‘My life’s work’: Indio pastor mourns demolition of historic church

Rocks and rubble were scraped up and lifted into a dumpster truck Tuesday. It's all that's left of a sacred spot in an Indio community for Pastor Carl McPeters.

"This is my life's work is right here. My whole life. My children have grown up here," McPeters said.

He shed tears as he watched the Kyriakos Christian Center get bulldozed to the ground, making way for a new mixed use development including apartments near the site of the former Indio Fashion Mall, which is now branded as the Indio Grand Marketplace.

Since 1995, the church has been a gathering place for gospel, outreach and community programs.

"Our objective and goal was to reach the unreachable, provide a people and a place of belonging to the Lord," McPeters said.

Generations of history, he said, came crashing down this week.

In the early 2000s, hundreds of predominantly Black and Latino families had their homes razed and burned down by the city of Indio. With promises made of new homes, a new mall, new churches and a community center, members of the community say, decades later, the city has almost nothing to show for it.

"I'm not angry, standing here against the city of Indio. But I'm upset because they chose to not be people of integrity. They chose not to honor their own words," McPeters said.

An Indio official said the city has owned the land where the Kyriakos Christian Center sat for more than 20 years while the church used the property rent free.

McPeters said he is disappointed but optimistic about what's to come.

"At some point in time in the future, this is going to be a place that people will want to come and a mall that they will want to come to," he said.

A new church is being built in West Indio. In the meantime, Kyriakos Christian Center is renting space at the Bermuda Dunes Community Center on Avenue 42.