Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1209 ｜ Jesus Is Moving in LA — Meet the Ministry Behind It ｜ Matthew Barnett

00:00:00.440 How does a charity run by a conservative Christian thrive in progressive Los Angeles?

00:00:06.720 Matthew Barnett is the founder of LA Dream Center.

00:00:09.680 He is here today to talk about how we can effectively serve those who are drug addicted,

00:00:15.900 those who are in poverty, how we balance compassion and grace with truth telling and accountability.

00:00:22.100 He has built bridges with the California government.

00:00:24.960 He has also gone head to head with the California government.

00:00:27.840 And so we are talking about all of that and so much more on today's episode of Relatable.

00:00:33.480 This episode is brought to you by the Olive app.

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00:00:57.840 Matthew, thanks so much for taking the time to join me in person.

00:01:04.120 This is so fun.

00:01:05.120 I am so glad to be here.

00:01:06.380 Thank you.

00:01:06.860 Yes.

00:01:07.240 You know, I've been following you for a long time, the work that you've been doing in LA.

00:01:11.160 Can we back up and talk about how you came to LA, how you started the Dream Center?

00:01:16.580 Yeah.

00:01:16.820 It's everything I never thought I'd be doing, to be honest.

00:01:19.340 You know, I came from a big church in Phoenix, Arizona.

00:01:21.440 One of my fathers, Pastor Tommy Barnett, great church.

00:01:25.020 And one day a guy came to him and said, Pastor Tommy, there's a little building in downtown

00:01:29.800 LA that is in the inner city and the banks are going to take it over. 1.00

00:01:33.480 The pastor is 80 years of age.

00:01:34.980 Would you, you know, plant a church in downtown LA and take it, take this over before it gets

00:01:39.540 lost?

00:01:40.580 And my dad said, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:01:41.700 I'll figure something out because just the thought of that really upset him, you know?

00:01:45.700 And then he tried to find a pastor to take it over.

00:01:49.140 It's in the middle of really bad gang territory.

00:01:52.260 I mean, fast and furious, the training day, all of that was filmed in that area, you know?

00:01:56.820 And when he showed them around the neighborhood and saw gang members drinking 40s on the steps

00:02:01.360 of the church, a lot of the guys said, I don't really feel led of the Holy Spirit to come here.

00:02:05.360 So he asked me to come for three months until he could find a real pastor.

00:02:08.340 That's what he kept saying.

00:02:10.020 Your dad asked you.

00:02:11.220 Yes, we had 20 years of age to come and three months, nothing happened.

00:02:16.800 Six months, nothing happened.

00:02:18.080 And so one day I was just so lonely at home every night, didn't know anybody, you know,

00:02:22.380 inherited 18 people in the church and they're all like older.

00:02:25.840 And I managed to drive the church from 18 down to two.

00:02:29.140 We were having a revival in reverse, you know?

00:02:30.840 And one day God just spoke to me and he said, die to your dream of being a success and live

00:02:36.820 to the dream of being a blessing.

00:02:38.760 Love what you have, celebrate what you have.

00:02:40.960 And use what you have.

00:02:42.440 And so I had a desk and a phone and I moved on the sidewalk and I just started talking

00:02:46.360 to all the people, walking their kids to school.

00:02:48.460 And the morning I had three bags of food and a jar of candy and just started serving and

00:02:53.640 just loving what I had and never wanting to be anywhere else.

00:02:57.040 Wow.

00:02:57.400 And so finally my dad couldn't find a real pastor, so he asked me to stay.

00:03:01.660 And I've been here for 31 years in downtown L.A.

00:03:05.100 And it would start off with a little church and a desk on the sidewalk and has now turned

00:03:09.780 into, you know, a hospital that later that the Catholic Church sold us to for $3.9 million

00:03:15.300 and they were going to sell it to Paramount for $16 million.

00:03:18.220 And so it's turned from that little place to a 400,000 square foot hospital where we have

00:03:23.480 700 residents that live there every day.

00:03:25.820 Nobody pays, homelessness, trafficking, every type of issue you can imagine.

00:03:31.200 Veterans that are homeless open 24 hours, seven days a week.

00:03:34.620 And it all started by just saying yes and showing up and just trying to survive one more day.

00:03:40.480 Okay.

00:03:40.880 So tell me what that looks like on a day-to-day basis.

00:03:43.220 You have 700 people who live there who come from all different walks of life.

00:03:47.900 These are people who have fallen on hard times for a variety of reasons.

00:03:51.860 How long do they typically stay at the L.A. Dream Center?

00:03:56.080 They stay for a year.

00:03:57.520 And the reason why is they have the luxury of time.

00:04:00.160 People make bad decisions.

00:04:01.560 You know, people who found they're addicted to meth and homeless families are involved

00:04:04.880 in all kinds of things.

00:04:06.920 Are you emancipated minors that live there?

00:04:09.580 Almost every emancipated minor, when they become 18, ends up in prostitution.

00:04:13.480 Like 80% of them will end up in prison or prostitution in six months.

00:04:16.980 So when people have time and they can really start working on core issues of their life,

00:04:21.540 that's when they change.

00:04:22.600 And so every year is based on the, every program is based upon a one-year concept.

00:04:28.040 Ben Carson came to the Dream Center and he was walking around

00:04:30.720 and we explained to him the year.

00:04:32.260 And he looked at me and he goes, that's amazing.

00:04:34.940 Because in a year, it takes the molecules in the brain all these times to start forming.

00:04:38.860 He went totally scientific on me, right?

00:04:40.460 And you didn't even know that?

00:04:41.200 And I'm like, I totally knew that the whole time.

00:04:43.080 Yeah, yeah.

00:04:43.860 Trying to act smart.

00:04:45.180 But yeah, you know, we give people the luxury of time and the opportunity, you know.

00:04:50.180 And that's what really helps people develop character.

00:04:53.120 We have gangs coming in, guys from like South Central,

00:04:55.720 and then skinheads from Huntington Beach and they end up becoming friends at the end.

00:04:59.780 Because nothing will change a person's life except the Word of God.

00:05:03.520 When people meet in a program, they're fighting an addiction and they're fighting it with the Word.

00:05:09.300 You can't legislate a transformation like this.

00:05:12.420 It just comes from the Spirit of God moving in the lives of people every single day.

00:05:16.460 So tell me what programs exist within the Dream Center.

00:05:19.900 Yeah, we have a drug and alcohol rehab program we call Discipleship.

00:05:23.060 It's a year long and the second year option to save money, live on campus and rebuild your life

00:05:29.180 with $10,000 before they launch out into the world.

00:05:32.760 So it's really a two-year program.

00:05:34.760 We have a place for veterans that are homeless who have served our country to come and live for a year

00:05:39.520 to get their lives back together again.

00:05:41.760 And then we have homeless families, like 43 homeless families, 200 plus people live there that live there for a year.

00:05:47.960 And all of them pretty much show up in their cars.

00:05:50.760 They show up in their cars and they just beg for a place to live.

00:05:54.080 And then we work with them.

00:05:55.160 And every 30 days, their housing is up for review to make sure they're showing up to parenting classes.

00:05:59.680 They're getting their kids in school.

00:06:01.360 They're doing the right thing.

00:06:02.480 And then we renew the 30 days up to a year and then even longer in some cases.

00:06:06.840 So everything has accountability.

