Dear All,
Greetings from Australia! After a 14 hour flight from LA to Sydney, tears came to my eyes as I was greeted at the airport with the ever so encouraging song, We Love You With The Love Of The Lord!
G’day mates! Welcome to the Land of Oz!
Then a few hours later on Friday evening, the entire Sydney Mission Team came together for a dynamic Bible Talk at Joe & Kerry Willises’ home.
For Joe & Kerry, “There’s no place like home!”
Afterwards, we drove just five minutes to pray in the Quadrangle of the prestigious University of Sydney – a campus of 50,000 students just south of Downtown!
Praying to our “Great and Powerful” God
on the Quadrangle of SU!
There beneath the stars over hanging the Quadrangle, we prayed for the Inaugural Service for about an hour. Then we sang The Sydney Song – stirring words written by Joe to the tune of The New Jerusalem by Carly Simon:
Saints within our land
Rise up! Be bold
And wake the nations!
Come, the SoldOut Kingdom come!
Sydney city rise!
The morning lights,
The streets alive
And the Spirit hover over the skies!
CHORUS
It’s God who rules the nations
(Trembling! Shaking!)
Oh my heart is aching!
I want to preach the Word
Walk out on the water,
Go and bring to God
His sons and daughters…
Dream the greatest love,
Shine like the stars,
And blaze a trail of God’s fire
Through this dark, lost world.
Burst up from the grave,
Rise up in power
And shake the nations!
Come, the SoldOut Kingdom come!
Impressively, in the same neighborhood where the University of Sydney is located is also found the University of Technology Sydney and the University of Notre Dame! Mason & Nathalie Fetelika live in that same square mile as they have the charge to reach out to a total enrollment of almost 100,000 students!
Mason & Nathalie “followed the yellow
brick road” and found the
University of Sydney!
On Saturday, I was privileged to have breakfast with the incredible Single Sisters – Jade, Merari, Marita and Rahnesha! During our time, they shared about the awesome aspects of living in Sydney as well as being very candid about the many trials since their arrival.
“Kangaroos and koalas and platypuses! Oh my!”
For Rahnesha being in Australia is like,
“[wishing] upon a star and [waking] up
where the clouds are far behind [her]!”
Then I was off to lunch with the charismatic Single Brothers – Erik, Sean, Jason and Pete! I was particularly encouraged by the reports about the Bible Talk at Macquarie University on the north side of the city – hosted by Jason, Rahnesha, Erik and Sean – that reaches out to 35,000 students – as well as Pete’s “beach ministry!” That evening I had a very pleasant time with my “Uso” Mason and Elena’s & my dear daughter in the faith Nathalie!
For some, “Hearts will never be practical until they
can be made unbreakable.” However, our four
Single Brothers are “opening wide their
hearts” to the Ozzies!
Most Americans are unaware of just how atheistic Australia has become, so it is a huge surprise just how much effort it takes to find the “plentiful harvest.” Upon landing, our mission team literally would evangelize several hours a day, and yet the most visitors that they ever had at church in the previous five Sundays was only three! So since the 12 member mission team saw Ian & Margot Clague restored two weeks ago, we set an “attendance prayer goal” for the February 2, 2014 Inaugural Service of 28 – double the number of Christians! On Sunday, God blessed us with 31 in attendance – a gigantic victory of faith!
“We must be over the rainbow!”
“Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.”
Joe delivered a humorous and outstanding message on Luke 15, entitled, How Ya Doin’? His very clever points were 1) Mr. Cool, 2) Mr. Fine, and 3) Mr. Sensible!
Joe tells Satan and his angels, “You have no
power here! Begone, before somebody
drops a house on you, too!”
After the service, everyone gathered two blocks away in gorgeous Hyde Park for a tasty lunch, games and studies! As Joe and I watched all of the young people – the disciples and their friends – playing “touch rugby,” I simply encouraged Joe by saying, “Now you have a church!”
“Wanna play ball?”
That night we had a tremendous celebration dinner at the Willises!
“Was I scared? You’re talking to a man who laughed
at death, sneered at danger, and chuckled at
catastrophe. I was terrified!”
