Los Angeles Adult Entertainment: A pastor in LA’s skid row preaches the power of transformation
It was a variation on a theme heard every Sunday in the little church at the corner of 6th and San Pedro streets. Its entrance looks out at the heart of a 50-block neighborhood of trash-strewn alleyways, sidewalk encampments and crime-ridden shelters filled with the unemployed, mentally ill and those struggling with drugs and alcohol.
“All my sermons aim to empower people to overcome skid row culture and seek a better way of living,” said Thomas, who recently earned a doctorate in theology and personality, with an emphasis in pastoral counseling, at the Claremont School of Theology.
His experiences at the church, wedged between the Union Rescue Mission, the Midnight Mission and the Weingart Center, were included in his doctoral dissertation: The Liberative-Prophetic: A Socio-Theological and Psychospiritual Analysis of Skid Row, Los Angeles.
Building up people’s confidence is an ongoing campaign at the church, which was established in 1988. Its motto: The church on the corner where all are welcome.
Church volunteer Theresa Riordan, 46, described herself as “a former skid row prostitute for almost 40 years.”
See the full article from “Los Angeles Times”