Photo Courtesy of Twitter
A church service went awry in Tennessee as a pastor gave a sermon to his congregation, and a fight broke out between two parishioners on Christmas Day. The incident was caught on video.
On Sunday, a young man threw a barrage of punches at another man sitting in the front pew of Olivet Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The man who was sitting down immediately popped up to defend himself. The presiding pastor, Bishop Kevin Adams, is heard on the footage, saying,
“Stop it, Marcus. Marcus, come on.”The Christmas service was being live-streamed and as the fight continued– the stream was disconnected.
Bishop Adams recorded a video addressing the altercation at Olivet. He explained that the young man had recently been released from rehab and was going through it. As far as throwing hands with the youth pastor at the church, the bishop said he believed Marcus relapsed.
The concerned pastor revealed that he and his family were close to Marcus and that he had issues. He described him as a “wonderful young man.”
“He had some issues and problems, where he had just left rehab. All of us go through stuff. Y’all know I done been through my stuff. We all been through stuff,” Bishop Adams said.
“So the young man just got out of rehab and some situations going on and he was supposed to be going back into rehab, and was under the control of outside forces.”
Bishop Adams shared that outside influences may have talked Marcus into bringing static into the church, but that the congregation and the pastor fully support him. He also said once he talked to the young man– he broke down.
Of course, Black Twitter did not disappoint with its comments regarding the video. Some Twitter users posted their videos of altercations in various churches.
Other Twitter users commented on the ignorance that ensued.
Although the internet wasn’t kind to Marcus and his situation, we hope he gets the help he needs.