EVERETT – Dale and Nina Jennings would like to see God come to Hewitt Avenue.
The Everett couple are working to open a 24-hour Christian dance club, community and activity center and shelter for at-risk teens and others in a two-story, 12,000-square-foot building at 1711 Hewitt Ave.
The drug- and alcohol-free club – which they’re calling the “Threshing Floor” after a Bible parable – would have a rave-style dance club in the basement, two juice bars, bathrooms and showers, a library, an “art zone,” a lounge and live performance area and office space for counselors and staff.
Though runaways and homeless people couldn’t sleep there, they could drop in at any time 24 hours a day for shelter, entertainment, activities and help finding resources, Nina Jennings said.
Jennings says the center is a church, but of a different kind. It will be open to all people of all ages, not just homeless and at-risk teens and adults, she said.
” ‘We’re freak-friendly’ is the lingo that we use,” Jennings said. “We’re expecting Goths, punk-rockers, ravers and Christian teenagers as well if their parents allow them to come.
“The Christians are kind of questioning everything because it’s not … traditional,” she said.
As a couple, Dale and Nina Jennings admit they are as unique as their idea.
Dale Jennings, 33, whose friends have called him Captain Corporate, works at Washington Mutual as a senior finance manager.
An Indiana native, Dale Jennings had a religious upbringing but was inspired to find that rapping about God could be just as effective as preaching from a pulpit, he said.
Nina Jennings, 27, had more troubled times – she was a self-proclaimed “bad girl” who dabbled in gang life and was later heavily into the rave scene. She managed to find God, and knew she wanted to help others like her do the same, she said.
They have two sons, Samuel, 7, and Ezekiel, 8 months.
Shortly after she met Dale Jennings, the two discussed their contempt for the “business, red tape and politics” of religion.
“Every church that we attend, they politely ask us not to any more … we’re movers and shakers,” Nina Jennings said. “We don’t like to sit idle. Instead of being preached to, we want to make things happen.”
The couple started kicking around ideas about how to help people who other churches seem to leave behind, especially young people.
Nina Jennings said she had a vision of what the club would look like and prayed she would find the location of which she dreamed.
“One day I was driving and worshipping and hanging out with God and talking to him,” she said. She said she asked God to help her find a building.
“I turned a corner, and there was a big giant ‘For Rent’ sign,” she said. “I fell in love instantly.”
The 1925 building was formerly Vince’s Gym, and for a short time was an illegal teen dance club, said city spokeswoman Kate Reardon.
“We’ve had quite a few conversations (with the Jennings),” Reardon said.
Reardon said for the Jennings’ proposed use, the building would need hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of upgrades to meet city building codes.
The building needs a structural analysis to be able to house such a large number of people, she said. It also needs fire sprinklers, a set of restrooms on the main floor and an elevator.
“Obviously we want to work with people to make businesses successful,” Reardon said.
The couple acknowledges the building’s challenges, and the high cost of renovation, but said they have faith that God will provide a way for them to pay.
The building’s owner, Peter Sikov, is working with them on the $5,000-a-month rent, they said.
They are looking for volunteers to do the remodeling to bring the building up to code.
Once it’s open, admission would be free and the center would be staffed around the clock entirely by volunteers, which “teaches the importance of giving for the enhancement of the community and self,” according to the couple’s business plan.
The Jennings applied for status as a nonprofit organization. Their project will depend heavily on fund-raising, sponsorships and monthly donors, they said.
The Jennings filed for bankruptcy in May 2003. Friends and relatives have cautioned them about such a large project as they’re “just getting back on their feet.”
“We’re walking on faith. When you do the will of God, money will come,” Dale Jennings said.
Friday, at the building they hope will be Threshing Floor, Dale Jennings was dressed in a hat, a chocolate suede overcoat and matching pinstriped brown pants. He held his youngest son with his left arm as he warmly greeted a homeless man who stopped by.
His wife had spiky black hair (it was pink Thursday), wore a neck-to-toe black vinyl coat and knee-high black platform boots.
They know they come across as an odd couple – like a jazz musician married to a character from the movie “The Matrix.”
But the pair hope that by being themselves it will show their openness to accepting and helping people of all kinds.
“You don’t have to smother things in people’s faces to get them to change. You just let them be who they are and provide an environment for whatever it is they want to do to fix themselves,” Nina Jennings said.
“To us every club is a church, and the music is a preacher.”
Reporter Jennifer Warnick: 425-339-3429 or jwarnick@heraldnet.com.
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