Share
Retailers and shoppers may be abandoning Charlotte's Eastland Mall, but Pentecostal pastor Jonathan Martin and his 350-member flock are moving in.
Their reason: God has always made himself known, Martin says, in places "that have been forgotten about and pushed to the margins."
On Sunday, after worshipping at an elementary school in Elizabeth for more than three years, Renovatus church held its first services at what used to be a three-screen movie theater in the 34-year-old mall. The church has also moved its offices into the one-time storefront, and fashioned a prayer room for members who want to unwind during the week.
In his sermon, Martin compared the Eastland Mall, with its reputation as a place of decline and sometimes crime, to Nazareth, the backwater town that produced Jesus more than 2,000 years ago.
"Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Martin, quoting an early disciple of Jesus, read in the Gospel of John.
Then, as he preached on the passage, two screens above the pastor reinforced the connection, flashing a picture of Eastland Mall and this question: "Can anything good come out of Eastland Mall?"
Martin, 31, said the church is betting the answer will be yes. Throughout human history, he said, God "chose things neglected and despised by the world."
Eastland Mall was a regional showplace when it first opened in 1975, with the first food court in the state and a skating rink. About 60,000 people came through the doors on its opening day, and a Presbyterian minister presided at a dedication ceremony.
For years, Eastland was "the coolest place," Martin, a Charlotte native, reported to his congregation. But in recent years, "this once-proud Charlotte icon," as Martin called it, has lost its luster, with the exodus of Belk, Dillard's, J.C. Penney and Sears stores.
Now, in a bid to redevelop the mall and spur development along Central Avenue, the city of Charlotte is considering buying the entire site, which measures 1.1 million square feet.
Martin said he hopes Renovatus, which leases its new space, will be at Eastland for a long time. And as discussions about the mall's future continue, he said, "We'd love to have a seat at the table."
In its new home, Renovatus - Latin for renovation - has turned one theater into Sunday worship space and another into a nursery for members who bring their children.
In the third theater, the church hopes to start showing free movies to residents of nearby neighborhoods.
Many of those neighbors are African Americans and immigrants from Latin America, Africa and Asia. The church's pastors - including Senior Pastor Martin, who lives off Central Avenue himself - said their goals include serving these low-income neighbors' needs and drawing some into what is now a mostly white church.
"Now we're in a place where there are all different nationalities and cultures," Martin said. "We pray for ways to connect."
Ministries Pastor Lisa Koons, who is black, said she was hired a year ago to try to bring greater diversity to the church. "Moving here will facilitate that," she said.
The church, with its rock band and blue-jeans-wearing pastor, already has a congregation filled with people in their teens, 20s and 30s.
"I like how it doesn't have a strict structure," said Melody Weaklend, 19, a UNC Charlotte student who attended Sunday's first service. "You're able to be yourself."
But unlike many other churches with young flocks, Renovatus does have its traditional elements. Its members recite the Apostles' Creed, and are affiliated with a denomination - the Church of God, a national Pentecostal group based in Cleveland, Tenn.
And most of the members of the church's board of elders are 40 and older, Martin said.
Martin himself embodies both tradition and innovation. His grandfather was a Charlotte police officer who gave up his badge and gun to become a Pentecostal minister. His father, Ronald Martin, was president of the East Coast Bible College in Charlotte.
"I tried to run from all that, and not do the family business," said Martin. "But, ultimately, I couldn't escape."
His resume includes degrees from Gardner-Webb University, Duke University and the Church of God Theological Seminary. And he's the former youth pastor at Central Church of God, one of Charlotte's mega churches.
But Martin, a U2 fan who sports a beard and wears his hair long, stresses sin and social justice, and wanted to start "a church for people under renovation," which is Renovatus' slogan.
Waitress Blake Blackman, 32, a member of the church, said she joined three years ago after her son died and her husband left.
"I was in trouble when I came to this church; I needed to be loved," she said. "Here, they take you as you come. They don't try to fix you. They want to be good to you."
Wells Fargo consultant Elias Kruger, 30, who's attended the church with his wife for six months, said he was a little nervous at first when he heard the church was moving to the Eastland Mall. Now, he's convinced it was the right move.
Run-down areas "are where churches need to be," he said.
As he winded up his sermon Sunday, Martin told those standing, many with their arms waving heavenward, that God had renovated him and many of them.
"I know the lives of the people in this congregation. Some of you ought to be dead. You're not the most likely Christ followers, and I'm not the most likely pastor despite my heritage," he told them. "If (God) can renovate us, then Eastland Mall? No big deal."
