North Shelby Baptist Church in Shelby Association was burglarized Feb. 7. The burglary happened sometime after 7:30 p.m. Items that were stolen included CD players from children’s classrooms, an external CD burner from the office and a calculator and small safe from the pastor’s office.
Church files from an overturned file cabinet were strewn throughout the office, but besides some broken doorknobs, the burglars cause little or no structural damage, according to Pastor Allan Murphy.
“Mainly it was just a nuisance,” Murphy said. “They just ransacked things.”
The safe stolen contained church historical documents, deeds, vehicle titles and insurance policies. The safe also contained three jars filled with coins collected by Murphy’s father since the 1950s, which was the only money stolen. Murphy said, to his knowledge, there had been no other church breaking in the area.
Murphy told the church congregation about the break-in during the Feb. 8 morning worship service. He said the church’s reaction to the burglary was one of sadness, not anger.
“It’s just sad someone would break in,” Murphy said. “If they would’ve come to us and asked, we would’ve helped them. We prayed for them [in the worship service].”
Shelby County police said they are still investigating the crime. As of Feb. 17, they had made no arrest in relation to the burglary.
Murphy said the church is in the process of installing new locks and an alarm system.
(TAB)
Share with others: