Three weeks ago, a middle-aged couple came to the door of Allen Street Baptist Church. They were living in their car, they said, and asked if there was some help the church could offer them.
“We were able to help them with some food, and offered them the opportunity to shower,” said Pastor Justin Wright.
The congregation of Allen Street Baptist Church had been praying for guidance concerning the church’s mission and vision, he said, and what God would have them do in Clinton.
Earlier this year, the congregation was praying for a new minister to succeed Roger House, who had served Allen Street Baptist for 27 years and was retiring. Those prayers were answered in the form of Justin Wright, who’s a good fit for a congregation who wants to reach out to its Allen Street neighbors as well as to people who hadn’t had a good experience in church or felt like they fit in.
Justin did not grow up in the church, he said, did not find religion until he was in his 20s, has never attended seminary and doesn’t preach like a minister who did.
“If you’ve ever been turned off by church, that’s not what you get here,” he said.
Allen Street is a ‘come as you are’ church, he said, a jeans and t-shirt church.
“In the summer, it’s a flip-flop church. It’s the best-kept secret in Clinton.”
A flip-flop church is one where you can wear casual footwear to church, not one that waffles theologically. The Sunday services at Allen Street Baptist, at 8:45 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., are contemporary casual, with upbeat music, guitars and drums.
On Dec. 24, there will be one combined service at 10 a.m., then Christmas Eve services at 5:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
Until 10 years ago, Justin’s life was more about creating custom machine fittings than deconstructing theological questions. He grew up in Sedalia, graduating from Sedalia High School in 1993, then attended State Fair Community College. He moved to Smithton, where he built a house and he and spouse Kari Wright raised a family of six children while Justin worked at a Sedalia tool and die shop.
Five of their six children, now ages 15 through 26, were still living at home in 2013, when Justin heard the call to the ministry.
“It was a life change,” he said.
He served at Calvary Baptist Church in Windsor for ten years, he said, while teaching tool and die classes in the machinery program at State Fair Community College. In May, the Wrights left Windsor to move to Clinton, with the idea of Justin taking a break from preaching.
But when Justin was leaving the Windsor church, Roger House at Allen Street Baptist was announcing his retirement.
The Wrights visited several Baptist churches in Clinton, Justin said, but felt drawn to Allen Street. At first, Justin didn’t tell people in the congregation he was a minister, but word got out, and he was invited to fill the pulpit several times. After being interviewed by the search committee, he gave his testimony and described his call to ministry to the congregation, who voted unanimously to invite him to lead the ministry of the church and its staff.
That he has experience building houses and working with machinery was a plus.
“When you are hiring a minister, they say you should always look at his hands,” Justin said, alluding to the advantage of having a minister who can handle maintenance and repair issues.
Justin hopes more people will discover Allen Street Baptist. There is always something going on in the building, he said.
A good time to check out Allen Street Baptist is this Sunday, Dec. 17, when they are holding a dinner followed by a musical evening, with dinner starting at 6:30 p.m. To let them know how many people to make dinner for, go to the Allen Street Baptist Church website, allenstreetclinton.com, and make a reservation.
“It’s a musical Christmas card,” Justine said of the program.
Justin still keeps a hand in construction. He is doing a lot of work on the house the Wrights are building in Clinton, he said, while they are living in a travel trailer on site. Their daughter, Hannah, who attends Clinton Christian Academy, has been a trooper, he said, but they are all eager to get into their house, which is reaching the final stages of completion.
“The electric work is done,” he said. “The sheet rock is coming in two weeks.”
His spouse, Kari, hopes it will be the last house they build, Justin said. She is a counselor at Abundant Life Church in Lee’s Summit. When she finishes work there, she will do counseling at Allen Street Baptist, where they now offer individual Christian life coaching and pastoral counseling.
“In the future, counseling will be a big part of what we do here,” he said.
It’s a church where there’s something happening every day of the week, he said, not just on Sundays and Wednesday nights, when there are AWANA and Strike Zone programs for youth. When he comes in on Mondays, Justin said, it’s like a train station, with the women’s group meeting in one room and the worship team in another.
Allen Street is getting ready to host a women’s conference, called LYP, Live Your Purpose, Jan. 12 through Jan.14.
The Allen Street congregation is a true church family, he said, one whose doors are open to those in need. The church is planning its next steps in outreach ministry, he said, so they will be ready to meet the needs of the next unexpected visitors. Meeting people’s immediate needs is the priority, he said.
“We’re sort of just traveling that way,” he said.
The church is uniquely situated for that ministry.
“There are two homeless camps on the same street, one two blocks from the church and one a block up,” Justin said. “There’s the park, as well.”
The congregation has already decided to get a washer and dryer to make available to people who may have limited changes of clothes. Someone who heard of that need has donated new appliances, Justin said.
“We want to be part of the solution,” he said.
That’s just one example of the many wonderful things that are happening at the church, Justin said, which was founded in the 1950s.
The couple who showed up at their door, at 210 W. Allen St., was an answer to the congregation’s prayers.
“You either run away from it, or towards it,” Justin said of the church’s ministry to its neighbors. “We ran towards it.”
Not everything that happens at the church on Allen Street will be perfect, he said.
But in the end, he said, it will be amazing.
