Church endures battle

By Tobi Oluwa
Contributing Writer
Columbus Post

The 700-member congregation of the Calvary International Worship Center is finally preparing to move into their new Reynoldsburg location, but not without having overcome a long battle.
In early April, the church began petitioning for a plot of land that formerly housed the Big Bear Grocery store on East Livingston Avenue. They wanted to convert the facility into a 2,000-seat worship center including a fellowship hall/cafeteria, a 500-seat youth chapel, community gymnasium, television broadcasting center and home for social service programs.
The problem was that not everyone in the Reynoldsburg community was excited about the possibility of having a church located in their neighborhood.
But members of the 13-year-old church, currently located at 1140 Williams Rd., had no other location in mind and had its heart set on the Big Bear site.
“It’s near the congregation, it’s near where the members are and that’s where God is leading them,” said church attorney Kenny Golonka, Jr.
Corey Redd, the church’s business manager, sees the church interacting with the community and offering the youth of the community a place to become involved in positive and productive activities.
“We want to help bring the community together,” said Redd.
The church is renovating the facility in phases. The first phase is to complete of the sanctuary.
“We’re a church and we want to make sure that everybody understands that we’re a church,” said Redd. “And from that standpoint we want to extend our hands to help meet the needs of the community. We’re not looking to become a transient group of people who just go in and go out.”
The church attempted to get a special permit to move into the Big Bear location after the board of zoning appeals gave them approval on April 21.
However, a group of concerned residents challenged the board’s approval and filed a referendum.

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