John tells us in Revelation that Jesus will come with the clouds—but does that mean pastors should follow suit?
Perhaps one preacher thought so. Pastor Bartholomew Orr of Brown Baptist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, used a zip-line on Sunday while preaching on Jesus’ Second Coming.
Instead of walking into the service after worship, Orr flew in on the zip-line. As he slowly descended toward the stage, the pastor asked his congregation below if they were ready for Jesus to come back.
“It fit with the message I was preaching,” Orr says. “What better way to say He is coming back [and] are you ready for His return? I am a prop preacher anyway, so I have used props.”
A video of the sermon has since gone viral. On Monday morning, the Facebook video had garnered over 2 million views.
While many on social media found the video funny, others did not take as kindly to Orr’s preaching tactics.
Ebz, a Twitter user (@lllebzlll) wrote: “I saw this video of a pastor floating over the congregation like he was performing a concert but instead preaching while doing some acrobatic demonstration. I just wanna know how much of the church’s money did he spend on that [expletive]?”
Another commented: “Man if I ever logged into church and saw my pastor floating from from the rafters… I log right back out and cancel my tides funds.”
Members of Orr’s congregation came to his defense, saying he was simply preaching the gospel message in a creative way.
One member wrote: “The people of God will cut your throat over their pastor. It’s not a game.”
While Orr says some of his congregation may have defended him too fiercely, he stands behind his sermon.
“It just goes to show you, you never know what the Lord might use to get his message out,” he says.
Watch the video to see Orr’s grand entrance for yourself!
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