00:06:08.680 Everything has structure.

00:06:09.820 But within all that, there's a great sense of victory that people are going somewhere with their life and doing something.

00:06:14.800 And so it really isn't like a housing first program that goes on where you just give people housing.

00:06:21.060 They can do whatever they want to do.

00:06:22.540 It is really challenging people to dream and do big things.

00:06:26.920 We just don't serve people's need.

00:06:28.220 We serve people's potential.

00:06:30.060 And that's the big difference.

00:06:31.880 When people come into rehab, the first question we ask them is, what is your dream?

00:06:36.400 And it freaks them out because they're just trying to survive one more night.

00:06:39.780 But the Bible says that when there's no revelation, people cast off restraint, which means there's no reason to have self-control if there's nothing great to live for.

00:06:49.080 And so by giving them a dream, then we work through the core issues that are blocking them from getting to the dream.

00:06:54.040 So we try to shine a big spotlight of hope right in the beginning in order that they might have something to go for and attain to in the future.

00:07:01.220 Wow. What have you learned about homelessness during these 30 years?

00:07:07.200 What do you think a lot of people just don't understand about it?

00:07:10.500 Every testimony we have at church, we have a four-minute testimony, every church service, from somebody whose life has been transformed, the Dream Center.

00:07:17.160 Ninety percent of every testimony says, my parents went through a divorce or there's some family breakdown.

00:07:24.480 And that became the traumatizing event that put them in that situation.

00:07:27.940 I do also think the culture of drugs and just the openness to everything has created a culture where people just think it's friendly to become addicted to drugs and then it starts a downward cycle of homelessness and things along those lines.

00:07:42.120 But the breakdown of the family always seems to be the core issue when people are talking about a traumatic event that sent them into a situation or a negative spiral.

00:07:50.900 Hmm. And I think there's just there's so much conversation today about homelessness because it's become a very politically charged discussion and debate about what can be done policy wise to help this issue.

00:08:07.220 And it doesn't really seem like in most cities, including in Los Angeles, that we're going in the right direction.

00:08:13.720 And I know that you're not on the public policy side of things, but you've obviously seen this city change.

00:08:19.800 You've seen the policies implemented.

00:08:21.800 I mean, what are what are your thoughts about whether, you know, the policies have helped or exacerbated the issue?

00:08:27.580 Oh, we're spending so much money.

00:08:28.980 It's unbelievable on homelessness.

00:08:30.560 It's crazy.

00:08:31.240 It's like it costs us seventy five hundred dollars a year to house someone, rehabilitate them, educate them.

00:08:36.100 It costs like one hundred seventy five thousand dollars a year to incarcerate them or deal with the issues of homelessness per person.

00:08:43.520 So there's no accountability.

00:08:45.220 There's no reason for people to really grow.

00:08:47.220 I mean, it would almost be better.

00:08:49.060 I know this sounds crazy.

00:08:50.380 It would almost be better if you gave everyone ten thousand dollars to rebuild their life who went through a one year structured faith based type of program.

00:08:57.920 It would save us way more money than we're spending right now.

00:09:00.680 I mean, you know, but there's just no incentive to change.

00:09:04.240 There's no incentive for people to want to go forward.

00:09:07.040 We're trying to legislate something that is dealing with the heart.

00:09:10.440 And when you're dealing with homeless people, you've got to have a lot of encounters with people before they're ready to make that change in their life.

00:09:16.160 And that's what we do.

00:09:16.900 We just keep showing up in their tents.

00:09:18.480 We sing worship songs in their tent and we just keep having many encounters before they're really ready to make that decision.

00:09:25.860 But I think the general overall prevailing thought is we can't win.

00:09:31.440 We can't win.

00:09:32.460 People are going to use drugs.

00:09:33.480 Let's try to get them into safe places. 0.52

00:09:35.360 Let's build one point two billion dollar hotels for homeless people.

00:09:38.660 And then they get there and they can't figure out why.

00:09:41.520 With these beautiful spaces we build for them, they're almost empty in six months because there's a heart issue.

00:09:47.780 There's a transformation issue.

00:09:49.120 There's something there's deep rooted issues that are there that no matter how nice you build a facility, they're going to empty out of it.

00:09:55.480 And they're going to be back on the streets because that mindset is brokenness.

00:10:00.980 It's lost.

00:10:01.500 It's and so, you know, I think to provide incentives for programs that are really doing things and really support people who are already doing it.

00:10:11.480 That's something Ellie doesn't really do. 1.00

00:10:13.120 They, you know, they go all in with whatever their thought and inability to pivot really quick to issues.

00:10:18.700 And and and so, you know, we meet them on a relational level.

00:10:22.920 We do twelve hundred hot meals a day.

00:10:24.460 Twelve hundred.

00:10:25.200 Wow.

00:10:25.640 People show up in the kitchen.

00:10:27.040 We love on them, you know, and they might show up ten times to the kitchen on the eleven times.

00:10:31.440 They'll show up to a program.

00:10:32.380 So I just feel like there's a lot of resistance towards models that work.

00:10:38.860 And I think that's one of the biggest problems.

00:10:40.580 If they never get out of this mindset that we can't win, we can't solve it.

00:10:45.320 We can't directly approach people why they're doing what they're doing.

00:10:48.620 The government.

00:10:49.400 The government.

00:10:50.020 We will never get to these issues of the broken heart of people.

00:10:57.560 Quick pause to remind you to sign up for Share the Arrows.

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00:11:32.820 It's not primarily about politics.

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00:11:50.960 So do you get any support from local politicians, the local L.A. government?

00:12:01.840 Do they say, hey, Matthew, great job?

00:12:03.940 We're so grateful to get to partner with you and battling this.

00:12:07.580 I mean, what does that look like?

00:12:09.300 You know, you get close.

00:12:10.380 And then you get down to the fact where, you know, a lot of the transgender issues are you, you know, you can't claim your moral stand on what you want your program to be, you know?

00:12:20.960 And so because it's Christian, they want you to affirm all these other things.

00:12:24.260 They want you to affirm these other things.

00:12:25.620 And when it gets down to it, they love what you do, you know, they'll sing your praises to the moon, but they just won't get around to supporting exactly what you do until you fulfill that political agenda.

00:12:36.840 And it's really a shame because there's so many lives that could be changed, you know, through the system.

00:12:40.820 And so it's just always that sense of political ideology, not what works, is going to drive a lot of the policy.

00:12:49.780 And so we just, you know, do we can.

00:12:52.960 We just go for it.

00:12:54.180 And I think there's only one program that we will work with the government, and that is the USDA food.

00:12:59.160 We give away all of our food trucks, go to 40 sites a week, and all we have to do is provide them the name of people we're feeding.

00:13:05.560 And we can invite them to church after we give them the food, which is fine.

00:13:09.040 That's good.

00:13:09.600 You know, if something works, we'll piece it together.

00:13:12.340 If it doesn't work, we've turned down millions and millions and millions of dollars just to stay true to the fact that the gospel changes people's lives and never compromise.

00:13:22.840 And there have been $10 million to $15 million grants where we had to affirm many of the things.

00:13:27.660 But we turn them down because, you know, the only thing that sustains our community is the power of the Word of God changing people's lives every single day.

00:13:36.600 So it's been a tough road because what happens is organizations that start off and they're in the Word and they love God and they're preaching the Word.

