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Arsonist Ignites Church's Passion: The Pastor and Members of a Church That Police Believe Was Deliberately Set Afire Are Dismayed That Anyone Would Want to Destroy Their Sanctuary

Posted on: Thursday, 15 December 2005, 09:00 CST

By Helen Berggren, The Miami Herald, The Miami Herald

Dec. 15--The jagged bits of colored glass scattered on the wooden floor were once the stained glass windows of the small white Pentecostal church on the corner.

Because of a fire that investigators said was intentionally set four days after Hurricane Wilma, the windows of Triumph Church Proclaiming The Everlasting Gospel are boarded up with plywood these days.

The arsonist set multiple fires in the concrete building at 2994 NW 48th St., on the morning of Oct. 28, police said.

One of the fires was started on the altar.

"I helped build that altar," Pastor Albertha Taylor Bradford, 78, said Sunday. "I built that church with my own two hands 30 years ago. What could make someone do something like this?"

Most neighbors are asking the same question.

"I have lived here seven years and this is the worst I have seen yet," said Rudolph Edmond, who lives behind the church. "What kind of a person starts a fire at the altar, trying to burn down a church? Who would want to do something like this? But whoever did it will be punished -- if not by men, then by God."

Edmond said he was sleeping when he first smelled the smoke between 3:30 and 4 a.m. that Thursday.

"I thought it was my place, at first," he said. "I looked outside and saw smoke coming out of the windows. I went back inside my house and called the fire department."

Edmond said he did not see anyone near the burning church at that early hour.

Neither did Melissa West, who lives a couple of houses away in the normally quiet neighborhood.

"It happened in the middle of the night," West said. "I woke up when I heard Fire-Rescue."

No one has come forward with information about the arson.

"We are trying to generate some attention to the case," said Miami-Dade Police Detective Dennis Lake. "This is an arson and a burglary case. Hopefully, someone knows something or saw something and will call us."

Besides the fire, police are probing the theft of church items that include a red drum set, speakers, a microphone and a vacuum cleaner.

There are also intangible items missing from the sanctuary.

"I am scared to go in the church," said Kiana Peterson, 8, the pastor's great- granddaughter.

But the congregation does not intend to let the arsonist stop them from practicing their religion.

"I am going to start visiting at home," Bradford said. "It was a beautiful church. I know I was hurt by this and I am still hurting. But I am leaving it in the hands of God."

A building is not needed to worship God, according to one church member.

"If you are a true Christian, you can serve Him at home, school or on the street corner," said Cedell Peterson, Bradford's daughter. "All you need to do is to serve God. If He doesn't have a certain place to bless me, then why should I have a certain place to serve Him?"

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Miami Herald

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Miami Herald

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