By Charlie Melton

Pastor Jeff is what they call a “Hard-Shell Baptist.” He was only in his twenties, but when he preached you could smell the brimstone. You didn’t doze during Jeff’s sermons. He kept us engaged at church, and even had us spending our Saturdays beating on doors and witnessing. We believed.

On no particular Sunday morning, the house was packed, as was typical. During the sermon, a Deacon came into the sanctuary from a side door. His voice boomed, “Preacher, the nursery is on fire.” Lots of us, me included, got up and ran towards the nursery to save the children. The Preacher screamed into the PA, “Stop! It’s not on fire. Stop! Take your seats.” We were unsure what was going on, but we filed back to our pews. It was a setup, a stunt, a lesson, from the Deacon and the Pastor. [Read more...]