How Jesus Rocked UCLA With A Worship Festival

Beracah: God, The Provider

My senior year at UCLA, God did perhaps one of the hands-down most incredible things I have ever witnessed Him do in my life. It was a worship festival, a Gospel outreach, a prayer gathering, and a unified body of believers like no other. This, we called Beracah.

The Vision:

The vision came to me almost exactly 4 years before Beracah came to fruition. The summer after senior year of high school, I was worshipping in church when God gave me the vision: all of a sudden I could see in my mind a large outdoor arena filled with people lifting their hands in worship. 

         When or where this would someday happen I had no idea, but I tucked this vision in the back of my mind as something that would someday happen.

The Explanation:

A few months later at UCLA, I was sitting in one of my best friend’s dorm when she told me God had given her a vision of hosting an inter fellowship worship festival at UCLA. “There are so many Christian fellowships at UCLA,” Molly stressed, “but they never join together in worship. How cool would it be to have this one night of unity on our campus to show UCLA that we are one in Christ?” Somehow, as soon as Molly shared her vision from God with me, I knew immediately that this was the same vision God had given me before coming to UCLA. 

        Two years went by; Molly and I hadn't spoken of the festival since freshman year, and I had nearly forgotten. Then, that winter break, God suddenly brought the worship festival to my mind, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. “Okay, God,” I told Him, “if you still want us to do this, don’t let me forget about this for the rest of winter break.” Needless to say, I thought of little else all of Christmas break, and the first day back to school in January, I asked Molly about the worship festival and whether it was still happening.

         "The truth is, Karisa,” she answered, “I’m at a loss of what to do next. I have the vision but I’m not really sure how to get a Christian event approved by the UCLA Club Office.”

         Neither of us knew the process of event approval at UCLA let alone how to find or contact the club office. We prayed that if God still wanted this to happen, He would show us how to get a Christian event approved by the UCLA Club Office. 

         The next day, I was sitting outside the Kerckhoff Coffee House, when my friend walked by with a thick stack of papers in his hand. “Hey, Chris,” I smiled, “what are you up to?”

         “Oh, hey Karisa,” he glanced at the papers in his hand and then to me, “I’m about to get this Christian event approved by the UCLA club office.”

I Don’t Speak Hebrew… “Beracah”?

By the end of that week, we had an appointment set up with the UCLA club office, and on Friday, they told us they were in favor of helping us host this event on campus. 

        During this time, God gave us the inspiration for our name—I was praying about the festival when I happened to flip open to 2 Chronicles 20 one day during my quiet time. Jehoshaphat is king over Israel when, one day, nearly all of Israel’s enemies unite and decide to attack Israel. They immediately turn to God for help, crying out, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chron 20:12). God responds quickly to them through one of the men standing there, who proclaims, “Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged by this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s” (2 Chron 20:15). So the next day, following the Lord’s orders, they march out to battle with the worship leaders at the front of the army, singing praise. While they are singing, God causes their enemies to grow divided and turn against each other, and, by the time they they reach the top of the hill and overlook the battle grounds, all their enemies are dead. They reap the reward and name this the Valley of Beracah, in Hebrew meaning “blessing” or “praise.” Like the Israelites, we were at a loss; we had over $30,000 to raise, a team of two students, and a lot of logistics to map out. But, He would match every need we had no matter how great, fight the spiritual enemy on our campus while we simply worshipped and praised Him like Israel. Then we would get to reap the reward, which was seeing His glory on our campus.

The Team:

By the end of that school year, only one fellowship had responded to our emails. On top of that, by the end of summer, Molly shared with me that as much as she loved Beracah, she just didn’t have the capacity to lead this. Our team of 2 was down to 1. Where would we find a team of students equally passionate about Beracah and sharing the same vision?

