How we do Church in LA

So we just wrapped up our Christmas play at Angelus Temple/the Dream Center. As I sat in the back and watched the last performance of it last night, I could not help but think that I am, no doubt, in the greatest place on earth. A couple who had lost everything and just had a baby was trying to survive had to pawn off the last thing they had left, the wifes wedding ring which the man saved literally for 3 years to be able to buy for 3,000 dollars. After loosing their home, they now live at the Dream Center, at the play last night, the church bought her a new wedding ring among other things they needed. Earlier that day they bought a new van for a woman with six kids that had no vehicle. The night before they took an engaged, broke couple and paid for their entire wedding and honeymoon. All of these families are currently living at the Dream Center, but that wasn't enough for Pastor Matthew, he wanted to see all of their dreams come true. After every production we give away hundreds and hundreds of presents to kids for free. Sinbad and Elijah Kelly were both in our Christmas play this year.

Next week, instead of having church at Angelus Temple, we are renting out the Galen Center where USC plays basketball and having a huge Christmas party for the whole city. Celebrities are coming out just to be apart, 20+ media outlets are broadcasting there. We are giving away 3,000 bikes and 1,000 scooters free to families... plus thousands of other presents.

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we gave away over a thousand turkeys to homeless or hurting families, the line was all the way down the street to get one. Every single day they serve thousands of hot meals and make every one of them available to anybody who will go to a chapel, free! A person could literally eat almost every single meal 7 days a week there for nothing if they had to.

Never before have I seen a place that does everything they possibly can for people that have absolutely no way of giving anything back. Its the only place that I have ever seen that is built around building other peoples dreams and making them come true, and being available to meet whatever need you may have, 24 hours a day. I am honored and blessed to be apart of the Church that never sleeps, to have been caught up in this vision of absolute selflessness, not even worried about the reward but only the cause... I have so much to learn from these amazing people.

So yeah, if you are looking for a place to volunteer some of your life, I would recommend the Dream Center. If you are looking for a cause to give to, I would recommend the Dream Center. It is changing lives every single day, and setting an example that I hope to see more churches across America start following.
Lets change the world with Love unconditionally.

Seasons

I was talking to my wife a few days ago about how for me this Christmas season hasn't really felt that much like Christmas... wondered if it was because we are in California where it doesn't snow and its never that cold, or if it was just about the busyness I am captured in at this moment, or what it is? For some reason the closest I can get to Christmas feeling is grabbing a Starbucks Carmel Hot Chocolate and walking around in the nighttime when its colder out, looking at Christmas trees, and going to the Americana where the whole entire outdoor mall is covered in Christmas lights and even has snow machines during the evenings... haha...

There are a handful of people that work super super hard during this season, so that the other 90 percent of the world can fully enjoy the Christmas season... Around here everything is Christmas, production, outreaches, everything we can do to make other peoples lives better during this season... making other peoples dreams come true. And though I do not have a direct role in the Christmas play we are putting on here I am directly effected by all the efforts to help people at the Dream Center this year, and I just wanted to say that as much as I Love this season, I don't mind giving up the "experience" that is the month of December, so that we can properly and effectively help others and tell people about Jesus. Of course, on Christmas Eve when I go home for the week, I am going to shut down the work mode, relax, and celebrate the season. But in the meantime, I would rather work hard on this end to ease the load of the people in the productions, and building these outreaches, so that other people can have a Christmas too. If not, I would not be doing what I am doing. The End, and Merry Christmas.