AKRON, Ohio — Call it a Christmas miracle – just weeks after the speakers were stolen from the bell tower of an Akron church, two Ohio companies stepped up to replace them just in time for the holiday.
A few weeks ago, Pastor Darrell Frazier noticed he didn’t hear the signature sound of the speaker system playing chiming bells at Arlington Church of the Nazarene. When he went outside to check the speakers, he realized they were gone.
“The bolts were removed, the wires were cut, and someone had taken them,” Frazier said.
Frazier believes someone must have climbed up onto the roof, into the bell tower, and stole the speakers, which the church only had for about eight months and cost thousands of dollars.
According to Frazier, the speakers were part of a system which is programmed to be able to play thousands of different songs and bells depending on the holiday, date, and time of year.
“Since we put these in eight months ago, we've had people coming to visit the church, saying they just wanted to come say thank you for the music, thank you for the chimes,” he said of the speaker system. “We've had neighbors call in constantly saying, ‘when will the chimes be back? What happened? Where’s the music?’"
Church board member June Gleason came to love the sound of the speakers as well.
“We all enjoyed coming into church and hearing them play. I even would drive over sometimes during the day, because I knew they go off at noon, and just listen to them,” Gleason said.
The speakers were something the church had been wanting for years, after they had to stop using an outdated cassette system. But to get these quality, outdoor speakers would cost thousands and thousands of dollars. Luckily, a company called Chime Master sold the church the speakers at a discount, making the congregation’s dream a reality.
“They put in chime systems all over the world, though they tell us we are the only church in all of the world on multiple continents that have ever had the speakers for their chimes stolen, so we are the first,” Frazier said.
Gleason shared the news of the theft with a friend, who told her son. That son, Craig Brazelton, owns the Pro-Z Group out of Stow. Knowing how much his mom’s friends missed the bells, he decided to donate the $2,500 needed to replace the speakers.
“He says, ‘mom, they’re going to have bells, we’re going to make sure they have bells for Christmas,’” Gleason said. “So he was kind enough and generous enough to do that.”
3News reached out to Brazelton, who said the reason for the donation was simply because his mom is friends with Gleason and church members. When she told him what happened, Brazelton said “we just wanted to help out.”
Brazelton wasn’t the only one who wanted to support the church. Chime Master, which is based in Ohio, offered to do the installation, which Frazier said could cost $1,000, free of charge.
Frazier said from the time Brazelton heard about the bells to the installation of the new ones, it was only a matter of days. A quick turnaround, considering Frazier wasn’t sure they’d have new speakers until some point next year.
“When people just get involved and everybody comes together, you see God works in ways often unexpected and often – sometimes slower than we might expect, but sometimes a lot faster than we might expect as well,” Frazier said.
“It’s a blessing, it’s something that everybody can enjoy,” Gleason said. “It’s just the beauty of Christmas.”