- Talk about divine intervention.
Trying to figure out a way to deal with a difficult neighbor is always a challenge. The residents of Tarrant County in Texas recently opted for a rather creative solution.
They’ve set up two churches to prevent a new neighbor from constantly setting off fireworks.
Tarrant County is an unincorporated rural neighborhood, some 15 minutes outside Fort Worth. As such, the zoning laws and other such things in the area are… Shall we say, loose?
A new resident moved into the area some six months ago. Unfortunately for the existing residents, he wasn’t the quietest sort.
Light and noise from the neighbor’s truck lot have been bothering Tarrant residents for months. And when he dropped down a fireworks stand, the disturbance only got worse.
The Tarrantinians tried to seek help from authorities, but the regulations in the county are lax. There was nothing stopping the neighbor from setting off fireworks.
The only rule was that fireworks couldn’t be used within 600 feet of a church.
So, the residents of Tarrant County turned the loose regulations against themselves. Since Texas isn’t particularly strict about what constitutes a “church,” suddenly there were two new churches in the county.
And just like that, fireworks are no longer allowed.
Toothless Officials
The problems in Tarrant County began in late 2022. That’s when Joe Sterling moved into the area.
He soon set up a truck lot on his property, with space for about 100 trucks. Needless to say, that many 18-wheelers produce a lot of noise.
As if that wasn’t enough, Sterling also set up a fireworks stand on his property. Soon, the bangs and booms were going off constantly.
That was the last straw for Tarrant residents. Sure, you could make their lives miserable with the trucks, but having the fireworks bother their pets?
That was too much.
To try and remedy the situation, Tarrant residents began to examine local laws to put a stop to the disturbances. Sadly, as an unincorporated rural community, Tarrant County doesn’t really have effective zoning laws or fireworks regulations.
Everything Sterling was doing was done by the books.
But the Tarrantinians didn’t give. There had to be a solution, and so they arranged a meeting with the county commissioner, the local fire marshal, and a district attorney’s representative.
Yet, they only confirmed that the rulebooks had nothing the locals could use against Sterling. The only regulation stated that fireworks can’t be fired within 600 feet of a church.
What, the Tarrant residents asked, were they supposed to set up a church to put a stop to the noise?
The officials chuckled. But the locals weren’t kidding.
Hey, It’s Okay by Jesus
You see, if Tarrant County has lax rules about trucks and fireworks, so it does about churches. In fact, so does all of Texas and the entire country.
Texas Comptroller’s office only defines a church as “an organized, established group of people regularly meeting at a designated location to hold religious worship services. Federal regulations aren’t much more detailed — in fact, the IRS straight-up says it’s impossible to strictly define a “church.”
Hmm, perhaps the Good Book has some more defining answers? Nope. Even Jesus Christ himself says only (in Matthew 18:20) that he’ll be wherever “two or three people are gathered in [his] name.”
That was great news for Tarrant County, which has two new churches — the Faith United Cowboy Church, founded by Jay Hasbrouck, and the Church of Peace and Quiet, set up by Neil Foreman.
For Hasbrouck, this was actually a fortunate turn of events. He had been considering setting up a church for quite some time, so he took Sterling’s appearance as a sign from God himself.
“I believe God lays a path for us and I pray for the strength and the wisdom to follow his path that he wants me to go down,” he told Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I feel like I haven’t been fulfilling that well enough.”
Foreman’s church is decidedly more secular. Yet, he still cites divine influence in his decision.
“With all the stress of what Joe Sterling has done to me, it made me look inside myself and look for help and at that point, I found faith in the lord,” said Foreman.
Tarrant County residents are still frustrated with local authorities’ inability to help them. But at least they can now praise Lord Almighty for the miracle of two new churches — conveniently within 600 feet of the truck lot.
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