ATLANTA — A Christmas season story of crime in Atlanta is playing out at a Jesus-themed bar east of downtown, which has endured repeated burglaries over the last month.
"To me it’s like, where’s your faith?" said Grant Henry, who has asked that question repeatedly since Thanksgiving, when the first in a string of brazen break-ins took place at the bar he founded called Sister Louisa's Church.
"Thanksgiving, and then three days later, and then three days later," Henry said Wednesday, counting off the number of burglaries. "And then didn’t have any for a week or two. And then last night at 4 p.m. They broke in the side window." Henry's bar has picture windows that overlook Edgewood Avenue and Boulevard.
Predictably, Henry’s business has surveillance video that documented each of the break-ins.
"They were only here four five minutes," Henry said about each time it happened. "Alarms are going off. They’re doing it during the alarm." He's convinced the same burglary crew is striking his place over and over again, along with other bars near downtown Atlanta.
Yet, even though he’s posted the video online and called police, the culprits are still unidentified.
Still, Henry said "it’s about faith.... my faith is bigger than my brain. It’s way bigger."
Sister Louisa's Church sits somewhere near a sweet spot between tribute and parody of the Christian church – with a devout fan base that appears to now include a couple of persistent burglars, who likely targeted the bar for its easy access to booze. According to Henry, the burglaries didn't start until the beginning of the Christmas season.
"One day, we won't be broken into every week," he vowed. He tempers his frustration with the same wry faith that drove him to open a Jesus-themed bar in the first place. "I guarantee you, one day we won't be broken into every week. So, all I've got to do is put blinders on and do what I've got to do and – thank God," he said.
The bar first opened 11 years ago this week and Henry opened a second version with the same concept in Athens.
He said he knows that the burglaries committed are only part of a heavy workload borne by Atlanta police trying to solve this and other more serious crimes.
If you recognize the guys in the video – Henry suggests that stepping forward would be the righteous thing to do.