Dream Center
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The Dream Center began as a home missions project of the Southern California District of the Assemblies of God. The church was launched by Matthew Barnett, with the help of his father, Pastor Tommy Barnett as the Los Angeles International Church with attendance averaging 48 people on a Sunday morning. Attendance has grown since then, with reports that 35,000 people have attended at some point.
Located in the heart of the inner city of Los Angeles in the former Queen of Angels Hospital, the facility consists of almost 400,000 ft² (37,000 m²) in buildings on 8.8 acres (36,000 m²) of prime commercial real estate. The church ministers to gang members, drug addicts, unwed mothers, children without parents, halfway house for released prisoners, feeding the homeless and needy, motorcycle groups, taggers, AIDS victims, and various subculture, ethnic, and nationality groups. It is said that miracles take place there daily at the "Dream Center", so called because people are given an opportunity to Dream Again. The church epitomizes the quote by Pastor Tommy Barnett "Find a need and fill it, find a hurt and heal it."
Pastor Matthew Barnett, son of Tommy Barnett, manages the Dream Center and Pastors Angelus Temple.
"In the first four years of the Dream Center's establishment, prostitution and gang violence dropped 73%, the homicide rate dropped 28% and rape dropped 53%. The mayor and city council have publicly acknowledged the dramatic impact of the Dream Center and praise its efforts. In 2000 President Bush (then, the governor of Texas) visited the Dream Center and deemed it as "a model for faith-based organizations."
