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The letters painted on the concrete near the entrance to the church on Van Avenue spelled out the words “don’t come back.”
But nobody paid attention.
Sunday morning close to 60 worshippers gathered at the First Assembly of God Church in Houma, where their pastor preached about love and hate and why more of one is needed in the world. The service was held in an annex building because the other had reared its ugly head last week, resulting in fire damage to the high-ceilinged brick sanctuary that for 40 years has been home to this Pentecostal congregation.
“As a church, as a people, we want our community to know that we are walking and living in the love of Christ, that Jesus is going to make a difference in this world that is so full of hate,” said the pastor, the Rev. David Jenkins. “Everywhere you like there is hatred toward color, hatred toward law enforcement, hatred toward this and that, and the love of Jesus Christ is all that can make a difference. “
Inside the annex folding chairs had been placed, the band was set up on a make-shift altar, and at the service’s end, as is their custom, worshippers embraced each other or shook hands. It is not, several had said, a building that makes a church but the people who make a church. There were reminders of Matthew 18:20, which states in the King James version “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
The sanctuary the people were used to visiting, steps away from the annex, was a crime scene. Literally so.
It happened just before 6 a.m. Wednesday, when firefighters and city police were called because smoke was coming out of the church, a yellow-brick structure in the midst of a mixed residential and industrial area. The fire, started near the entranceway, was extinguished quickly. There were other places as well where the charring indicated fire had started but not gotten far. Small spots where fire was started could be seen from one end of the sanctuary to the other, in one case on the edge of a pew. The police figured out that whoever was responsible entered through a rear window.
That night there was trouble again, and church-goers found graffiti spray-painted on the walkway, on the very boards that were used to shield the place from damage because of the early-morning fire, and on some windows.
The Houma police and fire departments along with the State Fire Marshal and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms are all involved in the investigation. ATF, officials said, may come in especially handy due to specialized labs and technicians whose equipment can help point more directly to those responsible.
Signs of the sacrilege abound. A burned bible. The wooden cross that once proudly beckoned the faithful from the rooftop, lay casually against a pew, charred striations marking where the fire had nibbled but never gotten a chance for a full meal. Everywhere was the smell of the smoke, pungent and made sour with the humid air.
Police Chief Dana Coleman was sickened, physically and emotionally, as were others who ventured inside.
“We all have our own religious beliefs,” Coleman said. “When you get people defacing religious buildings, it is an affront. We live in America where we should respect beliefs. When someone crosses this line it is very upsetting to me. The church is a place for sanctuary, where you go to get spiritual healing, for someone to do this type of damage, this type of defacing of the property, it is very upsetting.”
“We are looking at all avenues and all possibilities,” Coleman said, when asked if the incident is being classified as a hate crime.
Coleman is asking that anyone seeing markings similar to those graffiti-sprayed notify the police. All aspects are being investigated, Coleman said
Jerica Hughes, one of the congregants on Sunday, gazed on the graffiti outside the church entrance with a sad look on her face. This church, she said, is a place where for two years she has had a sense of belonging.
“It’s frightening,” she said.
Authorities are not releasing much information as they work to develop theories and suspects.
ATF spokesman Kevin Moran, based in New Orleans, said he was not certain of the role his agency is playing yet, but is certain every resource ATF has that local law enforcement might need will be made available.
“It is one of ATF’s priorities to investigate church fires,” Moran said. “If they need our experts to determine cause and origin or if they need help with samples of evidence we will come in.”
Another resource ATF has is the use of profilers in conjunction with the FBI in Quantico, Va.
A former ATF agent who now works for private industry, Daniel Hebert of Mandeville, said it would not be unusual for profiling work to be done on a church fire.
“They look for patterns, the time of day, they will give a description of who it might likely be,” Hebert said.
In a case where multiple fires are set in different places ineffectively enough to not cause a huge conflagration, he said, a professional or an adult set on a vendetta would not be the most likely suspect.
“They are going to be prepared to bring the church down,” Hebert said. “You’re not looking for a professional torch. A kid who breaks in with a lighter in his pocket would be unprepared and use available combustibles. But just because they are setting small fires doesn’t mean they are not intending to bring the church down. You’d be surprised at how bad people are at setting fires. Most often they catch the guys not smart enough to know how to set a fire.”
Coleman said anyone with information is asked to submit a tip anonymously through Crime Stoppers Bayou Region by phone at 1-800-743-7433 or online at www.crimestoppersbr.org.
Tips can also be submitted using the P3 Tips app on your mobile device. Information leading to arrest could result in a reward of up to $1,000 in cash. •
