The Trap is Set

Some weeks ago, I asked for suggestions on what to write about. My friend, Jerry, from Houston, TX, made a few suggestions. He suggested my church and it’s new property, Excel International, and my time as Chair of its EC, as well as ATG. Did you think I was ignoring you, Jerry?

First of all, I gotta tell the world this… if you need a friend, there is few truer friends on this earth than those friends I have met through Excel! And in the top most tier of those friends, is Jerry! I’ve spent some good times at his home in Houston. I should say at his HOMES in Houston. I must also state that here I refer to Houston as much as a Region as a city. For, the first home I visited Jerry at was out on Bolivar Peninsula, in Crystal Beach (if I recall correctly). Scott and I just came across some pictures of a trip we took out there years and years ago. One is a picture of Jerry’s house, and the other is of two younger Hays-Stroms on the ferry ride between Galveston and the peninsula.

Scott and I first ran into Jerry in the late 1990s at an “Emergency ATG” in Houston (the city). My memory of that time is a bit foggy now, so I do not recall the year, nor whether or not it was truly called an Emergency meeting, or even the reason. But, as I recall the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches had just defunded Excel International de Colores. We had a constitution and bylaws to write, and other steps to prepare for operating under our own recognizance. Scott and I had just become involved in Excel as the result of attending a weekend exercise in the fall of 1996 (within the very first months of our relationship. Is it possible that one reason for the strength of our love, of our relationship, is that we began it by seeking God in our lives?)

Let me backup just a little bit. When I left the seminary in the spring of 1996, Scott and I settled down together. I told him up front that God was important to me, and that I wanted to continue to go to church. Well, Scott felt the same way. Scott came from a Southern Baptist background, I from a Roman Catholic one. Neither of us felt we would feel comfortable in the other’s churches.

In my final semester in the Seminary, I had interviewed a local “District Coordinator”, what the denomination now calls Elders, about the church. I knew it could prove a compromise for us. I did not know Scott had begun attending the MCC in Omaha shortly before I returned to Omaha. I began attending in August of that year. One of the first things I did was sit down and chat with the pastor about belonging to both MCC and a Catholic Church. While there, he recommended we attend an Excel Weekend, and as it happened, there was one coming up in a couple of weeks. The church (or perhaps the Excel team) gave Scott and I a partial scholarship to attend.

Among the team was Karla Oliver from our local church, Becky W. also local, Keith Apple who was then the director of Excel International (I do apologize to those who know better if I use improper terminology) and Peg & Diane from Des Moines, IA and our sister team over there.

Also attending were Jim M. & Jerry D., who in the months to come would become dear, dear friends, and models in a way to Scott and I. They had been married for 23 or 24 years at that time.

Soon after our weekend, Scott and I walked into church and were met on the steps by Carla & Sharon (two more friends from MCC). As indicated this is 15 years ago or so, so I’m not 100% sure which one. I do know that at this point in my life, I wanted nothing more than to go to church, sit in the pew, and go home, perhaps after a brunch with some friends. Carla (or was it Sharon? Or was it both?) were determined this was not to be the case! They drafted me into some function or another. It turns out, this was our modus operandi in those days. Wait for someone to attend more than a handful of times, then POUNCE on them to draft them.

Shortly after THAT, as I walked into church, there was Peg & Diane from Des Moines. They TOO pounced on us, and soon Scott and I found ourselves drafted into the service of the Des Moines Excel team. We soon found ourselves driving back and forth between Des Moines and Omaha.

And so, now that we were involved in Excel, it wasn’t long before Karla & Becky suggested we also become involved in the local Excel Team, Excel of the Midlands. And, no sooner had we done so that we were “invited” to attend the emergency All Team Gathering in Houston in, what, 1998?

And this brings me full circle back to my friend Jerry. We met during this first trip to Houston. He was a VIP at the ATG, so I imagine he may not recall me too much from there. That weekend we all immersed ourselves in the task of writing standard operating procedures and bylaws and what not for this new ministry we were birthing. We were then to take this material back to our local teams for their buy-in and all were to join together the following summer in Atlanta for the next regularly scheduled ATG.

Here, in Atlanta, I was to meet my next Excel friend, Trudie and Ray B. And here, too, Jerry was to spring his trap!

Stay tuned for part II of this story, “The Trap is Sprung!“