CROWN POINT | A Crown Point church in the middle of a monthlong prayer festival is at the center of a controversy after raking in numerous complaints from neighbors and 10 citations from the Police Department.

At an emergency meeting of the Board of Works on Monday night, the city offered Living Stones Fellowship, 909 N. Pratt St., an ultimatum: Follow our rules or we'll pull your permit.

In July, the city issued a permit to allow the church to erect a tent for a monthlong festival from July 31 to Aug. 31. Daily events run from 5:30 p.m. to about midnight.

The church was issued 10 citations between July 31 and Aug. 10 because neighbors complained about noise, Police Chief Pete Land said.

City officials say they met with church officials about complaints from neighbors and reached an agreement that the church did not follow.

However, church officials said a formal meeting has never taken place, which is why some ideas discussed during a meeting in the church's parking lot were not followed.

Although some City Council members speculated that the Board of Works would pull the permit Monday night, the board voted to allow the church to keep the tent permit if it would agree to hold the nightly meeting indoors Monday through Thursday and keep the noise level below 40 decibels.

"We're going to talk," Pastor Ron Johnson Jr. said after the meeting.

Johnson said the church has invested a lot of money in the monthlong event and will have to invest even more to follow the city's rules, but the church leadership team will meet to discuss its next steps.

"The decibels aren't caused by the music, they're caused by the cheering of excited people," Johnson said. "There's nothing that said people can't gather and cheer."

The council chambers was so packed with church members and residents who live near the church that Fire Chief Greg DeLor had to usher attendees out of the aisle and around the room after all the seats were full.

The mayor and representatives from the church often were interrupted by comments from the audience, including a woman who claimed the church's meeting ruined her son's wedding night.

Dana Bell can look from her front porch directly at the tent set up in the church's parking lot. Because the noise gets so loud, she said, the family opens the windows all day to get the house as warm as possible and turns on the air conditioning for at least two hours each night while her children fall asleep. She said she also runs the washer, dryer and a fan to stifle the noise.

"I'd never be allowed to have a party for 31 days straight in my backyard," Bell said.

Councilmen Bill Feder, Mark Schweitzer and Bob Clemons walked around the neighborhood Saturday night to hear the noise level for themselves. Schweitzer said at first the level seemed tolerable, but the more they walked and the closer they got to the church the louder it became.

Feder said the three witnessed the church being issued a citation for disturbing the peace.

"I feel bad, but I don't think the city should be determining what is an acceptable nuisance," Schweitzer said.