A dear brother in the Lord and fellow Pastor, 67 year old David Martinez, pastor of Victory Outreach Church of the San Fernando Valley, whose ministry has affected the lives of thousands of former gang members, drug addicts and others over the last 35 years, has gone on to be with the Lord. This was a Godly warrior who served the Lord faithfully here in our city.

He had suffered a heart attack in December and then passed away of of a heart attack on Sunday while vacationing with his family in Yosemite. His son, Miguel, has been attending our church for the past six years.

Dennis McLellan of the L.A. Times reported this week that “The Pacoima-born Martinez, a former gang member, founded Victory Outreach Church of the San Fernando Valley in 1975, after reaching out to the area’s gang members and drug addicts.”

I will miss this Brother in the Lord. He served and reached people that were truly hurting and often times overlooked. He reached those who many deemed unreachable, ministering to those caught up in drugs and gangs. He put his own life on the line to help win people to Jesus. Often times when someone passes there is someone who comes along to pick up the slack. But in my opinion, Pastor Martinez will never be replaced. His love and compassion will be an example for all of us. Our valley was impacted by his life and service. He was a dynamic preacher, a man of prayer and he loved our work here at Shepherd. Every time I ever talked to him he was always so encouraging.

His service is today, (saturday June 19th, 10:30 a.m.) at Shepherd of the Hills Church

David I will miss your smile, your spirit and your ability to reach all men. Praying for your family and your church. May you finally enjoy the Jesus that you so greatly preached about.

In love,

Pastor Dudley C. Rutherford

This past weekend I decided to visit our Antelope Valley campus and invited the Pastor’s Posse to join me. The Pastor’s Posse is the name of my EMAIL list of folks who love and ride motorcycles. We met at 8:30 in the morning and rode up highway 14 into Lancaster, exited K street and rode east and turned down the first street past Lowes to find our Shepherd AV campus. We had about 30 folks who made the journey and when we arrived we were welcomed with open arms. First thing we noticed was a large truck that had been painted welcoming us, which had to take quite a bit of time.

For the first couple of years this campus met in a School and just recently was able to move into a more permanent location where they have use of the building through out the week.

We were blessed with a beautiful time of worship led by Charlotte Causley. She led us into a season of praise and then I was able to do a greeting before Pastor David Macer preached a powerful sermon on Romans 7 and 8. We found the church FULL of so many people that loved the Lord and I was encouraged to see first hand the extension of our ministry and after listening to the announcements by Robert Norris who grew up in our Porter Ranch campus you then realized why this church is doing so well. God has brought about a group of Godly leaders who are burdened to see the Antelope Valley come to know Jesus.

If you are looking for a campus in the Antelope Valley, Woodland Hills, Agua Dulce or in West L.A. just visit our main website at www.theshepherd.org and look at the bottom of our website for any of our Satellite Campuses.

I just wanted to thank the Pastor’s Posse for going with me to encourage the Antelope Valley campus and I want to thank ALL of our Campuses for holding up the banner of Jesus Christ.

Good things are ahead for all of our campuses. Keep praying for God to bless them.