Charges of second-degree arson and second-degree burglary were filed Tuesday against a man who barricaded himself inside a historic church on New Year's Day, then did a dance after he emerged from the burning building.
Firefighters were kept back by police because of threats against anyone who approached the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), and by the time the man surrendered flames had spread so far that the church was destroyed.The charges were filed against Jordan Smith, 25, a former member of the denomination who had been expelled for joining another church. Smith pleaded innocent to the two charges, and Jackson County Circuit Judge Robert L. Trout set his bond at $35,000 and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Jan. 10.
Smith, whose cheeks were brightly painted when he came out of the church, had called police about 11 a.m. Monday, saying he was armed and had hand grenades. Police set up a command post and maintained telephone contact with Smith and eventually he agreed to come out if he were allowed to perform a dance.
"It was kind of what we white people would envision a war dance to be," said Alvin Harris, pastor of the 200-member church and business manager of the 2,300-member denomination. "I don't know that he is Indian, or claimed to be. He had war paint on his face, and may have been thinking that."
Smith was unarmed when he emerged and police said they found no sign of weapons Monday or in further searches Tuesday of what was left of the two-story, 90-year-old building.
Harris said church officials had been able to salvage all their records, although some were water-damaged. He said an old pulpit was saved as well, along with some office furniture.
But Harris said the building was a total loss and will have to be torn down. He said members of the congregation would meet later in the week to discuss future plans.
Harris said his church is one of the denominations which traces its origin back to Joseph Smith and Mormonism.
Harris said the church split up after Smith was killed by a mob in Illinois in 1844. He said one large faction moved to Utah under Brigham Young, becoming what is now The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Another smaller faction, he said, was headed by Smith's son and is now the Independence-based Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The Church of Christ (Temple Lot), Harris said, grew from seven local groups from the Illinois area that banded together under Granville Hedrick, who believed they were given a revelation to return to a site in Independence that Smith had dedicated in 1831 as a spot where Jesus will return to earth.
"It is that Temple Lot site where our church sits," Harris said. "Ancestors came here in 1867 and the church was built, and we have retained ownership ever since."
Harris called Jordan Smith a "church hopper" who has been a member of all three restoration churches "and maybe other Protestant churches as well."