The pastor of a Los Angeles church is showing the love of Christ to beleaguered California residents who have lost everything in deadly fires that ravaged a reported 10,000 structures and killed at least 10.
Steve Wilburn, senior pastor of Core Church LA, told CBN News Thursday night he spent the day driving through the Pacific Palisades — one of the areas hardest hit by the inferno.
Wilburn, who is also a chaplain for the Los Angeles Police Department, was able to gain special access to impacted neighborhoods — and what he saw was trauma, sadness, and “total devastation.”
“It’s like, just as like as far as you can see, just neighborhoods completely level,” Wilburn said.
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The preacher’s goal was simply to show up with his son and fellow pastor Brentten Wilburn and minister to those suffering. It’s the same tactic Wilburn used a year ago when he went to Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack and showed up to “love the Israeli people” and pray.
Wilburn’s compassionate efforts in Los Angeles Thursday — which he plans to continue into Friday — included passing out water, helping coordinate individual needs, and, most importantly, praying with and over the individuals whom he reached.
He described most people he encountered as being in a state of bewilderment over the impact of the fires.
“They were absolutely in shock and just devastated, like not even knowing what to do,” Wilburn said. “[They] lost everything. You lost all your baby albums … all your mementos, everything that you’ve collected in your life, everything you’ve had since you were a little kid, all your kids’ things. It’s just everything’s in rubble.”
The pastor said he and his son used bottles of water to break the ice as they approached strangers and then asked, “How can we serve you?” From prayers to hugs and simply listening to their stories, the duo made a big impact throughout the day.
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But it was the prayer that really stood out to Wilburn. Everyone aside from one individual took Wilburn up on his prayer offer — and he even read the Bible to some.
And none of these individuals were Christians, something he found notable.
“This is the most liberal part of L.A. that you’re gonna get,” Wilburn said. “This is the people that … support the most liberal things, but let me tell you — there was no liberal action going on today. It was all people in need and they were crying out to God.”
Wilburn described encountering one woman in her mid-30s.
“She’s just … sitting on like a bucket in her driveway,” he said. “Now, her house was there. … We pull up … We hand her a water. We’re like, ‘Hi, we’d like to pray for you.’”
The woman was stunned. She explained that she had just been sitting down “crying out to God.”
“I was angry at him,” she told Wilburn. “I’m like, ‘God, why have you allowed this to happen? If you’re real, show me.’”
It was within seconds of that plea that Wilburn and his son showed up to offer her water and prayer. The preacher — who is used to such things — wasn’t shocked, but the woman certainly was in awe. Wilburn said he read her Psalm 46 from his Bible and spent many minutes ministering to her.
“She kept saying, ‘I can’t believe it. I can’t believe you’re here. I just prayed.’”
It was the miracle this woman truly needed at the moment.
Wilburn had many other stories as well, including interacting with a man who stayed back to protect his home, pumping out thousands of gallons from his poor to soak his and his neighbor’s homes and yards — an effort that apparently successfully held the flames at bay.
Even for the remaining homes, though, Wilburn said it could be a long time before people can have basic services as the “infrastructure is gone.”
As for the preacher’s efforts to pray for and encourage those struggling, he offered a powerful word to fellow believers.
“[There’s] nothing like love,” he said. ‘And let me just exhort any believers that are watching — we’re the voice of reason in this world that has lost reason, and … there’s never a time when people don’t need to hear that there’s a God in heaven that loves them, that cares about them.”
Wilburn plans to go back Friday to continue ministering, praying, and offering help where he can.
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