THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 4, 1996 TAG: 9608020206
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BARBARA J. WOERNER, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 108 lines
James Anderson and his wife, the Rev. Sylvia Anderson, often searched the neighborhoods near Virginia Beach Boulevard and Birdneck Road for a building suitable to relocate the church and ministry they had started in their home.
Since moving to Virginia Beach from West Palm Beach, Fla., in December 1994, the number of people gathering for Sunday services had grown to about 50. Their home also served as the office for their outreach ministries.
In June of this year, the Andersons pulled their car off Virginia Beach Boulevard in front of a plain white structure intending to simply turn around and head back toward another building they were interested in. Instead, they never left the rutted gravel drive.
This morning, after weeks of work, the refurbished building at 1318 Virginia Beach Blvd. will become the new home of New Beginnings Outreach Ministry.
``It was the sign that caught my eye,'' said James Anderson. ``It read, `For rent, not to be used for a bar or lounge.' ''
They lost no time contacting property owner William Gilliam, who gladly agreed to the renovation of the former lounge into a church.
``I just wanted to rent it as a regular business - no more restaurants or lounges,'' Gilliam said.
Gilliam, known as Virginia Beach's ``Godfather of the Blues,'' is a local legend among devotees of the R&B genre and performs as a vocalist and master of ceremonies with the R&B Allstars.
``My uncle, Caleb Price, built the structure back in the 1940s with his own hand-made block,'' Gilliam said. ``In the '60s and '70s, the place was leased by Lawrence `Rock' Riley and known simply as Rock's Restaurant.''
Riley converted the former grocery store into a restaurant and operated a motel on an adjoining lot.
``It was the only black-owned and operated motel in Virginia Beach at that time,'' Gilliam added.
In 1981, Gilliam took it over and called it the Yum-Yum Lounge. The music was strictly disco.
``I wanted to do blues there but at that time we didn't have it like we do now,'' Gilliam said.
In the late 1980s, the facility became Big Baby's Lounge, leased by Roy ``Big Baby'' Gregory. Gilliam spent many a night watching and singing with blues recording artists like Cary Bell and Frankie Lee.
``When Big Baby was there, it was a great blues movement right there in that building,'' he said. ``People like Gibb Droll got his start and the best blues of the Beach played right there.''
The next tenant changed the name to the Cheetah Lounge and did not continue the R&B tradition. A tragic shooting left a lounge patron paralyzed and the short-lived Cheetah Lounge had its ABC license revoked.
Now, thanks to the Andersons and the flock of New Beginnings Outreach Ministry, the former lounge will house a different clientele and a new musical message.
Church members have been working tirelessly day and night to prepare the former lounge for its first service at 11 a.m. today. And, in the grand tradition of the R&B performances that flowed from the building in the past, the church will serve up its own unique blend of blues-oriented worship music. The Andersons are contemporary gospel blues recording artists with their CD, ``Hallelujah Is The Highest Praise,'' currently receiving radio station airplay.
``Our music is gospel-blues oriented,'' James Anderson said as he stepped away from the renovation work that was going on around him. ``I think the steeples and stained-glass windows keep a lot of the down-to-earth people out of church and that a lot of people will come here that wouldn't go to a bigger, more traditional sanctuary.''
The thrust of New Beginnings Outreach Ministry is grass-roots involvement. Not waiting for the acquisition of a church building, the Andersons and their small-but-growing congregation began making forays into the local communities around them.
``Our heart is to reach out to the down-and-out,'' Sylvia Anderson said. ``We believe that the church should go out from the building and out into the community to communicate the love of Jesus Christ where they are living.
``People need to see that we have no ulterior motive other than to help where we are needed,'' she added. ``After I visited a nearby trailer park, I realize that my heart was here.''
The church currently helps with food and clothing needs and assists parents with home schooling.
Besides ministering to the community, the Andersons recently started an organization called the African-American Christian Foundation.
``The Gospel has to be Biblically sound and culturally relevant and we hope to present that through our organization to those African-Americans that are currently disillusioned with Christianity,'' Sylvia Anderson said.
She hosts a 15 minute weekly radio show called ``Girl Talk'' that is heard at 12:30 p.m. on Thursdays on radio station WTJC-AM. The purpose is to help and encourage women that are dealing with abusive situations.
``We are really excited about all this,'' Sylvia Anderson said about the new church. ``More bars should become churches. The acoustics are great and the ceiling is the right height. The sound is really excellent.''
Gilliam admitted that he also is excited about the work of his new tenants.
``They're really going to have the blues now,'' he said emphatically. ``He (James Anderson) plays blues harmonica and guitar and she (Sylvia Anderson) is one of the best rhythm and blues singers I've ever heard.
``I think having a church in the building is great, and I plan on being there at the first service,'' he added. MEMO: For more information about New Beginnings Outreach Ministries,
call 428-3576. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
They won't be singing the blues after James Anderson and his wife,
the Rev. Sylvia Anderson, remodel a former lounge at 1318 Virginia
Beach Blvd. into the new home of New Beginnings Outreach Ministry.
Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Sylvia and James Anderson hope to finish remodeling the church in
time for 11 a.m. services today. by CNB