Fellowship Church Pastor Ed Young Fellowship Church Claims they threw my paintings in the trash. Grapevine Texas

Please help me!

My name is Michael Longhofer and I’m a professional visual artist. I had 5 original paintings for sale in a bookstore at Fellowship Church  located in Texas.

I was there in May 2013 and didn’t see the pieces hanging anymore. I was in a hurry so, I didn’t ask about them, assuming the artwork was safe at a church with security cameras. I contacted them last spring, to arrange for them to be picked up and they said they couldn’t find them.

Nobody called me or told me the paintings were coming down. My business cards were under the cash register, but I was never contacted.

I called and texted numerous times with no results.  The organization starting acting weird, and said they didn’t know where the work was.

I filed a police report and sent them a demand letter. The church said the artwork was accidentally thrown in the trash, which I find hard to believe. Their security staff said, one piece was recovered, but damaged. He refused to compensate me for the rest of the artwork and said to come get the damaged piece.

Here’s my question, Should I take them to court? The retail value is well over a 1,000.00 dollars.