BeBe Winans Russ Hamilton

Benjamin Aguilar's Letter

Beloved Pastor Reeve,

My name is Benjamin Aguilar. I first invited Jesus into my heart and soul about 30 years ago. I was saved at Victory Outreach. I served the Lord there until two and a half years ago. After that time period, I decided to come to this church. I lived in West Covina and often passed by Faith. I was so blessed by the kindness and love I was greeted with.

When I first came to Faith, I had cancer. I went to Brother Dan and he prayed for me. Six months later all my cancer was gone. Then a year and a half later my granddaughter graduated from Pomona College. Brother Bill prayed that she would find a good job. One month later, she was hired by a good company and got an impressive salary. Then, the doctor found a lump on her breast. Sister Marguerite prayed for her. It turned out to be a harmless cyst. I invited her to come to church and she did. That day, Pastor Dawn gave the message and my granddaughter was touched and accepted the Lord. She now attends Faith and tithes faithfully.

The rest of my family has also begun to attend Faith and are greatly blessed by your worship services. Thank you so much for your example and anointed word. We really enjoy the humor that you incorporate into your messages. Pastor, you and your family are such a blessing to me and my family.

I pray Jesus’ blessings upon you and your family,

Benjamin Aguilar

Arlene Hamilton's Story

I was brought up in a Catholic family where we did our Communion and Confirmation. However, I never had a genuine relationship with Christ. My next major religious experience was when I was in junior high. I went to a Christian play and got saved that night, but I still didn't truly understand what it meant to be a Christian.

I started hanging around with a bad crowd in high school. I started going out with guys from different neighborhoods and who were in gangs. At first, it seemed really good. You see these guys out on the streets and it's powerful. There's all the fighting and stealing - all the stuff that as a teenager you don't think anything of. You think it's a great life. After a while however, you start seeing that these same guys cannot leave their neighborhoods and are so limited in what they are able to do. They have other guys who call the shots for them and they don't really have a life. I wanted more than that.

I looked around and thought, “I'm done. I'm done with this lifestyle.” I started looking around and asking myself, “Who's living a life that I want to live? Whose footsteps could I follow in?” But I didn't see it. I didn't see anything that I wanted.

Eventually, I was asking my mom to take me to the church that her friend went to. She had a friend that she carpooled with who would leave Christian tracks in her car. My mom took me and that night I knew that I had found what I wanted - that feeling of home. I was in the right place. I started going to church regularly and I loved it. The guy that I was dating eventually started going to church with me. We got married and had two wonderful daughters. I was so happy because we were bringing them up in an entirely different life than what we had known.

It was going really great. My life was awesome. Then, one morning I found out that he had backslid. It was the biggest shock to me. I remember just going into the bathroom and crying - crying like I had never cried before. I felt like I would never get passed that. When I finally hit rock bottom, God was able to speak to me. At that moment, He asked me, “Are you going to continue going the way you're going, or are you going to follow Me?” And I told Him, “I'm going to follow You! I don't care what else is going on. I'm going to follow You.”

I was able to just let go. I picked up my two toddlers and we left to my parent's house. At that moment, I felt like I could've danced. I had such joy, not because of the situation, but because I trusted God and He blessed me with joy at that time. I continued going to church and continued being faithful. I was a single parent now and started helping and teaching my girls. Eventually God brought us to Faith Community Church where I was amazed at how much was available to me and my girls. I just loved it.

It was just after a few years of being here at Faith that my husband was killed. As a single mom, I was struggling and after a while I started thinking, “I can't do this anymore.” I stopped tithing, thinking that with the extra money I would be able to do so much, but nothing was working out. We had even less! That's when I said, “Lord, I'm sorry. You know what You're doing.” And I started tithing again. However, I was still barely getting by. I asked, “Lord, what are You going to do?” And even though I didn't feel like it, I just had to keep going. I told the Lord, “I don't know what You're doing, I don't know the plans You have for us, but I know that You are God.” And I decided not to worry about it. So I kept going and got involved at Faith. I got involved in the women's ministry and eventually started working at Faith.

It was at the time when my girls were hitting their pre-teen years that I prayed, “Lord, I'm totally fine. I love my life and I'm happy, but I wish my girls would've seen me love someone, and someone love me.”

Sure enough, it wasn't long before God brought Russ to me. He was an awesome man of God, who truly loved me and cared for us, and was a great father to the girls. I'm amazed at what God was able to do with just that one simple prayer. I wasn't even looking for a relationship with anybody.

Eventually, Russ and I got married. Our finances were brought together, including his bills, and we were making it. However, everything extra was being put on a credit card, whether it was Christmas gifts, the kid's school clothes, or car repairs. By the end of 2008, we were tired of where we were financially. We didn't have much left on the credit card and we were living paycheck to paycheck. We started wondering what we could do to get out of that situation?

We ended up seeing a financial program on TV that made such a big difference in our lives. It made sense and we understood it, so, we looked it up online and saw that they had a class we could attend and that there was a class at a church in Azusa. Russ and I went to the classes, and it made the biggest difference. It taught us some common sense principles that unfortunately aren't taught anymore. People started asking us about it and we told them the difference it made in our lives. Eventually, we decided to teach the class at Faith.

Looking at my life now and what we have, I'm amazed. We're both in ministry, we have our financial class, we have our marriage bible studies, and my girls have an awesome church to grow up in.