![False Stop False Stop](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/61462.jpg?h=393&w=700)
I began my ministry in a beautiful little church made up of gracious and loving people in South Louisiana. After four happy years, I was asked to become pastor of the church I attended as a boy. The thought of making a difference in the church of my youth was a joy I had not anticipated. While I was content in the bayous, the desire to reinvest in the place that had first invested in me was too great. My wife and I packed our bags and headed to Alabama.
Perhaps I should have known better. The church had positions for three full-time staff, and all of them had recently resigned. Instead of being a catalyst for unity, I made the division worse. The trust they gave me in Louisiana was not so easily given in a church already cracking with division. It did not help that my theology and personality did not mix with a few key leaders.
My undoing began with a few "concerned" members meeting behind closed doors, followed by long deacons' meetings that I was not invited to. ...
1![July/August July/August](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/141250.jpg?h=81&w=60)
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