Praying for the people

Young Chang

Members from New Song Worship Center will roam Costa Mesa streets

today, going from door to door to leave prayer request cards. But they

won’t knock, and they won’t talk to anyone that seems disinterested.

“We’re not trying to lasso them into our church by any means,” said

Dave White, a pastor at New Song. “Our heart is just simply to let them

know we want to pray for them and help them that way if they have a

need.”

He and wife, Michelle White, started the non-denominational church in

February 1999. Dave White had been an associate pastor at the now-closed

Joy Christian Fellowship in Tustin for more than 16 years.

But the Whites strongly felt called to pastor a new congregation some

day.

“We just didn’t know the timing of it,” Dave White said.

Since musical worship is an important part of the service, the couple

named their church New Song. Dave White said God inspired him to write a

song at the time, which seemed like a solid confirmation.

“And I guess the best way to say it is that God just dropped [the

name] into my heart,” Dave White said.

Today, the independent, charismatic church rents a facility at Orange

Coast College in Costa Mesa and occasionally meets at the White home.

In preparation for today’s outreach event, which is the church’s

second, congregation members have prayed and found room in their hearts

to have compassion for people they don’t know.

Michelle White said that’s the whole point -- letting all people know

God loves them and wants to help.

Today, maps in hand, about 20 congregation members will put a personal

touch on their effort as they head out to local areas.

“We won’t disturb [people’s] Saturdays,” Dave White said. “But of

course, if there’s people outside watering their lawn and so forth, and

if anyone is open to talk to us, we’ll say hello and let them know what

we’re doing.”

The church is asking people to fill out the prayer request cards and

send them in.

Requests in the past have included pleas for physical healing. Some

filled out cards with the tales of loved ones battling cancer and

muscular dystrophy.

Church leaders followed up on those requests by praying and sending

out letters asking the status of the situation along with inspirational

booklets. Sometimes the church sends out bibles.

No one has ever gotten back to the church on whether the prayer and

materials helped, Michelle White said, but church members are still

trying to reach out.

“We believe in prayer and the power of prayer through God’s word,”

said Dave White. “We’ve seen many wonderful things happen over time.”

FYI

WHAT: New Song Worship Center

WHEN: Services at 10 a.m. Sundays

WHERE: Orange Coast College’s Fine Arts Building, 2701 Fairview Road.

Off of Merrimac Ave., enter parking lot D.

CALL: (714) 546-5262

WEBSITE: www.newsong.cc

E-MAIL: [email protected]