this chapter was added to prepare the reader for the “horrors” of the coming chapter… next week. Originally set to be an alternative read to be released with the next… it makes more sense to release this chapter this week. Next week, the storyline will continue from a different perspective. This chapter will help set up the coming scenery

Over the years, the local church that the Edward Family attended had been rocked by a series of scandals. These, in the bigger picture of life, are not the most troublesome variety of scandals. However, for this church, it had nearly brought the very existence of the church to it’s end.

Through very skillful leadership by the reverend and Mr Edward, the community had found peace and harmony. The church was starting to flourish and grow by the time Andrew started coming of age.

Before we dive into the life and times of Andrew, let’s move back a few years and look at the church life around the period of scandals that rocked the community and nearly shut the place down.

The Lady in Pink

There were three major factions in the church. The young college generation, the ultra conservatives, and everyone else. These groups had periodic clashes that often felt like the epic battles of Titans.

The college generation (this was any cohort of youth that were in college at any point in time of this church’s existence) had brilliant ideas they were bringing to the local community. Ideas on how to improve health, wealth, business, and leadership. These youth spoke with enthusiasm and impatience. They wanted to see their community advance.

In time, these youth would get frustrated and start to leave for other churches that were a bit more open to new ideas and more progressive in how they encouraged their youth.

It was a cyclical decline that was draining the church of talent. Vital talent that would keep the church growing and prospering. The main problem of the young college generation was the ultra conservatives.

What made them ultra conservative was not their ideology. It was not their practice of their faith. No, what made these folks difficult was the power they held. They were very influential. They were outspoken. They managed to hold the decision making seats of the church board.

These individuals, mostly males, felt that women were the reason why the church was not advancing. No one knows why these fellas had a thing against women, but they did. They didn’t like anything that women brought forward to advance the church.

To keep women in check, they insisted that women not speak ideas out in church. They insisted women cover up as much as possible in church. They didn’t care that much what happened outside the church so long as within the church, the women of the church were silent and as covered up as possible.

As the small minority of the church, any time the whole assembly wanted to rebel and impose their will, it would be easy to do. The college generation understood that but did not understand the finer workings of diplomacy to get a grass root movement working.

Most everyone else just wanted to have a nice quiet peaceful service and get on with life. Most everyone else avoided the clash of the titans and the college generation. The only time everyone else seemed to support the titans was when it came to keeping the young men away from gangs. It was every hands on deck to keep these young men safe. And it worked too.

The arrival of a lady who wore pink a lot was the beginning of the end of the era of scandals. How that came to be will become a little more apparent later in this story.

The Scandals

Unlike a lot of churches that get rocked by scandals around their ministers or office holding heads, this church did not have that. This church didn’t have money issues or misappropriations of resources.

No. This church had the good old fashioned scandal around a sexy woman and a married man. No one ever managed to have proof, but a scandal it made.

The chaos usually went something like this. Mr Ultra Conservative decides he needs to make a bit for more power. He makes a point of raising the bar of conservativeness the church should up hold. He targets a few young ladies who are too shapely for their outfits and uses them as shaming tools to scare the up-and-coming college generation of the perils of being sexy.

Some time after the rise of prominence of that particular Mr Ultra Conservative, some rumor would fly about his messing around with one of the few single attractive women who is now in her thirties. Because the woman has no husband to vouch for her, the rumor gains traction.

Obviously, Mr Ultra Conservative denies all allegations and showcases his exemplary conservative wife as proof he is incapable of doing anything wrong. Then, a photo leaks out of him being too friendly with either the woman in question or another woman.

Public outcry explodes.

No one ever questions where the leaks come from either. No one knows. The facts are just too damaging.

Fault lines appear. Fights, of the verbal variety, break out often. Services start to drop in quality as sermons are levied to straighten out the congregation. People are incensed that the offender is getting a pass while the rest is getting admonished.

Eventually, the Mr Ultra Conservative bows out in shame. Admits to having lusted after the single woman. Resigns power. In time, gives up the ultra conservative pursuits and starts acting like a normal-everyone-else… adding more fuel to the issue.

The cycle of scandals started to really heat up as more women entered their thirties without being married or more women in their thirties with no husband joined the church.

In all this chaos and mess, Mr Edward started to gain power and influence. He had started to focus on changing the attitudes of men around the definition of what it is to be a man. He had started with several teens under the umbrella of keeping them out of gangs. By the time the Lady in Pink had joined the church, Mr Edward had gain significant power and was now systematically leveling and reducing the power of the Ultra Conservative class.

Mr Edward was becoming the local hero, so to speak.