Welcome And Guest Introduction

J.D. Pearring 0:45

Well, welcome to another edition of LinkedIn Conversations with Excel Linkership Network. Today, we are thrilled to have on with us. We've been trying to get him on for a while. The great, the wonderful Chen Clock from uh Southern California from Compton. Straight out of Compton. Thanks for being here, Chen.

SPEAKER_03 1:04

Thank you for having me.

J.D. Pearring 1:07

Well, we really're in Compton now, but you're not from Compton. I know that. So tell us your story. Tell us the whole deal, how you came to Christ.

Leaving Korea Under Pressure

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Well, I guess we have to start in my motherland. I was born in Seoul, South Korea. And in South Korea, I was living a pretty good life. My family was middle class, wealthy, whatnot. But one day, my parents and I we moved to a nice house. So I was like, oh, I guess we got richer. Cool. But then little did I know that we were actually under house arrest. So that was a shocker, but I found out later. But I didn't know. I was only 10 at the time. So one morning my mom woke me up super early, like 5 a.m. between 5 and 6. She woke me up and I got in a cab with her. And then when I got to the airport, um in Korea it was Kimpo Airport before it's Incheon now. We have Incheon International. So they're only at Kimpo Airport. So we got there, and then there I met my grandma and my dad. So we got on the plane, I slept, I woke up, there I was in LAS. So whole new life started for me in Los Angeles. I did not know that my dad owed some money to not so good people, and basically he had to live under their watchful eyes until he pays off a lot of money. That's what happened. And my dad thought we can do a getaway to America for some kind of new opportunity. So that's where how we ended up in America.

J.D. Pearring 3:17

That's a different way to come to the US, huh?

SPEAKER_03 3:21

Yes, it was a very different way to come to the US. And in America, for us to find a place for us for Korean immigrants in Los Angeles, church was a place to go. So that's how my salvation story comes into play. Because in church, you can find jobs, you can find help, you can find economic needs, financial support, food support, whatever that you need. So church was a place for us to go. So that's where we went. My parents weren't Christians, they didn't go to church in Korea. I went, I went with my grandma here and there, but I did not really know God at that time. So while I was attending church going through my teenage years, you can imagine I did not know how to speak English at all. I did not know American culture. So when I went to school, I was bullied. People made fun of me. People said you don't know how to speak English, you don't know how to pronunciate, you don't know how to say girl RL together. It was very difficult those times. So people bully me, and it was hard growing up in Korean, uh, Koreatown, Los Angeles, especially with the I I came in the back end of LA riot. So Koreans, African Americans, uh in the mix of Hispanics. It was it was a very uh difficult tension feeling at that time. So Koreans, uh Korean teenagers, they gathered together to protect themselves, kind of what the Korean businessmen did. I went to uh America, I went to high school, junior high here, and I would open up the history book and I would see my Korean adults protecting their business on top of their building. I'm like, this is crazy, what's going on in America? So that's what I saw, that's what I grew up in, that was the market that I shopped at.

J.D. Pearring 5:33

So you can imagine um all that, all that's where the where the girl was shot, that was the market that you shopped at?

SPEAKER_03 5:42

No, no, that wasn't the yeah, that wasn't the market that I shopped at. But um, if you open up the history books, I I'm sure they

