Reverend's sacrifice staves off North Side church sale
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The Rev. Algie Robinson Jr. stands inside Christian Fellowship Baptist Church on Perrysville Avenue on the North Side.
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"Putting the GO back in Gospel" says a sign on the front of the Christian Fellowship Baptist Church on the North Side. But it was nearly the church itself that had to go.
On Monday, a sheriff's sale was postponed until March 5 for the century-old stone church at 2453 Perrysville Ave. after an Oklahoma mortgage company agreed to work out payments by its pastor, the Rev. Algie Robinson Jr.
Rev. Robinson, 73, said he withdrew $8,500 from his personal savings and was to send it to National Loan Investors of Oklahoma City. He said the company had agreed to accept less than the $24,789 owed on the bankrupt church. National Loan Investors would not confirm that Monday. In legal ads for the postponed sale, the starting bid was to be $29,688.
Rev. Robinson believes God had a hand in the sale's postponement. He can't save the church without God's help, he said.
"He wants to see how long I'm going to last," he laughed, then turned serious. "I'm not going to walk away from it."
A native of Jewett, Texas, Rev. Robinson was a cross-country trucker when he arrived in Pittsburgh in 1989. In 1999, he formed his own church and his small congregation first met in a Catholic church elsewhere in the city. When church officials told him he could no longer use that church, he moved to this building, then known as the Reformed Presbyterian Church. When that church merged with another to become Reformed Presbyterian Church of the North Hills, Christian Fellowship Baptist bought the property in August 2004 for $40,000.
In the mid-2000s, the church had more than 200 members and ran an after-school program. An organist and drummer played during services at 11 a.m. Sundays. But the organist wanted to be paid, and the young drummer went off to college. Rev. Robinson, who says he has never collected a salary, watched members drift away. Many are on fixed incomes or out of work, he said.
In October 2008, the church filed for bankruptcy. Its largest creditor was the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority, which was owed $3,203.
The church now has about 50 members, but less than that show up for Sunday services.
He needs to raise $14,000 to satisfy the mortgage company, he said. He hasn't asked members' help -- yet.
"I haven't bothered the people yet. I don't believe in doing that stuff. They will come through ... or maybe someone who is a church sympathizer."
Rev. Robinson said he has noticed that Pittsburghers are not as "churched" as the people he knew growing up.
"Even the worst drunks are still in church on Sunday" in the South, he said.
"It's been rough. I say God has kept me resolute."
First Published February 7, 2012 12:00 am
