I didn’t really know Michael Mansfield, late of Fayetteville NC. That is, not personally.
But it was hard not to know about him, about his beliefs, and his mission. He wasn’t quiet about them.
Mansfield had been a cocaine addict. In religion he found a way out of that, and around 2000 he opened a car wash on the edge of a tough area in Fayetteville to spread the word to others with similar problems.
But this was not a typical car wash.
Most of the employees had had hard times and criminal records. And the building was soon a landmark of religious folk art.
From the Fayetteville Observer:
The son of a slain Christian car wash owner says he plans to reopen the Eastern Boulevard business Monday and leave it exactly as his father would have wanted.
“There ain’t nothing changing but the owner,” said Matt Mansfield, the 28-year-old son of Michael Mansfield, who police say was beaten to death early Sunday. “I’ve got all my guys supporting me so I’m going to open full force. I know that’s what my dad wanted me to do.”
Mansfield said the building will keep the same signs, the same blaring music and the same employees at 1st Place Auto Wash & Detail Shop – more commonly known locally as the “Jesus Car Wash.”
These photos are from 2004. The array of signs has changed since then; but the message is the same, the visual expressions as bold. And the neighborhood is still tough.
Mansfield, who opened his business after finding God 17 years ago, was killed [on the night of September 5] in the parking lot of 301 Wingz [not far from the car wash]. Police say he was beaten by Hubert Underwood II, 37, of the 2900 block of Custer Avenue, and Steven Rosser, 26, of the 4100 block of Cedar Creek Road.
An arrest warrant said video surveillance and interviews revealed that Mansfield and Underwood got into an argument while in the restaurant. The argument spilled into the parking lot, where police say Mansfield was beaten to death. Underwood and Rosser are charged with first-degree murder.
Matt Mansfield and his brother were at the car wash Thursday afternoon getting a truck ready for their father’s wake later that day.
“It’s hard,” Matt Mansfield said. “I’m still trying to get through this.”
More
[A memorial service] was held during the previously scheduled time for the car wash’s backyard ministry program.
In the back of the Jesus car wash is a lectern facing a dozen wooden pews.
Michael Mansfield’s image at a memorial service.
Mansfield and C.J. Hammonds had preached together from the lectern to the homeless and needy in Fayetteville.
The pews served as a place for the homeless to eat. Daily, Hammonds and Mansfield provided free meals for the homeless at the backyard ministry.
More than 100 people attended the service, led by Hammonds, in the back of the Jesus car wash starting at 5 p.m.
Hammonds started the service by saying that she plans to conduct services scheduled by Mansfield as planned at the Jesus car wash this month.
“Until we learn differently, we’re still coming, having service, loving on people, providing food and being here,” Hammonds said.
The service was filled with testimonies on the power of forgiveness and song. At the end of the service, the homeless were fed and given water.
Hammonds said Mansfield’s funeral is still being planned.
Ryann Lambert, whose brother Nelson Mountjoy is general manager at the Jesus car wash, started a GoFundMe page to assist the Jesus car wash employees.
She said the futures of Mansfield’s employees are uncertain, as is the business.
“A lot of the guys who worked there can’t just go to Burger King to get jobs,” Lambert said. “They have felonies and misdemeanors.
One thought on “Life, Death & a Jesus Car Wash”