LA Fires - The Church Responds Pt 1 (Live from PPS)

00:00 - Speaker 1 Welcome to Faithly Stories, the podcast that brings you inspiring tales from conversations with church leaders as they navigate the peaks and valleys of their faith journeys through their ministry work and everyday life. Join us as we delve into their challenges, moments of encouragement and answered prayers. The Faithly Stories podcast is brought to you by Faithly, an online community committed to empowering church leaders, pastors, staff and volunteers. Learn more at https://faithly.co. Get ready to be uplifted and inspired as we unveil the heart of faith through stories from the front lines of ministry. On the Faithly Stories Podcast. 00:42 - Speaker 2 Welcome to another episode Podcast on Faithly. We are so excited to be joining you. My name is Pastor Adam Durso and I have the esteemed privilege of interviewing my guest today, pastor John DeCure man. What's up, brother? 00:58 - Speaker 3 How you doing, man. I'm so glad to be on with you today, man, Just excited to be here with you. 01:04 - Speaker 2 Man, I'm super excited to be on with you today, man, just excited to be here with you. Man, I'm super excited to be with you. I was literally with you on the ground in Altadena just less than a week and a half ago, in a suburb of LA where your ministry is right on the grounds where one of the LA fires broke out. And we've done some other podcasts. We have some other rhythms, but we felt like this mattered so much that we needed to take a break from the normal rhythm and bring this up to the forefront. So I'm broadcasting live from the Pastors Prayer Summit here in the vicinity of New York City, where over 350 pastors have gone away to pray for 48 hours. You've attended this event, pastor, john, matter of fact, I think this is the first spot we met. 01:47 Is that true? 01:48 - Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah, the first time we got together was for 30, for 30 at this event actually in New York, and I met you through some friends of mine and just had an awesome time, just rejuvenating, meeting some new pastors, people I'd never met before. But, most of all, coming back here rejuvenated and kind of restored, ready to go, and so I can tell you, brother, we are praying for you. 02:12 - Speaker 2 New York has Cali on its mind man, and so we're praying for y'all. Let's start here, before we jump into why your ministry is where it is and your history. You know the fact that you and I became friends not just colleagues, but became friends West Coast, east Coast because we're both pastors dealing with similar things and made a commitment to a relationship. That relationship breeds trust, and so when the call is made, literally within 48 hours, to go out to Callie, I'm calling you, I'm texting you. Kevin, pastor Albert Tate, those guys Talk to me about why relationship amongst pastors matters so much, especially when a crisis emerges. 02:58 - Speaker 3 Let me tell you you said something that was really, I think, pivotal the whole trust thing is. I also call it like trust in connection to God's, like being his synchronization. God has a way of syncing things in ways that we can't explain, and the first relationship that was fostered was one between me and Pastor Kevin, and he kept telling me he's like man I got to tell you about I got a homeboy named Adam and uh, and I was like, okay, okay, and then he was like man, we going. He didn't even ask the trust that I had established over time with Kevin, because Kevin had given me, um, not just uh, advice and things of that nature, because he's very, you know, astute himself. The thing that I appreciate about Kevin is that he weekly or biweekly called me and checked on me to see how I was doing after the first time we met. So go ahead. So literally after weeks and weeks of that, when he said we're going to New York, I said, uh, what? Why are we? Why are we going to new york? He was like I'm taking you to the space. You got to meet my homeboy adam so immediately because I already established trust with him. When I saw you, it was already. It was already kind of nailed. And it was already nailed because me and kevin had already gotten so close that when it came to you the trust was already built and so and then when I got to 30 for 30, the first one, my life was changed almost immediately. 04:33 I never forget this was my first impression of 30 for 30. I come into this hotel, I go to whatever floor it's on, and I see this guy just looking out over the balcony. I never forget it and I go over to him and he looked like a guy who I listened to weekly and that I admire, and so I go. So I say to him, I say I said hey. I said are you Bishop Brenner? And then he says back to me, adam, he goes, what's your name? I, I said my name is john. He goes are you john? He like said he says the question back to me and I think the reason why he was doing that he was basically establishing, like, in this environment, we're, we're brothers. 05:19 It's not a. It's not a. It's not an up and down a hierarchy like I'm above or nothing, he, and so it was. It's not an up and down a hierarchy, like I'm above or nothing, and so it was. It's at that moment that I knew that I was in the right space, because it was a space where I could just be, I can ask questions, I can glean, I can get wisdom. And then, when I met you, it was the exact same. It was like I already knew you, yeah. 05:40 - Speaker 2 I think relationship is the currency of the kingdom, right? So why is it so important? Before we get into your background and I want to jump there in a second but why is it so important that we don't wait for the crisis to start establishing trust and relation? Why does it matter that trust and relationship already exist? So when a crisis like the LA fires happens, we've already got the currency to be able to make moves? 