About The City of Angels
In 1965 Sergio Gomez co-founded the City of Refuge, an orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico. The home continues to this day and has launched hundreds of children into productive lives. Many return regularly, as adults, to offer their services to the children who have followed after them.
But the need does not go away. Rev. Gomez spent years tending his ministry and, through Baja Vision Ministries, building small family homes for members of his community.
A New Vision
One day, as he drove from a building site, he saw a church beside the road and the land around it. In that moment he had a vision of children who could be helped there. He stopped to walk the property.
Immediately a verse came to mind: “Delight in the Lord and he will give you what you desire.” Rev. Gomez was inspired.
He returned to the property day after day, unsure of what to do. Each time he came he held out his arms and asked God for guidance. One day, a man’s arm patted his shoulder. Rev. Gomez turned, to find himself face to face with a man he knew slightly. “What are you doing?” the man asked. “I see you here day after day.”
Sergio asked, “Can’t you hear the children?” The man couldn’t; they weren’t there. “I do,” Rev. Gomez said. “There are children waiting to come here. To be healed, to grow up to be strong and healthy members of our community. I am here to help that happen.”
The man owned the land. While he might not hear the children, by the end of their meeting Sergio had convinced him to sell — if Sergio could come up with the money.
Where the money would come from, Rev. Gomez hadn’t a clue. He simply knew that he would find it, that this was the ultimate purpose of this church and this small piece of land. Days later in Los Angeles he told the story to a lawyer he knew. Over the years this friend had made small contributions so it was no surprise when he wrote a check on the spot. It was only later that Sergio looked at the check, expecting maybe $100. But the lawyer must have heard the children. The check was for $10,000, one-fifth of the price of the land and its church.
Sergio was able to call the owner and tell him that children would soon be living beside the church.
It wasn’t much longer before a group of Oregon pastors contributed the remaining funds so Sergio was able to buy the entire property for cash and the orphanage was born.
About The Gomez Family
It is not surprising that Sergio Gomez would have devoted himself to the City of Angels, and before that to the City of Refuge. He himself had grown up on the streets. His own father had been a drug addict and a dealer. He knows what that life is like.
It is Rev. Gomez’s commitment to the children and his belief that something must be done, that draws the many people who help. His daughter Sarah and son Seth have volunteered. With their experiences at the City of Refuge, they have seen the immense amount of physical work that goes into running a children’s home. They know the mistakes that can be so easily made. They know the importance of what they do.
