The day after the January wildfires in Los Angeles County began to rage, Scott Lasch, a BGEA-trained chaplain and a former police officer from Long Beach, California, knew the call would come. The historically destructive blazes, fueled by high winds, roared across thousands of acres and miles of homes and businesses along the arid ridges, hillsides and even beachfronts in Pacific Palisades and Malibu, and in the Pasadena and Altadena suburbs 30 miles to the east. The fires drove thousands into hotels and shelters as evacuation orders were given. Others literally fled for their lives.

Lasch knew shelters would be filled with traumatized people who had lost homes, priceless belongings and even loved ones. At press time, authorities had identified the remains of 25 victims, with the death toll expected to rise.

Along with several other volunteer chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (BG-RRT), Lasch traveled to the Pasadena Convention Center on Jan. 9, asking God to open doors for ministry.

“We just prayed, ‘God, go before us,’” Lasch said. “We ended up praying with a lot of people who had just lost their homes, listening to their stories and offering prayer.”

Lasch, an associate pastor at Calvary Chapel Downey, and his colleague Glenn Kravig, were able to see four of the people they prayed with put their faith in Jesus Christ.

Among them was Isaac, a young volunteer firefighter with a cross tattoo on his arm and a cross necklace. When Kravig asked, “Do you know what that cross means?” Isaac answered by saying he was raised Catholic, and they always had the cross in his home.  

Kravig explained Jesus’ atoning death on the cross for our sins. “He was listening really intently,” Kravig said. He asked if Isaac wanted to receive Christ as his Savior. “Oh, I really would. Would you pray with me?” Isaac asked.

Lasch recounted traveling to a small shelter near the Palisades fire in far west Los Angeles where a volunteer who saw their blue BG-RRT shirts asked if they were chaplains. He told us, “I literally prayed for someone to come. Here you guys are, an hour-and-a-half later.”

The volunteer went inside and returned with a woman at the shelter who had asked about spiritual counseling. She had been raised Muslim but had recently received Jesus as her Savior. She was displaced, along with her daughter and her mother. “We helped explain in more detail about Jesus, the Trinity and grace, and she was so appreciative and very excited.” The next day, the chaplains returned and brought her a Bible.

A week into the deployment, the BG-RRT had deployed some 30 crisis-trained chaplains, said Randy Cole, chaplain coordinator for the Los Angeles response. Meanwhile, Samaritan’s Purse was on-site and standing ready to serve as soon as permission was given. Because of ongoing fire investigations, damaged infrastructure and recovery of missing persons, residents were told it could be several weeks before they could return to check on their properties.   

“The images coming out of California look like scenes out of a Hollywood movie—yet they show the real-life horror that the people of the Los Angeles area are experiencing today,” said Josh Holland, BG-RRT’s international director. “There’s been so much devastation already and the fires continue to burn.”

Cole said ministry opportunities abounded with weary firefighters, law enforcement, and with displaced people at the hotel where the BG-RRT had set up its headquarters. Among those who were evacuated, anxiety was high as 70 mph winds returned. Offers of prayer from chaplains were almost always well received.

At a shelter near Santa Monica, a Jewish man enthusiastically greeted the chaplains, telling them he had recently surrendered his life to Jesus. He said he used to watch Billy Graham Crusades on television but had fought the pull to become a Christ-follower. He said a local pastor is discipling him.  

And in Pasadena, a young man who lost his rented home to the fires prayed to receive Christ. He then asked a chaplain to write the words “Born Again” on the inside cover of his Bible. ©2025 BGEA

Photographs: Earl Davidson / ©2025 BGEA