Yesterday, we visited a new area of Los Angeles (MacArthur Park - the new Skid Row) that one of our team members had recommended from a previous year. We didn’t know exactly what to expect—only that the area had a reputation for deep brokenness.
But nothing could have fully prepared us for what we saw. I’ve been doing missions for years, traveling all across the U.S., and yet I don’t think I’ve ever been so struck by the spiritual and physical heaviness concentrated in one place.
As we walked the sidewalks, we stopped and prayed with store owners. Then we turned a corner—and there she was: a woman sitting with her adult daughter and granddaughter on a street corner, telling anyone who passed by about Jesus.
I was stunned. Right in the midst of so much pain and poverty, here was a woman radiating boldness and hope. As we talked with her family, we learned that she’s been doing this—sitting on that same corner, sharing the gospel—since her daughter was a young child. Now, her grown daughter comes with her, and her granddaughter is beginning to watch and learn too.
Three generations. One message: Jesus is our hope.
As we stood with them, we prayed that the Lord would continue to bless their faithfulness. We asked God to protect and strengthen them as they speak light into the darkness. And we specifically prayed that the youngest girl would grow into a woman of deep faith—one who boldly carries on the legacy of love, truth, and courage her mother and grandmother are planting in her heart
This moment brought to mind 2 Timothy 1:5, where Paul writes to a young leader in the early church: “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.”
The faith that shaped Timothy didn’t start with him—it started generations earlier with women who lived it out with quiet strength and bold obedience.
That’s exactly what we saw today: a modern-day Lois and Eunice. A mother and grandmother living out the gospel in public, raw places, shaping the next generation through example, love, and persistence. Not with microphones or stages, but with street corners, compassion, and unwavering hope.
It reminded us that ministry doesn’t need a building to be powerful. When faith is passed on, it echoes far beyond what we can see—planting seeds that grow into legacies of light in the darkest of places. - written by Lauren Strickland