Mayor Ben Winston Resigns....

as Pastor of Sweet Beulah Missionary Baptist Church.I don't know if this move was spiritually or politically motivated. According to my sources, Winston used his resignation announcement speech to discuss the "dump" (his words not mine). He said, allegedly speaking of course, that the people that were funding the dump had plans to also purchase the Custom Precast property to bring some jobs to the area but since there are citizens opposing the dump; they've changed their minds. I guess there's always room to throw in a little extortion; even from the pulpit. Before now,there wasn't anything mentioned about any other developments. It's interesting that once the plan was exposed;other tactics are now being employed to garner support.

For quite some time, there has been rumors that Winston wanted to have the Baptist members convert to a Seventh Day Adventist church but those rumors have yet to be verified. There are some that may be wondering why this received a post on a political blog. Well, Winston is a minister and a mayor. I recall when he took over the helm of Sweet Beulah. He said the Lord placed him there and I can't wrap my mind around the resignation. If he was called to serve that churc/lead that congregation, then why would he resign. The callings of the Lord are yea and amen. So who changed? Certainly not the calling of the Lord. Now I can see a minister resigning from a political post; especially if that post isleading you toawards serving two masters-God and mammon. But resigning from the role of shepherd still boggles the mind.

To be honest, I'm fearful of the direction this city may be taking with Winston serving as mayor. Just think of all he did while serving as a pastor-wanting to eject a 80 year old woman from her church home, allegedly making side deals to have a dump approved without citizen input, and threatening the clerks to ensure he had control of the board meetings and agenda. These actions were on full display; despite the fact that Winston has to look into the eyes of his congregation every week. Now Winston has no congregation to hold hi accountable; not that they were doing so. But it's a chilling fact that he no longer has to defend his decisions. Frightening.

The events that transpired this past week seem like they were ripped from an episode of Scandal. We're still not certain about the details of the dump site and in the midst of this controversy, the mayor resigns from his post as pastor. I will continue to dig for more information and I will keep you posted. In the meantime, earnestly pray for our city and all our elected officials.