A Crystal Springs pastor is asking the community — and the extended community — to help him with his mission to put a gymnasium in place that will not just serve as a physical outlet but also a spiritual haven.
“We’re here because the Lord has given me a vision to build a gym at the church,” said Pastor Jarrod Dixon of the Faith Tabernacle Church in Crystal Springs. “Not necessarily just a gym for recreation, but a community asset where people can come to grow spiritually, physically, and mentally.”
Dixon said the first projection of the cost is around $400,000, but he’s pretty sure that as long as he plans to meet the essential needs of his surrounding area, God will provide.
“I’m not a person to beg — I’m not too proud to beg either,” he said with a laugh. “But the Lord said, ‘You have not because you ask not.’ I’m truly asking for people who are able and willing to donate, to do so. If not money, then time or resources. This is not just a church project, it’s a community project.”
Dixon said the project does meet the criteria of giving kids a place to go so they’re not spending their time on the street, but that it’s also a way to set up mentorship and to develop kids into quality adults.
“A lot of times we talk about how we want kids to do better and how it used to be, but we’ve gotten to a point where things have changed,” Dixon said. “Just having a place where we can put a ball in their hand and put it through the hoops is not necessarily the answer for our young people. We have so many talented young people just in Crystal Springs alone. If we have a place where we can develop those talents, that would help the entire community.”
The idea is also to create an environment that grows the spirit through the week, he said.
“I think the church is the answer, that’s how we can get our kids back, we’ve got to raise them up in the church,” he said. “Now Sunday morning is good, praising the Lord is good, worshiping the Lord is good, but listen, that is not isolated to Sunday morning and the sanctuary itself is not where development always happens.”
Built into every program and every activity, Dixon said, will be character development.
“This will be a place where we can develop the whole man and the whole woman and not just a ‘Praise the Lord’ time. That’s good times now, but it’s deeper than that,” he said. “Growing up, I was at church almost every day. Learning how to clean up, say yes ma’am and no ma’am, how to have values. Now I hold myself accountable based on what I learned, not necessarily on Sunday morning but what I learned through the week at church.”
Dixon said he hopes people see his vision for the gym as well. He said it starts with a gym and a mentorship program, and one day he hopes to grow it into a school.
“We’re going to have doctors that grow up in this gym, we’re going to have lawyers that grow up in this gym, and that’s going to help the community,” he said. “They might save our lives, they might defend us.”
Dixon has set a deadline: September 22 at 1:30 p.m., he hopes to have 50 people who can donate $1000 each to help buy the land and get the plans drawn up for the project.
“We want to reach out to broken families, broken people,” he said. “I want it to be about the community, not us ourselves. I want it to be about how we can help you be the best you that you can be.”
If you are interested in helping with the project, contact 769-226-6050 or email faithtabernacle2117@yahoo.com.
