Book excerpt: We must be reminded that there are forces outside the church warring against us. These forces at times can be and are merciless and treacherous. But we are informed through the word of God that we are more that conquerors in Christ Jesus. It is not just the outside forces which attack the church that present obstacles to the church that we want to emphasize and recognize, but primarily the inside forces that corrode and erode the infrastructure of the small church. It is tragic enough to deal with trouble from outside of the church, but it's worse when those who should work for the well-being of the church become part of the problem and not part of the solution. It's not the circumstances of life that people have little or no control over that directly holds the small church hostage, but it's the circumstances in life that people have a reasonable amount of, or a lot of control of, that holds the small church hostage. Through these writings, awareness, and enlightenment will come to this devastating quagmire that plagues many of our churches. We will no longer continue to be in danger of being The Church Held Hostage.