Trains, Graffiti & Prayer

We are still on the road of raising the support we need to begin serving and living amongst the poor and broken of South Central Los Angeles. Sometimes we feel like this train parked in the train yard in the picture below—not at our ‘final’ destination yet…still being loaded up. The wonderful thing, however, with our everywhere God is there is no lost time in looking out the window of our train and praying.

Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times
The MTA (Metro Transit Assassins) graffiti on the L.A. River between the 1st St. Bridge and the 4th St. bridge on Jan. 28.

I’ve recently started glancing at the LA Times for articles of interest to fuel prayer and understanding of the vast metro area we are going to serve. A recent article on a notorious tagging crew caught my eye. Seven members were arrested for their vandalism. Authorities say the Metro Transit Assassins (MTA) created the city’s largest tag along the concrete banks of the Los Angeles River. The painting is three stories high and half a mile long! This might sound strange, but as I pray for Los Angeles and the people in every corner—especially those in the poor, dark, cold, forgotten corners of this huge expanse of cement and noise… the big vision and uninhibited expression that these taggers have is the type that I want to see and watch Jesus breath into as we train up leaders for Christ’s Church. I would love to help mentor and train these guys as they show me some of their skills with the paint can—I’d like to take them from adrenaline addicts who have no respect for the laws of the land to Jesus lovers with a heart that breaks for their city—black and white, Latino and Asian. There is so much potential, so many souls struggling to know Life. I’d love to have these 7 guys be the first in our new church…the up and coming leaders. I imagine them melting in the arms of a loving, accepting appreciating God—the one who gave them their artistic skills, the one who wants to take great risks for Him – to make His name, not their moniker, known.

Mel Melcon / LA Times “It is estimated that it took 400 gallons of paint to create this MTA mural.”

If you have not yet given financially to support these lives that God has called us to bring to Him and train up in love, service and leadership please don’t wait any longer. We need as many people as possible to join the team. Once we get to the city we’ll hit the ground running, but we can’t get there until we have all of our support. Every penny given goes to what we’ll be doing in Los Angeles. We love special gifts—they’ve helped us get closer to our goal, but it is the monthly gifts that will sustain the work for the longer haul. Please ask God what you’re roll is in saving the abandoned and abused single-mother, immigrants struggling with spiritual and social oppression, and the many ‘orphaned’ youth living on the streets caught up in the ‘adult world.’ We’re preparing to be Jesus’ hands and feet – an outward and practical expression of His love to the dirty, unthinkable, hurting place in the inner city and the inner hearts of many.

Please pray with us about the following:
-An increase in monthly support. We’d like to see a jump from 28% to 50% by March.
-Substitute jobs to continue coming in to support us while we remain in Portland, OR.
-Grace over us as a family in this time of transition and preparation.
-God’s timing and bringing together of our team that we’ll be working with in Los Angeles. We haven’t formed anything formally yet…please pray that God would knit our hearts together with like-minded people that share our vision and heart to do the work in South Central LA.

Thank you for caring. We pray that God is moving in, on and around you in new and wonderful ways. Let’s press in more and more to His goodness and make it known to all the world!

In Christ. For Christ,
Chad & Fabiola Wolyn