OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) -- If you drive by Montclair Presbyterian Church at 5701 Thornhill Drive in Oakland, it's quickly obvious that a word is missing from the "Makes Our Community Stronger" picket signs on its property. That word is "Immigrants." The Rev. Ben Daniel of Montclair Presbyterian Chu rch said the church prides itself on being a welcoming, inclusive church, and they've been putting up the signs for about a year. But every time they put them up, someone takes them down. Community members have even resorted to using homemade signs to fill in the word "Immigrants." A day after Rev. Ben spoke with KRON4 for this story, he awoke to find the sign gone again. "Good morning. Just as a follow-up: I woke up to find the handmade 'immigrants' sign missing. Just in time for our Sunday service," Rev. Ben wrote in a text message. According to the pastor, someone will either steal a sign or take all the signs, and it's happened about 10 times this year alone. But that hasn't stopped concerned community members from rallying in support and putting the "Immigrants" signs back up. At one point, people found six previously torn-down signs in the bushes by the church's parking lot. "It's become this community effort to keep up the welcoming of immigrant signs, which is pretty gratifying," Rev. Ben said. In the most recent incident, someone threw eggs at the sign and tore it down. "I live next to the church, and each time I leave my home, I still try to check if they're still up," Rev. Ben said. "We're trying to help people understand that migrants make our community stronger." The incidents have been so frequent that the pastor has written a letter titled "To the neighbor who keeps stealing our signs," which is posted outside the church. The letter asks the person to stop and even invites that individual to a conversation. "I actually wrote a letter to them, laminated it and put it on a pole in the parking lot," Rev. Ben said. "It's still there. They can look at it. The main thing I want them to know is that, first of all, I'm open to talking to them. I also want them to know that this is a matter of religious faith for us. This isn't just some sort of woke, leftist political statement. It comes from a place of profound faith — a belief in our responsibility to welcome the stranger. It's biblical faith for us to welcome the stranger, to love our neighbors and to stand up against expressions of hate. So when someone violates our property and vandalizes our signs, they're not just making some sort of political statement. They're taking a swipe not just at our political beliefs, but at our deeply held religious beliefs and our faith in Christ. It's not our politics; it's our faith. So it goes deeper than just a political difference." When Rev. Ben thinks back to when this first started happening, he can trace his initial reaction. "I was sad because I want to live in a world where immigrants are welcomed. I want to live in a country that honors immigrants and lives up to the promise we have on the Statue of Liberty and in the Declaration of Independence. The United States, at its best, is a place of immigrants, where immigrants are welcomed. I was also surprised because I allowed myself to believe that I lived in a strong enough blue bubble that there wouldn't be anti-immigrant sentiment. And that's not the case. Even in Montclair, which I would say is the left ventricle of America's bleeding heartland, there is anti-immigrant sentiment," Rev. Ben said. The pastor says the community response keeps him hopeful. "People stop me on the street, which is really wonderful," Rev. Ben said. "People I don't know very well, but neighbors who know that I'm the pastor of the church, have stopped me on a couple of occasions, looked me in the eye and thanked me for the fact that my church is doing this. That's meant a lot. One person even sent me a $50 check to help pay for new signs, which was wonderful. It's more than just seeing the signs and liking them. People are actually putting money where their beliefs are. They've been joining us financially and spiritually. The fact that random people are making new signs for us and joining us just feels really good." Rev. Ben said they don't have video surveillance to capture the incidents, and they haven't reported the recent incidents because they don't want to bother the police department. Rev. Ben clarified that while the incidents are serious to him, the financial loss is relatively small. "I mean, it's serious to me," Rev. Ben said. "I just don't think it's going to be serious to them. The actual financial damage to us is probably less than $20. I don't know how much other people in the congregation have spent on signs, and I don't even know exactly how much the signs cost. So, it's not a big financial loss to us. We've had other problems. We've certainly been vandalized over the years. We're very openly supportive of LGBTQ+ people. We're a very progressive church politically, socially and theologically, and that bothers people. We've had a lot of windows shot out by people with pellet guns. Even one time, when I was leading a Bible study, somebody came and shot a window out. This has been a very visible thing, though, and it's been a really wonderful experience to be supported by the community. But vandalism is not new to us, honestly. It's hard, even in Montclair, to be victims of vandalism for our faithful statements." Rev. Ben isn't sure if this vandalism was an attack on the church or its message. "It's hard to know for sure. The other vandalism we've experienced could just be vandalism," Rev. Ben said. "This one is clearly vandalism against our message. The vandalism against our witness is clear in this instance. The others could have been someone with a pellet gun who saw a window and thought, 'I might as well shoot it.' Maybe it was just some kids passing around a pellet gun, as kids will do. This one is clearly targeted against us for our beliefs. And that makes me sad. It's not a big loss financially. It's not a big loss materially. But it makes me sad that someone would target us. On the positive side, we've had so much more support. So many people have reached out to us, and it's been really wonderful." He added, "The main thing I want people to hear is that we will continue to articulate our love for God and our love for our neighbors. We'll continue to articulate our firm belief in faithfulness — that immigrants are welcome and that immigrants make our community stronger." KRON4 reached out to the Oakland Police Department for a statement on the incidents but did not hear back in time for this publication. ...read more read less