LA Fires - The Church Responds Pt 2 (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 faithlyco. 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 podcast by Faithly. My name is Pastor Adam Durso and I am here live from the 35th Annual Pastors Prayer Summit. I want you to know LA West Coast, New York City, is praying for y'all. It was just a little over a week and a half ago that I had the opportunity to be with my brothers, Kevin and Domingo, on the ground the LA area in Altadena, in a historically black and brown owned community where the fires devastated this community, and so we're going to highlight that, we're going to share about it, we're going to provide an opportunity for leaders to interact and get involved. But before we go there, my boy, Kevin man, the first place we ever met was a fastest first summit, wasn't it. 01:28 Yes, it was yeah man Tell the audience what's going on with you, brother. 01:32 - Speaker 3 Yeah, hey guys, I'm super excited to be on here and celebrating honestly with my brother Adam Durso is doing. He is the epitome of what it looks like to really connect the body of Christ. So, Adam, thank you for being a great leader in this and a great example of this. But, man, a little bit about myself. I'm an executive pastor at Discovery Christian Church here in Marino Valley in Southern California. I also lead a network called XP Gathering. It was really coming from the place of my experience as an executive pastor, feeling lonely, feeling misunderstood, feeling under-resourced, and I was just like man. Can I just gather those of us in the second chair, those of us supporting the senior pastor's vision to just help us build peer relationships that resource and replenish each other so that we can last in our calling? 02:27 - Speaker 2 as well and you're the linchpin because you know we built this relationship, this friendship. But you know Pastor Domingo from the West Coast. I heard all these great things about him from my brother, mark Atkinson, from Joe Nittig, ceo of Care Portal and the GO Project Global Orphan Project, and the tremendous work that's being done all over the world and domestically to rescue kids that are at risk. Tell the audience a little bit about yourself. 02:50 - Speaker 4 Mi gente. You know I'm from Santo Domingo, the DR, born and raised in the DR, mi amigo, and yeah, 60 years of separation, right, no joke. I mean, I'm just very honored and blessed to be sharing this space together, hermano. So yeah, I really, really am. 03:04 - Speaker 2 Let's start with you, Domingo. I really believe that relationship is the currency of the kingdom, absolutely. So why does relationship matter, especially in developing those relationships before the crisis hits, so that we can then react as the body of Christ. When something like what we've experienced in LA, in Altadena, in the areas devastated by the fire, why does relationship just matter so much, brother? 03:31 - Speaker 4 Adam. We're made for relationships, simply put. I mean, god put us here on earth and we are made wired for relationship and God brought us together as one body many parts, and it all begins with relationship. I remember, and you and I are familiar with Larry Acosta and Urban Youth Workers. I remember Larry. A while back I used to play baseball professionally and the Lord led me in a different direction. 03:53 I came back to Cali and I remember going to Urban Youth Workers and Larry said something that stuck with me. He said well, this ministry, relationship just happens. So build a relationship, build trust, and God will go to work. You cultivate that soil of relationship and God is going to do beautiful things in and through those relationships. So I really believe in it. And once those relationships start in place, then the rest is just, you know. It also brings to mind Stephen Covey. He said the speed of trust. The speed of trust happens within the context of relationships. So relationships are crucial. I mean they're very important, and because of relationships we're being able to move quickly and deal with this crisis in LA. 04:34 - Speaker 2 Kevin, you're a linchpin in this relationship deal man, so tell us why is relationship so important when it comes to things like this and the way the body of Christ moves in these seasons? 04:43 - Speaker 3 Yeah, like this and the way the body of christ moves in these seasons. Yeah, yeah, I'm reminded man of like first john 4, 18 um, or first john 4 that talks about really like god is love and um, there's a verse that says nobody has ever seen god, but if you love one another, right is in this. And so it's like man, like as the body of. The best way to evangelize and show God is present and show God is real is when we can actually truly love one another, brothers, loving one another. And I think that, man, this was when you came through, when I was connecting with Domingo we just really went on the ground and just loved our brothers and sisters in Pasadena, in LA, in the midst of the devastation, and just loved on them. And I truly believe and believe that those are seeds not only seeds, because we've already seen fruit come from it already, but I think it's this constant seed that is being planted for the city of LA to truly experience and see God in real life. 05:44 - Speaker 2 So that's kind of what I see now. I mean, look at Jesus, yeah, man. 05:49 - Speaker 4 Let's look no further than Jesus. What did Jesus do with his 12? He built relationship. 