The Scullys: Mind Games
The congregational storm that struck the Arcola Christian Church four months after Nick Scully's arrival centered on him, but it was not of his making. He and Diane thought they had been simply following the board's direction, shopping for a home on the basis that the church would loan them a down payment.
When the matter came to a business meeting for approval, however, objections popped up immediately. Nick soon realized the members had not been informed of the board's promise. "What if you leave in a couple of years?" one man demanded. "Why should the church help you buy a home for yourself?"
Nick and Diane excused themselves from the meeting, promising to adjust to whatever the members voted. The motion was defeated that night, and the couple ended up arranging other housing.
Nick's relaxed manner in the pulpit was another bone of contention for some in the pews. True to their Missouri temperament, a fair number took a "Show me" attitude toward this couple from Pennsylvania. People commented about their "accent."
Attendance most Sundays held at around seventy, the level it had been before the Scullys came. But after a couple of years, one family decided to leave, then another. A church in the next town seemed more to their liking. When the third family pulled out, a definite pinch was felt in the church's finances.
Nick fell into a dark mood. His failures in an earlier church now haunted him. Diane was surely disappointed, he assumed, that he couldn't seem to make this church grow. He was disappointed in himself. What was wrong with his ministry?
It was along about then that I began to wonder, just once in a while, if maybe things would be different if Diane were not my wife. If she were dead, what would happen if I were ...
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