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110 Chapter 5 Reaching Out Fruitful Church sponsors an annual Christmas party at Township Gardens, one of the largest and reportedly most dangerous public housing projects in south Los Angeles. On an unusually warm December day, heading toward the main quad of Township Gardens , I noticed the numerous murals painted on the exterior gymnasium walls—the face of Martin Luther King Jr., five black fists, and large bold text that read,“Nobody can stop this war except us.”Around the corner, on an adjacent wall, I saw another mural—a memorial to all the residents of Township Gardens who were killed as a result of violent crime.The words “in memory of those we loved” were inscribed over nearly one hundred names. At around 11 a.m., Pastor Choi, the master of ceremonies for the event, welcomed over one thousand residents—75 percent black and 25 percent Latino—to the third annual Christmas program, and then proceeded to give detailed directions on where and how they were to pick up their free lunches. Immediately after the directions were given, all of the attendees rushed feverishly to the lunch line, where over 1,500 meals were distributed in less than thirty minutes. At another part of the quad, hundreds of children waited in four parallel lines to receive color-coded tickets that they would later need to claim their free toys. In the line, excited and impatient children shoved, shouted, and accused each other of “taking cuts.”The majority of the church members were engaged in crowd control—frantically keeping the individuals in their lines, diffusing their anger, and preventing people from hurting each other physically. In the distance, several Los Angeles Police Department officers were cautiously and vigilantly keeping watch over the activities .The environment was extremely tense, and I could see how things could rapidly spiral out of control. Reaching Out 111 As contemporary Christian music blared over the sound system, small crowds of people moved toward the stage, while several families laid down picnic blankets in the sparsely shaded areas so that they could comfortably enjoy the day’s food and entertainment.The first performer, a heavy-set middle-aged African American woman in a leopard print shirt, sang a gospel rendition of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” Next, an African American male, in his early twenties and wearing a blue football jersey, performed an originally composed Christian rap song. After finishing the song, he shared a brief testimony of what his life was like before becoming a Christian—“I used to be a boozer, I did drugs, I had no car, I was hopeless like most of you in this crowd but now look at me, I’m up here praising the Lord. So join me in doing a running man for God.”The environment resembled an outdoor rap concert, with a very enthusiastic, energetic, and engaged audience.After the two solo performances , a children’s choir, composed of over thirty children who attend a weekly tutorial ministry sponsored by Fruitful Church, sang two Christmas songs.Throughout their performance, church volunteers repeatedly ushered children off of the stage with repeated warnings that “if you’re not a part of Living Hope, you cannot come to the stage to sing with us. This is only for the Living Hope children so please stay off the stage.” After the children’s choir, Charlie Lopez, a young man in his early twenties and a member of Fruitful Church, gave his testimony of how he became a Christian. He talked about how he had, with the help of God, triumphed over a serious of struggles, setbacks, and disadvantages. He was born in poverty to teen-age parents, an African American mother and a Latino father. Shortly after he was born, his father abandoned the family , leaving his mother to raise him and his brother alone in a south Los Angeles housing complex not too far from Township Gardens.Throughout most of his teenage years, he was immersed in the neighborhood gangs but remembers how his life took a dramatic turn after attending a revival at a nearby church.After becoming a Christian, his grades began to improve along with his outlook on life. He stated that, despite the odds stacked against him, God has been his source of strength, During my senior year in high school I had a meeting with my high school counselor.She asked me what I wanted to do with my life and I informed...

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