A church destroyed by fire is in a legal battle with its city council regarding safer-at-home orders. A message spraypainted on the parking lot reads "Bet you stay home now you hypokrits (sic)."

First Pentecostal Church in Holly Springs, Miss. was destroyed by what investigators believe is an arsonist, WLBT reports.

The pastor of the church, Jerry Waldrop, tells the local television station he doesn't know who would have done such a thing.

"We’ve tacked our brains and we have no idea," Waldrop said. "No enemies that we know of. We don’t know anyone that we even think could be capable of doing something like this." Waldrop has been pastor at the church for 31 years.

He and church leadership recently filed a lawsuit in April against the City of Holly Springs. The lawsuit says police had interrupted a Bible study as well as their Easter service. The document states that the church held services outdoors when able, but moved indoors while following social distancing guidelines during inclement weather.

The governor of Mississippi, Tate Reeves, included churches in the State's list of essential businesses in the safer-at-home order. However, the City of Holly Springs did not.

“It is very clear local municipalities can have guidelines that are more strict than the governor’s guidelines, but they cannot have guidelines that directly conflict with what we have put in place,” Reeves said at a news conference Wednesday.

An attorney for the City, Shirley Byers, says the City amended the order on April 24 to allow churches to hold drive-thru services. She alleges that on April 10 somewhere between 35 and 40 congregants were inside the church and not practicing social distancing, which is what led to a citation for violating the order.

Pastor Waldrop says the congregation will do whatever they need to do in order to rebuild.

“We have a tight group that’s been faithful, so whatever means is necessary that’s what we’ll do," says Waldrop.

The fire is under investigation.