Woman's Dream Gathering Becomes Real at Grace City LA Church

Kimberly Yu’s dream from more than a dozen years ago to hold a gathering that highlights the transformative life stories of women who have suffered much and gained hope through Jesus becomes real this Saturday (May 12, 2018).“I know God can heal broken hearts and broken souls and that’s really what this conference is about,” said Yu in an interview with TogetherLA about the upcoming HOPE Conference to be held at Grace City LA. “We want women to know that they are not alone and that there’s hope.”Yu, who said she experienced a myriad of difficult times and bad choices, believes God clearly showed her a dream or a vision of a meeting in which five “regular” women walked up in front of a gathering of women, one at a time to speak about how their lives used to be and what God has done in their lives.Pastor Steve Cha of Grace City LA, a young church in downtown LA, said the HOPE Conference is the church’s first ever. This is a women’s conference designed to exhort women struggling in depression, anxiety, hopelessness, lack of purpose, and sin issues that can only be healed in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the church stated.“It is also a great equipping day for women desiring the practical tools to help exhort other lost and hurting women in the faith,” organizers said.The guest speakers include Marlene Barba, Kimberly Yu, Hope Delabar, Cynthia Shutt, and Liza Uriarte. A time of worship, fellowship, Q&A, and prayer will also be included. The free conference is scheduled for 10 am to 4 pm.Yu, who will also be one of the speakers, described the speakers as not necessarily experts in the sense of having a professional identity. “We are experts from the school of hard knocks. In the street game. How to survive when you don’t have a choice,” she said.“There’s lots of stories I can tell you right now about how I shouldn’t even be alive right now,” Yu said. Testimonies of transformation will include periods of homelessness, prostitution, addiction, physical and mental abuse, and the loss of loved ones.Yu said she was shown through attending a recent marriage conference that it’s okay for those giving testimony to still be going through a process.She said that she heard from people that “still need healing and [their testimonies] are still very real and raw.”“That’s what God wants to bring to that stage. He wants those testimonies not to be powdered up and read from a paper word for word. He wants it to come from the soul of those women just like the vision he gave me more than 12 years ago,” she explained.This conference is FREE. Please RSVP here to reserve a spot for you and your guests.

Ministry Launches to Help Firmly Place Faith Alongside Your Work

God cares for every area of your life, and although it may seem obvious, He cares about how you live out your faith at work and inside the workplace. That's an area of our lives that could use more attention from churches, said Steve Lindsey, who is the visionary behind the Center for Faith + Work Los Angeles (CFWLA).CFWLA is a gospel-centered non-profit dedicated to transforming our relationship to work, fostering human flourishing, and renewing Los Angeles, states the organization. Lindsey recently shared his vision with Together LA, and about the group's first conference to be held in Santa Monica on April 1. The CFWLA is partnered with Pacific Crossroads Church for "cultural renewal to equip, connect and mobilize the church, sent out to care for the world of work."Lindsey's answers to four questions about CFWLA from TLA are below.TLA: What inspired you to start this ministry?Steve Lindsey: My interest in integrating faith with vocational life goes back to the '80s (though I'm not really that old). I loved early exposure to Francis Schaeffer’s teachings that God cares about every area of life. Yet my vocational work seemed under-addressed in church contexts and ministry, and felt lacking any ultimate value or purpose to God beyond providing for my family and church or being a platform for evangelism. After much reading, prayer, research, and discovering the pioneering work of the Center for Faith and Work in NYC at Redeemer Presbyterian Church (Tim Keller's vision), my wife Margaret and I saw that such a center located in Los Angeles could be just such a catalyst for transforming our view of work and it's pivotal place in God's kingdom.TLA: How is the Center for Faith + Work Los Angeles unique?Lindsey: CFWLA is unique in its addressing the needs of working believers in three primary ways: 1) In-depth theological and spiritual formation tailored to our vocational calls, within a rich and transformative community environment, 2) Envisioning God's redemptive purposes for our life's work inclusive of our vocational careers, and 3) Enabling the initiation of concrete expressions of social, cultural, and spiritual renewal in our city through our world of work.TLA: What is the most important thing people interested in attending your conference need to know?Lindsey: Come prepared to be fully engaged and receive an exciting vision for your vocational world and the future vision of CFWLA! Also, our website www.faithandworkLA.com is designed to make information and access simple to all of our events and offerings.TLA: How can Christians in LA come together to love on the city in terms of CFWLA goals?Lindsey: Loving the city well involves seeing God's love for all of creation more clearly. Our cities, communities and places of work are all extensions of God's creative work in the world. But so much has been broken and lost and in need of His restoration and redemption at the individual, social, and institutional levels. At the Center for Faith + Work Los Angeles we believe that the gospel affects everything, and as Chuck Colson once said, "Transformed people transform culture." Anyone longing to see God's hand more tangibly at work through their vocational contexts is encouraged to seek us out.

Catalyst West: Uncommon Fellowship; It's Time For a Family Meeting [VIDEO]

From Catalyst WestIt’s common in our culture to sort, divide, and exclude. To look out for ourselves, make it at all costs, and leave others in our wake.But Jesus is building something uncommon.Something that invites.His fellowship is a household. A place where we belong to each other, look out for each other, and build each other up.A place where individuals are celebrated, not sorted. In this family, we are included, fathered, encouraged.Something that transforms.He cultivates this fellowship with His Word. He recasts fractured desires with His own. He molds pride into humility.He breathes into us, nurtures us, recreates us.Something that sends.His fellowship extends into the world. It transcends boundaries. Challenges darkness with hope.Enters the public square with humility and redefines the contours of culture with truth.For the Catalyst Leader, uncommon fellowship tells the story of our family. Uncommon fellowship possessesthe strength of our witness, bears the heart of God, and provides a signpost of the Kingdom to come.It's time for a family meeting.CATALYST WEST - MARCH 30, 31 - IRVINE, CALIFORNIA