We just returned from our 3rd Annual Los Angeles-Hollywood Mission Trip, and one lesson kept showing up everywhere we went:
People want to be seen.
We arrived on Pentecost Sunday and spent the week studying Acts 1-4, watching how ordinary people were filled with the Holy Spirit and boldly shared the hope of Jesus. Then each day we walked out the door and saw those same truths come to life.
While serving alongside Serve LA, one guest told our students how much it meant that they sat down and talked with him. When they asked why, he simply said, “I like to be seen.”
That statement stayed with us all week.
We met people carrying grief, loss, loneliness, and uncertainty. We met a man who cried when he heard the name of Jesus because it had been so long since anyone had spoken His name to him. We met people searching for hope, purpose, forgiveness, and peace.
And we watched our students listen.
They learned names. They heard stories. They prayed with strangers. They shared the gospel. They discovered that ministry often starts with something much simpler than we realize: seeing people.
One student reflected that The Walk has been part of his life for the past six years and has become like a second home. He shared that he wouldn’t be the person he is today without it. That reminder was just as powerful as anything we experienced in Los Angeles.
In Acts 3, Peter stopped for a man everyone else walked past and said, “Look at us.”
This week reminded us that before people hear the gospel, they often need to know someone sees them.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for our team. Most of all, thank You, Jesus, for allowing us to be part of Your work in Los Angeles and Hollywood.
3rd Annual Los Angeles-Hollywood Mission Trip
The Walk Youth Group
Building 229
Thomas County Area Ministry