A Church Affair

Chevelia Stone

Description

The attractive, outwardly upstanding, First Lady Anette Reynolds, grew up as a PK. In other words, a Preacher’s Kid. Her husband, the tall, charismatic Pastor Joshua Reynolds, Sr. heads up her father’s newest church location on the north side of Beaumont, Texas. At first glance, Anette appears to be the perfect wife and mother, even to her husband of seventeen years. Underneath the surface, Anette struggles with the loss of a daughter her husband never knew existed, unforgiveness, and more recently, infidelity with her husband’s right-hand man, the tall, dark and handsome Deacon John Sanders who worships the ground she walks on.
While Joshua does put most of his time and effort into Church Affairs, some over the table and some under it, he manages to build church membership along with his own closet of skeletons. With equal playing fields of deception and lies that threaten to single-handedly destroy them both, will this couple “stay and honor” their vows, working through their pasts together. Or will Anette follow “her heart” and leave him for herself before she’s destroyed beyond repair?

Sujets

• Thrillers
• Affair
• Suspense
• Church
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 05 mai 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669824077
• Langue: English

Extrait

A CHURCH AFFAIR
Finding Me
Chevelia Stone
 
Copyright © 2022 by Chevelia Stone.
Library of Congress Control Number:
2022908469
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-2409-1

Softcover
978-1-6698-2408-4

eBook
978-1-6698-2407-7
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 05/04/2022
 
 
 
