It has been reported many times that New York scared the crap out of Dave. Here he talks about his time in New York having to venture into the "gentile" neighborhoods of some of the church members.
He and Mr. Fahey enjoyed a good personal relationship. Both were experienced ministers and had long conversations in the first months of Mr. Pack’s transfer. The men were also skilled racquetball players. Since neither had lost a match to anyone for a long time, they enjoyed finding a worthy opponent. This also gave them the opportunity to socialize and talk about issues the Church faced.The pastor also helped the Packs become familiar with New York, and to keep certain things in mind while living there. For example, there was the importance of moving confidently in crowds in certain areas of the city, while also avoiding prolonged eye contact with people.“Always keep your suit coat open,” he was told regarding visiting members and prospective members. “Never button it. People will think you are the law, and carrying a gun. Almost always, residents of rough neighborhoods assume anyone in a suit is a police detective or FBI agent. Therefore, they will leave you alone.”But the inevitable could not be avoided in New York. Mr. Pack was robbed almost immediately upon arrival and his car was broken into on several occasions later, often due to loose change or subway tokens left in plain view.But nothing could prepare one for the shocking and deteriorating environment of Harlem and of the South Bronx.
Later Pack writes:
“In late 1985, just before Mr. Armstrong died, I was demoted by his successor, after he had already systematically stripped away most of my pastorate. This man had deeply resented my relationship with Mr. Armstrong and openly told me so. With Mr. Armstrong dying, he pounced.
“I was sent to New York City and placed under two successive men who were told to give me very little to do—‘teach me a lesson’—‘break me.’ This intensely difficult trial lasted for 4 1/3 years. I went from pastoring almost 1,100 people (some time before my transfer) in a beautiful part of western New York state to a level of responsibility equivalent, in some ways, to little more than what a deacon would do. (This is not intended to denigrate the important service of faithful deacons, but merely to explain my severe reduction in responsibility after having had such special and extensive previous training for pastoral service.) All of this occurred while having to serve in some of the most dangerous neighborhoods on Earth!
10 comments:
This was good experience for Dave. Unfortunately, it seems as if he resented the opportunity, so probably didn’t maximize his education in humanities. I worked for several years as an insurance agent in the ghetto areas of Pasadena and Altadena. (the policyholders called it the ghetto). Part of my job was to collect the policyholders’ monthly and weekly premiums. I enjoyed my job, liked my policyholders and they seemed to like me, too. Sometimes I had $5-$600 in my pocket at 9:00 at night.
We were taught to have people call us “Mr. ......”, but I had everyone call me Bob. One of my policyholders was a minister, and he invited me to his church. I would have taken him up on it, if for no other reason than to enjoy the gospel music, but being a WCG member at the time, you all know what the answer had to be. There were some policyholders who had been musicians in the early rock bands of the ‘50s, some hipsters who liked the old blues music that I loved, and some very pretty ladies. I did have one lady policyholder who was a devout Jehovah’s Witness, and I could never get out of her place in under 45 minutes. She’d literally block the door to continue to witness to me. I think that the only bad thing that ever happened was that once a customer’s poodle backed its butt up to my pantleg, and began vigorously wiping itself on my trousers. I tried to ignore it, but the man of the house loudly said in a deep voice, “Look at what that dog is doing to our insurance man! Get out of there, boy!” He led the dog into the kitchen, and when I left the house, I went home to shower and change my trousers. Can we imagine that happening to Dave Pack as he made his rounds through the south Bronx? LOL!
BB
On Earth??? Has he heard of Afghanistan or Aleppo? Please SocioPack , calm down on the hyperbole!. Of course there are some bad neighborhoods in NY, but not even close to the worse when viewed on a global perspective.
Dave should be glad he's not in London. Guns are banned in the UK but there are now more murders in London than NYC. Now the mayor of London wants to ban knives, as if that will help. It all seems to have changed when all the Muslims came in.
Dave should just carry an AR-15.
The minister who counseled me for baptism started as a ministerial assistant in NYC. His comments contrasted driving to work through the Bowery, and driving back as the sun set, "making NYC glow like a crown". He was an MA while Dave was still in AC.
I had a deer rifle with a really big scope and giant round hole on the end of the barrel held up to my head in Kentucky. Lol. Hubby wanted to talk baptism. Mama said no. It was all downhill from there.
Also had a mentally ill member conversing with at church me fingering a 38 in his coat pocket which the deacons knew about and stood by but I was clueless.
I so miss the brethren. Lol
I remember one Feast of Trumpets in which I met David Pack and he came across as a total tool.
“I was sent to New York City and placed under two successive men who were told to give me very little to do—‘teach me a lesson’—‘break me.’ This intensely difficult trial lasted for 4 1/3 years.”--DCP
Ha! That's nothing, Dave!
Some fraudster by the name of David C. Pack gives his followers lots and lots and lots to do. He makes his followers do continual fundraising, hand over everything they have, and listen to totally garbled prophetic nonsense!!! And this even more intensely difficult trial is still ongoing!
P.S. Too bad nobody could ever teach you any important lesson, Dave.
BB
That is about the funniest resume qualification I ever read. Work experience: "The Pasadena California Ghetto" ... Got mugged for entrance fee at the Huntington Library.
Got exposed to the sun in Santa Monica when leaving mall at Rodeo.
Could be Paris Hilton's resume.
Nck
Anon 6.03 said:-
"Guns are banned in the UK but there are now more murders in London than NYC. Now the mayor of London wants to ban knives, as if that will help. It all seems to have changed when all the Muslims came in."
Not really. It's more that the murder rate in NY has gone down!
In 1990 NY had over 2000 murders a year.That reduced to a low of just under 300 in 2017.
In 1990 London had just under 200 murders which steadily declined to 83 in 2014. It has risen slightly since then, and was 130 in 2017 (which included 9 deaths from two terrorist attacks), but that is still somewhat lower than in the 1990's.
So despite the decline in NY, last year the murder rate was still twice that of London.
What caused the report that anon mentions is that in February this year there were 15 murders in London, with 11 in New York. This was followed in March by 22 in London, with 21 in New York.For two months NY was lower.
Was this just a blip? who knows? In January the murders in London were 8, with 18 in NY. So the three month 'Year to date' gives 45 in London, and 50 in NY.
Trump did seize on this 2 month figure, and tweeted on it - but you surely know the accuracy of Trump's tweets?
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