Baptist and Reflector staff
NASHVILLE — Nashville police are searching for a man who is suspected of breaking into three churches late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. The suspect stole several items and set small fires during the break-ins, which occurred at Priest Lake Community Baptist, Crievewood Baptist and St. Ignatius Catholic churches, according to multiple news outlets. Both Priest Lake Community and Crievewood are Tennessee Baptist churches.
WKRN reported that the first break-in happened at Crievewood Baptist Church, on Hogan Road, around 11 p.m. Tuesday. Metro police said the back door of the church was forced open by the suspect, who then went into a classroom and set fire to a cabinet with papers inside, according to WKRN’s report.
“Right now I have a mixture of anger, fear, and sadness in my body,” Crievewood Baptist Church pastor Ray P. Miller said in a statement posted on the church’s Facebook page. “I also have curiosity as to why our church and what would drive a person to do such a thing. The answer of course is Sin in the sense of the force in the world. 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.”
The Priest Lake Community Baptist Church on Anderson Road was broken into just before midnight. Metro police reported the suspect threw a large rock through a glass door, dragged a trash can into the gymnasium and lit a fire in it under some curtains, WKRN reported.
Less than two hours later, officers found a door smashed in at St. Ignatius of Antioch Church on Bell Road. The officers found a small fire inside the building and firefighters were able to bring it under control, WKRN reported. Metro police reported the suspect broke the glass of the front door and took two flat screen TVs, among other things, before he set a fire in a small hallway.
In the post on the Crievewood Facebook page, Miller said he received a text message at about 9:45 last night, alerting him to the situation. Miller, who is currently in Houston, said he was “shocked, saddened, and felt our safety violated by the news.”
“Yes, we need to feel what we need to feel,” he added in the post. “We need to submit those feelings to God, and ask that God’s Grace would move into the center of our lives.” B&R