Elder Femi’s hustle really paid off as he was able to gather some of the members against Pastor. He quickly set a day for meeting.

“I welcome you all. I want to appreciate you for the unity that have existed among us. If we continue this way, our fight will produce result. I will not fail to remind you that this church belong to us. So we will not allow anyone, I mean anyone to scatter things for us. You all know how we suffered to build this church. Or don’t you remember?”

When he said that , he allowed some minutes of silent for them to digest the question before he continued.

“No outsider or even the General Overseer helped from buying of the land to full erection of the building. Personally I know how much I contributed financially, materially and morally.”

“My brother is it only you. Do you know that my children could not attend school for a whole term because they told me I should sow a seed towards the church building? The only money I had was my children’s school fees. I had to give it out so that the work will move forward. My wife kept malice with me for a whole week because of this issue.,” elder Monday chipped in.

“Your own was better, at least the money was yours. I borrowed money to contribute for the building of the church. Was it not elder Gad that bailed me from the police station when my creditor arrested me,” Nwando told them.

“You mean that it was because of the church building that you borrowed the money,” elder Gad asked him.

“Of course. What else would I use the money for?” he lied.

“Have you all seen it” Elder Femi continued. “Is it fair that after this suffering, someone will come and be lording it over us? I called for this meeting because they said that two good heads are better than one. Remember that this church is our church. We have to put an end to the nonsense going on,” elder Femi concluded.

At that point, elder Gad raised his hand to talk.

“Femi my brother, thank you for summoning us.

I think that one of the reasons that Pastor doesn’t respect us is because of the amount of money entering his pocket. The monthly turnover of the church is running into millions of naira. This has increased his monthly take home. But look at us, the people paying the tithe and offering, how is our life? I want to suggest that we drastically reduce the amount of the offering and tithe we pay each Sunday. The only thing we should ensure is that our names appear as tithe payers. After all, no one knows the exact amount we earn.”

“Nice suggestion” Almost everyone chorused apart from the youth president; Taiwo who raised an objection.

“I’m sorry but I am not really comfortable with this suggestion in particular and generally what is going on here. First, the church belongs to God. No man has the right to lay claim to the church no matter the person’s contribution towards the development of the church.

Secondly, the offering and tithe we pay is to God and that is the source of our blessing. If we decide not to pay because of Pastor, we are harming ourselves. Thirdly, I don’t really know Pastor’s offence. Why do you hate him?”

Elder Femi became extremely angry and the temperature around him seemed to plunge several degrees.

“Taiwo hold it there! Hold your break! Are you with us or you are against us. If you are with us then your spirit should agree with our spirit. You are telling us that tithe and offering is for God, may be you are the Angel that carries it to heaven after we have contributed it. I hate people who are so gullible.”

“Sir, I am so sorry, if I have said anything wrong. Though, I don’t think so,” Taiwo pleaded.

“Of course everything you said is wrong. You don’t just talk because you have mouth. Think before you talk. Anyway, is there any other person that have a useful suggestion?”

Elder Monday raised his hand and was given audience.

“In addition to what elder Gad has suggested, henceforth, we should not take any gift or food item to the parsonage. Anyone that has a testimony should just come out and thank God. A grateful heart is what God is searching for, not cock and yam.”

There were claps and hailing everywhere. In the midst of the clap, Taiwo raised his hand again to talk.

“Go ahead and talk. I believe that you are back to your senses. That statement you made earlier must be in error. Please let’s celebrate our youth president”.

They all clapped.
‘I am so sorry, but the truth is that I’m not comfortable with what is going on here. Please if I can be excused, I will want to take my leave.” Taiwo told them.

Elder Femi’s countenance changed dramatically, when he heard what the youth president said. “I feel so bad when I repose enormous trust on people but they turned out being a bunch of disappointment. When you started your statement with ‘I am sorry’, was when I knew that you had nothing useful to say. You have been a nuisance in this gathering from the onset. Your exit will do us lots of good.

However, be warned. If you breathe a word of whatever we discussed here in an inappropriate place, you will have me to contend with. Hurry and make yourself scarce, you disgraceful thing!” elder Femi ordered.

“Sir please I don’t like to be threatened. You can’t cajole me into keeping quite. If I decide not to tell anyone what happened here, it’s a matter of choice. Or maybe I just want to allow God to fight for himself. But any day that I am moved to say it or I am called upon to say what I know about this issue, I will do just that. I’m not perturbed by your threat,” Taiwo informed him.

“Don’t force me to deal with you in a hard way. Get out of my house,” elder Femi barked.

Taiwo smiled and left.

“Elder, I told you not to invite him,” Mr. Friday told elder Femi.

“I thought that he was a human being that was why I insisted on having him around. Especially that he was the youth president. I wanted him to help in mobilizing the youths to support us. I never knew that he was a fool at eighteen, that will remain a child forever. Anyway, I have declared his position vacant. We will make sure that someone who is loyal to us takes over his position. I have spoken.”

“It is done,” they chorused.