It’s been asked on many a bumper sticker: What would Jesus do? In a world in which mega-churches hold too much sway, lining the pockets of wealthy ministries devoted more to riches than to outreach, seeing a church practice what it preaches is pretty close to divine.
Granite Peaks Church offers long-term stays to men of “any faith or no faith at all,” according to co-founder and Pastor Mark Lopez. For $650 a month, an unhoused man in need can get a clean bed in a dorm-like room, with access to a full kitchen and bathroom facilities. The church was founded in 1986 in the old Trujillo funeral home located at Morrison Road and South Quitman Street. It was later relocated to a storefront at West Eighth Avenue and Federal Boulevard before moving into its current building on the corner of West Eighth and Knox Court in the Villa Park neighborhood.
Lopez says the idea for the dorm was sparked around 2016, shortly after a charter school that Granite Peaks was running closed, leaving a considerable building infrastructure largely unused. A couple from Florida visited the church that winter; they had ran out of money and were going to have to sleep in their vehicle…