Pastor Eyes Former Strip Club As New House Of Worship
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A church looking for a new home may have found it in the most unlikely of places.
As 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon reported Tuesday, Platinum Pleasures in the Bronx has been shut down for months ever since it lost its liquor license and was busted for allegedly selling alcohol anyway.
Church Eyes Former Strip Club As New House Of Worship
So when the "For Sale" sign went up on Friday, pastor Reggie Stutzman decided it was perfect. "Being in the Hunts Point peninsula and the redemptive story of a church taking over a strip club. What an awesome, incredible story that would be."
He's now launched a grassroots effort to raise the funds and community support to buy the building, Rincon reported.
Stutzman said he knows how people who live in the area feel about strip joints in Hunts Point. "We're tired of these establishments having a part of sex trafficking, and prostitution and violence."
Stutzman's church, Real Life Church, runs feeding and community programs in Hunts Point, but it is in need of a permanent home, Rincon reported.
It's currently operating out of the Hunts Point Rec Center, where pastor Stutzman holds Sunday morning services every week.
He told Rincon all the stripper poles and lap dance rooms would obviously have to go, but he might keep some of the wiring and video equipment.
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