It began
Game-changing pastor, speaker, mentor and advisor James L. Hines and his wife, Sister Leontyne Hines
in 1999
Pastor James L. Hines received a vision from God to build a center where youth could learn valuable life skills, improve their grades, play sports, and gain financial wisdom.
He worked diligently with a small group of faithful members to raise $2.5 million dollars to build the center. The center has continued to grow and serve in new facets, like its student improvement programs, mentorships, and scholarships.
Pastor Hines and his wife, Leontyne Hines, personally invested $50,000 toward the project. He was led to ask his wife in the middle of the night if they could give their life savings to build a youth center. Pastor Hines awakened Sister Hines to pose the question to which she responded,
“We’ve come here poor and we can leave here poor.”
The vision unfolded after they had moved young men into their home, but they were uncomfortable having young ladies spend the night. Pastor Hines had a passion for working with all children. So they locked up two acres of land with $6,000 as earnest money on $490,000 worth of land. They purchased a $50,000 cashier check, and a life policy of $50,000 on Pastor Hines, and presented a $100,000 commitment to the project. Ground was broken in April 2000 with the center debt totaling $3 million. The Center was opened on April 4, 2001.
The LMC facility provides a wide range of programming for youth and families. There are four classrooms, a large social/activity area, a fully functioning kitchen, a large gymnasium with a stage, and a fully equipped computer lab. Our facility is due in large part to generous church and community members who donated seed money for the project.
The name, Lily Missions Center, was chosen because Pastor Hines was inspired that the Lily Missions Center would be the center of the church’s (Lily Missionary Baptist Church) missions. The mission is still evident through the Lily Missions Center’s growing programs, including the After School and Summer Reading Programs, as well as the JLJA Financial Literacy classes.
Faith • Education • Finance
