Construction firm says church failed to pay fees for new Christian high school

An Arnold construction company says a St. Louis County church shorted the firm thousands of dollars in fees related to a new $1.4 million high school on Smizer Station Road in Fenton called Living Faith Christian Academy.

Commercial Source LLC provided construction services and materials to Southwest Christian Church for its new school and is owed $127,266, according to a mechanic's lien filed in St. Louis County Court. The debt was owed six months prior to the January filing.

Jason Courtney, manager of Commercial Source, declined to comment because the dispute is in mediation.

Loren Copp, pastor of Southwest Christian, also guarded his comments.

"There is a lot more to it than that right there," Copp said of the lien. "I would be happy to give you my side of the story," once mediation is over.

Last July, Copp was featured in a front-page story in the Post-Dispatch that laid out a history of financial struggles, including bankruptcy, unpaid bills and allegations of deception and poor management.

Jack Horas, an attorney for Southwest Christian Church, said Commercial Source saddled the church with $300,000 in cost overruns that weren't allowed in the contract. "The bottom line is that this has nothing to do with Loren Copp, it has to do with whether or not Commercial Source breached its contract with the church," Horas said of the recent lien.

Copp formerly worked as a preacher around Benton, Ill., and was a builder in Indiana and Illinois before he moved to St. Louis in 2003. His financial woes primarily stemmed from construction projects he was accused of not finishing. In 2005, a judge approved a negotiated settlement of $203,400 to satisfy a suit brought against Copp by the Illinois attorney general, a sum that was said to be a portion of what was owed.

In addition to pastor, Copp is president of Ma-Ji-Ryu Christian Karate Association, which teaches martial arts. The nonprofit is the governing organization of the new high school and a pre-kindergarten to eighth-grade school in south St. Louis that Southwest Christian Church is supporting. The private schools also charge tuition.

According to court records filed in January, Ma-Ji-Ryu owes the Missouri Department of Revenue $450. Copp said Tuesday that he didn't know about the debt. "If I found out that that's the case, my organization will be sending in the 450 bucks," he said.

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Construction firm says church failed to pay fees for new Christian high school