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 parking. No parking lot for the church. They had maybe a lot some 100 feet long
 and approximately 25 or 30 feet wide. So you can imagine the number of cars
 that could get on that lot. All the other parking that had to be done on the street
 and the city was moving them to an off-street parking lot. There was no room for
 expansion and the church's program, as I looked at it, no social outreach. Of
 course, I was, at the time, more socially active than I am now in terms of trying to
 break down the barriers. Then internal things in the church, such as an
 accountant to take care of the books and setting up a system. A youth program,
 which they did not have. Recreational opportunities for children and then
 stressing, education. They were interested, but going beyond just a high school
 level, those are the things that I presented.

P: Going beyond the high school level?

L: Many of them were not. Although we had in the church, but the program had no
 program as such to encourage youngsters to move on from high school into
 college. For many of them, high school was the end. That does not mean to say
 that everybody in the church felt like that, but there was no specific program such
 as we have today to encourage people to continue. Then real estate. they were
 not interested in real estate, so to speak. I said, well, this is not sufficient in
 attaining more property. You cannot expand unless you get the property.

P: As a result of this stormy meeting, did you have second thoughts or were you
 able to iron it out?

L: Yes, I immediately said, you do not need me, you need somebody else.
 However, the congregation, those individuals who were objecting did not
 represent the majority, just a small minority. Really behind that, the hidden
 agenda and the hidden motive was their feeling that I would become the
 individual who would have the power and whatever I said would be approved by
 the congregation. During the interim between the death of their pastor and the
 call to me, the deacons became the moving power and the force and so here we
 have now, a power struggle developing. It did go on for a while after I came, but
 eventually the congregation rose up and said, we are not going to have that. We
 have the leadership that we want and we are looking forward to making progress
 and said you folks will have to get in-line with the program. That goes on in
 churches today unfortunately. It is not relegated to black churches only, you find
 it all across the whole spectrum of religion in America.

P: Despite this power tension between you and the deacons, you decided to come
 anyway?

L: Yes, because the majority of the people voted and said that you are the person
 we want.