Threats and Intimidation

When I moved from suburban to urban ministry, some things greatly changed. In important ways, one is dealing with a vastly different situation. One change was threats. In suburban ministry, as minister, I received one threat. It was a deacon. In urban ministry (but twice the period of time), I have estimated that I received more than 100 threats. It was all sorts. OBSERVATION: I tended to take the threats at face value at first. An attorney said to me one day, "Do the threats come from an amateur?" If so, they likely qualify as intimidation, and intimidation is an offence. And yes indeed, most threats came from amateurs. Even when they did not, they were professionals acting like amateurs. To some extent, I became used to it.