New Life Evangelistic Center Records (S1236)
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PRELIMINARY INVENTORY S1236 (SA4422, SA4447, SA4470, SA4472, SA4483, SA4499) NEW LIFE EVANGELISTIC CENTER RECORDS This collection is available at The State Historical Society of Missouri. If you would like more information, please contact us at [email protected]. Introduction Approximately 68.08 cubic feet The New Life Evangelistic Center (NLEC) Records contain correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, newsletters, newspaper clippings, and photographs documenting NLEC’s mission to provide Christian hospitality to the poor through social service programs and spiritual care. The collection is divided into five series: Administration; Larry Rice; Penny Rice; Chronological Files; Publications; Jim Barnes; Photographs; and Scrapbooks. The Chronological Files series consists of materials Larry Rice and his son, Chris Rice, gathered during their research for their five-volume history of NLEC. This series contains Rice’s handwritten drafts of the book, newspaper clippings, meeting minutes, and photographs, arranged chronologically by year. Other series of interest include the publications series, which consists of issues of the ZOA Free Paper, which NLEC published from 1972 to 2005. The materials in this collection date from 1949 to 2018. The New Life Evangelistic Center (NLEC) was founded in January 1972 by Larry Rice (1949-present), as a non-denominational Christian church dedicated to providing Christian hospitality to the poor through free food and clothing, emergency shelter, job training programs, and spiritual care. Rice, a native of McAllen, Texas, originally intended to become a Lutheran minister, having graduated from Concordia Senior College, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in May 1971. After attending a few weeks of classes at Concordia Seminary in Clayton, Missouri, in the fall of 1971, Rice became increasingly frustrated by what he perceived as his fellow Lutherans disinterest in the plight of the impoverished. His dissatisfaction with the Lutheran Church led him to quit Concordia Seminary and enroll in Calvary Temple's Paul and Timothy program, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. At Cavalry Temple, Rice was under the tutelage of Pastor Paul Paino, learning church management and ministry. After receiving his ordination from Calvary Temple in December 1971, Rice returned to St. Louis and began New Life Evangelistic Center with his wife Penny (1950-2007) out of their mobile-home in Wellston, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Some of Rice’s first programs included Dial-a-Message. This program enabled the public to call NLEC’s private phone line and listen to three-minute tape recordings of Rice’s sermons. During the following months, NLEC expanded, and Rice subsequently moved its headquarters from their trailer to 2107 Park Avenue. At the 2107 Park Avenue headquarters, in Lafayette Square, NLEC opened a free store, offering clothing and furniture to the poor, as well as traditional worship services. Rice also spearheaded a radio program called, “Moments of New Life,” on KADI. By 1973, NLEC began counseling patients at Malcolm Bliss Mental Health Center, published two in-house newspapers, ZOA Free Paper and New Life in Action, and established the New THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION 6/9/2021 S1236 (SA4422, SA4447, SA4470, SA4472, SA4483, SA4499) NEW LIFE EVANGELISTIC CENTER RECORDS Life Training Center, which consisted of job training and courses on the Bible. As NLEC’s services grew, so did the need for a new headquarters. In December 1975, NLEC acquired the former main branch of the Young Women’s Christian Association, located at 1411 Locust Street. During this period, NLEC began three of its most enduring programs: Think Wood, Fans for Life, and the Winter Patrol. Established by NLEC in the fall of 1979, the Think Wood program provided wood-burning stoves to families struggling with their utility bills. NLEC employees also offered training sessions on how to properly use and maintain the stoves. A component to Think Wood was the Winter Patrol. During the winter months, NLEC staffers search the city of St. Louis for homeless encampments, bringing food and blankets to individuals suffering from the cold. The summer heatwave of 1980 was the impetus for NLEC to create a parallel program to Think Wood and the Winter Patrol— Fans for Life. In 1980 alone, NLEC distributed nearly 2,400 fans to residents of the St. Louis metropolitan region who could not afford air conditioning. These three programs remained a staple of NLEC for the next several years. Of the three, only the Winter Patrol continues. In the ensuing years, Rice’s began to focus on renewable energy, launching Missouri Renewable Energy (MORE) in 2002. Rice