05:54 - Speaker 1 He fried fish. 05:55 - Speaker 4 He fed bread. I mean, think about it. I've always enjoyed reading the word of God through the lens of relationships. How did Jesus relate to his disciples? What was it like? What was that dynamic like? To me that's been so enriching and makes it so real and practical, and that's what we're experiencing, Scott, in the context of relationships. So yeah, I just got to look to our Lord Jesus. He's the leader, the king of relationship. 06:16 - Speaker 2 Yeah, and you know, I think sometimes we think of the disciples like as all the same, but they were really different. Yeah, like they've got different ideologies. They've got all different kinds of upbringings. You know one's pro government, other one's anti-government. They got some stuff going on in the mix man. How do you do relationship in diversity without having to create uniformity? 06:42 - Speaker 4 That's good. I think we're all made in the image of God, right? I think it begins with that. We're all made in the image of God and we have to honor an individual's dignity. We have to see people through the eyes of God. God loves them, for God so loved the world yeah, for God so loved the world that he did what he gave. 06:58 And I think it's important for us to have that lens to really forget, to give us his heart, his eyes, his ears and look at others, regardless of the ideology of our differences, that this person was made in the image of God. And I have to honor and uplift that person, and when I do that, I'm uplifting the name of Christ. So it begins really understanding the way God sees us and the way we have to see our brothers and sisters across the room and forget it and really think about, especially in times of disaster, you got to be thinking about the common good, that's what's good for you, what's best for all of us, and how can we, as Christians really truly be salt and light in times like this? Not how to lie, but it's really in the way we honor one another. 07:36 - Speaker 3 I moved around and lived in multiple different countries, experiencing different personalities, different ideologies, and I've seen've seen man, the best way to connect with people is make them feel seen, make them feel heard, make them feel valued, and that's sums up love. And so, man, just loving on people, you can just start breaking the barriers um and and actually get to the same level of understanding. 08:03 - Speaker 2 You know, for a New Yorker coming out to the LA area a week and a half ago, you know New York, we're on top of each other. It's a really small piece of land when you think about the amount of people living here, whereas LA is kind of spread out and each of us had the opportunity to witness firsthand what was going on in the community, led by the National Guard, by the Sheriff's Office, to go into areas that have not been explored by media, have not been explored by people that are even owning homes in those areas. What was your reaction and I'll start with you, kevin what was your reaction to seeing firsthand, on the ground, that level of devastation? And D and domingo, feel free to chime in after that yeah, man, it was heartbreaking. 08:49 - Speaker 3 It was heartbreaking. I remember the first time I got out there to pasadena and where I was at the convention center, I'm literally hearing story of a guy walking in crying. He's like I just saw my sister's remains and and it's like how do you even, how can you comfort and even give any sense of ability to hope, outside of just being present with that person, praying for that person and believing that there's something greater that's going to come out of this? We might not understand it from our own understanding, but, man, if we can just be present in that with that person, because there's no words, there's no money, there's no, you know, there's no items that we can put together to bring back, you know that loss for that individual, it's this and prayer, you know, and hoping that there's a spiritual level that can be elevated and help that person. 09:45 - Speaker 4 Yeah, adam, the first thing that happens here. Different states have different alerts, whether it's tornado or hurricanes, but when the winds pick up here you'll get a warning. Hey, the gusts are going to be up to 70, 80 and I saw a hundred, like a hundred mile an hour gusts. That's pretty powerful and you wait. Uh, next thing, you know there's a powerful and you wait. Next thing, you know there's a fire. And I'm watching the news. 10:09 The images, adam, were apocalyptic, absolutely, I'm thinking, very surreal. Is this actually happening? And the speed at which the fire was moving and how overcoming it was. Wow, with the residents, with the fire department, I couldn't find it. It's something they couldn't. No one prepares for this type of thing, adam. No, I don't care what kind of systems you have in place. There's no way to prepare for what we experienced here in LA and the Palisades and then to see it happen also in Eaton Canyon, by the way, one of my favorite hiking places, and it was very surreal, very sobering. It really reminds me of the fragility of life, how fragile life is. Very sobering, and the more I delve in, the more I started looking into and connecting with people, the more I realized how, even though I was not impacted directly, so many people in my circle were impacted. My dad had to evacuate. 