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Megastore becomes megachurch

It looks like the nickname “Kmart Church” is here to stay.

The former central Vancouver megastore will become the permanent home of megachurch Living Hope Church, according to the Rev. John Bishop. Bishop said he’s got $5.2 million in donations and investments in the bank, and will close on the property next week.

“We told people this was the promised land and they looked at us like, what? ” Bishop told a meeting of his 60-strong staff on Friday morning. “We were told, ‘There’s no chance of you raising $5 million.’”

But Bishop and his congregation raised $5.2 million over the course of a nine-month fundraising frenzy that was so stressful, Bishop said, it caused him serious stomach pains and had him contemplating quitting.

“It was an issue of integrity,” he said. Bishop didn’t want to spend months hitting up his flock for funds only to miss the mark and shrug it off with an “oops,” he said.

But that’s not going to happen, Bishop concluded during an elated and relieved pep talk that brought the 48-year-old pastor to the brink of tears. “This is our building,” he told his staff, to a round of applause.

Living Hope has been camping out since early this year in the former Kmart store, with a temporary city permit and the patience of property owner Kuni Enterprises, which once intended to open a car dealership there. Kuni abandoned its plan and started leasing to Living Hope. The church already owns several properties in Clark County, including a flagship church on Northeast 117th Avenue in Brush Prairie, but Bishop decided to put those on the market and consolidate his church where it was most needed: in urban Vancouver.

None of those properties has sold, but Bishop managed to raise the money anyway. He tapped his own congregation, he said, and was rewarded with an embarrassment of riches, including people’s precious personal property — wedding rings, gold coins, vacation savings and vehicles. One gentleman donated a beloved motorcycle, but nobody purchased it and Bishop ultimately decided that God wanted the motorcycle returned to its owner.

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