The LAM Christian Church is responding to a de- mand from City Hall to tear down its under-construction Family Life Center with a request that city officials and residents reflect in their hearts on fixing root cause issues in the community, it was announced today.
The church was hit with a City Council order on February 27, 2018, to tear down the $1.2 million structure by March 20, 2018, after the project was stalled due to an unscrupulous builder and delays by the City of Warren. The church holds a valid site plan approval from the city and had plans to fulfill the necessary requirements and timelines of the City to bring the building to completion.
With the legal right to complete and build the structure under lawful approval and conflicting “order” from the City Council contradicting its own Planning Commission, the LAM Christian Church and its Pastor Adolphus Cast were squarely between a rock and a hard place.
Bishop Cast, who has been part of the Warren community for nearly 50 years, said the road to this point in his stewardship of the faithful has been riddled with corrupt practices and cronyism at City Hall, a wayward architect, unscrupulous contractor and a host of other setbacks and challenges. This latest barrage of challenges from city council members and select residents who have stirred up by the council is the last straw for what was intended as a Family Life Cen- ter to expand services to the community.
“I was beyond frustrated,” said Bishop Cast. “I was conflicted in trying to preserve the invest- ment to serve my parishioners and the greater community. I understand the building is not aes- thetically pleasing in its unfinished state.”
After obtaining legal advice that the law was on his side in completing the building,
Bishop Cast was gearing up to continue to fight City Hall. Especially after its illegal and unwar- ranted action by City Council to overrule its own planning department without authority to do so.
Then, after seeking higher counsel, everything changed. “I prayed hard over this issue,” said Bishop Cast. “And God answered. “The building is just a building,” he said. “Give the city coun- cil what it wants. The reality is, this is not about a building. In fact, the building is emblematic and symbolic of all that is wrong in our community –cronyism, corruption, pride and prejudice and seeking to take sliver out of our neighbor’s eye before we remove the plank from our own.”
“So I decided to do what I have tried to do as a pastor and that is to follow the leading of the Lord. We will let them tear down this building. But if they do we will urge and de- mand that city hall also tear down the practice and policies of cronyism, corrupt prac- tices, prejudice and petty politics, hate and discriminatory practices that are rife in War- ren and have been for the 50 years.”
Bishop Cast explained that many of the problems of the building are intertwined with the process that was required to plan and build it in the first place. He said the city was uncooperative until he hired a lawyer associated with the zoning commissioner. A law- yer that was recommended by a member of the planning board. Once he got
the zoning approval, the lawyer was dismissed, and the process faced hurdle after hur- dle with the communication that he should not have dismissed the city’s preferred at- torney.
It’s true we had some panels come off in that 80-mile hour straight line wind that shut- down service to DTE customers for nearly a week. But, the claims that debris has been routinely flying off the building have been grossly exaggerated,” Bishop Cast said.
Bishop Cast, who worked for 30 years and retired as a body designer in 1999 at the GM tech center in Warren. He was educated, and volunteered in Warren for the past 22years and purchased the church in 2003 and says, “not a great deal has changed about the very fabric of Warren.”
“Let the demolition of this building be a symbol of all that is wrong in our city, Bishop Cast said. “Let us each reflect and call out our politicians who seek to exalt themselves and their pet politics over the greater good of this community. Let’s shine the light on
the cronyism and tear it down. Let’s shine a light on prejudice and cast it aside. Let’s shine a light on demagoguery and petty politics and hate and crush them like a wreck- ing ball.”
Life Application Ministry Christian Church is located at 31601 and 31731 Schoenner and Masonic Roads in Warren, Michigan. The Church has a ro- bust membership of more than 700 parishioners and is a force for good in the greater Warren Community. The LAM Christian Church has operated in Warren for 22 years. It was officially opened on December 8, 1996. The church property holds nearly 20 acres.
Black Christian Church calls for removal of real ‘monstrosity’ in Warren
