The mantel clock that came with the house ticked eight-thirty. Tom rocked out of the chair, taking his iPad from the side table. Might as well walk over to the church, get things powered up and going.
He was about to exit out the kitchen door when a loud knock sounded from the front. When he opened it, Edward stood on the other side.
“Did you see this?” He held up the Sunday Gazette and barged into the parsonage.
“No, not yet. I was going to read it after church.”
“What in the world did you tell her?” Edward crossed into the parlor, popping open the paper and holding up the front page for Tom to see.
THE TALE OF TWO PASTORS
HOW WILL ROSEBUD FARE WITH A THIRD GENERATION WELLS PREACHER?
BY RILEY CONRAD
Tom snapped the paper from Edward. “How will Rosebud fare? What is she talking about? We discussed the church, how and why I came back to Rosebud, what I hoped to accomplish.”
“Clearly she doesn’t want another church in this town. Especially one headed by a Wells man. I ask again, what did you tell her?”
“Nothing.”
“Doesn’t read like nothing. She exposes the whole scandal.” Edward walked toward the kitchen. “Got any coffee?”
“Yeah, sure, use the Keurig.” Tom dropped to the rocker, iPad tucked under his arm, anxiety mounting.
Tom Wells Jr. is in Rosebud, seeking a flock of his own. With the American church becoming more of a consumer than a provider of spiritual insight, one has to wonder if he isn’t one of the many up-and-coming young pastors with charm and good looks aiming to do nothing but build his own kingdom on the backs and with the pockets of the Rosebud faithful.
“This is an opinion piece.”
Edward returned, mug in hand, blowing on his coffee. “Yep.”
A bit of backstory. Wells is the grandson of well-known, popular evangelist Porter Wells, who traveled the country holding tent revivals for twenty years before taking his message international. He eventually returned to the States to continue his ministry in large churches and on television.
The elder Wells retired back to Rosebud in the middle 2000s. His son, Tom Wells Sr., followed in his footsteps, planting a church in Rosebud and building the congregation to more than two thousand people before scandal routed him out twelve years ago.
What scandal? An affair. Not of the obvious kind but the emotional kind, which some declare more devastating than a physical affair. Pastor Wells spent too much time with a woman in need. Feeling defrauded, she confessed her feelings to a trusted friend who reported the misbehavior to the church elders and leaders.
The Wellses left town in a shroud of mystery, leaving nothing behind but questions and wounded hearts. My grandmother was one of the disappointed and questioning faithful. What happened to our beloved pastor?
Tom lowered the paper and sighed. “She’s taken up her grandmother’s offense.”
“It’s an opinion piece, bro. Of course she’s got an agenda.”
“I want a rebuttal.”
Edward’s countenance darkened. “My advice? Leave this be. The more you make of it, the more you fan the flames. Keep reading.”
But he didn’t want to keep reading. He wanted to toss the paper aside and go back to his place of contentment and contemplation. He wanted his heart to be soft for worship and the Word.
But he needed to know what preconceived notions would arrive with the congregants this morning.
The truth of the story was buried since the Wellses left town so quickly, literally in the cover of night, the congregation being told only that Wells had an extraordinary opportunity in Atlanta and felt “the Lord wanted him to take it.”
So the lies compounded. Rosebud rumors suggested Wells had an affair, but with whom? When? Above all, why?
Maybe he took “love your neighbor as yourself ” a bit too literally.
When I realized his son was back in town, I wanted to know the rest of the story. So I did some digging. Who was the woman in the center of the Wells scandal? Why hadn’t the complete story ever been told?
I found a lead with a former church member, Janelle Holden.
“I was leading the women’s ministry when one of the newer members, Shana Winters, confessed to me rather out of the blue that she was in love with Pastor Wells. That he’d been counseling her, helping her, befriending her.”
According to Holden, Wells admitted to counseling Winters, whose daughter Ginger Winters owns Ginger Snips, a local salon, and was tragically scarred in a trailer fire at the age of twelve.
The senior Wells denied having an affair of any kind, but when the church board called an inquiry, he did admit to an emotional connection with Winters that went beyond propriety.
So, he abandoned his flock and fled town. Are you following my case here?
Twelve years Rosebud has rested, free from charlatans using the “Word of God” to dupe the weak and the willing.
Enough. Tom slapped the paper into Edward’s open palm. “This will humiliate Ginger. She’ll probably never darken the sanctuary doors now.”