ELYRIA — With $10 in his hand and his wife by his side, Pastor James Knight is stepping out on faith in his pursuit to purchase shuttered Roosevelt Elementary for a mere $100.

Located less than two miles from the House of Healing, a non-denominational, multicultural church Pastors James and Keymasha Knight started in a storefront in downtown Elyria. Currently the church is in the old Holy Cross Catholic Church on West Avenue, and Roosevelt is a closed elementary school owned by Elyria Schools.

It is 88 years old and the Ohio School Facilities Commission has assessed it as having many problems.

The ventilation system in the building is non-existent. The building’s fire alarm system does not meet national standards. There is no sprinkler system in the building.

But in the eyes of James and Keymasha Knight, the building is perfect. There is plenty of classroom space, a playground and parking. It sits on seven acres of land on West River Road South.

“We could do so much with a building like this,” said James Knight, an Oberlin College graduate who said he felt led by God to stay in Elyria and open a church instead of returning to Chicago, his hometown. “We want a community center. We want a place where the people in the neighborhood can go for GED classes, recreation and after-school programs. It may seem impossible to some people, but we think anything is possible when God is involved.”

With that mindset, the Knights went to the Elyria Schools Administration Building on Thursday morning to attend the public auction of four closed school buildings — joined by builders and real estate developers with deeper pockets.

School Attorney John Keyes-Walker began the auction at 10 a.m. He laid out the details of the auction and the sale, stressing to the room of about a dozen potential buyers that each building would be sold as is with no warranties. Each prospective buyer had to be ready to hand over 10 percent of the winning bid and sign a purchase agreement before leaving the room, he said.

The Elyria school board has the final say over the deal.

None of those details made the Knights think twice.

Eastgate Elementary, at 336 S. Logan Ave., was on the block first. The only bidder was Dale Yost, owner of Highland Development Co. His winning bid was $50,000.

Edison Elementary, at 1514 Lake Ave., was auctioned off next but had no takers. For now, it remains in the district’s property inventory.

Erie Elementary was the hottest contender. Two bidders briefly went back and forth until Susan and Hal LaPine, real estate investors from Gates Mills, won with a top bid of $120,000.

“It’s in a great location near Lorain County Community College, and even though we don’t have any plans for it yet, it’s still a good buy if we can get it,” LaPine said.

The Knights didn’t move or say a word when Keyes-Walker then announced Roosevelt would be the last building up for auction.

“Do I have an opening bid?” he said.

For several moments, the room fell silent. Then, James Knight spoke.

“One hundred dollars,” he said. “One hundred dollars.”

“We are a young church. We are growing very fast, but we don’t have much of a building fund,” he said. “We have been praying for an opportunity, and we will keep praying until we get an answer.”

This is not the first time the Knights have turned to prayer to answer a call — they did so when they moved their church from a rented storefront in Elyria, where they had 15 members. That was in 2009, when James Knight said he heard the Diocese of Cleveland was closing Holy Cross church on West Avenue.

“We moved totally on faith,” he said. “We had no building fund at that point.”

Prayer, combined with a video that was circulated on the Internet asking for help to buy the site, eventually led to the Knights being able to buy Holy Cross with a 50-percent down payment on the $200,000 purchase of the church, rectory, parking lot and land across 14th Street.

House of Healing opened in December.

Now, the Knights are hoping to recreate that miracle with Roosevelt.

“The district doesn’t want or need the building, so we are hoping they see our plans for the community as something they want to support by giving us this building for $100,” Keymasha Knight said. “The south side of Elyria needs this.”

School board members will vote on the purchase agreements of each building at their next board meeting set for 7 p.m. Sept. 8.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

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