KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A local church burns overnight, and now its members believe the cause of the fire was no accident.
Members of the Miracle Temple Pentecostal Church on East 41st Street and Indiana mourned the loss of their beloved church after it caught fire just after midnight on Sunday.
Many members of the congregation do not think the fire was an accident, but instead suspect arson as the cause of the overnight blaze.
“I want to know why, what happened, why they touch my auntie’s church and they shouldn’t been like that,” said Johnny Sherman, a long-time congregation member and family member of the church’s founder.
Sherman’s cousin, Charles Cole, said he and Sherman had grown up going to the Miracle Temple Pentecostal Church. Their aunt, Pastor Ruby Mitchell, who died in 2007, built the church from the ground up more than 30 years ago.
“I remember when she used to have all the kids come out and play, then Sunday morning we would come out and go to worship service with her,” said Cole.
Mitchell’s ministry inspired Cole to do the same. He now leads this church across the street, which coincidently has been recently burned also. And just two months ago, so did the church’s bus.
“Kids around here doing this and they need to be punished for whatever they doing,” said Sherman.
Both Cole and Sherman do not think the fires were the result of an accident.
The Kansas City, Mo. Fire department, police bomb and arson squad, the FBI and others are still investigating the cause of the fire.
“If there may be a reason to suspect arson of any sort, and I’m not saying that’s the case here, but if there is a reason to suspect it, then they’ll come in just to make sure that a thorough job is done,” said Battalion Chief James Garrett of the Kansas City, Mo, Fire Department.
Sherman said one day they will be back to worship here again.
“We’re going to have to put it back together because that’s my auntie’s church, and we trying to get donations and everything we need to put it back together,” said Sherman.
The Kansas City, Mo. Fire Department said the church is a complete loss.
