My most memorable one was during the Katrina crisis when our building was being used by the Red Cross as a disaster relief site. I was preaching one Sunday morning, praising the Red Cross for doing such a good job in helping people durng those difficult days. I had read where the Red Cross mistakenly got a bad reputation during WW2 for supposedly charging soldiers for certain items overseas. Anyway, the bad feelings still remain today with a lot of people thinking the Red Cross is just a money hungry organization, charging people before they will help them, which isn't true. Well, I was trying to tell the story of how they got that reputation, how it did not affect the way things are done today, and what a wonderful job they were doing during the hurricane. After spending quite a bit of time trying to straighten the whole story out, and just when I think I've tied it off, one of my members, a nice guy but a bit oblivious to things, rose his hand and said, "I know for sure that they charged people to help them." I said, "I know during this specific circumstance they did, but it is not a common practice." Well, while he was shaking his head no, another member who does not think too well of me, piped up in a loud voice and said to me, "You need to sit down and shut-up! You don't know what you are talking about!"

My response... " Er.........Uh............Let's pray!"

In the church I grew up in we had an elderly couple attending. She ended up senile and would blurt out expletives and off the wall comments during worship. Her poor husband tried his best to quiet her but it was really no use.

In January 2004, shortly after we moved from Houston to Antioch, an interesting thing happened on a Sunday morning. As people were gathering between class and worship , a gentleman walked in whom I had not yet seen. I ask someone if he was a member, and they said he wasn't, but that he had come before. So, I greeted him and said we were thrilled to have him. He went in and sat near the front. Well, just as we were finishing the first song, he stood up in the center aisle and began to "speak in tongues" in a rich baritone voice. He continued for about a minute or 90 seconds. When he finished, he looked at me, nodded knowingly, and sat back down. As the saying goes, the silence was deafening. I swallowed slowly (trying to decide what to say) and looked at the people (who were all staring at me to see what I would say.) What came out was simply something like, "Let's praise the God about whom this gentleman was speaking." and we sang our next praise song. After services I learned that he had done something similar a few years before and sort of thought it was his ministry to go around and "bless" churches in this way. I told the person who shared this, "Thanks for telling me!!" However, I soon realized that if I had known ahead of time, I'd probably have tried to figure out a way of controlling the situation. As it was, I think God simply diffused the tension and used it to His glory. This gentleman hasn't been back, but every few years......

You obviously struck a nerve, Brad. You'll never forget that encounter the rest of your life!

Now I've heard it all - a lady blurting out expletives in the middle of the worship service?!?

Thanks for sharing these unusual stories.

Rick, why didn't you interpret? (Just teasing.)

I just remembered a conversation I had with Lynn Anderson. We were talking about this very topic - all the unusual things that have happened in churches. I seem to remember him saying he'd like to write a book called (something like this) "Something Funny Happened On The Way To Heaven."

I remember that like 10 years ago, on a campaign in Tijuana Mexico, Brother Jesus C. was finishing his sermon and making the invitation to come in front and be baptized, and in the most bizarre moment that I have ever witness, a DOG enters the building and sits in front of the pulpit with his eyes on the minister, and Bro. Jesus said: Well, there’s no one else? Or should I go ahead and baptize this dog only?