Les Snodgrass, pastor of The Door Christian Fellowship Church in Melbourne, Florida, said a man had attended church services before, but wasn’t a regular. Then, while Snodgrass was delivering a sermon, the man stood up and showed a gun, allegedly pointing it at Snodgrass’s mother’s head. “I tried to divert his attention away from my mother,” Snodgrass said. “I kept calling out to him, ‘Johnny, Johnny, what are you doing?’”
As he talked to the man, Snodgrass worked his way closer, then lunged. “I just pushed against the wall with all my might,” he said. “I had him by the shoulders, and as soon as I did that, my son leapt from the platform into the air and pounced on him. He punched him twice in the head.” Snodgrass’s wife then held a stun gun to the man until police arrived.
John Grace faces 21 charges, including robbery. “I gathered my family at the church, and we all held hands and prayed and forgave him on the spot,” Snodgrass said. “But he will face justice and should.” [1]
Editor Randy Cassingham adds the comment: “Forgiveness and justice: not mutually exclusive.”
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1. WKMG Orlando