These memories from my time at Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) for this post,  are accumulated over several years. As mentioned, I may not get them in the correct time order, but the meaning will be clear. When you have a group of close to 400 folks and they all are required, at different levels, to “check it out” with Jane Whaley; this could prove to be a practical time management issue! Okay, so who has the time to listen to all 400 before every service? Even if only 200 needed to talk to her before a service? How would that work? Even if 40 or 50 folks every service wanted to see Jane Whaley and ask a question, “open their heart” or tell what they saw… How would that work?

     Well, there were folks that would come early to services and line up down both sides of the hallway leading to Jane’s office and wait for Jane’s arrival. “Maybe we can talk to Jane about this question or decision we need to make?” Or – “You have been giving to sin and we need to get to Jane to expose it see what she says…?” So, everyone lined up in the hall may not have a question, they could just be bringing someone else “to the light”. This of course would keep them out of trouble since at WOFF- if you knew of someone else’s sin and did not expose it- you were in just as much trouble as they were or worse- since “hiding sin will take you to hell!” So, thus the “great commission of WOFF” was complete with your friends and fellow members watching you at every point! That is part of the control that outsiders don’t see! When it was known beforehand that visitors were coming and they would be brought to meet Jane before the service;  not only did “Loud Prayer” get put on hold; the hallway dealings were either moved out of sight of visitors or the inquirers told to wait until after the service – if possible. Known sin would be dealt with in a room away from visitors ability to hear or see. (see post here http://tiny.cc/wenoq )

     So, practically there were issues just meeting all the demands of the confession/communication  requirements that had been put on the members. As another fellow put it to me recently- speaking of Jane’s self appointed role- “It is hard (for her) being God”.  A two part solution evolved. One was there would be folks who were trusted “go betweens” and faithful lieutenants; they would meet folks in the hall before the service. They would ask the person what was going on? or why are you here? After assessing the situation, depending on their comfort level of either giving an answer or knowing “Jane needs to hear about this”– they would deal with it or go into Jane’s office. There, they would talk to Jane Whaley about the issue at hand. The person would just wait out in the hallway, most times until the “go between minister” would return. Upon their return; the answer would be given or depending on how close it was to time to start the service; they would be told come back after the service and talk to Jane in person.

     In addition to “go betweens”, the person with the issue may be told to “write Jane a note” with their question, observation or confession. There were different attitudes from Jane about these notes over the years. She would sometimes mention she had read some notes and may even read one out loud to the congregation. At other times, these notes would pile up and Jane would declare- “If you sent me a note recently, I have not read it and am not sure if I will be able to read it any time soon. You may have to get it to me later… ” Sometimes, Jane would say she was taking the notes with her, on a trip and planned to catch-up with them during her travel. Doesn’t that sound great? Your personal heart renderings would be on a plane or in a van being read and maybe discussed with others in leadership? That sounded so confidential.

     During the years in the Greenville Church, there were times when we would be told to write notes to Jane Whaley. I thought that was a little strange since she was not the Pastor. But, looking back it was preparation for the move in 2002. I never personally heard back from Jane Whaley about a note sent to her and actually over the 16 years  had very relatively very little personal contact with her. The times I did are material for another post. Well, here is one time….

     If my memory serves my right, this time was in 2008. The former leader of the Greenville church, who had been told to “throw away his shampoo” and “you need to get a dog” (see previous posts..); was on the stage after a service. Jane was up on the stage talking to folks. I went up there with another member. Previous to this, I had been struggling and may have been in  the “discipleship room”. But, for whatever reason, I was allowed back into the main sanctuary. We waited our turn on stage and as we did- this fellow from Greenville was silently, behind Jane’s back mouthing and motioning for us to “press in and talk to Jane”. He was smiling and trying to make sure we followed through. It looked very funny and contrived from where I stood. Why did he have to mouth words with no voice behind Jane’s back? Why would he be pushing me to talk to Jane when he had been my pastor for 10 years before moving to WOFF? The answer was evident to me. He was only an “under-minister” now at WOFF and he did not have the final say in matters. In 2002, when he finally gave in and moved to WOFF with his family and church, it was in a subjection role to the main powers at WOFF. Those powers resided with Jane Whaley – of course. My conversation with Jane was short and basically she uttered some kind of encouraging statement. Since she did not utter any harsh rebukes, those around me thought things must be progressing for my case. In a future post, I will share other times when I spoke to Jane Whaley.  

This cartoon was sent to me out of the Mytle Beach Sun News from last Sunday.. I thought it added to this post.

      Please, consume the information on this site responsibly. Be sure to tell every member that you know at WOFF about this blog. It could very well save their life. There are readers at WOFF. Comments are invited from all readers, including present or former members. Polls are not scientific and no private information is gathered.

      (Please, take time to read the Terms of Use for this personal blog. As mentioned, the information about WOFF is from my memories and recollections as perfect as that may be or not be. ) This is post number 81.