[pelathais]

We hosted a funeral once for a kid who had attended Sunday School many years before. In his teen years he joined a gang and was killed playing "Russian Roulette" with a shotgun (don't ask, I have no idea). A local court ruled that his cousin could attend the funeral. The cousin was some sort of notorious gang leader in protective custody. I had to help the sheriff's department map everthing out in advance. We sat the cousin alone with his guards in the balcony.

In the hall behind the balcony were deputies with those little knock-off MP5 machine pistol clones. And then my kids - just toddlers at the time, ended up having to stay upstairs with the deputies. That was about the most hardware that I ever saw in a church before. I was told that there were police snipers around the church, but I didn't see any sign of them. The building itself was ringed by police cars.

Only been in one actual brawl during church. A guy was "shacking up" with this woman he had met there at church. They were by no means "members" of the church, just people who would come around from time to time. One day this fellow comes into church and the head usher, a rather problematic individual himself at times, ask about "the wifey..." This was while the choir was singing. The, uhm, gentleman took offense to the comment and began to throw folding chairs into the congregation. One sister took a chair across the forehead and required hospitalization.

It took about 4 or 5 of us to wrestle the nutcase outside. He beat up one guy pretty good in the scramble. As we wrestled him out the door (the choir never stopped singing!) the pastor was laying hands on him and "casting out Satan..." with no visible effect. We got the guy outside and I was going to call the police but the pastor rebuked me for it. Instead, we prayed for a moment and then allowed the now felonious nutcase back into the church. He joined with the congregation in the pot-luck after service just like he was family. The injured sister received several stitches and was released later that day.