Matthew Barnett - Gods Dream for You: Finding Lasting Change in Jesus

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2013 by Matthew Barnett

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ISBN-13: 978-1-4003-2080-6

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Table of Contents

I F YOU KNEW FOR SURE THAT GOD HIMSELF HAD a dream for your life that predated the birth of the stars, galaxies, and planets, wouldnt it be worth finding out what it might be?

I certainly never thought I would find Gods dream for me while I was standing on a stained, littered sidewalk on Skid Row in Los Angeles. But there I stood. And as I watched my dad drive away, I felt more alone and desolate than I had ever felt in my twenty years.

What in the world is a sheltered suburban kid like me doing hereby myselfin the mean streets of central Los Angeles? And whose vision of ministry was I following anywaymy own or my dads?

In reality, the vision belonged to both of us.

When Dad was a twenty-year-old evangelistno older than I was when I stood on that Skid Row sidewalkhe had driven through the streets of Los Angeles, passing by the historic Angelus Temple and Echo Park. God whispered to my dads heart that someday he would pastor a church in that part of LA.

Now, forty years later, that vision was about to be fulfilled. Only the pastor wasnt Tommy Barnett. It was me, Matthew Barnett, his son. If I could stick it out... which was very much an open question at that moment.

Id wanted to be a pastor since I was sixteen, and Id hung around the church with my dad for as long as I could remember. Dad had about fourteen thousand people in the congregation at that timea megachurch by anyones standards. Little Bethel Temple was to be my first pastorate even though I had never pastored a day in my life. The fact is, I would do just about anything for my dad, and I had promised him I would try this for three monthsjust three monthswhile he looked for someone more qualified.

But this three-month stint really wasnt his idea alone. I too had experienced a vision for Los Angeles.

Four years earlier, on a hot summer night in Phoenix, I was lying on the hood of my car under the stars, thinking about my future. In those moments God gave me a vision of a city in need, and strangely, it wasnt my own hometown. It was Los Angeles. Up until that time, Id always associated LA with Disneyland, Universal Studios, Beverly Hills, and the Pacific Ocean. Id never thought about the inner city, let alone ministering to gangs, prostitutes, and people in housing projects, so I knew that this whole train of thought had to be from the Lord.

The vision showed me that someday I would be in Los Angeles, pastoring a church in the heart of the city.

Thats another reason I agreed to step into the job at Bethel Temple until that more experienced, better qualified pastor came along, stepped into the pulpit, and allowed me to return home to Phoenix.

Trouble was, no one wanted the job.

Who would want to lead an impoverished church in the middle of this depressed, crime-ridden neighborhood in central LA near Skid Row?

Just moments before he drove away, Dad placed his hands on my shoulders, and we prayed together right there on the sidewalk, with the buzz and clatter of the city all around us. After he said, Amen, he pulled his car keys out of his pocket and jingled them in his right hand, hesitating.

Are you okay, Son?

I had a lump in my throat the size of a golf ball, but I nodded, smiled, and said, Im good.

You sure?

Im sure.

He got into the car, gave me an encouraging little smile and wave, and drove off down Bellevue Avenue. I stared after him, watching his car fade into the traffic.

At least I thought he drove off. What he actually did (and I didnt learn this until years later) was drive a couple blocks down the road, pull over to the curb, turn off the ignition, put his face in his hands, and begin sobbing. He told me later that he cried so hard he thought he was having a nervous breakdown.

Oh, God, he prayed. What have I done? Ive set him up for failure. Ive scarred him for the rest of his life. This is going to hurt himbadlybecause he cant make it in this neighborhood. He cant relate to the people in this community! Hes the only white guy for ten miles in any direction! Hes never been in this kind of environment before! Oh, Lord, what have I done to my boy?

Inner city Los Angeles was indeed a desperate, dangerous place, and I was more than a little naive, woefully inexperienced, and barely out of my teens. Dad said that leaving me there on the sidewalk by myself was about a hundred times worse than dropping a child off at kindergarten for the first time.

After all, Bethel Temple was located in a high crime area, surrounded by liquor stores, and with a heavy gang presence for miles around. Birthed in the glory days of the Azusa Street Revival in the early 1900s, the church was only a shell of its former prominence. When I stepped into the pastorate, about twenty people showed up... on a good Sunday. After they got a look at their new pastor, even those twenty stalwarts began to melt away.

When I stepped into the pastorate, about twenty people showed up... on a good Sunday.

Dad might have changed his mind about the whole crazy idea, driven around the block, picked me up, and taken me back to Phoenix with him if the Lord hadnt spoken to his heart in that exact moment. He told Dad, Tommy, give him his chance. You never know whats inside a person. You never know what a person can accomplish.

So, driving out Interstate 10 toward Phoenix, Dad did his best to give his doubts and fears to the Lord. By the time he got to Palm Desert, he began to relax his death grip on the steering wheel. Something great could happen in that place even if I dont see it now, even if I dont feel it now. Maybe theres something more going on here than I realize.