'I was disturbed more than anything' 
 A Winston-Salem church vandalized

Pastor James Hayes says the church was vandalized two other times in the past two months.

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Author: Sydni Moore

Published: 5:49 PM EDT July 2, 2021

Updated: 6:05 PM EDT July 2, 2021

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A Winston-Salem church was vandalized with spray paint and the culprit was caught on tape. WFMY News 2 spoke with the pastor who is searching for answers. Police say the vandalism happened at Destiny Temple on 21st street. There were words spray-painted on the front door that read "Black Power" and welcome signs were laying on the ground.  "Nothing will replace the message of Jesus Christ no matter who puts the graffiti there or what is going on around in the surrounding neighborhoods," said Church Pastor James Hayes.

Surveillance video from Destiny Temple shows a person pulling the welcome signs down and tossing them into the front yard. Pastor James Hayes says the church was vandalized two other times in the past two months. "I was not frustrated, I was not angry. I was disturbed more than anything." That's why this time they made it their mission to catch the act on camera. Police are also aware of vandalism reports at nearby local businesses and churches. 

Winston-Salem church members looking for answers after recent graffiti 

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — Members of Destiny Temple on 21st Street are looking for answers as to why someone sprayed painted graffiti on the church. “It started back in May,” Pastor James Hayes said. “We recently put up cameras to hopefully give us answers to who has been doing this.”

A recent video captured a man removing banners beside the church sign. The sign was recently spray painted as well as the front door to the church. “All we want to do is serve, all we want to do is help,” Hayes said. “We know we have multiple cultures surrounding us with different ages from all walks of life, so we want to just serve and reach everybody.” A near by home was also recently hit. Anyone with information about the crimes is asked to give Winston-Salem police a call.

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By: Chad Tucker
Posted: Jul 2, 2021 / 05:56 PM EDT
Updated: Jul 2, 2021 / 05:56 PM EDT

Winston-Salem church vandalized multiple times, police trying to identify suspect

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by Sarah Mastouri | Friday, July 2nd 2021

WWINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Winston-Salem's Destiny Temple has been repeatedly vandalized. If you go by the church, the doors may seem white now, but just earlier, they were vandalized, not once, but multiple times. The pastor, James Hayes, says it's not the vandalism he's worry about, it's the message. "The message on each place bothers me because it's not something that they're intending to destroy the property, they're trying to convey a message that ignites what's already sensitive in our society," Hayes said. The pastor says his place of worship was vandalized three times in the past two months. The church doors were sprayed over and over with racially charged messages, like "Black Power".

"I thought it was some random kids just doing things as kids would do," Hayes said. The faith leader says he installed cameras around the building to catch anyone walking around the area. "These mixed messages are very troubling because in our community, we already have the unrest with cultural imbalances and insensitivities when it comes to the different races." And with security in place, the latest act, was all caught on tape. In the video above, you can see a man pulling out a welcome sign that stands in front of the church. "We wanted to catch the culprit because we've seen houses and businesses were getting damage," Hayes said. Damage with hateful messages, like "kill all white people", targeting white members of his congregation.

Winston-Salem Police say they are still trying to identify the suspect who they say is most likely the same person in all of these crimes. "We want our membership and our community to know that we are a safe place," Hayes said. As for now, the pastor is working with neighbors to stop this from happening again. He says he's not backing down from spreading his message of love and compassion.

"I would never allow someone's propaganda or negative persuasions to just try to dictate our message," he adds.