Bronx News Network

Despite Outcry, City Moves Ahead With Wakefield Homeless Shelter Plan

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It looks like the Muller Army Reserve Center, a former military base in Wakefield that community leaders want to house the Kingsbridge Armory Annex’s National Guard so that the Kingsbridge Armory Annex can house a school (confusing, right?), is set to become a homeless shelter-the plan that Mayor Bloomberg’s administration has long been pushing.Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., who

Bronx News Network

Controversial Minister Looks to Set Up Shop at the Armory

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Creflo Dollar, pictured with his wife, Taffi, in a photofrom the Kingsbridge Armory report.An evangelical preacher from Georgia, known for his lavish lifestyle and for touting the spiritual benefits of wealth, is proposing to take over the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory, according to a report released by the Bronx borough president’s office last month.World Changers Church International, an Atlanta-based, nondenominational parish led by television preacher Creflo Dollar and his wife, Taffi, has proposed turning the 575,000 square-foot West Kingsbridge Road building into a “state of the art church facility” fit with administrative offices, daycare and afterschool program space, a gymnasium, food and clothing banks and a recording studio.The proposal is one of over 20 submitted to Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., and a task force he appointed last year to consider future uses for the space. World Changers presented to the task force in January, and said their center, if approved, would be open to use for all community members, regardless of religious affiliation.Dollar (yes, that’s his real name, according to a “frequently asked questions” section on the church’s website) is a controversial figure in the religious world, known for preaching “prosperity theology,” or the idea that God rewards believers with wealth and financial bounty.“Jesus came to restore abundance and prosperity in our lives,” Dollar wrote in a column on his website. “Simply put, we don’t have to be poor once we grab hold of the Word of God.”Bob Hall, head pastor of Bronx Household of Faith, a conservative evangelical Christian church in University Heights, called Dollar’s ministry “crap,” and said his focus on wealth and affluence gives Christianity a bad name. “This is what frustrates me about the mega churches,” he said. “If we had just a tenth of their landscaping budget, just think about how much good we could do.”Dollar’s budget is big enough for World Changers’ New York affiliate to rent out mega venues like Madison Square Garden and the Javits Center for services.