After its pastor pled guilty to stealing more than $135,000 from church coffers, “causing strife, confusion, and negative publicity reflecting the church in a negative light,” representatives of the First Baptist Church in Bel Air this week said they are willing to forgive him.

“While funds were misused, necessary repairs were neglected … thanks be to God that he has sustained the church financially and kept the doors open,” the church wrote in a statement.

The church announced a new pastor on their Facebook page last month and said former pastor Daniel Champ and his family, “were loved and are still loved.”

Champ, 43, pled guilty Sept. 10 in Harford County Circuit Court to stealing more than $135,000 from First Baptist Church on Creswell Road, from 2019 to 2024. Champ was arrested in April and was originally charged with embezzlement.

Champ started working at the church in December 2017, and also lived on church property. He was ordered to pay the church $65,000 over the next five years, according to the State’s Attorney’s Office. The trustees of the First Baptist Church agreed to the conditions and were “adamant about no jail time,” according to the State’s Attorney’s Office.

T. Wray McCurdy, the attorney who represented Champ, told The Baltimore Sun that he felt “Champ was treated fairly in this matter.”

“The resolution reflects the dilemma that smaller standalone churches face financially, the need for a hands-on, dedicated, engaged-in-the-community minister, which Daniel Champ was, versus the Daniel Champ, the young father of five who was struggling to make ends meet financially while pursuing the vocation he was trained for,” McCurdy said.

The Sheriff’s Office had originally alleged Champ used the money on purchases including DoorDash, PayPal and sports betting sites. But Champ’s attorney said that the money was not spent on “fancy trips, jewelry purchases, gambling or the like in this case.”

“It’s only two young working parents who can’t make their budget every week for years,” McCurdy said.

Officials at the First Baptist Church first notified the Harford County Sheriff’s Office last October after noticing suspicious bank charges and missing money. The theft is estimated to have started on or about January 1, 2019, and gone through November 30, 2024, according to the criminal indictment.

In a statement to The Baltimore Sun, First Baptist Church wrote that church’s account was near $0 at Champ’s departure. They were “led to believe that giving was low and costs were high, and this depleted our finances.”

“The service that he did for the church and community will never be forgotten,” they wrote in the statement. “In repentance, any black mark can be washed away, for the blood of Christ washes away a multitude of sins. Any past wrongdoings can be forgiven.”

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