BEHIND THE PULPIT


BAYO ONUWAJE
 

New Edition 2023
1st Edition 2021
2nd Edition 2022

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.


Published online by:
Bayo Onuwaje Concepts (a.k.a. Penpage)
08164765915


DEDICATION
This story is proudly dedicated to Limitlex Homes and Properties.


APPRECIATION
Thanks to everyone who contributed positively to the production of this creative work and kudos to you reading it.
 

THE STORYLINE
Behind the Pulpit is a story about some notable members of a church. Most especially the choirmaster and one of his female backups. The choirmaster’s name was Brother Solomon and the female backup was Sister Ada. The youth of the church prepared for their convention at a certain time when this story came to place. The evangelism unit produced several leaflets in conjunction with the youth group to go out for procession and to distribute the leaflets to people so as to invite them to the convention. During the procession, Sister Ada met one of her longtime boyfriends named Quadry. They exchanged pleasantries and had a brief conversation. Quadry collected a flier with reason to locate Ada with it. Ada thought since Quadry was a Muslim, there is no need to invite him but Quadry had collected the invitation flier and promise to come to the convention with the intention to renew his love affairs with Ada.
The convention commenced. Quadry came as he has promised Ada but Brother Solomon had been feeling uncomfortable seeing Ada with the Muslim guy. Brother Solomon took it to the extent that he reported to the pastor on a note that Ada is having a love affair with a Muslim guy. The pastor called the attention of Ada for verification but he did not disclose the name of the informant. Ada affirmed and hinted that Quadry had been a very good guy to her from high school but after graduation, they were separated but only to get to see one another during the procession they did for the ongoing youth convention. Whereas, according to the doctrine of the church, the young ladies have all been warned by their pastor, the elders of the church and parents that they should not have any form of affairs with anyone from other religion rather than Christianity. Secondly the church has in several ways preached that young men and women in the church should marry only within the church so as to increase the population of the church. Prior to the doctrine above, the pastor and some elders warned Ada to desist from Quadry. On the part of Ada, she accepted the advice of the pastor but she wanted to know the informant that had brought her secret affairs with Quadry to the church committee. It was not told to her but later she got her answer from Brother Samuel who was the talking drummer after rigorous persuasion from Ada, this was because Ada knew that the only person that is very close to Brother Solomon was Brother Samuel. He made it known to her that it was Brother Solomon that reported her to the church committee for a reason that he was jealous of the love affairs between Ada and Quadry. Brother Samuel made this secret known to Ada because he too was the closest person to her. In fact, they would have been dating but Brother Solomon was always the barrier. Brother Solomon had told Brother Samuel about his feelings for Ada but he cannot express his feelings because he is very shy in that aspect.
Ada got angry and plotted to disgrace Brother Solomon for the negative things she heard about him but Brother Samuel begged her to be calm and forgive him. She accepted but based on the matter of Quadry, Ada subscribed to the counsel of the church pastor and elders. She started paying no attention to Quadry. Quadry tried to find out the reason behind the neglect but all to no avail. Quadry stopped coming to the church because his source of motivation has been denied.
Now for Ada to replace her love and to bring shame upon Brother Solomon, she met with one of the Deaconess in the church and confided in her that she would love to court with Brother Samuel due to her feelings for him. The Deaconess loved it and confidently advised her to go on with it. Brother Solomon discovered the new move of Ada, he got annoyed but there was nothing he could do because he understood that the church will never go against such relationship due to the fact that it is in line with the church doctrine but Brother Solomon still continued to look for ways to destabilized the love affairs. There was no harmony in the choir group. The pastor and the church elders summoned those that the matter concerned, they found Brother Solomon to be at fault. They chastised him but he got angry and threatened to leave the church if they did not provide him a woman in replacement of Ada. He said that because he knew how important he was to the church as far as song ministration is concerned. The pastor and the elders took it as an insult to the church so they demoted him from the post of choirmaster to member of the choir group while they promoted the assistant choirmaster to act as the new choirmaster pending when they will get eligible person to fill the position. Following this decision of the church, Brother Solomon finally left the church in anger. Then peace was installed into the choir group and also the convention ended well.

The end of the story.
 

Some notable lessons from the story
- Love affair before school graduation is not necessary to continue after graduation. It may encounter tough challenges.
- Arrogance is bad and it can demote someone.
- Learn to follow procedure if anything is needed to get.
- The love for sexuality is bad. It drives away the spirit of God.
- It is wrong for churches to preach against interdenominational marriage.