Just had meeting with my pastor. I found it edifying.
He emphasized in the church life that where your heart is is of utmost importance. If you go to church out of habit and/or obligation, you may as well not get out of bed. He also appreciated that I would ask to talk to him.
As for Orthodoxy and the like, his basic points were:
1). Aesthetics can be like an idol. He mentioned something about people in Guadalajara praying to a "doll."
2). The Church is not any kind of authority. He of course acknowledged that the Bible was written by human hands and that there were letters of Paul not included in the canon (and others, like Titus and Philemon that seem "odd" given their brevity and specificity). So, rather than the Church compiling the canon, God allowed the Church to recognize the authority/authenticity of certain letters and Gospels.
3). I mentioned one thing that attracted me to Orthodoxy was that (in my view) it underwent persecution. But he mentioned that Catholics, Protestants, JW's and Mormons have also been persecuted. I explained that this was not really a "logical" reason to like the Church and conceded it was possible that the EO suffered because they were jerks.
He also mentioned the importance of the Holy Spirit in revelation, but we didn't talk about whether the Spirit was with any particular church. I was tempted to go into an aside about [ultra]Montanism, but the talk was going and cutting into my already compromised lunch break.
One encouraging thing was that he was willing to read my copy of The Orthodox Church by +Metr. KALLISTOS. He also jokingly agreed that maybe his church should implement a fasting rule. (Speaking of reading, he has an extensive personal library--of opposing viewpoints too, like Catholic, Charismatic and even some New Atheist literature).
All said, I do not feel easy about letting go of this church (otherwise I would have gotten chrismated yesterday). I believe my Pastor is a genuinely Godly man. He may be a bit harsh and a bit authoritarian whenever he says "If you are not a Christian today," but I felt a bit of sympathy for him when he mentioned that several attendees told him they were not Christian (but took Communion anyway). He realizes that he really can't force anyone to be a Christian but at the same time he wants to hold to what he considers Christian truth.
As an aside, he and his family (and a team) are doing a church plant in San Jose. Pray for them.