Facing eviction and criticized by ex-members, the Shore Christian Center congregation is hoping that divine intervention and a long-awaited donation will save them.By JASON METHOD • STAFF WRITER • January 30, 2010
Pastor G. Dewey Friedel stood in the spotlight in front of his congregation, his eyes raised, microphone in one hand, his other arm outstretched.
His radio-smooth voice sometimes whispered and sometimes shouted. Halfway through the sermon, Friedel, a muscular 60-year-old with a chiseled face and swept-back hair, listed off 16 famous guest preachers, such as Oral Roberts, and celebrities like former Mets catcher Gary Carter, who have visited Shore Christian Center in Wall over the years.
With some 300 inside the amphitheater-like sanctuary that also held an ample number of empty seats, Friedel warned that the devil and a "spirit of control" were attacking the church. As two video monitors displayed the church's logo of a spinning globe, Friedel said that, despite recent troubles, great things were coming.
"The devil has tried to run me out of the area. Too late! Too late! Been through too much now," Friedel said as church members murmured, "Amen."
"God has been preparing us on (Trinity Broadcasting Network) for our own worldwide network," Friedel continued. "Why? Because Jesus is with us. If we offer what we have, he's going to do something with it."
But God had better act fast.
Friedel talks of bigger things even though the church was foreclosed on in July because Shore Christian Center could not make payments on its $4.7 million mortgage. An eviction is scheduled for Wednesday.
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http://www.app.com/article/20100130/NEWS/1300323/Financially-troubled-Shore-Christian-Center-banking-on-miracles
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