it upsets all the women and teaching like that could wreck the church.  Do you want us to be known as some kind of weird cult, teaching false doctrines?”

            “Relax,” Charles said as he smiled while walking toward the church.  Aaron fell in step with him as Charles continued “Before I speak, I always try to get the mind of the Lord.  I don’t want to wreck anything, but I’m sure you agree that God wants us to preach truth and not just tradition.  Don’t you?”

            “Sure, but . . .” Aaron started to respond, but he was interrupted by Mrs. Walker.

            “Pastor . . .” she began as she tugged his arm, pulling him out of his march with Charles toward the front door.  Mrs. Walker was a little old lady who was probably close to seventy years old, but one who took a very active role in the church’s affairs.  She had suggestions and opinions on carpet colors and types of flowers and plants outside the church and almost anything else that came up. 

            “Pastor,” she repeated, “I think it would just be wonderful if we planned something special for the senior citizens who come to this church.”

            “Yes, Mrs. Walker, I’d be happy to talk with you about that some other time,” Aaron responded as he glanced after Charles, who had continued his pace and was now entering the front door.

            “But pastor.  This will only take a minute or two to get the gist of the general idea I have in mind,” she insisted.

            Finally, he stopped and turned full toward the elderly lady but something in his mannerisms must have tipped off his impatience.

            “Oh, never mind” Mrs. Walker said in exasperation.  “You young people are always too busy to pay any mind to those that have been around a half century or more.  I’ll talk to you some other time.”  She wheeled around and put her nose in the air and began ambling away as quick as her sixty plus year old frame would carry her.

            By the time Aaron reached the front door one of the ushers, who had recognized Charles as the featured guest speaker mentioned in the church bulletin, had already escorted him to the visiting speakers seat on the platform.

            “Oh no,” Aaron thought, “Now I won’t get a chance to speak to him before I introduce him!”

            George and Juanita had already begun the praise and worship time just as they had been trained to do, right at 11:00 AM.  It was 11:03 and they were finishing their first song.  Aaron moved though the aisle which had believers praising God on both sides.  The church, like most churches, had an excess of women, in fact about sixty five percent of the church was composed of females.

            Aaron took his place in front of the pastor’s chair on the platform next to Charles.  In between songs Aaron whispered to his guest speaker “Please, don’t say anything that would embarrass you, me or the church.”

            “Pastor, don’t worry” Charles said patronizingly as he put his arm around Aaron’s shoulders.  “I’ll speak only the truth from God’s word and if anyone can prove from God’s word that it is not truth, then I’ll come back and apologize!”

            That wasn’t exactly the answer that Aaron was hoping to hear.  A sickening feeling began to well up in his stomach as he wondered how he had gotten himself into this predicament.

            As the ushers began passing the baskets to receive the morning’s tithes and offerings, Cheryl came up to the platform and whispered in Aaron’s right ear (the one furthest from Charles) “Is everything alright?  You look pale.”

            “Yes, yes, it’ll be OK.”  Aaron mumbled as he silently prayed that God would persuade, command or force Charles to speak about something that people could accept.  The time had come for him to introduce the speaker.  How can I do this and prepare the congregation for something weird to soften the blow just in case . . .

            “Brothers and sisters, we praise the Lord today.  For this is the day that the Lord has made.”  he began.  “We have with us today a man who is from a different country and a different culture.  We’ve had the opportunity to begin to know each other over the past few months.  We may not agree on everything but he has a heart to study God’s word.  As many of you know will be leading our missionary team to Kenya in a week or two, where we will stay for a month, preaching the word of God to the Kenyans.  Let’s give a warm welcome to our brother Charles Okinyi.”

            As Charles stood up to go to the pulpit and speak into the microphone, Aaron sat down, hoping he had said enough to mute anything Charles may say that would be out of line or out of convention.