| |
Esther
“Thanks for coming in so soon,” Esther said, trying to sound warm. She didn’t know why, but she liked this Adam Lattin. Of course, she had no idea if she was a good judge of character or not.
“Sure. I was just sitting by the phone, waiting for your call.”
Vicky’s eyebrow arched into a picked point.
Adam laughed. “Just kidding, but I was excited to hear from you.” He rubbed his hands together. “I’m eager to get to work.”
Vicky put her head in her hands.
Adam’s eyes started to drift toward Vicky, and Esther spoke quickly to distract him. “Can you tell us again about the calling you heard?”
Vicky grunted, and Esther wished she’d thought of a different question.
“Sure.” Adam leaned back into his chair, looking contemplative. “I wasn’t feeling good about Bible college. I’m not saying that it’s not for some people. It might well be exactly what many pastors need. But it just wasn’t clicking for me. I felt as if I was stuck in a holding pattern—learning how to serve, but never serving. And it felt like I was learning a bunch of stuff I didn’t need to know in order to serve. I mean, when will I need to have memorized the pronominal suffixes of the Hebrew language?” He laughed but broke off awkwardly when no one joined him.
Esther was confident that none of them knew the meaning of whatever he’d just said. Cathy, maybe, but even that was a stretch.
He took a deep breath. “So anyway, the more I studied the word, the more I was just raring to go. I wanted to do something. Not just go to class and study but help people. I want to get down in the ditches and spend face time with God’s children. I genuinely love people. I love to be around them. I find them fascinating. In college I was just ... bored? No, it was more than that. I was feeling stagnant, I think. And it was making me depressed.” He sucked in another lungful of air and looked around nervously. “Anyway, I was praying, and I asked God for a new beginning. And as I said those words, it seemed they really didn’t come from my mouth. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but it was like those aren’t words I’d normally think or say. And yet, I said them to God, and when I did, something just clicked. Something felt right. I said it again, several times, new beginning, new beginning, and then after I stopped praying, I couldn’t get the words out of my head.
“In the morning, I did a web search, and I found you guys.”
“You did?” Dawn cried, amazed.
“I built us a website,” Cathy said.
“You did?” Dawn cried again.
Cathy looked annoyed. “I did.” Then, to Adam: “Thank you for sharing. I believe you.”
He frowned, and Esther wondered if she’d just introduced to him the idea that someone might not believe him.
“I believe you too,” Esther said, even though she wasn’t sure she did. She certainly hoped it was true; otherwise, she was about to hire a pastor who was also a liar.
“You typed new beginning into a search engine, and you found us?” Vicky couldn’t have sounded more cynical.
Adam smiled. “You weren’t the first result, for sure. I thought it might be stuck in my head because it was a song lyric. So I typed in ‘new beginning song lyrics,’ and ‘new beginning Christian song.’ But none of that brought me to anything familiar. I don’t know if it was the next thing I did, but at some point I typed in ‘new beginning Maine’ and that’s when I found you guys. And your website made it clear that you were just getting started. And you didn’t name a pastor, so I figured you didn’t have one yet.”
“So God didn’t tell you anything,” Vicky said, and then without giving him a chance to rebut, asked, “Why are your grades so terrible?”
“Vicky!” Rachel scolded, but Adam smiled genuinely.
“It’s okay. I’m a terrible student. I’m terrible at tests. I don’t have a good memory. I have to read things ten times before I understand them.”
The horror on Vicky’s face grew and grew.
“But do you know the Bible?” Barbara asked. Then she answered herself, “Of course you do.”
“I don’t know it anywhere near as well as I should, I’ll admit. But I work at it every day, asking God to reveal to me every jot and tittle.”
Esther’s mind went on a roller coaster ride as he spoke. At first, she was scared that he didn’t know the Bible well enough to lead them. Then she thought maybe he was a humble man. She should be more wary of a man who claimed to know the Bible inside and out. But when he said the words “jot and tittle,” her mind was put completely at ease. This was the one. This was their pastor. Only a man who knew the Bible would use that phrase. Only a man who really wanted to know the word would want to know every jot and tittle.
Vicky opened her mouth to speak.
Esther cut her off. “Mr. Lattin, I’ll tell you right up front that I like you and I think you’re the man for the job.”
He smiled, but managed to look hesitant, as if waiting for the “but.”
The “but” came. “But we have a rather unusual vision for this church.” Esther looked at Cathy. “Can you explain it?” She knew Cathy could do it better.
Cathy nodded. “We want to really focus on helping—”
He held up a hand. “I don’t want to be rude but may I?”
Cathy nodded and swept her arm in a welcome gesture.
He leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees. His eyes scanned the eyes of his interviewers—all seven of them. He paused to look them each in the eye before saying, “I’ve seen your stockpiles of food, and I almost wept with joy at the sight. I think that your vision goes something like this. I think you’re tired of the churchiness. Of the getting dressed up and gathering together on Sundays to eat doughnuts.”
Esther had no plans to give up the doughnut tradition, but she liked where he was going with this, so she didn’t interrupt.
“You’re tired of the rituals and routines, of the programs and traditions. I’m thinking you ladies have seen a lot in your time and that you want to do a lot with the time you have left. I’m thinking you want to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I’m thinking you want to share the good news with people near and far while making sure they are heard, loved, fed, and kept warm.” He raised his eyebrows. “Am I close?”
Cathy’s grin spread from ear to ear. “You’re more than close. That’s a bullseye hit.”
He returned the grin. “Great. Then let’s get started.”
Cathy nodded. “We need a few minutes to talk about it.”
He held up both hands in deference. “Of course. Sorry. I didn’t mean to rush you. As I said, I’m just raring to go.” He looked around the room. “Do you want me to step out for a few minutes or actually leave the building?” He laughed awkwardly.
“Just for a few minutes,” Esther said before anyone could tell him to leave. “There are doughnuts in the sanctuary.” She gave him a playful smile, and his face relaxed.
“Thank you.” He turned toward the door. “I do appreciate a good doughnut. Holler when you need me.”
