c. 2004 Religion News Service

FLINT, Mich. _ When Church Without Walls opened about two years ago, it chose its name to describe its ministry.

But concentrating its ministry outside the church building is sometimes easier said than done, church leaders have found.

The nondenominational Christian church with about 125 members held an old-time tent revival in late July and it wasn’t long before a Flint police cruiser rolled in next to the tent outside the church.

The problem? Noise complaints from people in the neighborhood. An officer asked church leaders to turn down their loudspeakers, saying she could hear the sound two blocks away.

For that matter, so could people outside Wild Things, a topless bar at the other end of the block whose parking lot abuts the church’s.

“I enjoyed the music,” a bar employee said Monday. John Pinkston, 33, of Flint has worked at Wild Things since the club opened more than a year ago.

“That’s why I was outside listening,” he said. “It was a different kind of music to what we have here. … It was relaxing.”

The bar and church have crossed paths before.

In June, when about 25 churchgoers staged a late-night demonstration outside the club at Glenwood and Asylum, the Rev. Martez Warren and his flock again ran into the city’s noise ordinance and were told to tone it down.

The complaints irk Warren, who addressed about 60 revival participants who spilled out of the white tent set up between the church and the strip club during the first night of the August revival.

“If they are going to give us a citation for tonight, they might as well give us three because we will be here,” he declared. “If we can hear them (neighborhood residents) listen to football games, they can listen to us praising the Lord and saving souls.”

No citations were issued, although a police cruiser reappeared and parked on the street for about 20 minutes before leaving.

“We toned it down a little bit after (that),” Warren said. Church administrator Kenyetta Dotson, 33, who also holds down a full-time job, said only about 10 percent of church worshippers come from the neighborhood, but that hasn’t stopped members from reaching out to the community with Thanksgiving and Christmas gifts and occasional dinners to feed needy people in the poor neighborhood and listen to their concerns.

Martha Tessman, who lives about a mile away, attended a recent dinner with her husband, Nick, and about 60 other men, women and children.

“They should let the homeless live in boarded-up houses to help give them a boost,” Martha Tessman said.

Michael Galvan, said he has lived on the street, stayed at shelters and lived with friends since the home where he lived burned down. “I think if I pray a little more, I might get the things I need,” he said. “I hope God will help me.”

Those are the kinds of people Church Without Walls wants to help. “I believe prayer is the answer for us for whatever situation you are going through,” Warren said before the recent dinner at the church. “I consider myself to be family for this neighborhood, but I can’t do this myself. I need your help.”

Warren, 29 and the father of four children, said drugs and crime stop when adults stand up and become a voice in their neighborhood. “When we start doing something, we can change this area,” he said.

“There is always going to be someone to come up against you, but you’ve got to be ready to go through that.”

Warren told the dinner guests he wasn’t out to evangelize neighbors, “although you will be welcomed if you do come.

“I am here so you guys will know we are not the average church, because we care about the community.”

Warren said three people were saved at the first night of last week’s predominantly black revival, including a white bicyclist who stopped on the street to listen. Dotson and another woman talked with him while he watched the proceedings, led by the Rev. Ezra Maize, pastor of Blackwell AME Zion Church in Flint. Maize encouraged Church Without Walls to persevere.

“Don’t leave _ this community needs you,” Maize told Warren. “You can bust out of these walls and give to this community. God wants you to show up right where you are now.”

“We want to get involved in people’s lives,” said Dotson, the church administrator. “It’s really just a matter of igniting the flame, motivating people to want to do things for their neighbors and the Lord.”

As for the strip club, Warren said he wishes it weren’t in the neighborhood. Normally, churches can object to strip clubs and taverns within 500 feet of their property if the church was there first. State records show the license for Wild Things was released from escrow three months before Church Without Walls opened.

Apparently, the close quarters are not a problem for Wild Things. “We haven’t had any problems with them lately,” said Pinkston, who works in maintenance and as a DJ at the club, among other things. “And we haven’t filed any complaints against them.”

DEA/JL END JAKSA