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BOD: With hookers, drug pushers and the homeless jockeying for space on the cracked sidewalks, Deeper Life has raised few eyebrows among its neighbors. Jefferson often is seen at the church but rarely approached, former members say. He frequently is preceded to the pulpit by others who call him an angel, a man God speaks to and through. And, they say, he's a man who can save, heal and purify with the touch of a hand. Recruits are brought in by members dressed in donated suits and dresses who spread through the neighborhood and gather up people sleeping on park benches or beneath bridges. They are promised a hot meal, a bed and God's word to set them straight. When Cynthia Bragg arrived at the church in September 2001 with her 4-year-old son, Jeremiah, she thought she had been blessed. She was pregnant with twins. Her first night, she said, should have been a warning. ``They put me in a four-bedroom house with about 30 other women,'' she said. ``The first night I slept on the floor because there was just one bed left for my son. And there were mice running all over me.'' Bragg, 43, said the house had no air conditioning or heating. It was roach-infested and the bathroom sink had no running water. Twice, the electricity was shut off for three days because utility bills weren't paid. The food residents had bought with food stamps and put in the refrigerator spoiled. John Price said his experience at Deeper Life was just as grim. He lasted two months. Price, 52, of New Port Richey, came to the ministry in mid-June after losing his job and his house. He signed the liability waiver and moved into a church property holding about 45 men, he said. Later he moved to a second house, living with about 18 other people. For the first month, he said, the doors were locked at midnight to enforce the curfew. Had there been a fire, few could have gotten out, he said. By his second month, Price was inventing excuses to leave the grounds so he could attend a class at Erwin Technical Center and go to the library to search for employment on the Internet. ``I'm not the kind of person they want around there because
I want to get back on my feet and move on,'' he said a few days
before he left Tampa for a job in Texas. |