The Dream Center

The Dream Center is in a downtrodden neighborhood in Los Angeles. The Sunday Jim and I attended services there was typical SoCal: defiantly sunny, warm, and dry.

Just pulling up, I got a good feeling, as it's my opinion that every church should serve the poor above all else, and making your church geographically accessible to the poor is the first step. (A church in Beverly Hills? What's the point? Jesus walked the streets helping poor people; he didn't sit in some rich enclave making rich people feel good about themselves… at least not according to the Bible.)

The people inside appeared to be mostly working class, and the facility itself was huge. Ushers helped us find seats and we sat in the darkened auditorium waiting for whatever came next. And it came with a bang, and lights, and fog machines…! Rock and roll!

The band hit the stage like it was Saturday night, not Sunday morning. They had energy to spare, but their coiffed hair and slickness seemed excessive and vain to me. And the songs were comprised of vague messages about fighting and leaving this world… not too affirming.

Pastor Matthew Barnett came out with all the enthusiasm of Ryan Seacrest on yet another opening night for "Idol." But his enthusiasm seemed genuine: he urged visitors to explore the facility, use the gym, and more: very welcoming. And he spoke about taking the message to "the street," which, again, resonates for me as it's there where Jesus did his work, too.

The offering was solicited straightforwardly by a guy who said he was sick, but then was made well by Jesus because he gave money. This was disconcerting: give money and your problems will go away. I find messages like this reprehensible and even predatory. What helps make your problems—any problems—go away is not giving money and hoping (or praying). What helps make problems go away is work, period. But hey? Who wants to work…?

Next came the sermon from Pastor Barnett's, which was enjoyable and effective. It was not really Biblical, but practical advice to dads (it was Father's Day when I attended) about how to be better dads. I liked it because it was an example of how to live well (some would say, "live Christian") instead of a message about how hard belief is or how we're all going to heaven.

Overall, I liked this church and would recommend it to Christians from all walks of life, especially ones from Beverly Hills and similarly sheltered enclaves: get out there, see how church is done at the street level.