         Still, that September, two weeks before school started, I posted about Beracah on every UCLA Christian fellowship Facebook page I could find. Within three days, God had gathered a team of over 25 students from 11 different Christian fellowships. Students from AACF, Intervarsity, Cru, KCM, Chi Alpha, GOC, RUF, Bruin House of Prayer, AGO, CCM, Athletes in Action, and Greek Crossing shared their support and deep seated desire to see something like this happen. Susie from KCM and Bruin House of Prayer commented that she had had a vision from God about this since she transferred to UCLA. Jada from Intervarsity told me how she had literally had a dream about the worship night that past week. I felt like Nehemiah, witnessing all these people in the body coming together with different gifts to contribute towards building the temple. Jada was an RA and could get fliers up in the dorms. She also invited Juliana and Nadine, faithful women with hearts for God who were ready to contact every church in the L.A. region. Scott and Osh offered up AGO to print fliers for Bruinwalk and host worship meetings. Will stepped up to serve on our fundraising team after seeing God move powerfully the past summer, Tess had artist connections and a passion for prayer, and Jennifer had a heart to lead our team into weekly prayer. Abby had been praying for a place to serve at UCLA ever since she joined Cru, and though it was just her freshman year, she was eager to give in whatever way she could. Rhiannon had giftings in administration and funding. Even in the UCLA Sole office, He brought us incredible staff members to work with. Lorrie handled every tech and sound logistic, and it was like God hand picked Ashleigh, our club advisor, as she walked with us through every step with patience and kindness. I began to appreciate the diversity of the body, how God had equipped each of His followers with different attributes so each member could serve in their own unique way. 

         That October, we had our first meeting, and people came from every corner of campus. Core Church was also there; Hannah had emailed them in a mass email sent out to random churches on a LA website. They offered us their homes for meetings, worship team for the festival, and sound equipment. As God poured out resources, I realized that He doesn’t have to use us—sometimes I think it would be more effective if He did the work without us messy humans getting in the way. Still, God willingly invited us into His work at UCLA, and it was an honor to experience His love through the process.

Challenges and 70 Elders:    

And yet it wasn’t always smooth; discouragement definitely plagued my mind, even as God was providing. I felt so alone at times that at one point I actually asked Him, like Moses, to send me 70 elders. He didn’t exactly send 70 old gray-haired men, but He did send me Jessica, from Intervarsity, that week, who shared how, last year, God had also called her to host an inter fellowship worship night, but had no idea where to start.

         “I was praying for revival, Karisa,” she confessed to me over tea on my twinkly balcony, “and God told me that revival will start when all my children gather together and worship me in unity. But I said, ‘how is that gonna happen God?’ And then,” she told me breathtakingly, “I saw your post.”

         She leaned forward, this spunky, passionate sophomore with a deep science major and the cutest fashion, and reminded me, “Karisa, God is answering the prayers of grandmothers interceding for their children at UCLA through you. Don’t give up. Of course it’s gonna be hard—Satan is over here seeing you’re doing God’s will and as soon as you get out of bed in the morning he’s scheming how he can thwart God’s plan. But don’t let that discourage you; God is so much stronger than Satan.”

         Jessica invited her roommate, Grace, whose joyful energy and creative ideas would keep us running when times grew long. Then the next week, He sent Eliud from Cru and Trevor from Chi Alpha. I still had my “70 elders” pray in mind when I got a random text that week from an unknown number from Apple Valley, asking if we could talk regarding the worship festival. Trevor was a sophomore who ran the Christian radio channel on campus. He told me over the phone that God had called him to host a worship festival and he was about to start planning it when his friend from Cru told him Karisa You was doing the very same thing. Trevor became a type of mini-pastor to our team, and during one of our early worship nights when there was still only 4 people coming each week, I was fighting discouragement when he called me out on it.

         “God keeps bringing the story of Samson and Delilah to mind,” he admitted to us. “Delilah was Samson’s weakness. Our Delilah isn’t whether or not God can raise the money and pull this all together; our Delilah is our lack of faith, whether we’re gonna believe He can do it.” I repented of my discouragement for the millionth time and asked God to give me His eyes to see this the way He did.

         As we prayed over details, we found God uniting our hearts to match one vision. Sometimes it felt like we were that one body Paul talks about in Corinthians, where each of us played a different role but were all working as one. It wasn’t rare for Him to give the same specific idea to several students at a time, and this occurred over who should share the gospel message. As I prayed over this, God kept putting Trevor on my heart as well as the story of the two criminals on the cross beside Jesus. That next week, Trevor contacted me asking me, as God had given him a vision of sharing the Gospel message at Beracah through the story of the two criminals on the cross. Kings Kaleidoscope responded to us almost immediately when we reached out, sharing their heart to see revival at UCLA. Core Church printed fliers and hosted worship nights, and when it came to the question of who should lead worship the night of, we knew God had specifically brought Core and their worship leader George to our Beracah Family.