Monday, I spent most of this special day with Joe & Kerry. We started our day at Bondi Beach and ended at the stunning Sydney Opera House!
“A heart is not judged by how much you love;
but by how much you are loved by others.”
That night, I shared a wonderful time of fellowship with the Clagues, their two awesome daughters – Isabel and Hannah, and Margot’s delightful parents.
Isabel and Hannah imagine, “Somewhere over
the rainbow bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the
rainbow. Why then, oh why can’t I?”
Tuesday was the Staff Meeting and my farewell to the incredible Sydney International Christian Church! (Pray especially for Kerry as she too left that same day to be by her father’s side in Brisbane as he is quite sick.) As I was dropped off at the airport, I left in the same way I arrived – with tears of love for these courageous “partners in the gospel!”
“Kip, Why take a 14 hour flight to LA? ‘Now those
magic slippers will take you home
in two seconds!'”
This week the Lord graciously blessed the City of Angels Church with nine additions – eight baptisms and one restoration – giving us 46 additions in the first 40 days of 2014! And to God be the glory!
And now more detailed good news reports from around Los Angeles…
Kyle Bartholomew: Greetings from the Central Region! This week was incredible as another soul was added to the Kingdom of God! Bryce is a CSULA student who studied the Bible last semester, but just “couldn’t” fully commit. After taking a step back for a few months, Bryce realized that he was only truly happy while studying the Bible and hanging out with disciples. Determined to no longer rob himself of true happiness, Bryce turned himself over to God and was baptized today right after service! Pray for us as many more are on the way!
Nathan and Levi welcome Bryce into the Kingdom!
Luis Miguel Limon: Last week, the East Region was overjoyed as Victor Sr. & Sonia celebrated their 30th Wedding Anniversary! As well we went up to our sister church in Portland, Oregon to give our attention to the needs in the Latin Ministry, and since Kip challenged every ICCM student to visit a church planting, I gladly accepted the invitation to go to Portland! It was inspiring to see Victor, Sonia, Ricky and Coleen work together to unite the Latin Ministry! The Portland Church is doing great, and in my time there, I had the chance to participate in their Latin Ministry Midweek, their Campus All Night Prayer, their Bring Your Neighbor Day and even go snow-boarding with the brothers! Of special note, the 100 disciples of the Portland Church had 269 at their Bring Your Neighbor Day!
Ricky (right) works side-by-side in the
Latin Ministry with his “grandson
in the faith” – Miguel!
On Saturday, Tim Kernan held a “WebDeacons-in-Training” meeting in Northridge. It was a group of about 15 of us, from all over LA gathered in his living room. Tim and Ryan Lomeli greatly inspired and urged us to have the convictions it takes to have an excellent and growing Web Ministry, one that is more powerful than “Satan’s Web Ministry!” As technology is always advancing so should our websites! Thank you Tim for your deep convictions about Web Ministry!
Today was an exciting service as we moved into a bigger room! Now we meet in one of the biggest rooms at Cal Poly University! It is so evident that God is going to do incredible things in our new East Region Spanish Ministry as today we had a service with one to one visitors! Lastly in the month of January God has added nine people to the East Region Family!
The Gonzalez Sisters – Sonia and Liz – now embrace
Christina as their sister in Christ!
Capil Marhatta: Greetings from the Sensational South Region! On Super Bowl Sunday, Lance Underhill – our very own Shepherd – preached an incredible lesson calling all of us to give to God our very best! The Holy Spirit and the angels worked powerfully through the brothers to lead two dynamic young zealots – Lubo and Lonnie – to the waters of baptism! Lubo, who is from Bulgaria and is extraordinarily intelligent and talented, introduced himself to Joe Estep by saying, “My name is Lubo and I would like to get baptized!” Joe responded by telling him, “That sounds like a great plan, but we need to do a few Bible studies first!”
Lonnie is the brother of Andrew who was married in the church just a few weeks ago! Lonnie was very excited to leave his old life and get some brand new spiritual clothes!
Spiritual twins – Lonnie (left) and Lubo – are
both amazed that all their sins are forgiven!
