PASTOR PREACHES FROM ROOF

SCOTT CITY -- The Rev. Randall Morse had a message he wanted the entire community to hear. So he decided to preach from the rooftop of First Assembly of God Church Sunday night.

It was unlike any other outdoor worship service ever held at the church. Music resonated from a covered walkway in the parking lot where members had gathered nearby with lawn chairs, folding chairs and blankets.

But this wasn't just an outdoor service or a show for the community. It was a celebration for the congregation.

Morse issued a challenge to the congregation just prior to Easter. He wanted 200 people to attend Easter Sunday services at the church. If that many were present, he would preach from the rooftop.

It was a challenge the congregation fulfilled. Nearly 250 people attended the Easter morning service. About 120 are regular members of the church and attended Sunday evening's service.

Ever since issuing the challenge the congregation has offered its support, Morse said.

"A lot of people told me to get a ladder," he said. One member even volunteered to set up the sound equipment immediately after Morse issued the challenge.

"I've had lots of encouragement," Morse said.

By any standards, preaching from the rooftop is an unusual method of reaching a community. But Morse isn't a typical preacher.

Morse also is president of the Scott City Chamber of Commerce and serves as chaplain for the city's police department. He also heads up the ministerial alliance group.

"Nothing he does surprises me," said Dave Truncone, youth minister and associate pastor at the church. "He's original, and it's been interesting and exciting to work with him."

Truncone had issued a similar challenge to the youth at the church. But they didn't meet their goal, so he wasn't able to hold a rooftop service.

When Morse issued the challenge -- completely unannounced to his family or staff -- Truncone was delighted.

"The timing was just perfect," he said.

Morse hadn't planned to issue the challenge, but the words just came out of his mouth, he said.

Even his wife, Brenda, and children Angie, 19, and Nathan, 16, weren't aware what he was going to do. "It just came out that Sunday," Morse said.

An outdoor service wouldn't just reach the congregation but an entire community.

"I love our community and our people, and although my first priority is to the people that God sends to First Assembly, I always believe that a pastor is not just called to a church but to a community.

"The community is the harvest field, and the church is the grain bin. We have to go out, to bring them in and bring them in by whatever means it might take -- even preaching from the rooftop."

Morse has been pastor at the church for four years and has served on the chamber board for three years. That experience gives him a good understanding of the community and its needs, he said.

"My viewpoint has been, as a church we have to be trying to make a positive impact and be involved," he said. "That will have a positive effect on everything."

Even the smallest effect on a life can bring about a big change. Morse is living proof. Before turning to the ministry as a career, he worked for Caterpillar in Davenport, Iowa.

Every day for several months Morse would talk with a co-worker who read his Bible during breaks. Morse didn't attend church and didn't really believe he needed religion.

"I would heckle him and joke around that he wasn't leading me to the Lord," Morse said.

But he did.

"I said that I wasn't interested in what happened 2000 years ago unless you could make it real today."

The coworker did, and Morse dedicated his life to Christ at line 15 in the Caterpillar plant.

"It's not religion but a relationship," he said.

And that's the message Morse proclaimed from the rooftop Sunday.