Lewis King is the pastor of a church with no building. The pulpit is now bare. Mount Erie Baptist Church in Chiefland stands empty. its congregation of 20 people spent nearly a decade giving their offerings to the building fund, in hopes of creating a new church. About 130 thousand dollars was raised to go toward the construction, which was supposed to be underway now.
So with the money in the bank, the pastor ordered this 80 year old church to be demolished. But when he went to the bank to withdraw the money to pay contractors IN JULY, he realized there was no money.
Pastor Lewis King says devastation flooded the church when they came to believe two of their own members had stolen all the savings.
According to a Chiefland Police report, Mary Marshall admitted "she did it" when questioned by authorities.
Services are currently being held at St James AME church in Chiefland. There was a meeting Wednesday night in this temporary church, to discuss what to do next.
Members have decided to volunteer to fix up their old building...until they can again raise enough money to rebuild. But with the current state of the economy, members aren't able to MAKE UP FOR TEN YEARS' WORTH OF LOST MONEY.
The volunteers say it could be another month before their old church is ready to move back in to. And with many of them not able to donate as much money to the building fund as they did before, it might take another decade before they can afford to start construction of a new place of worship.