Our Story

How it all started...

The inspiration for “Dream and Imagine” came when I served as a missionary in Taiwan in 2004.  I had just finished my undergraduate degree at Azusa Pacific University. I worked for a company called Overseas Radio and Television (ORTV).  Although ORTV was a secular organization, the founder, Doris Brougham, a Seattle missionary and musician, had a calling to reach Chinese people with the gospel.  In 1948 she left Seattle for Taiwan and started ORTV as a media company that produced educational resources that taught people in Taiwan and China English.  She used education, music, and creativity to reach hundreds of thousands of people in Asia with the gospel.  She also had weekly Bible studies and small groups designed to disciple and equip her staff for ministry.  Her employees were Christian educators and creatives who excelled in their craft and had strong Christian character and witness.

As a musician and an artist called to preach the gospel and make disciples, I saw Doris’ model of incorporating education, creativity, and the arts to reach people with the gospel as an excellent way to steward the gifts God has given me.  Furthermore, the organic way she discipled her employees as they worked helped me to understand that the Christian life is holistic and that it is possible to be discipled and spiritually formed in the workplace.  After finishing my work in Taiwan, I returned to Los Angeles.  I sensed a strong calling to develop a ministry similar to ORTV that leveraged the arts and creativity while reaching people with the gospel.

In 2006 I started serving as the English ministry pastor at a Chinese immigrant church in Hacienda Heights, CA.  The English ministry was humble, with about 30 members who would attend Sunday services.  I started Dream and Imagine at that church as an outreach event.  We invited local Christian artists, poets, photographers, singer/songwriters, and dancers to perform at our church.  The event began to catch traction.  Hundreds of people, and at times, thousands of people, started attending the Dream and Imagine events, and many of the performers became YouTube sensations, gaining national popularity.  The English ministry also began to proliferate.  We began taking teams of creatives and athletes overseas to Taiwan, China, and Korea on short-term mission trips and saw many people come to Christ.  In 2010, my ministry at that church ended after a painful church split.

Dream and Imagine has not seen the numerical growth we experienced between 2006 and 2010, but we have grown deeper in our commitment to making disciples and growing spiritually.

Expanding the vision...

The vision for Dream and Imagine has expanded.  We are a church, not just a ministry for creatives.  We believe that all people are created in God’s image, therefore, we all have the potential to create and enjoy creativity.  While we value the arts, music, theater, and other forms of creativity, discipleship, spiritual formation, and holistic living are our primary focus as a church.

Where we are headed...

We hope to build a Christ-centered community of believers growing and receiving God’s love and grace in every dimension of life; spirit, soul, body, family, work, and ministry.  We hope to continue using creativity and the arts to minister to people and reach hundreds of thousands with the gospel.