California pastor fends off suspected burglar at church, says ‘God was very gracious and protected me’

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A California pastor with a martial arts background tells Fox News Digital that “God was very gracious and protected me” as he fended off a suspected burglar at his church on Thanksgiving Day. 

Pastor Nick Neves of the First Family Church in Antioch said Friday that the incident began yesterday morning when he arrived at the church to check out an alarm and a door that had been propped open. 

“As I went to walk into the building, the suspect was coming out with a handful of our stuff. I told him stop, basically he was under citizen’s arrest and he tried to flee and I grabbed a hold of him and we ended up wrestling around in the parking lot for about 15 minutes until the cops could get there,” Neves told Fox News Digital. 

“He was very aggressive and I did my best just to subdue him without doing any harm to him,” he continued. “We are a gospel church that wants to point people to the Lord and do good in our community and when somebody is smashing your windows and stealing your stuff it’s harder to help people out.” 

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Pastor Nick Neves of the First Family Church, left, tells Fox News Digital that he “ended up wrestling around in the parking lot for about 15 minutes” with a burglary suspect on Thursday, Nov. 28, until the Antioch Police Department arrived. (Courtesy Nick Neves/Antioch Police Department)

Neves also said “God was very gracious and protected me from much harm there.” 

“Hopefully the guy can think about his crimes and his sins and hopefully repent,” he added. 

The Antioch Police Department says an ax used by the suspect to break a window at the church was recovered at the scene. 

“I practice jujitsu and did a little bit of kickboxing training in the past so I know how to defend myself,” Neves told Fox News Digital. 

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An ax that the Antioch Police Department says was used to break into the First Family Church on Thursday morning. (Antioch Police Department)

“You train for years and years and you never really have to use it if you are a person of peace – you are not trying to get into trouble with anybody, but it’s there if you need it and, thankfully, this guy who was trying to do me harm didn’t have the training I had, and so I was able to basically neutralize his attacks,” he added. 

The Antioch Police Department said, “When the burglar saw his wicked deeds had been discovered he decided to fight with the pastor instead of repent.”  

A window that the suspect used to break into the First Family Church in Antioch, Calif., according to the Antioch Police Department. (Antioch Police Department)

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“What he did not know was the pastor would win this battle of good and evil and he held down the perp until APD arrived and placed the man in custody,” police also said. “We are thankful today that the pastor was uninjured during this incident and hopeful that with amazing community members like we have been highlighting lately, we can turn the tide on crime in our city.” 

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.