When Lacy Hawkins started in the ministry over 50 years ago, it was always in his heart to have a house of prayer for all of God’s people.  He has been blessed to see this vision come to fruition and his desire is as strong as ever that this vision is planted into the hearts of the ministry and the congregation in the Church of the Latter Rain.

When he opened in Berkeley in 1974, he and his late wife, Etta Hawkins, created a warm, hospitable environment where all would feel welcomed to worship and fellowship.  They would open their home and serve a home cooked dinner after service every weekend so the congregants also called the saints were able to have a free meal, fellowship and get to know each other on a deeper level.  As the church began to grow, Lacy Hawkins never wanted to lose the family atmosphere those intimate settings in his home created among the saints. And over forty years later, The Church of The Latter Rain has been able to keep this tradition alive in every church location.  Through the volunteer service of faithful members, dinner is still served every Sunday, free of charge to whom so ever attends that worship service.

In addition to serving free meals on a weekly basis, there are teams of volunteers that assist in the upkeep and maintenance of each local church building to ensure we have a clean, safe place to worship, or assist with career development needs, audio visual/technical production of our services, provide security and  emergency preparedness services to name a few. The church is blessed to have many skilled volunteers that are able to provide their expertise to help maintain the overall health of each church building and gymnasium.