A confrontation during worship

By John Meunier on

Pastor preaches on authority of leaders. Congregation speaks out against him. Applause. Confrontation. Wow.

News story about the church here.

Posted in: Pastoring, Preaching

16 Responses

  1. Fireworks during a UMC worship service. « Love Radically

    [...] video was brought to my attention this morning by John Meunier a pastor and blogger from Indiana. The video shows congregants confronting their newly appointed [...]

  2. Jay

    Other than “wow” what do you think about the pastor’s message, and the congregation’s response?

    1. John Meunier

      Without the full inside scoop, I am ready to change my mind, but this strikes me as one of those sermons that is better handled in other ways. I also disagree with the basic message that says the pastor is the pilot and the congregation are the passengers.

      So, I’d not do this kind of sermon for at least two reasons. Of course, I say this from the safe distance of the Internet. The fact that he had congregants who took the video and posted it on YouTube indicates a pretty disfunctional situation already.

  3. Jay

    Seriously, I’m not sure what to make of this. Certainly congregations can be unbelievably resistant to change, and the issue of pastoral authority in our tradition isn’t always clear. On the other hand, my take on the sermon as I heard it and the pastor’s responses doesn’t win me a lot of sympathy, for it seemed a bit heavy handed. Of course, we don’t know what we are missing in this equation, and it isn’t clear to me if this guy is “new” (replacing the exiting Sr. Pastor) or an extension of her staff. Yes, it sounds very familiar to me, but I wonder if hammering folks with sermons on pastoral authority is the right way to affect change?

  4. Creed Pogue

    Rev. McCullough is listed as a supply pastor even though he is also a retired elder. Rev. Calvin Rich who was just ordained last year after two years as a provisional is the “senior pastor.” This seem so dysfunctional on so many levels.

    Taking a look at the service records for Susquehanna reveals that from 1978 to now, they had one pastor for five years, another for seven, then Lewis Parks (later a DS and seminary professor as well as episcopal candidate) for four, then a female pastor who later became a DS for seven, then a pastor for three years, another for three years who then retired (having served three three-year appointments), then the previous pastor for two years. I guess the congregation bears all the responsibility and there weren’t any mismatches or imperfect clergy???

  5. jim

    Why hasn’t there been unanimous condemnation from the UMC of this pastor calling in police, armed with lethal weapons, to sit in the back of the church to intimidate parishioners who might challenge him? (read the linked article) There have been no reports that anyone was in physical danger or that there actions considered crimes of any nature. The police had no legal justification to be there in uniform with guns on their hips and mace on their belts.

  6. jim

    Listened to this more closely. At one point he tells or asks police to escort out of the sanctuary a man who did nothing but stand up and challenge him.

  7. John Meunier

    Jim, you raise good questions. I do not know anything about the church policy or laws on such matters. I agree that armed police inside a worship service is quite odd and in conflict with the entire spirit of a worship service. I don’t know what, if any, conversation the district superintendent or bishop has had with this pastor and church.

  8. Kevin

    A pastor claiming his ultimate authority with the help of police in a church with mostly empty pews. Clearly there is a back story here that I am missing.

  9. JB

    This story continues to get more interesting. I’m sure there’s truth on both sides. Whatever the history, the end result sounds like a lot of pain for many folks involved.

    http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/08/former_pastors_congregation_cl.html

    1. John Meunier

      Thanks for the link. I had not seen it.

  10. Update on ‘Confrontation during worship’ « John Meunier

    [...] you see the video of the congregation confronting its pastor during a sermon? Thanks to JB for posting a link on that post to a follow up news [...]

  11. Randy Willis

    I am not personally familiar with the situation, but this church is in my conference. In fact, Rev. McCullough is one of my predecessors where I’m currently serving (this situation was brought to my attention from parishioners here who were concerned for their former pastor).

    While I am unfamiliar with the situation, I have FULL confidence in the people involved–the pastors, the district superintendent, the bishop. I know almost all of the leaders involved including many of the present and former pastors named in the above article.

    I was impressed with Dave’s handling of the situation (and the whole message, really). He was gentle yet authoritative without being authoritarian.

    Please pray for the pastors and for the healing and transformation of the church!

    1. John Meunier

      Randy, thank you for the perspective. Your suggestion for prayer is spot on.

  12. Earl Bright

    I am a member of this church and there are MANY, MANY other outside issues that unless you have intimate knowledge of, you cannot make an accurate assessemt of the whole situation.

    1. John Meunier

      Earl, I’d love to learn more. Can you share anything that will help us understand?