(STORY) Pastor Mike Padgett of Potter's House Church on Gum Branch Road said that spray painters got to both sides of the Youth Ministry building a couple weeks ago.
"This is where they come and did some artwork," he said, pointing to the side of the cleanly painted brick side of the building. "Then we did a little of our own... restored it back and cleaned it up."
The Onslow County Sherriff's Department has an ongoing investigation about that very activity. Deputies said that although there is some evidence of gang grafitti in Jacksonville, the verbage painted on buildings along Gum Branch Road are not likely to be part of it.
The phrase "The Hand Of God" and the letters T, H, O, and G are among the recently painted pieces of eyesore-artwork. Citgo, Super Scoop, and Potter's House Church have all been targets most recently.
Sherriff Ed Brown said that these taggers do not have much respect for any location.
"The fact that it's a house of God, a house of worship, a temple or whatever, it doesn't matter to them. It's just another building and they have no more respect for it than they would a bar or any other structure."
Spray paint is an oil based paint. That chemical composition makes cleaning up the mess difficult. In most cases heavy chemicals, primer, and paint are all required for a full restoration.
The Jacksonville Police Department is carrying out its own investigation on graffiti in the area, with a tighter focus on gang graffiti.
As both divisions of law enforcement continue their investigations, Pastor Padgett offers one more solution to this problem in his community.
"The best method, we thought, was just prayer. Just to pray for those individuals and hope that they would have a change of heart."
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