One area pastor is hoping that thieves who broke into the Cedar Grove Baptist Church earlier this week will have a change of heart and bring back the church’s computer.

In fact, Pastor Monroe Sasser said he’s willing to give them $100 cash for the Dell desktop “no questions asked.”

Sasser said the church, which is located off the Babbie highway, finished the Sunday service and closed for the night. When his wife arrived Tuesday to clean, she found a broken window and a trashed church office.

“What they’d done is broke in a window in the Sunday school room and kicked the door in to the church office,” Sasser said. “They got the computer, trashed the room and scattered all the bookwork. I know they were looking for money because all the offering envelopes were torn open.”

Sasser said the church computer holds valuable information, and he’d like it back.

“Really, it’s not important to anyone but us, but I would give ‘em $100 for the computer back,” he said. “All the church congregation’s contact information is in it. That’s all. The ladies will have to work for days to redo all that paperwork and get it put in.”

Sasser said the thieves left the printer and all of the other items in the church.

“I want to pray for them; I want them to get saved,” he said of the burglars. “But the thing is, and this worries me, all the people that I know who broke into churches ended up dead. The first group that got the church, that man 40 years ago, he ended up dead – bad. The second one, I was at the doctor when (the doctor) pulled me to the side and said, ‘I need you to counsel this boy. I just gave him bad news.’ (The young man, at some point, had) broke(n) into a church. He got gangrene and died. I’m worried about the one who broke into our church. I hope he comes clean and gets right with God.”

Sasser said he hopes those who took the computer will “bring it back where it belongs – at the church.”

Sasser said the thieves did an estimated $1,500 worth of damage during the burglary.