7/1/25 Wisdom, Warnings & Wins – The Seriousness of Church Burglaries

Resources 7/1/25 Wisdom, Warnings & Wins – The Seriousness of Church Burglaries
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Faith Based Security NetworkFaith Based Security Network

Jul 1, 2025

News today had a church story out of Bluefield, West Virginia. It seems that a series of burglaries had occurred at the Greater Tabernacle Faith Church through May & June, were discovered at some time in June, and arrests made later that month.

29 and 46 year old men were arrested for stealing multiple items from and around the church through May and June. Those thefts included antiques, a drum set, heaters, copper and tools. Entry had been made through an unsecured basement door and into a church bus sitting on the property.

One of the men’s girlfriend told police he had used a cart and chain to haul some items out and that it was all sold to support his drug habit.

Nothing about this story is surprising, but I want to point out a couple of things that should be taught to your team members;

How long after your church property has been broken into would it take your team to know?
What should you do when you discover a break-in?

For the first question, you may not know if your church (or property such as vehicles and storage sheds) has been entered with less than admirable intentions, if you are not checking it regularly. You can’t know what abnormal is if you don’t know what normal is. Someone needs to be checking all property on your site on a regular basis.

What do you do if you come upon apparent suspicious entry? If there is no event going on, and presumably none of your people are inside with a potential criminal, there is no reason you should enter and look around. One of the men arrested in this case was also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Regardless of how well you are trained (this even applies to off-duty law-enforcement officers), call 911. You might watch the scene until they get there, but do not enter unless you know someone’s life is in immediate danger.

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