CLARKS GREEN -- A church in Lackawanna County had most of its music equipment swiped from its sanctuary sometime this week, but thanks to some good Samaritans, music will play this Sunday.
The pastor of Clarks Green Assembly of God says sometime between last Sunday night and Wednesday someone broke in to the church.
They took several pieces of equipment used for the church's live band. It's several thousand dollars' worth of equipment and it will take a long time for the church to come up with the money to replace it.
The sanctuary at Clarks Green Assembly of God doesn't look like the scene of a burglary. It didn't about 24 hours ago either when Michael Warner's wife sat down to the piano to lead a worship service.
"And it almost went unnoticed until she began, and texted me and said, 'where's the keyboard? Did you take the microphones? What happened?' And then we noticed there was some other things missing, some microphone stands tipped over, and clearly somebody had broken in and took what they wanted," said worship pastor Michael Warner.
Several thousand dollars' worth of sound equipment and instruments were swiped sometime earlier this week and senior pastor Daniel Miller thinks it was by someone who has been to the church before.
"The people obviously knew when or how to get in here. Now, and our minds go crazy at a time like this, it's all speculation purely, but I believe somebody came, saw what they wanted, made sure a side door was open, and came back in later," said Miller.
Without the instruments, there would be no way to play music for service this coming Sunday so, the worship pastor turned to social media and, "exactly 22 minutes after I did -- and I have a very extensive music community that I've stayed in touch with over the past few decades -- Rock Street Music in Pittston texted me and said, 'we will lend you everything you need for the next 23 weeks until you can figure out how you're going to replace this."
Even though the burglary sets the church back, they're choosing to chalk this up as God's plan and focus on the positive.
"We're not going to have bars on the windows, in fact, we're going to be welcoming people all the more," said Warner.
"What evil means for harm, God turns for good. Therefore, it will all work out for good. When you're with god and work according to his plan, it all works out for your good. Do I like it? No. That person needed it, I just pray that that person will be so convicted that they will eventually turn to good themselves," Miller added.
Clarks Green Assembly of God is asking for donations to help them replace the stolen equipment. You can donate on the church's web site.
Anyone with information about the theft is asked to call Clarks Summit police.