Grace, Grace:

It’s hard to put to paper the excitement we felt bubbling up as all the loose ends came together. Mateo stepped up to give his radical testimony, Juliana would lead in prayer, Intervarsity’s Visual and Performance Arts Team would perform “The Everything” skit. Our friend Jesus from Intervarsity even made a film, capturing the vision. Yet there was one thing I still couldn’t seem to wrap my mind around. To cover the event, it was going to cost nearly $25K for all the required costs from UCLA. As poor college students, we knew the money had to come from Him. So we prayed, emailed churches across Los Angeles, called family and friends, and visited businesses. Slowly, the money began to trickle in, and as the day of the concert approached, I was nervous, but $10K left in 3 weeks seemed doable.

            And then I received an updated rider from UCLA, and the final budget was $5K more than we expected. $15K in 3 weeks was impossible.

            I broke down to my roommate Kelechi, who had become somewhat of a spiritual mentor and accountability partner to me in all of this. I frantically began to list all the things we could hike up in attempts to bring in more financial support.

            Kelechi just stood there with her arms folded and stared me down until I could feel the conviction burning into my soul. “Karisa—when will you feel like you’ve done a good enough job? When you contact every church in California?”

            I could almost feel the arrogance mixed with fear erupt within me as I blurted out: “When we’ve raised every penny!”

We both stood there in silence, and I realized how much pride lay inside me.

            She repeated herself again, her voice firm but gentle. “Karisa, you could call every church in this country, and you wouldn’t feel like you’ve done enough.” She shook her head, and the gravity of her words began to sink into my fearful heart. “Who do you believe is responsible for raising this money, you or God?”

          I came to the breaking point, where I had to surrender my human effort and strength to raise the money to rely on Him one hundred percent. You see, in my head, I knew God “owned” the money, but in my pride, I feared He would only reward it to us if we earned it. But grace means that God gives when we don’t deserve it simply because He delights in it. Grace is learning that there’s nothing we can do but open our hands and receive what is already there for us and true of us because of the work He has done. 

  I know now that the higher budget from UCLA wasn’t a mistake—it was all God. As I surrendered Beracah to Him, I knew He had always owned it. He lovingly reminded me to get behind what He was doing. He would make it happen in a way which might look entirely different from my own agenda. 

A Father Who Gives in Abundance:

And the blessings became something we did not have to pursue—rather, they overcome and overtook us in God’s abundant provision. As we waited, the money began to flood in. We hosted a bake sale on Bruinwalk, and, somehow, a few trays of 50 cent cookies brought in $456 the first day, and our second day reached $330. Random checks from friends and family arrived, with supporters expressing their joy. And then, halfway through that week, Jeesoo, our fearless worship leader, prayer warrior, and funding chair, called me one afternoon while I was heading down Bruinwalk.

            “Hey, Jeesoo,” I picked up the phone, as students waved flyers in my face, “what’s up?”

            “Karisa.” Her voice shook, somewhat out of breath, somewhat lost for words. “God is about to make your day.”

            One of the staff from a funding program at UCLA had happened to walk by right as we were doing our bake sale display the other day. They were known for giving out scholarships, and their maximum was generally $2,000.

            “Karisa,” Jeesoo laughed, “They're giving us a check for $5,500.”

            It covered the exact amount that the budget had been raised, plus a little more.

I cried all the way back to my apartment.

            By the end of that week, God had raised $13K, and we had no idea how. We didn’t contact extra churches or email more people; we simply completed our normal, daily tasks with this renewed mindset that He was going to provide for His team. And He did.

            That week, Kelechi didn’t think we should do a third day of bake sales as planned; rather, she thought it would be good to rest and wait on God, as she was confident He would provide the final two thousand. Melody, our hardworking organist, suggested we deliver the Porto’s pastries we had saved for the last day of fundraising to students for free on campus.

            So that Friday, armed with Guava Rolls, Beracah flyers, and the overwhelming love of our Father, Melody, Kelechi, and I set out across campus to bless the unsuspecting students of UCLA. As we approached students and asked them if they would like a free pastry, many of them were skeptical, asking what the catch was.

            “How can you just be giving these out for free, expecting nothing in return?” many of them asked us.

            “God has provided so much for us,” we explained, “that we can’t help but let it overflow to bless others too.”

