Posted 8/13/03
Operation Rescue protester disrupts worship service
By Steve DeVane
N.C. Biblical Recorder
CONCORD, N.C.–A protester was arrested at McGill Baptist Church in Concord, N.C., July 13 after he stood up at the end of a worship service and started shouting.
McGill was expelled from Cabarrus Association in April for baptizing two gay men.
The protester, Steven Borchert of Lafayette, Ind., was at the church with a several other people from “Operation Rescue – Operation Save America.” The group opposes homosexuality, abortion and Islam, according to its website.
The group, which moved its headquarters to Concord this year, held a series of protests and other events in the Charlotte area July 12-20.
Borchert was charged with first-degree trespassing and resisting, obstructing or delaying a law enforcement officer. He served four days in jail, officials said.
Officials with Operation Rescue could not be reached for comment, but the group's director, Flip Benham, said what Borchert did was inappropriate, according to the Independent-Tribune, a newspaper that covers Concord and Kannapolis.
“We did the right thing, but there we did it in the wrong way,” he said. “It is our responsibility, and we need to own that sin.
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Steve Ayers, McGill's pastor, said church members considered going to visit Borchert in jail but were told by authorities that he was so agitated their visit likely would make the situation worse.
At the conclusion of the church's 8:45 a.m. worship service, Borchert stood up and shouted repeatedly: “This is a den of iniquity. This is an abomination before the Lord.”
He was among a dozen members of the protest group in the service that morning. Another 25 protesters were stationed outside the church building.
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