When the Lord places a call on our lives for a ministry, He always comes through and provides the necessary provision to fulfill His vision.
This reliance on God to bring in the funding and people to carry out the mission God put on Pastor Matthew Barnett’s heart is the driving factor as to why the LA Dream Center is one of the leading ministries in all the world.
Located in the heart of Los Angeles perched atop a hill off the Hollywood freeway, the Dream Center has endured countless storms in the City of Angels.
The pandemic would have put any ministry not rooted in the Bible out of business. Instead, it put the Dream Center at the forefront of the battle combatting homelessness, fentanyl addiction, food insecurity and joblessness with love, practical care and the Word of God.
God is continuing to demonstrate his faithfulness using partners like Pastor Jentezen Franklin of Free Chapel in Gainesville, Georgia, to meet the need of this massive ministry.
“You know, we lost $1 million of income because our short-term mission’s groups couldn’t come here [during the pandemic] or speaking trips for my dad and I [to] raise money,” explained Barnett during the Dream Center Special interview with Jentezen Franklin.
To watch the full Dream Center Special, click here!
“For the first time in my life I thought, ‘Man, it might be over,'” Barnett admitted.
The Lord had different plans however, not only to have the Dream Center survive, but thrive amidst their new normal.
In response to the recent pandemic and lockdowns that ensued, ministries like the Dream Center were put into emergency mode, and are still working to find what their new normal looks like post-lockdowns.
“I think the days are done of the former Dream Center,” Pastor Matthew shared with Charisma News in an exclusive interview. “We’ve been in emergency mode for three years, where every day feels like an emergency.”
In this storm of uncertainty, the faith and prayers of the Dream Center were answered by Franklin’s ministry located across the country in northern Georgia.
After being given a tour of the ministries and new floors being worked on the Dream Center to house families in distress, Franklin revealed to Barnett what the Holy Spirit had put on his heart.
“As you guys were speaking and ministering, I just heard that gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit,” Franklin told Barnett. “It’s always been my dream to give your ministry a $1 million gift. It’s been in my dream[s] for over 30 years…and we’re gonna do that. We are able to do that and God’s going to help us do that.”
A visibly emotional Barnett thanked Franklin profusely, knowing that his and thousands of others prayers had just been answered.
This amazing work of God took two important things to occur:
- A person willing to submit everything to God and build a ministry where they were told. Barnett has demonstrated a complete submission to the will of God in his life by not just starting the Dream Center in the L.A., but staying true to that vision and depending on the Lord to see this ministry flourish
- A ministry willing to give at the Holy Spirit’s direction. No questioning, not arguments, but an immediate “Yes, Lord” that Franklin has demonstrated. Giving $1 million is no small task, even to as honorable a ministry as the Dream Center. Yet it is the submission to the Holy Spirit’s direction and adherence to God’s Word that has put Franklin and Free Chapel in the position to bless other ministries the same way that God has blessed theirs.
These two different yet so similar ministries are both a testament to the goodness and provision of God, and examples for churches and outreaches across the globe to emulate.
The demonstrations of the fruit of the Spirit in both men, their ministries and their churches are reflected in the massive difference they have made in millions of lives throughout their tenure on earth.
By putting God and His will first before their own, it has allowed the Holy Spirit to move through them and their ministries and provide the means necessary to fulfill the areas of the Great Commission that God has placed His faithful servants. {eoa}
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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
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