11:09 When I one of my first calls to Altadena when the fire happened was to my former boss I used to work there for seven years I said how are you guys doing? And no response. I said let me just. It was a group chat and because we wanted to provide assistance. But when I contact him directly he said my house is gone. My former supervisor said my house is gone. It's a kid close to home. Hours ago I received a picture of a home, a family that we're assisting where it's still, the before and after and really it hits you really hard. It hits you really hard. It's really heartbreaking and at the same time you see the resilience of people, the resilience in people, and that really impacts our faith. I mean, the last two sundays I spent reflecting and sharing lessons from the ashes. That's been the message lessons from the ashes, things that we can learn and how can we as a church engage in this process. 11:58 But but let me tell you the images. What you see is real and they're having the opportunity to to ride along you and and kevin and it. It's like it just took it to a whole different level. It's real. But but, man, you also see the, the signs of hope in the midst of all this. Signs of hope, I remember those are far close to me in the valley, maybe mile, two miles away. Years ago it was a six mile stretch and I remember driving through the canyon and it was charred. But then I remember stopping and seeing this little plant come from the ground, like wow, the signs of life. It's like wow. So you see that, in the midst of devastation and incineration, that you see, it's like wow, I know the signs of life and I know they're going to bounce back. And then the church plays a big role in that. The Clergy Community Coalition in Pasadena. The pastors come together to pray, to advocate for those who've been hurt. It's definitely a mixture of emotions that this brings. 13:01 - Speaker 2 Kevin, you know we're here live for the Pastors Prayer Summit 350 pastors from the New York region praying for all of y'all on the West Coast. We're here in an area like Altadena where real estate people are trying to get in and buy, you know, property out from under people and there's fraud and all that stuff. Give us a sense of what's really happening on the ground, kevin. 13:19 - Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm experiencing and what I'm seeing is, you know we're talking with people and families who've lost everything. You know we're talking with people and families who've lost everything. Part of it is like a lot of families are upset because they're trying to get an understanding of what happened, because some of the families were literally seeing some fire trucks pass their homes as they were burning down to go I don't know, somewhere else, and they might have, rightfully so, had a plan etc. Else, and they might have rightfully so had a plan, etc. But these families are questioning what happened. Something was missed and we need answers and there's no real answers being given and so a lot of families are upset. 13:58 We're seeing a lot of families also getting to a point of feeling like they are just being seen as hand-me-downs. 14:06 They're not getting a sense of dignity in regards to what they're actually really needing. They're feeling like they're just being passed around to people who are wanting to serve them with good intentions but not intentionally really seeing them and hearing what they're actually are crying for. Other things that I'm seeing on the ground is we're seeing a level of families slowly going back to their homes or going back to their neighborhoods to even just see what's some remains that are left, some things that they maybe can collect back, and so we're seeing them having to somewhat relive the trauma. And actually, when we were there, you guys recall, uh, there was a fire that was picking up in santa clarita and and it was like, immediately, one of the one of the ladies that were, who was who was working with us, like you can tell, like she was literally almost being being triggered by that fire, that's close to her house and you can tell, like she's processing, like okay, is this another incident that's going to be as devastating as the one we were just recovering from? 15:17 - Speaker 2 Why is it so important to deal both with the trauma and to treat people with a sense of dignity? It's not just hey, you should be happy that we gave you some hand-me-downs, Like. People want to feel like they're seen and they're heard in the midst of this devastation. 