A church ministry operating between Kilgore and Longview hopes to buy the former women’s shelter in Kilgore, its pastor said Wednesday.
“We made a verbal offer,” the Rev. Lee Bryan of Living Word Church said of the Kilgore Crisis Center, which filed for bankruptcy protection and closed in September.
Bryan said the church, on FM 1252 less than a half mile west of Texas 31, has operated a small shelter for abused women for several years.
Called, Haven House Ministries, the faith-based shelter operates in a three-bedroom home and an apartment, he said.
“We’ve got an awesome pastoral staff, counselors — we’re just looking to expand over there,” Bryan said. “We turn away people on a regular basis. The need is great, and it’s growing.”
The Kilgore Crisis Center was in the former Rader Funeral Home building in downtown Kilgore. The 10,000-square-foot, two-story building has been dormant since closing and still has its furnishings.
No one else has expressed interest in buying the property, Coldwell Banker Lenhart Properties Associate/Sales Broker Randy Renshaw said.
Bryan said the church’s offer was made to the property’s attorney. The shelter’s operating budget was $70,000 in the red when it closed.
“We know God wants to do a big thing,” Bryan said. “And we’re just waiting on him.”
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