"The church?" Adam asked with curious confusion as Dylan instructed him to pull the car into the parking lot.
"Yeah, kind of." Dylan answered, butterflies exploding in his stomach.
"What do you mean by 'kind of'?" Victoria asked. Glancing back at him through the rearview mirror.
"Well, actually, what I wanted to show you is kind of the underworld of the church.
Adam raised his eyebrows. "'Underworld,' huh?"
Dylan nodded. "Although some of the kids like to call it the underworld or the catacombs, it's formally known as The Newton-Crosby Baptist Mission."
"The do what?"
Despite himself and his nerves, Dylan grinned at his father. "The Newton-Crosby Baptist Mission. After John Newton and Fanny Crosby. Jade Hayes came up with the name."
"They let a kid name a church?" Victoria asked, sounding surprised.
"As he led them through Sherwood and up to the indoor entrance to the mission, Dylan didn't know whether he should laugh or cry at her comment, so he chose not to respond at all to what had sounded like a rhetorical question anyway. Instead, he opened the door and led his parents down the stairwell.
"Has this place always been here?" Adam asked curiously as he and Victoria surveyed their unfamiliar surroundings.
Dylan shrugged. "I guess so. Until a couple of months ago, though, it was only a basement, kind of in bad shape. It really wasn't used for much of anything. Here," Dylan nodded in the appropriate direction. "The sanctuary is that room over there."
Adam and Victoria wandered into the unimposing, simple room and Dylan followed them, trying all the while to quell his nerves.
When Dylan saw that Adam noticed the trio of pledges on the wall, he shoved his hands in his jeans' pockets and made his way over to stand by his father before he could be called over. Adam looked him in the eye, confusion and maybe a little bit of what Dylan would identify as pain in his stare as he wordlessly asked for an explanation concerning the names of the first two pledges.
"I wrote them." Dylan confessed. "All three of them, actually. I had some help on the last one from Jade and Hannah, though."
Adam looked impressed, turning to look more closely at them. "Really? These look like something a preacher would cook up for the tees in his congregation."
"Yeah, well." Dylan took another deep breath – he had stopped counting how many he had taken since backing out of the driveway at the house – and looked at the floor, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the deep red carpet. "Teenagers and kids make up the majority of this congregation, so that would be the right assumption."
"Maybe the writing just runs in the family." Victoria suggested with a grin as she came over to stand beside her husband.
"Maybe so." Dylan agreed with a small smile in her direction. "Next up: the kitchen is across the hall, if you want to see it
There really isn't physically that much to this place, just so you know. But I do still spend a lot of time here."
"Why?" Victoria asked. "I mean, it seems like a great place – I don't see that your father and I will have any problem with it – so I'm just curious as to why so much time here."
Dylan took another deep breath and answered, eyes averted, "I'll show you in a couple of minutes, if that's alright."
Both of his parents looked at him strangely, but they agreed anyway, seeing his growing discomfort. So Dylan quickly showed them the kitchenette and the classrooms before he stopped before the last door, the only one that was usually even partially closed. Adam noticed first.
"Son, why is your name on the door?"
It was simply a piece of paper that Hannah had taped to the door, but it did the job just the same as any plaque would have.
"Because, I, um," God, help me out here! "I'm kind of the pastor here. Of sorts. I'm not ordained." Another deep breath. "But for the past few months, I've felt called to preach. So, a couple of months ago, I started this place with the help of Jon Rodgers, Jade, and Tyler. And then Hannah and Leon just recently got more involved too. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you before now – really, really sorry that I didn't."
Seeing their stun-gunned expressions, Dylan suggested, "Why don't we go back to the sanctuary? There's enough seats in there for all of us. I can explain more in there before the service starts."
"'Service'?" Adam repeated.
Dylan nodded. "One service on Tuesday nights and two on Saturdays."
"So… you're going to preach tonight?" Adam asked as they walked back into the sanctuary.
"Yep." Dylan answered with a sigh.
"Well," Adam sat down in a folding chair beside Victoria and across from Dylan. "I can't say that I appreciate being lied to, and I'm still not sure why you didn't just tell your mother and me about all of this, but…" Adam looked around at the mission. "I will say that I'm proud of you for taking this on."
Dylan blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected that last part, not yet anyway. "Thanks." He smiled a little. "That means a lot."
Adam smiled back at him.
"Hey, Dylan!"
All three of the Mitchells jumped in surprise when someone called from down the hallway, having just come in through the outdoor entrance.
"We're in the sanctuary, Leon." Dylan called back.
"We come bearing good equipment, and great girlfriends." Hannah's voice floated to the Mitchells as she came into the sanctuary ahead of her brother.
But Dylan still didn't miss the protective look that flashed through Leon's eyes as he entered the room at Hannah's use of the word "girlfriend." It had recently become apparent that Leon didn't know what to think of Hannah's employ of the label any more than Dylan did.
Then Dylan's attention was caught by the video camera that Hannah held and the camera stand that Leon was toting. "What's that for?"
"Uh, Dylan," Hannah caught his eye worriedly, and only then did Dylan remember that his parents were next to him. "Should we come back later?"
"Nah," Adam answered for his son. "You're fine. I think that we're done talking about it for now." He nodded towards Leon. "Is this your brother?"
"Yes, sir." Leon shifted the stand to one arm and stepped forward to shake Adam's hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too."
"What's the video stuff for?" Dylan asked. "The YouTube channel that you guys talked me into, I guess?"
"Exactly." Hannah replied.
"Where'd you get it?" Dylan asked, taking the camera off of her hands and examining it.
Leon answered with a smile, "I saw it at a yard sale yesterday for twenty bucks. I told the woman that it was for a church and she gave it to me for a quarter of the price."
"Cool."
"It feels like we're ready to really start going places now, doesn't it?" Leon asked.
"Yeah," Dylan grinned a little over his shoulder, looking back at his parents. "Yeah, it does."
There should only be one more chapter left to this story, possibly two. Sorry if the writing seems not up to my usual standards somehow. It kinda feels like it to me for some reason. And I know that it's an unusual plot (and now an unusually named mission), but please, if you review, no flames. I hope that you enjoy this story! Thanks, guys (and girls)!
Also, if you feel like checking it out, I recently put a poll up on my page to decide what story to work on after this one is finished.:)