LA Fires - The Church Responds Pt 2 (Live from PPS)

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 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. Welcome to another podcast by Faithly. My name is Pastor Adam Gerso and I am here live from the 35th annual pastors prayer summit. I want you to know L.A. 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 in the L.A. area in Altadena in a historically black and brown on 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 before we go there. My boy, Kevin, man, the first place we ever met was a pastor's first summit, wasn't it? Yes, it was. That's how the audience was going on with you, brother. Yeah. Hey, guys, super excited to be on here and celebrating honestly with my brother, Adam Derso 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 and a great example on 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 birthplace of my experience as an executive pastor, feeling lonely, feeling misunderstood, feeling under resourced. And it 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 pure relationships that resources and and replenish each other so that we can last in our calling as well. And you're the linchpin because, you know, we built this relationship, this friendship, but you don't pass a domingo from from the west coast. I heard all these great things about them from my brother, Mark Atkinson from Jonathan 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. Oh, tell the audience a little bit about yourself. Mehande, you know, I'm from Santo Lomingo, the DR, born and raised in the DR, my amigo, and yeah, six acres of separation, right? No joke. I mean, I'm just very honored and blessed to be sharing this space together in my honestly, I really, really am. Let's start with you, Domingo. I really believe that relationship is the currency of the kingdom. Absolutely. Why does relationship matter, especially in developing those races before the crisis hits so that we can then react as the body of Christ when something like what we've experienced in LA and out to Dina in the areas devastated by the fire? Why does relationship just matter so much, brother? Adam, we made for relationships. Simply put, I mean, God, God put us here on earth and we are made wired for relationship and got brought brought us together. There's a by one body, many parts and it all begins to release. I remember I and you and I are familiar with the Larry Costa and Irma youth workers. I remember Larry a while back. I was I was a play baseball professor in the Lord, led me in a different direction. I came back to Cali and I remember going to Irma youth workers and Larry says something that's stuck with me. So say, well, this ministry relationship just happens. So build the relationship, build trust and and God will go to work. That's equal to that soil 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 and plays, then the rest is just, you know, I also also brace to mind as Stephen Covey said, the speed of trust that the speed of trust happens within the context of relationship. So relationship is crucial. I mean, they're very important. And because of relationships, we're being able to to move quickly and and they deal with this crisis in LA. Kevin, you're a linchpin in this relationship deal, man. So tell us why it's really so important when it comes to things like this in the way the body of Christ moves in these seasons. Yeah. Yeah, I'm reminded man of like first John for 18 or for sound for that talks about really like God is love. And 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 Christ, 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 love one another. And I think that man, this was, you know, when you came through when, you know, when 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 in the midst of the devastation and just loved on him. And I truly believe in 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 the sea God in real life. So that's kind of what I was going to do. Yeah, man. Yeah, man. Let's look no further than Jesus. What did Jesus do? Well, this is 12. He built relationship. Yeah. He fights fish. 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 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 experienced God in the context of relationship. So yeah, I just got to look to our Lord Jesus. He's a leader of the king of relationship. Yeah. I mean, 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. Yeah. They've got all different kinds of up rings. You know, one's pro government. Other ones anti-government. Right. They got some stuff going on in the mix. How do you do relationship in diversity without having to create uniformity? 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 individuals dignity. We have to see people through the eyes of God. God loves them. Forget so love the world. Yeah. Forget so love the world that he did. He gave. And I think it's important for us to have that lens to really forget to give us his heart, his eyes, 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. Get it to be thinking about the common good. Okay. That's just what good for you. What's the common what's best for for all of us? And how can we as Christians really truly be so light and times like this? Not highlight, but and it's really in the way we honor one another. I moved around and lived in multiple different countries, different experiencing different personalities, different ideologies. And I'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 sums up love. And so man, just loving on people, you can just start breaking the barriers and actually get to the same level of understanding. You know, for a New Yorker coming out to LA area a week and a half ago, you know, New York, we're on top of each other. It's 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 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 a domingo? Feel free to chime in after that. Yeah, man, it was