Source: Associated Press
DELAWARE, UNITED STATES, December 30, 2002: Evangelist Leroy Jenkins plans to move to Columbus, Ohio, as part of a real-estate deal in which a Hindu temple would be placed at the site of his current church in the state of Delaware. Jenkins said he wants to operate his church in a former hotel on Columbus’ east side, but that he eventually plans to buy property and build a cathedral. He announced the move, on Sunday during his church service at Healing Waters Cathedral. Tom Shelat, owner of the east side hotel, said that he is working out a deal with Jenkins to purchase the Healing Waters complex. In return, he would lease space at the hotel to Jenkins for his Sunday services. Shelat said the cathedral would be renamed the Y-D-Hindu Swaminarayan Temple. He said the Swaminarayan sect of Hinduism is 220 years old and has 3,000,000 practitioners worldwide. It stresses a vegetarian, nonsmoking lifestyle. Shelat also said the church has enough space to allow men and women to worship at the same time in separate rooms.