One of my most satisfying duties in my role with The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI) is to observe ministers in training serving in local churches. On a recent Sunday morning, I visited Ezra at Full Gospel Baptist Church in South Central L.A, where he attended as a child.
The first part of Ezra’s story is sadly typical of many from his neighborhood. Raised in a home with an absentee father and a working mother, he found himself lured into gang life as a teen and arrested for drug trafficking as a young adult. In Men’s Central Jail in downtown L.A., an older inmate reached out to Ezra, giving him his Bible and encouraging him to find himself in the Scriptures. That was the beginning of his discovery in God’s Word of his life’s purpose. While serving out his time, he read the Scriptures constantly, though he admits there was much he did not understand.
Before he was released from jail, Ezra attended a re-entry workshop led by one of World Impact’s ministry partners who shared TUMI and its mission to train men and women for ministry. Once released, he contacted me to enroll in classes here at our downtown office. During his interview I asked, as I always do, “Do you have a home church and what are you doing to serve there?” Ezra explained that he had returned to Full Gospel Baptist and that he had offered to serve the pastor in any way he could. Within the year he was attending both our weekly classes and was serving as a volunteer on the ministry staff of his church. Ezra shared his experience with his congregation this way: “TUMI is great for people like me who have made mistakes but who now want to help others find Christ. Not only do I grow stronger in the Word, but I get to bring others along with me!” Soon after I visited the church and saw Ezra in action, his senior pastor contacted me to ask how his church can launch its own “TUMI seminary” to equip church leaders as well as returning citizens like him. Please pray for Ezra’s continued faithfulness and equipping for full-time ministry!