small Elgin church that uses electric guitars, drums and a piano during its Sunday services to make a joyful noise for the Lord is in legal trouble after neighbors complained the church was making too much noise.
Elgin police ticketed a pastor at the Mision Apostolica Church for violating the city's noise ordinance during Sunday afternoon services.
Citing a church for a noise violation is unusual and not something officers did lightly, a police spokesman said.
"You hate to do something like that,'' said Lt. Cecil Smith. "But we just couldn't overlook the fact that people were calling and complaining about the noise.''
The ticket, though, isn't sitting well with church leaders, who insisted they weren't trying to disturb neighbors. "It was church music. It was nothing crazy,'' said Arturo Recendes, the church's assistant pastor who was conducting Sunday services when police arrived. "We don't want any problems, we just want to worship the Lord,'' he said.
The music and singing may have been louder than normal, he said, although that was mostly because of the warm weather and mechanical problems at the church. "The air conditioning was out and we had the windows open. We never do that,'' Recendes, 46, said, adding the air conditioning has since been repaired.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/religion/cst-nws-noisy04.html
Elgin police ticketed a pastor at the Mision Apostolica Church for violating the city's noise ordinance during Sunday afternoon services.
Citing a church for a noise violation is unusual and not something officers did lightly, a police spokesman said.
"You hate to do something like that,'' said Lt. Cecil Smith. "But we just couldn't overlook the fact that people were calling and complaining about the noise.''
The ticket, though, isn't sitting well with church leaders, who insisted they weren't trying to disturb neighbors. "It was church music. It was nothing crazy,'' said Arturo Recendes, the church's assistant pastor who was conducting Sunday services when police arrived. "We don't want any problems, we just want to worship the Lord,'' he said.
The music and singing may have been louder than normal, he said, although that was mostly because of the warm weather and mechanical problems at the church. "The air conditioning was out and we had the windows open. We never do that,'' Recendes, 46, said, adding the air conditioning has since been repaired.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/religion/cst-nws-noisy04.html