Urban ministry finds home in Columbia
June 26, 2009
Anchor Intro: As part of a collaborative project with the MU Center on Religion and the Professions, KBIA is exploring the intersection of race and religion in Columbia. Today, KBIA's Elle Moxley examines how one Columbia church is reinventing the urban ministry.
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Tina Johnson runs through the morning’s schedule one last time as she directs parishioners to their seats. First there will be a call to worship, then praise, then the word. But after that, she says, it’s up to the Holy Spirit.
Welcome to Urban Empowerment, one of Columbia’s fastest growing faith communities. From modest beginnings in 2005 as a prayer service among friends, about 400 people now worship at Urban Empowerment on any given Sunday.
Pastor Lestor Woods, Jr., is a musician by training. He spent more than a decade evangelizing throughout the South in a gospel band. That’s where the idea for Urban Empowerment came from.
“In my travels, I noticed there was a group of people that wasn’t being reached, and that was what I called the young, urban, unchurched mindset, for lack of better words.”
Woods is among a growing number of pastors trying to reinvent the urban ministry. Traditionally storefront operations in downtrodden, predominately black neighborhoods, today’s urban churches focus on service, entrepreneurship and outreach.
“Urban is not a gender, it’s not an age group, it’s just a lifestyle, it’s a way to say ‘this is for you,’ and we’re doing it in a nontraditional way.”
At Urban Empowerment, nontraditional means loud, vibrant services full of sound and song. Woods calls music quote-“the first attention getter.” It’s one of three M’s the church was founded on – music, movement and message.
During service, Wood uses song to get people moving before delivering his sermon. Good music gets them to the good message, he says.
Johnnie Moss plays keyboard on Sundays. He says Urban Empowerment makes the word of God more accessible to everyone.
“The way that the word is delivered out to the people is in a way that people can relate to, and that’s what we try to do here. We try to meet people where they’re at so we can be effective in helping them become who God wants them to be for their love because God has done the same thing for us.”
At first, Woods called his ministry Urban Outreach, but another pastor told him ‘outreach’ didn’t do justice to his church’s mission.
Moss says Urban Empowerment is designed to lift people out of bad situations. He says the ministry has helped him become a better father to his little girl.
“Trying to save the lost, equip the believers, then take authority. That’s the vision of this house. So we understand that there are a lot of lost people. I used to be lost. As long as you hang in there and stay connected, God may bring things together that we never thought he was going to bring together.”
This summer, Urban Empowerment plans to take its message to inmates in need at the Moberly Correctional Facility. It’s a trip Moss says he wants to make.
“A lot of people are afraid of prison, but I’m not. I look forward to being a blessing to people who feel life has dealt them a short hand.”
Service projects have attracted a number of parishioners to the ministry, including Tonette McBride. She says she searched for a church for years before she found Urban Empowerment.
“I’m so excited. When I’ve gotten so excited about being a part of the ministry, people at my job are like, ‘What’s going on? I see this change in you.’ And that opens the door for me to give them what I’m experiencing, and then they’ve came, and they’ve joined, and they’ve told other people.”
Successful word-of-mouth evangelizing means the congregation has outgrown its current home, a nondescript warehouse on North Stadium Boulevard. Urban Empowerment recently purchased a large tract of land and hopes to break ground by the end of the year. But Woods says they won’t build their church first.
“The first phase will be a multi-purpose center, instead of a sanctuary, and that’s on purpose so we can reach people where they are. If they decide to come to church on Sunday, then we’ll convert the basketball stadium into a cathedral.”
Woods wants the church complex to include an office area for business start-ups, classroom space for mentoring programs, and a playing field for youth sports. He says he has high hopes for the future of his ministry.
“Our ministry is designed to empower people spiritually, mentally, emotionally, culturally, politically and economically. We want branches of our ministry in every area of influence in this city.”
Wood says his ultimate goal is simple. He says if Urban Empowerment were to leave Columbia, he’d want the city to miss it.
Elle Moxley, KBIA NEWS