Published Saturday, June 30, 2007
March fire testing ministry's faith, will
Arson may have burned the building, but it also ignited the pastor's goal to keep changing lives.
Bridget Murphy
With a hole in the roof of Pastor Dan Jones' church, a leaky tarp was no match for the flood falling from the heavens.
In the room next to the soggy sanctuary, ceiling insulation dangled like dirty cotton candy above 21 wood pews piled on a tile floor swamped by an inch of rain. Before a fire devastated the Jacksonville church three months ago, that area was the kitchen where drug addicts and prostitutes got free meals every Friday. The 37-year-old preacher did his best to also feed their souls by using the theme at the center of his teachings: "Change ain't change until you change."Authorities suspect somebody didn't like that message, and in an act a team of state and federal investigators still are investigating, set the Gilead Drive church Jones started in 2005 aflame. Christ Ministry of Changing Lives Church is in a neighborhood where law-abiding residents can watch outsiders drive by in cars, nod to men on bicycles and arrange the kind of exchanges that eventually used to land hungry people in Jones' kitchen. Starting last week, residents also could see signs of the church's fight to come back. For the first time since the March 14 arson, workers arrived with shovels and a wheelbarrow. They began digging through the ashen ruins to clear a path for partial demolition, and if enough money is raised, a near-total rebuilding. Wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat with a navy shirt and matching track pants, Jones watched the workers with a smile like a coach whose players showed up for practice on the stormy morning after a lost championship."I feel a whole lot better getting started," he said. "Knowing that it's coming back up. That God's house is coming back up."Work began with about $14,000 in insurance money meant to pay for lost church contents. This week, the cleanup continued, with workers removing debris from the roof collapse. But Jones said the church was under-insured and even after the policy pays out completely, he'll be about $40,000 short."Some kind of way, I've got to get more resources," the preacher said of the lumber, shingles, two air handlers and other materials on the general contractor's supply list. It keeps growing. But without a home base, the number of faithful who rely on the church near Shannon and Amazon avenues is doing the opposite. Jones said some church members have gathered in the banquet room of a local Christian college. He also has kept up with a public access cable TV taping that is shown Sundays on Comcast Channel 29.But Jones said the questions from law enforcement that came after the arson scared away some believers whose lives weren't always spent doing right."They've been taught through the Scriptures how to stand through all that, but people can only take so much," Jones said. Today the preacher is scheduled to put up a tent on an empty lot at Wabash Boulevard and Lucoma Drive near the church. Then at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Jones plans to "war against the devil's message" in the neighborhood once again. Under the temporary shelter, he'll try to bring hope to a flock that may understand what it's like to need a second chance.bridget.murphy@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4161
