stretching and toning exercises. She also scheduled a session with the nutritionist but passed on the psychologist. She was going to work on some of the machinery for abdomen toning and, if she really got into it, hire a personal trainer. Thank you, Mama Max, Tai thought as she returned to her car, turned on the radio and bobbed her naturally auburn curls to the sounds of 91.5, the Oldies Station. Tai felt a little better, but even as she sang “I Can See Clearly Now” with Johnny Nash, that sixth sense feeling in her stomach would not go away.
Good, good
King sat at the head of the table in the church’s tastefully furnished conference room. A committee of Mount Zion Progressive members joined him. Associate ministers, deacons, his personal secretary and others waited to give their progress reports on the upcoming conference.
“As you know,” King began after a lengthy “Baptisized” prayer by Deacon Nash, “this year’s leadership conference will be the largest and I believe best one so far. The speakers are dynamic, the workshops specific and explicit, and it seems that most of the details are in place. If anyone disagrees, now’s the time to voice what needs to be done. I don’t want any surprises at the last minute. Is everybody with me?” Everyone nodded or said yes. “Charles, let’s start with you. How are things looking with respect to our speakers and other guests?”
Charles was the church’s director of business affairs; organized, detailed and concise. His report reflected these attributes. “As you all know,” he said, directing his gaze at King, “we’ve had a few challenges. But as of today, almostall of the leaders we’ve invited have been confirmed. We’re still waiting on final word from a few session speakers and from Dr. Myles Monroe out of the Bahamas. And we’ve not finalized the contract for Dr. Hayden’s Economic Empowerment course. That is proving to be one of the more popular sessions.” He checked his notes quickly and concluded, “Everything’s falling into place.”
“Good, good,” King intoned, pleased as always with Charles’s work. Quick and to the point, that was what King liked about him. Deacon Nash could learn a thing or two from him, especially where “quick” and the deacon’s long prayers were concerned.
“Remind me to put in a call to Myles when we get back to the office,” King directed Joseph, his assistant, before turning to his secretary. “Denise, let’s have a rundown of the conference schedule to date.”
Denise Williams, who had been taking notes, opened her folder and shuffled a few papers before beginning to read. She was an attractive woman in an understated way.
“Okay,” she began, sitting up straighter and taking a deep breath. “The preconference begins Tuesday night with a dinner for the guest pastors and their wives, special guests and others on the list to be provided by Pastor King. Registration begins Wednesday morning at 10:00 A.M. in the church lobby. Over five hundred people have preregistered already, so we hope there’ll only be a few stragglers who don’t make the deadline. The first worship service is Wednesday night, and on Thursday morning, there are four sessions available: Follow the Leader, Strategies for Spiritual Success…”
As Denise continued with her report on sessions and special guests, Youth Minister Mark found himself paying less attention to the words being said and more to the mouth the words were coming from. He’d always found Denise attractive, and he loved her quiet, sweet spirit, but here, seated at the conference table with only a few chairs between them,it was as if he was seeing her lips for the first time. They were full and thick, not so big as to be soup coolers, but in perfect proportion to her face, which was heart shaped and glowing. She wore an almost translucent lipstick, a whispery pink, or was it beige? Through the glimmer, Mark couldn’t tell for sure. He leaned forward,
Good, good
King sat at the head of the table in the church’s tastefully furnished conference room. A committee of Mount Zion Progressive members joined him. Associate ministers, deacons, his personal secretary and others waited to give their progress reports on the upcoming conference.
“As you know,” King began after a lengthy “Baptisized” prayer by Deacon Nash, “this year’s leadership conference will be the largest and I believe best one so far. The speakers are dynamic, the workshops specific and explicit, and it seems that most of the details are in place. If anyone disagrees, now’s the time to voice what needs to be done. I don’t want any surprises at the last minute. Is everybody with me?” Everyone nodded or said yes. “Charles, let’s start with you. How are things looking with respect to our speakers and other guests?”
Charles was the church’s director of business affairs; organized, detailed and concise. His report reflected these attributes. “As you all know,” he said, directing his gaze at King, “we’ve had a few challenges. But as of today, almostall of the leaders we’ve invited have been confirmed. We’re still waiting on final word from a few session speakers and from Dr. Myles Monroe out of the Bahamas. And we’ve not finalized the contract for Dr. Hayden’s Economic Empowerment course. That is proving to be one of the more popular sessions.” He checked his notes quickly and concluded, “Everything’s falling into place.”
“Good, good,” King intoned, pleased as always with Charles’s work. Quick and to the point, that was what King liked about him. Deacon Nash could learn a thing or two from him, especially where “quick” and the deacon’s long prayers were concerned.
“Remind me to put in a call to Myles when we get back to the office,” King directed Joseph, his assistant, before turning to his secretary. “Denise, let’s have a rundown of the conference schedule to date.”
Denise Williams, who had been taking notes, opened her folder and shuffled a few papers before beginning to read. She was an attractive woman in an understated way.
“Okay,” she began, sitting up straighter and taking a deep breath. “The preconference begins Tuesday night with a dinner for the guest pastors and their wives, special guests and others on the list to be provided by Pastor King. Registration begins Wednesday morning at 10:00 A.M. in the church lobby. Over five hundred people have preregistered already, so we hope there’ll only be a few stragglers who don’t make the deadline. The first worship service is Wednesday night, and on Thursday morning, there are four sessions available: Follow the Leader, Strategies for Spiritual Success…”
As Denise continued with her report on sessions and special guests, Youth Minister Mark found himself paying less attention to the words being said and more to the mouth the words were coming from. He’d always found Denise attractive, and he loved her quiet, sweet spirit, but here, seated at the conference table with only a few chairs between them,it was as if he was seeing her lips for the first time. They were full and thick, not so big as to be soup coolers, but in perfect proportion to her face, which was heart shaped and glowing. She wore an almost translucent lipstick, a whispery pink, or was it beige? Through the glimmer, Mark couldn’t tell for sure. He leaned forward,
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