About five years ago, I got to Salinas and took over a small, failing Vineyard church. Salinas is a relatively rural farming community south of San Francisco that also has an incredible gang violence problem. There are a lot of youth gangs. in fact, the youth homicide rate in Salinas is as high as it is in East Oakland or South Chicago or other places known for their gangs.
When we came to town, we really sensed that obvious spirit of division throughout the city because of the competing gangs, almost block-by-block, holding territory. The same spirit animates the churches: There’s a lot of division, a lot of fighting for church. I make it my business to stay involved across the city.
I met the mayor one of my first weeks in town, and we became friends. He has a clergy council that meets as a group once a month. The mayor had very little theology for the Holy Spirit. I would watch him move in and out of the prophetic, though. He didn’t even realize it. Just because of the position that he was in. That was really interesting.
One day in early 2012, the mayor was talking with us pastors, and he stopped and said, “You know, God is speaking to me about Pentecost. I don’t know what it is, but I’m just sensing that there is something about Pentecost that we’re supposed to do. I think we’re supposed to have a big ol’ Pentecostal party!”
I said, “For what it’s worth, you’re talking my language.”
We communicated and planned over the next couple of months, and our church rallied around this idea. We networked with other churches and began to create what the mayor saw. It was one of the most remarkable things that I’ve ever been involved with. My job was to stage manage, to hold all these pieces together. We ended up with 15 or 16 churches coming together, from across the denominational spectrum — and we filled the largest meeting space available in Salinas. We held worship interspersed with prayer. There was a charismatic Catholic worship band, and a bilingual youth band leading worship, and a world-class Apostolic gospel choir to close out the evening.
At one point, I looked around and saw the other 15 or so pastors, the Franciscan fathers in their robes, evangelicals in their street clothes, a Catholic bishop. It was so amazing. You could feel the presence and the pleasure of God in that place. I will never forget it. It was a remarkable day, and in the heavens over Salinas, something powerful was broken.
Since then we’ve seen new partnerships spring up, new togetherness and community. We’ve implemented night walks: Congregations are coming together and walking some of the most dangerous areas of our city at the most dangerous times of the day to bring the presence of God into our community.
I think at that time there was a shift over our community that I believe is going to lead to revival. [bctt tweet=”I believe God is saying that season is over, and a new freedom is coming to our town. -Dave Dove” quote=”It’s in process, but I believe that God is saying that that season is over, and a new freedom is coming to our town.”]