As we shared the story of how God ushered in $13K in 11 days, students were awestruck.

“Yeah, I know God raised it,” they would reply, “but like how?”

We didn’t know how to explain it, probably because a large part of us didn’t really understand ourselves.

As we emptied our pastry boxes and watched students lick jelly from their fingers with delight, I realized two things:

1.) This is what faith looks like. Even though there was still $2K left to go, we were able to step out and give from our foreseen surplus. The team was so confident He would provide for Beracah financially, that we were able to give even before it was in our hands. Sometimes, when I’m freaking out  for the future and whether God will provide, I hear God ask me, What if you knew, Karisa, that everything would work out okay and I would provide every single penny in the end?

“Well,” I answer simply, “I would praise you.”

But if God never fails to keep His promises, then why don’t we praise Him now as if He has already secured the victory? He calls us to pray to Him, as His promises are as good as reality.

2.) The second thing God taught me from my day as a Porto’s delivery woman was what grace looks like in action. There really was no catch, though students found it so hard to believe. Once they realized the desserts were truly free, they were enthusiastic and grateful. If it gave me that much joy to give to strangers free-of-charge, how much more does it please our Heavenly Father as He gives to us in total grace? We can enjoy His gifts with full peace, knowing we didn’t have to earn it. Perhaps similar to the Gospel, our only job is to offer the gifts to them with the overflow of the love Christ bestows on us, and He gives them the freedom in choosing to follow Him or not. We’re just the deliverymen and women—the rest is up to Him.

Porto’s is sweet. But, wow, the Gospel is so much sweeter.

Opened Doors and Tiny Prayers:

God provided the full funds the night before our last week, so we had exactly seven days left to rest and pray over our campus without a single monetary concern. 

            The last week leading up to the festival, we felt the desire to decorate classrooms announcing Beracah. Colored chalk in hand, we split up across campus after the janitors had closed out for the night, hoping they might have left some classrooms unlocked.

As we descended the stairs under a full moon lighting our darkened path, I turned to Hannah and grinned with a joking, half-prayer: “God, fling open the doors right now, in the name of Jesus!”

She chuckled with me. “Wouldn’t it be funny,” I remarked, “if right when I said that every door just flung open? Then I would really know God is real.”

Unfortunately, many of the doors had been locked that night. We reached the second floor of Bunche, and I can hardly describe what I witnessed then without chills crawling up my spine.

Every single door in that hallway was propped open with a trash can and the light left on for us. Not a single soul was in sight.

I felt God say to me so clearly:

Karisa, if I answer prayers with such detail and intentionality that seem so small or silly to you—though never to me—how much more do I hear, answer, and am responding to your desperate prayers, like being set free from your struggles?

If God, like a gentleman, took such time and care to prop open every door and leave the light on for a prayer I only half-uttered, how much more did my cries catch His attention and weigh upon His heart? Even when we can’t always see the end product to our prayer before us, we can know He brings to fruition all He promises. 

You Are Enough:

As we gathered the night before May 5 in Grace and Jess’s apartment over Bibibop and prayer, I was amazed to recognize that, even if the worship festival didn’t happen the next day, God had already accomplished His goal of Interfellowship worship through our team. 

To say that Jesus showed up at Beracah is an understatement. On the evening of May 5, 550 students, families, and churches joined as one body to worship their Father in unity. Over 11 Christian fellowships were united as well as countless local churches and families in and outside the L.A. community. Praises filled the heavens causing students to prop their windows open in the surrounding dorms, craning their necks to listen. The Gospel resounded across UCLA. 25 people raised their hands to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. On this college campus generally driven by themes of self-achievement and pride, hearing voices belting out in unison, “All Glory be to Christ alone” nearly brought tears to our eyes. I think God gave us all a little spoiler alert of what Heaven is going to look like.

One student drove 5 hours from NorCal so that she could replicate this night on her campus at Berkeley. Another UCLA student came after an old classmate reached out and invited him; though he at first saw himself as an “outsider”, skeptical about God and feeling purposeless, he was amazed at how kind and happy everyone was. That night, he resolved to give his life to Jesus and received a Bible, ready to start this new journey. Several students arrived late and were turned away at the entrance, as the doors had been shut for the night. A guard found them at the back entrance with their heads squeezed between the gates to hear and ushered them all in, exclaiming, “The Gospel can’t be barred!”. 