15:32 - Speaker 3 We're people that have emotions, that have feelings, that have a level of pride and a sense of understanding what our worth is. We're sons and daughters of the Most High, so there's a level of needing to understand that we got to treat this not just like another project. We got to treat this as an initiative. That's actually my hope is not to just get people back on their feet, but more, even more so, get people back and even better than where they were before and so, and it requires a level of commitment that's not short-term but long-term, and so that's what we're fighting, at least for us, at least I know all of us on this call are fighting for is man, let's think about the long-term game versus just the short-term, just to check off the box, like, hey, we helped out LA for this one initiative or this one project, but no, it's a long-term initiative to get people at a higher level. 16:33 - Speaker 2 Kevin. I mean you couldn't have set up the next portion of this conversation any better than that, domingo. Let's talk about the partnership Care Portal Go Project one of your other partners stepping in both for immediate response and long-term sustained response to the needs that are on the ground there. Let's highlight that because, in the midst of devastation, the church ministries are showing up to meet the needs of those most vulnerable. 17:02 - Speaker 4 Yes, it's one of the hats I wear and an honor and a humble to wear the hat as the West Zone field director for Care Portal. And one of the first things that happened right after the fire was that our Southern California Area Director, bob, reached out and said, domingo, is it time to turn on disaster relief? I said I just put 100%. I said we got to turn that on immediately. It's not something that's on all the time, it's something that, when disaster happens, we have that function and the platform that allows us to activate that. Well now, that means because Care Portal as a platform, it drives action primarily for children and families in crisis. When you turn on that function, it removes that. It allows agencies and partners to turn to requests on behalf of anyone who was affected by the fire. So the child is no longer required to be a part of the story, it's just for anyone who was affected. So it allowed us to immediately activate, to communicate with our partners and let them know, hey, this function has been activated. To let our teachers know, hey, this function was activated. Not only that, but, on top of it, to be able to reach out locally and nationally and identify partners who are ready to give and to help establish two funds to provide real help in real time. That was very significant because, even if we activate the function, if there are no funds, there's no help. So it's really a collaborative effort of the platform, along with the agencies who want to request, churches who've had requests, but also champions and sponsors. You know what we're in it with you. We'll get your back. We're going to help make this happen. That's what's made it possible to assist families and come alongside them. And something very important, right, speaking of trauma, what we strive for as we meet the tangible needs is for meaningful connection. So I wear a church responder hat, not only my care portal field director hat, but I wear a church responder hat, not only my care portal field director hat, but I wear a church responder, and so does Kevin, and this is giving me a lens into families that are going through right now. It's a chance to come alongside and I just here's a handout, here's a check, here's a gift card and I was like, how are you doing? How are you doing? And to really listen, because God is operating a movement in the midst of this and transforming lives, theirs and ours. So, really, chance to listen. I'll just give you one brief example of a request that came via the Department of Children and Family Services. It's one of the very first ones that came in. They lost everything. They lost their home. They lost their home. It burned and needed some help for an Airbnb. 19:25 When I spoke with the mother and with her nephew, I learned more about this family. For example, this grandma had lost her son to road rage in 2020. Road rage Someone just shot him. Two years later, she loses her daughter in a tragic car accident. Two plus years later, they lose their home. And in the midst of this conversation, she's declaring and proclaiming the goodness of God. She's talking about how good God is and how God is going to help them. 19:57 Through that, I mean, that conversation was more for me than it was for her. That's the power of these connections I would make where we're able to nourish and nurture one another. It's not me helping you. It's that power dynamic disappears Like let me take a listening position, positive learning and coming alongside and offering prayer, but also we receive much. We're reciprocated in return. So it's very powerful. Again, going back to your first point, the power relationship as we meet these tangible needs. You got to look at the relationships that are being formed, that are being shaped, and how our lives and our faith has been impacted through those relationships. 