Unlikely Praise (7 page)

“Funny.”

“Nah, I’m sure he wants to know, but that’s not why he e-mailed us an invitation to meet. He’s got something else on his mind.” Candi dropped into her usual chair. “Speaking of e-mails, I saw your e-mail address. What does the BPS stand for?”

He took the chair next to her in front of the pastor’s messy desk. “Blackledge Painting Services,” he said and tugged at the logo on the left side of his shirt. “It’s not that creative, but it gets the job done. That e-mail is through my website.”

Candi leaned in to study the embroidered paintbrush with the initials worked through the handle. “Did you design that logo?”

“Uh...no. My mom did it. She has an embroidery business and made me a dozen of these shirts when I moved back here and started the business. I asked for black. What I got was whatever shirt in my size she had left over from a custom order.”

“Cheap and easy advertisement,” Candi observed as she kicked off her left sandal and tucked her foot under her.

He glanced down at his shirt again. “Yeah, well, this one’s a little bright for me.”

She froze as she pulled her planner from her bag. Rock and roll had surely fried his brain. The
shirt
was too bright? Ironic he would think so considering he had an electric orange flaming skull on one arm and a gigantic, multi-hued green lizard on the other.

She settled back in her chair. He’d set it up, she might as well knock it down. “I would’ve thought you were a big fan of bright colors,” she said and tilted her head toward his forearms to make her point without, well,
pointing
.

He stretched his arms out in front of him. “That’s a whole different story.” He looked at each image before he crossed them again. “Ancient history.”

She dropped her gaze to the floor. It might be his ancient history, but it was her ever-present nightmare. She could only imagine what those tattoos would look like from the back of the sanctuary during worship. Distracting, to say the least.

For that reason, and because of the shadows that darkened his face from time to time, she wanted to know. “Tell me about it.”

Pastor Charles entered the room waving his cell phone. “Got it. And Shade,” he added. “I got a couple keys for you out of the key box.”

Shade hesitated to take them. “That’s not necessary.”

“No, take them. If you’re gonna help out around here you should be able to get in.”

Shade pulled his key ring out of his pocket and started to twist them onto the loop.

Candi had to know. “Keys?”

“Shade and Max were trying to set up for practice earlier, but they couldn’t get into the closet.”

“My
music closet?” she squeaked. It was the only sacred place she had in the whole church. She squeezed the arms of the chair until her fingers turned white. Was she allowed no privacy? No safe place to keep her music and their expensive equipment?

Shade caught her gaze and started to twist the keys back off the ring. He looked terrified. “It’s all right. I don’t need them.”

Her shoulders sagged. Was she really that scary? No wonder she didn’t get asked out more often. “No, Shade, keep them. Just please make sure you watch who goes in there and, if you’re the last one out, make sure all the doors are locked behind you, OK? It’s not the team I’m worried about, but lots of people use the church, and I don’t want us to get blamed for leaving a door open if something gets taken.”

“Sure.”

“Let’s get started,” Pastor Charles said.

Candi pulled the pen out of her planner. What could they possibly talk about now that he’d given a total stranger the keys to everything? There were apparently no more rules or regulations and her opinion meant nothing. Perhaps she should just go home.

Pastor Charles shoved a tall stack of papers to the side. “What happened yesterday?”

Candi prepared to fall on her sword. “It’s my fault. Shade and I have been discussing the use of computer software to enhance our worship. There was a folder on the computer desktop. Bill opened it by accident and it started to run a demo.”

“That’s my fault,” Shade interjected. “I thought I had the folder in a safe place. From now on we can load those programs on an external drive with a password where we can better control access.”

“That sounds like a lot of trouble. Especially if you decide to purchase the software and use it often.”

Candi and Shade exchanged glances. Neither seemed anxious to drag the subject further than it needed to go.

Apparently, the pastor didn’t either. “It doesn’t matter. Wasn’t that big a deal. Bill apologized that morning and said he’d misplaced his glasses. Couldn’t see a thing.”

