THUNDER BAY — A disturbing incident of vandalism at a Thunder Bay church has left the congregation facing repair bills estimated at up to $5,000.
Members of Faith City Church on Black Bay Road arrived Tuesday morning to find what associate pastor Steve Hussey describes as "a mess."
Someone had tossed a large rock through a window that had been replaced just recently.
Perhaps even more upsetting were the obscenities that had been painted on both sides of the church's sign located near the street.
"It's disheartening," Hussey said. "You know, we're just doing fundraising and that type of stuff to do different projects, and now there's this damage. If we have to replace the front sign, that's a very costly thing. We just went through the whole building, put all new windows in, and it was paid for. Now we're dealing with this."
He said "some people don't like church, I guess, for whatever reason. And this time of year, a lot of people can be upset or whatever."
Nonetheless, Hussey doesn't believe the church is necessarily being targeted, noting that there have been multiple victims of vandalism recently in the vicinity, including a school where the sign was spray-painted in the same manner.
"This is more of a crime of convenience. I think it's just some kids who are up to mischief early in the morning."
The church has reported the incident to Thunder Bay Police, and hopes police can find clues to the culprits on images recorded by security cameras.
"We do see some people that were up around but we don't see the actual person that did it...I have a very nice video of the rock coming through the window," Hussey said.
Faith City Church moved into the Black Bay Road location eight years ago, and currently has about 150 members.
Hussey said "We're a little disappointed, but we're going to still continue to show love and support [to] our community as best we can. We do love Current River, and we do what we can to help out. Throughout the year we do different things...We're not going to be upset because there's somebody trying to slow us down."
