Today WMC Talk interviews brother Juan Jimenez, who
was born and raised right in our neighborhood but never
knew about our church until just a few years ago.
Juan Jimenez was born into a Catholic family on one of
the streets running right along Cesar Chavez Ave.
His family moved around from house to house often, but
always managed to stay within the neighborhood. From
a very early age, our brother Juan was taught by his
family to believe in the Catholic faith and to attend mass
every week. As a child he not only attended church, but
he also participated in the mass, assisting the priest as
an altar boy. As he reached adolescence he gradually
began to drift away from the church and into a life of
gangs and violence. His involvement in gangs grew so
strong that he even formed his own gang and he
exercised control over a large territory of the streets
of L.A. He also ended up at the emergency room with
serious injuries to his head as a result of those
activities.
When he grew tired of gang life, Juan Jimenez opted
to get involved with the political activism prevailing in
the sixties as our nation was being swept away by the
civil rights movement. He also became a leader in this
field and he gained such notoriety that even then
President Lyndon B. Johnson came knocking on his
door one day looking for him. But Juan didn't know
who it was. He became scared when he saw the
convoy of limousines lining up in front of his house.
Juan thought it was a police sweep, so he just loaded
a gun and barricaded himself behind the sofa. The
following day he was notified that it had been the
president of the United States who had been looking
for him.
For the next few decades Juan Jimenez continued to
lead a life with no religion and he made several attempts
to get involved with politics. Juan and his family reached
a point when they realized that running for public office
was very expensive. Then Juan Jimenez remembered that
there is a God. He made a change in his life. He began to
pray. His prayer was for God to help him become a candidate
without having to pay the $500 filing fee. This wasn't easy.
Our brother Juan went through lots of red tape and was
made to jump through many hoops but the Lord is always
faithful and Juan's prayer was answered. His candidacy was
approved and he didn't have to pay a fee. Now he was able
to begin his political campaign. He determined that in his
campaign he would make it a priority to mention the name
of God. So all his campaign literature had the logo "In God
We Trust" printed on it. As he went around the neighbor-
hood asking people to vote for him, he always stressed his
trust in the Lord even though he was not connected to any
church.
Along the campaign trail, Juan met brother Dan Parra from
the SDA Tujunga Church. Dan invited him to visit White
Memorial. "What ? The hospital? " Juan asked. He had never
realized that there is a church called White Memorial even
though he grew up and spent his entire life in the neighbor-
hood. So he came to WMC and began attending some Bible
studies organized by Dr. Louis Fletcher, Thelma Pitt and
others. To his own surprise he became involved in the
Bible discussions and even had the courage to answer lots
of questions even though he had never touched a Bible, much
less read one before. Then he became hungry for the Bible
and began to attend church regularly. His wife grew curious
as to why he was coming to church so often, so she decided
to come and see for herself just what was going on at WMC.
A few months later, Juan decided that he wanted to get
baptized. His wife told him that she herself would not go
as far as getting baptized. She would just continue to
accompany him to WMC, but in no way be baptized. He
told her "no problem," but as the day of the baptism grew
nearer, his wife changed her mind and she decided to be
baptized together with him.
The baptism took place in August of 2008 and it was a
very special occasion for our church because it was a
group baptism and it happened in a natural setting.
A large group of us traveled to the Los Angeles National
Forest on a Sabbath afternoon and we made our way to
the Tujunga River. There we found a nice spot with lots
of cool and refreshing running water coming down from
the Tujunga mountains. A team of pastors joined forces
and baptized several members as we all sang "Shall We
Gather at The River?"
We are thankful to receive Juan Jimenez into our church
after such a long and difficult journey. We praise the Lord
for keeping His promise that he will give us rest.
