A commotion on the front row of Tennessee's Chattanooga-based Olivet Baptist Church disrupted Sunday service involving a man punching a pastor.
Christian News Now reported that Bishop Kevin Adams was preaching on Sunday when a man approached another man seated on the front row and punched him in the head. Adams, who is Olivet Baptist Church's Senior Pastor, was reading from Matthew 2 when the incident happened that was captured on livestream.
"Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and we have come--" Adams could be heard saying in the live video seconds before the incident took place.
The Christian Headlines said the man who approached the front row is 34-year-old Marcus Williams and the man he assaulted is Chris Sands, who is Adams' first assistant and the church's youth pastor.
The video also showed that Sands stepped out from the pew as soon as Williams started swinging at him. Other congregants then came up to restrain Williams and screaming could be heard from the background, "hold him!" While Adams could be seen calmly telling Williams to "stop." The congregants took it upon themselves to hold an altar call after everything became calm again. They formed a prayer ring around the pulpit to encourage Adams to finish his sermon.
As per WTVC News, Sands narrated to the police through his affidavit that Williams attacked him out of believing that the former insulted the latter's mother.
While Adams took to Facebook to explain to the public what happened during that worship service. Adams said that Williams' mother was like a sister to him such that Williams "grew up in church." Although he did disclose that Williams just left rehab and was on his way back that Sunday to rehab but dropped by church first.
"Wonderful young man. I think the world of him," Adams said on Tuesday.
"(He was) under the control (of) some other forces and influences (at that time). We know that the Bible says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but it's principalities, powers, and spiritual wickedness in higher places," he added.
Adams went on to say that Williams immediately felt sorry for what he did and even cried and apologized for doing so when he was removed from the sanctuary by those who restrained him and brought into the nearby fellowship hall of the church. Adams stressed that Williams seemed unaware of being there in the first place.
In this regard, Adams called the incident a "test" from God on the congregation's maturity. He shared that it was something he has never seen before and felt the need to "love them both" pertaining to Williams and Sands.
"Today was a major test for us. I want to thank God for the mature saints of OBC. An altercation like that broke out, and we didn't have one member lead (or) one member act out of character-all the members started praying. All the men jumped up on cue to contain the situation. I was standing at the pulpit spellbound (asking myself), 'What do I do,' cause my heart was going out for Marcus. My heart was going out for Chris," Adams pointed out.
"I wanted to go back there and love on both of them, (and) the next thing I know, here is the congregation I have to take care of," he said.
