Last Time: Pastor Cyrus Payton responded to the Deacon Board’s claims that he was ruining the church with his lack of vision and poor leadership qualities.
December 4th, 2010
Sitting across from myself was Deacon Samuel Travis’ wife Charlotte Travis with a frustrated look on her face. Suddenly rising, Sister Travis told Pastor Cyrus Payton that he should be ashamed of himself for preaching so many condemning sermons that made the Deacon Board look like the cause of the church’s problems. To make matters worse, Sis. Travis voiced her belief that Pastor Payton is playing with God by smirking at certain moments of this meeting thus far. Sis. Payton couldn’t understand how a “man of God” could listen to rumors about people, but never bring those same rumors to a close. To answer Pastor Payton’s earlier question about the Deacon Board’s relationship with previous pastors, Sis. Travis noted that those past relationships were great, “And when preachers knew it was time to step down, they did.”
Finally giving Pastor Payton a chance to defend himself, Pastor Payton reminded Sis. Travis that she was one of the people who approached himself and Mrs. Payton with stories and rumors.
Starting to shake in anger, Sis. Travis stomped as she demanded Pastor Payton take back the false claims of her spreading rumors.
Pastor Payton saying, “Liar!” shocked Sis. Travis even more.
In disbelief, Sis. Travis looked around, asking, “Did he just call me a liar?”
When the people around Sis. Travis informed her Pastor Payton did call her a liar, she yelled at her pastor, “You should…. You know you shouldn’t be playin’ wit’ God! Pastor Payton, if you…. Pastor Payton, God gonna strike you dead right here for lyin’ like that!” Sister Juanita Greene tried to convince Sis. Travis to take back her words, but she verbally refused, “No, no, that’s what’s gonna happen if he keep playin’ wit’ God!”
Sis. Travis finally took her seat while mumbling to everyone around her, “I can’t believe he called me a liar.”
Pastor Payton excused Sis. Travis’ anger before changing topics to the act of communion being tainted by the deacons performing the ritual with grudges in their hearts.
When Deacon Bill Richards asked why Pastor Payton would take this “tainted” communion with them, Pastor Payton answered, “I don’t have any issues with anyone.”
Refusing to stay on topic, deacons Dewey Holly, Bill Richards, and Roscoe Calhoun kept repeating themselves about the church’s “issues” being seen by everyone, but no one doing anything to rectify these problems. Lumpy, Dickey, and Roger kept talking about SBC’s “issues” that everyone apparently sees, but don’t know what they are.
My frustration over these “issues” and “stuff that’s goin’ on” became vocalized – bringing eyes in my direction.
I took my stand and said, “What are these ‘issues’? I guarantee you if everyone said what they’re talking about – lay everything out on the table – we’d find some resolution.”
Deacon Dewey Holly expressed his belief that we’d find a resolution in the church’s problems if we followed the agenda.
Instead of sitting down, I said, “Forget about the agenda! Putting everything out there is the only way we’ll solve anything. If not, this meeting is going to end up just like the last one.”
Dcn. Holly declared this meeting would solve some of these “issues” while I refuted otherwise by the way this meeting was all ready playing out.
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