Why Los Angeles?

As I embark on full-time missions work in Los Angeles many may ask why does LA need missionaries? When we use the word missionary we often think of someone who is sent to a far away nation instead of our own backyard. For the past six years I have lived, worked, and studied in the greater Los Angeles area. For the past year I have lived in Los Angeles itself and I can tell you that LA needs a move of God as much as any other place on earth.

During the past year I have done door to door sales here in LA, before that in Orange County. I have worked in the hills of Hollywood, I have walked the streets of Compton, I have visited almost every kind of demographic that you can imagine. I have talked to grandmothers who saw their children get shot simply because they were standing on a sidewalk at the wrong time. I have made friends with those who grew up in the inner-city where waking up each morning meant you not knowing if you were going to live another day. I have heard the stories of those who made it out of those areas and those who still live it each day.

I have seen the homeless line the streets. I have over the past couple of months gotten to talk to some of them. The former car mechanic who now has to beg or barter for a meal. The children who have no one but the others in their little band of outcasts. The musician who came out here for a better life.

I have seen the prostitutes: Those who stand on a street corner selling their bodies to whoever will stop by. The woman in a luxury condo on the westside who thought I was her John. Then there are the ones who are trafficked and held against their will. Then again, all sex workers are held against their will, the enemy has enslaved them. Some are held by pimps, others by a drug habit, and others just can't imagine any other life.

I have met the ones who the world views as successful. Businessmen, actors, models, musicians. They are just as lonely and have just as much pain as the drug addict stuck in the inner city. They just look better to the outsider. But they need a touch from God just as much as anyone else. Los Angeles needs a touch from God.

Los Angeles has seen some of the greatest moves of God birthed from this place. The Azusa Street revival gave birth to the Pentecostal movement of the 20th century. Billy Graham had one of his first evangelistic crusades in the city. The 20th century missions movement and the idea of reaching the last unreached peoples were very much birthed out of the Los Angeles area. The Jesus People movement and the Charismatic Renewal both came out of Orange County which is right next to Los Angeles. Los Angeles is ready for the next great move of God. LA is key to God's plan for the nations.

The world looks at Los Angeles. It is a beacon of light to the world. Sadly, it is not a true light but a false light. The enemy has clothed himself in the glitz and glam of Hollywood and used it to promote immorality and perversion. God wishes to redeem it and for Hollywood to live out its destiny as a shining city upon a hill to reveal truth throughout the earth. 

There is a saying in politics that as California goes- so goes the nation. I say that as Hollywood goes- so goes the world. Can we transform a nation by transforming a city? I believe that the transformation and awakening of Los Angeles is one of God's great desires. He has brought people, from every nation on earth, to Los Angeles so that every nation may be touched when revival comes. 

I write this so that you will pray with me for Los Angeles. Pray that God will raise up the workers for the harvest is plentiful (Luke 10:2). And if the Lord wills consider partnering with me in prayer and finances. You can email me at the link on my profile.