And yet, somehow everyone but me could see how beautiful it was. As everyone celebrated, I returned to my apartment in exhaustion and tears. As I processed with God, I asked Him how everyone but me could see the beauty of Beracah.

He revealed to me that it had a lot to do with my perfectionism, my fear that things were never enough. The lie of discontentment takes beautiful things like worship festivals and work and community and says they’re never enough—that there could always be more—when the truth is that the most perfect place we can be is in the center of God’s hands and will for our lives. This what something I believe Eve fell to in the Garden of Eden—the snake came to her with the lie that what God had given her was not enough. She thought He was holding out good gifts on her. So she decided to take things into her own hands and ate the forbidden fruit.

What she should have done with that fruit was run to her Father with it and offered it up to Him, asking what He thought. Relaying to Him her doubts and insecurities.

And I would’ve helped her. God told me. Ask Me how I feel about Beracah, Karisa.

Alright, God. I finally surrendered and held up the fruit of Beracah high for Him to take from my hands. How do you feel about Beracah? How do you want me to feel about it?

And He told me exactly what I needed to hear: Karisa, it looked exactly how I wanted it to look. It may have been different than what you expected. But get behind what I am doing. You can trust that there is more to this than what you can see on the surface.

            And He was right—the miraculous stories we had heard was barely scratching the surface of the everlasting work God started that night in the hearts of His followers. I was thankful I could see even that fraction, as I know I was not entitled to see the impact of the labor. His heart is always behind His people gathering in unity and worshipping Him because historically it is in these moments where He shows up and fills the room with His presence. His dreams reach a wider scope and heal and set free in more abundant and powerful ways than we could imagine. 

           Even now, I’m learning that contentment can be a choice. Rather than being in a situation in which we have everything lined up around us, contentment comes inwardly; for me, knowing that Jesus and everything He offers me is enough for this season, fitting and good. God never worries He's going to run out of stuff. Where Jesus comes from, there is always enough, always the best, usually with leftovers. It can be easy for me to want more, waiting on God to bring me perfect community and career. More often, He gives me what I need and calls me to choose to say, “It is enough” as I fight to let go of my standard of perfection, accepting His version of perfect, taking hold of whatever He has to offer me, and believing it’s good enough.

Hey, easier said than done, but thankfully, He’s patient enough to stick around while I’m figuring out all this perfectionism stuff and love me through it anyways.

A little note...

For those of you still praying, Beracah on May 5 was just the jumping off point to a greater work God is beginning at UCLA. Though we aren't totally sure of what capacity Beracah will be serving our campus in these coming years, the team is still committed to praying and meeting to provide a space for interfellowship worship, waiting on God to hear what He's calling for next. Please continue to pray for the team as well as all His children across college campuses, that He would gather them in unity through worship and give them His heart for campus revival and the lost. Pray for those who don't know Him to know the riches of the freedom and love of Christ. God is doing astounding things on our campuses in these coming generations. Pray because He hears us and wants to use us.

Thank You!

There are so many students, families, churches, and friends who God set apart to bring Beracah to life. I want to give a huge shout-out to our incredible team of UCLA students. Thank you for the hundreds of hours you poured into emailing churches, distributing fliers, coming  to prayer meetings, filling out paperwork, hosting meetings, designing social media, and standing behind fundraising booths. You were the most hardworking, humble, God-fearing, talented, and supportive team I could have dreamed of, and working alongside you for the Kingdom was an incredible blessing. You show me that God is love; UCLA is so blessed to have you as representing Him. 

Thank you to the amazing supports who God called to fund and pray for Beracah. We honestly couldn't have done this without you; thank you for trusting in what God was doing through us students at UCLA. You made this dream come true. Jesus worked mightily through you, and Beracah is evidence of that. Thank you to everyone who came the day of, whether that was serving on our prayer and usher team, doing follow-up, or simply worshipping with us in Sunset Rec.

And of course, thank you, Jesus. You didn't need us but you decided to use ordinary college students to do your beautiful work anyways. Thank you for doing all the heavy lifting of Beracah and for reminding us that you can do the impossible in our lives to inspire faith in us. Serving you is the most life-giving and fulfilling job in the world. We want more of you. Thank you that, with you, there is always enough, and usually extra too.