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I'm sorry if my posts are not directly about dating. I grew up in a very sheltered environment and I don't have the dating experience you ladies do, but I still find it important to ask about scrotatious behavior from men, so I can look out for myself.
Yesterday I was going to church (I know, I know - I'm still a spiritual person) and the pastor there, who I already have experienced some weird vibes from (I removed myself from membership there but sometimes attend because I know a couple of faces there. I make sure to leave the building before he is the only one left, or else that would be creepy AF), did something I consider strange.
I was walking past one of the entrances to the church (his dressing room is closer to that entrance) in order to enter the church from a different door, because that door was closer to the bathroom. As I walked past the "dressing room" entrance, I didn't notice him coming out that door, but two seconds after I walked past it, I hear a sudden "Hi Sally" right behind me (Sally isn't my name but I'm making a point here). I could not quite detect if he said it in a way to "ambush'' or startle me, but something about the way he did it, did not sit right with me. He KNEW that I did not know he was behind me and I felt he should not have approached me that way. I don't know if he thought I saw him through the entrance before he walked out the door, but personally, I did not.
Something I want to be proactive about before anyone asks why I've gone there from time to time - I struggle with finding his speaking charismatic and he is rather handsome and has a handsome-sounding voice, but based on specific incidents, I feel something is very off about him. A few years ago, he told me right in front of the congregation (and it was at me, not to the congregation) that new believers in Apostolic times would have to take off all their clothes. Sadly, he has a cult-like following and people just don't see the weirdness in him that I do.
Ew, this pastor seems like an absolute creep and a menace.
Men in positions of authority over women, especially in these “respectable” positions tend to enjoy the control they have over how their community views them and their interactions with others. It allows them to get away with so much more, knowing the community will take them at their word and assume the worst of whomever speaks ill of them.
Personally, I’d bring up every creepy thing he says with the fellow church-goers I’m close to, and point out how weird it is to say such a thing. Not directly calling him a predator, but bringing to attention how many really very odd and uncomfortable things he says, so that it colors the broader perspective and when he makes such comments in the future, other people notice it for what it is.
Stare them in the eye. Assert dominance. It freaks them out.
A few years ago, he told me right in front of the congregation (and it was at me, not to the congregation) that new believers in Apostolic times would have to take off all their clothes.
That's very creepy. Please avoid being alone with this man. He sounds like he could be a predator. If he ever offers to give you a ride somewhere or asks you to stay behind after church service, please say no.