“Hello, Pastor Dogan. I’ll be right with you,” LaDonna said as she continued styling a customer’s hair. She had been Shante’s hair stylist for many years, and Shante had a standing appointment for Friday mornings.
Shante waited for LaDonna in the lobby, idly looking through old hair magazines. She liked coming to this shop. It was clean, and LaDonna was a Christian. People there tried to encourage one another. There was no gossip or loud secular music, no conflicts with the stylists or profanity. Beautifully decorated, it looked like a salon one would see on a television makeover show. It was well lit and the atmosphere was happy and congenial. She had gone to many shops and had discovered this one by chance when she had stopped to ask for directions.
“Pastor, you can come in now.”
As Shante walked over to LaDonna’s chair, she received many hellos; everyone seemed happy to see her.
“I’m just getting it washed and wrapped today. I have a busy schedule, and I need to get to the church by one.”
“Okay, Pastor, I’ll hook you up. So how are you today?”
“All’s well.” Shante pretended to look at a magazine, conscious of her swollen eyes and the black circles under them due to lack of sleep and crying. She tried to cover up with makeup, but lately when she put makeup on, it didn’t give her the coverage she needed. She hoped no one had noticed her face. After her hair appointment, she was going to buy some new makeup.
Shante flipped through a magazine while LaDonna parted her hair and scratched her scalp. “You’re quiet today, Pastor. Is there anything wrong?”
“No, I’ve got a lot to do at the church.”
“Well, if you need to talk, I’m here. Come on, let’s go to the bowl.”
Getting her hair washed was the part of the whole hairstyling experience Shante loved the most. LaDonna’s fingers massaging her scalp and the warmth of the water relaxed her. Her mind was cleared of any thoughts about the proposal or the board meeting. She closed her eyes and worshipped silently to herself.
“Come on, let’s go to the chair,” LaDonna said after rinsing her hair.
Shante continued to pretend she was interested in the magazine she was holding, but her quietness was not lost on LaDonna. Usually, when she came to the salon, she would be encouraging someone or speaking an inspiring word. Today, she didn’t feel like talking.
“Excuse me.” Shante looked up. A tall woman with long, well-manicured fingernails was looking at her. “Yes.”
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I have something to tell you. You’re a minister, right?”
“Yes, I’m a pastor.”
“God is taking your ministry to a new level, a higher level. You’ve been in hiding. You’re not going to be able to hide anymore. You won’t be able to hide from your problems. You won’t be able to hide from your responsibilities. You won’t be able to hide from love. God is bringing you out.”
“Miss, I’m sorry, but I’m not hiding from anything.”
“Yes, you are. I don’t know who you are, but God is pulling you out of your comfort zone. He has to do it. There is a greater work for you. God told me to tell you that you’re getting married, too. Prepare yourself. There is work ahead for you.”
The lady said this and walked out of the salon. Shante saw her get into a car and drive off. She was puzzled, but thought perhaps God had sent her to the salon that day. She wished she had told her the meeting was going to work out like the last one. The Word comes to bring comfort, but she had felt no comfort in anything the woman had said.
“You’d better listen to her. That’s the prophet lady. She knows what she’s talking about,” LaDonna said as she continued wrapping Shante’s hair.
Still pretending to read a magazine, she thought about the woman’s words. She wondered if she should take her seriously. But she did not want to hear about getting married, and she felt annoyed when she thought about what the woman had said about hiding. To her, she wasn’t hiding. What did that woman know about her? Could she have heard some of the gossip going around? Or was she really operating by the anointing of the Holy Spirit? She decided to do what the Bible said—test the spirit by the spirit.
* * *
Shante drove through the early morning traffic on her way to the board meeting. She had been praying all night. Once again, she had been unable to cover up the sadness on her face or the black circles under her eyes. She felt troubled in her spirit. As she prayed for peace, her phone rang.
“Good morning, Shante. This is Bishop.”
“Hello, Bishop. What can I do for you this morning?”
“I know it’s early. I wanted to call you and encourage you. I know you have that meeting this morning. Don’t worry about it. It’ll be all right.”
“Thank you, Bishop.”
“I’ve been in the ministry a long time. I’ve encountered all kinds of problems like this. Did you know I was put out of a church at one time?”
“No, Bishop, I didn’t know.”
“Yeah. They gave me all kinds of excuses. They accused me of all kinds of things, but you know what I learned?”
“What’s that, Bishop?”
“I learned to be silent.”
“What?”
“I learned to be silent. I learned not to argue with my accusers. Even when I wanted to defend myself, I learned to be silent. In the face of many lies and finger-pointing, I learned to be silent. I had to learn when to fight and when not to fight. I had to learn when to sit back and let God take care of my accusers.”
