CALIFORNIA
Contra Costa Times

Rebecca Kimitch

POSTED: 01/18/2015

In March 2011, Danny Wooten stood in an old dialysis center on the corner of Garey Avenue and Grevillia Street in Pomona, and amid the 150 dialysis stations and old nursing area, he envisioned a church.

Moved by the voice of God, Wooten, 51, embarked upon a massive and costly renovation of the 13,000-square-foot building. Six months later, New Covenant Christian Fellowship Center, Church of God in Christ opened its doors, . And just beyond those doors, a giant portrait of Pastor Wooten was hung.

Now, barely three years later, the church’s founder is behind bars, accused of embezzling $6.4 million from the city of Pasadena, where he was employed as a management analyst in the Public Works Department.

And the church can’t seem to survive without him, or his money. New Covenant is behind in its rent and “members are…