by Stephen Hahn
Published Spring 2001

The 21st century world is urbanizing at an incredible rate. Half of the world’s population now lives within cities of 100,000 people or more, according to the International Bulletin of Missionary Research, and the number is increasing daily. Los Angeles, as a primary destination for people from all over the world, is a sterling example of this population shift.

The question is: why are they coming?

To Pepperdine religion professor Dan Rodriguez, the answer is obvious.

“It’s too simplistic to say, ‘Well, [people are coming] because they want to live in the greatest land on earth, or because they want to get on welfare and find cheap schooling and free health care.’ I don’t buy into that philosophy at all,” he says.

“My Christian faith has to be a lens through which I read history and through which I read the newspaper. And I think that God is bringing these people to us because we can’t go to them, or in some cases because we won’t go to them.”

Rodriguez has a deeply rooted interest in urban ministry. And the interest is spreading, largely due to his influence, throughout the Religion division and the Pepperdine community as a whole.

His passion for urban ministry was born out of an interest in Hispanic ministry, which is the topic of his doctoral dissertation entitled, “No Longer Foreigners and Aliens: Toward a Missiological Christology for Mexican-Americans in Southern California.” During his research, he saw that much of Hispanic ministry is urban ministry.

“As I was preparing and writing my dissertation, I was noticing that there were all these other ministries going on in the city as well,” he said.

“Some of them were targeting Hispanics, some were not, and I was very interested in what was going on there. So I thought, ‘When I’m done with this, I’m going to broaden my interests to include the whole field of urban ministry.’”

Rodriguez’ research, along with the urban ministry course he teaches at Pepperdine,  led to the formation of the L.A. Urban Mission Dream Team.

The Dream Team, as it is called for short, includes Rodriguez and his wife, Jeanette, and several current and former Pepperdine students. Although the group’s initial desire was to be a church-planting team, they soon realized there was work to be done first - they needed to gather the necessary data to begin an effective urban ministry.

“One of our mottos is, ‘We’re going to make new mistakes,’” said Rodriguez. “We’re going to study what other people have done and make new mistakes. That’s where the Dream Team is right now: doing the research before we just jump in.”

The Dream Team’s research spans multiple levels. The group is trying to locate the unreached groups in Los Angeles. They are also learning which groups are already being targeted by ministries such as the Dream Center, Victory Outreach International and City Center Church of the Nazarene on Skid Row.

Much of the Dream Team’s current efforts are concentrated on the Hollywood Church of Christ, where Rodriguez is a part-time minister. The Dream Team is helping the Hollywood church retool to more effectively witness to its present audience.

“It’s a church in the city, but it’s not an inner city church. Not yet,” said Rodriguez.

The Hollywood community has changed greatly in the last quarter century, to a primarily immigrant population from Central America. Many homeless now live in Hollywood as well. The Hollywood Church of Christ has not changed with the times, however, and the Dream Team is helping the church form a new paradigm of ministry.

Rodriguez also plans to be involved in the Dream Team’s future, whether that means playing an active role in its church- planting efforts or being a mentor to the team.

An active role on the team would require a great commitment, Rodriguez says, one that might detract from his role at Pepperdine of teaching students and preparing them for urban ministry. 

Rodriguez sees a momentum building toward urban ministry. He believes that people are rethinking the city, opting for city life over an hour and a half commute to and from work every day.

Universities, including Pepperdine, are adding urban ministry courses-some with emphases and degrees as well. Seminaries are also adding master’s degrees in urban ministry.

Rodriguez is at the forefront of Pepperdine’s urban ministry efforts, and involves students from his religion classes. Students in each of his classes are required to go into the city.

He tells his freshman seminar class that God has blessed most Pepperdine students materially and they ought to be a blessing in turn to those less fortunate. For his Religion 301 class, he sends students to observe ethnic churches that are targeting at-risk neighborhoods, while his upper division urban ministries class studies people who are pioneers in the urban ministry field.

“I learn from them,” he said. “They come back and make presentations and write papers, and I’m learning a lot from their research.”

He says the response from students is almost unilaterally favorable. Students consistently comment that going into the city is the highlight of the course for them.

Rodriguez’ passion for urban ministry began early in his adult life. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, the oldest son of a single mother who was on welfare.

When he was a junior in high school, his family moved to Fresno, in part, Rodriguez says, to get away from a community that was really starting to show signs of heading toward difficult times.

“While in Fresno, I had a conversion experience,” he said. “I was a member of the College Church of Christ in Fresno, which was a very nurturing church for me at that time, coming from where I was coming from.”

Rodriguez attended Fresno City College before coming to Pepperdine in 1975. He graduated in 1978 with a degree in religion. The religion degree was not in his original plan, however. Rodriguez entered Pepperdine as a political science major who hoped to go to law school and become a politician. He dreamed of being the first Hispanic senator or governor in California, and perhaps even president of the United States.

His plans changed in the fall of 1975, when he attended the World Missions Workshop in Lubbock, Texas, with a group of Pepperdine students. While at the workshop, he received what he felt was a call from God to full-time ministry, and missions in particular.

Rodriguez then met his wife while both were students at Pepperdine, although they had been members of the same church in Fresno.

“We’re one of those rare examples of a Pepperdine romance,” he said.

“What really drew us together was that we shared the same vision. We were best friends, and that was the perfect recipe for what later became a wonderful relationship.” They have been married for 24 years, and their two oldest children attend Pepperdine. Martin is a junior and Marcus a sophomore. They are also the parents of twin girls who are juniors at Newbury Park High School.

After six years in Modesto, Calif., the family moved with two other families to Puebla, Mexico’s fourth largest city. Rodriguez spent nine years in Puebla involved in church-planting urban ministry and returned to California in 1994 to teach at Pepperdine. Through the James Irvine Foundation, Pepperdine helped to put Rodriguez through Fuller Seminary where he earned his Ph.D. in missiology in 1998.

Rodriguez’ long-term goal is to be a mentor to future urban church planners. His scope, however, is not limited to students who want to go into full time urban ministry. He believes that all Christians who live in the city can and should play a part in urban missions. 

“We hope that Christians will understand that they’re not just in the city to make a living - they’re there to live,” said Rodriguez.

He cites Jeremiah 29:7 as the basis of his theology of urban mission for those who are not full-time ministers: “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

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