Pastor Has Perfect Response After Suspect Sets Fire to Multiple Area Churches
Acts of cruelty are often impossible to understand, predict or prevent. When terrible things happen, our reaction to them is the only thing we can control.
Four churches in Nashville, Tennessee, were targeted by an arsonist last week.
Alan Fox, a 26-year-old, was arrested for setting fires at Crievewood United Methodist Church, Crievewood Baptist Church, Priest Lake Community Church and Saint Ignatius of Antioch Church over the course of three days.
“Really disturbing and disheartening,” William Sensing, associate pastor of Crievewood Baptist Church, told WZTV.
Although firefighters managed to extinguish the fire, it left extensive smoke damage in its wake. Much of the building is now caked in soot, and a lot of work will be required to return the building to normal conditions.
Soot on the ceilings & floor, in the air vents & sifting through the building at Crievewood Baptist Church in S. Nashville. This is what a suspected arsonist left behind last night. How fire investigators caught him: on @FOXNashville at 5:30
📺WATCH: https://t.co/7Ihen3GXGM pic.twitter.com/ISvGr1Vx6z— Kathleen Serie (@KatSerie) June 26, 2019
It’s human nature to react with anger and sorrow in the face of such a tragedy. However, Sensing used the fire as an opportunity to send an important message about faith and community.
“The church is not the building,” he said. “The church is the people. Jesus Christ is our shepherd, and we are his flock and he is caring for us, and God’s loving kindness is filling us every day.”
Suspected church burglar & arsonist Alan D. Fox, 26, is now being booked into the Metro Jail. pic.twitter.com/ZbdgpVTnpF
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) June 26, 2019
Dr. Ray Miller, senior pastor at Crievewood Baptist, also addressed the situation in an emotional Facebook post.
Miller admitted that he felt “a mixture of anger, fear, and sadness.” Regardless, he refused to allow the crime to break his spirit.
“If we take our lesson from Paul, Grace then overwhelms Sin. That’s my prayer – that God’s Grace and compassion would overwhelm the Sin of this situation,” Miller’s post reads.
He urged his congregation to remember the power of prayer in dark situations.
“Yes, we need to feel what we need to feel,” Miller wrote. “We need to submit those feelings to God, and ask that God’s Grace would move into the center of our lives.”
He also reminded his church family that there is far more power in love and forgiveness than in anger and hatred.
“As a church family, let’s be a people of forgiveness. We do not know the why of this man or the why of our church. What I do know is that when hate screams loud, Love sings louder,” Miller wrote.
“Let’s be grateful that the damage was not as bad as it could have been. Let’s be bold in proclaiming Jesus Christ is Lord in every situation.”
Although the situation seems grim, the Crievewood Baptist Church congregation’s faith is stronger than any fire. The church is also accepting donations toward arson recovery on their website.
Our prayers go out to those affected by the crime as they pull together and remind the world how strong a community of faith really is.
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