Untimely Amens

I traveled with Light Ministries while I was a student at Liberty University. I was a vocalist and the road manager for two years (repectively) for the band. We traveled most weekends during the school year to local churches up and down the east coast. Most of the churches we traveled to were smaller, SBC churches, and one of our favorite things to do was to keep track of what we called "untimely amens." If you've ever spent much time in a traditional church, especially a southern church, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Somebody says something with zero spiritual significance from the stage (I know, I know, everything can have some spiritual significance...but you know what I mean), and somebody in the congregation let's out a robust "AMEN!" We would actually write many of these untimely amens down, and the best of them became inside jokes with our team.

While most churches have a few good untimely ameners, ours does not, so when we do get an untimely amen on rare occasion, it's a pretty big deal, at least to me. This morning, we had one of the best untimely amens I've ever heard. My pastor was talking about growing up around the pig farms of our great state of North Carolina (I honestly can't remember why he was talking about this...), when he made the following statement; "There's nothing that smells quite like a pig pen on a North Carolina summer day." A woman (a guest, and I'm assuming a Christian because I can't remember the last time I heard an unchurched person let out any kind of amen in our church...which makes me feel OK about sharing this story because I don't mind making fun of other Christians) sitting right near the middle of the worship center, about 3 rows in front of me (which means it must have been fairly loud, and I know that others heard it and also made note) expressed her holy agreement with, "AMEN!"

Anyway, I just thought I'd share...feel free to share your own untimely amen stories.

Nate