Our friends at Enoch Magazine moved to skid row a year ago. They wanted to help the homeless, they started making videos…some of them still live a mission down there. Here is a video about the day they met CEO Andy Bales at the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles.
Often times we move to a new place in hopes our situation will change for the better. It gives us a chance to walk away from the things that weigh us down and enter into new opportunities and relationships that will lift our spirits. Sometimes we walk away worse off, unchanged, or if we’re fortunate like our friend, Warren, we end up better than when we started the journey.
My name is Warren Yip and I was born and raised in San Francisco. I grew up going to a Catholic middle school and Christian church every Sunday. My sister was baptized at an early age and I did not understand why. I recited the Lord’s Prayer daily at school but never once broke the words down to understand what it means. Most of the time I was slurring over my words, sometimes not even completing the prayer. After middle school, I went through a phase of Buddhism then eventually stuck between the two religions. I went on through college and my late 20s not thinking about both at all.
A couple years ago, I encountered God again. I was going through tough times in my life with finance, relationship, and career. I started to attend fellowship, pray, and focused on starting up my journey to the Lord again. Someone had said, ‘God loves you and has a plan for you.” That verse stuck with me for a long time and I slowly started to see signs of miracles. It was still difficult for me as I was still trying to understand why my life was taking this drastic turn.
I decided to relocate to Los Angeles about a year ago with no job and no place to live….[click “Read More” below to continue]
It was one of those situations where I knew everything was going to work out on its own. Luckily, with the support of my friends and family, it did. Leaving San Francisco was not easy because it was a place full of happy but at times painful memories for me. I decided it was time to make a move and I never looked back. At first, LA to me was the same as it was for a lot people. Big dreams, parties every weekend, and fake friends. But I did not want to have any of that. My main purpose was to work and to find my next destination in life.
As I sat in the Plan C office a month later for work, I ran into Jaeson Ma again. I met him in San Jose a couple months prior for an event. He was leaving the conference room and I kindly asked him to come back before he leaves. He took one step out, came back in and asked me out of nowhere if I had a bible study that I go to. It took me a second to answer him because I was in shock. I was going to ask him the same question when he came back in. It was almost like he read my mind. A couple days later, I was at GBS Sunday where it all started for me.
GBS Sunday was my go to bible study for a couple months then I switched to Tuesday prayer meetings. Tuesdays was not as popular then and I had more one on one time with the handful of people that were there. I met countless wonderful and helpful people through GBS. I was getting excited because I knew I was getting closer to God and also having all my questions answered.
Through GBS, I heard about LTG. I asked my wonderful sister Christina Chou about it and she connected me with Ed Huang. That was the turning point of my life in LA and my ticket to getting closer to the Lord. Ed and I met once a week outside of GBS and I would have plenty of questions for him. Slowly he asked about getting baptized and slowly I was thinking about it. For a couple weeks, I kept telling him that I was still missing something before I felt complete for baptism.
One night at Tuesday prayer meeting, I was telling Daniel Ra about my story and he said that I was there already. That I was not missing anything else and I was complete and ready for baptism as long as I believed Jesus Christ is my Savior. And I do. The following week on August 3, 2010, I was baptized by Ed at Jaeson’s house. Most of the people that I wanted to be there happened to show up that night and it was epic. I have not felt so much love in awhile and it has not stopped.
As I leave the City of Angels to get ready for Asia, I feel spiritually aligned. My head is clear, faith in position, and LOVE is strong for God. I believe God is miraculous and only HE can perform miracles. I want to take this time to thank everyone in LA, PCA, and GBS who made my year memorable, full of happiness, and special thanks the ones who took time out to listen to my heart. If there is one thing I take away from this experience, it is LOVE. LOVE yourself, LOVE all, and LOVE God.
Amen…
Where are you in your journey of transformation? How can we pray for you?
