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Realizing the Impossible Dream

Interview with Monica Delaurentis

WIM: Monica, you came to know the Lord out of some of the most desperate circumstances a person can face. When did you begin to sense God’s call on your life to reach people in the city?

Delaurentis: Being a first generation American (my father was from Iran and my mother was from Germany), we served no god at home except the god of “world peace.” I wasn’t looking for God as a teenager. I was enticed by drugs and soon found myself living on the streets. I was 14 years into my addiction when one night I was caught in a drug raid and my dealer was “busted.” He retaliated the next day by trying to shoot me. As a result, my mom coerced me to go into a Christian program called New Life for Girls. It was there that I became a Christian and felt a call to ministry.

The director of New Life for Girls prayed over me and said something like this: “Thousands of people will come to know the Lord through your ministry and you will plant churches.” At that moment, this prophecy meant nothing to me.

Months later in a different state and through a different person, I heard the same prophecy word for word. It blew me away. I was having a hard time understanding the things of God. When I realized that the God who created heaven and earth thought I was precious and loved me, I became willing to serve Him.

I didn’t know the specifics of my call. I figured I might go overseas and be a missionary—somewhere—anywhere except the inner city from which I had come.

After working at New Life for Girls in the Bronx in New York, I felt God was calling me to go to North Central University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. From there I signed up for foreign missions service and went to Nepal to work with Pam Seaward for one summer. I loved that experience.

The next summer I stayed in the Bronx, working temporary jobs on Wall Street. One morning at 4 a.m., I heard a loud crash of glass. I looked out and saw a black teen who had put his hand through a window. He was screaming over and over, “Somebody save me!” After the police came, neighbors dropped sheets and towels from their windows to wrap the teen’s bleeding arm. He continued to scream for 45 minutes as we waited for the ambulance. I sat motionless, almost paralyzed.

When I came out to go to work the next morning, I saw two huge pools of blood. The police were taking pictures. I knew the young man had died. As I rode the subway into Manhattan I could still hear his voice screaming, “Somebody save me!”

I told the stock traders at work about the kid who had died the night before. One man’s response was, “Who cares? Another troublemaker is dead!” I was crushed, because I knew that I was also once a troublemaker who had been saved by grace.

As I cried out to God that night, God reminded me of another Man who had spilled His blood. However, His blood was not spilled in vain. It was shed for boys like that young teen, for women like me, and for business people who say, “Who cares.” It was for all of us. I asked God, “Who’s going to care?” As you can probably guess, God replied, “You will!”

WIM: You’ve mentioned elsewhere a “promise” from God that He would raise up people from the city to reach the city. How and when did that promise come? What did you think or feel at the time? What gave you the sense that this promise was from God, and not something you thought up on your own?

Delaurentis: That was when we were still planting the Minneapolis Teen Challenge. The director knew from the beginning that we were going to leave to plant an inner city church at the right time.

God has always directed my steps. From the time I weighed 80 pounds and had tracks up and down my arms, God was speaking to me about a work for Him. Even when our former ministry associates would not partner with us, I knew that it was designed by God that we would be dependent on the people we led to Christ to labor beside us. It worked. Now a church is actually there, made up of people from the city! Of course the vision is prettier than the reality. It is tough!

WIM: What were some key incidents or people God used to confirm that promise before it began to take shape. What did God use to encourage you while the dreams began to grow?

Delaurentis: Honestly, there were many ways God encouraged us and confirmed the dream. It progressed from the time when we, by faith, quit our jobs with Teen Challenge to planting the church when I was pregnant and had no insurance. Strangers would come knock on our door and say, “God told me to bring this to you.” In their hand would be an envelope filled with money, like $500! Somehow we were able to pay our bills and our mortgage. I even picked a gynecologist that just happened to provide free services for ministers!

WIM: You’ve mentioned that when you and your husband Chris began to talk about your vision to reach people in the inner city, Christians didn’t flock to help you. From what I understand, it was just you, Chris, and God, and the dreams He gave you. Were you frustrated by the lack of initial, visible support? Or did you have an understanding from God’s promise that you would be alone, at least until He raised up people to work beside you? What was the response of people in church leadership to you at the time?

Delaurentis: You know, this was such a God thing. I have tears in my eyes right now thinking of all the Lord has done to keep His promises. I was so filled with faith; there was nothing that seemed hard or difficult. But of course, raising up the people was such a challenge because of the depth from which they had come. They didn’t just have low self-esteem; they had no self-esteem. They had all the social ills that come with urban poverty—addictions, violence, racism, etc. But God was faithful and the church continues to grow.

I think the hardest time for me may have been when I was a student and people challenged me because I was a woman. I didn’t realize it then, but I was wounded from living in Iran with my uncle who didn’t believe women had much value. Then I got a bit of that same attitude from some people in Bible school. It was somewhat humorous sitting in class being told to find a good wife! I know that comment was addressed to the men in the class, and it was done innocently, but it gives you an example of what I mean. The students themselves challenged me, and I didn’t want to have to prove anything. But the Lord gave the perfect answer. It was, “I don’t have a cause; I have a call!” With that I made it through just fine.

WIM: What was your greatest test of faith? Did you ever question God’s promise or doubt its fulfillment?

Delaurentis:I did pretty well until we were ready to plant our first church and someone pulled me aside and said I could not plant the church with my husband because I was a wife and a mother-to-be. My heart dropped and my faith sank, because I wanted to honor and obey my leaders.

I got depressed. I didn’t tell my husband what I had been told, because I was so lost. Now picture this¾I had prepared for 7 years since God spoke to my heart about His plan. I’d graduated form North Central University and planted a Teen Challenge center. When God called me I was single with no children. Now I’m at the door of the dream becoming a reality, and I’m married and 9 months pregnant. I cried myself to sleep. Fortunately, God sent His Holy Spirit to speak to me, and the gist of His message was, “Plant churches!”

I woke up sky high and said, “Everything is going to be all right!” My husband looked at me strangely, of course. Later that morning, I was speaking at a women’s breakfast and the Holy Spirit was still lingering. I came forward to pray for women at the altar and all at once everyone fell in the Spirit!

WIM: To someone on the outside, the story of Inner City Church of Minneapolis, and its multiplication to several churches in the heart of US cities, is truly miraculous. Clearly God used you and your faith to do an amazing work! Do you have any words of encouragement for women in ministry who have God-given dreams but have a long way to go until they see them realized, or who find themselves swimming against the tide of popular opinion?

Delaurentis:I would say to know who you are, and if God has given you a dream, then hold onto it with all you’ve got! No one can stop the hand of God unless we stop believing or become bitter. Hold on because in the midnight hour God is going to come through for you. God holds your life in His hands.

I’d also say, knowing your faith is connected to a great God, wait on His timing. The key is His timing, not a “McDonald minute.” It was years before I began to see the manifestation of the dream, and even now I’ve only touched the tip of it. I still wait to see the next great things God will do in me and through me.

It’s been hard. I’ve been through a lot of things in the last 13 years: 6 churches in 5 cities, 2 Spanish congregations, a Teen Challenge center, 2 babies, 1 husband, major surgery, chronic illness, anointed times, dry deserts¾and God has kept His promises through it all!

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