Churches Respond to Needs as Southern California Fires Continue
Assemblies of God churches and ministries are actively responding to the needs of those impacted by the fires in Southern California.
Rich Guerra, Assemblies of God Southern California Network superintendent, and William Rodriguez, Southern Pacific (Hispanic) District superintendent, have confirmed that, thankfully, all Assemblies of God church structures in their networks have, to this point, been spared from the wildfires. However, both Guerra and Rodriquez are quick to point out that a number of church members have lost their homes in the fires and others have lost their places of employment. Rodriguez notes one man, who worked as a mechanic, not only lost his job when the shop he worked at burned, but his tools were also destroyed in the fire.
Yet, as churches have come together to help their own who have suffered loss, doing their best to provide for members who have suffered loss, Guerra and Rodriguez point to how churches are also impacting their communities.
In midtown Los Angeles, David and Randall Araujo planted The Heart LA church in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood about three years ago. The two biggest fires are 15 miles to either side of the church, but the fire on Hollywood Hill closed to within two miles of their home.
“The community is coming together like crazy, donating whatever they can,” Randall Araujo says. “We’ve been collecting water, food, clothing, and whatever is needed, working hand in hand with the LA Dream Center.”
Over 20 churches have already reached out to The Heart LA, asking how they can help — the needs are vast and varied.
“We’ve been collecting items and delivering them or having them delivered straight to the Dream Center, and in coming days, we’ll also be delivering supplies to affected areas and to those who were evacuated,” Araujo says.
Araujo notes that the impact of the fires reach well beyond those who lost their homes or businesses.
“There have been a lot of events that have been cancelled,” she says, “so those who were supposed to work at those events or provide goods or services for those events are facing the loss of income as well — and may continue to do so for some time.”
Tommy and Asenath Casarez lead Covina Luminate Church. The church is located in the San Gabriel Valley, which is home to numerous cities, including Pasadena.
“As soon as we learned about the fires last week, we took two cargo van loads of food and water to some shelters in the area,” Tommy Casarez says. “We did that Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and again on Monday,”
Casarez explains that after the first several loads of relief supplies, they began connecting with the shelters to learn what the greatest needs were, which seem to change from day to day.
“They started asking for hygiene items, so we went to a store and started buying those items and delivering them to the shelters,” Casarez says. “Then we heard from another shelter that they had a lot of kids and could really use some toys to help keep them occupied, so we bought toys and delivered them to that shelter.”
So far, Casarez says they’ve delivered 13 cargo vans full of supplies to shelters, including packages of new underwear — another request from a shelter.
“Now we’ve learned the greatest need at many of the shelters is for volunteer help,” says Casarez, whose church has tripled in size to nearly 900 over the past three years. “These shelters often only have one or two workers trying to help hundreds of people, so tomorrow (Jan. 16) we’re sending our first team of volunteers to help a shelter — our long-term strategy will be more focused on volunteering.”
Eli and Herminia Simental who pastor Centro Familiar Cristiano in Sylmar, have been working to coordinate and resource churches in the area to respond to the need.
Eli Simental says one of the fires came within a mile of his home, so as he was working to provide resources for others, he was also preparing to evacuate his home.
“Our church has really been involved in gathering and distributing,” he says. “We’ve had a couple of 18 wheelers from CityServe deliver water, blankets — all the essentials needed for evacuees — and we have volunteers working to load vehicles of people driving thru or even deliver items in person when needed.”
Simental says that they’ll be stepping up in an ever larger-scale effort to deliver pallets of supplies to different churches to reach more areas with emergency relief. However, he says, even with relief donations, they have to be careful of looters, so at times that limits the quantity of supplies a church can accept.
Southern Pacific District Superintendent Rodriguez says that he’s aware of two churches in Pasedena — La Familia Cristiana Bethel pastored by Obed Simite and Iglesia Cristiana Monte de Dios pastored by Yenci Perez — with multiple families who have lost their homes due to the fires.
“The churches are looking to take care of their own, helping those families with food, clothing, and shelter,” Rodriguez says, “but they’re also collecting items for the distribution center at Santa Nita Park.”
And Iglesia Esmirna of Highland Park, pastored by Edward Rodriguez, scored a major victory when they were permitted to set up a prayer tent at the Santa Nita Park collection and distribution area.
“Jacky Duque, a member at the church, came up with the idea,” says District Superintendent William Rodriquez, who attends the church. “At first, she was told no, but she persisted and found someone to say yes! She’s been there all day, every day. She and the volunteers from the church who help her have prayed for hundreds of people since setting up the tent — they’ve even been able to pray with volunteers who are there helping with the collection and distribution of supplies.”
However, with the extent of current losses and continuing losses due to the fires, there is little doubt that need for assistance, physical and emotional, will continue for some time to come; networks, churches, and compassion organizations such as Convoy of Hope, the LA Dream Center, CityServe, and others are committed to continuing their efforts to meet needs — including people’s need for Christ.
National spokesperson for Convoy of Hope, Ethan Forhetz, says that so far 46 truckloads of relief supplies have been delivered or are on the way to different distribution locations in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Santa Fe Springs, and Calabasas.
“I’m overwhelmed by the response of the body of Christ coming together,” says Randall Araujo. “This is a moment of salvation, that’s what I believe — when people have nowhere else to turn, they’re going to try Jesus . . . fires are devastating, but I know God can use moments like this to reach people!”