Bullying And A Crisis Of Identity

SPEAKER_03 5:50

changed the editions, but you will see the market that I shop at, and then Korean uh, you know, Koreans, they all go to army. Uh you're forced to go to army if you're a man. So they all had military training. So they all took the M16 and shotgun up to the up to their business to protect uh their business at that time, so they won't burn down the Korean town. So that was the aftermath where I came in. So I will, I was you can imagine, I was I was a ball just ready to burst. All that. Um, only child. My grandma uh rejected the marriage from the beginning. So my grandma, my dad's side, didn't like my mom. So they would always fight, they would always argue. And while I was questioning the like, what is family? What is love? What is, you know, who am I? You know, all that identity crisis question, trying to learn English, trying to get into American culture, trying to go to church. Um had suicidal thoughts, uh, was questioning life, was questioning love, was questioning God. Do you exist? I went to uh retreat. I went to a retreat with and at the retreat it was a college ministry, and at the retreat, I was only uh, I think high school freshman or I don't remember, I think I was in middle school, um eighth grade or high school at during that time. God really spoke to me through the pastor and through the retreat atmosphere and the leaders there. God impressed on my heart. I loved you before uh you even knew me, and I knew you before you even know me, and I had a calling for you, and that that because I was really questioning love because at home my mom and my grandma they would fight. So, what would happen is my mom would run out of the house because my mom would uh be very violent, uh let's just say very violent, and my grandma would be very violent, and my mom would run out of the house verbally abusive, physically violent. So she would run out of the house, and my mom would leave the house, so she would have to stay at a church for a couple days, and my dad didn't like the situation, so he would leave the house, and my grandma would go somewhere else. So I was a teenager just living sometimes by myself at home. So while I was questioning all that, I went to this retreat and Lord um Lord saved me. He reached out to me, kind of like Paul in the Damascus Road experience. He reached out to me and said, Jen, you know, uh I want to know you, I want you to know me, I want you to have a relationship with me. So from that moment, I I I just uh cried, I think, for three days straight at that retreat. I just kept crying, I just kept repenting of my sins towards God because I hated my life, I hated my family, I hated my situation, I hated where I am, you know, my mom, my grandma, my dad, uh leaving Korea, my life, I just in a whole whirlwind. Yet God does not change, his love does not change, his word remains forever, and that faithfulness of God just overwhelmed me, it just blew me away. How can a God who is so loving, who is so compassionate, who is unchanging, who is unmovable, to love a sinner like me? So I was completely overwhelmed, repented of my sins, of my hatred, of my suicidal thoughts, and just who I was, who I am, who I am going to be. Repented of all that, and afterwards, I wanted to live my life for him. So I started to pray and ask the Lord, what can I do in my life for you? So I prayed six months

A Retreat Encounter With Jesus

SPEAKER_03 10:40

straight after that. I prayed six months straight after that, and and and you know, I was a baby Christian at that time, right? So I'm a baby Christian, so I I don't know how uh Lord will talk to me. I I I didn't read the Bible yet, I don't know how God's gonna come to me in a way. And people told me, you know, people God may speak to you through you know, godly men, God may speak to you through the word, so you know, just be faithful, just pray and just go towards Him. So I did that six months and nothing. So I was getting a little frustrated, a little discouraged, and then one of the teachers that I knew, this teacher told me at that time, how about architecture? How about architecture? And at that moment, it was the like loudest like thump on my heart. I'm like, whoa, it hit me. I'm like, and I looked at the teacher and I said, Yeah, that's what I want to do. Never in my life, you know, was I passionate about like wanting to do something. Never in my life was I like, you know, what am I gonna do for God? Yeah, oh yeah, maybe architecture is the route to go. And amazing at the high school that I attended at that time, they had a three-year architecture program. So I took, yeah. So I took the three-year architecture program, and it I I I I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it, and while I was taking the architecture program, you know, my faith, right? My baby Christian faith started growing. And as I was taking it, I realized, oh God, I want to be a rich architect. I want to be a rich art, I want to be a rich architect that does Christian works. And I I believe that's a calling for me. You know, that's what I want to do. So I was doing that, enjoying life, and I was uh I was really passionate. I was I was trying to go to church, I was trying to be a good Christian, you know, good Sunday Christian, you know, studying hard, doing well, Asian kids from Korea, doing well in school, uh doing all that. Now I know how to speak English, now I have you know American friends, so life is okay. Then at the senior year of senior year of high school, senior year of high school, that's when a pastor uh challenged me to go to mission trip, summer mission trip. So I think that's when it really impacted me a lot, the summer mission trip. And the pastor challenged me, he said, Chen, have you ever read the Bible? And I was like, no, I'm a Christian, I I like I say I know the Lord, but I haven't read the Bible, and I'm sure that's many Christians out there, right? We haven't read the Bible. He was like, Have you read the Bible from front to back? Like, no, I haven't. And he said, Chen, you said you're gonna go to mission. You said you want to go to mission, but did you know that the Bible is the only weapon we have? How can we not take this weapon and how can we not know this weapon in our heart? So I decided to read the Bible for the first time in my life, and I took uh five APs during high school in my senior year. So APs uh is the college courses, right? College courses, advanced placement. It was very hard. But after that, I wouldn't go to library, I wouldn't go to my architecture uh curriculum after, but I would go to Celk because if I go home, I knew that I'm just gonna fall asleep or play games. So I would go to park, take just the Bible, t-shirt, and shorts, because I might fall asleep. I would just take Bible, t-shirt, and shorts. It was during winter time, and I would just read the Bible. And from Genesis to Revelation, I didn't even know what I was reading at the time, but I read a three-month strip and it changed my life. I never knew that as a Christian, if you read the Bible, your life can change. And I don't even, I'm not even going, you know, I'm not even doing hermeneutics, I'm not even studying like deeply into the Bible, I'm not taking any study Bible, but I'm just reading. And my mom, I'm not sure she was she was Christian at the time, but she did go to church. She saw me and she said, Chan, your face looks different. You look happier, you look more joyful. So reading the Bible for that three months completely changed me inside out. And during that time, I know, I I don't know what I was like Ecclesiastes, like Song of Songs. I'm like, what am I reading? You know, I I'm just reading it. I'm just reading a psalm. Psalm is so long, I'm just going through and but just digging in those three months, I think was one of the happiest moments in my life. Just spending time, me and God, for the first time. You know, that first love, just between you and God, just falling in love with him, just in his word. That really uh made me, I think, on fire and be ready for the mission. So through

