Church Cleaned Out by Trailer Thieves

Back in my church insurance days I had a lot of congregations just like this one:

IRVINE - Three thieves snuck into an RV storage lot, hitched a 16-foot trailer onto a Budget rental truck, and made off with most of an Irvine church's belongings in a robbery that has left the fledgling congregation reeling.

The robbery happened Sept. 21 at 4:30 p.m., just 90 minutes after a member of The Summit church dropped the trailer off at Irvine RV Storage for the week. No one realized the trailer had been stolen until the following Sunday, Sept. 28 when a church member arrived to pick up the trailer before the weekly service and was greeted by an empty space.

Security footage shows a Budget rental truck arriving at the storage yard on Barranca Parkway. One person gets out of the truck and pretends to punch in a security code before following another vehicle in through an open gate. Two men and one woman appear to be in the truck, which drives around the unattended lot for an hour before hitching the white Haulmark Deluxe Transport trailer on and then following another vehicle past the security gate.

"Our total loss is $107,000," said Scott Turner, a pastor who founded The Summit Church in January 2007. The non-denominational church has 150 members and focuses on outreach and ministry to students.

The church holds a weekly service at UC Irvine's University Club. A six-man crew arrives at 7:45 a.m. on Sundays to unload audio, video and lighting equipment, along with supplies for kids' classrooms and a breakfast buffet.

Last Sunday's service was saved when church members "just rallied," Turner said. Moms brought supplies and toys for the nursery and preschool area. Members donated food and drinks. Another member brought in his portable sound system and microphone for the sermon, and the band played an acoustic worship set.

"We had a great service," Turner said. "Everyone united and came together, even in the midst of such challenging circumstances."

We had several churches like this have similar thefts and it was always a concern when writing insurance for start-ups. Just about every school in Southern California has a church meeting in it on Sunday, and few of those churches are able to store their equipment at the school. Every Sunday morning lot of trailers are moving around the area taking church equipment to schools, community buildings, or other temporary locations.

The sad thing is that while every school has a start-up church, most of the churches with buildings sit largely empty. Somebody needs to get these people together.