Blessed Trinity. Vanessa Davis Griggs
church home and family. Stop being so judgmental,” Dominique said.
So Faith came regularly for a month. She had to admit, she did enjoy the services. She decided to join the church, even though she had been appalled by the pastor’s behavior and the congregation’s permissiveness. “There are no perfect churches here on earth—they all have something wrong,” she’d been told on more than one occasion. Being a member, she did see how compassionate and loving the good reverend seemed to be. He indeed had compassion for his members, just as Dominique and the others had declared.
Almost a year later, the pastor pulled Faith off to the side and mentioned he needed to speak with her privately. There were things Faith’s friend, Dominique, had come and talked with him about concerning Faith’s well-being.
“Sister, I must be honest with you. I believe my office might be bugged, and I don’t want to risk your business becoming known if that is the case,” the pastor said.
He suggested an innocent place for them to meet: “Somewhere public, of course.” He knew it wouldn’t look right for him to visit Faith at her home—he wanted her to know he was on the up-and-up, so he took her to a five-star restaurant and bought her an expensive dinner. Right after dessert, he asked her to accompany him to his secret hideaway for some “faith healing,” or, as he put it, “the laying on of hands.”
“We must rid you of the demons inside of you, Sister Faith. And I want you to know—I’m committed to stick with you through this for as long as it takes,” he said as he held his diamond-ring-laden hands in the air. “You see, I’ve been called to love everybody. I want to help you. These healing hands of mine are a gift from God. I must use my gift or lose it.”
In August, 2001, Faith, along with Hope and Charity, left New Orleans, Louisiana, for Birmingham, Alabama, without looking back. Faith never bothered mentioning to anyone what the pastor had attempted to do.
What difference would it have made anyway? She’d learned very early in life that the woman usually took the blame, regardless of the details of what really went down.
Chapter 3
I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
(Philippians 4:12)
“Pastor George Landris,” a tall, burly man with a deep, Barry White-like voice, called. “Good to have you here in the Magic City of Birmingham, my preach-brother. My name is Reverend Paul Knight…but all my friends call me Poppa Knight.”
Pastor Landris looked at the man standing behind him who had walked up without having made a sound. He was dressed warmly enough in his wool, charcoal overcoat, thick, gray scarf, and black Banjo Paterson hat with a reed leather sweatband, perfect attire for the last day in January.
Pastor Landris was looking at a building he was hoping to rent or purchase so he could start conducting church services. Earlier this month, he and Johnnie Mae had discussed what he really wanted to do in his ministry. He told her he wanted to preach God’s Word. God had called him to be a pastor, and he was sent here to start a congregation, but he would need a facility. His plan was to sell the radio station he hadn’t really wanted in the first place, but according to Thomas, there was some snafu that was stalling the deal temporarily. And for some reason, he couldn’t get his money back, at least not at this point. Pastor Landris planned to use the funds from selling the radio station or the refund to build a church.
Johnnie Mae had found forty acres of prime land she believed would be perfect to build a worship center. With the funds from the station sale, money wouldn’t be an issue, but until that became available, Pastor Landris would have to make do.
God had spoken to Pastor Landris and instructed him to rent or buy a small building. This building was a bit run-down, but with some effort, it could be a nice place to get started. He was there checking it out when Reverend Knight had walked up to him.
“So Pastor Landris, what exactly are you doing here in this old place?” Reverend Knight asked. He took off his hat and looked at the walls and the ceiling in need of much repair.
“Looking for a place to start a congregation,” Pastor Landris said.
“You thinking about starting it in this old dump?” Reverend Knight asked as he kicked a place in the floor and began to bounce his heavy frame in a spot that made an irritating, squeaking noise each time his body moved.
“I’m considering it. Why?” Pastor Landris said. “Do you know something I don’t?”
Reverend Knight tried to hold back a smile. “Well, Pastor, I don’t think this place is available for you to rent or to buy.” He placed his hat back on his head.
Pastor Landris looked puzzled. He had seen the “for sale” sign outside when he walked in. He had called the listing agent and confirmed it was still available. She had come and let him in to take a look around as long as he wanted. He had enough money to buy or at least sign a lease for it, although three years was longer than he felt he would need it. He started to wonder what Reverend Knight was doing here, and how he happened to know someone, namely him, was even there.
“From everything I know, this place is available,” Pastor Landris said, eyeing him more closely now.
Reverend Knight pulled out a business card and handed it to Pastor Landris. A photo of a skinnier, twenty-years-younger version of Reverend Knight graced the front of the card. The times of the church’s Sunday-morning, evening, and Wednesday-night services were listed on the back.
“Pastor Landris, I would love to have you come join me in my ministry. I have over 2,500 members in my church. I know you realize how hard that big a congregation can be on top ministers such as ourselves.”
“Excuse me,” Pastor Landris said. “What do you mean by ‘top ministers’?” Pastor Landris placed Reverend Knight’s card in his coat pocket. “I’m not trying to be a big shot. I’m just trying to preach the Word of God. Being a top minister never enters my thinking. If people happen to have heard of me, that’s fine. It just gives me a bigger opportunity to reach more people for Jesus. That’s all fame is for me.”
“Come on, Doc. Don’t try to act so humble. Let me tell you what I’m thinking. Instead of you coming to the city and having to start from scratch, why don’t you consider coming over to The Church of Revelation with me? I would be honored to have you on staff.”
Pastor Landris tried to be polite. “Reverend Knight, I appreciate the offer, but God sent me here to start a new congregation, not to hook up with an existing one. In fact, He didn’t even send me here to take over the congregation of an outgoing pastor. My specific assignment is to start anew.”
Reverend Knight snapped his head to one side twice as though he had a twitch. He grinned. “Can I be frank with you, Doc?” He looked at Pastor Landris to gauge his reaction. “There are too many church buildings here in Birmingham. It used to be a running joke that there was a church on every corner. Now it’s more like three to four churches on every street. What we don’t need is any more churches. All of these places just siphon off members from existing congregations. Not many are going out into the fields to harvest those who have never heard of Jesus and bring in new converts. They wait for people to get mad and leave one place to traipse over to another, only to get upset or tired there and leave again.
“Now, my people are pretty stable. They don’t leave too often. Were you to come on board, I believe we would double in size, quite frankly, and we could then build even bigger. Can you imagine a congregation of 20,000. Think of the power we would possess. With that many people, we could affect outcomes of elections. Politicians would court us. Sure, there are always challenges with that many people, but you expect that. When you become a church that size, you tend to attract the smartest, most successful and accomplished people in the area. Everybody would want to be part of our church so they can impress others. People want to be part of something alive…growing. So why waste your talent duplicating what’s