A Calling Through Architecture And Scripture

SPEAKER_03 16:30

that time, Matthew 28, 18 through 20, go and make disciples of all nations, that became one of my strongest life verbs. So I wanted to go and make disciples of all nations. And during high school, they challenged me to well, it was it wasn't challenge, it was requirement. You have to take another language. I'm like, what do you mean? I already had English as my second language. No, you have to have another second language. I'm like, that's third language. So they told me you have to take one. So I'm like, okay. So I was forced to take Spanish. So now I know Korean, English, and Spanish, right? So now with this Spanish that I learned, I'm like, God, why am I learning Spanish? I already know English and Korean language, but why am I learning Spanish? Little did I know that my first mission trip was going to be to Argentina. And when I went to Argentina, I had to teach my team of 12 how to share the gospel in Spanish. And I never had a seminary degree, and I didn't take a full-on evangelism course at that time. But I got to tell my evangelism team how to share the gospel in Spanish. You want to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, right? So I got to teach them this. And while I was in Argentina for two weeks, I got to share the gospel to 100 people in Spanish. And about half of them, 50 people, came to know Christ and profess Jesus as your Lord and Savior. And I was just amazed by what God does. With a kid from Korea who went through his teenage crisis, studies English, now studies Spanish for three years in high school. He puts me in Argentina to share the gospel for two weeks. And 50 people came to know Christ. And one of them I still remember I shared a gospel right before dinner, and our team went upstairs to have dinner at this restaurant, second floor. Come down two hours later. This guy is still standing here. I waited for you because I wanted to thank you for coming all the way from America to tell me this baby. And he gives me a hug. He waits two hours, and I'm 18 years old. And I'm experiencing the power of the gospel. And he's telling me, Chan, I went to war. Look at my gun wounds here. I got shot here, but I'm living. I believe that I'm still living today because God wanted me to hear this news from I just wanted to thank you. And he's hugging me and crying. He waited two hours after my dinner, just to say, I want to thank you for the message that you brought to me from America. This kid from Korea. Learning the gospel in America, God saving me in Los Angeles, taking the gospel to Argentina. So at the end of the trip, at the end of the trip, the pastor asked me, do you want to do this for the rest of your life? And I was 18, I was on fire for the Lord. I just saw 50 people profess their life, you know, to Jesus. What would I say? I'm young, I'm I'm not smart, I'm dumb. I said, Yes, Jesus, let's go. Right? And I was 18. I was like, Yes, Jesus, let's go. And I think that's how Jesus remembered a young, passionate 18-year-old. And at that time, Lord started working in my heart. And what came to me at that time, Chen, I don't want you to be a Christian. I don't want you to be a rich architect that does Christian works, but I want you to be a Christian that does architect works. So that's how God impressed on my heart at the age of 18. As you go out from here to do architecture or to do ministry or to whatever that shape or form may be, at the age 18, from I guess yeah, that's that. So what I just told you is from 10 to 18, and me meeting the Lord around the age of 14. So four years as the Lord really uh trained me and challenged me to for that next chapter in my life and going to college.

