Category: Uncategorized

Wow today was spent on Skid Row LA.
To imagine that in the streets of Los Angeles County are living over 40,000 homeless souls; over 25,000 of these live on Skid Row.
Skid Row is nestled in amongst several blocks of the downtown wholesale district of LA. Wholesale florists, fishmongers, shoe stores, and industrial supply wharehouses sit on streets stained with human urine; the odor of which takes your breath away.
As you walk amongst these helpless souls your mind wonders to visions of Jesus walking through the streets of old Jerusalem, where the leprous, the infirmed, the starving would sit in the roadways and at the gates. Our Lord would pass through these groups and heal them and speak words of life into them, so that is what we did on the streets of Los Angeles. We represented our Lord well. On this day we fed over 300 people and had the opportunity to pray with many.
As we walked past sleeping bodies anesthetized with all manner of alcohol and drug we did see nuggets of gold in the form of special people; people with talent and desire, not wanting the lifestyle they are forced to live. One such man was a gifted artist whom we met outside of a shelter. He was drawing with a Bic pen and colored pencils but his work showed a skill honed over many years. We introduced ourselves and had a lovey conversation about life and God. Arthur Richardson has been living on the streets for years moving from shelter to shelter. He’s done nothing wrong but these are the cards he has been dealt. We asked if we could pray with him and he asked us to pray for work, a home, and a new pair of size 13 shoes. He said he knows God and wakes up every morning with a song to God in his heart. What a divine appointment. As we left Arthur that day we couldn’t help with two of his requests, however we did leave him with two new pairs of shoes thanks to the kind donations to the Dream Center Clothes Closet.
Another meeting was with a young man named Robert. We ran quite literally into him on the street outside The Midnight Mission from where he was just kicked out because he succumbed to the desires of heroin addiction and was high. He begged for help, describing his battle very vividly. He said that when he was desiring heroin it was as if a large opposing “devil ” would show up and oppress him into shooting up, and as soon as he did it would turn away almost laughingly and leave him to suffer the affects alone. We took Robert with us back to the Dream Center and he has been given entrance into their year long discipleship and recovery program, which by the way has had no openings recently. Another Divine Appointment.
Jeremiah 22:16
“judge the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this what it means to know me declares the Lord”

Day Number 2 in LA..
We were blessed this morning with the opportunity to do 2 tasks ; 5 of us in the kitchen, and Guy and myself in the marketing and promotions office. In the kitchen they were given the opportunity to see how the meal supplies and ingredients are supplied and stored, then prepared for 3 meal services. Amazing fact: dinner alone serves over 450 meals.
Guy and myself had the opportunity to call 115 donors who had recently donated to a campaign to remodel a floor of the building to house single moms. What an awesome opportunity to pray with these folks and to share gratitude for helping the needy.
This afternoon we went to 2 neighborhoods with the food truck and distributed food to over 275 people.
The highlight of my day was an image that we captured on film. A homeless man caught our eye while we sat at a traffic light under a bridge. He had all of his things stacked nicely in his shopping carts and he was sweeping up his entire area under the bridge to make it tidy. The image stuck in our minds all afternoon and this evening we brought him and his friend dinner. Now that was a blessing to be able to bless a man who shows such stewardship with the little that he has.
Amazing Day!

Today we began our first official day of serving here at LA Dream Center and the day began at 6:00 for breakfast. We then had the opportunity of doing the bedding and towel laundry for the Short Term Missions Dept. For this we piled ourselves and the laundry into our van and drove to the laundromat where we spent a couple hours completing the task. We turned it into a great opportunity to share personal stories with each other and create a nice building moment .
After lunch we got together with the kids ministry here and went out to two different “project” communities where we had the blessing of spending 3 hours playing football and sharing a Bible lesson about Gods creation of each one of them in His image . It was awesome to watch Georgia, the young intern who led the outreach, as she would look right into each of their sweet faces and tell them how special each one of them were to God who made them. After the lesson there was a nice prayer, some candy and then off to the next location.
We truly are blessed to be able to share in this ministry and to continue to gain insight on our own ministry.
We are blessed …

The “how-to” structure and strategy behind leading your church through a 21 day fast

I was privileged to have been given the opportunity to speak to our Acme Children’s Program during the first week of December and I can say that it was an honor to be able to share a message on a subject that is dear to my heart. The Month of December’s theme was about giving to others and helping the less fortunate and I was slated to speak on our outreach ministry called Adopt A Block.

As I was sitting in the auditorium of Willow Creek Community Church this past Sunday I was reminded why we as Christians cannot just “sit” and warm a pew. I listened as Dr Bill Hybels recounted a story from the past; you see this past weekend marked the 36th anniversary of Willow Creek and they were reflecting on the lives changed through those years. As he recounted this particular story he was evidently moved emotionally as if it had just happened. As he wiped away tears from his eyes he told the story of two young boys who were fighting in an airport waiting area on a trip early in his ministry. One youth was around 9 years of age and the other was around 7. He was reading his paper when the fight broke out and as the nine year old was beating the younger child he looked around to see where the parents might be. Seeing no one he stepped in just as the older boy grabbed the younger boy who was now on the concrete floor. The boy began to pound the younger ones head into the floor with no restraint, it was at this point that Dr Hybels reached the boys and pulled the older one off and to the side, receiving some hits of his own for doing so. At this moment an airline employee took over so that Dr Bill could catch his flight. While sitting on his flight he began to ask the Lord why he had to witness that, because as it happens Dr Bill has an extreme intolerance to violence.. It was at this moment that the Lord gave him a phrase that to this day it is quoted around the world within the Christian realm..”The local church is the hope of the world”.As I sat there listening to this man of God speak with the same emotion and conviction after 36 years it brought my thoughts to our own ministry. We reach out every day to the hurting, needy, broken, and destitute people of our community. We see lots of “help” for these people; government programs, assistance programs, food programs. This help is so needed, however it doesn’t fix the problems. It would be like taking a pain killer for an abscessed tooth but never doing anything to fix the root problem; the abscess. We pray that we can be used of God to bridge that gap. To be able to come alongside the workers and get to the root of the problem. These issues are many times generational damages that have never been fixed. Through the Grace of our Lord we know that these special broken souls can find a permanent solution; a “real fix”.