We also were blessed to have Cassidy Deaves return to our region with the great experience of being on the foreign mission field in Paris. She is also smiling very brightly these days because her boyfriend Anthony returns to LA on Wednesday from one-and-a-half years serving in the Paris Church as an intern! Anthony & Cassidy will now lead our dynamic Campus Ministry!
In Paris, Anthony & Cassidy risk their
lives by eating escargot!
This Sunday the Lord continued to add to our number as we saw Martha get baptized! She has endured much persecution, has overcome many challenges, and so God welcomed her into His loving family! Finally, Women’s Day is right around the corner on March 2, 2014! During the announcements, we were reminded that there are several disciples in our region that first attended our church at a previous Women’s Day! Therefore, all the South Sisters are hard at work for what promises to be another fruitful occasion!
The friendship with the disciples helps Martha
(second from the left) to have the faith to
overcome persecution and be baptized!
Chris Adams of the OC Region: Two weeks ago, our own black-belted Bible Talk Leader and ICCM Intern – Daniel Granger – was fruitful when he reached out to Jerry, a “slightly older” man, taking classes at his Martial Arts Dojo. Jerry took the challenge at 50+ years old to become a disciple and began sharing his faith and bringing friends to Bible Talk and church weeks before he was baptized! Then, after he overcame a personal addiction by seeking and following the counsel of many advisers, he pursued the truth with the same zeal he has gone after most things in his life, such as the skateboarding he still does… and of course the beach baptism he requested!
Daniel (left), Jerry (center), and Dennis forcefully
advance into the ocean for Jerry to realize
his “beach dream baptism!”
Excitingly, our OC Singles Ministry was fruitful again this week! One of our most evangelistic OC Brothers, Jose Luis, had brought out his childhood friend Tatiana to our January 26th Bring Your Neighbor Day Service! Then, last Sunday she came to church and on Wednesday Women’s Midweek Service where she put herself on the “Harvest List” to get baptized this week!
Inspired by Karla, Patty, Kerri-Sue and the other sisters, Tatiana quickly became a Berean who studied out her sin deeply and came to the conviction on her own after reading Acts that she needed to be baptized as an adult! At her baptism she humbly read a letter that she had written to her deceased father, with whom she had held a grudge for many years because of the pain he had caused her and her family. There weren’t too many dry eyes in the house, as she forgave him and herself, allowing God to wash away all her sins… forever!
Tatiana hears Jesus’ call to the “weary and
burdened” and receives His “rest!”
Brandyn Speckman: Greetings from Ventura! The last two weeks have been incredible as we have witnessed two souls added to our number through baptism and restoration! Jessica was baptized last week through the efforts of the newly formed Downtown Oxnard Singles Bible Talk! Ashley Watson, one of our Unpaid Interns, co-leads this Bible Talk and has “poured herself out” since November to help Jessica truly make Jesus her Lord! Nicole, who was restored today, brought us all to tears as she humbly apologized to the congregation for abandoning God and her spiritual family. We are so grateful to have her back!
Jessica’s physical and spiritual families
rejoice with her at her baptism!
Excitingly, Luke has developed a six-part study series targeting core convictions of our movement to strengthen our region in preparation for June’s leadership transition. Although these specific topics typically affect our “Veteran Disciples,” they can concern young Christians as well. Last Sunday, Luke preached an incredible lesson clearly defining the sin of Acedia – its triggers and God’s solutions to overcome. Today Luke preached on Μετάνοια (transliteration – Metanoia), the Greek word which translates as what we know as “repentance.” The positive response from the disciples and visitors thus far has been pleasantly overwhelming!
Cesar Limon:
“He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs; He blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased, and He did not let their herds diminish.” (Psalm 107:35, 38) Greetings of love from the Inland Empire! God “blessed” us with four baptisms this week in the IE! In the Riverside Sector, God added through the refreshing waters of baptism an incredible UCR student Joaquin! In the newly planted Palms Springs Sector, He “increased” our numbers with three awesome disciples!
