Dwayne Milburn, a member of Avenue K Church of Christ, said Theaster Maloy Sr., a Houston minister, inspired him to paint the banner now hanging on the side of the church. T
GALVESTON — Hurricane Ike put 4 feet of water into the meeting house of Galveston’s Avenue K Church of Christ more than year ago. But the congregation is back, thanks to help from other churches nationwide.
Theaster Maloy Sr., minister of Fidelity Church of Christ in Houston, is credited with helping the Galveston congregation get back on its feet. But Maloy is quick to share credit with congregations nationwide and the local leaders of Avenue K.
“Brother Maloy not only got the building renovated, but he has renovated the hearts and minds of our members, too,” longtime church member Dwayne Milburn said.
The framed building with a stone veneer on the Avenue K side is not positioned much above grade, with three steps leading into the front doors. The 6 feet of water that filled the streets during Ike’s landfall quickly rose inside the church.
Restoration costs exceeded $50,000, well beyond what the congregation could afford.
Maloy said Ike had left behind an auditorium that could be compared to “a bombed-out building from the Vietnam War.”
The Houston minister began writing letters to sister churches across the country. The results of his campaign now adorn the walls — where notes of thanks are posted. Each gift received was carefully recorded, and all were invested in reconstruction.
“We reopened on Sept. 27, and it looks better than it did before,” Maloy said. “We’re the only mostly black Church of Christ on the island, and our attendance is back in the 50s again.”
Thomas H. Olbricht, of Pepperdine University, estimates there are more than 1 million members in the Church of Christ movement. Of these, he estimates, about 170,000 are African-American.
The figures suggest Avenue K’s restoration reflects both interracial cooperation and a strong local effort. The movement itself has been recognized for well more than a century.
“The Churches of Christ have no organizational structure larger than local congregations and no official journals or ways of declaring consensus positions,” Olbricht wrote. “The churches and preachers are highly entrepreneurial.”
That lack of formal structure meant that Maloy’s fundraising was done one church at a time, over and over, until the church was finally ready for services just more than a year after Ike.
Marv Thorn recently took over Avenue K’s pulpit from the visiting Maloy.
“We’ve gotten off to a good start,” he said. “We’ve really benefited from the hard work of our men. It serves as an example of the good that comes when God’s people unite for a common goal.”
