{"id":469,"date":"2017-05-23T20:55:05","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T20:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/?p=469"},"modified":"2017-05-24T16:39:44","modified_gmt":"2017-05-24T16:39:44","slug":"as-west-dallas-residents-face-uncertain-future-some-focus-on-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/2017\/05\/23\/as-west-dallas-residents-face-uncertain-future-some-focus-on-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"As West Dallas Residents Face Uncertain Future, Some Focus On Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a little patch of West Dallas called Gilbert-Emory. It\u2019s only about six blocks, and it\u2019s in the shadow of some of the new apartments and townhomes being built next to Singleton Boulevard. And in that little neighborhood, there are four to five tiny churches. As West Dallas transforms, church members have concerns about what will happen to their neighborhood, but they’re focused on their faith.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022 The latest:<\/strong> Landlord offers to sell rental homes to longtime residents; judge extends move-out deadline<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Cedric B. West is pastor of one of those churches, the Ark of God Revival Temple.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been here about a year now, but we\u2019ve been in the community through my father who\u2019s been a pastor in the community for over 50 years,\u201d West said.<\/p>\n

Cynthia Baker is the daughter of the late Rev. Grisby Baker Sr., who started the church.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe actually began preaching at about the age of 18. He had regular services at the congregation in a small building, formally a cleaners. This was on Singleton Boulevard,\u201d she said. \u201cBy the spring of 1965, we relocated to a brand new facility which Rev. Baker Sr. had built from the ground up at 2503 Obenchain St.\u201d<\/p>\n

West calls it a \u201clittle bittie church.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you walk inside you get an old feel, like \u2018The Color Purple,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cEnvision the movie \u2018The Color Purple.\u2019 We have pews inside of here and the floors are hardwood floors. Most of the people who are in this community have been here upwards of 25 to 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to Pastor Baker, the community \u201creally loved this church,\u201d West said.<\/p>\n

\"Cedric<\/p>\n

Cedric B. West is the pastor of the Ark of God Revival Temple in West Dallas. Photo\/Jessica Diaz-Hurtado<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Cynthia<\/p>\n

Cynthia Baker holds a picture of her father, the Rev. Grisby Baker Sr., who started a church in West Dallas decades ago. Photo\/Jessica Diaz-Hurtado<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Considering the development that\u2019s been transforming West Dallas, Baker wonders if churches might be uprooted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a home to a lot of people,\u201d Baker said. \u201cThey\u2019ve had great respect for Rev. Baker Sr. … and it always gave them something familiar that they could come back to.\u201d<\/p>\n

West says the church is a community staple.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis community is where I really found myself,\u201d he said. \u201cI found out who I was, what my purpose was. I got to know God in my most intimate ways here in West Dallas. And I believe that faith plays a huge role in this community and in this church because of what people have encountered. The faith of Jesus Christ and this Church itself can help stabilize them and also let them know: \u2018Hey, we\u2019re here to help you in any way we can.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Cynthia<\/p>\n

Cynthia Baker is the daughter of the Rev. Grisby Baker Sr., who started a church in West Dallas years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\n

Jessica Diaz- Hurtado<\/a>\u00a0is an NPR Kroc Fellow. As part of her fellowship, she\u2019s spending several months reporting at KERA.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a little patch of West Dallas called Gilbert-Emory. It\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":474,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"audio","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11,9,8],"class_list":["post-469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-audio","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-one-crisis-away-no-place-to-go","tag-affordable-housing","tag-one-crisis-away","tag-west-dallas","post_format-post-format-audio","byline-jessica-diaz-hurtado"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":553,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions\/553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}