Theater church buys building

Fund drive targets global aid as well

Evergreen Community Church is combining a cause with a need.

The church, which meets at the Raleigh Grande Cinema, is raising money both to help victims of unrest in Sudan as well as to renovate a new building.

"We chose Sudan because it was a well-known place that truly needs our help," said Ed Palpant, one of Evergreen's pastors. "After we get the new building, it will continue to be our focus. The new building will help serve as a means to an end -- helping our global brothers and sisters."

Evergreen Community Church, started as a combination of three different churches, held its first Sunday service at Raleigh Grande, on Grove Barton Road, in 2001.

Ever since that first meeting, Sudan has been an area of great concern for Evergreen, whose congregation focuses on the global community, Palpant said.

"Our church exists for the community around us, not for itself," he said. "We want to be a restorative force in the world, and the Sudan helps our church move forward in our global community-leading mission."

In Sudan, there have been reports of widespread ethnic cleansing by the Sudanese government, causing slaughter, starvation and dislocation across the country.

This Sudan Charitable Fund is also helping raise funds for Evergreen's new location at 6904 Glenwood Ave. The church officially purchased the site, an existing building it will share with other businesses, Saturday. Remodeling is expected to begin tomorrow.

Palpant says the combined fund helps church members highlight their overall purpose of helping a global community, while showcasing a new home.

Saturday will the first time the members will be able to be on-site before the walls start tumbling down, Palpant said.

"We have to have people to come in, helping clean up old junk and getting it ready for the construction crews," he said. "Of course the professionals will be doing all of the heavy work."

Palpant said church leaders hope to move in by Easter.

Not that the movie theater has been a problem.

"It really is a place people are comfortable in, in many respects," Palpant said. "Our purpose as a church is to establish a relaxed place to wrestle with our relationship with God. Several of our members had never been to church before, so we wanted to create a more comfortable place to worship God. Meeting at the Raleigh Grande allowed us to that."

But Palpant said the Raleigh Grande, an active movie theater the church did not have access to most of the week, ultimately was inadequate for its needs.

"We wanted more of a 24/7 home base," he said. "We were renting other space near the Angus Barn for our offices and outreach services, and we wanted to combine everything under one roof."