For eight days beginning on June 4, one for each minute of George Floyd ’s tragic death, Harvest Rock Church invited their diverse community and that of the city of Los Angeles to hold a one hour prayer at the steps of the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, California at 12 PM PST each day. “As a faith community commissioned with the call of reconciliation, let us lead in doing this with one another in order that we can pray and love our city better,” described Pastor Gwen Gibbons.
The prayer meetings called for peaceful universal unity through the body of Jesus Christ in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota who has become a symbol for racial injustice and police brutality. Members of the church’s community from diverse backgrounds have gathered daily on the steps of the church. Partakers opened up as they shared emotional stories of pain and suffering caused by racism and racial injustice. “Unity has been the foundation to every revival,” says Pastor Ché Ahn , senior pastor and founder of Harvest Rock Church. “We want to renounce racism, discrimination, and any form of prejudice,” the pastor added.
Pastor Ché is no stranger to civil rights movements and was involved in the reconciliation process during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. “I’ve had the privilege of organizing a unity, a luncheon between the leaders of the largest African American megachurch, we’re talking about Bishops Charles Blake & Ken Ulmer , and one the largest Korean churches, Youngnak Presbyterian . They all came together to discuss reconciliation,” Pastor Ché remembers. The 1992 Los Angeles Uprising began in April of that year after a trial jury acquitted four officers of the Los Angeles Police Department for usage of excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King . By the time the riots had ended, 63 people had been killed, 2,383 people had been injured, more than 12,000 had been arrested and property damage flooded over $1 billion, much of which disproportionately affected Koreatown in Los Angeles .
Pastor Ché’s 1992 unity event was so profound that it had created a bond between the two communities which remains unbreakable to this day. “Judgement begins in the house of God. It begins in the Church,” Pastor Ché emphasized. Almost three decades later, the church continues to bring diverse groups of people together in peace and harmony. This time to commemorate George Floyd and shed light on the systemic racism that persists in the nation. “To stand up with our brothers and sisters in the African American community, lend voice through prayer for the social injustices and for many of you have gone through,” Pastor Gwen Gibbons says.
Devoted to serving the public, the church has also established the new “ City Care Project ” through which Harvest Rock Church has already donated $50,000 to small businesses and individuals who have been
affected by COVID-19 in Pasadena . Their mission now is to rebuild the downtown Los Angeles small businesses that have been damaged during the recent rioting while simultaneously using the outreach platform to call for unity and peace in the community.
For more information on daily prayer meetings and City Care Project please visit
