WHEELING — At first, Bishop Darrell Cummings saw some traffic cones stolen from the Bethlehem Apostolic Temple parking lot. Then it happened a few more times. Then a chain closing in the lot was snapped, then it was stolen.

Then came this past Monday when we arrived to find deep gouges in the lot’s asphalt, made by spinning tires. Cummings hopes that last act of vandalism was the last of it, but he can’t be sure, and that’s what concerns him.

“If this is the way they chose to express their hatred for us, I hope that this is the height of it,” Cummings said Friday.

Cummings said the actions started a little over a month ago. He had three traffic cones that blocked one of the parking lot entrances that were stolen and replaced four times. Then the chain was snapped. The church repaired it, and then it was stolen. Cummings put up a rope in its place, but that was cut, too.

Yet the worst of it came when he saw the damage to the parking lot. Cummings said he hadn’t called the police for the cones or the chain, but he brought them to the church after the lot was damaged.

He said the police told him the damage to the lot looked intentional, that the gouges came from a driver slamming down on the gas and brake at the same time to dig into the asphalt. Cummings said the police asked him if he had gotten into any arguments recently, but he couldn’t think of one.

“My question is, if you’re trying to send us a message, what’s the message?” Cummings said. “I don’t know what the message is. Is it about my race? Is it about religion? Is it that we’re too visible in the community?”

Cummings and the Bethlehem Apostolic Temple are among the most charitable groups in the Ohio Valley. The church gives away food at Easter and Thanksgiving and food and gifts for children at Christmas.

They’ll hold a back-to-school giveaway at the North Wheeling Dream Center, giving away school clothes and supplies, on Saturday, Aug. 24 at 10 a.m. At 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 25, they’ll hold a back-to-school festival at Wheeling Park.

He has won the Dr. Lee Jones Patron of Youth Award from the Wheeling YMCA, as well as the Youth Services System Good Samaritan Award among other honors.

It isn’t just the property damage and the disappointment that comes with it, Cummings said. The cost is difficult, too. Each time he had to replace the three traffic cones, it cost $75. He hasn’t gotten an estimate on fixing the asphalt damage, but he recently had that section of the lot redone, which cost around $15,000.

The church also will buy more security cameras. A doorbell camera on the side of the church picked up the activity at the parking lot, but not the car itself or the driver.

Cummings also is concerned that the vandals aren’t done and that it may get worse. When talking to Wheeling Police, he addressed those concerns with them and asked officers to keep a visible presence around the area.

“My hope is with (talking about it), that we shine a light and maybe the darkness will leave,” he said. “They’ll say, ‘You know what? They’re being watched and we don’t want to mess with them anymore. I’m hoping that’s what it is.”