Congregation holds strong against vandals

Congregation holds strong against vandals

By WHITNEY HOLMES
6 News Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- Usually on a Sunday morning, especially during Christmas time, the sanctuary at the First Baptist Church would be filled with people. This Sunday however, the entire congregation has to squeeze into the Fellowship Hall.

The reason is because on Tuesday night, vandals went on a spree.

"You really can't explain it," recalled church treasurer, Jim Smith of the damage. "It was horrible. I've been in this church for about 60 years and I've never seen it like that."

On Wednesday morning, Jim Smith arrived at his church to see it completely covered in a white film.

Vandals had broken in and sprayed four entire fire extinguishers inside the building, covering the sanctuary, christmas decorations, even the Bibles, with dust.

On Thursday, the clean-up began. The church hired a professional crew, and members banned together in hopes of getting the church ready for services Sunday.

"Our folks came down and volunteered to clean it up," said Smith. "We took all our Christmas trees and poinsettias outside and with a leaf blower blew all the dust off of them. And we had a professional service come in but they were unable to get it cleaned up for services today."

So the services were moved downstairs.

Smith says the cloth sanctuary seats are proving the toughest to get clean and machines in the sanctuary are constantly running, sucking dust out of the air.

Still, what began as a heartbreaking discovery is turning into a story of triumph for this congregation during this Christmas season.

"To come into the sanctuary and do that, I can't believe anybody would do that. But they did," expressed Smith. "But we will come out of it."

Church officials say, through word of mouth, they have a pretty good idea who the vandals are.

They hope to have the church entirely cleaned up by mid-week.