Gerry Stoltzfoos - Freedom Valley Worship Center

This Tuesday 1/19/10 we had Pastor Gerry Stoltzfoos from Freedom Valley Worship Center in our class to share with us. The thing that really impressed me about Pastor Gerry, was that despite the hurt and trials in his past, he is serving God. Another thing that I noticed, regarding these events of the past, is that many people would completely walk away from God if some of these things happened to them, but God's hand on pastor Gerry's life is so evident. It was really neat to hear how he was divinely taken from place to place in order to fulfill God's plan on his life. His journey into the ministry he has today was not typical, not what I would expect. Another sign of Gods grace and anointing is that Gerry raised a great family and his children are serving God. He pastors a fairly large church, yet he is still a very down to earth guy. His stories were encouraging and good for me to hear because although the events leading me into my ministry have been smooth so far, I know I will hit rough spots, and I will be encouraged to keep faith. Pastor Gerry's Ministry is different because his call is to reach people who have given up on church, tough call, but Gerry is obedient. When Pastor Gerry first told pastors and other leaders about his vision, he was shut down told he was crazy, laughed at, but he was faithful. Pastor Gerry is a great example of a servant in our culture.

Matthew Barnett and the LA Dream Center

I had heard of this ministry prior to class on 1/12/10 however I did not know much about it at all.
Matthew Barnett Moved to Los Angeles as a young adult in obedience to where God was leading him. He had grown up in a suburban church, wealthy and primarily white. Los Angeles was a big change for him, but he was ready to take the city for Jesus. Matthew and his team had a lot of struggles and trails at first. Their style of ministry for their entire first year ended up being mostly unsuccessful and they revamped their approach. The LA Dream Center is celebrating it's 15th birthday, and it truly has taken them 15 years to get to where they are today. This helped me to realize that developing a ministry, especially something new and unheard of takes a lot of work and a lot of time.
To get to the point where his ministry would grow, God took Matthew to a very humbling place. God actually led him to a park and used that scene as a vision to show him what his ministry would be. The people he saw there were hungry, lost, lonely, homeless, drug addicted, uneducated, naked, hurt, poor, dirty, and without Christ. God told Matthew to, "die to the dream of being a success and live to the dream of being a blessing." These were the people God had chosen Matthew to minister to. He "stopped building a society where the unsaved would come and started building a society that would go to the unsaved." Matthew made this comment about his church, "If you reach the people that nobody wants, God will give you the people that everybody wants." God told Matthew to start a 24/7 church, a church that is literally open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. He made this dream a reality by miraculously providing the funds to buy an unused hospital building. In this church, this dream center, they are meeting the needs of those people that he saw in the park . . . they are providing food, security, family, homes, rehabilitation, education, clothes, hope, jobs, and Jesus.
The main ministry that ended up being successful in meeting people where they are is, Adopt A Block. This ministry "meets peoples physical needs first." This provides opportunity for trust and friendship to be established. With a group of people "adopting" and sticking to ONE block, this allows relationships and follow through to happen. A foundational verse of the Dream Center is Nehemiah 2:10, A man came to seek after the welfare of the people.
His advice for people starting in ministry is, "Stick it out and put your roots down, dedicate yourself to the welfare of that area."
And my favorite advice,
"Use words only if you have to."