There was pandemonium at the premises of the Independent Bible Baptist Church (IBBC) at Apollo near Takoradi yesterday when scores of the youth and men of the church fiercely resisted an attempt by a missionary to take over the church building for a business venture.
According to the members, the missionary, one Larry Morgan, was allegedly using subtle means to eject members of the church from the building and use it for a business purpose instead of soul winning.
The angry church members maintained that the missionary was deliberately frustrating them and hindering the services and the ministries of the local church he was used by God to plant.
The irate men of the church alleged that the missionary had given pre-eminence to the usage of the huge church building as a school over the organization of church services.
They intimated that Larry Morgan had established Freedom Baptist Academy, using portions of the building as classrooms and had asked the members to vacate the place and find themselves another place to worship.
The church members maintained that they have documents to prove that some churches in the United States of America contributed money for Morgan to travel to Ghana to assist the church purchase the building.
They asserted that the practice had been that whenever a missionary finishes with his or her work, that person leaves and the property acquired remains that of the local church.
The members maintained that a search at the registry department had revealed that Larry Morgan had registered the name of the church as “Independent Calvary Baptist Church” (ICBC) instead of IBBC.
Hell therefore broke loose at the premises on Monday when some of the angry men who claimed they could not tolerate the behaviour of the American missionary any longer stormed the church in their numbers and used certain objects to barricade the entrance of the place of worship to prevent anyone from entering.
When DAILY GUIDE got to the church premises at about 7:30 am, some of the angry members were seen engaged in heated exchanges with the missionary and some of the employed teachers of his established academy.
The situation created a scene as the school children and some parents who did not know what was going on became stranded at the main gate.
Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, Ayobami Tayo, one of the Trustees of the church, said that the church, started in 1999, is an autonomous one and that in the same year Larry Morgan came to Ghana with the support from some Christians in the USA to help it purchase a building for worship.
Mr Tayo noted, “Mr Morgan now says the building is for his mission and that he had established a new church called Spring Valley Baptist Church and insisting that members of the IBBC leave the building.”
He therefore stressed that members of the church would resist any attempt to take over the properties.
When journalists approached the missionary for his side of the story, he directed the media men to rather speak to his lawyers. Meanwhile, efforts to reach the lawyers proved futile.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi