I personally did not come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ until I was almost 16 years old.  I was a very troubled teenager, involved in alcohol and violence (God spared me from the drug scene).  I can very vividly remember many of the acts of violence “just for the fun of it.”  However, the one thing that I also remember is that churches were OFF LIMITS.  No one would have dreamed of causing damage to a local church or any sort for any reason.  I don’t know if it was a fear of God or what might happen or a respect or maybe even a combination, but the bottom-line was that churches were not a place to be messed with.  But my, how times have changed.

As you read through the various articles this week, some should jump out at you.  The sad thing is in recent weeks as I have reviewed what I believe to be a massive increase in vandalism against churches, only to find that a large percentage of these are done by youngsters.  Can this be part of the result of a culture that has removed prayer from schools, removed “Merry Christmas” from our greetings, and hearing of groups seeking to remove “Under God” from our Pledge of Allegiance”? 

Last year after I founded and launched the Institute for Church Safety and Risk Management (or ICSARM), I began to work on the formation of a new non-profit group called “National Association for the Prevention of Crimes Against Churches”.  While launching this group, I have also had the opportunity to meet in the office of one of our U.S. Senators based here in Mississippi.  Unfortunately, while there was some initial expressed interest, to date, there has been no success at launching a true national initiative. 

My concern is that we need to see something happen soon as these attacks are not only becoming more frequent and more serious, they are also become even more obscene.  May God grant us mercy and grace as we continue to face these issues of crimes against local churches.