PHOENIX MINISTRY

12/26/2021

The wait is over!

This is our 8th installment of our holiday videos! Hope you enjoy it! Merry Christmas!

12/22/2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9mePmGKUEQ&feature=youtu.be

** CAST THIS LINK (ABOVE) ON YOUR SMART TV!! ***

THE WAIT IS OVER! We are over the moon ecstatic to release and announce the 7th release of our annual Christmas music video from Phoenix Ministry! Grab a cup of hot cocoa and prepare for some epic encouragement during this social distancing / pandemic style holiday! We know this holiday is going to be very different but take heart! We are here to offer you smiles and hopefully a new perspective in hopes of keeping the joy and celebration FRONT AND CENTER of the holidays… even during a global pandemic! Merry Christmas! God bless you!

11/23/2020

UPDATE 12/14/20: We experienced some technical difficulties and a few delays, but our World Premiere will be here in just a few days... before you know it!

With one of our biggest turnouts in history, we are just about ready to usher in the 7th installment of our annual Christmas music video! You don't want to miss this year's! Spoiler alert... it's just a little extra special than usual!

09/10/2020

Phoenix Family,

With a heavy heart, we announce the sudden passing of our beloved brother: Alex Castro. On Saturday, September 4th, our dear Alex went home to be with the Lord after losing a sudden and intense battle with his health. There is not much more information surrounding the details of his untimely passing at this time, but we are in touch with the family and if able to, we will share more information with their permission. Our ministry knows that so many of you not only knew Alex but had a strong personal friendship with him. Our hearts are united in profound grief at this time.

Alex Castro was bright, funny, sweet, silly, and loved to chat about anything and everything. He was amused by everyone’s uniqueness and was encouraging to everyone he met. He had a child-like joy that was so comforting to be around, especially when we were in our darkest and loneliest of times. There is nothing Alex would not do for a friend, for any one of us. He was one of the most helpful people any of us have ever met and many of us have stories about how that manifested. Alex was generous with his time and his resources and could always be counted on to bring the smiles. His silliness, randomness, and heart made us all feel like family.

Alex was always very clear about how much this ministry affected him. PHOENIX MINISTRY (all of you reading this) were his home away from home and the constant safe space that allowed him to be himself and grow in the things of God. You have all left your imprint on his heart and your glowing acceptance of him has given him some of the greatest joy he has experienced in his short, bright life.

If you need to talk to someone, to help process this, please do not hesitate to reach out. We are a family and we are here for you! Please feel free to share pictures and stories about our beloved Alex. ❤️

RIP Alex Castro: our beloved brother! You will be deeply missed by all. Thank you for changing all of our lives for the better.

04/12/2020

Happy Resurrection Sunday! He is Risen! The Church buildings may be empty, but so is the grave!

01/16/2020

Who inspired you to come out (those of you who are LGBTQ)?

12/18/2019

Our brand new video "Extraordinary Merry Christmas" is out now to rock out to! We hope it gives you all the feels! Please feel free to comment, like, and subscribe once you get to it!! We would really appreciate it!! Thanks in advance!! We love you, and we hope you have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3QV-tVFCvc&t=4s

12/17/2019

Words can't even begin to describe the amount of joy and fun we all had on Saturday at our annual Christmas party in Northern California. We had sweet treats, homemade food, played a fun game, and cheered each other as our new Christmas video dropped globally for the world to see! It was exciting and filled with so much love! We hope to see you in 2020 at our next one! Merry Christmas!

12/15/2019

We are thrilled to present our 6th annual Christmas Music Video, “Extraordinary Merry Christmas”!

What a thrill it has been for all of us this holiday season to get to spend some quality time together and shoot this magical project in the process! Over the past several weeks our sleep overs, pizza get-togethers, cookie baking dates, holiday parties, and random trips to each other’s homes exuded much of the warmth in the holidays we have all come to hope for! We hope this transferred in our new film for you to partake in with us, because you are family too!

We truly hope this video encourages you and makes you have all the feels of joy and celebration! You make this an extraordinary merry Christmas for us!

From us and ours at PHOENIX MINISTRY, to you and yours.
Merry Christmas! Enjoy!

Martha can't seem to relax during the Christmas season. She feels like she has to go "above and beyond" to make the holiday count. Her sister Mary, however, ...

12/10/2019

Just 4 days away from the World Premiere of our 6th Annual Christmas Music Video, it’s time to share another classic from the vaults!!

We changed direction and our tone quite drastically for our sophomore effort. As fun as “All I Want For Christmas Is You” was, we wanted to take the opportunity to raise awareness of an important issue for our follow up video. The previous year (2014), the Los Angeles Dream Center had launched their ministry for emancipated youth that provided housing for teens that had aged out of the foster care system. The need was and still is very high today. It’s important to note that research shows many of those teens are LGBT and have been kicked out of their homes and Churches as minors for not being born heterosexual or cisgender. This is a topic that hits close to home for us as many of our PHOENIX community members have faced similar trials and tribulations and have been rejected by our families and faith communities for the very same reasons. What would be our response to this as Phoenix Ministry? Not only would we answer by raising awareness of our own with our 2nd annual Christmas music video, but we would end up debuting our very first musical short film! For this project, we introduced dialogue and a heartfelt, stand-alone story in a fresh and exciting way.

THE STORY: Just past the one year anniversary of his mother’s untimely death, Mark is disowned and made homeless by his conservative stepfather Matthew. The reason? Matthew “found out” something about Mark that Matthew was not willing to deal with. Although it is strongly implied that Mark belongs to the LGBT community, the specifics were left purposely ambiguous, allowing the viewer to insert themselves into the story in whatever way they have felt targeted or marginalized because of some difference that was never their choice or anything they would ever be able to change.

This was groundbreaking for our ministry because it changed our formula. Now our annual Phoenix videos would be able to stand alone, on their own, with unique, self-contained stories. Now, everyone would be able to relate and be ministered to both within and outside of our California-based ministry. The melancholy Christmas classic, “The Magic Of Christmas Day” was the launch of a bold and exciting new chapter on the video side of what we do at Phoenix. It’s truly inspiring and one of our personal favorites.

Quote:
“Through the eyes of girls and boys.... open your heart, the Spirit will come to you

A large group of friends are all excited about tonight's Christmas party! Well, everyone except for Mark, that is! Why can't he seem to get into the holiday ...

12/08/2019

Had a blast tonight celebrating the holiday season! Thanks to all our wonderful friends that came out to have some delicious tamales, listen to some wonderful Christmas music, and play a fun "get to know you" game! See you next year!

11/16/2019

As the countdown rages on towards the World Premiere of our 6th Annual Christmas Music Video, we are kicking things off by sharing our very first video from 2014! Because this was our first, we knew we needed to pick the perfect song. There was only one choice... our generation's true Christmas classic, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey. Phoenix members performed their solos in front of special places around the state of California that meant something to them; the place they got engaged, their home Church, their favorite place to work, etc. We had a blast and it truly shows!

You don't want to miss this from the vaults of our ministry... especially because rumor has it Mariah Carey is promoting this single to be her 19th #1 hit... 25 years after it's initial release! Let's help her out and rock this like no body's business! Enjoy! Merry Christmas!

All rights reserved. Columbia Records 1994 / Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff Performers: Alyssa Cervantez, Melinda Lira-Parker, Aaron Crowley-Guest, Aaron Cr...