title: The Choirmaster
author: Alila, Joseph R.
description: In Mud Valley Church, the evangelizing wonders of the Church Choir have become both a blessing and a minor headache. The growth in card-carrying membership and church attendance explode overnight. That is the blessing. The headache is the charismatic but unassuming Choirmaster Michael, whose artistic gifts are key to the phenomenal church growth. However, as the women with available daughters fight to outdo one another in monthly dinners for the Choirmaster, things become a little worldly. But even after Pastor David seals the marriage between Michael and one Eva Joseph with the urgency of Samuel the prophet, Choirmaster Michael's outreach ministry becomes a bother to the Church Board, when the Treasurer reveals that the Choir is funding most of Mud Valley Church's budgetary needs. The Choirmaster has grown bigger than life, and the Church Board is left wondering, "What would happen should the Choirmaster leave?" When Choirmaster Michael's marriage to Eva would hit rock bottom because one Jane Caleb would not let him be, Pastor David discovers that Mud Valley's spiritual and moral problems are more organic and deeply ingrained historically than the perceived threat from Choirmaster Michael. Young Pastor David faces a historical moral issue, and he must decide whether to confront Mud Valley's historical demons or seek a transfer to clearer spiritual waters.