Has your church ever been burglarized?
 

Church discovers loss of more than $8,000
By: The Enterprise


11/16/2007

Updated 11/17/2007 12:17:22 AM CST

A Beaumont church lost more than $8,000 worth of musical instruments, computer hardware and collectibles in a burglary, according to police reports.

The Amelia United Pentecostal Church, also known as Gospel Tabernacle, reported the burglary Wednesday night before services. Police found several broken windows and blood around the window sills.

Among the items stolen were an antic acoustic guitar, a laptop computer and several collectible rifles, according to the report.


http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/si...d=512588&rfi=6
----------------------------------------------

This UPCI church was just burglarized this week, apparently.

Has your church ever been burglarized?

When dad pastored in the South Bronx we were robbed all the time.

One Sunday morning, in the early 1980's, as dad opened the church we were surprised to find a huge gaping hole that was made so that a thief could go upstairs of the 2 story church building.

Within seconds, the thief emerged w/ two fans in his hands. We were obviously scared but Dad valiantly confronted the man and simply asked why he was there and that he needed to leave.

The man simply said in Spanish, "My addiction." He then handed dad the fans and ran out the building.

In another instance, a young man from the church worked at a sporting goods store down the block from the church was surprised by a burglar at the church. He would often go to the church to pray during his lunch break. One afternoon, as he prayed at the altar, he was interrupted as he heard noise coming from the storage closet. He then proceeded to explore the closet but as he tried to push the door open ... he realized a thief was hiding inside and would not let the brother open the closet door ....

They struggled for almost an hour ... and finally the brother convinced the man to surrender. He told the thief that he would escort the man to the sporting goods store where he would be apprehended by an armed security guard. The thief complied ... he walked w/ brother Oscar to the store where the guard called the police and he was apprehended.

There were other times when the thieves got away.

Thankfully the Queens church was never burglarized.

Interesting form of worship right there....

Yes, I know of two churches.

The church in Milwaukee that we attended had all the sound equipment stolen, including the master control board.

An elder at another church left after service and on the way home remembered he had forgotten something at church. He drove back and noticed a van that was pulled up and a guy inside piling up the instruments and sound equipment. He called a couple of the brothers and then they went in and confronted the guy. They asked him what he thought he was doing......He said "I'm steal'n this stuff what does it look like?" The Police showed up and arrested him.

The rifles were for weddings! :ursofunny

Shotgun weddings still eh?

yes, our churches in Brazil many of them have been broken into and we have lost guitars. mirophones and other things...once some even took our chairs at one of the churches!

When I was about 8 yrs old I remember so clearly as I attended our church school, This was at Bro Kershaws church, got to school early and there were police cars everywhere. The office area had been broken into and we had one of those very large safes that had been attatched to the actual building. They took the entire safe out of the building. It was found if I remember correctly everything still there about 8 blocks away.

We also had some of our sound equip missing also...


Have you ever heard of vehicles being stolen out of the church parking lot?

My dad had just bought a brand new truck and it was stolen out of the parking lot just months after the safe incident. Found months later cut to shreds at the bottom of lake ray hubbard.

Somebody stole an expensive guitar out of our car in the states just a month or so ago and we did not even realize it until we were packing for Brazil...they exchanged our guitar for another one...lol...

At the Bronx church ... an usher was assigned to watching the cars parked along the curbside of the street ....

Many times the cars were taken or their batteries were swiped.

One place where we were was notorious for high crime. After the sound equipment was taken the first time, some of the guys fashioned this impenetrable steel reinforced door. When the bad guys came around again they took an axe and tried to chop through the door. They defaced the door - but didn't get anywhere close to inside the soundroom/bunker.

Another place the communion wine always turned up missing. Our elders believed in using wine- but they believed that you had better not enjoy the experience. So the wine bottle was usually kept open and left around for a couple of years. It tasted like vinegar. Only folks you could compell to drink the stuff was an Apostolic or a wino.

One year right before the midnight service it tuned out the wine was gone. I dashed down to a local bar & restaurant - all the liquor stores were closed. As it happened, I knew some of the family that owned the parent company and I walked up to the bar keeper. I started chatting him up and and dropped several names. I then explained my predicament. Since the restaurant didn't have a "package" license he could not legally sell me any wine - unless we moved the whole church service to the restaurant, and given the church's reputation he didn't want that. So he gave me a free bottle of wine. First communion ever that the wine didn't make everyone gag.

No, of course not. It's got protection! :sly

LOL! A "protection" racket? Like, as in the mob? Or like, as in the "Spirit?"

A church I used to attend was burglarized. A church up the road got away with a few ideas and some sheep!

Heh heh. Either way, it works (so far!). :hypercoffee

WARNING -Don't try this at home!!! :christmoose

Several years ago, our pastor was away, and asked the associate pastor to make plans to do something interesting while taking up the offering when he got back. They came up with a plan, and asked my husband to help with it.

When the offering takers were taking the offering, my husband was supposed to come in a back door and jump one of the guys and take off with the offering basket. He was dressed in dark clothing and a ski mask. At least, that was the 'interpretation' of the plan according to him, the assoc. pastor, and the offering taker. :D

He came in so stealthily and violently that it literally scared the congregation to death!

The offering taker didn't inform his VERY pregnant wife what was going to happen, and she just about had her baby right then and there seeing her husband get jumped like that. We were very fortunate that I was standing nearby to her as she just about collapsed with her other baby in her arms, and I caught him just in time, and was able to let her know it was my husband, and it wasn't real.

To make matters worse, my husband ran out the back door, and straight down into the downstairs, where all the children were for Sunday school. The cry rang out in the sanctuary, 'He went down where the children are!!!'

The whole idea behind this was to show the congregation how you are 'robbing God' by not giving your tithes and offerings. Somehow it was turned into something MUCH MORE dramatic and sinister than the pastor had intended, and he just stood there in SHOCK! :uhoh

Boy, did those guys get in BIG TROUBLE!!!!

We can laugh about it now, but there were so many upset for a looooooong time over that! One lady was soooo thankful she hadn't put her pistol in her purse that morning...she probably would have shot him! :uhoh

Mrs - that was my first thought - - glad no one had a weapon!

Sounds funny now, but I'm sure there were many upset over it - lol!

Sad ....my addiction.... They won't come to church to be delivered from it, but they will come to steal to feed it

Maybe that's why the church in the article had rifles. :bubble

Oh, yeah...upset is an understatement.

It took a long time for some to get over it. :uhoh

I ran a bookstore for a while and I was burglarized once and our cash on hand was stolen. I worked there alone a lot, and after this happened there were a lot of days when I was jumping at every little noise. It didn't help that the landlord didn't want us to install locks that would have kept the thieves out. We went ahead anyway.

It's too bad no one had a weapon, what an opportunity to witness to others of our commitment to Jesus and his teachings...

...since Jesus taught us that if someone steals from you, you are to fight back and get what is yours back, right? :bubble