From a Current Student
Faith Amidst the Ashes
Bearing Witness to God in Tragedy
As you are aware, the recent fires in SoCal have had a huge impact. Recently, we have been teaming up with Pastor Javier Rodriguez and Works of Power, a Christian organization of many churches from various denominations in order to help bring relief specifically to those who were impacted by the Eaton Fire in Pasadena. Chapel of Change sent out a team of volunteers to help to provide food, water, hygiene, clothing, prayer, and any other support that we could to the impacted communities. During our outreach with Works of Power, we have been able to help many who have been displaced and lost their homes.
A story that stands out is a day that we decided to do a big prayer circle and usher in the Holy Spirit before we began to interact with the community. A young man, Robert, who had lost his home was there waiting to meet up with a FEMA agent. As we prayed, the Holy Spirit filled him and gave him hope. One of our primary prayers was that God would not only bring food and water to those who had lost their homes, but would bring hope to help to keep people going. Robert had lost everything, but he had not lost his faith in Jesus. Immediately following that prayer, with tears in his eyes, we embraced. His tears of gratitude were worth more than all the resources passed out that day.
We may not be able to do anything about what people have lost – but we can make an impact in how they move forward. Jesus said in Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” And that is exactly what we aim to do.
My Current Ministry
I serve as the Director for the Kingsmen Men’s Ministry for Chapel of Change under the Senior Pastor and Founder of Chapel of Change, Pastor Brian Warth. The total congregation is about 700 folks, and about 40% of that number are men. We have not only weekly gatherings at four campuses in separate cities, but we also host bi-monthly meetings between our total group and an annual conference that reaches into various cities and brings hundreds of men together to minister a powerful word and to bring them into the Kingdom of God.
I am also one of the original two pioneers, along with Pastor Daniel Ortega, behind the Kingsmen Discipleship Home, a men’s residential discipleship program that has directly helped about 60-70 men directly and dozens of family members and community stakeholders indirectly since it opened in 2023. Due to its success, Pastor Brian, Pastor Daniel and myself, along with our wives, have now opened the Abide Women’s Home, which sits on a half-acre ranch in the city of Long Beach. Through these homes, we have not only been able to impact the nearby region, but churches in Guatemala and Kenya and other places have been impacted. We’re literally saving lives, bringing souls into the Kingdom, and making a huge impact in our local community.
About the author
Zach Strasters
Zach Strasters is a current student at Northeastern Seminary in the Masters of Divinity program, and an associate pastor at Chapel of Change - a Free Methodist church in Southern California. He recently got married to his wife, Gina, in December 2024.