It will be up to the congregation to decide if that's appropriate, said the Rev. Ike Kennerly, the administrator for about 150 Presbyterian churches in central North Carolina. Members hope the marketing campaign will be the church's salvation. Dollar said Covenant will appeal to people who have felt betrayed and hurt by other churches. He's not a browbeater, he said. Members are encouraged to ask difficult theological questions.
Doubters are welcome.
Finding new tenants might prove more difficult. Covenant already rents rooms to the College Hill Child Care Co-Op and administrators for the Governor Morehead Preschool for the Blind. The church lets residents of a nearby halfway house hold Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings there. About 60 people from New Creation Presbyterian Church, a congregation formed in the early 1990s, meet at Covenant on Sundays. The two congregations hold combined Sunday school programs.