An Introduction

According to the history of California in the east of Los Angeles, increasing jobless and poverty among the colored people was because of that the need of the non-skill labors and the need of the laboring workers are disappearing in theses areas[1]. In the 1990s, the US has become the greatest power in the world. Our educational system required our high school students to learn more than the other students around the world. The US expects to have more Master degrees and Doctor degrees in our societies. But contrary to the expectation of this country, the high school students dropped out of schools has increased in the late 1980s in Los Angeles[2]. The students who dropped out from the school in LA were to work in the factories in the areas, like the east of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, these factories works formerly opened for the non-skill teenagers were then closed out[3]. The students, who left school and found no jobs, often turned to steal and rob others’ properties in the city[4]. The beating on Rodney King in March 1991[5], for example, directly led to the greatest riots in LA from April 29th to May 3^rd in 1992[6], since the Watts Riots of 1965[7]. In the 1990s, in Los Angeles, more than 60% of the residents are the colored people[8]; and among them, most of the colored people are unemployed, poor, and uneducated[9]. During such a dark age for the colored people, Pastor Bill Carter was called to the mission for the youth who live in Inland Empire. Most of the members in his church are young teenagers, colored, blacks and Mexicans. Pastor Bill Carter has been a pastor of the young adults in the Inland Empire areas in 1987. Today, Bill Carter is the pastor of Metro City Church on the campus of Cal State University in San Bernardino, with 150 followers attends to his church regularly. The California economic depression decade is a time for the Metro City Church to grow.

How Metro City Church Starts

Pastor Bill Carter’s personal experience fits to tell the depression decades in California since the late 1980s. Born in 1959 in Beaumont, Texas, Bill Carter moved to California in 1984, four years after he married to his wife Danna. Throughout the churches, he was given a church leader David Copp to start his Metro City Church. David Copp and his son David Copp are the pastors of the church, named City at Cross, in Long Beach. They invited my interviewer Bill Carter to travel around the world in 1984-1985. They visited the places like Taiwan, Japan, and Africa. Such a traveling around the world was to bring the gospel to people of different races around the world. But, for the financial restrict in the late 1980s, the mission of preaching “the word” around the world had been failed by the economic depression. Pastor Bill Carter returned to California preaching gospel to the young people in Redland. They met in the libraries, parks and public places. In 1988, the church of City at Cross, which located in Long Beach, officially hired him as a pastor for the youth group. His followers grew slowly at the beginning. In August 2000, his church worked independently from the church of City at Cross, and he moved his church to the campus of Cal State University in San Bernardino. He had 30 people came to his meeting regularly by the end of the year 2000. So, he rented the room A of Student Union Center in CSUSB, the size of the place is about a classroom big. The 30 people and pastor Bill Carter began their Sunday service on the campus since. Every Sunday, pastor Bill Carter and his followers will come to the Student Union Center, room A, for worshiping the Lord; and he call the place “Metro City Church”. Eighteen months later, he gained the permission from the student union to open the room A, B, and C altogether as an auditorium, where was the Sunday services held even till today.

About the Church

The church provides Sunday schools for the children and the adults, shortly before the worship. The Sunday worship begins at 11:00 am. The pastor will read some scriptures from the Holy Bible to cause the audience’s attention. Then music of rock and roll will begin. The audience will come to the front of the auditorium and to sing and dance to the Lord, whom they worship. Usually, the songs are about giving thanks and praises to the Father God, the Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Young people sing and dance in the front of the auditorium. Throughout the music, the pastor will narrate one or two stories from the Holy Scriptures. And then, pastor Bill Carter will call everybody to pray. People speak in tongues, pray in their own languages, and make noises in the front of the auditorium. Sometimes, the pastor will pray for a certain particular person, cast out the devils, heal the sick, or bless the person. The pastor has a very charming voice and an excellent communicational ability. He keeps speaking and talking throughout the Sunday worship. And his conversation seems never stop. After people singing and dancing in front of the auditorium, he will call the people to give hugs to one another. And then, people returned to their seats.

As people sit quietly in their seats, Pastor Bill Carter begins the messages for the week. He uses the stories from the Bible to preach the gospel. The stories he preaches often are supernatural and unusual: the story, like the bottles of a widow never run out of oil as she serves the godly-man Elijah first, her last meal[10], to tell the audiences that God bless such a widow, who she would die for a godly-man. He also uses a story from the book of Joshua to tell the students in CSUSB to hold on the visions and study hard on the campus that God will stop the enemies while students study hard, running for their educational goal; the story is about a supernatural event that God stopped the sun to move, for doing so Joshua may have sufficient time to think and to plan how to enter into the promised city in the land of Canaan. And he uses the story how God brought Israelis out of the land of Egypt, and how God divided the Red Sea and made his people to walk through the midst of it; but overthrew Pharaoh and his hosts into the Red Sea, to say that God changes a life in a supernatural way, once he or she accepts Jesus and be forgiven by the blood of Jesus. Today, the number of the people go to Metro City Church are 150, which number is 5 times than the church had 3 years ago. Among them, 40 % is the students of CSUSB who live around the campus. Logically, his power and influence on the campus will be greater and greater in the very near future.

