On a New Road to Worship
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PACOIMA — Led by a pastor playing a saxophone, members of a Pacoima church on Sunday marched from the rented gymnasium in which they had worshiped for nearly three years to a spanking new, 500-seat building on Herrick Avenue.
About 200 members of the Paradise Church of God in Christ walked the two miles between their rented worship space and the new $245,000 structure, built partly with volunteer labor because the church’s $100,000 loan did not cover construction costs.
The church, whose members are affiliated with the nation’s largest Pentecostal denomination, is the first among at least three black congregations in Pacoima to realize ambitious building plans.
Although the 6.8-magnitude Northridge earthquake damaged dozens of churches in the San Fernando Valley, the temblor only broke two windows in the Paradise structure--and failed to break Pastor Emmanuel Knight’s determination to move his congregation into the building this month.
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