Wednesday night we witnessed the baptism of Valeria! She brought out her entire family to our Midweek Service and they loved the fellowship so much that they didn’t want to leave! Valeria is a dynamic student at the College of the Desert (COD) and is without a doubt a future leader in God’s Kingdom! Then on Friday night Michael was baptized! Michael is another COD student who has been preaching the Word and “evangelizing” his whole life but after The Discipleship Study he saw that he was never making disciples! He was so eager to become a disciple of Jesus that we studied with him two days until 12:22AM, when he was born again in the “pools of water” as a true sold-out disciple of Christ!
Lastly on Sunday, Dasey was baptized! Her mom watched in tears as Dasey showed everyone the small alcohol flask that she would carry every day to have a drink. She handed it to the sisters and happily announced, “I won’t ever need this anymore!” God is good blessing us with a “fruitful harvest” this week “turning the desert into flowing springs!” And to God be all the glory!
Dasey, Michael and Valeria (front row middle) issue
the IE’s weekly challenge, “You will be next!”
HEADLINE NEWS – USA
NEWS FLASH – Mike Patterson: Since our Inaugural Service on January 19th, God has blessed us with weekly additions! Last Sunday, an amazing couple – Joe & Stacey Mack – placed membership from a Mainline Church of Christ, the Campus Church of Christ – formally the Crossroads Church of Christ. Joe was converted to Jesus in the ICOC in 1997 and even was a member on the original Gainesville ICOC Church planting! Sadly, after many hits from Satan, the lukewarmness in the church, and his own personal sin, Joe and his wife Stacey sought help from the Lord. Encouragingly, Joe’s wife Stacey became a disciple during this time, but she could not grasp from Joe’s sharing the concept of a “sold-out church” since there was no longer a discipling church in town.
Joe & Stacey (between Mike & Chenelle) find spiritual
revival in God’s new discipling church in Gainesville!
All that would change when they visited our January 12th service! Even though we were small in number, Stacey was “hooked” from the moment she walked in and Joe said to me he was getting his fire back! We went over some Bible studies in particular the Discipleship, Kingdom, and Church Studies emphasizing church history and the differences that make the SoldOut Movement unique! Already they are having an impact as Joe song leads and as Stacey has a friend from her job at Shands Hospital studying the Bible!
Today was special as well as we had 43 at our Park Service and witnessed the baptisms of Ken, an employee at UF, and Chequest, a student at Santa Fe College! We also had a pledge drive last week that raised our total pledge from $595 to $1005, and today being our first Sunday with the new pledges God gave us $1,060! God is moving in Gainesville!
The Gainesville Campus Ministry gains a foothold
at Santa Fe College through Chequest’s baptism!
Maria Franklin of Chicago: “Then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.”
(Psalm 126:2-3) What an incredible two weeks it has been for us here in Chicago! On Friday, January 31st, the promise of Acts 2:39 was fulfilled for Theo & Leslie Dawson as their teenage son Lamar made the decision to follow Jesus! There was not a dry eye in service as he shared his powerful testimony on how God humbled him through a puzzling and sudden illness that led him to realize that nothing else matters but having a relationship with God! Excitingly, this past week, he also signed his letter of intent while in the hospital for the Syracuse University Football Team! So amazing was his story that a local radio station interviewed him and Lamar shared about God’s plan for him!
Joel & Courtney Parlour are ecstatic that
Lamar will be “a shining star” on the
Syracuse Football Team!
That Wednesday, Chris Broom blessed us with his visit as he came to meet with the “Tenacious Ten” – the ten disciples who will be moving in July to New York City at the same time as Chris, Theresa and the eight other LA disciples to help strengthen this great church. Though there were a few tears of sadness about their leaving, most of us had tears of joy knowing this sacrifice will help to evangelize all nations in this generation!
Then on Saturday, February 1st, we were thrilled to see the matrimony of our dear Kevin & Janah Dawson! Having been converted in Chicago then sent out on the Boston Mission Team, it was exciting to celebrate such a special and beautiful moment in their lives! Their friends and family were deeply inspired by their example and love for God. It was also such a great time of reunion as so many disciples that have been sent out were in town for the wedding, which made for an electric service on Sunday!
Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Dawson!
This week, the North Region struck again with the addition of Jarett and Amelia! Amelia inspired the congregation during her sharing as she gave the disciples a charge to “not stop seeking the lost” as they need us to share with them and rescue them as she has been!
Let’s welcome Jarett and Amelia to
God’s Global Family!
Also, love is in the air as Theo Dawson Jr. asked the lovely Tina Mora to be his girlfriend at the Singles, Campus and Teens Valentine’s party; and she gladly said yes! We love you all!
Giving hope to Singles around the movement, Tina
says “yes” to becoming Theo’s girlfriend!
Coltin Rohn: Greetings from the land of many “Hahvast” Fields! Last week was the baptism of Danny G! Danny studied the Bible with Justin Tucker of San Diego, but sadly at the time didn’t want to truly make “Jesus Lord” in every area of his life. However, after coming to the Los Angeles Winter Workshop, God changed his heart. We then restudied the First Principles Studies and the 6’5″ college student was baptized in the “upper room” at House Church! Now Danny is following in his sister Naomi’s footsteps, who is also a disciple!
Coltin and Preston usher Danny
into God’s SoldOut Movement!
Andrew Smellie: “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.” (Psalm 34:8) Greetings from the icy streets of New York City! Despite the heavy snow that has turned to ice throughout the city, God has melted the hearts of the souls that have come to Him! Today we witnessed a powerful graduation from our Chemical Recovery (CR) Ministry as well as two miraculous baptisms!
In our recently planted Jersey City Bible Talk, nobly led by Cassel & Erica Spence, God has blessed their faith to start a ministry in New Jersey as Krystal Velez, a junior at Seton Hall University student, was baptized today! Krystal’s parents and sister were also in attendance as she shared powerfully that despite a religious background and being “dunked” as a child, she never became a disciple of Jesus or repented of major sins in her life. Now the Lord has enabled her to be a light for Him to the almost 10,000 students of Seton Hall University, which is just 14 miles from New York City!
Krystal opens the door to the Kingdom for the
10,000 students of Seton Hall University!
Finally, after years of begging God in prayer, fasting and even enduring a short separation, Marika Milien, one of our dear sisters in the church, witnessed the miracle of her husband Alfred being baptized! Alfred was a semi-pro football player (New York Venom) as well a bouncer for some of the top clubs in NYC, and had always been very guarded towards members in the church though he had occasionally come to different Marrieds Events. Today, however, he shared in tears about his heart for God and the Kingdom!
After witnessing the incredible fellowship and worship at our 2014 Northeast Winter Workshop in Philadelphia, he approached me after my sermon and proclaimed, “I’m turning myself in to be baptized! This church is for real!” Just a month later, he shared today in tears, “I could have died protecting people at clubs who cared nothing for me or for God. How amazing is our God who sent His Son who died for this world so that we may know Him!” Despite several spiritual attacks from Satan, Alfred persevered and sacrificed, giving up lucrative yet worldly jobs so he could honor God!
Coming to the conviction that “the church is for real,”
Alfred is baptized and united in Christ with
his wife Marika (right)!
What a day in the Lord! Please pray for the saints in New York City as we continue to encourage the souls throughout our metropolitan area to “taste and see that the Lord is good!” We love you!
Anthony Eckels – the Houston Mission Team Leader: Orlando had two cranking Region Services on Sunday with 121 in attendance! The fellowship was hot in the Central Region Meeting as they took a very long fellowship break and had “brunch” together. Then they had a “sermunion” lesson called The Hunger Games as Matt spoke about the need to “hunger and thirst for righteousness” rather than “the junk food of the world.” Afterwards there were many new Bible studies set up!
On the other side of Orlando, the Houston Mission Team met with the Campus and had two amazing victories! First of all, our beloved Chris Jones was restored to Christ! Chris apologized to God and the church today for his sin and warned all of the danger of not being open. He is fired up to have a new beginning and we are honored to have him join us on the Houston Mission Team!
