It was an unpleasant announcement for Pastor Bertrand Crabbe to make to his congregation at True North Community Church in Port Jefferson Station. The group had outgrown its home on Terryville Road and would soon have to take up a nomadic existence for the foreseeable future -- holding services out of rented ballrooms or school gyms.
"Unless God drops a million on us, we're going to have to rent a facility somewhere," he recalled joking from the pulpit Wednesday.
Weeks later, an anonymous member donated the entire jackpot prize of a Ba-Da Bling scratch-off lottery ticket, worth $3 million, the New York Lottery announced Wednesday at Eldorado Southern Grille in Port Jefferson Station. The church will receive $150,000 a year, minus taxes, for 20 years. Because True North, a nondenominational Christian church with 650 members, is a nonprofit, the church can file for refund claims for a portion or...