The Identity of The Hollywood Church, Part 1
“Prayer”

May, 2008

by: Chriss Barksdale

• Hollywood Church

What is the Hollywood Church all about? Jesus! That about sums it up, but how does that play out in the Hollywood church? I think there are basically five strategies to working in the city, which really can work anywhere but are vital for inner city ministry. Our philosophy as a church looks like this:

Hollywood Church exists to be a genuine community of Gospel-centered people who are on a mission in Hollywood to love the city and be satisfied with Jesus Christ alone.

Each of those words are important and help formulate a strategy. But you will notice that prayer isn’t one of the core values, why not? To put prayer as one of many automatically puts it into a category and makes it a program and thus demotes its value. Prayer is vital to building a genuine community, it is the result of a Gospel-centered people, it is part of being on mission, it is a way of loving the city, and it is the heart of being satisfied with Jesus alone. You could say that each of these core values is part of the main course of a meal and prayer is the salt, pepper, and spices.

Why is Prayer so important?

Jesus is the only one who can plant churches and have them succeed in the city! And one of the most humbling statistics is that over 75% of church plants fail!

But we are confident that by His grace Hollywood Church will stand and be a tool in the hands of Jesus to reach many with the Gospel and transform lives! He must do it!

Psalm 127:1 “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”

Matthew 16:18 “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Another reason prayer is so important is because Satan is alive and well in the cities! Hollywood is cult central: Scientology, Christian Science, Church of Scientist, Mormonism, Jehovah Witness, Self-Realization Fellowship, and Church of light and sound of God (this really exists). We need Jesus and His power more than anything!

Jim Cymbala in his book “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire” and pastor at the Brooklyn Tabernacle has said: “Satan’s main strategy with God’s people has always been to whisper, ‘Don’t call, don’t ask, don’t depend on God to do great things. You’ll get along fine if you just rely on your own cleverness and energy.’ The truth of the matter is that the devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials. But he knows his kingdom will be damaged when we lift up our hearts to God.”

We continue to ask for your prayers as we take the torch of the Gospel into the dark recesses of Satan’s domain. God is continuing to do amazing things and we are overwhelmed by the evidences of grace in our midst. In the following months I will cover more of who we are as a church, starting with the idea of community.