History
The church was founded in 1993 as the "L.A. International Church" by Matthew Barnett, with the help of his father, Tommy Barnett, as a home missions project of the Southern California District of the Assemblies of God.
When the church began in September 1994, there were 39 members. The congregation grew from an average attendance of 48 on Sunday morning to reaching more than 35,000 people each week in the Center's 40 services and 273 ministries and outreaches.
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%. This may have also been due, in part, to rampant gentrification in the area during the time period, but the Mayor of Los Angeles and the City Council publicly acknowledged the dramatic impact of the Dream Center and praised its efforts. In 2000, President Bush, then Governor of Texas, visited the Dream Center and deemed it "a model for faith-based organizations."
In 2001, Pastor Matthew Barnett and the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel united the Dream Center with the famous Angelus Temple. Through a process of two Christian denominations working together, the unification was possible, and as of November 1, 2001, Pastor Barnett became the senior pastor over Angelus Temple as well as the Dream Center.
Associated Dream Centers have been established in other cities. As of April 2002, over 130 Dream Centers have been launched around the world.
Read more about this topic: Dream Center
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