Читать книгу Blessed Trinity - Vanessa Davis Griggs - Страница 17

And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.

(Genesis 37:18)

“Poppa Knight, how did it go?” a tall, slender man with hair cut low to his head asked as soon as Reverend Knight sat down in the recliner in the great room.

Five preachers were in attendance: Reverend Marshall Walker, Reverend Perry Grant, Reverend Moses Beam, Reverend Theodore Simpson, and Reverend Paul Knight.

“I think it went quite well. From the look on his face when I left him at the restaurant, he’s seriously thinking about my offer,” Reverend Knight said. He picked up a pastry from the platter—cream cheese with a pineapple filling. “Are these fresh?” he asked, poking it before taking a bite.

“Yeah, they’ve just been sitting out a while. We’ve been here waiting on you for over two hours now,” said Reverend Beam, who was almost as round around the waist as he was tall. He picked up a pastry with raspberry filling and consumed it in three bites. “Taste fresh to me.”

“So you left him wondering a little, you think?” the tall Reverend Walker asked.

“Your plan executed to perfection, Reverend Walker,” Reverend Knight said as he looked straight in the eyes of his good friend Marshall. They’d known each other since elementary school and had been cut-buddies since middle school.

Reverend Walker had always been the brains of their group of five. Or, at least, that’s what they let him believe. He was the one who devised this plan after learning Pastor Landris was pursuing the purchase of a building their organization owned.

The five took this information as a sign from God for them to put a halt to Pastor Landris’s efforts before he got started. It was Reverend Walker’s idea to send Reverend Knight. He made Reverend Knight believe it was his, since on paper, this was his organization. It was his place, by right, to take the lead in the matter.

“What about when the phone call came in of our dear preacher’s heart ailment?”

“I think he was frustrated at the timing, Reverend Walker. Especially since I’d just dropped the bombshell about my knowledge of his defunct radio station deal. You called back just before he could get any answers to his questions,” Reverend Knight said.

“That’s how we planned it. I would call twice, back-to-back, as your signal to begin. At some point, you would bring up the radio deal. I’d call back repeatedly until you answered.” Reverend Walker clapped his hands once with sheer delight. “And voila! ”

“So what did he say? Come on, Poppa Knight,” Reverend Beam said, “hurry up and tell us everything that happened. You know we’ve been sitting here waiting patiently. We were almost ‘having a heart attack.’” Reverend Beam laughed as did the others.

“I’m certain two things are on his mind—the offer of the building for nothing for as long as he wants, and my knowledge of something I’m sure he believed no one knew about. Also, that it was a $10 million deal, and that the deal had fallen through, jeopardizing, or at least restricting, his cash flow.” Reverend Knight looked at Reverend Grant. “Are you sure you didn’t have anything to do with this fiasco?”

“Not a thing,” Reverend Grant said, holding his hands up as if to show he wasn’t hiding anything. “You know that other group of businessmen I hang out with from time to time who are into all sorts of dealings? Well, they were the ones who told me about it. They thought it was too bad for the good reverend, but that’s what happens when you don’t do your own deals while playing with the big boys. You don’t rely on others to handle important business. Pastor Landris never should have trusted his brother with something like that if it was out of his league. Word in the circle is, Pastor Landris’s brother is bad business.”

“So what exactly did happen with the radio station?” asked Reverend Theodore, the preacher with the thick, bushy eyebrows and mustache.

“Pastor Landris was about to buy that station over on the FM channel. The one that plays a variety of R&B and stuff,” Reverend Grant said.

“You know…that stuff we pretend we don’t listen to anymore,” Reverend Beam added. They all laughed.

“There was something about him putting up $10 million dollars—cash—for it. But Sammie, that’s the guy who was handling the deal for Pastor Landris’s brother, does more than a few shady things alongside his legitimate dealings. All that caught up with the dude, and now everything in Sammie’s possession has been frozen, including Pastor Landris’s money. He can’t get his ten mill back, which, from what I hear, he wasn’t going to get back, anyway. It was this or nothing. Sammie has a reputation for playing with paper money and not the real tender after he pockets your cash,” Reverend Grant said.

