You'll Never Preach in This Town Again

The Board of Directors at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chicago are not playing around in their dispute with their (former) pastor:

The Rev. Jimmy McCants was delivering a sermon titled "Can We Mend a Broken Heart?" on Sunday morning when Chicago Police arrested the 54-year-old pastor on a misdemeanor trespassing charge, outraging some members of his congregation.

McCants, pastor of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church at 356 E. 109th, was freed in lieu of $1,000 bail at about 4:30 p.m., after spending about five hours in the Calumet District police station being processed for his arrest, which was captured by a church member's video camera.

"My church is the house of the Lord, and I had not committed a criminal act," McCants said. "We were in service. . . . We're going to see what the lawyers say. I intend to go back next Sunday."

The arrest stems from an internal dispute among members of the church, said Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department.

The church's board of directors told police that McCants was fired Dec. 24, Bond said. On Jan. 6, a woman affiliated with the church signed a police complaint saying McCants had been trespassing on church grounds, Bond said.

"There were other witnesses [Sunday] who said he should not be there," Bond said.

If you read the whole story, you'll see it looks like a classic case of church infighting run amok.