Car Crashes Into Tulsa Church

A small church in north Tulsa has a big mess to clean up. A stolen car slammed into it after four people inside the car ran from Tulsa Police. <br/><br/>As News on 6 anchor Craig Day found out, church

Thursday, July 6th 2006, 3:01 pm

By: News On 6

A small church in north Tulsa has a big mess to clean up. A stolen car slammed into it after four people inside the car ran from Tulsa Police.

As News on 6 anchor Craig Day found out, church member are relieved it didnâ€™t happen earlier in the evening. At the Concord Community Baptist Church there is a lot of work to be done.

â€œThis is pretty substantial damage." A lot of work after four men bailed out of a stolen car and the car kept going. Stephon Chappell: "The guys bailed out of the car right here and the car plowed straight into the office."

This is what it looked like in the middle of the night. Now church members and volunteers are picking up the pieces.

"A whole wall is moved out from the corner." Dale Rolland is the church's pastor. "We've all been young. We've all made our share of mistakes. bad judgment. That's the way I look at it. Bad judgment."

Some church members had feared something like this could happen. They say drivers speed down Harvard all the time. Despite the damage, things could have been much worse. Several men were meeting in that very office late Wednesday night."

If the car would have slammed into the church earlier, they could have been injured or killed.

Dale Rolland: "You can fix up some walls. What can you do with lost lives?"

Stephon Chappell: "there's nothing in this that says you're heading in the right direction. literally, figuratively, and spiritually, there's nothing in this that says I'm headed in the right direction."

Church members hope those young men hear that message loud and clear and that they also know they're invited back to to attend services. They'll just need to park in the parking lot next time.

Stephon Chappell: "Our Pastor doesn't need a personal door to his office. He's fine. He's a pretty modest guy. He doesn't have a problem taking the front door."