The northeastern section of Jacksonville has been getting some great news lately, including the new Healthy Jacksonville Initiative announced last week.
Now, a community institution has announced that their doors will remain open for the foreseeable future.
The Community Temple Church of God in Christ no longer has a mortgage.
Community Temple Pastor Samuel Holmes says the church community really came together to protect the local institution.
“We reached out across all spectrums; many contributed, and the Eastern Missouri/Western Illinois COGIC was incredibly supportive in the jurisdictional effort of community service established with Bishop Lawrence Wooten and the congregation of believers. The EMWI was, in fact, the contributor to over half of the $52,000 we raised.”
The current Community Temple space was mortgaged when it was built. The bank that initially handled the mortgage failed, so the mortgage was bought by the FDIC and then sold to an investment company, then was resold a number of times over the last 10-15 years.
Pastor Holmes describes an act of good faith by the last financial institution to hold the Community Temple’s mortgage.
“We had negotiated through our attorneys and the lender’s attorneys a number of $200,000. We did not reach that plateau by our defined date of June 29th. However, I called the head of the bank that held the mortgage, talked to the CEO, and offered the $52,000 we had. They came to terms with us to allow the church to be released from the mortgage into our care for that amount.”
Pastor Holmes and his wife Tilde are inviting the public to celebrate this momentous victory for the Community Temple at a special service on the last Sunday in October.
“On October the 28th, we will be holding a great event in the history of Jacksonville Northeast, a special Sunday service for the Community Temple’s 31st anniversary at 4 p.m.”
The Community Temple Church of God in Christ is located at 710 North Clay Avenue.