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This pastor led his congregation to do what others said couldn't be done. Now Jacksonville's Westside is revitalized, and his church is reenergized by Vaughn McLaughlin's message of economic empowerment.

If I were king of the foreeeeeeeesst."

Vaughn McLaughlin's impersonation of the Cowardly Lion is dead on. And when he suddenly breaks into it in the middle of conversation, it's unexpected. You don't know whether to laugh or sing along.

"Not queen! Not duke! Not prince!"

McLaughlin is king of all he surveys: a congregation of 3,000, a Christian academy of 650 students, a mini-mall of shops operated by the church and some of its members, an incubator that helps fledgling entrepreneurs start their own businesses. But it wasn't always this way.

Jacksonville, Florida's Westside was a thriving commercial hub until white flight sent residents scrambling for the outer suburbs. By the time McLaughlin's fledgling congregation located there in 1991, there was almost no trade. The Normandy Mall had closed, and most restaurants and shops on the main drag were shuttered. The old Volkswagen dealership sat vacant 13 years before the church bought it and converted the repair shop into a sanctuary.

Today the area is busy again. The newly paved streets are lined with all the major fast food chains, and a national pharmacy built a new store on the corner. Wal-Mart and Home Depot moved in, and another hardware giant will open an outlet this summer.

And the church has now purchased the 400,000-square-foot Normandy Mall, once advertised at $12 million, for $4 million. The church, The Potter's House Christian Fellowship, is renovating it as a new church headquarters and retail center. The Potter's House will leave its current properties a few blocks down the street for the academy.

Many in Jacksonville credit the economic revival on the Westside to the presence of the Potter's House and the success of its businesses. McLaughlin has been embraced by Jacksonville. He co-chaired the 2001 Jacksonville Billy Graham Crusade.

Jacksonville's political leaders regularly appear at The Potter's House, seeking this pastor's counsel and support. He has twice been invited to the White House to offer advice on President Bush's faith-based initiative for social ministries. He returns in May for a conference on prison ministry. The Potter's House teams with Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship at several north Florida facilities. "I'm gonna tell the president what these men need is housing and job training when they get out—so they don't go back to drugs and crime and jail." The ministry's maintenance chief is a former inmate whom a church elder led to Christ while the man was incarcerated.

The church has two dozen ministries, many of which help members realize their dreams of better jobs and better lifestyles. McLaughlin preaches economic empowerment, but not a prosperity gospel ("blab-it-and-grab-it," as he calls it). Salvation of the soul will lead to a changed life, he says.

But all that McLaughlin and his congregation have accomplished they've done without government money. "We have what we have by the grace of God and the sweat of our brow."

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