DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Beverly Hills, TMZ… Please Pray With Us
Day 5 of 40, LENT, © NaimaLett.com/blog



© FilmLA.com, Center of TMZ, the Thirty Mile Zone

Hi Fam,

I don’t do this often, as I know you too have a full plate, but I’d really like to ask you to pray for us and with us during this Lenten season: specifically for our city, our industry and the ministry God has called us to plant here at the epicenter of it all.

But first,
How are you? It’s Day 5 of Lent. How’s it going? Are you adjusting? Digging deeper?

I’m off sweets, pressing into prayer, and feeling a lot better than I did last week. Whew! By Tuesday, I sounded like a man, but folks were too polite to comment on it.:=) I like to say that I don’t get sick, but I got something that tried to masquerade as a cold for a few days. Thank God I’m mended, non-contagious, and able to enjoy our 70 degrees & a breeze!

Oh, the LaLa!

That’s one of the things we love about the LaLa. Saturday was February 16th and here in the Hills, it was 80 degrees. Palm trees were praising. Birds were singing. It was beautiful. As we pass folks walking their dogs (or pushing them in strollers), it’s hard to believe that so many people are struggling financially; but that’s the truth.

LA is a pressure cooker. Dreams, expectations and expenses are high. Actual jobs and opportunities are low. And from last week’s manhunt events, you can see that times are tight, and some folks are ready to pop.

There are 2 distinct Hollywoods: 1) The 99% of professional artists who make less than $10,000 in their craft per year and have lost union health benefits, and 2) The 1% who make more than $10,000, like our celebrities, some of which are reported by TMZ and other tabloids to have also hit slow times during this season when studios are cutting back, film stars are running to TV, and TV stars are making web series. Runaway production has caused panic.

Speaking of TMZ

Most people think of celebrity gossip site TMZ when you hear those 3 little letters, but did you know that TMZ actually came from the Thirty Mile Zone, which is Hollywood’s Studio Zone? Studios created the TMZ to regulate filming in Hollywood within a 30-mile radius from the old offices of the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers at Beverly and La Cienega.

Christopher Grove in Variety Magazine describes that intersection as our center of the universe: “In the film and TV locations business, contrary to the tenets of astrophysics, there actually is a center of the universe. And it’s at the corner of La Cienega and Beverly boulevards. Where the Beverly Center meets the Beverly Connection is the dead center of Hollywood’s so-called Studio Zone… The Studio Zone is the 2,826-square-mile area (30 mile radius) in which producers don’t have to pay for overnight stays or per diems, no matter how late the working day goes.”

Beverly Hills

TMZ’s center is the Beverly Center, which is 5 minutes from us. This is the city in which we’re called to share God’s Word and love God’s creative people as much as He does. Hollywood’s decisions are made right here in Beverly Hills, and we care for the souls of the professionals behind those decisions and the artists actualizing them.

Our little gem of a city, which turns 100 next year, only has 34,100+ residents, but there are over 200,000 commuters who shape our media, culture and world from offices here everyday. And when we include the TMZ, which stretches over 3 counties (Los Angeles, the O.C./Orange County and Ventura), we’re talking millions. Los Angeles County alone has almost 10 million people. We form the Arts and Entertainment hub that pumps out to the rest of the world.

Hope in the Hills

Kevin and I ended up in the Hills after an Only-God adventure almost 3 years ago (not enough space here to tell you the story, but ask us sometime!). Over the last 11 years of our marriage and 15 years of ministry, God uniquely prepared and equipped us for service here. He has given us a heart for this city and His people who live and work here. We’re entertainers and professionals who understand and love artists and professionals and know what’s it’s like to struggle, endure and triumph and everything in between.

Over a year ago, Kevin and I were led to start a diverse bible study with young dream chasers and dream makers in our living room. That has blossomed into the church plant, Hope in the Hills. We have been renting a Center, worshiping and fellowshipping together weekly, building leadership, and moving towards our city public launch in October.

Will you pray for us and with us?

This 40-day Lenten season is crucial for us.
Will you consider praying for us and with us over the next 40 days as the Lord leads you?

As we fast and pray leading up to Easter, we have several exciting milestones.
– We’re preparing for our 1st baptism, establishing communion and creating community groups.
– We’re praying to meet specific needs of specific people the Lord laid on our hearts in January.
– We’re excited about the historic and public confirmation of my ordination in March.
– We’re excited about the invitations coming in to speak and preach around the country.

Also, really important, we’re praying for the Lord of the harvest to send more harvesters. Matthew 9:35-38 recounts, “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

We’re praying specifically for more leaders who have a heart for the harvest in LaLa Land. It’s a different world, Fam. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto. It’s a distinctive Hollywood culture, and we gotta love it to minister here effectively.

We dream of a church (a fam) that: looks like heaven, sounds like heaven, loves like God loves and lives like Christ lives. Will you pray with us for God’s will to be done?

Thank you, in advance,
Lots of love,
Naima

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