Un-Godly act at a house of God in Saratoga County

MIDDLE GROVE – It was an unsettling act that occurred in a place that most people think of as sacred, and as it turns out, not even a century-old church is immune to the scourge of criminal activity.

It was under the cover of darkness late Saturday night into Sunday morning when someone kicked in and crawled through the front door at the Middle Grove Methodist Church.

"It’s a charitable organization. I can’t understand why somebody would do this to a charitable organization," wondered Chuck Veeder, the church treasurer.

Veeder says the entire congregation is distraught over what happened. Once inside, bandits made off with electronic equipment including loudspeakers, amplifiers, microphones, and a large screen television.

"The things that were taken are valued at $5,000," said Pastor Jason Proctor. "But really, just seeing the building like that is heartbreaking to so many people."

"We actually said a prayer for them," Veeder added. "We hope they feel some kind of guilt for what they did. Anger doesn’t do anything."

Veeder says the church has been vandalized three times in the past two weeks, and he met with a security expert less than 48 hours before the most recent break-in to discuss a video surveillance system.

"When I grew up, churches were open 24/7," he said. "You could walk in. You could pray. You could do anything. It was always a safe haven, and it was a place where you could go when you had trouble and people could help you. I just think that’s kind of been violated, and it’s a shame that we can’t be that way anymore."

Proctor says whoever did it is someone who is hurting, and he prays that that person figures out a better way of living their life.

"And yes, we would certainly have done what ever we could to help people as we’ve done before," the pastor stated.