heartbreaking. It was heartbreaking. I remember the first time like I got out there to Pasadena and where I was at the convention center. I'm literally hearing story of the guy walking in, crying. He's like, I just saw my sister's remains. And it's like, how do you even, how can you comfort and even give any sense of the 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, there's no items that we can put together to bring back that loss for that individual. It's this and prayer and hoping that there's a spiritual level that can be elevated and help that person. Yeah, Adam, the first thing that happens here, in different states have different alerts. Well, there's tornado hurricanes. But when they once pick up here, you'll get a warning. The guys are going to be up to 70, 80 and I saw 100 like 100 miles an hour. Gus, that's pretty powerful. And you wait. Next thing you know, there's a fire and we're watching the news that images at them were apocalyptic. Absolutely, I'm thinking very surreal. Is this actually happening and the speed at which a fire was moving and how overcoming it was with the residents with the fire department, I couldn't fight it, it's something, it's something they couldn't know what to prepare for this type of thing, Adam. No, I don't care what kind of systems you have in play. There's no way to prepare for what we experienced here in LA and the palisades and then to see it happen also and eaten can you by the way, one of my favorite hiking places. And it was very surreal, very sobering, hadn't really reminds that 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. When I first calls to Altadena on the fire, happened with some of my former boss. I used to work there for seven years. I said, how are you guys doing? And in no response, let me just, it was a group chat and because we wanted to provide assistance, but when I contacted him directly, he said, my house is gone. My former supervisor, my house is gone. So it hit close to home. Hours ago, I received a picture of a home, a family that were assisting where it showed the before and after. And really, it hits you really hard. It hits you really hard. It's really hard breaking. And at the same time, you see that the resilience of people, the resilience in people and that really impacts our faith. I mean, the last two Sundays, I spend reflecting and sharing lessons from the ashes. That's a little bit of a message, lessons from the ashes, things that we can learn and how can we, as a church engages process. But let me tell you, the images, what you see is real. And they're having the opportunity to ride along with you and Kevin. And it just took it to a whole different level. It's real, but by man, you also see the signs of hope and the miss of all this. Signs of hope. I remember those are far close to me and 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 hard. But then I remember stopping and seeing this little plant come from the ground like, wow, the signs of life. Like, wow, so you see that in the midst of devastation and incineration that you see, like, wow, I know the signs of life. And I know that 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 past has come together to pray to advocate for those who've been hurt. It's definitely a mixture of emotions that this brings. Kevin, you know, we're here alive for the past's prayer summit, 350 pastors from the New York region, praying for all of y'all on the west coast. We're hearing in an area like Al-Tadena, 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. 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, who've lost everything. Part of it is like a lot, 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 to go, I don't know, somewhere else. And they might have rightfully sold had a plan, et cetera, but these families are questioning what happened. Something was missed and we need answers and there's no real answers being given. It's a lot of families are upset. We're seeing a lot of families also getting to a point of feeling like they are just being seen as hand-me-downs. 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 family slowly going back to their homes or going back to their neighborhoods to even just see what 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, actually, you guys recall there was a fire that was picking up in Santa Clarita and there was like immediately one of the ladies who was working with us, like you can tell like she was literally almost 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're just recovering from? 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 down. It's like people want to feel like they're seen and they're heard in the midst of this devastation where 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. You know, 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 in the requires a level of commitment that's not short-term or long-term. And so that's where we're fighting, at least for us, not at least that. I know all of us on this call fighting for us. 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. 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. Let's highlight that because in the midst of devastation, the church ministries are showing up to meet the needs of those most vulnerable. Yes, it's some of the hats I wear and an honor and a humble tour that had 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 Director, Bob Rich Dauce, is Domingo, is it time to turn on disaster relief? I just put it 100%. 