06:19 - Speaker 3 in the midst of devastation, but also from some religious organizations, also right, where the connections are being made more so for the light, for the limelight of the situation, because right now the light is on our city. But when you already have relationship, you don't have to go through all of the rigmarole of trying to discern the hearts of persons. As soon as you called me, I already knew what you was up to, because I know you and I know you care about me. The importance of relationship is I don't have to navigate through all of my spiritual giftings to try to discern whether you're for me or not. It's like straight to it. 06:58 As soon as you called me and you were like I'm coming, I was like, okay, let's go, let's do it Literally. So it wasn't literally, it was like meet me tonight. And I was like, as soon as Kevin called me, so we go tonight I was like no, it wasn't even a question in my mind, cause I already knew what you were after and that's, I think, that's that's the importance I think of really us bridging the gap between pastors in particular, cause when you because when you build a relationship, it makes it so much easier when crisis happens to just kind of activate, as opposed to having to build that trust and trying to figure out what people's motivations are and all that kind of a thing. 07:37 - Speaker 2 So I know you have served in this community, altadena, a suburb of LA. Give us a little bit around, both your ministry there and also what is Altadena as a community I know for me. You know, in New York everything's so condensed, we're on top of each other. Here, la is so much more spread out and every time I'm there I'm discovering other parts of LA and coming to you. So talk to me a little bit about your ministry background, leading up to how long you've been in this community and what this community specifically represents. 08:13 - Speaker 3 Absolutely so, I have. I'm born and raised Pasadena, and if you come to the Pasadena area, what you'll notice is that Pasadena and Altadena is separated by a street called Woodbury. So really we call it, for you know our name for both of it is we just call it the Dina, because the Dina kind of includes Altadena and Pasadena. So cause there's really just one, one city, but it's separated by one street. And my father was a prominent pastor in this area. So I'm born and raised here, pastor's kid, at the Holy Deliverance Pentecostal Church right, that's where I grew up, man, and it's interesting how God prepares you for times like this. And so I had a godfather that was a pastor on the other side of town named Bishop James Edward Henry, and what I would do because my primary, believe it or not, adam was I was a music guy, so I played the organ every Sunday morning from my dad, but I would come over to a church called Victory Bible Church and I would play for my godfather first and then run over to my dad's, because the Pentecostal church started a little bit later, right, okay, so over the years I end up kind of being at Victory all the time, and then when I graduated from college, I was here and, unfortunate events, my godfather actually passed away here at Victory and his best friend took over the church. Uh, after his best friend took over the church, I was around 26 years old and his best friend named Bishop White. He said I was praying and the Lord said you're supposed to be, uh, the the past, the executive pastor. The issue with that is that I had never preached before or pastored before, so I was like, wow, that's interesting. Um, I got ordained at 26 years old. I got ordained at 26 years old. I am now 48. So I have been. I was actually under my pastor for about 24 years. So I was executive pastor for 24 years and to date, I'm one year old this month as the lead pastor at Victory Bible Church, which is right in the middle of where everything is kind of happening. 10:32 So north of us you have Alta Dina we're considered to be in Pasadena. Right down the street from us, a church burned down. All the devastation is happening above. The reason why that's so significant is because right now, in terms of even getting more specific, we're talking about 7,800 homes and businesses that have been burnt there, and from that number, we're talking about well over a thousand homes burned to the ground and from our immediate church we're saying about 43 people in our church homes burned to the ground. In addition to that, a total of 90 houses that are damaged. So from that, all 90 of those families have not been able to go back to their homes because of the pollution in the air and all those types of things. 11:25 So just from our church we're talking about 90 people misplaced the numbers but, like Altadena is such a historic space for us because 17% of Altadena uh was actually African-American and the significance of that is in all of Pasadena it might be 2%. So all of our African-American uh people that that actually are our whole population, most of them lived in the Al-Sidina area, which historically was like, was kind of like our Black Wall Street, if you will right. It was a place where African-American, black and brown folks could purchase homes. So we're talking third and fourth generation. Our grandparents and our grandparents' grandparents purchased these homes and passed it from generation to generation. So for all of that space, I would venture to say for 70 to 80% of that city, alcindia, to be burned to the ground, it's not just the homes that were burned down, it's the blood and the sweat and the tears of our grandparents. That's in the foundation of Alcindia and that's what makes this thing so significant to us. 12:43 - Speaker 2 It's really hard to understand unless you see it. You had the opportunity to have the National Guard and the Sheriff's Office escort us into areas that people have not seen. Media hasn't even entered into these areas, but the entire infrastructure of this community wiped out. I mean power lines, gas lines, homes burnt to the ground. And you actually had sparks. You're so close to it. The sparks from the fire were literally leaping over your church. Help to describe that level of devastation for somebody that's trying to visualize what they cannot see reality is that particular day we had 100 mile an hour winds. 