LAWRENCEVILLE, GA (CBS ATLANTA) -
A Lawrenceville church that's holding a round-the-clock worship service may sound like a good idea for those seeking spiritual help at any hour. But neighbors of the church said it sounds more like a rock concert is taking place next door, and they want it to stop.
Neighbors told CBS Atlanta News that the music coming from the International House of Praise rattles every inch of their homes.
Neighbor Patty Backmaz said she's had enough.
"Sometimes it's very bad," Backmaz said. "It will wake you up in the middle of night at 2 in the morning."
Fellow neighbor Rachael Laliberty said not only can she and her family hear the noise coming from the church, but they can feel it.
"The base is so loud on the church that it shakes our house," Laliberty said. "It's been a nonstop complaint since everyone moved in here."
Laliberty said she's complained to the church about the 24-hour-a-day praise and worship services, but it hasn't fixed anything.
"We've gone to the church and said, 'Hey, we can't sleep, can you please turn it down?' and they say they will, and nothing gets done," she said.
Both Backmaz and Laliberty told CBS Atlanta News that their biggest complaint was not the loud music, but rather the late-night timing.
But Billy Humphrey, pastor of the International House of Praise, said the last thing his church wants to do is upset its neighbors.
"We're not trying to be bad neighbors, that's not our heart at all," Humphrey said. "Immediately we said, 'Let's bring the sound down, let's get it way under OSHA.'"
Humphrey said has spent big money trying to fix the problem.
"Over $100,000 in sound-proofing the wall," he said. "We've rebuild the whole wall, we've rebuilt the whole stage structure to try and block any sound that's going through out there."
But the church went through four sound engineers and nothing has worked. Humphrey said his church is now working with a new sound tech who is using new technology to disburse any music coming from his sanctuary.
"If that doesn't work our next step is to do another rebuild on our roof, which is like another $150,000," Humphrey said. "We're still trying to do more because I don't want those folks over there thinking we don't care about them."
Despite the church's efforts, neighbors have had enough.
"We don't want to sit in our house, watch TV, eat dinner with our house shaking," Laliberty said.
Neighbors said they've called police several times about the noise but to no result, and their next step is to go to city council.
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