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New Beginnings Outreach Ministry, Inc., made an impressive presentation to city council on Tuesday night asking to lease a building that becomes vacant on Snow Street late this month.
Pastor Harold Anderson of New Beginnings Outreach Ministries, Inc., petitioned City Council on Tuesday to consider leasing the building for its ministries.
City Council ordered Rev. Kathy Sandlin, in February, to vacate the building, by April 30, where her International Cathedral of Prayer Ministry was based. Sandlin defaulted on insurance premiums for more than a year, according to the city, and maintenance and upkeep also fell under the city’s purview.
Greer Memorial Hospital offers its second floor conference room to New Beginnings for its worship services and meetings.
Anderson and his wife, Linda, associate pastor, stated their vision of building a social structure to provide education, spiritual, culture and vocational opportunities while fostering economic growth and restoring the natural beauty of the community.
“We want to do something for that entire community,” Linda Anderson said. “We want to lease the building for multi-purposes.”
The Andersons proposed a 10-year lease with New Beginnings responsible for utilities, liability insurance, property maintenance and repairs.
“We’re asking for the entire building so we can reach out to the community the entire week,” Linda Anderson said.
She said New Beginnings would be able to expand on its other ministries – community outreach programs, youth and children, marriage, arts and domestic and foreign missions.
“We feel like we would be fulfilling a need for the city and the ministry,” Linda Anderson said.
“We appreciate the presentation and it was well done,” Mayor Rick Danner told the Andersons. “Council will take this under advisement and not comment on future uses exactly at this point, deferring on seeing the building and do some analysis of it ourselves and get a better understanding of it, what it needs, and what may be the appropriate uses for the building in the future.
“We will take your petition under advisement and the information you presented,” Danner said. “And if we move forward, sometime hopefully in the near future, we will advise you how to move forward.”
The presentation detailed uses for the building outside of weekly services and Bible studies. A reading room, computer and math lab, tutorial programs, arts and crafts and hosting seminars, workshops and conferences monthly were suggested.
A selling point was Linda Anderson’s goals of helping change the neighborhood dynamics through developing rapport with families, provide life skills such as credit repair, budgeting and job readiness. The city has used that structure in the past to meet with citizens on crime prevention and recognizing meth lab components.
“The recreation board and myself are meeting on possible uses of that property as well,” Driggers told council.