Newport News church forced to leave

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - A church known for helping the needy in Newport News, is in need itself, so the pastor called WAVY.com for help to try and save his congregation.  Just days ago hundreds of members of the Empowered Believers Christian Learning Center learned they must leave their building by July 31st.

This, after a recent code inspection found the building doesn't have the proper permit to allow a church inside.  Something the pastor of Empowered believers says he knew nothing about when he signed his lease four years ago.

Dark clouds loom over the Empowered Believers Christian Learning Center in the Newmarket Shopping Center in Newport News.  An eerie foreshadowing for the church, but inside, faith is not hard to find.

"I do believe that this community here has really taken a liking to the things that we provide," says Pastor John Young.

Pastor Young says his church of more than 300 people helps those in need like drug addicts and the homeless.

"Our people are very aggressive at spreading love," says Pastor Young.

However, a few days ago, Pastor Young received a termination letter from the Dilweg companies saying the church must be out within 40 days.  So WAVY.com spoke with Michael Redifer of Newport News Codes Compliance to discuss the problem.

"It had never been reviewed or approved for that type of occupancy. The last approved occupancy there was a business training center."

Redifer says the proper safety requirements for a church aren't being followed.

"We have various requirements for fire protection, exit facilities, sanitary facilities, toilets and such."

Redifer says he worked with the landlord to see if the building could be brought to code, but it didn't happen.  So, WAVY.com called John Weigole of Dilweg to find out what went wrong.

"The landlord was not able to put another $40,000 dollars into that space to bring it in compliance with code and the church said they couldn't do it either, so the obvious result of that is they needed to move out," says Weigole.

A problem says Pastor Young, because he knew nothing of these problems when he signed the lease.  Now this minister who usually helps the public, has a very important plea.

"If there is someone out there who can assist us in trying to continue to do what we do in the community, please, by all means contact us."

If you have space for the church or can help in any way, call Empowered Believers at 240 - 5834.