13:36 - Speaker 3 So this is what I'm trying to get people to understand when you have 100 mile an hour winds and you have a fire, that fire now is being blown into a space, right? So you have that one house that gets burned. But that house that's burning now is like the embers now are traveling. The thing is the travel speed of these embers are going everywhere because the wind is moving at a hundred miles per hour. So embers are being thrown all across our city and and and most of them are catching, Some of them are not. 14:06 When we were cleaning up our space, Adam, um, we were kind of going behind it or whatever we see, we seen all these embers that have been thrown by the wind on our building that just did not catch fire. Right down the street from us, though, by McDonald's, there's another church where the embers did catch, and this is we talking about 0.5 miles or less away Like there's another church that caught fire and burned to the ground. So this fire I'll try to get into people's minds. I tell people it literally looks like a war zone, like somebody came and dropped bombs on us, Wow, and that's kind of how it felt, pastor, one of the things that struck me when I came to your offices and your church. 14:50 - Speaker 2 You're set up as an outreach post. People are able to come there and get food and clothes and water and essentials because they ran out of their homes without any chance to pack or prepare. In New York, we don't get fires, we've gotten hurricanes, but at least with a hurricane, you know two, three days in advance something's coming. This happens in moments People are leaving their home. You're set up as an outpost. 15:15 But the thing that I remarked about was when we walked into your offices, on the whiteboard you had the names of pastors from your community not your staff, not from your church, but from the larger community that you were choosing to care for. You were saying, hey, we're not just going to pastor our congregation, we're going to pastor the community. Man, tell me, where does that heart come from when you're in the middle of crisis and most people think I just got to take care of myself, I just got to do whatever I got to do to help me and all of a sudden now you're not only helping your congregation and the 40 families that lost their homes, you're helping other pastors and other congregations, because you're pastoring the community, not just your congregation. 16:00 - Speaker 3 Let me tell you, man, when I was a kid I had this aspiration of. I had like a choir that I wanted to do, and there was a guy named Pastor Van Alstyne. He was my hero as a child and he was the pastor of Alcedeno Baptist Church and that's one of the churches that burned down. Right down the street from him there's a family by the name of the Burrell family and that pastor Thomas Burrell. He had an organ in his house. He would let me come to his house and play the organ. That house, his church, was also burned down. 16:42 I can go from pastor to pastor. So the reason why I felt so connected to these pastors is because a portion of my upbringing and a portion of who I am was made at those churches. I actually went to these schools that burned. There were several schools that burned down. My middle school was burned Like. I went to that middle school. So for me it's not just a victory thing, it's a community thing, and so it's important to me that we rebuild our city, because our memories and what makes us all who we are came from the community, not just from one space, not just from this church, but from our community, and that's the reason why it's so dear to me is because I'm watching spaces that represent my childhood and my upbringing, that made me who I am. Without those spaces, I can't be even on here with you, so I actually count a lot. I give those spaces a lot of credit and that's why I'm doing what I'm doing with the city. 17:48 - Speaker 2 Pastor Adam Durso here broadcasting live for the Pastor's Prayer Summit. Pastor John DeCure in Altadena, california, one of the suburbs outside of LA that has been devastated by the Los Angeles fires. And Pastor John. It's amazing because really the Christian church from the first century when the plagues hit, we've been known as the people that don't run from disaster. We run into disaster to help the needy. Your church is doing that on the ground and God has done some miraculous things. I mean, you told me a story about somebody who randomly showed up to your church, asked about how many families needed help, showed up. Come on, man, give that story. You give it better than I do, brother. 