Social Justice

Over the past few years, I have become increasingly aware of the injustices around the world.

  • Over 1 billion people on our planet do not have access to clean drinking water
  • Every 15 seconds a child dies from a water related disease
  • There are over 140 million orphans in our world today
  • 27 milion people are enslaved

I am passionate about helping the poor and advancing social justice in our community and around the world. From building wells to helping orphans, from tutoring children to feeding the homeless, my heart is to represent Christ and make a difference in this world. At Oasis Church, we focus our outreach efforts in 5 areas:

  1. Protecting & Providing for Vulnerable Children
  2. Fighting Global Poverty
  3. Caring for the Needy in Our City
  4. Building a Place for People to Connect with God
  5. Sharing the Life-Changing Message of Christ

Here are some of the organizations we partner with.

GENEROSITY WATER

I’ll never forget the day I became aware of the fact that 1 billion people on the planet do not have access to clean water. Could this really be true? I did not realize that our world was experiencing a clean water crisis that impacted a billion people. If I want water, I just go to a faucet or buy a bottle of water. This information left me speechless. Could it be true that every 15 seconds a child dies of a water related disease? The sad reality is yes. As the founding pastor of Oasis Church for over 27 years, I’ve spent my whole life trying to help people around me. Our church serves our local community in Los Angeles, and has always been concerned with helping the less fortunate. I began talking to my family, friends, and church to rally support. I asked our church to give and we raised funds to help build a clean water well for a village in Malawi. We began to sell Generosity Water bottles to raise awareness about the crisis and funds to build more water projects. As we continued to raise awareness, more funds came in and we helped build and rehab 10 projects in Ethiopia. The project gained momentum and Generosity Water was born.

Generosity Water quickly grew and in 2008, my son Jordan, who had been involved since the beginning, became our Executive Director. After just 5 years, we have built 400 water wells in 18 countries serving over 250,000 people with clean, safe drinking water. I am excited for our future and the work to be done. There are many more communities and people that need our help, so we’re just getting started. For more information, please visit www.GenerosityWater.com.

WATOTO

Watoto is a holistic care program that responds to the need of the overwhelming number of children ophaned due to war and disease in Uganda. The goal of the program is to provide a safe, nuturing environment of physical care, medical intervention including HIV/AIDS treatment, education, counseling as well as spiritual discipleship to raise future leaders of Uganda. For these children, new families are created…and a new future. But most importantly, they are shown that their lives have value.  

A21

The A21 Campaign seeks to abolish injustice in the 21st century particularly for victims of human trafficking. The A21 Campaign takes a comprehensive approach to abolishing sex trafficking through raising awareness, taking legal action as appropriate, offering rehabilitation to the victims of sex-trafficking in addition to taking preventative measures from a structural standpoint.

SMILE AFRICA

Smile Africa is an organization started in 1996 by Ruth Kahawa, a pastor from a local church in Tororo, Uganda. Each day approximately 400 “street children” in Tororo make their way to Pastor Ruth’s haven from the rough life they endure each day. From about 8am until 4pm the children enjoy a sanctuary from the day-to-day struggle for survival. They receive education, food, medical attention, prayer, a bath and – the most important element of life – love. My daughter, Paris, spent a few months there recently. Click here to see the blog she started, documenting her experience.