Day 4 Holiday Special with Litushia lovely

Heaven Forbid by Lutishia Lovely:

Still reeling from the disgrace their former pastor left in his wake, members of Gospel Truth Church need someone who can restore order. Enter Reverend Doctor Pastor Bishop Overseer Mister Stanley Obadiah Meshach Brook, Jr., who quickly sets up a code of ethics so strict even Jesus might not pass muster! When the new rules send much of the flock fleeing, Reverend Doctor O turns to Reverend Stanley Lee and his wife, Passion, to lead a revival.

But the church isn't the only thing that needs reviving—so does Stanley’s libido. Passion was celibate for five years before marrying, and is not happy that her husband’s lackluster wedding night performance has become the rule, not the exception. Desperate to make her marriage work, Passion turns to Reverend
Doctor O’s wife, Maxine, for advice. But Maxine is busy trying to clean out the skeletons in her own marital closet—because even the holiest have secrets…


Lutishia Lovely Bio

Lutishia Lovely is the author of the bestselling series, Hallelujah Love, which includes Sex In The Sanctuary, A Preacher’s Passion, Reverend Feelgood and the just released…Heaven Forbid. Her writing schedule keeps her pretty busy, but when she takes a break, she loves to read, watch sports, travel and whip up delicious vegetarian cuisine for friends and family in metropolitan Los Angeles, where she lives. Lutishia is excited about a brand new series. All Up In My Business, the first of at least three works about an Atlanta-based soul food dynasty, drops in March, 2011. She absolute LOVES to hear from readers, and is always available to hang out with book clubs. Contact her online at LutishiaLovely.com or Facebook, at lutishia.lovely.

Heaven Forbid’s Chapter One


If God Can’t Fix It…

Anyone watching the two men conversing quietly in the corner booth of the dimly lit
restaurant would have thought their discussion serious. They would have been right. The seasoned seventy-something, gray-haired minister, looking important and dignified in his black, double-breasted suit, listened intently as the younger man, displaying a rugged handsomeness in his navy blue, tailored Kenneth Cole design, used his manicured finger to underscore a point. “Number one,” Stan Lee said, his long, thick forefinger in midair, “all sexual misconduct is sin, whether or not your members want to hear it. Before you came and laid down the law, the Gospel Truth congregation was way out of hand, from the pulpit to the vestibule. You know I’m right about it. Two, it takes a tight rein to straighten out this kind of mess. And number three, Reverend Doctor O, I think you are the only preacher alive who can hold the rein tight enough to pull this backslidden church back in line with the Word.” Secretly, Stan wished the doctor could put somebody else in line—his wife. But that was another story.

Obadiah, officially known as The Reverend Doctor Pastor Bishop Overseer Mister
Stanley Obadiah Meshach Brook, Jr., and affectionately called “Reverend Doctor O,” nodded his head in understanding. He liked this young man’s fervor when it came to strong morals, and he couldn’t help but agree with him. Doctor Stanley Morris Lee, the forty-eight year old pastor of Los Angeles’ Logos Word Church, was a prolific preacher in his own right. Obadiahaffectionately called Stan his namesake, even though he’d gone by his second name, Obadiah, since childhood. He respected the Logos Word ministry and viewed Stan as a spiritual son. Obadiah knew that Stan spoke truth: the Gospel Truth Church was in a gospel mess following the nationally televised scandal of its former pastor, Nate Thicke, and it took a preacher well worth his salt to pick up the shattered pulpit pieces. Something of this magnitude was the only thing that could have pulled him out of retirement, though truth be told, he’d missed the pulpit and was glad to be back. Obadiah ran a hand over his weary eyes as he remembered the fiasco. How one of Nate Thicke’s many women had managed to secretly videotape them during a sexual tryst, and how a portion of said tape was spliced into a holiday cruise promotion that was then shown during a national church convention. For about five seconds, Nate’s glistening, bare backside had been seen by many of the twenty-thousand attendees before a quick-thinking technical director stopped the tape. It didn’t matter, the damage had been done. Nate was forced to resign and his mother, Nettie Thicke Johnson, had immediately placed a call to her good friend Maxine, Obadiah’s wife. Nettie, like Stanley, had been convinced that someone of Obadiah’s stature, experience and wisdom was the only one who could lead the congregation back down the straight and narrow path. Goodness knew that during Nate Thicke’s pastoral reign the members—and the minister—had gone buck wild. Obadiah cleared his throat and leaned towards Stanley, his powerful orator’s voice near a whisper. “I know in my heart that every rule I’ve put in place and every change I’ve implemented at that there church, is absolutely necessary. Narrow is the road that leads to salvation,” Obadiah continued, his voice rising slightly as he quoted scripture. He looked around the sparsely populated dining room, took in the rich chestnut walls accented with deep red-covered chairs and tablecloths and sipped his coffee. “But as right as I am, the church is failing. The Sunday offering