00:13:44.840 Over time, they get desperate and they start compromising and then they become a watered-down version of really what made them who they are.

00:13:52.440 And that is, you know, people who really trust in God from their core.

00:13:56.440 So you're saying that you would get offered this government money, but they would have strings attached, which said,

00:14:02.600 we'll give you this money to help people rehabilitate or to get fed, but you have to affirm this about LGBTQ or maybe about abortion or whatever.

00:14:14.440 And you've said no.

00:14:16.520 Yes, we've said no.

00:14:18.540 You know, families that live together, that aren't married, we'll work with them, but we'll work with them within the system that works for us, you know.

00:14:25.660 And a lot of those types of issues that stand against every kind of the moral ground, you know, like trans men going to the program. 0.98

00:14:34.240 So it's definitely an uphill battle because you would think that there would be somewhere in that we'll say,

00:14:40.320 okay, well, this is kind of our ideology, but this works.

00:14:43.640 Let's, you know, that's a pocket of people that are being helped.

00:14:46.520 Let's creatively think about, you know, resourcing that and this and then.

00:14:50.020 But we've just decided that we're just going to go all in on God, all in on the fact that God loves the people that we're trying to serve more than we do.

00:14:59.200 And his word talks about, you know, he who gives to the poor lends to God, he will repay.

00:15:04.420 Like we're backed up by a lot of scripture.

00:15:06.840 It's been scary at times and it's been rewarding at times.

00:15:10.960 But the fact is this, we just believe that when there's a need, we step out and we go and we figure it out along the way.

00:15:17.800 And I don't think they'll ever understand that mindset that says, you know, when the fires broke out,

00:15:23.280 the Dream Center became one of the great phenomenons in America.

00:15:25.600 19,000 cars that showed up through the food line.

00:15:30.300 And our team said, what's what?

00:15:31.860 I literally texted our team.

00:15:33.160 I said, throw food on the parking lot and let's just help people. 1.00

00:15:37.980 And then Andrew Gruul came by.

00:15:39.500 Chef Gruul became my dearest friend.

00:15:41.180 And he started bringing stuff down.

00:15:42.740 Orange County was awesome.

00:15:43.860 They rallied to LA.

00:15:44.740 And whatever they think about the orange curtain, man, that was broken down.

00:15:48.960 They started showing up and it was just amazing.

00:15:52.400 And then we were able to give away $3 million in checks to people.

00:15:56.520 And one on one through all of these different miracles that begin to happen, people that showed up.

00:16:02.080 And so.

00:16:02.540 Yeah.

00:16:03.140 Gosh, I remember seeing that on Instagram.

00:16:05.000 So you're talking about the LA fires and people obviously displaced.

00:16:09.400 Many people had their homes destroyed.

00:16:10.980 They didn't know what to do and they show up at the Dream Center.

00:16:15.360 They got food.

00:16:16.520 They got clothing.

00:16:17.740 They got the resources.

00:16:18.760 Some people got the shelter that they needed.

00:16:20.560 And I remember your posting.

00:16:22.260 And it was kind of like one of those things that we were talking about earlier.

00:16:25.960 It seemed to me that it's like, well, I don't know how much more we're going to get.

00:16:31.120 I don't know how many more volunteers we're going to get.

00:16:33.460 We're just trusting God.

00:16:34.520 And food and people just kept showing up and showing up.

00:16:40.140 Yeah.

00:16:40.720 It's it's power.

00:16:41.780 It's the ultimate test of faith.

00:16:43.280 You know, you step out and you go for, you know, like Tony Robbins, Anthony Robbins.

00:16:47.260 I've never met him before.

00:16:48.120 Showed up, totally moved by what's going on.

00:16:50.800 He goes, I'm going to give you guys $110,000 checks to personally hand to people.

00:16:54.400 So I'm going out in the lots in Altadena, standing with people, praying over them, crying with them, giving them $10,000 checks.

00:17:01.500 I've never met the guy in my entire life, but he was showing up.

00:17:04.780 And then, of course, the faith community is always the biggest response.

00:17:08.180 And we just kept going.

00:17:09.840 We just like, you know, 15 minutes away from Altadena we are and and the school, one of the charter schools that the Aveson Elementary, they their school burned down the fire.

00:17:20.760 And it's a charter school that doesn't do homework because they believe that family should spend time with their kids.

00:17:25.040 So all of the, you know, the Chromebooks were in in the school.

00:17:29.540 So we adopted the whole school and just began to go for it.

00:17:33.240 And and it was just amazing how God just when you go and you have no plan, but you just do what you can with what you have.

00:17:41.920 That's always been the story of the Dream Center.

00:17:43.900 That's always been the story of where the miraculous breaks out.

00:17:47.000 And even today, you know, we'll have 850 families show up to get food and just walk through the line.

00:17:53.740 And it's kind of become because of that's become Joseph's storehouse for this next event that's happened and all these things that are happening.

00:18:01.120 So we just believe that you earn the right to be heard and and by serving.

00:18:08.140 And our motto is outlast everything, outlast liquor stores, outlast the pimps, you know, outlast the drug dealers.

00:18:14.580 And 70 percent of my staff are graduates of rehab.

00:18:17.300 Wow.

00:18:17.960 I love that motto.

00:18:19.260 Yeah.

00:18:19.520 So we go we got just outlast everything.

00:18:21.660 That's our mindset.

00:18:22.680 Yeah.

00:18:22.920 And so death has been proclaimed over our place 100 times.

00:18:26.980 But God just keeps resurrecting it every single time we face a big battle.

00:18:31.540 Praise God.

00:18:32.460 Well, it makes sense because we serve the God that did outlast everything.

00:18:36.280 I mean, we tried to kill him and Satan tried to defeat him and he conquered death.

00:18:42.400 And so it makes sense that those of us who follow him also have like that resurrection power and the things that God has called us to.

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00:19:42.080 Tell me how it was during COVID.

00:19:49.520 I imagine that that was an especially turbulent and difficult time.

00:19:54.780 Oh, it was probably the most stressful time of my life.

00:19:58.680 I mean, I literally went through a stroke during that period.

00:20:01.220 I mean, it was really tough.

00:20:02.240 Yes, you know what?

00:20:03.040 I remember that.

00:20:04.100 I had three strokes in my brain and there was just a lot of things that were happening.

00:20:09.200 You know, we started our food line and people were driving by and getting food and we just opened it up.

00:20:15.220 And just like this, it turned into like 12 hours a day, 365 days a year feeding people.

00:20:20.720 And we started two weeks into the pandemic.

00:20:23.660 I was driving down the road.

00:20:25.020 The streets were empty when they announced this lockdown policy.

00:20:29.060 And there was no cars on the road.

00:20:30.340 I was just driving around and they said only essential workers can come and be involved with whatever they need to do.

00:20:38.300 And I thought to myself, and I did the calculation recently, we've given probably about $1.2 billion of aid to the community over the years.

00:20:46.620 And so I just kind of deemed myself to be essential worker.

00:20:49.620 I knighted myself, you know, you are an essential worker.

00:20:52.380 So I said, I guess I am.

00:20:53.740 And so just kind of like blindly and just smiling, I just showed up and said, we're going to feed people.

00:20:57.740 And people started showing up and putting stuff in people's cars.

00:21:01.240 And everyone's like, you can't be doing this.

00:21:02.700 They can't be doing this.

