A burglary attempt at First Family Church in Antioch early Thanksgiving morning took an unexpected turn when Pastor Nick Neves confronted and subdued a would-be thief using his martial arts expertise.

The incident occurred shortly after midnight, leaving the church with several thousand dollars in damages.

Pastor Neves, who has served the church for 20 years, was alerted to the break-in and arrived on the scene to find the suspect attempting to flee with stolen items. “(The suspect) came at me through the kitchen holding a box of our possessions. At that point, I told him to stop. He didn’t want to stop. So, I ran after him. Grabbed a hold of him. But I didn’t get ahold of him until we got out to the parking lot,” Neves recounted.

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The suspect likely didn’t anticipate encountering a pastor trained in jiu-jitsu and kickboxing. Neves utilized his years of martial arts training to restrain the intruder until police arrived.

“We wrestled for 12 to 15 minutes,” Neves explained. “I tried to maintain back control on the gentleman so that he wasn’t able to strike at me very effectively. I also tried to keep control of his hands, so that if he had a weapon of some kind, I’d be able to keep him from getting that weapon and using it against me.”

The break-in caused a few thousand dollars in damages to the small church, a significant financial blow.

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Pastor Neves shared his motivation for acting swiftly: “What I didn’t want to see was just him run off and then come back later and rob us again. You can find that it becomes a pattern where you get victimized a lot if you don’t do anything to stand up for yourself.”

While Neves does not encourage others to chase down intruders, he emphasized the importance of standing up for justice.

“Being a loving person doesn’t mean you have to be a weak person,” he stated. “Humility and strength are not antitheses to each other. If there is a situation where you have to stand up for yourself, I don’t think you have to apologize for that.”

The suspect, who Neves believes is likely homeless, was arrested by Antioch police.

The Antioch Police Department has not yet responded to requests for comment. Neves says he will cooperate fully with the investigation.

Despite the ordeal, Neves expressed a desire to meet the suspect again under better circumstances. “Hopefully, I get a chance to speak to this guy again,” he said. “I hope I have an opportunity to meet him in better circumstances and maybe to talk to him a little bit without the panic of him getting arrested.”

The incident serves as a reminder of Neves’ commitment not only to justice but also to compassion, as he balances protecting his church with his role as a spiritual leader.