‘Then God said, let there be flight.’ Watch Mississippi pastor ‘fly’ into Sunday service

A Mississippi preacher got attention for his sermon on Sunday from far beyond his own congregation when he entered the service the way rock stars fly through through arenas at concerts.

Strapped into a safety harness, pastor Bartholomew Orr of Brown Missionary Baptist Church in Southaven floated out over the auditorium and down to the stage, preaching from high above the crowd while holding a microphone.

“Jesus Christ is on his way back ... that day is going to come when that sky is cracked and Jesus Christ comes again and every eye will see him when he come again,” Orr sermonized as he flew, as seen in videos posted to social media and on the church’s YouTube channel.

“So here’s our question for you this morning, brothers and sisters, the simple question is this right here. Are you ready? Are you ready for his return? Amen!”

His flock laughed as he dangled high in the air, at least 10 feet off the ground, when he reached the stage.

He twisted his body around to face the crowd and the laughter grew.

“Amen,” he said again.

According to WMC in Memphis, Orr has been dubbed “the Flying Preacher” now that videos of the heavenly flight have gone viral.

Orr has been senior pastor of the church, which has more than 10,000 members, since 1989, the Huffington Post reported. The historically black Protestant congregation is on the Tennessee-Mississippi border, according to Huff Post.

Comments about the sermon stunt on social media were not as warm as the welcome Orr’s congregation appeared to give him, with people criticizing him for being over the top.

“Then God said, “Let there be flight” Um ... I think you read that wrong,” one critic tweeted.

“I thought this was a Drake concert,” tweeted another.

One tweet with a video of the “flying preacher” has been viewed more than 1 million times.

Orr heard the grumbles and responded with a video message posted on the church’s YouTube channel.

He took a high road, even thanking those whose tweets caused “an uproar, a great stir, about the word of God. So thank you for getting the Word out.”

He referred to all the attention as “digital discipleship.”

“You never know how God is going to use you, but I am so grateful that even though all of the talk about my sermon this morning hasn’t been complimentary, I’m thankful that the word of God is being discussed in homes and cars, on social media, through all of the Facebook and so forth,” Orr said in his video.

He said the lift he rode on was not there for the sermon alone but was already “in place because of our Christmas production, something we do every year, annually,” adding that sponsors pay for it.

He said he wasn’t even the first member of his family to fly into the church like that - his son “flew in a couple of years ago playing the drums,” he said.

The pastor noted how his congregants have been defending him on social media, and said “this is not the time to grumble or complain about each other. But there is a bigger picture and that is Christ is returning soon.

“And just as Christ’s return is going to be unexpected, my flying in this morning was unexpected. But we must be ready.”

He asked people to continue to share and post the video.