May 07, 2008 10:36 pm
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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.
“Since they have now until Aug. 1 based on the city’s decision, it gives them a little more flexibility and maybe us a little more flexibility,” he said.
The closed meeting lasted about an hour. Morgan said the discussion included a question-and-answer session, as well as time for comments from those in favor and opposed to the sale.
When the potential sale was made public last week, a group of downtown residents and business owners started a petition drive, citing concerns about public safety and a potential threat to economic-revitalization efforts downtown.
One of that group’s leaders, Toby Teeter, chairman of the Main Street Joplin organization, said he wasn’t surprised by the vote.
“It went as expected,” he said. “I still hope the city will be able to proceed with the summit and unify all the efforts to serve homeless people.”
The city is working with the Economic Security Corp., the area’s community-action agency, and several organizations such as Anderson’s that provide services to homeless people on a summit to address the issue. No date for the meeting has been set.
Now that he’s found a suitable building, Anderson said the next step will be to unveil a plan of action and begin a fund-raising drive to raise the money to purchase the building. He said the sale agreement with the church stipulates that the money must be received no later than 45 days after the vote.
“I don’t believe God would have brought us this far to fail us,” Anderson said. “Our prayer tonight has been, ‘God, don’t let this go through if you’re not going to allow us to raise the funding to make it happen.’”
Outpouring
Dan Anderson, leader of the City of Refuge ministry, said there has been an outpouring of donations and support for his effort to establish a shelter for homeless people in Joplin.
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