00:21:03.480 But somebody's doing it, you know.

00:21:05.140 And we're just feeding people.

00:21:06.980 And it kind of blew up and went viral all across the country.

00:21:09.420 And people like started showing up.

00:21:11.940 And even some of the same politicians that told you not to do it, they were like, I think I need to go down and get a photo op there or something, you know.

00:21:18.800 Because action was going on.

00:21:20.380 And so we didn't, like, make a real big point about it.

00:21:24.700 We just kind of showed up and acted ignorant and said, we're just going to feed people, you know.

00:21:30.760 It just turned into something so amazing.

00:21:33.420 And we were praying for people in their cars.

00:21:35.340 And I saw so many people scared.

00:21:39.260 The culture of fear that was put upon people.

00:21:42.480 The housing projects.

00:21:44.180 What COVID did to the poor was one of the most unbelievable things I've experienced.

00:21:48.220 We've been in housing projects for 25 years, serving the kids there.

00:21:52.160 Kids were left in these projects, preyed upon by gangs, preyed upon by predators.

00:21:57.040 We were showing up.

00:21:58.260 Social workers that weren't allowed to show up were calling us saying, can you check on people?

00:22:02.200 We'd be like, sure, we'll go.

00:22:03.800 Wait, the social workers were not allowed to check up on the children that were supposed to be in their charge because of COVID policy in California.

00:22:11.280 Completely shut down.

00:22:12.940 And they were just kind of pawning it off to us.

00:22:16.320 Wow.

00:22:16.680 And we gladly did it because there was a need.

00:22:19.560 And what did you find when you went into those housing projects?

00:22:22.180 You got scared little kids that are left in a place where they're very vulnerable.

00:22:26.020 What did y'all see?

00:22:27.600 We saw kids joining gangs at a higher rate.

00:22:30.060 We saw kids hungry.

00:22:32.080 We saw a lot of pedophiles in the community that were taking advantage of them being home every single day.

00:22:40.520 We saw food programs that were shut down to help the kids in the school system.

00:22:44.080 And so we had to provide all of our food trucks that were going out in there.

00:22:48.080 You just saw, and I think that was one of my greatest frustrations, someone who advocates for the poor and the hurting.

00:22:54.040 So many families who were able to adapt and get tutors and get private lessons and things like that were able to kind of navigate the storm.

00:23:00.540 So we just set up an outdoor school.

00:23:03.420 And we had about 120 kids show up.

00:23:06.720 And their parents were dropping them off and going to look for, like, jobs.

00:23:10.220 And we were just working with the kids every day.

00:23:12.880 And outdoors, having classes.

00:23:14.860 And here's the thing that bothered me the most during COVID, that a lot of promises were made that I think LA sometimes thinks that just because a governor says something, it's done.

00:23:26.100 Like, every kid's going to have a laptop in the school system.

00:23:28.820 Well, the kids who came to us, none of them had them.

00:23:30.880 We had to buy them.

00:23:32.180 And I think oftentimes it's the illusion that if you say something to the public, you can say anything and there's no follow up on it.

00:23:38.640 And that's what we saw.

00:23:40.440 We're like, no, none of these kids have laptops.

00:23:42.700 So he went out and bought it.

00:23:44.180 So there's a whole, like, issue of perception and projection that doesn't fit the reality of oftentimes what is really happening or being provided for the people.

00:23:53.620 So many policies, COVID policies, law enforcement policies, drug policies in the state of California are done in the name of compassion.

00:24:03.240 They say that they are the ones that are actually helping the marginalized and the truly vulnerable, the ones that you're serving.

00:24:10.620 But what have you seen the effect of, for example, law enforcement policy in LA?

00:24:18.300 What outcomes have you seen over the past 30 years?

00:24:22.720 Well, first of all, I think one of the most discouraging statements ever made by our governor is when he said it's irresponsible or reckless to think that somebody can truly live sober.

00:24:32.100 When that comment was made, it's somewhere close to that.

00:24:35.500 Wow, I didn't know he made that.

00:24:36.140 Yeah, really close to that context.

00:24:37.860 But it's irresponsible to think that somebody could live sober.

00:24:41.080 When I heard that comment, I'm like, we've given up.

00:24:44.000 Yeah.

00:24:44.420 We have no belief that people can change.

00:24:46.920 We have no belief that people can escape darkness.

00:24:49.400 And when I heard that, my jaw dropped.

00:24:50.860 It was almost like something that was said that came from the spirit of darkness.

00:24:57.300 I mean, it really was.

00:24:58.540 Totally.

00:24:58.800 Kind of like a really creepy, defeatist mentality mindset.

00:25:01.140 It's like the great accuser.

00:25:02.380 You'll never get better.

00:25:03.580 You'll never defeat drunkenness or whatever.

00:25:06.060 We have guys with fentanyl addictions and all of that.

00:25:08.820 They're getting free and getting clean and they're excited.

00:25:11.600 They're praising and worshiping the Lord.

00:25:13.700 I hear in my office every morning seeing give thanks with a grateful heart echoing up to my office.

00:25:19.180 And so a lot of that.

00:25:21.460 And then, you know, our law enforcement, our police, man, during COVID, they came to us and they were like, do what you do.

00:25:29.500 Open up your church.

00:25:30.480 We need something positive in this community, you know, help people.

00:25:33.800 And they were there with us every day protecting us.

00:25:36.140 So I think there is this like almost like kind of like the last line of defense is really a lot of our law enforcement who's navigating a lot of this messaging, especially during COVID, and say, no, we don't want to do this.

00:25:48.660 We don't want to lock up somebody for this reason.

00:25:50.480 We don't want.

00:25:50.920 So there's a lot of people that understand that good needs to prevail in the community.

00:25:55.660 And they really backed us up during that time and just, you know, they did flyovers like weekly with helicopters, LEP, thanking the Dream Center for what we did to keep the morale high.

00:26:06.440 And so I think there is just this sense of like what is said.

00:26:11.080 And yet the police department that really wants to advocate and work with people.

00:26:15.460 And we saw that during that time.

00:26:17.300 Wow.

00:26:17.960 Okay.

00:26:18.320 So here's what Gavin Newsom said specifically.

00:26:20.760 You're exactly right.

00:26:21.920 He said in 2020, quote, clean and sober is the biggest damn mistake this country ever made in reference to shelter policies requiring sobriety for homeless individuals to access services.

00:26:33.680 So what do you think about that?

00:26:35.980 That is a total slap in the face because the people that come into our program, they want to change.

00:26:41.160 I mean, they literally want to change.

00:26:43.100 And they have a sliver of confidence that they can, and our job is to try to increase that and give them the reward of staying one more day.

00:26:51.200 But that comment was simply kind of like the cultural feeling over the last five years.

00:26:57.060 We can't overcome stuff.

00:26:58.440 We can't win.

00:26:59.280 We can't fight poverty.

00:27:00.380 We can't achieve on our own.

00:27:02.060 And so we just kind of have to rebuke that message every day by the way that we live.

00:27:07.500 A lot of people say you have to be relevant to the culture to reach it.

00:27:10.380 I don't agree with that.

00:27:11.860 I believe you have to be revolutionary.

00:27:13.880 You have to show them something they've never seen before.

00:27:16.220 You have to show them smiles that they've never seen.

00:27:19.460 I don't believe the theory that you have to be from the neighborhood to reach people in the neighborhood.

