Pastor Luke Jones clenches and unclenches his left fist as he sings, “Come. Now is the time to worship.” His right hand dangles next to a loaded .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol.
A month ago, the gun wasn’t there. A month ago, no one had threatened his life.
Luke, 29, is the son of Terry Jones, senior pastor at the Dove World Outreach Center. It sits on a quiet 20 acres in northwest Gainesville amid developments whose residents stop and stare at the church from the edge of the property and shake their heads, squinting in the sun.
This week, just over a month since the church announced plans to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11, international media carpet the property, crowding against locked doors with tinted windows.
Luke, along with the church’s other pastors, deflects reporters begging for interviews with his father. But a month ago, the property was silent except for the voices of those who worship within the church’s walls.
Psalm 33:3: “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.”
On Wednesdays and Sundays, Luke sits in the front row of a mostly empty sanctuary. About 25 others sing with him for the first half of the service, including the 11-piece praise band performing on a stage. “Vision 100” is painted on the wall above them, signifying the number of members they hope someday will fill out the worship hall and join them on their mission to save the world from the evils of sin.
To say Luke sings along is to grossly understate his proud, confident voice, which carries to the back of the vacuous hall and cuts a path through the amplified sounds from the stage and the voices of his fellow worshippers. There is an authority to the sound.
Read the full story at the Independent Alligator.
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