Pastor shot during car theft back in church for Easter Sunday

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Just five weeks after being shot in the mouth, a Memphis pastor is back in the pulpit this Easter Sunday.

70-year-old Pastor Clemmie Livingston Jr. preached before his congregation for the first time since that shooting. Livingston says this is not just a Resurrection Sunday, it is also a Testimony Sunday.

The doors of the church were open at New Zionfield Baptist Church in South Memphis, and it was a packed house.

We sat down with Livingston who says due to more surgeries down the line, this is also the last time he will be preaching for several weeks.

Livingston was shot in the face as thieves stole a vehicle outside of his church. He says he believes he is still here today because God still has a plan for him.

“It appears to me that God got some for me to do,” he said.

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“Laying there, I kept saying to myself that I’ll be dead in a little while. Well, what would a person say when they bleeding in the manner that I was bleeding?” said Livingston.

Despite the chaos happening around him, Livingston says he never lost consciousness, and he never felt any pain.

“While I was down on my knees, let me tell you what [God] said, He said to me, ‘Stop trying to die and start back living,'” Livingston said. “In my spirit and in my heart, I know that Jesus brought me through this.”

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He says even though the bullet hole in his mouth has closed, he still has a long way to go before he completely recovers.

Livingston still has two more surgeries, and he says it may be another eight weeks before he can get back in the pulpit and start preaching full-time again.

“That’s my greatest blessing. I’m still alive,” he said.

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