This story is part of AL.com’s series “22 Alabamians who made a difference in 2022,” highlighting people who have made our state a better place to live this year. Stories in this series will publish each weekday during December. Find all stories in the series as they publish here, and read about the Alabamians who made a difference in 2021 by clicking here.

At the Faith Chapel Care Center in downtown Birmingham, the homeless can get a shower and have their laundry done. It provides an array of other support to get them on their feet.

The center was the idea of the Rev. Michael D. Moore, founder of Faith Chapel Christian Center. Moore, 68, steps down as senior pastor of Faith Chapel in Wylam on Jan. 1, 2023, to focus on his role as CEO of Mike Moore Ministries.

He’s leaving behind an impressive legacy at Faith Chapel.

Under Moore, Faith Chapel Christian Center in Wylam, one of Birmingham’s largest predominantly Black churches, has built a tradition of outreach to the community.

Moore chose his home neighborhood of Wylam as the location to build the church that has led an effort to revitalize the community, but he also wanted to reach out downtown and has been working with downtown shelters to address homeless issues.

“The Lord told him we needed to do more, to collaborate and work to eradicate homelessness,” said long-time church staff member Debra Blaylock, a former chief of staff and now executive director of the Next Steps department at Faith Chapel.

In 2017, the Faith Chapel Care Center opened on Second Avenue North near Interstate 65, offering relief and assistance to the homeless community.

“It’s a day center where the homeless can come and they can take showers, we can do their laundry,” Blaylock said.

Social workers counsel the homeless to help them find housing and pay delinquent utility bills. “We try to remove those stumbling blocks,” she said.

In October, Faith Chapel Care Center began a weekly support group led by a mental health professional. “Many of them have mental challenges,” Blaylock said. “They won’t go for help.”

Through the years, Moore led an effort to give Wylam something to be proud of, that served their needs.

Under Moore, the church built a $15 million, 3,000-seat sanctuary under a dome in 2000. It’s known as the Word Dome. In 2007, the 6,000-member church inflated the roof on the last of six smaller domes built during a $26 million second phase of construction on the 137-acre campus near the intersection of Minor Parkway and Alabama Highway 269. Each of the domes was built by inflating giant balloons, then spraying them with concrete for a hard shell roof. The smaller domes now form a connecting complex of activity buildings that house a 12-lane bowling alley, café, banquet hall, basketball court, fitness center and playground.

Tuscany Lanes, with streetlamps and Tuscan-style arches, is open to the public for bowling on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 5 to 8 p.m.

Moore, who grew up within walking distance of the church campus, wanted to give his old neighborhood hope.

The church recreation building called the Bridge was meant to “bridge people from the world to the kingdom,” Moore said.

It met the need for family entertainment in the western part of Birmingham, he said. “People may not want to come to a church, but they’ll come to a bowling alley,” Moore said. “People have needs other than spiritual needs. There’s a need for safe, clean, uplifting, family-oriented entertainment.”

Moore is turning over church leadership duties to his son, Michael Kenneth Moore, who has an accounting degree and a master’s degree in business administration, and was ordained as lead pastor earlier this month.

“I never talked to him about being a preacher,” Moore said. “I wanted God to call him.”