Pastor Walubendi (not his real name), is my pastor and a man of calm demeanor, except when he is in the pulpit in combat with the devil. He volleyed and thundered, putting on a different personality. Despite the church’s hardline stand on gambling, he joined one of the leading betting sites in the country. But that story, I will tell u later on in this article.

First things first; one Sunday morning during the English service, Mr Walubendi deliberately skipped a verse. Despite efforts by the lay reader to correct this, he pressed on. "Today’s reading is from the book of Proverbs 13:10-12" he said,” Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.  Err.....Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life."

I sat there, baffled tremendously, holding my smartphone. I swiped to cross-check the skipped verse 11, which read... ‘Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labor shall increase’.

A minute passed, Pastor Walubendi’s phone beeped. From where I was seated, I saw him fumble to open the text message. He paused, and then began sweating. He picked a handkerchief from his alb pocket, wiped his soaked face, and then excused himself from the pulpit. He went straight to the vacant cloakroom. He forgot to switch off his collar microphone.

I know you will find this interesting; I go to the same church with my boss. He picks me in every Sunday morning in his old, smoky, rickety Volkswagen. So he stops by the gate, hoots twice and texts me to come along with a bottle of water to refill the leaking carburetor. I can recall the first day he picked me I actually thought the engine was in front. “Engine ya ii gari iko nyuma boss”, he said. The windows did not close properly, so if it rained, we had to park and seek shelter.

“Shit!” Pastor Walubendi’s voice, loud and clear, reverberated in the church hall through the speakers. He had placed two bets, each with ten thousand Shillings. Little did the congregation know that as we sat listening to his sermon, Pastor Walubendi was anxiously waiting for the outcome of the two teams he had placed stakes on. It was halftime; his team had conceded two goals.


My boss, who is also the church elder, stood up and shouted, “What in the name of God is this buffoonery?” You could hear a pin drop. Pastor walubendi, who was still in the cloakroom, had not noticed his microphone was on. He broke into a dirge.

Agitated congregants up and marched to the Bishop's office demanding for his dismissal having obtained evidence of his confession to gambling with offertory, high handedness and incompetence. He was relinquished of his clergyman ship due to his repeated skipping of 'contentious' issues.


A gambler is nothing but a man who makes his living out of hope.  ~William Bolitho