00:27:23.080 I believe you just have to outlast things in the community, and you have to be a fixture and stay and fight, and that's where you get your street credit.

00:27:32.320 And so that's really kind of that mentality.

00:27:36.600 We have gang members protecting our building.

00:27:38.200 They don't tag our building because we feed their parents every single day.

00:27:41.300 It's off limits.

00:27:42.560 We've got guys in the community playing basketball leagues, and we pray before every single game, and they don't fight.

00:27:47.880 Or if they do, they'll get it right the next time.

00:27:52.100 But it's just one of those things where the Spirit of the Lord just kind of rests in a very strong way.

00:27:59.000 And not a weird, supernatural, spooky, but there's just a prevailing layer of just God's presence.

00:28:05.300 And so it's kind of that mindset that we're fighting against, that those who want to do right, those who want to help you, they're almost the enemy.

00:28:15.580 But you fight the good fight of faith, and that's what Paul told Timothy.

00:28:19.420 Fight for things that pertain to the faith.

00:28:21.080 Yeah.

00:28:21.500 And that's what we're doing, and we have fun.

00:28:25.240 We're not overly religious.

00:28:27.360 We can adapt.

00:28:28.940 But at the same time, Christ is the foundation of everything we have.

00:28:33.600 How do you balance grace and truth?

00:28:36.540 I imagine you've got a lot of people who show up who don't believe the same things you do.

00:28:41.620 Maybe they affirm sin or are living in some kind of sin themselves.

00:28:45.300 Or you've got people who seem to fall back into the same cycle over and over again.

00:28:50.560 I mean, we can all relate to that on some level.

00:28:53.480 And so y'all are sharing the gospel with them.

00:28:55.740 Y'all are telling them there's a better way.

00:28:57.620 But at the same time, you're embracing them when they show up.

00:29:00.660 So what does that look like practically to show grace and truth?

00:29:04.240 Yeah, it really is.

00:29:06.140 See, it's one of those things where you get them to see that the standard of the word of God is a powerful thing.

00:29:14.280 You never change a standard.

00:29:15.840 The standard is there.

00:29:16.580 This is what we're going for.

00:29:18.540 And, you know, it's going to be a battle.

00:29:20.540 It's going to be a lot of foundational things have got to come down in your life.

00:29:23.040 It doesn't change the fact that truth is truth.

00:29:25.240 God's word is God's word.

00:29:27.260 And in the pursuit of that, you will fall.

00:29:29.820 You will get back up.

00:29:30.640 But just keep getting back up again.

00:29:32.000 So we don't preach the standards as if it's some terrifying, scary thing to achieve.

00:29:37.100 But it's something that God has created to give you your very, very best life.

00:29:41.160 And we just aim for it.

00:29:42.500 We go for it.

00:29:43.000 We consider it a challenge.

00:29:44.240 We consider it, you know, fun.

00:29:46.240 Like, you know, we have one guy who came into our ministry.

00:29:49.420 And, you know, he comes from the gay lifestyle. 0.99

00:29:51.420 And he said, Pastor, I'm still dealing with these thoughts and tendencies even after I graduated your rehab program for a year.

00:29:58.720 And he said, but you know what?

00:29:59.660 I'm just, this is what I'm going to do.

00:30:01.500 I'm just going to live celibate.

00:30:04.100 I'm going to love God with all my heart.

00:30:05.620 I'm going to go for it, you know, and just live for him and just live for that relationship.

00:30:10.820 So people just understand that, like, that standard is God's way of creating order to your life and great things.

00:30:19.000 And we constantly go for it.

00:30:21.020 But if you fall short, we're always there to pick you back up again.

00:30:23.600 Let's go again.

00:30:24.300 Let's, you know, let's don't let too much time come before a failure.

00:30:28.680 And that, because that's where the enemy lives.

00:30:30.720 He lives in that distance.

00:30:31.760 He tries to create longer and longer times away from the presence of God.

00:30:34.880 Let's get back up again.

00:30:36.160 So it's just constant battle because we're dealing with people with such foundational brokenness that you have to give them something powerful to live for.

00:30:44.120 And then you have to constantly pick them back up.

00:30:47.160 Let them know, you know, two steps forward, one step back, but you're still gaining ground.

00:30:51.080 You're getting closer to what God has for you.

00:30:53.200 So there's a lot of encouragement and yet holding the line at the same time that goes on.

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00:31:46.080 I imagine that forgiveness is a big part of this transformation.

00:31:54.660 You mentioned that a lot of these people have trauma sometime early in their life,

00:31:59.220 or maybe they were betrayed or they were abandoned.

00:32:01.600 You mentioned people who are in gangs.

00:32:03.980 Obviously, you've got a lot of enmity and conflict there.

00:32:06.980 And so how do y'all walk people through forgiveness and letting go of what a lot of people would say

00:32:14.560 are very justified grievances.

00:32:17.340 Yeah.

00:32:17.700 You know, it's interesting.

00:32:19.420 Every testimony that we have, someone will talk about how they were raised,

00:32:22.740 their dad beat them, or sexually abused them, things like that.

00:32:26.540 And then they'll say something very strange.

00:32:29.360 They'll say, yeah, but deep down in my heart, my parents were good people.

00:32:33.400 And I'm hearing that.

00:32:34.480 I'm like, that doesn't sound like someone who's a good person did that to you.

00:32:37.360 So I think there's a longing in people's heart to still want to advocate for something good for someone.

00:32:43.700 It's really interesting.

00:32:45.560 And so a lot of them, they go through this process, and then they kind of identify the hurt.

00:32:51.220 And then there's a side of them that says, that person, they're still good in them.

00:32:56.680 And so when we work with them and go through those layers of issues and pain and heartache,

00:33:02.340 sometimes they're the easiest people who come through our program that want to forgive.

00:33:08.660 It's really interesting.

00:33:09.640 Maybe they see the depths of pain that someone caused them.

00:33:14.100 But when they get through those layers and start working through them,

00:33:17.860 they're the most forgiving people I've ever met in my entire life.

00:33:20.180 I don't know why.

00:33:20.740 I can never understand that dynamic of being hurt the most, end up forgiving the most.

00:33:26.040 But I do believe this.

00:33:27.040 I do believe when you have no cell phone every day in the program like they do for a year.

00:33:31.820 No cell phone at all for a year.

00:33:34.220 No smoking allowed.

00:33:35.520 No like, you know, just get your quick little fix.

00:33:38.020 None of that.

00:33:39.140 Wow.

00:33:39.420 And you're fully, and we tell them it's going to be the hardest year.

00:33:41.960 If you're not ready for it, go to the shelter for 30 days.

00:33:43.820 You can stay there.

00:33:45.100 But when you're fully in the word of God like that, you go all in for a year.

00:33:49.420 Everything about your belief system begins to change.

00:33:52.840 It gets stripped away, you know, the things that,

00:33:55.040 and you have a lot of time to think about your life and your future.

00:33:57.900 And so I think that's what makes it special is just in such a detox of the world

00:34:03.680 and just an immersion of the things of God.

00:34:06.840 People always say, do you have problems with guys in your rehab program?

00:34:09.540 I say, well, sometimes they'll leave.

00:34:11.160 They can reapply in 30 days.

00:34:13.200 Nothing's forcing them to stay there.

00:34:15.260 But I have more problem actually with my Bible school kids who come for a year.

