After going to Los Angeles with SCBaptist for a Vision Tour in 2022, Jeremy Creech led a team back to LA in 2024.

During his time on the Vision Trip, Creech, Associate Pastor at Barnwell First Baptist Church, was able to hear about the needs of church plants, pastors, and ministries in LA. After going back to LA for a second time with the Palmetto Collective, Creech felt the Lord calling him to lead a team to serve and share the Good News in LA, and about a year later, he organized a team of ten back to LA in February of 2024.

The team stayed at Send Relief‘s Los Angeles Ministry Center, a ministry focused on poverty alleviation in partnership with churches through homelessness and human trafficking prevention. “God put it on my heart to pray about years ago, so I was thrilled to be staying there and learning about what they do,” Donna Creech shared. The team learned firsthand about the center’s efforts to rescue and rehabilitate these individuals, offering them a path to restoration and redemption.

Meeting Needs

Their mission extended beyond the walls of the ministry center, reaching into LA’s most marginalized communities, including Skid Row and MacArthur Park, both known for the high population of homeless and high levels of drug activity. Through their outreach efforts, they helped meet not only physical needs but also spiritual ones, planting seeds of faith in those they met.

The team also met up with Will Browning, a Barnwell native, now serving with Send California and the North American Mission Board. They also spent time with two church plants, The Abiding LA and Set Free Church. Supreethi Tadamatla shared, “When we all went there, we thought that we were going to serve people, but actually God worked through us and in us and we are not the same.”

Relying on Faith

The mission was not without its challenges. The team grappled with discomfort, fear, and uncertainty. Yet, in those moments of vulnerability, they found strength in their faith. “Some of us were anxious, some of us may have been a little afraid, and we prayed and God just comforted us. The Holy Spirit went with us and we saw him work in a mighty way,” Marty Grubbs said. He shared that the team saw three salvations while they were there.

As the team returned to Barnwell, they were reminded that the call to missions transcends geographical boundaries. Whether in the bustling streets of Los Angeles or the neighborhoods of Barnwell, the mission remains the same—to share the love of Christ with a world in need.

As Jeremy Creech said, “It’s not about going to LA for this to happen. It can happen right here in our hometown.”