THE CHURCH IS DISRUPTED

The reason God's people gather together at the church is to worship. We come together so we can get our minds off of the problems of the world; we come to think of God and his goodness and greatness. That's the plan. It often doesn't happen that way.

I remember the time when a man disrupted a revival service to yell about his disagreement with what was being preached. He had been in the service but had left a little earlier. I was seated on the platform, and I wondered why he didn't return. I just assumed he didn't want to be there any longer. I was shaken out of those thoughts when he rushed into the front of the auditorium as he was screaming and yelling. He came around right where I was sitting, and I immediately jumped up and grabbed him by the arm. This was before the days when we worried about someone actually entering with a gun, and I didn't even think about him hurting me. I did ask myself, "Where is Bill Ivy?" Bill was a superintendent of a local coal mine, he was a deacon, and he was a leader of men. Just as I had the question about Bill, I turned to look and there he was. He and two other men came to help and grabbed the man. We pulled him out of the auditorium and asked him to quieten down, but he continued to yell and cause a disturbance. After getting him outside and being unsuccesful in our efforts, we called the local police who transferred him to the city jail. Oh well, so much for a quiet worship service.

Churches are prime candidates for robberies; in today's society most churches have installed some type of security system. In churches I've served in the past, we have lost sound equipment, cash, video equipment, and anything else that could be sold for a profit. We had so maky break-ins in one church that I told the staff to quit locking the doors to their offices because every time there was a burglary the crooks would just kick in and ruin the door jambs.

At the same church we once had a big old safe stolen. We didn't have much in the safe, but we collected a small amount from the insurance company. It wasn't long until the Sheriff's Department called to tell us they had found the safe unopened in the river bottom. The door was messed up and not able to be fixed. I knew I would have to report it back to the insurance company; I just told the Sheriff's Department to keep it as a gift from us.

In one church we had money stolen from purses in the choir room, and we determined to solve the crime. We actually set up a sting operation by leaving some of the men on watch by the choir rooom during church, and it wasn't too many Sundays until we caught our thieves. I'll always remember the day when Mac Morrison came to the back of the auditorium during a service and motioned for me to leave my place on the platform. He had caught some young men with their hands in the purses, and they immediately made a trip to the police station. (Above is a picture of Mac feeding deer in his back yard in New Braunfels. YES, Mac did look a little different when he caught the thieves, but this is the only picture that I have.)

It's good to remember that through all the disruption, God is still in control.