“Is that what you think I should do?”
“When you go in there this morning, don’t say anything. No matter what they accuse you of, don’t say anything. I know you’ll want to defend yourself, but don’t. Even if they ask you a question directly, don’t say anything. When you’re silent, the only ones that have to give an account for their actions are your accusers. Leave it up to God to uncover and reveal truth. If you know you haven’t done anything wrong, let God handle it. Everything covered will be uncovered.”
“Thank you, Bishop, but I think I should defend myself. These are some serious accusations.”
“Did you hear what I said? Don’t say anything. No matter what they do to you, don’t say anything. I’m an old man. I’ve been through this more than one time. I know what I’m talking about. Don’t say anything. Please, Shante, listen to me.”
“I’m listening to you. I respect your advice. I won’t say anything. Pray for me.”
“Good. I’ll pray for you now.”
Bishop began to pray as she pulled into the parking lot and into her reserved space behind the church. She sat in the car listening to him; she needed someone praying for her. After the prayer, she thanked him for his advice. She looked around the parking lot at all the cars already there. She sat in her car trying to psyche herself into going into the meeting early. She tried to figure out how she could get to her office without being seen by any of the board members. Her cellphone beeped. Someone had sent her a text message:
PRAYING FOR YOU. I LOVE YOU, AND SO DO THE BOYS. MAX.
Thinking of the boys made her smile, but then she was filled with sadness. She couldn’t take dealing with Max and the board on the same day. It was too stressful. I love the boys, too. She got out of her car and hurried to her office. When she opened the door, Tank was sitting inside.
“Good morning, Pastor.”
“Good morning, Tank. How are you?” she said, trying to sound confident.
“Are you ready? Everyone is here. We may as well get started.”
“Go ahead. I’ll be right in.”
“No, I’m going to walk you in. You have to know there is someone who supports you.”
She closed the door and hugged him. She was glad he was there supporting her. She had felt so alone in this whole process, but he made her feel there was at least one person in the church on her side. “Thank you. Let’s go.”
They walked into the crowded conference room. It appeared every deacon, deaconess, and trustee was in attendance. She saw a stack of papers entitled PRELIMINARY BUDGET REPORT sitting on the large table. Each chair had a packet in front of it. Shante sat down in her chair, and Tank called the meeting to order. The room was generally quiet, but a few people were whispering to one another.
“Deacon Curry, present the report,” Tank said, motioning for him to stand.
Deacon Curry stood up and gave his reasoning for requesting a new audit of the budget. He went on and on about how he had a gut feeling something was wrong. He then directed the group to open their packets. Some members of the board gasped upon seeing the contents.
“As you can see, there is approximately $16,000 unaccounted for in our account.” Shante looked at the figures and couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She didn’t understand how that much money could be missing from the church. She ran a tight ship when it came to the money. With so many safeguards in place, there was no way money could be missing from the account.
“Also, please note the questionable charges to the credit card,” Deacon Curry urged the group.
“Look at the number of hotel rooms on here,” Sarah Turner shrieked. “There’s even one for Greensboro on the date of my anniversary. That’s the day I saw Pastor in Greensboro. Don’t deny it. Didn’t I see you there?” Shante didn’t say anything. She didn’t even look up; she just kept on looking at the financial information in front of her. She didn’t want to look into the eyes of Sister Turner. If she had she would have been compelled to answer her. She kept hearing Bishop say, Don’t say anything. “Well, Pastor, are you going to deny that I saw you there that day bumping and grinding with Reverend Patrick on the dance floor? Are you going to deny I saw you there dressed like a tramp?”
She looked up. She wanted so badly to say something to her. She kept hearing, Don’t say anything.
Everyone finally realized she was not going to respond, so they allowed Deacon Curry to continue. “This is a very serious report. We need to do a complete investigation. Once we have the final report from the auditor, I suggest we contact the police concerning this matter.”
“Do you really think we need to call the police into this?” Tank asked.
“If there’s a thief in this church, we need to find out about it as soon as possible. That person needs to be removed from our organization,” Deacon Curry declared.
“Do you have any idea who this could be?” someone asked.
“There’s only one person here who has access to the account, credit cards, and building—and that is Pastor,” Deacon Curry replied.
“I’m sorry, Pastor. We have looked at everything. The credit card used was yours. We’re trying to get evidence from the bank about the withdrawals. We can’t accuse you of that. We can’t accuse you of anything, but all the evidence points to you. I’m sorry,” Tank said, stuttering as he spoke.
