Our Los Angeles ministry has been shifting since I became City Director in July. I am excited about where we are as a local ministry and where God is leading us as we are on the cusp of the ending of yet another year. As we have been focusing in Empowering Urban Leaders, we have been seeing good fruit in various areas.
One of the areas of fruit was the Siafu Men’s Retreat. This year, we saw over 300 men in attendance, a majority of whom came through our partnerships with Serving California and Prison Fellowship. The highlight of the weekend was that we were able to ordain four of our local ministers and pastors. We will have a celebration with the ordained candidates and their respective families before the end of the year.
Over 100 students are occupying our classrooms everyday at Los Angeles Christian School. We were blessed to have a new 2nd grade teacher that became a part of our staff over the summer. Sara Jane Cruz brings a wealth of experience to our staff. She has taught domestically and internationally. We are glad that she is on staff and working with our students.
Our Teen Center is open daily, serving the teens in our community through our Kaleo programs. In addition, RenewLA, which is the non-profit portion of Sovereign Grace Church of Los Angeles, has been a huge blessing to our local ministry. They helped us develop a Performing Arts and Barista cohort program. We also had another cohort of teens participate in our Young Entrepreneurs program. In total, we had 21 teens complete all of those programs over the last couple of months.
These are just a few of the happenings in Los Angeles! Our daily goal is to empower the urban leaders in our community. I am always impressed with how and when God moves to transform lives. I see it in moments scattered throughout our ministries. A moment when a man is weeping with joy because his calling from God has been ordained by man. A moment when a parent tells you that the Christian School you oversee has made an impact on their child’s life. A moment when a Teen Center alumnus becomes a church intern and develops his own t-shirt brand. These moments are the things that make serving the Lord the greatest experience! Keep us in your prayers as God moves us to the next level in empowering local, urban, indigenous leaders!
