Pastor John Edwards is seeking to raise $1 million to restore the Church of Greater Works on Washington Boulevard and Trinity Street. (Photo by Olu Alemoru)
Story Created:
Aug 25, 2010 at 2:41 PM PST
Story Updated:
Sep 2, 2010 at 2:29 PM PST
The African-American pastor of a downtown church catering to Skid Row’s homeless population is seeking an estimated $1 million in donations to restore the house of worship after it was nearly destroyed in a fire recently.
And despite a suspected arsonist being quickly arrested for the crime on Aug. 11, there has been speculation of a racial motive after it was revealed that two nights before the fire, the adjoining house — occupied by a deceased, associate church member, Tyrone Smith, his wife Denise and their adult chidren — was allegedly strafed by AK-47 gunfire in a drive-by.
Pastor John H. Edwards III, of the non-denominational Church of Greater Works, located at 529 E. Washington Blvd., revealed his plight to The Wave Wednesday.
Edwards has set up a donations account at Wells Fargo Bank with a routing/account number of 122000247/863 404 7057.
A reporter met Edwards, 67, a retired attorney and his friend and fellow pastor, Mike Willis Sr., who runs his own construction firm, outside the church.
“There has been substantial damage, probably at least 50 percent,” said Willis. “It could take upwards of $1 million for total restoration.”
According to Edwards, Greater Works shared the building with two other congregations; Lluvia de Gracia (Rain of Grace), an El Salvadorian church pastored by Rene Paul Grande, and Great Change Ministries pastored by Henry Smith.
“Greater Works and Great Change do a lot of work with the homeless,” said Edwards.
“We go down and pick them up from Skid Row, bring them here, feed and clothe them. Our next goal was to provide housing support for them.”
Edwards recounted that at approximately 7 p.m. on the night in question, Denise, was driving up to the church for a Bible study class for Change Ministries attended by about 20 people.
“She saw this Hispanic man behind the trash cans in between the church and the house,” said Edwards. “Denise asked him what he was doing there, but he [indicating by spreading his arms out] did something like this and she continued and went inside.
“About five minutes later they [the congregation] saw flames coming from the stain glass window that overlooks our thrift store. The window broke, but everyone was able to get out.”
Responding to a question as to why Mrs. Smith didn’t tell anyone about the stranger, Edwards added: “She told me she thought he was leaving. She didn’t consider him dangerous, although she did think he was acting bizarrely.”
However, Edwards was dumbfounded by what happened next.
“It was unbelievable,” he said.
“I was phoned later that night, but actually went to see the damage in the morning. So I’m talking to arson investigators outside and one of them asks me, ‘who is that guy standing back there in the black hat?’
“I turned round and said I don’t know. They went up to the guy and started talking to him, then they called the eyewitness who had the confrontation who came out and identified him as the same person. They arrested him on the spot.”
Whether the fire and gunshot incidents are linked, Edwards said he couldn’t substantiate.
“I’ve asked the family and nobody’s talking, but it was a police officer who told me the gunshots were from an AK-47,” he said.
“The three ministries have been here for about nine years. One of our congregations is Hispanic and they’ve done a lot for this community.”
Meanwhile, at press time The Wave was initially referred to the LAPD’s Newton Division, then told that the Robbery Homicide Division were handling the drive-by investigation, but a detective there disputed that and referred me back to police media relations.
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