“You mean he matches up things people want and swaps those things like it’s cash? Sort of like pyramid schemes people pay to get into?” Reverend Theodore asked.

“Exactly. And you know the scheme is fine if you get in at the right time. But if you’re the last person coming in, you’re usually the one left holding the bag.”

“An empty bag,” Reverend Beam said.

“And it looks like that’s what happened here. That shady dude had access to the radio station sell. He didn’t have Pastor Landris’s money anymore, but if he could unload the radio station brought to him where they were asking for only $4 million when it was valued at $10 million, it would be like pulling $6 million out of nowhere. Paper money,” Reverend Grant said. “The shady dude didn’t count on having his operation shut down suddenly like it was. So in truth, he no longer had the cash—even if he wanted to—to refund to Pastor Landris or the cash to pay the radio station folks to complete the deal. The radio folks were desperate by the time they found out what was up. They ended up contacting one of my business friends about either buying the station or finding them a quick and reliable buyer.”

“So who ended up buying the station?” Reverend Knight asked.

“A conglomerate that pretty much buys radio stations in trouble at a premium. So things worked out for all concerned,” Reverend Grant said.

“All concerned except good old Pastor Landris,” Reverend Walker said with a grin. “So Pastor Landris’s money is tied up, and it appears he must not have much left to work with. Because if he did, he would buy some land and build a really nice sanctuary instead of trying to buy that run-down building of ours.”

“Seems he has enough to pay $300,000 to fix it up,” Reverend Knight said. “I did tell him I knew a guy who could do it for $200,000.”

“Why would you tell him that?” Reverend Walker asked.

“Because I do know someone.”

“Then you should have told him you know someone who could do it for $275,000, and we could have added the difference to our nonprofit fund,” Reverend Theodore said.

“Let’s get back to the building for now. Do you think he’s going to take you up on your offer to let him use the building for nothing?” Reverend Walker asked.

Reverend Knight shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s sharp, that I do know. And he knows something is up. I told him to pray about it. I emphasized that there were no strings attached,” Reverend Knight said. He didn’t mention anything about his other offer to Pastor Landris to hook up with him. If Pastor Landris had already agreed to do that, this conversation wouldn’t even be taking place right now.

“So we’re really going to just give him the building?” Reverend Beam asked. “’Cause if we’re just giving it away, I could use one. Y’all know we’re leasing a storefront, and our congregation has been praying mightily for God to bless us with our own place. This would truly be an answered prayer.”

“Do you have $200,000 to fix it up?” Reverend Walker asked, knowing the answer.

“No, but the bank might loan it to us now.”

“Please. You can’t get a loan for $100,000 to build new. You just need to stay where you are and see if you can’t get that tired congregation of yours to add more than the six families that have attended since the church’s inception some ten years ago,” Reverend Walker said. “Exactly how many people do attend your services on Sundays?”

“About seventy-five…more or less. And two new families joined recently.”

“More? Who are you fooling?” Reverend Walker said. “Most times it’s less. I’ve never been there when it was more than fifty people. Maybe on a program day, you pull in seventy-five.” Reverend Walker shook his head. “When you celebrate your pastor’s anniversary and invite all of us here who have a good following, that’s the only time you ever see more than seventy-five folks.”

“Let’s try to stay focused,” Reverend Theodore said. “The fact is, we need to put a stop to these mega churches. There’s that fellow talking about building a city of deliverance called ‘sought out’ or something like that. Then there’s another guy with plans to build a city on the other side of town, only with a shopping center. All of them are getting on television trying to act like they’re big shots. I’ll have you know, I knew every single one of them back when. Back when they were broke.”

“All they’re trying to do is get more people to come to their churches,” Reverend Beam said. “People want to feel like they’re somebody, and these churches allow them to become a member of ‘the club.’ With more bodies in their pews, they can build bigger buildings while the rest of us are left struggling for people and money to survive.” He looked at Reverend Knight and Reverend Walker, who both had a substantial number of members. “I’m not talking about you, Poppa Knight or Reverend Walker. I know what you two are about. You’re doing God’s work for sure. But too many of these folks are getting out of hand. Somebody needs to stop them; somebody’s got to take a stand.”