(All Photos Credit: Jon Lee)
Do you remember the night your life changed? Celine was one of the eight that decided to get baptized on the spot on Sunday night at Kingdom Come III. She shares her journey of faith with us, why she made the decision, and how experiencing God’s love for her set her free.
The very first thing God opened my eyes to when I accepted Christ in January 2010, was that there is NO WAY we can ever possibly know God as much as He knows us… only because God is so big that our understanding of who He is… is just a speckle of who He truly is. Therefore if we really want to know who He is, we NEED to love others and get to know others. Through loving and really taking the time to listen to other people’s stories we come a little bit closer to getting to know God more. Through their stories we can see how God works and how God loves outside of just our lives.
And ever since then… I’ve felt convicted to share my story. I’m almost 21 and the things I’ve experienced still blows my mind. But I believe that my experiences and my stories can be an encouragement for so many people. Especially to young girls, the broken hearted, and to those that are lost. So I’ve taken steps towards putting together a book of all my experiences but before last Sunday I literally felt tied down.
I began doubting myself and my ability to reach out to others. I felt as if I was totally the wrong person to be writing this book. Even though I still felt God tugging at my heart to push on I decided to ignore it because it was too difficult to make sense of why He wanted me… I told myself that I would give everything to God if at Kingdom Come I would be able to make sense of what He wants from me
Throughout the night at Club Tatou, God spoke to me…[Click “Read More” below: Continue Celine’s Testimony / More Pics from KC3]
Last night, God rocked the house at Kingdom Come III. Club Tatou in Downtown LA was packed full to capacity, with almost a thousand people worshipping together as one voice. Hearts were healed, lives were changed, and many stood up bravely to accept Jesus and receive deliverance! God’s love was overflowing.
[click “Read More” below: more pictures, spontaneous baptisms, blog reports]
Is faith about more than just ceremonies? Why do we commemorate certain traditions? What do they truly stand for? Our friend Roberta shares a story of her personal journey from fear to grace.
On Sunday, March 20, 2010, I attended my regular GBS Bible study in Downtown Los Angeles. That night, the group leaders announced that we were doing something special at the end of the night. Toward the end of prayer, I opened my eyes to see Dan, one of the leaders, bringing out some empty cups and bread. At that point, I knew that they intended on doing ‘communion.’
When the time came for them to announce what was planned for the night, I immediately felt compelled to speak up due to harsh past experiences with the
concept of ‘communion,’ but when the leaders spoke about it, the introduction they gave for it made me choose to hold my tongue. They explained that communion was about God’s love for us and remembering his compassion and grace for us. The way they spoke made me decide to reject every negative feeling I had, and to act only on the good that they expressed, and so when the time came I got up and got my share.
I had negative feelings about communion because of past experiences at churches that I attended and sermons that were given, where I had felt as if, sometimes, taking communion could be a great sin. They put emphasis on ‘how’ we prayed about it and if it was not the right thing that we should simply NOT do it at all. There was a lot of preaching done on ‘fear’ when it pertained to communion. So, even as I had taken part in communion at GBS, these were still thoughts and feelings that I wished to clarify…[click “Read More” below to continue]
A few weeks ago at our house church’s prayer meeting, a girl named R came for prayer because she had a tumor growing on her ovaries. I remember as we asked her to sit in the center of the room for us to pray over her, she had this really uncomfortable look on her face, as if she was saying “yeah I’m not sure this is actually going to do anything, but I guess I’ll give it a shot.” She didn’t seem to like talking about herself, but started to share how this wasn’t the first time she had a tumor on her ovaries, and that she had had tumors removed from that area before, and all the surgeries had left her with a lot of scar tissue inside. Now that the tumor had grown back again, she didn’t know what to do. She said she didn’t really know what to ask God for, but just wanted us to pray for her and this latest tumor.
