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The pastor of a large Baptist church in Fayette County, GA has been ordered by a county marshal to appear before a judge in August. The potential penalty could be up to $1,000 fine and 60 days in jail. The church held a car show on its property which, according to the county, requires a $30 permit fee. The church refused to pay and thus the confrontation.

I am not the pastor and cannot speak to the rightness or wrongness of the position he and the church have taken. However, I am a pastor and have been so for some five decades. During the pandemic, we, along with other churches, were faced with a dilemma. What do we do about restricted attendance, social distancing, suggested but not mandated mask wearing, and all the rest that caused angst among church leaders?

Our Council met on Zoom many times throughout the pandemic and grappled with the situation as best we could. We decided that we had two biblical mandates: (1) To obey those in authority over us, including the government. (2) To obey God rather than man. We sought to do both, as difficult as that was. At the very start, we eliminated two extreme positions: (1) To refuse to do anything different no matter what we were told, and (2) to shut down worship services until the pandemic was over.

So, we walked through those months and tried to remain as flexible as we could. Of course, not everyone in the church was happy, especially those who held opinions on one or the other extremes. As a result, we lost some people, but our goal was not to please everyone but to do the right things and keep our people safe while trying to fulfill those two biblical mandates. At the end, no one who attended our services caught or spread the Covid-19 virus. As far as I know, no one got sick, and no one died. Mission accomplished.

For over 13 years I was the senior pastor of Trinity Fellowship Church. Along about the tenth year of my tenure, the Official Board and I decided to start a Christian school. I soon discovered that the Fire Marshal had a say in what we would need to do to the building to come into compliance. It was going to cost us a bit. But we complied and eventually received the go ahead to begin the school. Today, though I have been gone from there almost 28 years, through excellent leadership and parents who sacrifice, Trinity Christian School now has around 1,900 students on two campuses. It was well worth the start-up costs and both biblical mandates were fulfilled.

Personally, I would have paid the $30 for the reasons mentioned above. But then, its not up to me and there may be valid reasons why the position was taken. Perhaps they believe its a First Amendment issue. For their part, the county has the power to exempt the church should it choose to do so. It just seems like an awful lot of fuss over $30.

[David Epps is the Rector of the Cathedral of Christ the King (www.ctk.life). Worship services are on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. and on livestream at http://www.ctk.life. He is the bishop of the Diocese of the Mid-South (www.midsouthdiocese.life). He has been a weekly opinion columnist for The Citizen for over 27 years. He may be contacted at davidepps@ctk.life.]

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Car shows, the First Amendment, and $30 - The Citizen.com