er achieve greatly." John Haggai said this: "Attempt something so impossible, that unless God is in it, it's doomed to failure." Planting a church, is both thrilling and scary at the same time. According to an article written by Bob Thune, 80% of church plants fail. I had to remind myself, that everything in my ministerial journey has been by faith. In other words, I had no experience but had to start somewhere. I had never been a Youth Pastor before, but by God's grace I took a chance. I had never been a full-time Missionary abroad before, but by God's grace I took a chance. I had never been an Assistant Pastor before, but by God's grace I took a chance. I have never in my life or ministry planted a church before, but now by God's grace I am taking a chance. Hebrews 13:5b: "For He Himself has said: 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" I'm counting on it...Friday December 2nd, was my first official day serving as a Chaplain at Marina Del Rey Hospital. The Pastoral Care Coordinator is Carolena Fens. She has been a pleasure to work with, as she continues to show me the ropes. She has much favor there, and even assisted me in getting my photo and ID badge fairly quickly. Every time I go in, she has a well organized list waiting for me. The information contains: Name of patient/Room and Bed Number/Age/Gender/Marital Status/Religion. Some of the patients, have shared with me some positive feedback. For the most part, the very fact that I am a young pastor, has blessed them. A few have commented: "We need more young people doing this type of work." Still others, have different perspectives on my visits. On one occasion, I was having a great conversation with an older gentlemen, when all of a sudden his wife and daughter showed up. The wife looked particularly concerned...as she thought the only reason I was there, was because her husband's condition took a turn for the worse! In other words, pastors only show up when a patient is dying!
In the months of December and January, I was trying to pick up a 2nd job with better income. I tried everything from TSA, to every airline at LAX, to Coca-C
ola! I even tried to get another job as a personal trainer at other gyms. There simply wasn't any doors opening, no matter how hard I tried. There was some hope at one point, when I landed an interview with another gym to be a personal trainer, but that too didn't happen. Meanwhile, I have loved working at Gold's Gym. I can honestly say a majority of the time, I love going to work there. I have had the privilege of building relationships, with gym members and co-workers in all the departments. It truly has been a season of listening... but I have also been able to share the gospel, who I am, and why I'm in Venice Beach. Believer and unbeliever alike, always ask how the church plant is coming along. In fact, some have said: "When you guys go to Sunday mornings, I'll come check it out." My boss kept promising that promotion would come, and the manager of the PT department promised the same. Members and co-workers alike, were rooting for me as well. Finally, after only 4 months of working there...I landed an interview with the PT manager. He wanted me to update my resume and meet. On Thursday February 23, I went into the interview nervous and excited at the same time.After all was said and done, they decided to go ahead, and promote me to be a Personal Trainer! However, it won't be until the end of May. My manager needs me to continu
e in Housekeeping for a couple months more, and help him to train another guy. I also have to train one of their trainers, then have a panel interview with the PT Manager, Operations Manager, and General Manager. My certification was good enough to get me hired, but I still need to get a better one...to make me even more qualified. Once I am in the department, I will have 4 months to obtain it, be on a payment plan, and receive a 25% discount. I was so thankful, for all the managers being so accommodating!On Saturday February 11th, I attended a Only Hope Prison Seminar in Simi Valley with Jeff Shelp, who is a part of the VB Church Plant Team. I had been trying to get a hold of the Senior Chaplain (Ed Welsh), since August 2011...with no success! Turns out, Jeff's job puts him in touch with one of the chaplains at the prison named Mike Broyles. We touched base and hit it off, then he extended an invite to attend this seminar. Attending would be the chief of LASD, President of Only Hope Prison Ministries, other chaplains, law enforcement, etc. As Jeff and I sit down for lunch, we end up meeting some really cool people. Over the course of the conversation, turns out one of the gentlemen is close friends with Ed Welsh! He then goes, and gets Ed to come over and meet me immediately. Once again, God orchestrates everything beautifully!!
On Wednesday February 22nd, Ed and I met for lunch and an informal interview. Afterwards, I filled out some paperwork and mailed it in. I am currently filling out more documents, being screened, and waiting to see if I pass or not. If all goes well, I will begin ministering early April. I will start off as an Assistant Chaplain: doing visits, counseling, handing out Bibles, and conducting Bible Studies. Eventually, when I become a Chaplain, I will be able to preach/teach at Chapel Services. However, Mike Broyles is the Director of TUMI (The Urban Ministry Institute). They conduct a seminary in the jail, for those called to be pastors. Some will get out, and Lord willing plant and pastor churches themselves...while still others will never get out, but shepherd inmates around them. Mike went on
to express to me, that he would like me to teach one of the seminary classes! They have had already over 215 students, with the prayer and hope to have 1,000 men enrolled to be pastors in the next 2 years or so. Mike shared some statistics at the seminar: There are 2,500,000 inmates in America, largest jail in the world is this one in LA, 70% of the inmates children end up in prison, 90-95% of American males on death row absolutely hate their human father. Pray for me, as I enter Men's Central Jail located in Downtown LA, which is currently holding 5,000 inmates.On Wednesday January 4th, our VB Bible Study met at the Electric Lodge. An apartment and two coffee shops later, the Lord blessed us with the ideal building and our first pick. The location is stellar, mainly because it is right behind Abbot Kinney Blvd. This is a major street in Venice Beach, where many locals hang out. We currently meet in the basement of this building, which fits around twenty people. What is so great about this as well, is there is room to grow. If we outgrow the basement, there is a large dance studio, and
then a nice 99 seat amphitheater. We are currently averaging 20-25 people on Wednesday nights...so we are comfortable. Right now, we are (leaders) on a rotation teaching through 1 John. Back in January, we started doing a Q & A panel setup every last Wednesday of the month. The people have had some great questions...everything from theological to personal. We also provide the people with dinner, drinks, and dessert this particular night. The desire was that this time, would be less formal and more casual/relaxed.On Sunday January 29th, we had a night of prayer/worship/vision. We rented the dance studio, and it was a great time together. Every leader shared a piece of the puzzle...such as God's heart for Venice/Strongholds/Jeff's testimony as a local/culture/youth/homeless, and I shared a little history lesson of the city. It was such a wonderful night! The last song played that night was "God of this City," by Chris Tomlin. I hadn't heard it in years, but it took on new meaning as now I was living in this city. I couldn't help but sing it all that week at work.
Over the past few months, I have had countless meetings with the leadership team. We needed to find out if we were in agreement on some of the following, before moving forward: name of the church, vision/mission, leadership roles, and timeline. We are all currently reading through a 37 page packet of Bylaws for Metro Calvary Chapel. We as a team have to present these things to the board of Metro, in the month of April. After this meeting, we will have a more solid timeline for when we will "launch," and transition from a Wednesday night Bible study to a Sunday morning church plant. Please pray for God's perfect timing, as we don't want to rush ahead or fall behind.
In closing, I honestly couldn't have asked God for a better team, to plant this church with! You will be introduced to them soon, in another post. We are also planning an outreach for Easter next month...so pray!
By His Grace,
Eric
