Bag mix gets a bad rap but it works fine if you know what you are doing. The stuff is already graded and blended so you get the same batch every time, where site mixing by hand means your sand could be too wet, too much clay in it, or the guy with the shovel gets lazy and you end up with weak spots. Nobody is saying Pete's recipe is wrong, but 6 years of bag mix on commercial work means it passed inspection and held up, so calling it sand with glue is a stretch. The real win with Pete's mix is probably just that you slowed down and paid attention to your ratios, not some magic in the lime.

The real joke here is that the whole church now has a shared memory of you being the calm one while everyone else lost it, which is way better than just being the pasta salad guy. Laughing at the mess is basically the church agreeing that the moment was more fun than the food, and that's a win in my book. Honestly, next time bring a backup bowl and watch people's faces when they think you missed the point completely.