20:51 - Speaker 2 You turn on this disaster relief switch. It now connects churches and ministries now literally around the country with what's happening on the ground. I'm sitting in an office in Long Island, new York, with the CEO of Care Portal, joe Nittig. We're having a conversation about a whole bunch of different things. He gets a phone call from somebody who's in LA about responding in the moment and there's so much fraud out there and people trying to take advantage. He says I want to make sure every need is vetted, so I want to give the money away, but the need's got to be vetted. Well, what better way to do that? But in relationship to local churches and ministry that know the community. And then they're like not only are we going to fund it, we're going to fund the staff that's actually implementing it. Man, I mean, to me, domingo meant having that level of partnership relationship and being able to move with that level of agility. That's rare in the body of christ brother yeah, again goes goes back to relationships. 21:48 - Speaker 4 You have to have those established and when you ask, the red tape is gone, the bureaucracy is gone, is it? What do you need? I know you, I trust you. You've been vetted, I've vetted you. I know that you are a trustworthy individual. Yeah, I love what a friend of mine says here. He's Rogelio. He says I don't work with organizations. 22:09 - Speaker 3 Is Rogelio, he says I don't work with organizations, I work with people. Yeah, that seals it. 22:13 - Speaker 4 It's true, he says I don't work with LAPD, I work with the tech to De La Rosa. I don't work with Windsor Hole Ministries, I work with Domingo. It really goes back to that, that type of trust, and that expedites the move and that allows us to be responsive and step in in real time. 22:29 - Speaker 2 So, kevin, let me ask you this question. Somebody's sitting there, they're a leader, they're watching this on a whole plethora of different platforms and social media channels and websites, and unfaithfully of course, and they want to be connected and they want to move from their faith, their prayer, to action. 22:48 - Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah, I mean in regards to like what we do with xp gathering, um, I invite them to follow us on instagram, xp gathering, and then just follow along with some of the things that we're doing to get involved in community, especially local communities, so the body of christ is functioning together locally, um, and then on our website, xpgatheringcom, there's a newsletter you can sign up for and we'll get you updated news updates in regards to what this network is involved with and especially the partnerships that we have as well. 23:21 - Speaker 2 So, lingo man, how do people move to action? Man, how do they give People that don't know about Care Portal maybe they want to plug into this they want to give to people that are on the West Coast that are dealing with this level of devastation. 23:33 - Speaker 4 Yeah, step number one visit the website at careportalorg. Careportalorg, and we also have an LA relief fund. The link is a bit long so I can share it here, but you can reach out to me directly. I'm going to give you two emails domingo D-O-M-I-N-G-O dot MOT, m-o-t-a-t at careportalorg as a field director. But also reach out to our local Southern California Air Director, bob Hudson, b-o-b dot H-U-D-S-O-N at careportalorg and tell him that you're interested in getting involved in some capacity and you would like to receive the fire relief, the link to the fire relief fund, and we'll provide that for you. But again, it's by relationships. We don't mind you matter for putting our information out there and connecting with you. We'd love to. 24:14 - Speaker 2 Yeah, and what we'll do is what we want to make sure is, you guys have got profiles on faithly. That's the beauty of faithly, right. Faithly is connecting Christian ministry leaders to each other, and so the fact that we can not only hear a great podcast like this, we'll put the links in the bio and then we can be able to connect with each other, to move people from faith and prayer to action and believe in God and actually doing something. As James says, faith without works is dead man, and so we can't just walk by LA and be like, be warm and well fed brothers. You know we we hope y'all are all good, you know, shout out we love you. No, no, no, we're going to do something about it. And so you know, from New York to LA, man, we want to let you know there's lots of love. We're trying to show y'all some love. We're going to move it to action and do something that continues to uplift our brothers and sisters that are on the ground doing tremendous work by the gospel of Jesus Christ, through local ministries to those that are most vulnerable, those that have been devastated by these LA Fires. 25:13 My brother, kevin man, I love you, domingo, we got to get you out here to New York City for one of these Baptist retreats pretty soon. Man, I love you both. Thank you for joining me on this Faithfully podcast. My name is Pastor Adam Durso. Follow along at faithfullyco. Follow along on all the social handles for more information on how you can be involved, how you, as a leader, can stay connected to other leaders through relationship. God bless you. Bless you, brother. 25:39 - Speaker 1 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. 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