Crenshaw Christian Center

Coordinates: 33°58′5″N 118°17′43″W / 33.96806°N 118.29528°W / 33.96806; -118.29528

Crenshaw Christian Center from the air
Crenshaw Christian Center East, formerly the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Manhattan, New York City

Crenshaw Christian Center is a US megachurch based in South Los Angeles, California and New York City. It was founded in 1973 by Frederick K. C. Price and as of 2017 has around 28,000 members.[1] Price's son Fred K. Price, Jr. led the church from 2009 until his resignation in 2017.[1]

Its current California campus is located on the site of the old Pepperdine University campus, which lay vacant for years before being sold to Crenshaw Christian Center. After the purchase, Price oversaw construction of a new sanctuary, called the "FaithDome", which at the time was the largest domed church in the United States, seating over 10,000. The church had greatly expanded from the time of its previous location at 9550 Crenshaw Boulevard in Inglewood, California, but still required three services for its growing congregation until the building of the FaithDome.

The campus also includes the Frederick K. C. Price, III Christian Schools, named in honor of Price's first son (now deceased, not the present Pastor Price). The Price High Knights compete in men's and women's varsity basketball and men's football.

In 2007 Frederick K.C. Price, who was then pastor, filed a defamation suit after the ABC television network aired a segment of their 20/20 investigative journalism program about certain of the largest, well-known Christian ministries in the U.S. Titled "Enough!", it was about how these ministries appeared to be misspending their congregants' tithes and offerings. It illustrated that Price was one of the ministers who had become overly wealthy as a result of misusing his congregants' monies. To this end, the program broadcast a portion of a Sunday service at Crenshaw Christian Center in which Price, casting himself as a fictional character for the sake of illustration, made statements from his character's point of view about having great riches. 20/20 failed to state the context of those statements, thus allowing them to appear to be statements being made directly by Price himself. ABC later apologized on air and in writing.[2]

In June 2017, Fred K. Price, Jr. stepped down after eight years as leader of the church, apologizing for "serious personal misjudgments which have affected my life and my family".[1] The church did not disclose the concrete nature of these missteps, and stated that Frederick K.C. Price would re-take its leadership.[1]

Crenshaw Christian Center East

"CCC West's" sister church, Crenshaw Christian Center East, originally opened in New York in May, 2001. It was located in the historic building at 1 West 96th Street on the corner of Central Park West in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, originally the First Church of Christ, Scientist. In 2003, the Christian Science congregation, which had moved to the Second Church, put the building up for sale, and it was purchased by CCC in 2004.[3]

The building, which can accommodate 2,200 people, was constructed from 1889 to 1903, and was designed by Carrère & Hastings – who had just won the competition to design the New York Public Library – in a style reminiscent of the churches of Nicholas Hawksmoor, a combination of English Baroque and French Beaux-Arts detailing. The building features stained-glass windows by John LaFarge. The window over the front door was named "Touch Me Not" and was based on John 20:17, depicting Jesus' encounter with Mary Magdalene outside the tomb.[3]

The original church had gold chandeliers, marble floors and curved pews made of Circassian walnut, and elevators called "moving rooms" because they were large enough to hold 20 people.[3]

The church was designated a New York City landmark in 1974, and is a contributing property to the federally designated Central Park West Historic District.[4][5][6][7]

In June 2014, Crenshaw Christian Center sold the building to 361 Central Park L.L.C. for $26 million. The new owner planned to convert the 47,000-square-foot structure to condominiums.[3] However, the condominium plan was rejected by the zoning appears board. In January 2018 the Children's Museum of Manhattan announced that it had acquired the building.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Blair, Leonardo (2017-06-28). "Calif. Megachurch Reacts to 'Betrayal' of Pastor Fred Price Jr: We Don't Speculate". Christian Post. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  2. ↑ ABC Issues Written Apology Four Years After Airing Misleading John Stossel Segment
  3. 1 2 3 4 Barron, James (26 September 2014). "A Difficult Passage from Church to Condominium". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  4. ↑ New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; Dolkart, Andrew S.; Postal, Matthew A. (2009), Postal, Matthew A., ed., Guide to New York City Landmarks (4th ed.), New York: John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 978-0-470-28963-1 , pp.145-146
  5. ↑ White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot (2000), AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.), New York: Three Rivers Press, ISBN 978-0-8129-3107-5 , p.366
  6. ↑ Dunlap, David W. (2004). From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12543-7. , pp.74-74
  7. ↑ "About Us" on the Crenshaw Christian Center East website
  8. ↑ "Children's Museum Plans to Move Into Historic Church Building on Central Park West". West Side Rag. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.


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