CHURCH IN THE CITY 3: Better Than Oscar in Torrance, California

By Michael D. Starks

Victory is not always a platform experience, nor is it an Academy Awards red carpet celebration! Through God”s eyes victory is a spiritual celebration.

Imagine a building in an inner-city project infested with gangs, a building with no hope, a community with low self-esteem, and schools with no vision in a predominantly Hispanic, Afrocentric area.

Hope has come to just such a community through the ministry of Greater First Christian Church, Torrance, California. From December 1999 through April 2005, the congregation has baptized 86. Attendance has grown from 17 to 380. And the numbers tell only part of the story.

Winning the Total Family for Christ (Joshua 2:12-14) is our theme. Our ministry has included a summer spectacular, city carnivals, small-group Bible studies in a project that was once the most dangerous neighborhood in its city, cancer awareness, release time ministries, and KFC (Kids For Christ, and We”re Not Chicken, Either!).

We have seen a sour city become a city of spiritual celebration.

Thanks to Church Development Fund, Stadia, and a host of other supporters, dreams do come true! Greater First Christian Church sits on a 2.5-acre site with multiple classrooms, large office spaces, and a perfect setting for worship services. But people are our real focus. We have launched a multicultural ministry in the very heart of a city that needs Jesus.

Taking a city back is better than receiving an Oscar. It”s an eternal celebration.

Michael Starks is pastor/teacher with Greater First Christian Church, Torrance, California.