REALM FELLOWSHIP PROSPECTUS

Realm Prospectus 3
Introduction
About Oakland & West Uptown Arts Community
The Bay Area in California is known as the place
where the Nations converge (as it boasts people
groups and leaders from nearly every country in the
world as its residents). It is not uncommon for
organizations and companies there to have people
in its employ and clients from over 20 different
nationalities within their walls. This presents
amazing opportunities for Christians in this area to
provide a Gospel-centered presence, which has
wide-reaching implications locally, nationally and
globally (by reaching locals, internationals and
highly influential people who work at places like
Facebook, Craigslist, Twitter, Pandora, LinkedIn,
Glassdoor, Pixar, Lucas Films and many others who
call this area home).
Yet, the Bay Area is also where greed and many anti-
Gospel values reign, holding many people's souls in
spiritual captivity. Our spiritual enemy has longused
this part of our country to wage wars against
our LORD through anarchist sentiments, social
controversies, grassroots movements, and Anti-
Christian/Anti-Family values films and social media
marketing.
Oakland are being purchased by Islamic and
other religious organizations, and eastern
religions like Buddhism and Hinduism are also
gaining immense ground.
In the midst of all of this, Oakland's longtime
residents are fighting against displacement
due to the rising cost-of-living mainly spearheaded
by the tech boom that started in other
areas of the Bay several years earlier.
Thus, Oakland is in the middle of a very deep
and somewhat unique social war, searching for
its identity, trying to fight for its soul. As one
national news author put it, "Oakland is either
rapidly changing for the better, or, its losing its
soul altogether” (paraphrase).
In concert with this, Oakland has widely-known
issues with crime and drug addiction, a poor school
system, rampant governmental corruption, fast
moving gentrification as well as being linked to
controversial social movements that have started
there and advanced throughout the United States.
Such controversies often addresses evils tackled by
Jesus while at the same time addressing evils in a
way that often opposes Gospel-based thinking
leaving churches vulnerable to spiritual attack.
Even some of the historically Christian buildings in