J.D. Pearring 21:20

So where did you go to college?

SPEAKER_03 21:23

A place that you don't like to hear. I went to USC. I did apply to UCLA as well, but see, I think it was Lord's will as well. Um, so as we heard in my earlier conversation, is that my family didn't do well financially. That's why we came to America. So in America, um I started working at the age of 13 to help my family. I started working at the age of 13 to help my family, and because of that. I knew that if I don't get financial support for college, I wouldn't be able to go to college. So that's why I studied hard. And while I studied hard, I knew that by doing so, maybe I can bring some honor to my family, some you know, help, financial help to my family.

First Mission Trip And Gospel Boldness

SPEAKER_03 22:20

But during that, you know, financial teenage crisis, all that, I met Jesus and it became bigger than who I am, much bigger than who I ever thought to be. And Lord convicted me, China, I want to do architecture in college, but I I just don't want you to do architecture, but I want you to learn how to be an evangelist.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Oh my god, how do I do that?

SPEAKER_03 22:47

So while I was praying to the Lord, Lord, if you allow me to go to college, if you allow me to go to college, Lord, I'm going to be an evangelist for you. Not only am I gonna just study architecture, but I'm going to share the gospel every single day. And I know we should never make a vow to the Lord easily, right? We have to be solemn and serious, and it needs to come from true conviction. I hope it was. I hope it was. I hope it wasn't just my young, you know, passionate uh teenage heart, but I really hope that it was, and I really wanted to keep that from the bottom of my heart. So, Lord, if you send me to college, if you allow me to go to college, I will be an evangelist for you. So I got I got accepted to USC, I got accepted to UCLA, a couple other schools, and USC is a private school, it's way more expensive. Yet I got more financial aid full right to USC than UCLA.

J.D. Pearring 24:01

We have a joke at UCLA. Um what do the UCLA students and USD students have in common? And it's just they they both got into USC. But you got more financial aid at ST.

SPEAKER_03 24:18

Yes. So uh it was a no-brainer for our family.

J.D. Pearring 24:21

Yeah, good for you.

SPEAKER_03 24:23

Yeah, it was a no-brainer for our family. I got scholarship and grants, and it was completely free for me. It was completely, yeah. I got scholarship grants, it was completely free for me to attend USC. If I went to UCLA, I had to come up with $10,000. So I I knew that Lord, if you really want me to, and then USC also has a great architecture program um for undergrad. So I had to uh I knew this is what I studied three years at high school, so it was a good transition for me, and I made a promise with the Lord that I'm going to share the gospel when I go to college. It was scary.

J.D. Pearring 25:04

Did you do that at USA? Did you share the gospel?

SPEAKER_03 25:07

It was scary. But you know, it was it was what I made a promise with the Lord. So day one, day one. I prayed, I was scared. Lord, can you I like kind of like Elijah, God, am I the only one? Am I the only one? Am I the only one that's going to you know cry out for Jesus in this campus? And praise the Lord. One of my best friends from high school got into USC that day too. And then I asked him, hey, you know, I'm gonna go share the gospel. Can you share it with me? He's like, What this is day one. Are you crazy? I'm like, come on, please, please, please. So I begged him, and then he did go. So from day one, I kept my promise to the Lord. I kept my promise to the Lord. Um, rain or shine, I went out. Even if I had finals, pieces, paper due, I went out. And my friends in the studio, architecture students, we gather in studio and we do the work together, and they would say, Chad, we only have two hours left. Where are you going? I'm like, Oh, I made a promise with God. I have to go and share the gospel. I'm gonna leave for one hour, but I'm gonna come back and finish my work. Don't worry about it. And then they're like, This guy's crazy. What is he doing? We have a like final paper due, you know, final work to do, final studio architecture project modeling. But I I will leave, I will drop everything and go out and share the gospel. And we would stay overnight at the studio architecture studio. They give us desks and everybody will study together, about 100 students. And we were studying, staying all overnight Saturday. But Sunday morning comes and I will leave. Where are you going? Church. The people that I share the gospel to, I have to pick them up, I have to round them up in my mom's mini mini van, uh, seven people van, I will pick them up and go to church. Like, what are you doing? And I would be gone for six hours, seven, eight hours, and then I would come back Sunday night to finish the work. So that was my college years. That was my college years every day sharing the gospel. By the time I graduated, uh, I had an evangelism notebook that I kept sharing the gospel, his name, his phone number, yes, no, maybe follow-up with Bible study, whatnot.

