Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Dreams come true at Dream Center

Pastor Jim Farris of the First Assembly of God in Gurdon had the Roatary Club program this past Thursday.

Farris and some of church members recently visited the Dream Center in Los Angeles, Calif. and spoke to Rotarians about the Dream Center.

The Dream Center began in 1995 in the former Queen of Angels Hospital in downtown Los Angeles. Since that time, the Assemblies of God have helped the Dream Center grow into a 400,000 square foot facility.

The Dream Center was originally started by a man named Tommy Barnett whose son, Matthew, is over the ministries at the Center.

According to a Dream Center handout, "The Dream Center is penetrating the darkness of the inner city with the amazing light of God's supernatural love."

"I have been a lot of places, but this is by far one of the most awesome I have ever been. I hope to take the opportunity to go back in the next year or so," said Farris.

Farris said when the Dream Center was opened you couldn't even walk outside at night in this particular part of L.A. In the past seven years the Center is been in business, crime has dropped by 70 percent.

Farris said in the beginning the graffiti was so bad on the walls outside the center that workers would get up at 4 a.m. every day to paint over what was written during the night.

In the beginning of the center, a 12-year-old prostitute talked to someone from the center and was looking for help, but was scared of her pimp. Her mother was in jail and her dad was on a four-week drinking binge.

Members of the Dream Center went to rescue the girl at midnight while her pimp was watching. He became angry and a high speed chase began.

The girl is now 15, and her mother is out of jail and is involved with the Dream Center. She was taught to use a computer and now has full custody of all her children is making around $18 an hour.

The Dream Center trains those who are willing to learn how to use a computer or run a fork lift. This gives them the opportunity to find a good job and get off of the streets.

Parents of troubled teens can go to the center and sign over custody rights to the center. The teens are then taken under the centers wing and helped to find right from wrong.

"It was a wonderful experience to see God working in such wonderful ways and turning a community around. It gives you hope that you can do the same thing somewhere else where it is needed," said Farris.