Our Pastor Jaeson started asking her more questions to prepare to lead her, and the 30 or 40 of us there, in a prayer for her healing. Jaeson asked for a volunteer to pray for R, and my friend Sarah W. volunteered to pray for her. As Jaeson and Sarah W. were beginning to minister to her, I felt the Holy Spirit move me to say something to R, in front of the entire group. No I really shouldn’t, I thought, reasoning with myself. I’m not the leader here. Jaeson and Sarah W. have all the experience with healing prayer. Besides, I had just come in to the prayer meeting late about 30 minutes before this, and had interrupted everyone because I decided to ride my bike in, and had to literally lift it up over all the people in the room. Accept your place, Dan, I remember telling myself. Don’t think the world revolves around you and what you want to say.
But I kept feeling that familiar nagging, like God wanted me to speak up. Recently, I had gotten better at discerning God’s voice, particularly when it comes to prayer for other people. Through all that God had been showing me, my new motto had become if God asks me to do something, do it. So despite all the mental blockage I had in my mind, I decided to say what God had put on my heart for R…[click “Read More” below to continue]
“Don’t pidgen-hole me into this Asian-American sterotype of a naive student coming in here just wanting research to finish my Master’s paper.”
My boss stared at me, both flabbergasted and insulted. She replies back with, “I would be very careful of the way you word things around here.”
For several months, I have been working part time at a non-profit community development center in South Los Angeles, called “X” (name not mentioned to ensure privacy) to research for my Master’s paper, along with fulfilling the mission of the center. The organization seeks to leverage the collective voice of LAUSD parents and their children, by providing parenting/empowerment classes, making opportunities for civil engagement, and given individual attention to each family (case by case). My role at the center is to be a “parent counselor / case mananger” where I assess each parent’s level of involvement in their children’s lives with regards to educational success.
For the few months I have been there, I was given no translator till the 3rd week into the parent empowerment academy classes, given only a list of obscure objectives, and the green light to implement a pilot case management follow up program. Now, by pilot, I mean, I AM SUPPOSED TO CREATE AND EXECUTE the program. I am basically a counselor working with parents one-on-one to ensure that their children don’t end up dropping out of school now or in the future. Mind you, I’ve never been a case manager, let alone worked in South Los Angeles. I knew there was a atmosphere change when all the staff members continuously warned me not to walk to my car alone in the daytime (even if it’s 30 feet away). This area “South Central” was not as bad as the rappers claim it to be. Sure, it’s far from poshy West LA, but again, it’s not as ghetto glamorous.
Do you ever feel like you were meant to meet someone for some reason? Maybe you both have something in your past that’s the same, or they have a unique way they can help you or a story that’s meant to encourage you, or they somehow speak to you directly to your heart. This is the nature of our God - Love. And he shows it through His people, sent to you with a purpose and mission for your life. He desperately wants to reach you with His love, and he’ll never stop trying to help you and sending you “reinforcements.” Our friend Dave shares a story about God working in this way.
I attend a Bible study on Sunday nights called GBS. During the Bible study, we break up into smaller groups where we have a chance to share with one another and pray for each other. One night in particular, Dan and I paired with a newcomer named Grace. And… it was pretty amazing! The Holy Spirit was definitely there among us, even though we had never met her before.
Even though she was more or less a stranger, the three of us had a chance to really open our hearts with a sense of vulnerability and compassion. It was one of those moments where if we said our deepest darkest secrets, it would be ok. Everything would be ok. No one felt churchy. Everything just clicked because we felt like we weren’t alone in our spiritual walks. And I feel like those are moments I definitely cherish and friendships I want to keep.
When we started sharing with one another, the Holy Spirit was definitely convicting Dan and I for Grace. Grace was sharing about how there was so much she wanted to do for God, but she felt like she was always disappointing Him and not living life with the purpose she was meant for. I started to get the sense that there was something about her name that had a special meaning for her, and I shared that with her. At the same time, Dan said “I’m not sure if this means anything to you, but I felt like God wanted me to say that your name is Grace, and you give grace to other people, but you need to give grace to yourself before you’ll be able to do all those things for Him that you’re supposed to do.”
We were shocked at what happened next…[click “Read More” below to continue]
