Hard Work Pays Off for Congregation : Religion: New church is dedicated, replacing facility destroyed during the riots. Members say rebuilding effort brought them together.

Some say a hymn sung by the choir motivated the churchgoers to pull together; others say it was a tune inspired by a higher source.

Pastor Milton S. Herring said it happened two years ago while he stood amid ash and rubble, trying to conduct a Sunday service in the parking lot of what, days before, had been the Church of the Living God--possibly the only church destroyed during the 1992 riots.

One choir song seemed to galvanize the congregation instantly, the pastor said, issuing a simple challenge:

Hallelujah anyhow

Never, never let your troubles get you down

When life’s problems come your way

Throw your hands up high and say

Hallelujah anyhow!

The song quickly became the motto of a massive effort to rebuild the church.

Two years later, that mission was accomplished. On Sunday, a brand-new Church of the Living God opened its doors at the same site in South-Central Los Angeles, on 98th Street and Western Avenue, where Herring had preached in the ash and rubble.

The gleaming two-story building with stained-glass windows and chandeliers was built with $1.2 million raised one hard-earned dollar at a time, mostly from chicken dinner sales, carwashes, donations from members and contributions from other churches throughout the city.

“Before we had a store that we had turned into a church,” Herring said. “It was beautiful but it was still a storefront. Now we have a church, a new home.”

The old storefront church had been home to the 500-member congregation for almost a dozen years until it was destroyed by the fire that spread from a looted and torched furniture store next door. The church had been looking for a new, bigger location. When the furniture store opted not to return, church elders decided to stay and build a larger house of worship.

“We were looking for a new place and then came the fire, which left us with nothing,” Mahalia Perry said. “We rose out of the ashes but it doesn’t look like we’re moving. The Lord doesn’t seem to want us to move.”

After the riots, the church found it difficult to tap into funds being made available for many riot-torched businesses.

“We ran into obstacles,” Herring said. “We couldn’t get money because people felt nervous about making money available for a church. It’s that whole thing about separation of church and state.”

Finally, they received a small-business loan. The membership raised nearly $700,000 and other churches pitched in. The modern Spanish tile-roofed building seats 500 people in the nave and balcony. There are meeting rooms, a library, a nursery and two Sunday school classrooms.

“Members made pledges, purchased pews and bought stained-glass windows in memory of deceased loved ones,” Herring said.

While work on the church was being completed, they rented space from another church nearby. “There were times we felt homeless, but we were never without a place to worship,” said one church member.

Julia Story, a choir member, said the struggle to rebuild has brought members closer.

“We have all lived through this,” she said. “We’re like a family.”

At a dinner Saturday night, the church was praised for its effort to rebuild and was urged to keep up its efforts.

“They managed to pull together and come out with something better than they came in with,” said Roderick Wright, who represented Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) at the dinner.