Taking back the town
With just paintbrushes, about a dozen youth took back Moses Lake by covering up graffiti.
Rebecca Pettingill
Art Brown, Pastor of Light of Larson Church, along with his wife Wendy came up with the idea to cover up graffiti around town to “take it back.”
Paint for the coverup was donated by Lowe’s.
The youth made quick work to cover up the utility building located just off Crestview Drive.
Young volunteers with Light of Larson and Citipoint Church covered 40 different items that were tagged on Saturday.
Light of Larson and Citipoint Church members smile just before tackling their next graffiti coverup project in Moses Lake on Saturday.
MOSES LAKE — One Moses Lake church is working to reclaim the town and build community in the middle of an area struggling with gang violence.
Light of Larson Church, located at 1125 Arlington Drive, sits in the middle of the Larson community, the housing area for the former Larson Air Force Base. The area has been home to an increase of graffiti and shootings over the past couple of years.
Pastor Art Brown and his wife Wendy, who live on the same property as the church, focus their ministry through leading by example and serving.
“We love what we do and we love our city and I think all of us can make a difference here by doing our own part,” Art said.
One way they have decided to make a difference is by taking back Moses Lake, Art said. A part of taking it back is by covering up gang graffiti around town. Their most recent endeavor was Saturday. They, along with a group from Citipoint Church in Mount Vernon, hit the streets and spent the entire afternoon painting over graffiti.
The group of about a dozen youths covered about 40 different telephone poles, utility boxes and sides of buildings that had been tagged, Art said. The paint used to cover the graffiti was donated by Lowe’s.
Fourteen-year-old Izel Morales was one of the students from Citipoint Church who participated in the graffiti coverup.
“It kind of gives you a realization of, people sometimes don't feel safe in (their) home, they don't feel safe in their neighborhood, so I feel like it gives you the realization that we need to be closer together and dependent on ourselves, on each other and on God to be protecting us,” said Morales.
Morales explained he feels like he was able to help restore some of the feeling of safety through covering up the graffiti because people would honk and wave as they passed by or even pull over to say thank you.
“I feel like that kind of helps people have the reassurance of ‘we have people who want to help us and we should help ourselves in restoring our community’,” Morales said.
The Browns said they started hosting events in 2014 and joined a pastoral association in 2016. They moved to their current location in 2020 to serve the Larson community better by being a part of it.
“We knew we had to be a part of the community, to help the community,” Art said.
The couple said they are also involved in other parts of the community, such as Larson Elementary, and Art is a volunteer firefighter with Grant County Fire District 5.
“I believe God’s going to do many things in Moses Lake; we’re doing our part,” said Art.
He said they don't do the service because they feel like they have to, it's because they love to do it.
Citipoint Church Family Life Pastor Jordan Paris said what the Browns do in the community is what attracted them to creating the partnership last year.
“We ask the question at our church, ‘If a church was removed from its town, would the community notice?’ and with this church, the answer is an absolute yes,” said Paris.
Rebecca Pettingill can be reached via email at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.
