After drying off, saturating his body with lotion, and then putting on a T-shirt and a pair of jogging shorts, JT started downstairs. But then his phone rang, so he went back into the bedroom, removed it from his pants pocket, and frowned when he saw that it was Carmen again. His first notion was to hit ignore, but then he decided he’d better take care of this problem once and for all.

“Why are you calling me again?” he asked, walking toward the bathroom and lowering his voice.

“Because.”

“Because what?”

“Because I love you, JT. I love you more than anything or anyone, and I can’t imagine not being with you.”

“Well, you need to make up your mind, one way or the other, because you can’t keep calling me like this. Alicia is right downstairs, and-”

“Alicia?! Why are you always talking about her? I’m the one who’s been there for you for all these years, and I’m the one who would give my life for you if I had to.”

“She’s my wife, Carmen. Like it or not, she’s the one I married and nothing is going to change that.”

Carmen burst into tears. “JT, please. I’m begging you. Please just leave her.”

“Look, I’m sorry things didn’t work out the way you wanted them to, but let’s just try to end this on a friendly note. We had some very good times, but what you need to do now is find someone who can give you the kind of love and commitment you’re looking for.”

“I don’t want someone else. I want you and only you.”

“Like I said, I’m sorry. And I have to go.”

“JT, I’ll do anything.”

“Good-bye, Carmen,” he said, ending the call, and then switched his phone to silent mode. First thing tomorrow morning, he’d have to call his cell phone provider to see what he needed to do to block incoming calls from both Carmen’s home and mobile numbers. Maybe then she would take a hint and leave him alone.

With most of the church staff being off on Mondays, Tuesday mornings tended to be filled with all sorts of meetings and personal counseling sessions, and right now, JT was sitting in his office with his two assistant pastors-both of whom contributed to the ministry in extremely positive ways but clearly couldn’t have been more different. Steven Payne was in his late twenties, full of energy, and thought the world of JT; and Glenn Weaver was a fortysomething straitlaced and strictly by-the-book kind of person. Truth be told, there were times when JT could either take or leave Minister Weaver, but because he was consistently dependable and had an exceptional knowledge of God’s Word, JT couldn’t imagine him not being a part of NLCC.

JT leaned away from his cherrywood desk, making himself more comfortable in his high-backed chair. “With summer being barely a month away, I just want to make sure we have each of the Sunday services and Wednesday-night Bible studies covered through September.”

Both of the ministers looked over the spreadsheets in front of them and Minister Payne said, “The only date I might have to change is the last Sunday in August because I have a family reunion.”

“I’ll be out of town as well,” JT said, and looked at Minister Weaver. “So, Glenn, do you think you can cover that Sunday instead?”

“I’m sure I can. I have a family reunion as well but it’s a couple of weekends before that.”

“Great.”

“Then I’ll take one of your other Sundays or Wednesday nights,” Minister Payne offered.

JT pushed the summer schedule to the side and rested his elbows on top of his desk. “The other thing I want to discuss is our membership objectives. Both of you know that my goal is to double the number of members we have within the next five years, so I want to begin having weekly meetings to discuss it.”

“Bringing in another five thousand people in such a short period of time won’t be an easy task,” Minister Weaver said, and JT wasn’t all that surprised because Glenn could be a bit on the pessimistic side when he wanted to be.

“It won’t be easy, but it’s not impossible.”

Minister Payne had a lot more faith in JT’s vision. “Well, if you turned fifty members into five thousand during these first five years you’ve had the church, then I don’t see why you won’t be able to pretty much do the same thing once again.”

“Exactly,” JT agreed. “It’ll take a lot of planning and promoting, but I definitely think it can be done. What we have to do is figure out a way to attract more of the Chicago and surrounding-area communities, and we can start by creating multiple committees to work on various projects. There are also a number of seminars being offered that I’d like the three of us to attend, and actually, I’d like some of the ministers who report to both of you to attend as well. Then, once we appoint the heads of each committee, we’ll have them go, too.”

“So, when were you wanting to move forward with creating the committees?” Minister Payne asked.

“Either next week or the following, because the sooner we get those in place, the sooner we can get started.”

JT looked at Minister Weaver, who seemed uninterested, and said, “Is that okay with you, Minister Weaver?” They were all on a first-name basis but every now and then, JT liked referring to Glenn’s official church name because he took things so seriously.

“Whatever you wanna do, I’m fine with it.”

“The other thing I’d like to do is bring in a Christian marketing coach to spend some time with us,” he said, and then dialed his executive assistant. When she answered, he said, “Janet, can you bring me a couple of those seminar and coaching catalogs we received last month and give us an update on what you were able to find out about them?”

“Sure. I’ll be right in.”

They chatted for a few more minutes until Janet came in and took a seat. As usual, her clothes fit her tall and slender body frame perfectly, and JT wanted to laugh at the way Minister Payne was practically drooling over her. He wasn’t even being discreet, but Janet did what she always did: ignored him.

She passed two booklets over to JT and said, “There are so many resources available to churches, more than I imagined, but just to give you an idea, one of the coaches teaches how Christian organizations can gear their marketing efforts toward lots of different kinds of people, whether they be saved, unsaved, believers, nonbelievers, and so on. He even talks about the fact that our message needs to inform potential members why it would be a benefit for them to attend our church, because many times churches talk at length about what programs they have to offer, but they don’t necessarily keep their focus on how people’s attendance will benefit them directly.”

JT nodded. “That’s a very good point.”

“So, after reading through most of the material and doing a little research online, I think we need to do more advertising on the top radio stations, local TV stations, and in local magazines. We need to target the market we’re specifically trying to reach. We need to tie in secular activities with Christian activities so that people will be more interested in participating.”

“You know, I heard about a church out east that did something like that,” Minister Payne said. “If I remember correctly, they had this huge Super Bowl party that was open to any man who wanted to attend. You didn’t have to be a member, and there was no charge.”

“Those are the kinds of things I’m talking about,” Janet commented.

“The other thing we need to do,” JT added, “is create something family oriented that hasn’t been done before. Something that would get an entire household of people excited.”

Janet stood up. “That would be great, too, because in these economic times, families are looking for activities that they can do together and won’t cost them an arm and a leg.”

“Thanks for the update,” JT told her.