Calvary Chapel South Bay’s Backyard Mission Trip took place during a weekend in the month of March.

The team included 25 brothers and sisters who were excited to share the love of Jesus Christ with people living in various communities throughout Los Angeles.

As Pastor Dennis stated, “Our desire is to reach out to those that no one would normally reach out to; the homeless, the outcast, and the lonely.”

Additionally, we desired to meet the physical needs of the underprivileged, plant seeds of the gospel message in the hearts of unbelievers, and encourage those who are believers to continue fighting the good fight of faith.

Our mission started Friday afternoon at Long Beach Poly High School.

Long Beach Poly High

Since we arrived when the students were getting out of school, we talked with several high school students and planted seeds of the gospel.

One such occasion took place when some team members spoke to two cousins.

One cousin shared that his best friend in New York had died.

The other cousin said he was a Buddhist, but was interested in reading the Bible.

The team shared the gospel message with these students, encouraged them to read the Bible, and offered them prayer which the boys accepted.

Then we went across the street to a park where we talked with several children and their parents.

We made balloon animals for the kids as we shared the good news of Jesus Christ.

Next, we teamed up with the Word on the Streets Ministry to go evangelizing in West Hollywood.

West Hollywood

In West Hollywood, we separated into five groups which allowed us to spread out along Santa Monica Blvd.

Some of the people we encountered reacted defensively towards us and others were responsive.

However, each group experienced divine appointments where we shared the love of Jesus Christ and prayed for people.

One team member shared how she heard a man saying, “Where did all these Jesus people come from? They’re everywhere.”

The Warehouse

Saturday morning we came along the Homeless Ministry at the Warehouse.

The Warehouse is a place located on Hope Street in downtown Los Angeles.

The Homeless Ministry prepares a meal and provides a church service once a month for those living on the streets outside and around the building.

Before the church service began, we went out into the street and invited people to come in and join us.

After the service, we prayed with them and provided them with a meal.

It was a blessing to able to minister and to tell them that our hope is in Jesus Christ.

After that, we headed over to Mar Vista Gardens.

Mar Vista Gardens

Mar Vista Gardens is a housing project in Culver City.  One of the things that we did there was go door-to-door evangelizing.

One of our team members ministered to a girl who was going through a hard time in life.

The girl acknowledged that she needed strength to be able to go through this trial that she was experiencing.

The team member was able to point the girl back to God’s Word as he assured her that God would give her strength and that He has a plan and purpose for her life.

At the end of the conversation, the girl accepted Jesus Christ into her heart as her Lord and Savior.

We also invited the kids to come play a game of soccer.

Afterward, we had a mini-outreach for them which included worship and a message about sin.

We gave the children school supplies and then we all enjoyed some ice cream together.

We had a blessed time sharing the gospel message with the residents of Mar Vista Gardens.

From there, we went to 3^rd Street Promenade.

3rd Street Promenade

We were given a spot on the 3^rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica to perform our dances and dramas.

The dances and dramas are used as another way to convey the gospel message.

At the end of each drama, a team member shared the gospel and gave a brief testimony of how the Lord has changed their life.

The Lord uses the dramas in a powerful way to minister to the crowd watching them.

We also did one-on-one evangelism by passing out gospel tracts to the people walking by and watching the dramas.

We ended the night with a sweet time of worship and prayer.

Before we prayed, Pastor Dennis invited people from the crowd to join us in our prayer circle and many did.

Seeds were planted that night, the gospel message went forth, and the joy of Lord was present in a strong way.

Del Amo Blvd. and Carson / Vermont Outreach

Our last outreach event took place on Sunday afternoon.

We split into two groups.

One group went to minister to the people living in the RV’s parked along Del Amo Blvd by our church, and the other group went street witnessing on the corner of Carson Street and Vermont.

Both teams passed out care packages to the people they encountered who were in need of basic necessities.

One divine appointment took place on the street right outside of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

The group met a man sitting at the bus stop.

He shared that his wife was upstairs in the hospital preparing to have heart surgery. He asked them if they would go visit and pray for her.

He also asked them to encourage his wife because she was lacking in faith.

The team did just that.

They encouraged her with the Word of God and prayed for her health, the surgery, and for God to give her strength.

As the man walked the group out of the hospital, he was overcome with a deep sense of gratitude.

He hugged one of the brothers while thanking the team and giving praise to the Lord!

Thank You Lord For a Spirit-Led Weekend

It was an amazing weekend filled with divine appointments.

Many seeds were planted and the Word of God went forth.

We were truly blessed to see the hand of God working throughout the various communities we visited.

We are also thankful to the church body that lifted us up in prayer throughout our mission.

We give all the glory to God because without Him, none of these things would be possible!