Organization

The church takes the profits from the volunteer labors for granted. While interviewing pastor Bill Carter on July 2^nd, 2003, Carter opened the Holy Scriptures to the Book of Joel, Chapter 2, verse 28[11], and Act 5:1,8[12] and 2:4[13] and 2:16[14], and Mathew 28:18,19[15], to say that the members of his church ought to serve on another. The verses he pointed out are about that, like the eyes, ears, and noses, the members of his church have different function, but the various functions are working together for the glory of God. Some have the gift to do the teaching; some have the gift to preach the gospels. Some have the gift to be the translators. They all connect together like a body owns its eyes, ears, nose, hands and feet. About 10 to 12 volunteer church leaders works in Metro City Church. They are responsible to home Bible studies. Some of the leaders help the students to write the essays for the school assignments. One can call to the leaders by telephone at anytime for help, and it’s totally free of money charges. And there are some volunteer workers bring coffee and cookies on the table in the back of the auditorium every Sunday morning. Young people eat the free food in the auditorium comfortably. And most of all, there are people who put 1 dollar, 2 dollars, or 5 dollars, as the free offerings to the church every week. The free labors and the free money are the keys to help the church to grow. The organization also explains the depression economy during the late-1980s till present that the church members grows rapidly during the depression years because the society needs the volunteer workers. The followers of Metro City Church have one thing in common, the members of the church hope their volunteer contribution will bring forth the economic prosperity for themselves supernaturally. The story of Metro City Church fits well to the depression economy in California. During the time of depression, people feel they are responsible to each other.

An Evaluation from Bill Carter

The pastors of City at Cross, David Copp and Jr. David Copp are the very help to begin his church; but, a week after interviewing the pastor of Metro City Church, Bill Carter said in the Sunday worship that he contributes the success to another person, named Kent Wining. Carter said,

When the first week I came to California, I went to a small church, which church I had never heard or known before. As the Sunday worship ended that morning, a member of the small church, named Kent Wining, asked me, “Are you looking for a church or are you just a visitor?”

“I am a visitor came from Texas, and I am looking for an apartment for me and my wife. She still lives in Texas.”

“Ann…, what do you do for a living,” Kent asked.

“I will be a pastor, doing ministry to the young people.”

For the following days of the week, Kent spent the whole week looking for an apartment for my wife and me. So, the next Sunday morning when I went to the church, Kent gave me a list of the addresses about the apartments, including the fees of each renting for the apartments, how the air conditionings worked and how the carpets looked like. From the list of the addresses, I had found an apartment for my wife and me to start the ministry to the youth group. I will, never, never forget this lovely church member, although I went to his church only twice. He is the greatest member in the churches that I have ever known in my life. Not a greater love is like such a relationship that one would die for his friend. You have sent to be translators or teachers. But, if the members of a church don’t love one another or help the visitors, you are good for nothing.

Conclusion

Pastor Bill Carter’s church in California is that the members of Californian churches love one another, died for one another unconditionally. As an historian, I see such an unconditional love is the rise of the Californian socialism that the members of a same church turn to the volunteer works for an economic miracle in their society. The time of the economic depression in Los Angeles areas, also, is a time for the Metro City Church to grow rapidly. Supernaturally, the young people live in the Inland Empire feel they are responsible to each other during the depression years.

Bibiography

“All 4 in King Beating Acquitted Violence Follows Verdicts; Guard Called Out”. Los Angeles Time. April 29, 1992. A1. A22.

“An Interview to Pastor Bill Carter”. In CSUSB Cafeteria. July 2^nd, 2003.

Cannon, Lou. How Rodney Kind and the Riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999.

Chan, Suchen et al. Major Problem in California History. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.

Holy Bible. King James Version. A Regency Bible from Thomas Nelson Publisher. Thomas Nelson Inc. 1990.

“Tape of L.A. Police Beating Suspect Stirs Public Furor”. Los Angeles Time. March 6, 1991. A1. A21.

[1] Suchen Chan et al. Major Problem in California History. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997. 479.

[5] “Tape of L.A. Police Beating Suspect Stirs Public Furor”. Los Angeles Time. March 6, 1991. A1.A21.

[6] “All 4 in King Beating Acquitted Violence Follows Verdicts; Guard Called Out”. Los Angeles Time.April 29, 1992. A1. A22.

[7] Lou Cannon. How Rodney King and the Riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD. Boulder CO: Westview Press, 1999. 347

[8] Chan. 477. a census of 1990s shows that 40% of the residents lives in downtown LA is Latinos, 37% of the population is whites, 13% of the population is blacks, and 9% of the population is Asians.

[10] King James Bible. The Book of First King 17:10-16

[11] Joel 2:28 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:”

[12] Act 5:1,8 “A certain man named Ananias, with Spphira his wife, sold a possession,”

“And Peter answered unto her Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And She said, Yea, for so much?”

[13] Act 2:4 “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

[14] Act 2:16 “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;”

[15] Mathew 28:18,19 “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”