Unworthy servant, the

Aaron Finkelstein was a young man from a Los Angeles beach community with prospects of a career as a high school history teacher. After an unusual awakening one night, however, he felt driven to inquire into the religious association of his best friend from high school and college days, Nico Garza. And thus began his adventure, or misadventure, through the inner circles of the new religious group commonly referred to as the Way. The Way is an obscure Christian sect that distinguishes itself from mainline Christianity by insisting on a homeless, penniless, and celibate ministry; no church property; and a strict adherence to Jesus? instructions during the Last Supper ? which, incidently, they understand to mean something remarkably different from orthodox Christian practice. Way members adhere strictly to their understanding of modesty and sobriety, and much emphasis is placed on the absolute necessity of being personally instructed by the Holy Spirit. Nico was given to intellectual and philosophical discussion on any number of serious topics, a characteristic Aaron attributed to Nico?s spirituality ? and Aaron wanted to be more like that himself. So Aaron met middle-aged Chester Rose, the servant from South America whose gospel impressed Aaron sufficiently for him to consider investing his life savings in the Way and pursuing a life of preaching instead of teaching. Aaron?s final decision came after he met Trent Hansen, a young preacher who had been raised in the Way and befriended Aaron at his first retreat. But by coincidence, Trent was a closeted gay, and ultimately found that he could not deny his need to find himself after he discovered that the perfectly normal Aaron had been raised by a gay father with a gay life partner. Important to the Way was Floyd Toner, the aloof and stodgy gentleman in his nineties who had directed the affairs of the Way for decades from the pampered comforts provided by fawning followers. Along the way, Aaron also met Ted van de Kamp, the kindly preacher companion who was well versed in servant etiquette but performed poorly as a tutor of scripture and doctrine. Never to be avoided was Bart Stanley, the egotistical and controlling hell-fire and brimstone servant with whom Aaron wrestled mentally and emotionally for a year. And then, of course, there was Norman Coombs. Aaron had been assigned to Norman as his first preacher protégé. It turned out that Aaron frustrated Norman beyond his range of tolerance. No less important to the story is Victor Bergman, the crafty millionaire and prominent Way member who showed no compunction in using his wealth to manipulate everyone to his advantage. And Marty Spinner got into the act as well. He was the unruly college student who could never resist the urge to investigate what was meant to remain hidden. It was Marty who set the elderly Campbell sisters loose with all their embarrassing secrets at the summer retreat. Then when things got too out of hand, they called again on Clay Shipman, the criminal defense attorney the servants hated to need but for some reason could not disown completely. Being a Jew who also had been parented by a Muslim, Aaron had surprisingly less shared background with other Way members than many would expect. He turned out to be a novelty, a curiosity, and a celebrity as a convert to the Way. But it soon became apparent that as an individual and a preacher he was a bit of a maverick ? and somewhat more charismatic than the hierarchy appreciated. It was embarrassing that someone of Aaron?s background could correct them on some of their own Biblical interpretations, and it frustrated them no end that he would not denounce anything he had inherited of value from his previous life. He had to be gotten rid of, but even that proved somewhat more of a problem than they were used to handling.