Rich Kirkpatrick's Weblog

A conversation on faith & culture for creatives, leaders & influencers

(Main site branding)

Volume too loud? — Church gets barged in for volume complaints!

March 28, 2008 at 12:01 am, by Rich Kirkpatrick

Watch out if your worship team plays music too loud and gets the attention of neighbors. This is from Special Report with Britt Hume…

 

A
Michigan church has filed a federal lawsuit after police officers and a
prosecutor barged in without a warrant.The officers say they were
responding to complaints from neighbors who said the church’s music was
too loud.

 

But Faith Baptist Church in Waterford
alleges its freedom of religious expression, freedom of speech and
freedom of association were violated. Richard Thompson — president of a
Christian law firm representing the church – says, "They were not
invited. They burst into the church. Unless they had an arrest warrant
or a search warrant, they had no right to go there except for worship.”

 

But Prosecutor Walter Bedell says, "The whole issue is not the type of music — it’s the music and the volume…"

 

Township Supervisor Carl Solden added, "I would think ‘love thy neighbor’ would enter into this somewhere."

This is even more interesting if you are in the worship team from www.crosswalk.com…

The matter with police began during a Wednesday night youth service in
October 2007 when uniformed police officers led by Bedell entered the
church’s sanctuary where the church’s band was practicing, according to
the lawsuit.
 
 
Bedell then ordered police to take down the names
and addresses of all the people on the stage so they could be charged
with disorderly conduct.

Wow!  If you see me in a mug shot someday for this, that would be cool, eh?

Categories Church Stuff, Current Affairs | Tags:

  • http://4whatitsworth.wordpress.com/ Shannon Lewis

    The first ‘Christian Concert’ I ever played was when I was 17 (oddly, I was the only non-believer in the band) and we got shut down by the cops (I’ve got it on video-tape), supposedly from a complaint by someone who lived over a mile away. I am still proud of that! ;-)

  • http://every-other-address-is-taken.blogspot.com/ Jeremy Blasongame

    Luckily it wasn’t someone in the congregation whining about it being too loud and then phoning the Bobbies.

    I don’t suppose the neighbors could have just written a letter the next day? That would have been polite.

    It reminds me of the elementary school I went to. The school has been there since ’69 and then in ’02 the empty 7 acre lot next door gets a house built on it – 20 feet from the property line, and the owner starts complaining about playground noise, the bells… Seven acres and you have to build your house on the property line?

    And looking on Google Earth you see the same problem. The church is built in the middle of a rather snug housing community. The Google Earth ruler shows it to be .03 miles (158 feet) from the nearest house!

  • http://rkweblog.com Rich Kirkpatrick

    Would it not be interesting to see our “worship wars” end up in federal court? This is just like a very bad dream I had once.

  • http://mikedaltonbass.blogspot.com Mike Dalton

    It’s time to turn the amps around towards the house and as Nigel Tuffnel says,”this goes to 11″. Can’t do that though, they need to be the light. People have to complain, otherwise they might not be happy. Prozac is a good cure. Not sure if I spelled that right!!

  • http://www.readscott.com Scott

    ha, this happened to us in one of our student services. the music was too loud and someone from the neighboring apartment complex called the cops. they didn’t barge in, but they did come in and ask us to turn it down.

    we obliged and asked the police officer to please tell the person who called in the complaint that we were sorry and that we’ll be more mindful in the future.

    it still makes for a great story.

  • http://betterthanblank.org alex mclean

    we got a rehearsal shut down a few months ago by the HOA gestapo in a murrieta neighborhood. they called the cops cuz they were too skered to come ask us to turn it down…

  • http://www.fredmckinnon.com Fred McKinnon

    Wow,
    This is crazy! At the same time, is there a noise ordinance on the books? If so, and if the church was in true violation of the ordinance, they should consider how to remedy that … ’cause we’re called to obey the laws of the land, unless of course, those laws and/or authority causes to do something contrary to God’s Word, etc.

    I’d seriously doubt a noise ordinance was violated, though … I agree, looks like tne neighbor could’ve just filed a complaint or written a letter.

    Then again, maybe they had done this many times already. (why in the WORLD do I find myself wanting to be the neighbor’s advocate here??) …

    Regardless, I don’t exactly thing this was handled correctly – w/o knowing all the past, details, etc., it’s hard to say, but makes for an entertaining story, for sure!

    Thanks, Rich!
    Fred

  • http://rkweblog.com Rich Kirkpatrick

    Fred…I do not think the church would be in court if it was handled correctly by officials.

    Really, it is ridiculous and the fact the worship style is in the mix of the conversation in court docs is just amazing and a sign of the cultural shifts among us.

  • http://www.fredmckinnon.com Fred McKinnon

    Rich,
    Wholeheartedly agree.

On Twitter