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What would Jesus do?
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG -- The almost 2,000-member Pasadena Community Church consecrated an expensive evangelistic tool Sunday. The hope is that its new life enrichment center, which boasts basketball and volleyball courts, classrooms, a library and lounges, will help create a new breed of churchgoers. "This new building is for reaching a new generation for Jesus Christ," the Rev. Clifford Melvin said Sunday during a sermon in the church's glass-walled, light-filled sanctuary. "For many, many people, it will be the first church building they ever step into." The $3.8-million life enrichment center, which also includes a gift shop, offices, showers and kitchen, has been a decade-long dream of the United Methodist congregation at 227 70th St. S. Its realization, though, did not come without a struggle. Neighbors initially fought the project, objecting particularly on aesthetic grounds. They also were apprehensive about safety, increased traffic and noise. The church compromised. It withdrew a request to absorb parts of 70th Street and Second Avenue S for parking and promised enhanced landscaping. It redesigned a required retention pond so it would be dry most of the time. The architecture of the proposed 33,000-square-foot life enrichment center also was modified to fit in with the Mediterranean style of neighborhood houses. Melvin, the church's senior pastor, acknowledged that the cost of soothing the neighbors was a more expensive project. Residents are pleased with the results, said Richard Price, a member of the Old Pasadena Neighborhood Association, which had objected to the project. "The thing is, the building is beautiful, and the landscaping. I think they designed it to go with the architecture of the neighborhood. I think, after we had some of our discussions, they came around and tried to work with us. We wanted to make sure they weren't going to put an Army barracks up," Price said. "The only thing they are not taking care of is the retention pond. ... It draws mosquitoes." Melvin said the pond was designed "that within 72 hours after it rains, the water will recede ... but with all the rain we've had ..." Pasadena Community has invited its neighbors to tour the new building at an open house Sunday. "We want to see how they might be able to use it as well, certainly to have their neighborhood association meetings," Melvin said. Last Sunday, members of the church, retired United Methodist Bishop J. Lloyd Knox and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker followed the strains of a bagpipe from the sanctuary to the new center. Knox, who lives in St. Petersburg, led the consecration ceremony. "You are one of the flagship churches of the United Methodist Church," Knox had said earlier, during the 11 a.m. service. Baker, repeating a theme from his speeches during the recent Sept. 11 commemorations, told the crowd gathered under a wide portico that the country is experiencing a rebirth of faith and the American spirit. Afterward, he joined the congregation in enthusiastic singing and clapping. Souvenir copies of the floor plan for the new building, which also will be used by the church's day school, were distributed as Sunday's crowd entered the center for tours and refreshments. A large multipurpose room, which transforms into basketball and volleyball courts, dining room and auditorium, has been named Jerger Hall in honor of longtime church members Evelyn and Richard Jerger's "very significant" donation. The center is the first major construction on the church's 17-acre property since the 1960s. The original sanctuary was built in 1925. By 1938, overflow crowds were being accommodated on benches outside. Some people sat in their cars and listened to the service through loudspeakers. According to church records, attendance was 10,500 on Easter morning in 1951. The current 2,000-seat sanctuary was finished in 1961. The Rev. Sylvia Russell, in charge of outreach and new ministry development, grew up at Pasadena Community. The new life enrichment center will open many new opportunities, she said. "I think what is most significant for me is that the new building is one more way we are living out our name, Pasadena Community Church," she said, explaining that when the church was founded, it was the only church on the west side of town. "So the intention has always been to involve the community and to be a church that would be open to all who may come. This will be a place where many groups in our community can come out and meet," she said. The extra space pleases the Rev. John Edd Harper, the church's new minister of discipleship. "We have several classrooms for adult Sunday school that we have not had in the past," he said. "Our whole new facility really allows us to do some creative things," Melvin said. "One of the things we are looking at is reaching out, especially to the south side neighborhoods." Melvin said the church has enlisted the help of former Harlem Globetrotter Tommy "Cochise" Brown for its basketball program. Those who might not think of entering a sanctuary, Melvin told worshipers Sunday, might willingly visit the life enrichment center to play basketball, practice yoga, see a play or enjoy a meal. The church, he said, has to "seek creative ways to introduce people to Christ."
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From the Times South Pinellas desks Letters |
