Mon, May 12 2008
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Published May 07, 2008 10:36 pm - Dan Anderson believes he’s found a permanent home for his flock of homeless men and women “for the very distant future.” Members vote to sell church to ministry for homeless shelter By Greg Grisolano ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com Dan Anderson believes he’s found a permanent home for his flock of homeless men and women “for the very distant future.” “We just feel now that we’re going to have the opportunity to push forward and implement some very necessary changes,” he said, after hearing that a local church congregation had voted to sell its building to his ministry for the homeless, City of Refuge. Members of the First Baptist Church of Joplin voted 132-18 during a meeting Wednesday night to sell their building at 633 S. Pearl Ave. to Anderson for $600,000. Anderson had been looking for a new home for his ministry since the City Council voted 5-3 in March to deny City of Refuge a change in zoning that would have allowed it to try to convert its leased quarters in an old warehouse at 502 E. Seventh St. into a shelter. The building was cited in January for numerous fire, health and zoning violations. The City Council voted 5-4 Monday night to extend until Aug. 1 the deadline for City of Refuge to halt using the old warehouse for shelter purposes. Anderson said he plans to relocate all the services now provided at the current location, including a food pantry, ministry and sleeping quarters, to the Pearl Avenue location. “The people aren’t going to be hanging around outside,” he said. “The atmosphere is going to be different.” As for bringing the building up to code for housing residents, Anderson said only minor changes will be needed. “Based on my walk-through and with the fire marshal, sheltering will have to be done in rooms with exterior access,” he said. “We’ll have to put some exterior doors into the rooms we actually shelter people in.” Church members who were interviewed after the vote declined to comment, other than to say they believed the sale was the Lord’s will. “We are delighted that this building will continue to be used for the cause of Christ in our community,” said the church’s pastor, the Rev. Robert Morgan. The First Baptist Church had been for sale since May 2003, when members began planning to construct a new church at 4128 S. Connecticut Ave. Morgan said details about when the church would vacate for City of Refuge would be “ironed out” at a business meeting. 
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