1 /5 Rachel Johnson: I visited this church because a coworker invited me and I was new to California. At the end of my first visit, the pastor called me to the alter and basically forced me to declare membership in front of the entire congregation. I went along with it, spoke to a representative after service and went on my way. I was out of town the next two Sunday’s, but when I returned for my 2nd visit, I grabbed a coffee on my way to church. Remember, this is my second visit. As the pastor was preaching on voting, I take a sip of my coffee. He stops his message and calls me out of drinking coffee in the sanctuary. He said “there are signs in the lobby” and “if you need coffee then you should go to bed earlier” and (this really shocked me) “pews are too expensive to have drinks around them”. I was in awe. Right after that message and song, I excused myself. I will never return to that church. If there was a problem with my drinking coffee at 8am service, then you could have had an usher ask me to throw it away or approach me after service or during the meet and greet. But instead, the pastor choose to publicly humiliate me by stopping a message over coffee in fear that I would spill on the expensive pews.