USC Evangelism Rhythm And Results

SPEAKER_03 27:40

Uh, the number was at 1500. More than 1,500 people have shared the gospel, and so many of them came to the church that I attended. A few of them got baptized, a few of them went back to their country. Can you imagine that? Japan, Korea, China, with the gospel that I shared. And the Lord was using my heart for evangelism in college years.

J.D. Pearring 28:08

Well, you're quite grateful. Quite the evangelist, that's amazing. Hey, how did how did you get involved in church planting?

SPEAKER_03 28:18

So evangelism was my passion, was my joy. Uh, got to go out and do it. Doing that, so architecture program is at USC is five years. Five years. It doesn't matter how many college courses you took in high school, it doesn't matter if you went to community college, they made you take architecture for five years, no matter what, at USC. So we call it School of Architecture, that's what we call it at USC. And after that five years, I was praying on my uh uh fifth year, senior, senior year. Lord, what am I gonna do after college? What am I gonna do after college? And as I was praying and as I was preparing after college, Lord graciously allowed me to meet my wife during my college years, and one of my baby prayer requests is baby, like a baby faith Christian prayer request was Lord, when I graduate, I want to be married. So as you heard, my family was really a you know broken, uh complicated, uh difficult family. So I was like, God, can I have a family that is God honoring, God fearing, God loving? And so during my college years, I met my wife, Sue, and I graduated May 15th at USD, May 16th, I flew to Korea, May 17th, I proposed to my wife, May 24th, which is my birthday. We got married. We just celebrated our 15-year anniversary four days ago. Hey, happy anniversary! Thank you. So I got married to the wife, um my dream, my dream, and we were praying together, Lord, where will you lead us next? And a pastor, a mentor that I really look up to. He's a mentor that I really look up to. He's also an evangelist himself, so we evangelized together at uh previous previous church. So, two churches ago, we used to evangelize together, and he says, and he was really being persecuted. Bad church drama. You know, we don't need to get into that today. You I know you know very well of church drama and denominational difficulties. He was in a very difficult situation, lawsuits, fights, you know, it's it's really sad, right? The Bible says, don't take it to the world, don't take it to the court, but all that. Yeah, so he he was going through such persecution, he realized like he was doing, he was leading evangelism ministry, he's his worship room was being locked. Can you imagine that? Church leaders were locking his door, so he can't evangelize. So he he felt it was the right time for his to plan a church, and he called me. I was leading, I was um doing campus ministry at that time. I was doing ministry for USD campus. So I was graduating, I was still helping out. He called me, I still remember. Chan, I'm about to plan a church. I was at the beach doing bonfire with college kids, uh, telling them about Jesus. I'm about to plan a church, I want you to lead the English ministry. I'm going to lead the Korean ministry, I want you to lead the English ministry within Koreatown Los Angeles. I never went to seminary, I don't have a seminary background, I don't have theological education. All I learned was through the Bible, how to share the gospel, and how to disciple in my college days. But I I I see your heart, I see your conviction. You may be unschooled theologically, but I believe we can do this together. So he and I we started church together. Um, first place we met, uh, it was in a karaoke room. Can you believe that? My uh worship location was a karaoke room, and he had a banquet hall. That's where we met, our first church location. So, and you know that this is gonna tie well with where I worship now. So I think Lord was I think Lord was training me 15 years ago.

J.D. Pearring 32:59

Well, then you decided to go on your own. You were there for what, seven, eight years, and you went. And why did you decide to plant um in uh Compton?

