Richard Garcia was in search of a Plan B. The needs of his Bakersfield community were shifting, and the diminishing evangelism opportunities distressed the spiritual leader, who heads the Cru® Inner City team in California’s Central Valley.
“A lot of our partner churches are signing up for free food, and it creates this situation where they're just giving away food weekly,” he said. “Because it's a social service organization, they no longer can share the gospel. They can pray with people, but they basically can't share the gospel in any way. So, it's impacting a lot of what we do.”
He began praying for direction, even as the farming community was dealing with increased federal enforcement of illegal immigration.
“We need to change the environment that we're ministering in because … there's a sense of hopelessness prevailing in our community.”
“I've been asking the Lord, ‘Can we change this?’ We need to change the environment that we're ministering in because … there's a sense of hopelessness prevailing in our community.”
The answer came by way of a ringing phone. On the other end was a pastor looking for someone to disciple a group of 10 to 15 teens and young adults on Sunday mornings at her Spanish-language church in Arvin, a rural neighborhood about 30 miles outside of Bakersfield.
For years, the Inner City team in Bakersfield has used an eight-week Cru discipleship training class called 2 Timothy 2:2. The program digs deep into the Scriptures to develop the whole person by reinforcing our core value to be Christ-centered as we minister to others.
Garcia jumped on the opportunity, telling the pastor it was a perfectly sized group to walk the students through the program.
When he arrived for the inaugural class at Faro Church (Spanish for lighthouse), he was greeted with a surprise.
“There was 45 kids,” he said. “It was a very difficult time because we didn't have enough materials for everybody. We still had a great time together.”
The lack of materials wasn’t the only obstacle.
“I realized that some of the kids that were in the group weren't even Christians,” Garcia said.
After that first session, Garcia re-evaluated his action plan, telling his wife, “I think I'm going to go back to the basics, and I'm going to explain some things, some basics about salvation, and go through the Four Spiritual Laws.”
The Four Spiritual Laws is a gospel ministry tool developed by Bill Bright, who founded the Cru ministry.
When Garcia returned the next Sunday, about 35 students were waiting. He started with a simple question.
“On a scale from one to 10, how confident are you that you're going to heaven?”
More than half weren’t confident they were going to heaven. His focus needed to shift from discipleship to evangelism.
He began explaining simple concepts such as grace, mercy, faith and salvation.
“The kids were crying and you could really sense that this was a decision, that God was working in their heart.”
“I just gave it some real clarity for the students,” he said.
As he was finishing the lesson for the day, a young man got up from his seat and walked up to Garcia.
“I want to make a decision for Christ,” he announced before Garcia even had the chance to present an invitation to accept Christ. “It was amazing. I mean, you could have heard a pin drop.”
Others followed, with 16 more young people coming forward.
“The kids were crying, and you could really sense that this was a decision, that God was working in their heart,” Garcia said.
“I was like, ‘Lord, what in the world are you doing?’ That was my reaction because I wasn't expecting this at all. I thought this was going to be a more advanced class. I thought, ‘We'll talk about discipleship and what that would look like.’ The whole thing changed in a moment when I walked in there and I realized this is not good in the sense that I'm talking way over their head.”
He still marvels at how receptive the youth were to the leading of the Holy Spirit as they came forward without any prompting.
“This was so spontaneous,” he said. “It literally caught me off guard. I was not expecting that, and it was just unbelievable.”
In subsequent sessions, Garcia focused on the fundamentals of the faith, such as growing in Christ, what new believers need to do to grow spiritually, reinforcing how God views them and the deeper themes of justification and sanctification.
“The following week, you could just tell people were very confident, and we had a really good time,” he said. “We're just talking about building a relationship with the Lord, walking with Him, doing some spiritual disciplines like prayer and some things like that.”
There were also a few fresh faces in the following weeks, including two young men who heard about the class from a third friend.
“Oh, so he invited you?” one of the pastors asked, pleased by the initiative.
“No, he didn't invite us,” one of them responded. “We just decided to come.”
“I'm in awe of this little church and how God can use it to reach the young people in this community.”
The leaders realized that God was even moving beyond those in the group. Garcia continues to see God’s hand at work at Fargo Church as the young people he is leading are strengthening their faith. And there is plenty of room for more growth.
“I'm in awe of this little church and how God can use it to reach the young people in this community,” he said. “This is not a joke when I say this, but every kid that goes to (Arvin) High School walks by this church on their way home to and from school. That's how close it is.”
The church is also located down the street from a K-8 charter school academy.
Garcia said he’s grateful that God has opened the doors to use Inner City resources to help in a way he didn’t envision.
“God opened the door for us,” he said.
The door continues to open even wider.
“The pastor called me again and said, ‘You know, I really like the work that you're doing with the kids. Can you do that with our adults?”
“Out of a tiny little church in a farming community just east of Bakersfield, we have probably about 75 to 80 people going through discipleship on Fridays and Sundays.”
“For me, this is why I work with Cru. It's what we do. It's what we’re called to do, to help churches grow their believers.”
As Garcia ministers outside his community each Sunday morning, he and his wife are forgoing weekly life with their home church, just a five-minute drive from their home.”
“I got to be honest, I don't feel like it's a sacrifice,” he said. “I just feel like God's calling us to do something. I'm just like, God, I want to be used by you, and I'll do what it takes to do it. He's given us this opportunity. For me, this is why I work with Cru. It's what we do. It's what we’re called to do, to help churches grow their believers.
“God is good, and I'm beyond elated with what He's doing out there, and I'm just looking forward to more.”
Lori Arnold serves as the senior writer for Cru's inner-city ministry.
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