The Epic, Pt. 74

An elders’ meeting was held on August 10, 2009, which was a Monday. It was announced to the elders in the Sabbath bulletins on August 1 and August 8. The Sunday afternoon before the meeting was to take place (August 9) Elder J called Brother G to inform him that the upcoming elders’ meeting was also to be the reconciliation meeting and to ask his help in spreading the word to the rest of the Group. With barely 24 hours’ notice of the meeting’s new purpose (and in some cases, as little as four hours’ notice) some simply couldn’t make it. Others who showed up a few minutes late found the doors locked, and so were unable to enter and participate.

When Elder J began the meeting he was visibly uncomfortable. He obviously didn’t care for the spotlight role Pastor DeSilva had put him in by commissioning him to administer the reconciliation. He started out with a clichéd speech about a lot having happened over the past few years and needing to put everything on the table so the church could move on, etc. As an example of the supposed rift in the church he observed that he and Brother H had been friends for many years, but that the two of them didn’t talk any more since all of this had happened.

Brother H responded to this singling out by pointing out that in the beginning he had sat down with Elder J and explained to him why the altered governance was wrong from academic, historical, practical, Adventist, and biblical perspectives. Brother H reminded Elder J that his response had been that he had spoken with his father and with Pastor DeSilva and that both of them had told him there was nothing wrong. Brother H had concluded that if that was as far as Elder J was willing to go in analyzing the situation there was nothing more he could say to Elder J, but that didn’t mean he had refused to communicate with him. Brother H pointed out that if Elder J had ever wanted to talk about this or any other issue he had his contact info and could have gotten in touch at any time. This response didn’t seem to make an impression with Elder J.

As the meeting progressed it became clear from both the statements actually expressed and the body language demonstrated that the pastors and their supporting elders had come into the meeting with their minds already made up. One of the elders brought up one of the rumors Pastor DeSilva had been promoting about the Group’s motives, namely that this was all just a ploy to get rid of him as pastor. This elder spoke of how disgusted he was and expressed concern about what character of pastor Takoma Park would be left with if Pastor DeSilva were to leave. Another elder came right out and told the Group, “If you don’t like the way things are, leave.”

We should note here that throughout the course of the Epic we have largely ignored the various spurious accusations Pastor DeSilva has used to divert attention from the real issues and build sympathy for his position among the congregation. The list of these “red herrings” includes, but is not limited to, 1) "this is just a bunch of old white people trying to maintain power in the church," 2) "this is about music style," and, of course, the aforementioned 3) "they just don’t like me and are trying to get rid of me." None of these are true. While we have witnessed some truly disturbing and unconscionable behavior from our pastors during the course of this dispute their removal has never been what this is about. We admit that the thought of their departure has crossed our minds, but only in the context of wishing for leaders who would be fair and unbiased about the whole matter, which is something our current pastors have demonstrated themselves to be incapable of.

Various Group members attempted to unwind this myriad of misconceptions and outright lies the majority of the elders had bought into, but to no avail. Pastor DeSilva responded by repeating his favorite insinuations about the Group wrecking the church and reinforced his supporters. At the end of the meeting the Group was asked if they would like to have another one, but given how unproductive this one had been the Group concluded that a second meeting wouldn’t accomplish anything and declined the offer.

Next: Collateral Damage

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