We also had an incredible baptism on Sunday! Heather Schmidt was met by Will Davenport and me at Subway a couple months ago. Elizabeth followed up with her and got her to Women’s Midweek Service. She immediately began studying the Bible and zealously seeking God. While studying the Bible, she was offered a job as a regional manager for an apartment management company. When Matt announced that Elizabeth & I were leading the mission team to Houston, Heather immediately said, “You are taking me on the mission team, right?” We encouraged her to repent and get baptized… and then we would take her on the mission team! Although she was willing to give up her job for the Kingdom, she found out last week that three out of the seven properties that she is managing are in the Houston Area!! How amazing is that!
On the same day that Heather is baptized,
she’s officially asked to be on the
Houston Mission Team!
Please continue to pray for the Houston Team, as we see your many prayers are being answered! Three of the families on the team were released from their leases with NO fees or penalties! To God be the glory!
Jeremy Ciaramella of Phoenix: Greetings from the Valley of “the Son!” 1 Timothy 4:15 is a call to “Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.” Today we celebrated 33 disciples’ graduation from First Principles! Each disciple was given a personalized graduation certificate and a commemorative key-chain with a light and a custom inscription on it! This was to remind them that “[they are to] shine like stars in the universe as [they] hold out the Word of life!” (Philippians 2:15-16)
The 33 Graduates of the First Principles
Class in Phoenix!
A Prayer Goal for the Phoenix Church is to retain the disciples that God has added to our number. Part of this determined effort is increasing the profile of our Chemical Recovery (CR) Ministry. Scott & Sandy Lunde serve diligently as House Church Leaders as well as the leaders of the CR Ministry. This month, we were able to witness the inspiring CR Graduation of AJ & Veronica Thorson and Pat Nebeker! Veronica shared a deeply moving poem she’d written about her CR past entitled Priceless.
Scott & Sandy Lunde and the three CR
Graduates – Pat (left), AJ & Veronica!
As well, the Spirit is maturing our congregation! We are grateful for Chris & Darby Schultz who were recently appointed as a Shepherding Couple-in-Training. They have already shown to be invaluable in caring for the disciples in Phoenix. Also, God moved Robb & Teresa Hamblin to Phoenix, so of course, we’re very grateful to the LA AMS Ministry! They have risen up to stand in the gap of leading the North House Church! In addition, the Spirit moved to raise up Tommy & Ruth Quintanilla to serve as the new leaders for the East House Church. Amy & I “…always thank God for all of [these brothers and sisters], mentioning [them] in our prayers” as they have all become invaluable “partners in the gospel” to us!
Chris & Darby Schultz – the new Shepherding
Couple-in-Training for the Mighty
Phoenix Church!
God blessed us with a total 41 studies from our “Super Bowl Sunday Bring Your Neighbor Day!” There is much to do and it’s exciting to see God’s hand in giving us momentum! Please, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field!” (Matthew 9:38)
Lou Jack Martinez:
ANOTHER BAD DAY FOR THE DEVIL IN HONOLULU AS BLAYNE OBASA IS BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST!!! Blayne was met by disciples several years ago in Hilo, Hawaii and had even begun to study the Bible when tragedy struck his life! Because of his sin, the LORD chose to discipline Blayne in a very severe way a few years ago, and he was found guilty of manslaughter. He was facing at least five (5) years in prison for killing a homeless man with his car, but the LORD showed leniency and Blayne ended up serving only eight months.
But this scare wasn’t enough for him at the time, and later, he was arrested for assaulting his own father! He was required to go through the Salvation Army Addiction Treatment Services here on Oahu, and that is when both he and his mother Marsha started “blowing up” my phone! Our newly-ordained brother, Scott UTTER, began to visit him at the Salvation Army, and so began his studies. Every Saturday, Scott would go to the Salvation Army ATS and they were able to go through almost the entire First Principles Study Series by the time Blayne completed his program. Once Blayne was released, he began to come to every meeting of the body to get used to the “Kingdom schedule,” and just last week, Blayne counted the cost and was BORN-AGAIN, baptized into Christ!
Blayne – before and after baptism!