“We asked you to act ladylike. We asked you to watch your behavior. You couldn’t even do that. First it was having sex with men on the beach, and then I saw you in Greensboro. You thought you could get away with it if you went to another city. But God allowed you to be uncovered,” Sister Turner chimed in self-righteously. Shante stared at her without a word. “A tramp. I don’t want a tramp as a pastor.”
“Wait a minute, Sarah. You’ve definitely gone too far,” Tank said, looking directly at her. “Give Pastor a chance to answer these charges. Pastor, you have the floor. Is there anything you would like to say?”
Shante shook her head. She had a lot to say, but was taking Bishop’s advice to keep silent.
“Pastor, we’re giving you a chance to defend yourself. If you have something to say, this is the time to do it,” Deacon Curry said, trying to get her to speak.
“Please, Pastor, say something,” Tank pleaded. Shante only shook her head.
“Well, you leave us no choice. I make a motion that we sit Pastor down until we have a complete report and a full investigation has taken place,” Deacon Curry said.
“What are your grounds for sitting Pastor down?” Tank asked.
“We previously warned her about her character, yet we have a witness on the board who saw her behaving in a manner that was not godlike. Two, there are some questions about the finances of this church, and all the evidence at this time points back to her. Three, she hasn’t denied any of the allegations. Those are my grounds.”
Tank looked around the room. Several people nodded in agreement. “Pastor, I would like to give you one more chance to defend yourself,” Tank said, looking pleadingly at her. She remained silent. “Then you give me no other choice. A motion has been placed to sit Pastor down until an investigation is complete. Is there a second to this motion?”
“I second,” Sister Turner quickly jumped in.
“I’m not having any part of this,” Trustee Faulkner said, getting up from the table and walking toward the door.
“Me either,” a woman, said following him.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but something is not sitting right in my spirit about this whole thing. I wash my hands of it. I pray that the witch hunt you’ve been on doesn’t backfire in your faces. I’m getting out of here.” Another member got up and walked out the door.
“Is there anyone else who wants to leave?” Tank asked the group. “This is your opportunity. We need to have a quorum to vote on this issue.” No one else left. Tank put the issue to vote. The majority voted to sit Shante down. They agreed she would continue receiving her salary until a full investigation was complete, but she wouldn’t be allowed to preach, teach or counsel in the church. However, she would be allowed to represent the church in functions already scheduled outside the church, but she would have to be escorted by a member of the board. She wouldn’t be allowed to schedule any new functions as a representative of the church until further notice. She wouldn’t have access to any of the church’s accounts. She was to immediately turn in her credit cards, and her security code for the church would be deleted from the system.
They agreed an associate minister Deacon Curry suggested would be acting pastor during the process. Deacon Curry said he had already contacted the minister, and he had agreed to take the position. At the end of the meeting, Tank escorted Shante back to her office. She unlocked her file cabinet and turned over her credit cards and her keys to the office.
“I don’t know why you didn’t say anything, but I believe you did the right thing. This is a witch hunt. There’s something so wrong about this whole matter. I can feel it in my spirit. That’s why I voted to keep you. There was no debate. It was so strange; I’ve never seen anything like it. Anyway, I can’t talk about it now, not here. You have a lot in your office. You will have full access to your office, so you don’t have to take anything out of here. Take this time to rest,” Tank whispered.
Shante hugged him and thanked him for supporting her. She could see the enemy working in this whole thing. She took a few personal items from her desk and walked with Tank to her car.
“Pastor, this is a mess. I’m going to be praying. We all need to pray.”
“Yes, we need to pray. I love you, Tank. Thank you again.” She got into her car and drove away from the church. She pulled into the parking lot of a local store and picked up her cellphone. “Gary, this is Shante. I know it’s your day off. We need to talk. Can we meet somewhere?”
“Sure, Tay. Sounds serious.”
“It is. It’s very serious. I don’t want to meet at your office. I don’t want to risk seeing Max. Is Ruby Tuesday’s okay?”
“Yeah. In about an hour?”
“That’s fine. I’ll meet you there.” She hung up the phone and dialed another number. “Hey, Patrice.”
“Hey, Tay, how are you? I was just thinking about you. I was going to call, but you beat me to the phone. What’s going on?”
“Can I stay with you for a few days?”
“What’s wrong? You sound sad.”
“I’ll talk to you when I get there. I’ll be there about six this afternoon.”
“I’ll tell Shawn. The kids will be happy to see you. You can stay as long as you need to. Does Camille know you’re coming?”
“No, and don’t tell her. I need a few days to get myself together.”
“Okay. I’ll be waiting for you.”
“I’ll see you at six.”