Unchurch

Four years ago the Riverside Drive house of Mrs. Paul Condit-Smith, sister of the late General Leonard Wood, was dismantled, loaded on barges, taken to Long Beach, L. I. There it was remodeled to become St. John's Lutheran Church-by-the-Sea. Last week it became the property of a Long Beach businessman named Charles W. Ackerman. He was scarcely pleased to have it. Businessman Ackerman's troubles with St. John's Church-by-the-Sea were of long standing. Last winter, as chairman of the church council, he squabbled over policies with the pastor, Rev. Felix G. Robinson. One day Pastor Robinson angrily struck Businessman Ackerman, who retaliated. Businessman Ackerman held a $10,000 bond as guarantor of a mortgage on the church. To protect his investment he bid in the church at a foreclosure sale. Last week he presented his fellow Lutherans with an ultimatum: they could oust Pastor Robinson and buy Businessman Ackerman's church, or they could get out. The congregation promptly got out, taking their pastor with them and setting up a church of their own in a private house. Businessman Ackerman ruefully surveyed his Church-by-the-Sea, wondered what one can do with an unchurched church.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.