Two local churches hurt by vicious vandal attacks

Church members put their own signs over the vandalism.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
GREENVILLE, Pa. -- At one church, vandals spray-painted anti-Christian messages on the building, and at another nearby church, they discharged fire extinguishers inside and stole electronic equipment.
Greenville-West Salem Police say they don't believe the vandalism at In Spirit and In Faith Fellowship Church and the burglary at Living Word Christian Church are related.
Church leaders are upset nonetheless.
"It was really very hurtful what they did," said Pastor Floyd Smith Jr. of In Spirit and In Faith Christian Church on Kinsman Road.
Vandals spray-painted the anti-Christian messages on the outside of the steel building sometime overnight from Saturday to Sunday.
Smith said when church members arrived Sunday, they decided to put their own messages overtop the vandals' messages.
So instead of seeing the hateful words, passers-by now see these messages:
"Those who are persecuted are blessed" and "This is a hate crime against Greenville Christians."
"We got the church together and said 'We're not going to take this.' It could encourage more. So we purposely put up the signs to cover the foul language," the pastor said.
Smith and his wife, Sally, found the vandals' work when they arrived at about 8 a.m. Sunday to prepare for services in the 65-member church on Kinsman Road in West Salem Township. Smith said there was no damage inside.
Services were still held.
Living Word
There was damage to the interior of Living Word Christian Church, about two miles away on South Maysville Road.
Greenville-West Salem Police Officer Robert Robinson said two fire extinguishers were released inside the sanctuary, an office, classrooms and a hallway sometime overnight from Sunday to Monday.
The intruders also stole two televisions, a VCR, a DVD player and a laptop computer.
Pastor Smith says one good result of the damage is the outpouring of support from the community and other nearby churches.
Smith said they intend to leave the church members' signs up over the spray paint at least for the remainder of this week.
"We will leave it up until we feel the Lord is satisfied that we tried to turn this into a positive thing," he said.
Smith said In Spirit and In Faith Christian Church is an independent charismatic church that has been in existence for 18 years. It has been at the Kinsman Road location for 12 years.
cioffi@vindy.com