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Our church is in a rural community but we have our share of strange "visitors". Within the past year, we had a group of gothic teens and twenty somethings that would frequent the church grounds and be seen doing strange things such as walking the center line of the farm to market roads as cars slowed to keep from hitting them.

Around this same time, some of the church playground equipment was damaged and the church paintballed. And, it just so happens that one Sunday morning I found the gothic "creatures" on the kids playground equipment as I arrived at church later than usual. I walked over, told them we had had problems with people damaging the kids equipment and I insisted that if they wanted to hang out that they should join me for the service. They were taken aback and actually came inside for worhsip service, but scooted at the first opportunity after a few minutes. After the service, I inspected the playground equipment to find that it had been vandilized with graffiti that would violate the 10 year old daughter rule. Belt sanded it off.

I grew up in the country and used to roam the woods and neighboring farms of the community from sun-up to sun-down when I was a kid. I still live in the country but wouldn't dream of letting my kids do the same. It's sad to realize that we live in a different day and age.

KD5NRH wrote:Were any other churches in the area doing something special that day? He might have been expecting something other than a normal Sunday service, and realized he was in the wrong place.

Given that it was Lee-Jackson and MLK day weekend, there might have been a special lunch or music service that he was trying to find, and I've seen a few churches that don't look as poorly on inappropriate dress as they used to.

Who knows?

I just know he wasn't there to sing in the choir.

seamusTX wrote:Ya never know. Probably mentally ill or intoxicated. Maybe he didn't know what day of the week it was.

The Starbucks cup may have been his customary way of carrying booze, picked up long ago.

Yeah, I'm thinking he was looking for a bathroom and/or coming off a hard Saturday night. But, he definitely looked perturbed about something after his "deer in the headlight" look faded.

Midway through the service, the side door to the sanctuary opens up and there stands a mid-twenty something white male that has as shocked a look on his face as the few of us who saw him. After a wierd look he closes the door. Now my wife who is definitely not anti-gun but lacks the interest to be involved with firearms leans to me and in a concerned tone says, "You packin'?" (She's slowly beginning to realize...) Two ushers immediately get up and are out the back door to invetigate. After the service I talked to them and they say that he was leaving in a car by the time they made it outside. Now in hindsight this guy was probably not a threat...but the whole incident causes me to think as I am a people watcher and curious of others by nature.

My observations...
1. This guy was in a pair of jeans and a black short sleeve t-shirt with black ball cap turned backwards (Fred Durst look-a-like for you Limp Biskit fans), and was holding a cup of Starbucks Coffee. Odd! It was about 30 degrees out and the nearest Starbucks is 25 miles, so he must have been passing through???

2. He was definitely not there to attend the service as he acted as if he didn't expect to see people in the sanctuary on a Sunday morning. Maybe he didn't realize the door entered into the sanctuary??? Looking for a bathroom??? Maybe he was looking for something to steal???Although he wasn't at the door long, he did manage a wierd look of disgust before closing the door.

3. I find this last part unbelievable...Only a few people even saw the guy. This happened during a very quiet time in the service, and the sound of the door opening was very noticeable, yet most were oblivious. Even the pastor who was probably closest to the set of doors did not see the guy. WOW!

Anyway, in the wake of the Colorado incident, I couldn't help but second guess this guy.