Same Person Believed To Have Vandalized At Least 3 Dallas Churches

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The steeple on Beth-Eden Baptist Church sits high over Dallas' Red Bird Lane, making the graffiti that mars it all the more glaring.

Sprayed in red against the church's white paint, the word "lie" now appears on three sides of the spire atop the church's two story building.

"It is blatant," said Pastor Clarence Preston.

The pastor says he was saddened to learn of the vandalism Sunday morning, as members began arriving for services. "Disappointed that somebody would deliberately go up on the roof and place that type of word on the steeple."

Three other churches, all within a half mile radius, were discovered similar graffiti Sunday morning.

On Monday a worker at St. Phillips Missionary Baptist Church was cleaning hateful words off its walls. Security cameras there captured video of a man arriving just before midnight Saturday. The recording shows him defacing three wooden crosses at the church's entryway with red spray paint.

St. Paul Lutheran captured similar surveillance images of a man doing damage to their property about 40 minutes later.

At St. Luke Presbyterian, tarps covered portions of the graffiti, but the word "liars" was visible under the cross in front.

"They may be in pain, they may be hurting," said Preston. "We just want and hope that the perpetrator who did this act comes to Christ."

The pastor says, the effort someone made to damage these churches sent one clear message, but it's not the one splashed on his church. "If you make some type of effort, a laborious effort to do that, that speaks that you do need Jesus," he said.

Dallas police confirmed they are investigating at least three of these cases, but have not officially said they are linked.