00:34:19.420 You know what I mean?

00:34:20.080 Then I do the guys in rehab.

00:34:21.440 They might leave and quit.

00:34:22.960 But they're under this unbelievable structure that they're working with every single day.

00:34:27.320 And they're just powerful people.

00:34:28.360 They're my heroes actually.

00:34:29.420 I mean, they're guys that are just in there.

00:34:31.540 One guy sleeping under the Hollywood sign who just came here.

00:34:34.560 We've had girls that are coming in so beaten down by human trafficking. 0.99

00:34:38.260 We had one girl that her dad was filming her

00:34:40.400 and inviting her friends over as a teenager and put her in underground porn. 0.97

00:34:47.160 Totally a prostitute since all she's known since she's 15. 0.99

00:34:50.200 Showed up for her program. 0.99

00:34:51.800 Was in her parking lot.

00:34:53.540 She was walking.

00:34:54.380 Her hair was down to this. 0.79

00:34:55.360 She was so skinny.

00:34:56.280 She looked like a girl out of a horror film, really. 0.51

00:34:59.760 And then every month I saw her head begin to lift a little bit more.

00:35:02.620 She began to talk.

00:35:04.060 Now she's a preaching machine. 1.00

00:35:05.380 I mean, she can literally get up there and give a testimony. 1.00

00:35:08.340 Like, this is what God's done in my life.

00:35:09.800 And I'm like, whoa, where did that come from?

00:35:11.600 And so I've seen the impossible.

00:35:14.060 I have seen people that were bound by all these demonic forces

00:35:17.840 to have their lives fully transformed.

00:35:20.520 And then forgiveness becomes just a part of who they are.

00:35:23.520 This is who I am now.

00:35:24.540 I'm a child of God.

00:35:26.340 I can do hard things.

00:35:27.500 I can forgive the people who hurt me.

00:35:29.280 And they take on this warrior mentality of almost being unstoppable

00:35:33.000 in the sense of what they can take on next in the things of God.

00:35:36.500 Yeah, you mentioned kind of like a demonic force.

00:35:39.260 Can you talk a little bit about how you've seen moments of true spiritual warfare?

00:35:45.480 I don't know if you've ever seen someone who is truly demonically possessed,

00:35:48.960 but as you said, someone who's clearly being led by Satan.

00:35:52.220 Like, what does that look like in this fight?

00:35:56.860 It's every day it's the police department dropping a guy off in our program.

00:36:01.060 Like, he'll say things like, well, I wanted to put him in jail,

00:36:04.520 but I believe there might be a little bit of good inside this person.

00:36:07.700 And so the police officer will fill his application and drop him off,

00:36:11.200 and then he'll come through the program and flourish.

00:36:14.340 One guy was, like, in chains, and he had, like, muzzled and everything.

00:36:17.480 It was like, and the police was taking him up and said,

00:36:20.060 hey, man, could you work with this guy?

00:36:21.220 I'm like, okay, we'll figure it out, you know.

00:36:24.380 But, you know, I've seen people come in the program,

00:36:26.860 and they were just out of their mind, like, on drugs.

00:36:29.620 They were hallucinating, hearing voices.

00:36:32.320 They went to our detox, and we were just, like, giving them chocolate

00:36:35.540 and the word of God, basically, to help them, you know.

00:36:37.920 And just walking them through the whole process.

00:36:41.460 And then to see them shake that off,

00:36:44.440 and then suddenly they're, like, speaking coherently.

00:36:46.860 It's really strange because I'm literally seeing a progressive deliverance

00:36:50.900 that has taken place over time in people's lives.

00:36:53.960 To where I stop and I look back and I say,

00:36:55.740 I don't even know who you were anymore.

00:36:57.900 Like, it's almost scary in a beautiful way.

00:37:00.780 It's like, whoa.

00:37:01.660 This is like a full transformation of a person.

00:37:05.140 But I do believe a lot of people, that deliverance and that just takes time.

00:37:09.920 It just takes new programming.

00:37:11.200 It takes the word of God.

00:37:12.320 It takes worship.

00:37:13.080 It takes a lot of things just casually beginning to take over inch by inch

00:37:17.480 in a person's life.

00:37:18.740 And over time, they start to change, you know.

00:37:20.620 We had one guy living under the bridge for 18 years, homeless.

00:37:23.740 Wow, 18 years.

00:37:24.240 His name was Barry.

00:37:24.940 18 years.

00:37:25.660 He's so famous, people were taking pictures of him.

00:37:28.100 Like, he would never leave that area.

00:37:30.220 And one day, you know, we have 6,000 kids a year that do short-term missions

00:37:34.040 and volunteer from all over the country for one week.

00:37:36.640 Some girl from Oklahoma who had never been to the hood before says,

00:37:39.420 I'm going to go find that guy.

00:37:40.440 I'm going to bring him to the Dream Center.

00:37:42.180 And I tried to reach that guy for, like, 20 years.

00:37:45.620 And I'm like, and my first thought was, if God's man of power and faith can do it,

00:37:49.660 what makes you think you can get him here, you know?

00:37:52.260 But my dad always taught me that when somebody tells you to do something

00:37:54.900 you don't believe they can do, never say it.

00:37:57.340 Just say, well, praise God.

00:37:59.000 So I told her, praise God, you know, go for it.

00:38:01.520 She went under the bridge, teenage girl, found that homeless man,

00:38:04.960 grabbed him by the hand, brought him to the Dream Center,

00:38:07.340 and he was in the food line.

00:38:08.560 Wow.

00:38:08.920 And he'd come by to get food every day.

00:38:11.500 He finally left the bridge.

00:38:12.640 That was his first step.

00:38:14.000 And then he'd take his food, wouldn't go to the Bible. 0.87

00:38:16.140 We had a little five-minute chapel before.

00:38:17.920 Wouldn't show up to that.

00:38:19.280 Just went under the bridge every day.

00:38:21.400 And one day I was getting mad.

00:38:22.600 I said, God, you know, this guy's using us.

00:38:24.500 He's coming by, getting free food.

00:38:25.960 Doesn't want anyone to pray for him.

00:38:27.640 Doesn't want to go to Bible study.

00:38:29.520 And this is what God really impressed upon my spirit.

00:38:31.620 And that was, if you want to be a bridge of hope to the world,

00:38:34.380 you've got to allow yourself to be walked on.

00:38:36.800 Let him use you every single day.

00:38:38.820 Then get all the free food he wants, build a relationship,

00:38:42.120 and one day this man came up to me.

00:38:44.260 He's about 60 years of age, homeless.

00:38:45.820 He said, Pastor, would you mind if I go into your rehab program?

00:38:50.280 And I'm thinking to myself, this is going to be so tough for this guy.

00:38:53.300 I mean, our rehab program is not like the ones in Malibu

00:38:56.040 where they give you whirlpools and pedicures and all that.

00:38:58.180 I mean, it's beans and rice and Jesus Christ.

00:39:00.000 You know, it's like hardcore.

00:39:01.420 And he's like, yeah.

00:39:03.240 I said, yeah, you can.

00:39:04.340 Praise the Lord.

00:39:04.960 Go to the program.

00:39:06.380 30 days.

00:39:08.160 How's he doing?

00:39:08.860 He made it.

00:39:09.600 90 days.

00:39:10.700 The guy graduates the program after living under the bridge for 18 years.