18:33 - Speaker 3 Like literally man. Prior that story you give it better than I do, brother Like literally man. Prior to this miracle, I was helping another organization that I'm a part of called the CCC, and we were attempting to try to raise some money to help all the churches, and so I was using, you know, our facility and our infrastructure to help that organization raise money. And after CCC left, you know, I just came in my office and I said a prayer to God. I said Lord, you know, um, like we need some help too, you know. You know, like, while I'm helping, I just want to be clear, like we also need help. And almost as soon as I say it, I get a knock on the door. This guy comes off the street that I've never seen before. I don't even know who he is. 19:12 - Speaker 2 You don't know him. He's not a member of your congregation. 19:15 - Speaker 3 You don't know this dude, I don't know this guy. He flies in at him from Arizona. Yeah, he flies in from Arizona. I don't even know where he is. So he we go into. He said he looks me in the eyeballs. He says pastor. He says you're exhausted and you're tired. He said and I've been watching what you've been doing Right and I go okay. He said I was sent to help you. I said okay, all right. He said how many of your members' houses burned down? I said 43. He said I'm going to write a check for $6,000 for each one of them. And, adam, he sat down and started writing the checks to the names of the. So imagine and trip this we wrote checks on Thursday, we delivered them on Friday to people and, bro, you should have saw their faces. It was like something that I have never experienced to be able to. I mean people that's waiting for FEMA, waiting for their insurance. They don't know how they go make ends meet, cause they needed something right now to be able to hand them checks. 20:17 - Speaker 1 Yeah. 20:18 - Speaker 3 And bro, they were opening the check item. Some of them they were so overwhelmed they couldn't even move. They were just. I mean, it was the craziest thing and that's what I already knew. I already had faith. But let me tell you something when I saw that, it gave me the hope and it also gave me the assurance that God really truly was in it. 20:38 - Speaker 2 Isn't it amazing, man, like when you put aside even your own needs, your own struggle, stuff, you're going through to meet the needs of others, how God comes because he knows exactly what you need. And be encouraged that, man, what we're doing on the front lines, god is cognizant of. And so, man, I've been all in Galatians 6, 9. If you do not grow weary in doing good in a due season, this is your due season, my brother. In the midst of chaos and devastation and craziness, this is a due season for victory. It's a due season for Pastor John the Cure and Albert Tate and the gospel to shine brightly and meet the needs of people on the ground. There too, man, I am, I'm so blessed to know you and be in relationship with you. 21:40 Now there are people that want to help. How can they help man? How can they give? How can they get involved? Because we know look, we know this money is getting to the ground, this money is getting to real people. Because we've talked about the fraud, we've talked about the real estate vultures that are trying to come in and buy land and shift wealth from outside the community. What do people need to know? Where do they need to go? Website? Where do they follow you on social, so people can connect with you even right here on faithly, so that they can take their faith and move it into action. 22:14 - Speaker 3 I would love that. So first, thank you, adam, for even um doing this man. I greatly appreciate it. Um, we have a fund that we started called LAFireReliefFundcom. If they go to that website, lafirerelieffundcom, they will actually be able to give directly to the persons and the people who've lost things in this fire, lost everything in this fire. Also, they can go to vbcpasadenaorg that's our church website, and they'll be able to. They can actually give that way too. So either way they give, they can go either to the lafirerelieffundcom or vbcpasadenacom. They can give either way, and that would be greatly appreciated on our end. 23:01 - Speaker 2 Man, we'll make sure that we put the website and the links in the faithy post on the social post so that people can take their faith and not just you know, pray from afar, but get involved, give, get behind you. We want you to know I'm broadcasting Locker Passes Prayer Summit in New York City, where there are 350 pastors praying for you, pastor John, praying for you, pastor John praying for the other pastors in the region, the community that's been devastated. Because we absolutely love you, man, my brother, I appreciate you, I appreciate calling you brother, being in relationship with you. For those of you that are watching online, thank you for joining us on this very special faithly podcast talking about the LA Fires and how the gospel is moving forward through ministries on the ground there. Get involved, click the links, Be a help, do more than just pray and believe. Be a help and help in action so that we can get behind our brothers and sisters out there in Altadena and the areas surrounding LA man. God bless you. 24:01 - Speaker 3 Thank you, man, I appreciate you. 24:03 - Speaker 1 Bless you, brother. Thank you for tuning in to the Faithly Stories podcast. We pray this episode gave you the encouragement you needed to continue on your journey. The Faithly Stories podcast is brought to you by Faithly, an online community committed to empowering church leaders, pastors, staff and volunteers. The Faithly digital platform offers innovative and practical tools and resources to enhance connection, foster collaboration and promote growth within the church and ministry space. Remember to subscribe, rate and review our podcast to help reach more listeners like you. Stay tuned for more uplifting tales from the front lines of ministry on the Faithly podcast. Stay bold, stay faithful and never underestimate the power of your own story.