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Inside Drummond's flockThe first thing you notice when you drive into the perking lot of The Church of Our Saviour on e Sunday morning—beeidee the big beefy eecurity guard — iethat everybody lawns to be emiling. Everybody ewetne abeohite-ly delighted to be there, including the eecurity guard.Moet of the can in the lot behind the church juat off Baltimore Pike in Concordville have Tamify Church of Our Saviour* bumper stickers, their owners obviously proud to be members of the flock of controversial Pastor Frederick A. Drummond.I went to the 10 a.m. service yesterday morning because I wanted to get a look at The Cheat One himself after all I have read about him.I put a tie on and everything.Despite published stories of church fends spent on yachts, Rolls Royces and mansions as well as lurid tales of sexual abuse of young church members, the perking lot was full of amiling congregationilista on their way to worship.On my way in I was stopped by a pleasant woman with a benevolent —«i*Is this your first time here? she asked me. *1 don’t recall seeing you before.I told her it was and she asked me to fill out a card with my name, address and phone number. While I was filling out the card the woman asked me how l had heard about the church.I read about it in the newspapers and 1 wanted to see what all the commotion was about, I told her.Hffmil* itimmnH n bit. She loomed to know what I was talking fhnnt inH aha aesmed a trifle emberraaaod for a moment but she recovered quickly.So you've come to see for yourself. Well, I*m sure you’ll eqjoy it, she said pointing me to the entrance of the church.There were about 200 people in the church. As I walked in, an usher handed me a slip of paper with Songs of Praise and Worship written on it and an offeringthis was Fred Drummond.It wasn't It was a fellow named Tim Pierce, who told the congregation that he was filling in for Rev. Drummond while he was away at a pastors' conference in Dellas.Pierce, using a wireless microphone, welcomed visitors and new members and said he thought we would epjqy the positive way they worshipped at the Church of Our Saviour. He asked everybody to join hands with the person not to them. I held hands with an attractive oriental woman and a guy named Steve.”As Pierce started to pray, a bussing started through the congregation which me think MiMtiifag strange was up but it turned out that most of the church members just prayed that way.When the prayer was over Pierce end die .entire; congregation launched into a rousing rendition of Thou Art Worthy accompanied by the church choir, which wee decked wit in snappy black and gold robes, and the church' I took a seat in the next to the last row juat before the service began. On the stage at the front of the church was a man wearing a dark suit and Ughtnrtriped tie. He was slightly balding and wore wire-rimmed dime I assumedWhen the song was over everybody clapped loudly anddwitml “AitywiM Than ftvtryfrwwty ftnthllffiflgtif^iiy 4couple of more songs, including a guy with a large elaborate tattoo on hk right forearm that had Double Trimble written at the top. The guy sported a reddish brown goatee end had the look of a biker but he looked every bit as happy as the middle-aged woman on heir lmeee waving bar arms over her bead with her qyee dosed.After the second or third song, Pierce told everybody to ■hake hands end say hello to the people around them,which is how I found out whose hand I had been holding.A short while later, Tim Pierce gave a little sermon on how you can reserve e place in heaven by giving money to the church, and the offering buckets were passed around by the members. The buckets were big, white end plastic and had a blue Church of Our Saviour logo on them.While Piaroe talked about all the good the money could do for the church's missions around the world and how many people could be “saved because of the generous contritmtions of the congregation, I couldn’t help but think about Rev. Drummond and his mansion, hie yacht and hie Rolls Boyce end how they might help “save lost souls.I also wondered what the spankings of adult church members could have to do with getting into heaven.I dont know, of course, if anybody she in the congregation was thinking about the same things. A few folks seemed too busy shouting Amen and That's right to be thinking too much about anything else.Coincidentally, Pierce’s rather lengthy sermon seemed to deal with the kinds of things I was thinking about versus frith.This is what I got out of it: Thinking causes doubt, frith doesn't Doubt is bad, so dont think. Just have frith. And when you apeak, any only positive things. Keep negative thoughts to yourself.Said Pierce during his sermon, God judges you not so much on what you do, but what you say.If dial is true, heaven is for politicians.It seemed to me, behind all this positive* talk, more than anything else Tim Pierce wanted to discourage members of the church from questioning Rev. Drummond and his “problems, as he called them, of late.When several members of the congregation did just that in the past, they were physically removed from the church.Drummond demands hia Amrfi mwmlwtt follow him without doubt, blindly.That is something nobody should be asked to do, for diet is surrendering most of what it moam to be a human being.But for the time being, there seems to be quite e few people still willing to follow Rev. Drummond with no questions ami amilaa on their frees.Gil Spencer'a column appears Monday, Wednesday andFriday.
Newspaper Details
Delaware County Daily Times
Chester, Pennsylvania, US
Mon, Jul 28, 1986
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Kaeli B.
NA, 10 Mar 2025
Other Publications Near Chester, Pennsylvania
Chester Reporter
Chester Evening Times
Delaware County Daily Times
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