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
837784
CONTENTS
Preface And Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
About The Author
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T his story is told from the perspective of Anette. She is a pastor’s wife and mother. We ride down the road of life with her. She takes us through her peaks as well as her valleys. Sometimes the view from the window is good, other times not so much. If we’d be honest with ourselves, we’d admit we’ve all been like Anette at one time or another. Though the character is fictional in nature, she is a depiction of David in the Bible. As with David, most of us have walked through green meadows, sinful places, heartache, heartbreak; have been in love, fallen out of love; have harbored bitterness and unforgiveness—basically the good, the bad, and the ugly. Anette talks to God often though she’s deep in sin. She never lets go of God’s hand like David.
For those church folks out there who are so spiritual and judgmental, this book is a must-read for you. I hope it convinces you to take the mask off and acknowledge you’ve fallen as well. In fact, if our older generations were more open and honest about their past struggles and how they overcame them, the younger generations would have someone to help them overcome trials when they are tried in the fire.
Remember, the older generations, being judgmental of “the young ones” keeps the cycle of bad behaviors on the rise. And for the young ones, it’s okay to seek guidance from those that can be trusted . That’s in italics because every person sounding trustworthy and claiming they won’t spread your business may not be. Do a test run with them. Test them on smaller things first. See if those things come back to you through gossip. If they don’t, then it may be safe to assume they can be trusted with the bigger issues in your world. I’ve messed up in this area and gained this wisdom the hard way. But like Proverbs 4:7 says, “In all your getting, get an understanding.” It’s all good. I thank God for my mistakes, and thus, the wisdom I’ve gained.
I would like to thank God, the patient, strategic one; my best friend and love of my life, the handsome, perfect gentleman; my cousin, my sunshine; and the sweet lady from my cake decorating class, the go-getter/motivator. Their faith in me inspired me to write my debut novel. And a special thanks to my cousin, Jasmine, for the use of her laptop which gave this story a canvas. Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank a Pastor/ Relationship Counselor in the North Texas area . He opened my eyes and told me about myself. Through years and years of being Entangled Again in Satan’s web, this Pastor equipped me with the tools to get free. I thank God for setting me free and I strive to stay free.
In this book it is not my goal to make a mockery of God and the faith. It is my intent to address the issues us church folks deal with but lie about. God doesn’t need fixing. Those like us that hang around him do.
I hope you enjoy this read. Together, we can break the cycle.
With Love,
Chevelia Stone
CHAPTER 1
“T he doors of the church are open. If the message I’ve preached today tugged at your heart, put aside every excuse and make your way down to this altar and give your life to Christ. If you were in trouble, you’d call a lawyer. If you were sick in your physical body, you’d seek a physician. For those of you who are sick in your spiritual body, there’s a man named Jesus who is the Great Physician. Come and receive his love and forgiveness.”
That’s my husband, Pastor Joshua Reynolds Sr., making another heartfelt altar call. It never seemed to reach the hearts of the whores parked on the front pew. Sunday after Sunday, the same women come to the altar, giving their lives to Christ. What they’re actually trying to do is invite my man to a piece of ass on God’s time. My husband is so focused on bringing souls to Christ that he pays no attention to their advances. If these whores were venomous snakes, he’d be dead.
Who’d ever imagine there’d be so many vultures parked on the front pews of the church, hungry to sink their claws into any pastor on the roster? They would be less obvious if they just sat on the pew with their legs wide open. Any wife with eyes could see how they use God’s altar call as an opportunity to flirt with the pastors. This is why I don’t trust women to this day. A whore will be a whore no matter the setting. They would jump on a rat if it had on a suit and had a good income.
I’m saved, not stupid. I catch the jealous vibes these vultures give off when my husband acknowledges me every service and asks me to stand with him during the benediction. But that’s alright with me. Don’t let the hat and gloves fool you, this sista knows how to take the gloves off just as fast as I put them on.
Our church, The Holy One Tabernacle, is now one church with two locations. My dad started this ministry when I was a little girl, and it has grown tremendously. My father saw a need to open a second location on the north side of Beaumont, and when he appointed my husband as overseer, I immediately became a first lady. Joshua was fearful of heading up this location, given that his pastoral career began only ten years ago under my father’s leadership. There were other pastors on my dad’s staff who’d been around almost twenty years, but Dad felt Joshua had a fire that made him a better fit for the new location. At the beginning, we were fearful, but with a lot of prayer and faith, we realized God wouldn’t put more on us than we could bear. So here we are, four years and counting.
We run our church with very little staff but plan to add more people as church membership grows. Our associate pastors are Pastor Thatcher and Pastor Thompson. Pastor Thatcher’s wife, Sister Margaret, is ten years my senior. At times, she can be a bit messy and over the top. She really missed her calling as a gossip columnist; we always hear the church gossip from her. I sometimes think she uses the “ What’s wrong, baby? Tell me so we can pray about it” line, so you’ll feel comfortable sharing your problems with her. Before you know it, all of your business is around the church before service even starts. Sister Sheila, Pastor Thompson’s wife, is a few years older than Sister Margaret. I call her, “the Sidekick” or as some would say “the Cosigner.” Everything Sister Margaret has to say, Sister Sheila is right there to give her two cents on it. They are truly a pair, but Joshua and I have grown to love and lean on them for support.
We recently hired two additional pastors in an effort to grow our children’s ministry. One can tell that these pastors and their wives are newer to the faith. The pastors, along with their wives, are much more cooperative than our more seasoned staff, which is a breath of fresh air, especially during staff meetings. They are way less opinionated than those like Sister Margaret, who have lived a while and think they know everything about everyone and everything. Our young pastors present the Word to the kids in a fresh, new way that they can understand. Joshua and I are happy we found them. They bring a healthy balance to our roster.
Their wives are so sweet, humble, and submissive. Their growth in our church and their marriages can only flourish with those attributes. But, of course, that’s only if their husbands don’t get beside themselves and start entertaining the vultures lurking on the two front pews. If so, I’m sure they’d begin to see another side of their wives.
When I was about ten years old, I overheard my mom and dad discussing an incident about a pastor on staff. One of Dad’s associate pastors, I believe, began to smell himself. Talk around the church was that he slept with one of the members and got her pregnant. It must have been true. You would’ve thought his wife was the devil’s sister