103-year-old woman banned from church she has been attending for 92 years
After disagreeing with her pastor's way of handing the church services, a 103-year-old woman has been banned from attending the services.
In an interview with Fox News 5, Genora Hamm Biggs told her story and how the issue started. The faithful churchgoer has been a member of the Union Grove Baptist Church in Elberton, Georgia since she was 11 years of age, and almost an entire century of attending the church, she was told "not to come back to the church, not even on the ground."
Biggs and her pastor, Rev. Timothy Mattox, have been disagreeing about the latter's way of preaching ever since he was hired six years ago. The elderly said she and a group of other church members discussed during a church business meeting, wherein she shared her concerns about the preacher refusing to answer or return her phone calls.
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The preacher later reportedly issued a motion to have Biggs removed from the church that she has been attending for almost her entire life. "After that motion was made, the next week I got his certified letter saying I was not to come back," Biggs said." "I was sad and unhappy. Very unhappy."
According to Biggs, Matoxx's service was "different than the real Baptist [traditions]," adding that though she disliked the way the pastor handled the services, she went back to church with some other long-time members who also got themselves letters.
When the group was spotted within church premises, Mattox said Biggs and the rest of the "banned" members would be escorted out, but the group refused to move. The police did not want to get involved in the dispute, and as a result, Mattox canceled the service.
The lights were turned off while the group sat on the church pews, thus forcing the "banned" members to leave. The remaining congregation and the pastor later returned to the premises and resumed the service when Biggs and her companions left.
While Biggs has been attending the services, Mattox could not be reached for comments on the said issue.
