Officers arrested a 22-year-old man on Monday night. He’s a suspect in several of these burglaries.

Members of Truth Community Church in north Springfield, for one, are anxious to get the thieves behind bars so they can rest a little easier.

"They took a sledge hammer to it and just beat it and beat it and beat it until they were able to get into it,” said Pastor Tyler Padgitt, talking about a safe in his church. "A kid or a vandal doesn't do that; these are thieves."

Someone broke into Padgitt’s church two weeks ago.

"I would've been happy if they would have stolen one of my Bibles but they didn't,” said Padgitt.

Thieves ransacked his office and kicked in nearly every door in the building.

"They took a couple sound boards and things like this from our sound room,” he said.

After the first hit, the thieves came back last week for round two.

"They're spread out: north side of town, south side of town,” said Springfield Police Lt. David Millsap.

Police were looking into 19 burglaries before Tuesday, and a couple more came in that day. Many have similar characteristics.

"They’re breaking glass and making entry that way,” said Millsap.

That was the case at Truth Community and also at Baptist Temple. Thieves hit there twice, making out with a little cash, but leaving behind $2,500 in damage.

"They're not hitting the smaller churches; they're hitting some of the bigger churches,” said Millsap.

"I think they were looking for sermons; they were a traveling band of rogue evangelists,” said Padgitt.

Although Padgitt can have a sense of humor about it, he says there will be nothing funny if the thieves come back.

"We're not going to let it happen again. There are people sleeping here on these pews. There will be people sleeping here until our security system is completely beefed up,” he said.