PASTOR WALSH'S STRATEGY 2

STRIKE TWO - IN THE MAKING OF A PASTOR

Pastor Walsh's Strategy continues here. In the previous episode, Kofi Adu had been struggling to make ends meet: he had done odd jobs to earn a living but none satisfied him. As he thought about ways to get money, a thought occurred to him. Read on...

“Kofi, why don’t you become a pastor?” the thought popped up in his head. Yeah, that was a great idea! He would become a pastor.  He could do that job with distinction. After all, all that one needed to be a good pastor was to possess the gift of gab. Kofi had a smooth tongue. He was a great talker. Why? The Pastor of the church he went to last Sunday was no match for him Kofi when it comes to “Yobbing”. And the money was good! Nobody could convince him that the Pastor did not get a good chunk of the weekly offertory. Apart from this was the tithe and special offering. Why? Look at the make of car Pastor Asiedu drove. He would become a pastor too. He set about planning how to make good this idea.

In the days that followed, Kofi, now known as Brother Walsh, began to play an active role in the church. He was at every prayer meeting. He was at every all-night vigil. He sang in the choir. He was an usher and helped with cleaning. Kofi was active in almost all departments of the church. Very soon, he came to the notice of Pastor Asiedu and the elders. He was given greater responsibility by the pastor. Sometimes he helped with work in the office. Sometimes he was sent on important errands. He virtually became the right-hand man of the pastor.

In the meantime, he proposed to Melanie. She listened to what he had to say and politely turned him down. She already had a fiancé to whom she was getting married in a couple of months. Kofi was disappointed but held his peace. The objective ahead of him now was far greater than Melanie, the black beauty.

Eventually, Brother Walsh was given the opportunity to preach in the church. On the first occasion, he held the congregation spellbound with his message. A hush fell over his audience as his deep voice boomed over the mic. He ended with a passionate appeal to sinners in the congregation to repent in order to avoid hellfire. There were tears and manifestations of the spirit as he led the church in prayer at the end of his message.

Afterwards, Pastor Asiedu and elders and a good number of the sisters approached him and congratulated him for the powerful message. The pastor asked to see him the next day.

Kofi had a good idea of what the Pastor wanted to talk about with him. He arrived a little earlier before the appointed time and waited for the pastor. When he arrived, Pastor Asiedu asked him into the office. He asked Kofi to take a seat. He cleared his throat and said:

“Brother Walsh, let us get straight to the point. I see the anointing on your life. You are a man of God and I want to recommend you for Bible school. What do you have to say?”

“Oh pastor,” Kofi said, trying to sound reluctant. “I have not thought about it. Besides, it is a difficult job and I want to be really sure this is what I want to do. I may need to pray over it for some time.”

“Well, you are right,” the pastor said. “You definitely need some time to pray over it. But don’t be intimidated by the work. After all it is the Lord who gives the strength. I will give you some time to think and pray about it.”

“Thank you, Pastor, for your consideration. You will hear from me,” Kofi said as he took his leave.

The next week, Kofi presented himself to the pastor and gave his consent. Soon, he was enrolled in the Bible seminary. Soon, he had a certificate in Theology. He started his studies for the diploma. All the while, he continued to preach occasionally during the week-day services.

As Kofi continued with his studies, there was another thing he did. He embarked on an image transformation exercise. He began to gradually bleach. He had his hair done in waves. He changed his style of dressing and wore designer suits and ties most of the time. He developed a taste for shoes with pointed toes. He also affected a foreign accent. It was a cross between an American drawl and a Nigerian accent. He kept a thin moustache on his upper lip and had his thick eyebrows trimmed.

When he looked at himself in the mirror he liked the effect. He looked like Pastor Chris and that was exactly what he was aiming at.

His new image and his style of preaching with his Americo-Nigerian accent made him quite spectacular to behold in the pulpit. He particularly liked the effect he had on the Christian sisters, a good number of whom he was able to bed.

When Kofi Adu - now the Reverend Walsh K. Aidoo - graduated from the Bible College, he was made an associate Pastor in his church. He was popularly known as Pastor Walsh. He was quite popular with the sisters and the youth in the church. His life was also a little better than before. At least, he received a regular salary and got some small allowances. Now and then, a member of the flock would sow a seed into his life. He could afford three square meals and a suit of snazzy designer clothes. He also had a decent chamber-and-hall self-contained apartment. But he still walked. He did not have a car. Apart from that, the senior pastor’s salary, allowances, and other benefits exceeded his by far. This was in spite of the fact that Pastor Walsh was generally acclaimed to be the better preacher and man of God. He also detested the long periods of fasting that were imposed on him. He did not like been ordered about by his senior pastor. All these issues made him decide to start his own church.

As a first step, he started holding prayer meetings on a school park. To this prayer meetings flocked many of the sisters and youth of the church. Eventually, the meetings grew into a fellowship which met regularly. He began to voice out his grievances to the members of his fellowship. Naturally, these sided with him. Some urged him to break away and start his own church. Pastor Walsh however demurred. And as he continued to refuse to begin his own church, the calls to start his own grew more insistent. That was just what he wanted. It was not he who wanted to break away. It was the sheep who wanted him to start a new church for them. They wanted him to start a church where they would be appreciated and where their spiritual needs would be met.

One day, the opportunity to break away presented itself on a silver platter. The senior pastor ordered Pastor Walsh to his office. He had observed how the fellowship interfered with his work at the church. When the senior pastor angrily queried him about it, Pastor Walsh tendered in his resignation without any argument. He left the church despite the pleas of the now contrite senior pastor and his wife and the pleas of some of the prominent church elders. He left but did not leave alone. Quite a number of the youth and the sisters followed him away.

Pastor Walsh started his church from the nucleus of the fellowship. In the beginning, everything went on smoothly and there was a lot of enthusiasm among his followers. He had great hopes and plans for it but soon he began to face financial problems. In response, he held all kinds of programs at his church with the hope that he would be able to raise some funds but to no avail.

To be continued. Final part in next edition.