Protest break out in church over reassignments

By Heather Hahn (Contact)

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LITTLE ROCK — A time for quiet prayer turned into a loud protest Sunday morning at Rufus K. Young African Methodist Church in Little Rock.

Church members, unhappy that their longtime pastor, Rev. Rickey Hicks, had been transferred, refused to listen to their new minister's sermon. Instead, about 30 worshippers joined the five men kneeling at the altar, blocking the Rev. Michael Washington from view.

In the balcony, a church member turned off the pulpit microphone and turned up a gospel recording so the minister could not be heard.

The demonstration was the latest event in an ongoing dispute between Hicks and his bishop over reassignments.

For more information see Monday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

This article was published Sunday, June 22, 2008.

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