California Wildfires Devastate, but One Pastor Sees a Revival in the Ashes
Matthew Barnett, pastor of the historic Angelus Temple and CEO of the Dream Center in Los Angeles, California, is seeing incredible spiritual hunger in the wake of devastating California wildfires that have killed at least 24 people and destroyed more than 12,000 structures.
Barnett, whose organization is feeding and housing those impacted by the inferno, told CBN News he has seen a massive outpouring of resources and volunteer staff—people from all walks of life who are flooding to his campus to help the Christian nonprofit bring relief.
In the process, these people are hearing—and experiencing—the Christian gospel.
“They’re not just open,” Barnett said of the spiritual fervor unfolding. “They are telling you stuff that you’re not even asking them. I mean, they are volunteering … their lives … and, just by listening and asking them questions, and then you say … ‘God is with you.’”
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Volunteers have been flooding to the Dream Center to help hand out food and resources—people from “every type of demographic you could imagine.”
“As people are working 10 hours a day so joyfully … I’m talking to them as they’re serving … we’ll play worship music and … they’ll be like, ‘I like the song. I never heard before. What is it?’” Barnett said. “And then we’re just talking about God while we’re working together with this whole new community.”
He said prayer has also been on full display, as he and volunteers ask individuals and families coming through the food line if they can pray for them.
As it turns out, the spiritual needs are as plentiful as the physical.
“Everybody wants prayer,” Barnett said. “It really is kind of a revival in action where people just want to know that God is there, but I’m really seeing it in a very unusual way through a lot of the volunteers rubbing shoulders all day long and asking questions … like, ‘Why do you do what you guys do?’”
He said some people go through the food line to be prayed for and to experience the positive, Spirit-driven Dream Center staff and volunteers.
“It really is a gathering place, it’s a revival place, it’s a place where people are being told about Christ, it’s a place of people being prayed for,” Barnett said. “It really reminds me of an Acts 29 type of church in action.”
To read the full story, visit our content partners at Faithwire.
Reprinted with permission from faithwire.com. Copyright © 2025 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
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