hows that welding business coming along"

I have a friend who was a Baptist preacher in Loris SC back in the nineties. He is a certified boilermaker welder and had a little side activity going along to buttress his meager salary to keep up a family of a wife and three children. Some in the church were embarassed from the playful ridicule in town that they couldnt support their preacher.

     On more than one occasion a Methodist used car salesman or insurance salesman would loudly ask across a crowded room at Lunch to the Baptist preacher " how is that welding business coming along."

    The point was not to humiliate the preacher , again a proud boilermaker, but to rib the members of the church in the room about their finances. Locker room jiving most of your deacons and elders insmall towns across the south partake it when not talking about aCC And SEC Football. That's about as deep as their understanding of church ever gets.

    Its kind of like that scene in There Will Be Blood where Daniel Plainview( Daniel Day Lewis ) is eating a steak with his "son" and announces to a room full of detractors who he has outfoxxed with Drinking Their Milkshake, that he has four wells producting.

     My Dad had similar situation in the sixties subbing school. One of the better members of the church was asked at the Post Office why Bethany couldn't pay the preacher enough to live on. We had a nice house, and never missed a meal, Momma was stay at home but we stretched a can of salmon a long way.

    The great Will Campbell said most Baptist churches were oblivious to the great Civil Rights struggle unless as in our case a person of color showed up in the church or befriended one of the Preacher's kids. They considered their preacher, the community mascot, and status was rated along several demarcations like cross town rivalries on Junior High baseball and football. 

      Just starting on this as its gonna get better