This baptism just adds to the growing momentum in the Singles Ministry as GOD has grown them from a mere dozen to THIRTY-TWO (32) since Scott & Terra UTTER began leading them when we landed last July! THE LORD has almost TRIPLED this ministry during this short span of time, and they also have FIVE (5) new dating couples with whom the UTTERS have a weekly D-group every Sunday evening!!!
The Utters are incredible “multipliers of disciples”
as they have their arms around the
entire Singles Ministry!
Finally, we were able to appoint TWO NEW SINGLES INTERNS
to help the UTTERS lead this fired up group: Chaz Schmidt and Alex Aehegma, a couple of amazing “Fruit Brokers” who’ve each been in several of the studies that God has taken to baptism!
Chaz ponders how many more years it
will take to evangelize the nations!
Please be praying for us here in the Islands, as we continue to strive for “100 for Hawaii” by the GLC 2014!!! AND TO ALMIGHTY GOD BE THE GLORY!!!
HEADLINE NEWS – INTERNATIONAL
NEWS FLASH – Vic Gonzalez Jr.: Greetings from the plentiful harvest field of Mexico City! These last two weeks we have been in awe of God’s power and His faithfulness to those who “don’t give up!” (Galatians 6:9) Our “Super Sunday” was just that – SUPER! With 21 disciples in the congregation, God gave us 132 in attendance!
Victor preaches the Word at a record BYND crowd!
So encouraging to me was that I was also able to baptize my dear friend Isaac! He was the worship leader at a denominational church in town, and after seeing what God had to say about false doctrine, Isaac decided to resign and get baptized as a disciple! His girlfriend Miriam (who is a lawyer) was also baptized this weekend!
In addition, this Sunday, we were so blessed to see a young man named Josias baptized, as well as a soldier named Felipe, who is an opera and piano master! Last but not least, we were blessed to see a young lady by the name of Jocelyn get converted! She was a member of Isaac’s & Miriam’s youth group along with Allen – baptized few weeks ago!
Having a common love for the truth, Isaac, Miriam,
Jocelyn and Allen come out of the same
denominational church!
Today, so special to me as well, my brother Ezequiel came back to the Lord!
Josue, Victor, Ezequiel, Felipe and Josias!
This morning, we were also blessed to see Emma Torres place membership from the ICOC. Emma is the mother of Carlos Vargas from Madrid, Spain. The amazing thing is that I called her a few weeks ago and asked her if she would be willing to help us with the recently initiated “Pearl Ministry” – a ministry dedicated to nurturing the older women. She gladly accepted and this last week while talking to Aurora & I, she shared with us that she had recently decided to rent out her house and was on her way to the United States after arguing with God about Him not using her anymore and the sadly lukewarm condition of what’s left of the ICOC. Obviously she called the new renters and told them that her plans had changed and that she was no longer moving! It’s amazing to see how God answers prayers and how people respond to God’s call!
Aurora, Emma (right), and the
precious “Pearl Ministry!”
So in the first seven weeks of 2014, God has given us 10 additions: seven baptisms, two restorations and one place membership! Much love and a big hug from Mexico City!
Carlos Mejia: Saludos de Santiago! The Second Annual Central & South American Missions Conference – Yo Soy Tu Dios – kicks off in just a few days and we are so fired up! Service today was electric with 144 in attendance! With a few disciples already here from Brazil and the States, it feels like the seminar has already begun! Please keep this event in your hearts and prayers, as the seeds of world evangelism will be planted in the hearts of all who attend to later produce a tremendous harvest of souls here in Latin America!
Pray for all those who are traveling to the Second
Annual CSA Missions Conference
this coming weekend!
Anna Malnegro of Manila – Mabuhay!!! Joff Alcantara, the first baptism of Manila ICOC when it was planted in 1989 and who was restored to our church in December 2013, helped his wife Ruby place membership last Sunday!!! During the sharing, Ruby spoke in tears to the church about how grateful she was that she finally saw the teachings of discipleship come to life. Ruby was baptized in our former fellowship over a year ago using the same First Principles written by our fearless leader Kip. However, according to her, though she became a baptized disciple, “the teaching to obey” was not applied after her baptism. Now she’s fired up to be about a disciple’s purpose and be discipled!!! By the way, Joff is now our worship coordinator and our fired up song leader in the church!!! Glory to God!!!
