Gilda interrupted the story. “So they made their decision between meetings and away from Durwin’s presence did they?”
“Yes, they did,” replied Collin, “and Durwin wasn’t ready to quarrel with them or put them in their place yet. So he dropped the matter and informed the chairperson of the organization that he wouldn’t be accepting the position.”
“Too bad,” said Gilda, “I think he should have gone ahead.”
“Well,” said Brett Culver, “I think he shouldn’t have even consulted the committee on it.”
“I know how you can feel that way folks,” responded Collin, “but a minister’s life and work is supposed to be supported and helped by committees and boards. Durwin thought at the time they would support him on it. It would have been a good thing for the church to have its minister serving in the community. In hind-sight he later realized he should have gone ahead with it without asking. But take note that before a year was up, several of the church committee members were serving on the board of that same organization.”
“Ha, Ha,” said Leo, laughingly, “no conflict of interest with the church now.”
“Not a bit,” said Collin disgustedly, “but to them it now meant they had outsmarted Durwin and were superior to him again. However, before long another organization not connected with the church, the area chapter of the Red Cross contacted Durwin to sit on one of its boards which met weekly for a luncheon, followed by the work of reviewing hundreds of applications for assistance to needy people sent in from several counties. This committee was especially busy during the colder months. Without discussing it with his church committee Durwin served on this Red Cross committee for more than a year and a half. He served it well and regularly without any absence and was asked to continue. He left it only when he needed the time to pursue a demanding continuing education course that would help people with a different need and further the work of his local church. I will elaborate on that shortly.”
Continuing with the story, Collin led the group into another incident. “Durwin could see that at least for the present he could make no more headway with the beautification of the church exterior property. He would approach the matter again at a later date. In the meantime he turned to another aspect of preparing the infra-structure for church growth. This also would be one of the more secondary preparations, as was the tidying of the land.
“As it was, the local church newsletter and the Sunday worship bulletin were third rate productions; scrappy looking to say the least. These could be greatly improved with the use of a photo copier and the tasteful and creative use of clip art. In addition, from his exceptionally large collection of books and various church resources, Durwin was accustomed to utilizing litanies and other items of worship and also keeping files of ideas from these resources. Durwin was one to spend a great deal of his own money on worthwhile church resources. He was a firm believer in the business slogan, ‘you have to spend money to make money,’ so he had long ago adapted this slogan to church work. He didn’t see church as a business, but the same basic rule that applied for any undertaking would also apply to the church. That is, if you want to get good results which in the church would be spiritual results, you have to put good things into it: self, money, et al, with sacrifice when necessary. Consequently, Durwin didn’t spare anything in that direction when it was for a worthy cause. Of course he had excellent discernment as to what was good and not so good in that regard. Anyway, Durwin badly needed a photocopier to help keep up his high caliber worship.
“Furthermore, the church at large in its interaction with the local congregations was becoming more and more geared to the local congregation having a photo copier. This was before computers were commonly used in churches. There were numerous items that could be photo copied and distributed to the church board and committee members and at times to the whole congregation. Communication of various sorts could be greatly improved with the use of a photo copier. Presently Durwin was trekking to the shops to use commercial copiers for various purposes, again using his own money, which he didn’t mind doing. But it was inconvenient time wise and so on, as you can imagine.
“At a meeting of the local church board, Durwin spoke of the opportunity to buy a photo copier from an assortment of models rebuilt by the manufacturer and with a full warranty for a year, at an affordable price. The church finances were in good condition at the time, as a result of Durwin’s good quality ministry. As he began to explain why a copier was needed, he was cut down briskly by several members. They glanced around subtly at one another. ‘We have no plans to buy a photo copier,’ said one leading member curtly. ‘We see no need for a photo copier,’ said the next one firmly. Durwin tried to explain the need. ‘We have no money to spend on a photocopier,’ said the next person, cutting Durwin off from speaking, and brushing the whole matter aside by bringing up discussion about another topic altogether.
“There had been no debate as to the needs or pros and cons of a photo copier. It was as though their minds were previously made up. Yet there had been no previous mention of buying a photo copier. Durwin could only assume at the time, that since they had already made up their minds that he was a spendthrift, they would never entertain any idea of allowing Durwin to spend ‘their’ money. This assumption would be further adjusted in Durwin’s mind later on when he became more familiar with the full force of the many devious tactics of belittlers in Terraprima. He would then realize that they didn’t intend to let him accomplish anything in their church, period, money involved or not.
“Durwin and Canda pondered many times how they might break through the crust these people had built around themselves; a crust of undisciplined pride which they were determined to protect no matter what, even when it short-changed their church. The Lawtons decided to temporarily put aside any ideas for significant change of any kind in the church. They would move more slowly in that regard-move more gradually, giving the board and committee members more time to adjust and adapt to change. They would try to socialize with these people, hoping to eventually break through and befriend them.
“Before long, an opportunity arose. There was to be a special event at a school, in which many of the congregation’s children were participating. Durwin and Canda showed an interest in attending. The woman who had done the good, though incomplete job of decorating the church sanctuary interior had been showing some signs of initiative in her own way lately. ‘If you would like to go to the event,’ she said half-heartedly and passively, ‘I will get some tickets for you when we get ours.”
“‘Good,’ said Durwin. ‘we’d love to go.’
“The Lawtons were later informed that the tickets had been obtained. They were to meet the woman at the auditorium door at a set time. She would have the tickets with her, and since she knew the seat number arrangements would be able to show them to their seats. The Lawtons thought they were getting somewhere at last. They arrived on time. The woman was there, together with a group of parents from the inner church circle. The Lawtons were immediately taken to their two seats located in the center of a block of seats. They sat down expecting the group to sit down as well. But then the whole group of a dozen or so moved en masse across the aisle and sat together in the center of another block of seats, but on the other side of the auditorium. A small number of people unfamiliar to the Lawtons did come and sit here and there in the vicinity of them, but the Lawtons were isolated from their church members, and not due to lack of seating space in either of the blocks of seats.
“Over in the other block of seats, far removed from the Lawtons, the woman who had purchased the tickets sat in the center of the group of, as I said, a dozen or so. There she made herself the center of attention with her loud and showy mannerism. It became obvious to the Lawtons why she didn’t want them sitting with the group. She was in competition with the minister and his wife for first place in the congregation.
“Over a period of time this woman with a problem did build