Partner Stories
Alliance Church Confronts City’s Spiritual Problem
by Pastor Larry Lane
Neighborhood Church, Chico, California
Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” I can’t begin to guess how often I have prayed that prayer, but it wasn’t until a few years into my ministry at Neighborhood Church that I was challenged by the truth that Jesus just might want to see that prayer answered and His church to be the instrument of that answer. I was raised to focus on individual salvation with little regard for the transformation of the community in which He planted me. But I began to see my community from heaven’s viewpoint. The enemy was at work in my town, holding people hostage and blinding their eyes from the truth of the gospel. There are many ways in which Neighborhood Church has responded to the call to bring the Kingdom of God into the mainstream of our community but none has been quite as dramatic as what took place a few years ago.
I am not one of those believers that bashes trick-or-treaters as people who participate in demonic rituals. But Halloween in Chico was much different than most communities. We are a college town of about 100,000 people 75 miles north of Sacramento. Chico State University became infamous around 1990 as the nation’s number one party school. The proof of that label was most evident during Halloween season. The streets of Chico would fill with 20-25,000 revelers turning downtown into a giant party. The event resembled Mardis Gras with its drunkenness and sensuality. No one under 18 should have been permitted near the streets of Chico on that night. The evening challenged the police to break up fights, arrest the out-of-control people, and hope that a riot would not erupt. The cost for the clean up in the days to follow was nearly $100,000.
As an outsider coming into the community it was at first a curiosity to behold and then something very disturbing. And yet the prevailing attitude in the community was “kids will be kids.” After a number of years of whining to the Lord, I heard Him one day whisper into my heart, “This is not a problem for the local government but a spiritual problem for the church.”
What ensued from that moment grew our faith in ways unheard of previously. We rallied the churches together to pray downtown, saturated the volunteer force for that night, and actually enlisted worship teams to sing praise songs in the gazebo—smack in the center of downtown. If you ever want to see a definition of contrast, picture your Sunday worship team, singing songs about Jesus while surrounded by thousands of party-goers who are dancing sensually and dressed to match.
The police were concerned that a riot would break out, so they planned an escape strategy for us if things became too volatile. Around 9:30, at the peak of the crowds, the police began to grow quite nervous and asked us to pack up and go home. We pleaded with them for us to stay a little longer to see if our prayers might reduce the tension. What ensued in the following moments is forever etched in my memory. As the worship team began to sing again, the Spirit of God descended on that place. Scattered throughout the crowd, we watched those who had been mocking and dancing begin to cry. Prayer team members simply walked up to those in tears and lead them to the Lord. It was the most extraordinary thing I have ever witnessed and incredible confirmation that we were on to something significant.
Naturally, we entered the following year with high expectations of diminishing crowds and crime. But a negative reaction by some in the community to “church music” in the city park on Halloween caused the government to decide no group would occupy the gazebo the next year. As we prayed with other churches prior to Halloween, the Lord seemed to indicate that, this year, we needed to stay in the churches and simply worship and pray. Throughout the community, churches responded to the appeal. The day after Halloween, I fully expected the newspaper to declare of a miraculous turn of events. To the contrary, it was the worst year ever. Stabbings, record arrests, and a general darkness covered the community. Many of us were devastated and our faith shaken.
For days I complained to God and questioned whether we really heard from Him or if we were but foolish dreamers. But then something miraculous did happen. It was if the blinders got ripped off the community. Suddenly the people and city officials starting asking, “Why do we put up with this?” The following January, the city council voted to “put an end to Halloween in Chico” and commissioned the police department to develop a strategy to accomplish the goal.
Through our interactions with the police department, the chief came to know Christ, and it became his burning passion to see this “festival” ended in his town. The following year they imported more than 300 law enforcement troops from around the state. There was a command headquarters downtown. Next to command control was a prayer room blessed by the police and filled with intercessors. Prior to the evening, more than 400 police officers gathered at Neighborhood Church for its briefing. I was invited to speak and pray over the officers. The tension was high due to rumors and threats of riots and compromising entrapments. About 9 p.m., two lieutenants burst into the prayer room and shouted, “I don’t know what you are doing but keep it up! There are no crowds, and it is more peaceful than a normal weekend night.”
The Mardis Gras-like festival has not returned to Chico. Out of that pilgrimage was birthed an ongoing ministry to the police department, a prayer team that sits in the council chambers at every meeting, and numerous other efforts to bring the Kingdom of God into the streets and corridors of our city. Neighborhood Church has played a leading role in this venture of being the answer to Jesus’ prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
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