00:39:14.040 He's now ahead of our first phase of people coming off the streets.

00:39:19.560 He's the most on-fire guy.

00:39:21.240 And Homeless Barry is now a pastor, Barry, on our staff.

00:39:24.120 He became a licensed pastor.

00:39:25.480 He reminds me of it every single day.

00:39:27.420 He's like, Pastor.

00:39:28.340 He goes, I'm a licensed minister of the gospel.

00:39:30.200 I go, I know you are, man.

00:39:31.340 Let's keep celebrating that every day.

00:39:33.160 And we have these little chapels in the kitchen.

00:39:35.800 He speaks like 15 times a week.

00:39:37.400 He goes, Pastor, how many times did you speak last week?

00:39:39.020 I'm like, three.

00:39:40.120 He goes, I spoke 15.

00:39:41.420 I'm like, oh, yeah.

00:39:42.020 We're going to work on your pride, brother.

00:39:43.420 We laugh and have fun.

00:39:45.340 But it's just, you know, you see people almost like zombies in our city.

00:39:51.120 It's like the walking dead.

00:39:52.480 But yet they can come back to life again.

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00:40:52.540 The L.A. riots happening recently, burning cars, calling the, you know, like robo-taxis,

00:41:04.520 I forget what they're called, like calling them specifically to set them on fire,

00:41:09.520 all different kinds of violence happening.

00:41:11.720 And then we hear in the media, this is mostly peaceful.

00:41:14.320 And you were speaking into this moment and you were giving encouragement to pastors.

00:41:19.300 You were talking about Gavin Newsom.

00:41:21.080 So just talk about your thoughts surrounding yet another kind of violent, chaotic moment in L.A.

00:41:25.820 Yeah, L.A. is at a place right now where it doesn't even necessarily need ice raids or things like that for it to blow up.

00:41:33.320 It's a powder keg now.

00:41:34.760 You've got really troubled people in the community.

00:41:37.980 You've got broken people.

00:41:39.120 You have a lawlessness, a rejection of everything of God.

00:41:41.700 So whether it be ice riots or whatever comes next, it's just, it's out of place now to where the tension is so high

00:41:49.020 and the anger and the destructive mentality is so far there that I was just basically saying this might be one thing,

00:41:57.720 but it's always going to be another thing until that root is taking down of our community of opposition, anger, frustration, bitterness.

00:42:09.560 Just the whole mindset is broken down.

00:42:12.280 So I wasn't surprised by it.

00:42:14.260 This will cool down and then something new will come up.

00:42:17.520 So L.A. anymore doesn't really need a reason to rise up.

00:42:21.820 They'll find a reason to rise up.

00:42:23.500 And that's one of the things that we're dealing with now.

00:42:27.720 You know, it's, it's, I know they're going after more of the bad actors, you know,

00:42:31.780 the people who've really, you know, committed a lot of crimes.

00:42:34.860 And if you get in the way of that, you might be deported to at the same time.

00:42:39.660 But, you know, I'm also in a very interesting, interesting area where I'm navigating a lot of that.

00:42:45.580 But at the same time, you know, we support our borders, you know, being enforced.

00:42:50.700 We support, you know, people who are here to do bad things, you know, out of the country.

00:42:55.060 And we support the rule of law, really.

00:42:56.500 We, we create this problem, but 20 million people let them in during the last four years.

00:43:00.940 Ah, completely outrageous.

00:43:02.280 And I think most people agree with that.

00:43:04.220 But I think in the beginning, if our, if our governor wouldn't just had a hostile position

00:43:09.440 towards the president, they probably could have worked together on a lot of things

00:43:12.680 and got a lot of things taken care of.

00:43:15.000 But I think the general resistance is like, it's, it's, it's power, it's politics.

00:43:19.940 It's, it's everything that doesn't give life.

00:43:22.140 And that's what they give life to in our community.

00:43:24.700 Yeah.

00:43:25.180 He's calling Trump a dictator for a lot of things and has for a while.

00:43:28.780 He did the same thing to Governor DeSantis.

00:43:30.680 But it sounds like some of his policies during COVID were pretty tyrannical and hurtful.

00:43:36.260 Oh, I, I don't think I've still recovered quite from the magnitude of what was going on.

00:43:43.320 The magnitude of people ratting on each other, the magnitude of people tallying on each other,

00:43:47.680 the magnitude of still to this day, people aren't leaving the house.

00:43:51.880 I mean, it's like, it became such a long period of time for so many years that it almost kind

00:43:58.540 of reprogrammed people's thinking a little bit where I had someone the other day say,

00:44:02.720 pastor's been, you know, several years since then.

00:44:05.520 I don't think I'm ready to go to church yet.

00:44:07.760 I go, at some point, you got to take a leap of faith, brother.

00:44:10.040 You know, it's time to go.

00:44:11.640 And so that crippling mindset is going to take decades to overcome, you know, the whole thing.

00:44:18.620 And we just went and we, and decided we're going to feed, we're going to love, we're going

00:44:23.620 to serve people and took that aggressive response and never looked back.

00:44:27.860 And we found a lot of support from people, you know, in the departments that wanted something

00:44:31.920 good to go on.

00:44:33.320 But what was interesting is every night during the briefings, when he would speak, he would

00:44:40.320 say things like, well, because of COVID, we can do this because of COVID.

00:44:46.000 We can go forward on energy policy because of COVID.

00:44:49.960 And then, and you begin to watch every night and you realize that this was a great way

00:44:54.000 to acquire a lot of things, maybe acquire properties that couldn't sustain it anymore.

00:45:00.540 We had people coming around our building.

00:45:02.520 We bought it for 3.9 million.

00:45:03.920 The Catholic church sold our building in 1996 for 3.9 million.

00:45:07.500 People showing up, you know, making offers on the building.

00:45:10.580 We'll give you $200 million for 180 million in the most beautiful asset on the Hollywood

00:45:15.580 freeways, our building, 400,000 square feet.

00:45:18.360 And we'll say, not for sale.

00:45:19.660 How about 200 million?

00:45:20.820 Not for sale.

00:45:21.940 The call of God is not for sale.

00:45:23.280 Man, we're going to fight.

00:45:24.500 As long as we got fists, we're going to bite. 0.98

00:45:27.040 As long as we got teeth, we're going to gum the devil the death that we have to, you 0.88

00:45:30.800 know?

00:45:31.520 So we're just going to stay.

00:45:32.660 And then people just couldn't understand that because everything around us was being

00:45:35.220 shut down.

00:45:35.800 I mean, just 30, 40% of the businesses gone.

00:45:38.980 40% of the churches in LA couldn't make it because they didn't have buildings.

00:45:42.600 They had to rent facilities and that was a whole nother story.

00:45:45.800 So it's something that people will never understand who live outside of LA.

00:45:51.640 What it was like to go to a restaurant and people showing their IDs and their badges and

00:45:56.580 people would make, make badges, fake ones in order to get, it was just such a crippling

00:46:01.580 time in our city.

00:46:02.620 Yeah.

00:46:03.120 Before we started recording, you were talking about looking to the example of Nehemiah.

00:46:08.400 Can you talk a little bit more about that?

00:46:10.240 Yeah, you know, I kind of feel like Kevin Costner and Yellowstone sometimes fighting

00:46:14.440 for your property, but a better example of that, it really is Nehemiah.