“Now, here comes Pastor Landris. Already been on national television, unlike some of these wannabe, little shots around here. Do you have any idea what will happen if he sets up shop—hangs his shingle out, stating he’s open for business? We’re all sunk! Sunk! That man has charisma. He’s anointed,” Reverend Grant said. “I used to watch him all the time on television before he went off the air. In fact, I’ve preached more than a few of his sermons, word for word. Of all places, he would decide to move here.”

“This area can only support so many large churches,” Reverend Theodore said. “I just have a feeling if Pastor Landris gets things rolling, he’s going to put a lot of us slap out of business. I’m talking slap out, and that includes Reverend Walker and Poppa Knight.”

Reverend Knight started shaking his head. “This is kind of sad, y’all. We’re sitting here talking about a fellow preach-brother as though we were some gang members defending our territory. ‘He’s going to put a lot of us slap out of business’? Reverend Theodore, what’s that all about? We’re acting like he’s the enemy. He’s telling people about the Lord. He’s bringing people to Christ. Isn’t that the business we’re all supposed to be in?”

Reverend Walker squared his body in front of Reverend Knight. “What’s up with you? Sounds to me like you’re starting to like this fellow. You backing out? Having a change of heart? If you are, let us know, and we’ll be glad to let you out before you get in too deep.”

“Out of what?” Reverend Grant asked. “Out of the group, or out of our plan?”

Reverend Walker looked hard at Reverend Knight. “That’s entirely up to Poppa Knight here. Ain’t that right, Doc?”

Reverend Knight looked back at him and stood up. “I know you’re not stepping to my face with all that noise. I would suggest you take a few steps back and calm yourself down.” He waited on Reverend Walker to do as he had just suggested.

Reverend Walker snickered a little and took two deliberate steps back. “Better?”

“Better,” Reverend Knight said and sat back down. “Now listen to me. All of you. We are not thugs. Pastor Landris is still our brother in the Lord, regardless of what any of us think here. When I made that offer to him to give him that building at no charge, I meant it with sincerity. We are not about lying like that. After I spoke with him that first day, I admit, I did see something special in that young, dreadlocks-wearing, preacher—”

“Don’t tell us you’re bonding with him and would like him to become a part of our group?” Reverend Grant said.

“I’m merely stating that what I said to him today, I mean for us to keep our word on. If he comes back and tells me he wants the building, I want to give it to him just like I said I would. He will be putting his own funds into fixing the place up. He can use it for as long as he wants—”

“Within a reasonable time limit,” Reverend Theodore said. “We decided no more than five years.”

“Five years, with a clause allowing us to rescind it at any time at our discretion with written notification, three months in advance,” Reverend Walker said. “We’ve already decided and agreed that will be a nonnegotiable stipulation of his contract.”

“Yes, Reverend Walker. Five years with an anytime out-clause for us,” Reverend Grant said.

“The point is, I believe Pastor Landris is going to find the building’s location is not the best place to ask people to come. He’s not going to have that many people driving way out there to attend anybody’s church—including his,” Reverend Walker said. “More importantly, we’ll still own the building. If Pastor Landris takes Poppa Knight up on this offer, he’ll sink some big money into fixing it up, which will only increase the value of the building for later use. Better still, if we see things are getting too out of hand too soon, we can shut him down within three months. There’s nothing worse than having a large congregation with nowhere permanent to fellowship. That’ll scatter sheep pretty quickly.” He smiled.

“So all we have to do now is to wait and see what Pastor Landris decides?” Reverend Beam said, looking from one preacher to the other. “Then go from there.”

“I don’t think it’s going to take long, do you, Poppa Knight?” Reverend Walker looked at his friend. “And if you don’t hear from him soon, I’m sure you’ll follow up and impress upon him how this truly is a legitimate offer he’d be foolish to turn down.”

“I’ll do what I have to do,” Reverend Knight said. “I told him to pray about it—we’ll see which direction he takes.”

Reverend Walker clapped his hands again. “Wonderful! Well, gentlemen, shall we pray?”

Three of the five picked up a dried-out pastry and nodded before taking a bite. They bowed their heads, sitting in their respective places, as Reverend Walker led them in a long and fervent prayer.