Head Start on a New House of Worship : Religion: West Angeles Church is bursting at its seams. Magic Johnson gives $5 million, Denzel Washington pledges $2.5 million toward a grand building.

Thousands of worshipers marched the three blocks down Crenshaw Boulevard Sunday morning from their original church to the site of their new sanctuary to celebrate what their pastor called “Demolition Sunday.”

West Angeles Church, with a largely African American congregation, is in the heart of the Crenshaw district, and it is about to embark on a $42-million project to build a massive sanctuary to accommodate its rapidly growing membership.

Bishop Charles E. Blake announced Sunday that the church had received major donations for the construction of the new church from two celebrity members: basketball star Earvin (Magic) Johnson, who gave $5 million, and actor Denzel Washington, who pledged $2.5 million.

“The Lord has blessed me in so many different ways,” Johnson said as he addressed the congregation, “to have a few dollars and a little bit of success as a black man, but it was all because of the Lord.”

West Angeles Church has outgrown a sanctuary that can comfortably seat only 1,200 of its nearly 15,000 members at a time, church officials say. That has forced Blake to hold four services every Sunday morning and a fifth at night to accommodate worshipers.

“We have people who have to stand in line for the services,” Blake said as he walked back from the new site to the existing church to deliver his fourth sermon of the day.

Each of Sunday’s four services began at the church at 3045 Crenshaw Blvd. and then the congregation praised their way down the street to the new site, now a plastics warehouse, and concluded the services in the outdoor parking lot.

“What we want to do is eliminate [the lines] by having a sanctuary [for] 5,000,” Blake said. “We average about 6,000 people every Sunday, so that means I’ll be down to two services,” once the new sanctuary is opened.

“People see us standing in line and may not want to come in,” said Holli Leonard, 34, who brought her daughter to the 10 a.m. service--the third of the day--and is glad to see that a new and bigger church will be built to attract more people to the church.

“I think it’s great,” said LauRay Bradley, 26, who joined the congregation one year ago. He said he sees the church’s education and social service programs “leading this community a little further than just religion.”

“This will be a symbol of success,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden, who attended Sunday’s services. The project will bring an economic stimulus to the Crenshaw area, he added.

So far, the church has raised $11 million in pledges, including the amounts from Johnson and Washington, but still needs at least $21 million more to build the first major phase of the new church, church officials said.

Sunday’s services kicked off an aggressive fund-raising effort. In his sermon, Blake compared the construction of the new church to King David’s quest to build a temple of gold and silver for God. “The work is great,” he read from Chronicles about King David’s quest. “For the palace is not for the man, but for the Lord God.”

The choir, dressed in tan and brown robes and accompanied by flag-twirlers, sang “Believe it, and it shall be done unto you,” in rousing gospel style.

Construction groundwork for the new sanctuary is set to begin today with the removal of asbestos from vacant factories that stand on the site of the new church, Blake said. Demolition will follow.

The new edifice, with two levels of underground parking, two above ground and the 5,000-person sanctuary on top, is scheduled to be completed within two years, Blake said.

The building will be made out of steel, glass and marble, ornamented with fountains and trees. “It will really express the beauty and majesty of the church,” Blake said in his sermon.

As Blake concluded prayers for the service against the backdrop of the vacant plastics factory, he told the congregation, “This is a place that God has given us.” He told each member to turn to another, shake hands and say, “It shall come to pass. It shall come to pass.”