A small-town church in Tennessee is receiving nationwide attention after honoring its local police department in a public ceremony with a gift of $1,000 for each officer.
The congregation, Lighthouse Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Tenn., wanted to encourage the officers in light of criticism police have received nationally in recent months.
All total, it cost the church $23,000 to honor Jonesboro’s entire police force of 23 officers.
The ceremony was so unique that Lighthouse Baptist Church pastor Perry Cleek was invited to the White House for a July 13 event on law enforcement.
“Our church watched over the last few weeks … the way that our police officers were treated all over the country,” Cleek said at the White House.
Police officers, he said, have “been demonized and disgraced and dishonored.”
“And we got our heads together and thought, ‘What can we do as a small church in a small town to honor our police, and to let our voice be known?’ … The voice of small-town America is seldom heard.”
Cleek and his church landed on an idea: a public ceremony honoring the local department.
“We went through the chief of police and the public safety director, and we asked them if we could hold a public ceremony on the steps of the courthouse on Main Street in Jonesboro, on July 4 at 11 o’clock in the morning, and present each member of the Jonesboro Police…
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