00:46:19.280 You know, he, the Bible says he came to seek after the welfare of the people.

00:46:22.680 He had a call for a place that was really broken to be rebuilt.

00:46:26.440 And when he started rebuilding the wall, you know, he kept a little sword by him.

00:46:29.860 And he said, my primary objective here is to build, build, build.

00:46:33.840 I'm rebuilding this wall.

00:46:35.140 I got a project to do.

00:46:36.500 I'm going to keep doing it.

00:46:37.460 But if you get too close, they got the sword, you know, and that's kind of what we feel

00:46:40.840 here.

00:46:41.180 It's like, you know, we're going to build and we're going to be nice and we're going

00:46:45.500 to be nice and we're going to be nice and we're going to be nice until the time not to

00:46:50.160 be nice.

00:46:50.580 You know what I mean?

00:46:51.000 And so it's just one of those things where you just have to always keep that near.

00:46:56.160 You know, now a new thing they've come up with is you have to come up with $25 million

00:47:00.420 to retrofit your building for all buildings built from 1978 forward, I mean back, built

00:47:06.380 out of a certain material, which is our building.

00:47:09.840 So they're asking us to come up with $25 million in three years.

00:47:12.440 No, it's not going to happen.

00:47:13.360 I'm not going to pay it.

00:47:14.860 Impossible.

00:47:15.600 No, we're not.

00:47:16.460 Nor would I want to spend $25 million.

00:47:18.100 We could feed millions of people.

00:47:20.040 So that's not going to happen.

00:47:20.880 I've already decided we're going to win that and we're going to fight till the end.

00:47:24.320 But you have to have that mindset.

00:47:26.260 Like my natural instinct is an encourager, encourager.

00:47:29.260 We can do it and you'll build bridges.

00:47:30.840 We've had them all come here and let's work.

00:47:33.020 But it forces you to be a fighter.

00:47:34.600 It forces you because you love the people you want to serve so much.

00:47:37.960 You're like, no, this is not yours.

00:47:39.300 This is what God gave us.

00:47:40.620 When we face eminent domain, they want to take our building to build a public school there.

00:47:46.320 You know, that was another war we had to fight.

00:47:47.760 So you have to have kindness and love, encouragement and a winning spirit.

00:47:54.480 But you also sometimes have to show that side of you that you're willing to fight for what you love.

00:47:59.180 Okay.

00:47:59.600 There's a lot of people listening who are like, okay, I'm ready.

00:48:02.520 I am riled up now.

00:48:04.100 And maybe they don't live in L.A.

00:48:05.500 They live in different cities across the country.

00:48:07.380 And they're like, what is the first thing I should do to make sure I am effectively serving the vulnerable in my community?

00:48:14.560 I think the most important thing is to find the passion, the thing that you love most, the people that are hurting the most, and just start putting yourself in uncomfortable positions.

00:48:27.160 Like, maybe you partner with somebody who goes to places that you have a heart for.

00:48:32.420 And just start having one-on-one encounters with people.

00:48:35.000 And overcome that barrier in your mindset that says, I'm not qualified.

00:48:39.260 I don't understand.

00:48:40.440 All that stuff, it's just complete illusion.

00:48:44.300 You know, oftentimes people from a different perspective will have bigger impact on somebody who has issues that they don't have.

00:48:52.560 So it's like there's a lot of disqualifying factors in your mind that are dealing with someone.

00:48:58.840 Like, I can't make a difference here.

00:49:00.640 I can't do that.

00:49:01.840 But if you have a passion for something, either partner with someone or get yourself a little group together and just go out and take on those areas.

00:49:09.740 Take on the homelessness in the park.

00:49:12.300 Start talking to people.

00:49:13.280 Some of the best conversations I've ever had in my life were people who were really open to the gospel and open to talk.

00:49:19.540 So I think, first of all, you've got to get through the barriers of your head that says, I'm not qualified.

00:49:24.200 You are qualified and you're called.

00:49:26.740 And just show up.

00:49:28.860 And be ready for anything.

00:49:30.840 Be ready in the areas of street ministry for people to tell you they love you and then five minutes later cuss you out.

00:49:37.240 And they mean it both times.

00:49:39.560 But just realize that's a compliment.

00:49:42.160 They finally have someone to talk to.

00:49:44.060 And so if you have a passion for hurting people, I would encourage you, of course, to go in safety.

00:49:52.420 Find some people around you.

00:49:53.900 You can go as a group.

00:49:55.680 But just take it on.

00:49:56.860 Go for it.

00:49:58.320 Take the first step.

00:49:59.620 It's going to be uncomfortable.

00:50:00.560 And get the mindset of not feeling qualified out.

00:50:04.300 Or get behind somebody who's already doing it.

00:50:06.620 You know, because there's a lot of great warriors that have jobs and they work every single day.

00:50:11.820 But they can provide fuel to the front lines of people as well.

00:50:15.060 But just live active and live generous and live on the attack all the time.

00:50:20.420 And for those who do live in the L.A. area, they want to get involved, what should they do?

00:50:26.360 They should come to the Dream Center pretty much any time from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day.

00:50:31.900 And there will be an outreach that will be going out.

00:50:33.920 There will be a food truck going out.

00:50:35.320 There will be meals in the kitchen to serve.

00:50:36.900 There will be all kinds of things.

00:50:38.020 It's literally, we've made it that easy.

00:50:40.120 If you show up to the Dream Center 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.

00:50:43.120 And you mentioned this show, we have a volunteer sitting right outside to mobilize people on a daily basis.

00:50:49.540 And put them on a bus, a truck.

00:50:51.780 We'll go to Skid Row.

00:50:52.640 We'll talk to people.

00:50:53.640 The good news is we've paved the way in a lot of these neighborhoods.

00:50:56.900 So when you go there, if you say you're from the Dream Center, they'll love you.

00:51:00.020 So it's an easy integration into outreach to really get started.

00:51:04.620 That's amazing.

00:51:05.440 Matthew, thank you so much for just answering God's calling on your life.

00:51:09.480 And for the amazing work that he does through you and the Dream Center.

00:51:13.740 If you want to donate to the Dream Center, how can they do that?

00:51:16.700 Yeah, they can just go to dreamcenter.org.

00:51:18.780 And they can donate there.

00:51:20.140 And they can register somebody in their family who needs a free rehab program.

00:51:24.380 They can do that as well and support the Dream Center.

00:51:28.380 And what is one prayer that you hope people pray for the Dream Center every day?

00:51:33.080 That God would give us the ability to keep standing every single day.

00:51:43.080 That he would give us supernatural endurance.

00:51:47.100 That's all that we want.

00:51:48.160 We want to see this thing all the way through the end.

00:51:50.560 What's kept me there in L.A. all these years is when I started, I threw away every timetable

00:51:56.620 of what I wanted to happen in five years, ten years.

00:51:59.320 And I just said, in all thy ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your path.

00:52:02.160 And the moment I committed myself to the finish line is the moment the ministry really started

00:52:06.760 to break out.

00:52:08.140 Outlast everything.

00:52:09.460 Outlast everything.

00:52:10.440 Amen.

00:52:11.060 Thank you so much.

00:52:12.120 Thank you.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - June 24, 2025

Ep 1209 ｜ Jesus Is Moving in LA — Meet the Ministry Behind It ｜ Matthew Barnett

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