Moving with the spirit Church at Stay Plus Inn prepares to leave building
A member of the congregation experiences the Holy Spirit and speaks in tongues. Photo by Stephanie Colaianni
By Alex Jacobi Iglesia Pentecostal Luz y Verdad worships hard. They don’t sit in pews and mumble words; they stand up and shout, beating tambourines and playing washboards. They run the aisles and dance. They have a lot of joy even though they’re leaving their church building in five months. Stay Plus Inn owner Sean Cononie acquired the church space when he bought the motel, and he has other plans for it. Worshipers have until February to find a new place. But they say they aren’t upset. They’re even feeding the shelter tenants next week. They see the church as more than a location; it’s about helping everyone, and they trust that God will provide them with greater things. On a recent Sunday morning, Pastor Angelo Albino read to them from Deuteronomy 1, where the Israelites are traveling to the promised land — “The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, in the wilderness.” Their own promised land is coming, but for now, they wait. The church that was once an old restaurant beside the bar at the Stay Plus Inn used to be a place with dirty walls and floors and cockroaches in old vats of grease. It was an empty waste. Then, the church members came and transformed
12 • Homeless voice • will write for food
the building in just two week’s time. Now, an altar and pews sit in the room, and ornate decorations adorn the walls. Even with all their hard work to make the space what it is now, the members don’t really mind giving the space to Cononie. “We believe we are supposed to give something profound to the people,” church member Santos Ramos Jr. said. “Everywhere we go, we want to give.” Yadira Diaz, who has been a member since 2010, says not only will the new building be a blessing, but waiting for it will be as well. “As we wait, we get new strength. It’s good to wait. It makes us stronger,” Diaz said. They believe Cononie’s mission is important, and that his asking them to leave wasn’t for selfish purposes, but to further the kingdom of God. He even offered to pay 10 months of their rent as they look for a new building. “When he first got here, he told us that he’s not a person who’s trying to evict God from nowhere. That’s why he gave us the opportunity to stay here [for 10 months],” said Ivan Burgos, lead pastor of the church. Not only do they believe in Cononie’s mission, but they also have their own ministry for the homeless called The Forgotten, which has been run by Miguel Gonzalez since last November. Gonzalez prepares 20 to 25 lunches and carries them to both Stay Plus Inn residents and homeless people around town. He started the ministry because he had a dream where he saw himself feeding the homeless, and
then an evangelist came to his house and confirmed that dream. Once he explained his mission to his family, the homeless ministry began. Burgos thinks that being next to the Inn has helped the church have more of a heart for the homeless. “Seeing a person like Sean, the way he is, he doesn’t say that he cares, he shows. It moved us; it moved the church to see someone like that,” Burgos said. “Sean said to us once that he must be the worst Christian in the world, and we laughed when he said that because he can’t say that. He’s doing what the Bible says.” Cononie wants to create an interfaith church, allowing multiple religions to have a place to worship and bringing in professionals of theology to preach. “We would have a rabbi maybe come in, a Baptist minister, a Catholic priest, a non-denominational minster, a street minister, we would allow everybody,” Cononie said. Cononie grew up Catholic and said that exploring other sides of faith allowed him to find spirituality. “To me, interfaith is good because I learned from it,” Cononie said. Cononie considers himself a Christian, but says he doesn’t run the Inn solely because he is a Christian. At the same time, he is inspired by his faith, and he admits that maybe God had a hand in his role in the Inn and his previous shelter in Hollywood, even if he didn’t hear a specific message. He instead saw a need and thought the solution was simple. Give the homeless a roof and food. Cononie admits that without God, the shelter likely wouldn’t still be running. “Mathematically, scientifically, logistically, this place should not work, and it does, really with flying colors,” Cononie said. “So I think God leads his way into here, and I think he takes a lot of the stress off of me.” As for what will happen to his church, it will be a place for believers of all kinds, especially those who need help. “I don’t want regular parishioners,” Cononie said. “We’ll of course take them, and I hope our regular parishioners would reach out to help other people, but I want the hookers, the prostitutes, the meth heads, anyone who’s in crisis.”