Candi squirmed in her chair. If it was no big deal why had he brought it up?

Pastor Charles scooted his coffee mug out of the way and lifted the pages of his large desk calendar one at a time. “When are finals, Candi?”

She opened her planner. “First full week in May.”

“You teaching summer session?”

“I think I’ve been approved to do a couple online Music Appreciation courses in June and July. I have to put in some office time and attend some workshops, but frankly, I’m trying to stay away from the college as much as possible this summer since my fall schedule will be so full.”

“What about you, Shade? How’s business?”

“Steady. Growing. I’m close to being busy full time, and I have a couple guys I can count on if I need to be somewhere.”

Pastor Charles let the calendar pages drop and sat back in his chair. “Here’s what I’d like to see happen. Candi, I’ve got parents clamoring for a children’s choir. They know you have the expertise, and we sure have a church full of kids. I’d like to brainstorm some ideas, and then have a meeting to see who’s interested. Thought you could have a children’s choir camp over the summer. We could do that after Vacation Bible School so we could use that time to advertise if you like the idea.”

“Sounds like there’s already been a lot of talk about it. When do you foresee starting this program?”

“That’s up to you, but as you know, it would be best to launch the program after school starts in the fall and everyone’s back into a routine.”

“When would we practice?”

“Thursday night practice in the choir room with the expectation that the kids would sing at least once a month in worship.”

“Couldn’t we practice Wednesday night during adult Bible study?”

“No, and Shade, that’s where you come in.”

Shade looked like he was about to bolt from the room. She just might have to follow.

“I’ve had a mid-week youth service on my mind for quite some time. We’ve been discussing it in Worship Committee and with some parents. If we don’t get this thing off the ground soon, we could lose the regular teens we have.”

Shade sat forward in his chair. Yep. He was gonna run.

“Don’t you have a youth group here?” he asked with such innocence. “I thought I saw something in the church bulletin.”

“Those Sunday evening programs are recreational and run by parents because we’re currently without a youth pastor. I’m talking about an actual worship service for teens. Thursday nights, no more than an hour.”

“I hear you, Pastor, but where do I come in?”

Pastor Charles laughed and leaned forward to rest his arms on his desk. “Don’t worry, son, I’m not going to ask you to be in charge of anything. It wouldn’t be fair to you, or us. I realize you’re new to all this. Kevin and Kelly are going to lead the music, and Max is going to lead an interactive Bible study. What I need from you is your commitment and your help.”

“I’m not sure what I can do.”

“Be a part of this youth service team. Participate in the music portion, help Candi keep Kevin and Kelly reined in, and be there as support for Max.”

Candi shrugged. “I don’t understand. If I’m in the choir room directing a children’s choir, how am I supposed to help Kevin and Kelly?”

Pastor Charles lifted his calendar pages again. “I’m thinking July thirtieth for the launch of the youth service, and August twenty-seventh for the children’s choir launch. That gives us time to prepare and means the youth service should be up and running before you start the choir.”

Candi flipped through her planner like a crazy woman, noting dates and scribbling thoughts as fast as they came to mind. What he was asking was not impossible. She could even say she knew it was coming. How she felt about it was a whole different terror she had yet to explore. For the first time since Cornerstone began, there would be a new worship service—and she would be tucked away with a room full of screaming kids while an ex-Dead Lizard took the platform.

She looked over at Shade who had yet to say another word. While she nursed the sting of losing a certain amount of control over her music program, he looked to be two breaths away from actual medical shock. She wondered if the church’s first aid kit had one of those silver blanket thingies she could throw over his shoulders.

She turned her gaze to the pastor.
Do something.

“Shade,” Pastor Charles started in his best pastoral tone of comfort and encouragement. “Just think about it. I know what you’ve been through and where you’re coming from. You’ve been nothing but honest with me, and I appreciate that. Things are happening fast for you here, but that’s because you’ve stepped into a whole new ballgame. I’m not ashamed to say that if I can get one messed up seventeen-year-old to come to church because the former lead guitarist from Dead Lizard Highway plays in worship, I’ll take it. The truth is, because of who you are now in Christ, you are an evangelist.”

