Sunday service must go on, even if it means evacuating the church for a bomb squad investigation.
Parishioners and church leaders at Core Church LA moved outside into 90-degree heat Sunday morning after a bomb threat was reported at the West Los Angeles church. Authorities asked people to leave the area in the 2000 block of South La Cienega Boulevard during the investigation, but prayers and an impromptu service continued in a nearby parking lot.
The first of three Sunday services was interrupted when church leaders received information about a suspicious vehicle parked outside. A church security guard noticed the vehicle.
"I'm giving a message dealing with the relevant issues of our time, and right in the middle of my message a couple associate pastors came up," said the Rev. Steve Wilburn. "We had LAPD here, there was a car in our parking lot with what appeared to be pipe bombs."
Parishioners held hands and prayed in a nearby parking lot as their church property was blocked off by yellow police tape. Officers and members of the Los Angeles Police Department Bomb Squad conducted their investigation and later determined there was no threat to public safety
