Former Immanuel Lutheran gifted to Victory Center
Dec. 22—CLINTON — The building that was home to Immanuel Lutheran Church, 819 S. Fifth St., was recently donated to Victory Center Ministries and will be revived Jan. 8 as Faith Center Church.
"The main reason for this gift," Victory Center Ministries founder and Executive Director Pastor Ray Gimenez says, "is they wanted to make sure that this will continue to be religious services. The sanctuary will still be utilized for those situations."
The Victory Center's food pantry and community dining will relocate to the building.
Gimenez says he has actually been working to move these services to a location outside of the men's shelter at 505 Ninth Ave. South for several years. Doing so would allow the men there the privacy they desire and will allow Gimenez to better control the possibility of illegal drugs entering the shelter via the public when welcomed into the shelter during community meals, he said.
In 2015, Gimenez acquired the property across the street from the shelter that remained an empty lot since the house that was once there burned down in 2008. It was there he initially planned to build a facility to where he would transfer the Victory Center's food pantry and community meals.
He approached Clinton's City Council in 2020 to request support for the project, but says difficulties caused by the pandemic delayed their assistance in raising funds for the building's construction. The subsequent gift of the church just across the street to the east of the lot, he says, makes it a lot easier for him to finally achieve his goal.
Immanuel Lutheran Church closed Sept. 11, after 150 years of ministry, due to a dwindling number of congregants. At the final service, donations totaling $120,000 of the church's legacy plan were given to 24 different non-profit organizations.
Immanuel Lutheran Church Vice President and Treasurer LeAnn DePue then began working to clean out the building, gifting its contents to other churches and non-profits.
"It was 150 years worth of stuff here," DePue says. "You wouldn't believe it, but all summer I worked almost every day."
Still remaining is the altar that's currently being stored in DePue's basement. She's hopeful a new location for it will be found next summer.
A few potential buyers showed interest in the building, DePue says, but city codes regarding sprinkler systems deterred them.
To leave the building in good condition for who'd be next to use it, she says they'd installed new boilers and a handicapped accessible door, and completed some other repairs prior to closure.
Since gifting the building, she's been passing along her thorough knowledge of the building to Gimenez, explaining the heating systems and other important matters.
Gimenez says the first change he made after accepting the gift was removing carpet in what will be the dining and pantry area and replacing it with a new hard floor that will better withstand the foot traffic that services held there will bring. That area has also been painted as well as the hall outside of it.
Gimenez has made himself at home in the office, with a photo he's hung on the wall of Yankee Stadium and another of him and his brother in baseball uniforms when Gimenez was 17 years old and about to sign to become a professional baseball player.
He's been reading about the history of the church and wants to preserve the building's historical value. The only other major changes to be done that he notes include turning the upstairs into an area open to local youths. He also plans to paint the lines of parking spaces in the lot just north of the building in the spring.
In the new location, the operating hours of the food pantry and those of the meals open to the public will remain the same. The food pantry will be available Saturdays from 9-11 a.m., while meals are to be served daily at 12:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.
"We have some incredible cooks over there," Gimenez says of the men at the shelter. He hopes to buy warmers with which food prepared at the shelter can be brought to the church and remain warm until served.
Sunday School will take place at 9:45 a.m. Sundays and will include breakfast.
Worship services will follow Sunday School at 10:15 a.m. each Sunday, then each Wednesday at 7 p.m. as well. The first services on Jan. 8 will feature a group out of Cedar Rapids called The Elim Arrival that will provide music in celebration of the opening of Faith Center Church.
