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Fearless LA
This video introduces Fearless LA, a part of the international Planetshakers Church.
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Courtesy of Fearless LA/You Tube Screen Capture
Fearless LA Snapshot
A scene from Fearless LA's church video
My first hint that this might be a radically different place to go to church was the fact that I had to make a reservation to attend.
And radically different it was–full of life, music, great greetings, welcomed earplugs, and the challenge to live without fear fearlessly given.
On the recommendation of a Denton-area friend who follows their music, I drove to Los Angeles for one final Sunday to attend worship at Fearless LA, a one-year old church plant. It meets in a nightclub in deep downtown LA, near Spring and 6th Streets.
The church began September, 2013. Jeremy and Christy Johnson, a young couple from Modesto, CA who spring from the Calvary Chapel background, founded the church. Jeremy, a former youth pastor, and Christy, a gifted vocalist and worship leader, brought their two young children and a host of powerfully talented musicians with them on this experiment in faith. They followed the call of God to bring the Gospel freedom to Los Angeles.
The Worship Experience
Friendly greeters, not concerned that we were 30 to 40 years older than most other worshipers, explained the layout, and offered refreshment, including freshly made pancakes, and earplugs. Babies in worship wear noise-cancelling headphones.
Just before 11 a.m., I walked into the nightclub-dancefloor-turned-worship-space. An extensive stage with six giant screens loomed in front of the 100 folding chairs. And at 11:00 a.m., the music began. With the earplugs in place, I was able to enjoy an excellent 30-minute Christian rock concert led with 11 piece band of musicians and vocalists.
If you want to watch the accompanying video, you will get a good sense of what that morning was like.
Nearly everyone was dancing, a synthesizer linked the music to a light show on the massive screens, and words of praise to God, deep thankfulness for God’s love, and pleas for God to break barriers filled the screen. Seats quickly filled and extras were set up.
The name of Jesus was lifted up. Joy, expressed by dancing and singing people, transformed nightclub to center of worship.
At 11:30, Jeremy came on the platform and offered welcome and spoke briefly of the church history. He moved to prayer and asked God to touch and heal all those there on this day. He then asked everyone in need of physical healing or a miracle to lift their hands. Then he asked everyone else in the congregation to lay hands on those with lifted hands as he prayed for those things. I made no move to participate, nor felt any pressure to do so, and just observed with interest.
At 11:37, we sat down and first-time visitors were all given a candy bar and invitation to stay afterward for further information. People were asked to take out their smart phones and register their attendance and many did.
Co-pastor Christy offered an eight-minute appeal for people to step out in faith and give generously. She shared testimonies received last week of answered prayers for miracles and healings
Jeremy then came back to the platform for a 40-minute long message centering on the Matthew 14 story about Jesus walking on the water in the storm. He emphasized Peter’s willingness to get out of the boat and walk to Jesus. He also demonstrated it by having an inflatable boat on the platform populated by others on the worship team.
He spoke passionately, using a call and response style, of a paradigm shift where people leave behind their fears (thus the name of the church, “Fearless LA”) and step out in faith to follow Jesus no matter where it might lead. He spoke of his own journey from fear to confidence, how he learned as a youth pastor to become totally dependent upon God for his leading and his ministry.
The Invitation
His invitation to come to Jesus took nearly 20 minutes of powerful, emotional stories of lives changed. He called everyone who needed this new movement in their lives to take one step away from their chairs and then walk forward. Most of the congregation responded. After more hand-raising and prayer, we were finally dismissed at about 12:55 pm. It is my understanding that this service ended earlier than many do–there are days when the Spirit falls and they stay in worship quite a bit longer.
We did not linger for the informational session, as I had learned much ahead of time. No one, not the pastors, the musicians, the superb tech people or anyone else has a paid position here. This is a labor of love, faith and passion for God. Although I certainly prefer liturgy and the celebration of the Sacraments, I also saw hope on the faces of the hurting, and healing for those who needed it. The music was superb, even if damaging to unprotected eardrums.
I loved it–and recommend it, especially for young adults in LA.
The Rev. Christy Thomas is a retired clergy member of the North Texas Annual Conference. She blogs at Thoughtful Pastor, from which this article is reprinted with permission. [Note: the above commentary ran first in the August 29, 2014 edition of the Denton Record-Chronicle]