The Reverend’s architectural assembly continues to evolve and mutate; it will probably never truly be finished. The octogenarian Dennis’s physical strength is diminishing, his eyesight is failing, and his hearing is all but gone. And there are other obstacles. As Reported in the Clarion-Ledger, a Jackson, Mississippi, newspaper,
He considers the store a work-in-progress, but modern building codes have put a kink in his plans. After the neighborhood around Margaret’s Grocery was annexed three years ago, Vicksburg officials refused to issue Dennis a permit so he could finish a shaky-looking, two-story tower on the store’s north end.
“I want to make an Upper Room so sinners from Jackson can come over here and pray,” Dennis said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen now. I still want to build it. I answer to God, not the city.”
Vicksburg code inspector Ed Partridge said he couldn’t issue a permit because Dennis did not submit building plans. Dennis must prove his prayer tower would be safe to occupy.
“Rev. Dennis told me God told him to build a monument, and that what he’s doing” Partridge said. “I don’t know about that. I really think God would have told him to get some plans if he wants to make one.”
