Traveling like wildfire

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a friend of mine. He's been hearing little wafts of information regarding the happenings at Bellevue, and wanted to know if it was as nasty as he'd been hearing.
I asked "What have you been hearing?" His reply was accurate--that there are a group of people in the church membership that won't merely be happy if Pastor Gaines (and a number of other staff members) leave Bellevue, that these people are now in the mode to destroy careers and, yes, ruin lives.

Unfortunately, it seems many people have left "disagree without being disagreeable" in the rear view mirror a long time ago, and that's a shame. Oddly enough, the bad news had traveled to my friend complete with context, which was actually a pleasant surprise. But the fact that the bad news is traveling at all should stand as a convicting indictment against the people who attack the Bellevue staff and lay leadership. Words and actions, particularly in this age, reverberate past their intended audiences; we should all, therefore, choose them carefully.

--Mike