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 request a behalf of anyone who was affected by the fire. So that 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, let our children know, hey, this function was activated. And 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 and real time. That was very significant because even if we activate the function, if there are no funds, there's all help. So it's really a collaborative effort of the platform along with the agencies who want to request churches who have requests, but also champions and sponsors. You know what, we're in it with you. We got your back. We're going to help make this happen. That was made it possible to assist families and come alongside them. And something very important, right? Speaking of trauma, what we strive for is to meet the tangible needs is for meaningful connection. So I wear church responder hat, not only my Care Portal field director hat, but I wear church responder and so does Kevin. And this gives me a lens into the families that are going through right now. It's a chance to come alongside. And I just hear the handout. He's a check. He's a gift card. And I was like, how are you doing? How are you doing? And to really listen, because God is operating and moving the midst of this and transforming lives there's an ours to really chance to listen. I'll just give you one brief example of the request I came via the Department of Shiller Family Services. It's one of the very first ones I came in. They lost everything. They lost the home. They lost the burnt and needed some help for an Airbnb. 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 and a tragic car accident. Two plus years later, they lose her 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 through that. I mean, I think that conversation was more for me. That was for her. That's the power of these connections I will make where we are able to nourish and nurture one another. It's not me helping you. That power dynamic disappears. Let me take in listening position, posh of learning, really listening and coming alongside and often prayer, but also we receive much that we're reciprocated and returned. So it's a very powerful, again, go back to where you first point. The power relationship, as we meet this tangible needs, we 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. That because care for those got a platform that normally assists churches, meaning the needs of children that are at risk, you turn on this, you know, disaster relief switch and now connects churches and ministries now literally around the country with what's happening on the ground. Yes. I'm sitting in an office in Long Island, New York with the CEO of Care Portal, Joe Niddy. 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, you know, fraud out there and people trying to take advantage. He says, I want to make sure every need is better. So I want to give the money away, but the needs 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 back to relationships. You have to have those establish and when you ask, it's the red tip is gone. Did bureaucracy is gone? Is it what do you need? I know you're trusty. You've been vetted. I vetted you. I know that you're a trustworthy individual. Yeah. I love what a friend of mine says here is in Rojelio. He says, I don't work with organizations. I work with people. That feels it. It's true. He says, I don't work with LAPD. I work with detective Delarosa. I don't work with Lindsay Hall Ministries. I work with Domingo. It's ring goes back to that. That type of trust and that expedites the move and that allows us to be letting our feet and allows us to be responsive and step in in real time. So, Kevin, let me ask you this question. Somebody is sitting there. They're a leader. They're watching this on a whole plethora of different platforms and social media channels and websites and on faithfully, of course, and they want to be connected and they want to move from their faith, their prayer to action. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, in regards to what we do with XP gathering, 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 community. So, the body of crisis functioning together locally. Then on our website, XPGathering.com, there's a newsletter you can sign up for and we'll get you updated news, stuff dates, in regards to what this network is involved with, and especially the partnerships that we have as well. Domingo, how do people move to action? How do they give? How do 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 devastation? Yes, step number one, visit the website at care portal.org, care portal.org, and we'll 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-m-o-d-m-o-t-at-care portal.org as a field director, but also reach out to our local Southern California Air Director, Bob Hudson, B-o-b-d-h-u-d-s-o-n, at care portal.org and tell you 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. It's by relationships. You don't mind. You might not have put in our information out there and connecting with you. We'd love to. 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. 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 believing God and actually doing something. As James says, faith without works is dead, man. And so we can't just walk by L.A. and be like, eat warm and well fed brothers. We hope y'all are all good. Shout out. We love you. No, no, no, we're going to do something about it. And so from New York to L.A., 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 L.A. Five. My brother, Chevin, man, I love you. Domingo, we're going to get you out here in New York City. But one of the factors retreats pretty soon, man. I love you both. Thank you for joining me on this faithfully podcast. My name is fast to Adam Durso. Follow along at faithfully.co. 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 languages through relationship. God bless you. Bless your brother. Thank you for tuning in to the Faithless Stories podcast. We pray this episode gave you the encouragement you needed to continue on your journey. The Faithless Stories podcast is brought to you by Faithless, an online community committed to empowering church leaders, pastors, staff, and volunteers. The Faithless 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 Faithless Podcast. Stay bold, stay faithful, and never underestimate the power of your own story.