In a day of spiritual reflection that brought veteran and new deacons and their wives together, the former urged the latter to "take an extra step and use the marketplace" where they work and live, as a platform for evangelization.

The March 14 event --- hosted by the Deacon Mission Center Ministry Inc. to lure new deacons to their street ministry in South Los Angeles --- found a receptive audience among the class of 2008.

"I came with great expectations," said Nellfa Salazar, the wife of Deacon John Salazar of St. Francis of Assisi Church, Los Angeles, "but little did I know I was going to learn that my blessings never end, and that we can still bless many others."

The center, a volunteer-based outreach ministry opened near St. Michael Church in October 2006 by Deacon Peter Wilson and his wife Norvell, was incorporated as nonprofit in February 2008. It can be used by the deacons and lay men and women volunteers to develop continuing education programs for all parishes in the surrounding communities.

During the event, deacon couples as the Wilsons --- who have been in diaconate service for the last 27 years at St. Rose of Lima Church, Simi Valley - shared ideas of how to add a new dimension to outreach ministries in inner cities.

The first year after their ordination is usually the time when deacons get established in their own parishes. It is the time for spiritual growth and for developing strengths and skills and for reflection on the ministry God has called them to serve in, explained Deacon Wilson.

The center, he said, was planned with the hope that new deacons would play a role in the community in drawing people to church during a time of growing violence and religious apathy.

"We don't just feed, but teach how to feed," Deacon Wilson said. The center's main purpose is to offer a space for development of leadership skills, spiritual growth and strengthening of Christian values.

"Pews are empty because we haven't done our jobs," Wilson said during his opening presentation. He urged the new deacons to challenge themselves to minister outside the church and to meet people's needs in their own environments.

"We minister to the people in the church, to the ones who are already saved, but we leave out the people outside the church," he said. "We need to meet people's needs in their cities, at their homes or at their workplace. That is why we call it outreach. When their needs are not met, people leave."

Wilson said he often hears parishioners' desires to see changes in their communities, "but they do not want to take the task."

"God sometimes will shake you very hard, but you don't want to listen," he told the new deacons. He acknowledged his own fear "when God called me to open the center," but he said that as he grew in faith he felt more comfortable about fulfilling the call.

He told the deacons there is a need to change the way of thinking of residents of the inner cities, who ignore God has equipped them with gifts. "People need to be taught that they don't have to accept second-class living," he said.

And he stressed the importance of getting involved in ministering one-on-one, door by door, "as Jesus did." He underscored the center's prevention efforts, including youth support groups for those at risk, gang and alcohol and drug prevention programs.

"This center was opened to help generation through generation. The idea is to go for 20 years," he said. "People think they should live angry because no one has told them the opposite. We need to change the thought cycle in our communities, starting with the younger generations."

Deacon Mark Race and his wife Vickie, heads of the center's spirituality office, urged the deacons to live a life of prayer.

"Work without prayer results in emptiness," said Deacon Race. "Lack of prayer is lack of relationship with God."

The couple, from St. Bernadette Church, Los Angeles, said prayer leads to healthier family relationships, which in turn result in better church and community relationships.

To prevent violence and unhealthy relationships, Deacon Race suggested doing "subtle evangelization" with engaged couples in the churches by teaching them prayers and asking them to pray together before leaving to work in the morning and before meals.

"They can also teach the baby to pray before the child is born," he said. "As deacons we have the tools to capture people," he said, "we just need to open the toolbox and pull out the weapons we have to capture kids with prayer and hope."

Deacon Augustine Won and his wife Marie of St. Bede the Venerable Church, La Caņada, were impressed with the ideas shared by their colleagues.

"I was impressed when Deacon Wilson said that we need to walk with the Lord in the middle of the jungle," said prison chaplain Augustine.

After a tour through the center's facilities in the former convent adjacent to St. Michael Church and School, the deacons were invited to use the facilities to run their own ministries once they hear their "call," and to support the ones in existence.

For more information about the Deacon Mission Center, call (323) 752-0085 or email deaconpete@msn.com. The center is located at 1039 W. 87th Street, Los Angeles.