Pastor and Church Indicted Over Mock Kidnapping Of Youth Group Members

According to the Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News, on Friday Dauphin County, Pennsylvania prosecutors charged a church and its youth pastor with false imprisonment and assault for a mock kidnapping they staged to teach teenagers about the dangers faced by some missionaries in carrying out their work. The Glad Tidings Assembly of God Church and its youth pastor Andrew Jordan arranged for four men to burst into the youth group meeting, one carrying a real, but unloaded, gun. The youths were forced into a van with pillow cases over their heads and driven across the parking lot to the pastor's house, where they were led to a frightening interrogation room and questioned for 30 seconds each before being released. The mother of a 14-year old girl who was taken in the mock exercise reported the matter to the police. The district attorney said that several of the children were terrorized by the experience. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]