Shade rested his elbows on the arms of the chair and clamped his hands together. Now who had the white knuckles?

“I’ll think about it.”

“Just so we’re clear,” Candi began, “you want a choir camp over the summer, and a children’s choir in the fall.”

“Yes.”

“Then you want Shade and me to work with Kevin and Kelly on worship music for a youth service to start in July.”

“Yes, and there’s one more thing.”

Candi and Shade again exchanged glances. This time it was clear they each expected their heads to explode if he handed them one more monumental task.

“I’ve been contacted by a pastor I know in Austin. He has a mega-church over there, two thousand people on any given Sunday. His church is hosting a worship conference. It’s so popular they’ve added more sessions. I’ve talked enough about you, Candi, that he wants me to send you to do a couple workshops. I gave him a tentative
yes
. Check your calendars for the weekend of June fifth through the seventh and let me know. You two can attend the whole conference. And if I can find the money in the budget, I want you to take Max, too.”

Candi’s pen flipped right out of her hand. “You want us
both
to go?”

“Sure, why not?”

“To
Austin
?” Shade asked, just as bewildered.

“Yes.”

“What about worship that Sunday?”

“Kevin and Kelly can handle it. Just let me know as soon as you have an outline of what your workshops will be about so I can send it to the coordinator.” He picked up his cell phone and flipped it open. “I’ve got to get home.” He headed for the door. “I know I’ve given you both a lot to think about. We’ll talk again soon. Thanks for coming, and Candi, would you please lock up the office when you leave?”

“Sure,” she whispered as he walked right out the door.

Shade sat motionless in his chair. “I feel like I’ve been beat with a stick.”

Candi stood and turned off the desk lamp. “Or tossed over Niagara Falls in a barrel.”

Shade held the door for her. “Yeah, that, too.”

They made their way to the reception area. Just as Shade reached the double-glass doors he stopped and turned around. “I don’t think I can do what he asked me to do.”

Candi paused and met his worried gaze. The stubborn strands of hair that wouldn’t stay in his ponytail hovered around his face.

“I know it sounded like a lot,” she assured him. “But you won’t be alone and we have plenty of time to work things out.”

“I haven’t done this my whole life like you and Max. I’m not a leader. I’m not an evangelist. I don’t even know what that means.”

“Aw, Shade, just because I’ve been at this a while doesn’t mean I know what’s going on either. I know less now than I ever have.”

Late afternoon sun crept through the tall stained-glass windows in the foyer and danced on the carpet in front of the new picture wall.

Shade left the door and went to lean against Ms. Mattie’s counter. “I doubt that.”

“He wants a children’s choir. I don’t know anything about children’s choirs. I teach at the college level. My students have beards and navel rings. I mean, I like kids, but I haven’t worked with them since my student teaching days. I don’t know where to start to develop a choir camp where they’ll have fun, learn music, and want to sing. If anything, they’ll cry and tell their parents they don’t want to come back the next day. I’ll be sitting by myself with a jug of apple juice and a bag of animal crackers.”

Shade laughed and poked the wayward strands behind his ears. “That would be toddlers.”

“What?”

“I think your choir is going to be older. More like juice boxes and peanut-butter and jelly.”

She waved her hands in distress. “See what I mean? I know nothing. And how do you know so much about it?”

“I read a lot.”

Candi dropped her purse in the chair by the door.

He rested his hands on his hips. The glare from his
body
art
assaulted her one more time.

“Can’t you tell him you don’t want to do it?” His question was logical enough.

“No. If you’ll remember, he didn’t attach a
think about it
to my orders. This is my ministry, Shade, and a job I do here. Pastor Charles is my boss. When he asks me to do something, I have to try my best to do it because I have to assume he’s prayerfully following God’s divine instructions for this church. It’s my duty to support him and follow his lead.” She sighed and fidgeted with the bangles at her wrist. “Besides, when I ask too many questions or buck the system I just get myself in trouble.”