Kansas City church looks to continue its community outreach despite massive fire

Despite their sanctuary reduced to a pile of debris, leaders of the Evangelistic Center Church look to continue its community outreach in the wake of a massive fire.

John Crane, senior pastor, and Darrell Robinson, assistant pastor, met outside the church Tuesday to discuss the future of the church that was heavily damaged in a fire Sunday.

“We’re still so devastated with what has happened,” said John Crane, senior pastor of the church at 1024 Truman Road. “To have watched this happen is so heartbreaking.”

Despite its loss, the church and its congregation feel blessed by the outpouring of support from businesses and the community, Crane said.

“There are pastors and churches that have just poured out with their compassion and love toward us, it just means so much,” Crane said. “It’s been an awesome picture of how the city has come together to show their support for each other.”

The church was working with crews to make sure what remains of the church is safe and secure. It is also working with its insurance company to assess the damage to the building. That process could take several weeks, Crane said.

“We’ve had some people going in and taking some of the irreplaceable things that we can get out of there,” Crane said. “That has been a blessing to get a few things.”

For about four weeks, the church plans to move its Sunday services to its satellite church at Nieman Elementary School, 10917 W. 67th St. in Shawnee. Services will be at 10 a.m.

“It will give us time to pray and time to look for another location for a few months while we assess what is going on and what we are going to do,” Crane said.

The church has not been able to learn how much of its items will be salvageable. Pointing to a pile of debris where the sanctuary once stood, Crane said it is so devastating he just doesn’t know what to say.

The building, which opened in 1904, is the former Scottish Rite Temple. It was used by the Scottish Rite until a new temple was built in 1930 at Linwood Boulevard and the Paseo.

Crane’s grandfather started the Evangelistic Center Church and in the early 1960s acquired the property. Crane’s father, Stanley Crane, died of a heart attack after preaching.

“It just breaks your heart when you see this because it had so much history,” Crane said.

Robinson, assistant pastor, said the church also plans to return the corner stone of the church to the Scottish Rite Temple.

The church plans to continue its outreach ministries, although it is still trying to determine the details of some of its programs.

“We will continue to help people through the holiday,” Robinson said.

The church has established the Evangelistic Center Outreach Fund at the Country Club Bank to accept donations so that it can continue to do outreach programs.

“We can worship and we can sing, but if we pass people by who are in need, we feel like we are missing one of the more important aspect of the gospel,” Robinson said.

This story was originally published November 15, 2016 at 7:03 PM with the headline "Kansas City church looks to continue its community outreach despite massive fire."