‘This is not a first time experience for us'

By Lauren Ricks

May 09, 2008 07:31 pm

— Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, sadly, has been here before.
Church members arrived at services Wednesday night and found the building had been burglarized. Many members remembered an occasion several years back when the church was the target of vandals who, among other things, spraypainted racial epithets on the outside of the church. The story gained national attention.
“This is not the first experience for us,” Associate Pastor Larry West said Friday morning.
According to the church’s pastor, the Rev. Paul Redic, it has been targeted by vandals and burglars six times in the last five years.
“Our church was defamed, our sign was torn down, road signs were stolen twice, an attempted break-in and then this break-in,” Redic said.
“It’s in a rural community and once people get home, it’s kinda like lights out,” West said.
Redic said a burglar or burglars broke in by kicking in a door at the back of the church. The frame was found broken.
West said the burglar apparently walked from the pastor’s study, through the sanctuary and broke down the door to the financial room. An estimated $1,700 to $2,000 was stolen from the financial office.
“It did pretty good damage,” Redic said. “I would estimate it did about $1,000 worth of damage. It could be more.”
Redic said the church had held a fundraiser the previous Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
“We had a bake sale and a barbecue at the Housing Authority parking lot to raise money to build,” Redic said. “We also took donations on Sunday.”
“We were hurt over the situation. We would have helped anybody,” he said.
Redic said the church’s response was to pray for the offenders.
“We prayed for forgiveness for the individuals,” he said. “If they came in and said they were the one’s that did it, we would embrace them. That’s the kind of people I pastor.”
He said deputies from the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department found three fingerprints on a door. Investigators could not be reached Friday.
Redic has one message for those who committed the crime.
“Even though you were doing the devil’s work, you didn’t hurt us,” Redic said. “All it’s going to do is bring us closer together, but God will provide.”