Story Archive

Happy Anniversary

On the 11th anniversary of Jacob Chapel in Tallahassee, Fla., the church’s Pastor, O. Jermaine Simmons, was planning on celebrating with his church. Instead, Simmons was caught in bed with another man’s wife, and was forced to quickly flee when the man allegedly threatened him with a handgun. The husband kept Simmons’s clothes, wallet, and car keys that he left behind in his rush, but eventually agreed to return the items. Instead of a celebratory sermon, Simmons’s message at church focused on the scandal, in which he apparently identified himself and the church as victims. “I’m hurting because I’ve hurt you,” Simmons preached. “It hurts me that you have to defend my actions. You cannot defend sin.” Simmons concluded that he wouldn’t quit. “What I want from God, I have already received — that’s His forgiveness,” he said. The parishioners responded with several minutes of applause. A member of the congregation captured the whole sermon on video, which has gone viral on YouTube. (MS/Tallahassee Democrat) ...Hopefully that’s the only viral thing that came from the affair.