launched the program to teach the homeless green job skills, providing trainees with courses on solar power, biofuels, and raised-bed gardening. MORE also distributed DVDs and manuals to the public on wind generation and sustainable building. Another staple of MORE has been its Energy Fairs. Established by MORE in 2007, the energy fairs featured booths displaying green energy, with staff providing small lectures on their use. Despite NLEC’s achievements, Rice believed the public remained detached from the plight of the poor. According to Rice, television was the only way to break through their complacency. Rice envisioned a station dedicated to family shows and religious programming, with a focus on connecting the public to social services and publicizing homelessness in Mid-America. KNLC (Knowing New Life in Christ) debuted on September 12, 1982, and was promoted to the public by NLEC as a clean alternative to commercial television. The channel featured reruns of classic family shows, including Dennis the Menace, and Here’s Help, a program hosted by Larry Rice, featuring interviews with the homeless and community leaders. Although KNLC’s achieved relatively low ratings, NLEC’s media interests expanded to include KNLJ Channel 25, (Knowing New Life in Jesus), located in New Bloomfield, Missouri, as well as a network of low power TV and radio stations that encompassed what would be known as the Here’s Help Network. By the mid-1990s, the Here’s Help Network reached viewers and listeners from the St. Louis area to central and southern Missouri and parts of northern Arkansas. These stations disseminated Rice’s message and information about NLEC’s various shelters and free stores in eastern, central, and southern parts of Missouri. Page 2 of 43 S1236 (SA4422, SA4447, SA4470, SA4472, SA4483, SA4499) NEW LIFE EVANGELISTIC CENTER RECORDS Throughout his career, Rice achieved a level of notoriety among Missourians and St. Louisans for his theatrical protests against state and local policies towards the poor. In one instance, Rice established a tent city in front of St. Louis City Mayor Vincent Schoemehl’s office in the winter of 1985, calling it 'Schoemehlville'. Rice also drew criticism from his neighbors at 1411 Locust Street, who charged that the shelter was a detriment to the neighborhood. On April 26, 2013, Rice’s neighbors petitioned the city of St. Louis’s Board of Public Service (BPS) to revoke NLEC’s hotel license for 1411 Locust Street. They cited numerous instances of fighting, public intoxication, and drug dealing that occurred near the shelter. BPS ruled that 1411 locust street was a detriment to the neighborhood and revoked NLEC’s occupancy permit on December 23, 2014. Although Rice fought the city of St. Louis for several years in court, he finally closed the 1411 Locust Street location on April 1, 2017. (Rice had already moved NLEC’s administrative offices to 2428 Woodson Road in Overland, Missouri, in October 2015.) As a result of the closure of 1411 Locust Street, NLEC sold KNLC to Weigel Broadcasting in September 2017 for an estimated 3.75 million. Rice argued that the funds were needed to find additional housing for NLEC’s homeless clients due to the closure of 1411 Locust Street. On December 12, 2017, NLEC moved its programming to channel 24.2, a digital sub-channel of KNLC, under the banner of NLEC-TV. The move officially marked the closure of traditional television presence in Missouri, as NLEC had sold KNLJ to the Christian Television Network in 2007. As of 2018, Rice remains dedicated to reopening 1411 Locust Street to the poor. One step towards this goal was achieved when St. Louis building commissioner Frank Oswald granted NLEC an occupancy permit to operate the building as a church in November 2018. NLEC currently continues its efforts to make the necessary repairs to reopen the building to the homeless. Donor Information The records were donated to the State Historical Society of Missouri by Larry Rice on July 1, 2019 (Accession No. SA4422). Additions were made on October 7, 2009 by Larry Rice (Accession No. SA4447); July 23, 2020 by Larry Rice (Accession No. SA4470); July 30, 2020 by Ray Redlich (Accession No. SA4472); October 5, 2020 by Larry Rice (Accession No. SA4483); November 2, 2010 by Larry Rice (Accession No. SA4499). Copyright and Restrictions Copyright held by New Life Evangelistic Center. Box List Box 1 Administration Articles of incorporation, 1972-2006 Bylaws and constitution, 1972, 1997, 2003, 2003 Board of Directors, meeting minutes, 1972-2016 (4 folders) Departmental and Branch reports, 1976-1977 Page 3 of 43 S1236 (SA4422, SA4447, SA4470, SA4472, SA4483, SA4499) NEW LIFE EVANGELISTIC CENTER RECORDS Finances Building appraisals, 1976-1986 L. Douglas Abrams Federal Building, 2002-2005 (2 folders) Tax exempt letters, 1993-1996 NLEC back-up files, 2001 (8 CD-Rs) Reports