SPEAKER_03 33:10

So eight years I served with him. I was young at that time, and I'm so grateful that he trained me, he discipled me, he mentored me while I was there. But the heart, the background, the situation and the circumstances that Lord put me in, right? Immigrant life from Korea, growing up in the tension and difficulty of Koreatown, and

Church Planting Beginnings In Koreatown

SPEAKER_03 33:40

learning Spanish for three, four years in high school, and at the same time, having the heart to share the gospel to all nations. My faith in Korean, in a Korean church, living out my calling and my heart for all ethnic groups was limited, was difficult. And at the same time, as God was giving me this passion to share the gospel to everyone that I meet on the street, I and my wife, we had four children, and we couldn't live in Koreatown anymore. The rent was going up, it was so expensive, so we were literally being kicked out, pushed out of Korea Town because we had a church plant in Korea Town, and while I had other part-time jobs, the finance wasn't being met. So Lord opened doors, right? When Lord closes doors in other places, he opens doors in other places, and we were looking for a house of our dream to hopefully own one day, hopefully live one day, and in the ninth or eighth year of our marriage, our weirto called me and he says, Chan, I think this is a place for you. And it was incompetent. It was incompetent, and the mortgage payment would be way cheaper with the rent that we couldn't afford to live in Koreatown, Los Angeles. We're living in a tiny two-bedroom apartment with four kids, tiny, with no sunlight coming in. But now we saw this house with three-bedroom, with a lot of sunlight, and a place where we can worship, gather, do Bible study, invite people. And my wife and I, we had a heart to foster and adopt as well. That's why we wanted a somewhat of a three-bedroom house because we can't foster adopt in a two-bedroom apartment. It's too already packed. We're already over the limit of how many kids we can house. So with the heart calling that the Lord has given us, my wife and I, we went and checked out the place. It was perfect. Financially, it was perfect, spiritually, it was perfect because me being Korean, knowing how to speak English, Korean, and Spanish, if I moved to Compton, there's a multi-ethnic church because I'm the only Korean. So that's we moved to Compton eight years ago. Eight years ago, and while I still served at the Korean church in Koreatown, attending for two years after that, that's when I seriously started to pray. I I kept telling my mentor and the senior pastor of the Korean church, one day I do want to go and live out the calling that the Lord has given me to the multi-ethnic church. And during that time is when I met UJD and we prayed about it together and we talked about it together. We went through Discovery Center together, and and I kept going to you with this prayer request. I do not want to be that Korean pastor who leaves the church without a blessing from nature. Because I saw, because I've been in Korean church all my life, since since baby, going with my grandma, and I saw so many church splits. That's how the first you know previous church came to be. It was through church persecution. I did not want to be that associate pastor who just said, I'm gonna do my own thing, senior pastor, peace. I did not want that. I did not want that in my heart, I did not want that in his heart. So we prayed together and I asked, kept asking for prayer requests that I want his blessing. And on Easter, Easter Sunday, Easter Sunday

Moving To Compton And Launching LA1

SPEAKER_03 38:10

six years ago, six years ago, we were blessed by him and the church, and we were sent off. He even told me, Chen, whoever leaders you need from this church, you could ask them if they want to go with you, they could go with you. And I will support you for the first year. This is how much we we trust you, this is how much we value you, this is how much we're grateful of you. So we were able to have the church together. Uh it was such an encouragement. Yeah, it was such an encouragement for us because I didn't know how to do it. I I as I told you, all I know how to do is share the gospel, disciple, and preach the word biblically. And I don't know the end and stuff, I don't know the church planting world, I don't know the networking, I didn't know any of that. But through your son, I got to meet you on the day of my ordination. Can you believe that? I'm like, I'm going up to Sacramento to be ordained because I have this thing called I want to plant a church one day. I feel like ordination is gonna help me to get there. And then it's like, dude, my dad helps people like you. I'm like, really? He lives in Sacramento. I'm like, what?

J.D. Pearring 39:29

So I'm great.

SPEAKER_03 39:31

That was crazy. So I met him, I went up to Sacramento to be ordained, I went to Starbucks, I met you, and we kept in touch over the years, we prayed together and got into this planning world and started developing a team for the two years that we prayed together and we got to plant a church in Compton. And after one year, uh after one year of meeting at my house that I told you about, after meeting one year at my house that I told you about, the Lord gave us a place, and the place that we met, I got to invite the pastor, my mentor of the Korean church, and we got to speak at the church in my one-year anniversary.

