Reverend
Neva Lema
Chairperson
Minister/Evangelist
Neva Lema Ministries
Concord, CA
Reverend Neva Lema, an (international) evangelist, understands
how a hot meal can open the heart of a person desperately needing
a second chance at life.
In 1988,
Rev. Neva Lema first visited the Los Angeles Mission, when
it was located at the old facility on Los Angeles Street.
She was invited to speak at the evening chapel service and
felt an immediate connection to the Mission as it stirred memories
of earlier days and her father’s legacy of ministering
to the poor and needy. “The facilities at the old Mission
were so inadequate,” she remembers, “but with the
present facilities, God has provided a wonderful haven of rest.” She
affirms the work of the Mission by saying, “Broken lives
can be put together if you offer a person dignity…a person
can walk into the Mission with dignity and their needs will be
met.”
Rev. Lema’s dedication to the Mission far exceeds
her more than five years of service on the Board of Directors.
Over the past decade she has been a mentor to the chaplains and
executive staff and a source of encouragement to everyone involved
in the Mission’s outreach to the homeless. She views her
responsibility on the board as a mandate to bring encouragement
and spiritual insight in support of the leadership of the Los
Angeles Mission.
Continually
inspired by the Mission, Rev. Lema says that the Los Angeles
Mission “is doing God’s
ministry with a spirit of excellence and serving the whole person.” She
goes on to say, “ It is like a river with no banks, it
is a ministry that starts with a warm meal that feeds the body,
but also comforts the soul and opens the heart. Feeding the homeless
is a ministry of the Lord, but it is also a ministry to the Lord.”
For
more than thirty years, Neva Lema Ministries, an organization
founded and operated by Rev. Lema, has been devoted to healing
the wounded spirit and the broken heart. This international
organization provides conferences and seminars for Christian
leaders and also
focuses a great deal on supporting foreign missions by helping
provide much-needed supplies including medicine to clinics
in other countries trying to help meet the needs of victims
of AIDS.
Rev.
Lema firmly believes, “If you’re not giving, you’re
not living. All of us should give of what we need. If you need
forgiveness, forgive. If you need a friend, be a friend, only
then will we receive fulfillment. There is always someone who
has less than we have, if you start to give . . . you will
start to live.” Back
to Board of Directors
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