Missouri church hit with "blatant vandalism and destruction"
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Weston, Missouri
Early Sunday morning, February 17, the Community Church of the Nazarene in Weston, Missouri, suffered damage from vandals who drove their vehicle into two walls and the front doors of the church.

The Kansas City Star has the story:

When he first saw the shattered doors, Mark Massey was certain robbers had hit his Northland church.

As it turns out, no one stole anything from the Community Church of the Nazarene in Weston last weekend. But they sure did hit it. Hard and repeatedly.

“We’re disappointed that someone would do this,” said Massey, pastor of the church on Route H in western Platte County.

“This was just blatant vandalism and destruction.”

The destruction, which Massey thinks occurred between about midnight and 3 A.M. Sunday, was pretty thorough. Besides the front doors, someone also rammed a vehicle into two of the 4-year-old sanctuary’s walls.

Massey first saw the damage about 7 A.M. Sunday as he pulled into the parking lot during heavy snowfall.

The snow also soaked some of the church’s carpeting.

“But that’s not a big deal compared to our walls being gone,” he said.

The vandal left pieces of the vehicle—a side-view mirror and some bits of taillight—but nothing particularly identifying.

Massey said it also looked as if the driver got stuck after backing into the front doors. Scorched tire tracks were left on the entryway’s carpeting.

The pastor said he had no idea who damaged the church. The building may have been a target simply for its out-of-the-way location, he said.

The congregation plans to continue undaunted, Massey said, with a meeting tonight (February 18) and regular services Sunday (February 24).

“We had a lot of people come out in spite of the weather” on Sunday, Massey said. “We’re going to move on.…We’re disappointed, but upbeat at the same time.”

Kansas City’s KCTV 5 News reported nearly $10,000 in damage was done to the church, which has a congregation of 75. Massey told KCTV 5 he has no ill feeling toward whoever did the destruction to the church, but he does want the vandal or vandals caught so they can pay for the damage they caused.

Instead of holding a regular church service on February 17, the congregation prayed and started fixing the damage.
--Kansas City Star, KCTV 5