J.D. Pearring 40:11

Well, tell us what you're meeting now.

SPEAKER_03 40:14

So now we're meeting at Ikuno 99. It's a 99 cent store that did not go into Bangkok. It's the mom and pop store. Yes, mom and pop 99 cents store. Uh, there's a room, uh, there's a lobby that goes to the 99 cents store, and that there's a lobby that goes to the OEA that goes to the banquet hall. So we meet at the lobby, little room where they store uh for their parties where they store drinks, right? The alcohols and all their drinks. So that's where we meet, that room, like a storage room basically. Connection to the 99 cent store and to the banquet hall. So every Saturday night there's a party. So Sunday morning, my children and I and the leadership team, we come together. So in the beginning, it was me, my wife, and our little ones. When we planted the church, our kids, we had a one-year-old, two, like three, four, five, six-year-old. That was it. So they would carry those heavy alcohols to the next room because we have to worship. And they did that with me for the last six years. And now they're 13, 12, 11, 10, 9. And it's a tremendous encouragement to see our kids never complain and do that with their dad and mom for the last six years. Plus, now we have leaders that help us do it together, clean the room. And it's fascinating. People that go to 99 Cent store on Sunday are normally the people that don't go to church. Those are the people that we share the gospel to. So God is using my heart for evangelism and discipleship. So we evangelize every Sunday. We evangelize every Sunday, and half of our church members today

Worshiping Next To A 99 Cent Store

SPEAKER_03 42:10

are people from people who are going to 99 Cent Stone.

J.D. Pearring 42:14

Wow. Wow. Hey, we're um we're run out of time here. Let me just uh thank you for sharing, but uh let's end with one leadership tip you would have for us.

SPEAKER_03 42:31

One leadership tip that I have for our group today, for those of you that are listening, is let us persevere. Let us persevere in this spiritual warfare warfare that we are in. You know, we watch the news or we see what's going on in other places, other churches. Sometimes we get discouraged. Why is my church not big as the other church? Or why is my church not starting with the buildings? Um, you know, I've been doing church for six years and I don't have a church building as I shared. Uh we only have a 99 cent store. Recently I was at a uh meeting with JD, and that was kind of the theme of the hour. Oh, everybody starting a church with the building. I'm like, that's cool. You know, that's cool. Every Lord has vessels for everyone, right? Lord has vessels for everyone to fill, and He has given faith for everyone to build. And in my heart, Lord has impressed upon me to be faithful for the next 10 years. And when they want church is ready. We will provide the building. I believe that's what we're called to do as leaders and church planters and pastors churches all around the world. As I was saying earlier, Elijah, you know, he's like, God, am I the only one? I have set up for you. I have set up for you 7,000 people who have now found to veil. And I have Elijah for you. And right after that passage, who comes before him? Elijah pops up. All of us, we need that Elisha. And that's what we're praying for. That's what we're training. That's what we're leading. Why are we leaders?

Leadership Tip Persevere In The Fight

SPEAKER_03 44:50

We're only leaders because we have followers. If we don't have followers, we're not leaders. My mentor told me if we don't have church congregants, we don't have a church. Yeah. That's why sometimes it feels lonely, sometimes it is very hard, it is very difficult. But persevere. We are only here because of these followers, because of these congregates. Church lay people. Sometimes they give us heartaches, headaches, sleepless nights, cries and tears. And that's a pretty good prayer for us. We'll persevere. We'll persevere. And Lord, when we're ready, he will bring us to his arms and he will send us an Elijah to pretend that's there.

J.D. Pearring 46:05

Well, it's a privilege to just be uh part of your life, uh Chan, you and Sue, and what you're doing there. And uh my encouragement to everybody who's listening to this is next time you go into a dollar store or a 99 cent store, just throw up a little prayer for LA1 Church there

Prayer Request Sponsor And Closing

J.D. Pearring 46:25

in Compton, and uh we'll pray that God brings a building in his time, and we'll pray that God keeps bringing new leaders. But thanks for your inspiring story. Um Go USC. Thanks for being with us today.

SPEAKER_03 46:40

Thank you so much.

Announcer 46:46

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