Joff & Ruby with Ronnie and his wife Charrie!
Philippe Scheidecker: Bonjour de Paris! Psalms 126:5 describes what we can experience as disciples, especially in relationships: “Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.” It is definitively what we all felt at the farewell party of Anthony OLMOS who has been called back to LA to be the Campus Minister for the South Region. This “Mexican young gun” has become a hero, a friend and a very dear partner in the gospel. We all cried… even an atheist friend who shared!
Anthony’s beloved father figure Philippe
hugs him one last time!
Anthony demonstrated what a missionary is: he was committed all the way! Two months after helping to plant the church, he received terrible news concerning his physical family. Then his mentor, Tim Kernan, was not allowed to come back in France, so he was “stuck” with this strange French remnant brother (that would be me), and then came huge financial issues back home! Following this, his girlfriend who was on mission team was asked to return to LA. Anthony decided to stay and give his heart… God blessed him, as he was able to baptize his replacement, Bernard, a French campus guy with a lot of potential… We are so proud of Anthony, as many stones of the temple of Paris are inscribed with his name! And to God be the glory!
NEWS FLASH – Michele Williamson:
“Therefore let all [London] be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both LORD and CHRIST.” (Acts 2:36) What a powerful message we heard preached two weeks ago in the great city of London! The call was simple, “Jesus is Lord of all or Jesus is not Lord at all!”
Particularly moving at the service was the restoration of our British-born sister, Michelle Petit. Michelle was originally baptized in London 21 years ago in 1993 here in London. Sadly, after nine years of being a sold-out disciple, Michelle fell away from the faith and went through many challenging years as a single mother without God. Then just last year, she was met by James Morgan and was subsequently studied with by Deirdre Morgan and Cat Corrigan. Tearfully, Michelle shared publicly how much it meant to her to come back to the Lord and His Kingdom. She shared that when she first attended the London ICC she quickly noticed how much it looked like the original church she was baptized into! In her words, “This feels like home to me!”
The Lord also brought us a new brother, Valdemar Montein de Olivera Jr., from the Sao Paulo International Christian Church in Brazil. Valdemar is here in London for a year as an exchange student studying civil engineering at the Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford, UK. Our new brother was welcomed enthusiastically into the fellowship as he placed membership with our church!
God’s church continues “to increase and spread” as this week we saw the restoration of our beloved campus brother Jappy! It was incredible to see our young zealot Jamal (former Muslim), and our Campus Leader Yomi “go after” Jappy helping him understand just what he left by falling away. During Jappy’s apology to the church he stated simply, “There’s nothing out there because no one truly loves you. I’m back for good!”
The London Brothers carry
Jappy back to Jesus!
Next we saw the baptism of a married professional Renata who was met by our sister Denise Kukoyi on Facebook! After living in London for the past twelve years and visiting 12 churches, Renata was so encouraged to meet a “Christian” from her Caribbean Island Curaçao here in London! After diligently studying the Bible in her native tongue with our “Curaçao Trio” (Denise, Maria Hart and Javeline), Renata was joyfully baptized after church!
Renata is thrilled to find a church where
each member is “really living it out!”
Lastly we are in the final stages of planning for the 2014 European Missions Conference entitled, ZEAL For My Father’s House. Please mark your calendar as the conference dates are October 30 – November 2, 2014! And to God be the glory!
Dear Brothers and Sisters: Amazingly, in the first five weeks of this new year, the Gainesville, Santa Barbara and Sydney Churches all celebrated their Inaugural Services! Equally exciting are the plantings yet to come in 2014: Houston in March, Toronto in April, Dallas-Ft. Worth in August, and Moscow in December!
Also to be added to our prayer lists are the Crown of Thorns Cities that remain to be planted: Johannesburg, Manila, Cairo, Chennai and Hong Kong. My visit to Sydney was not only inspiring to be with the disciples, but also to dream with them about Asia, as about 10% of Sydney’s population is Asian! And very interestingly, most are Chinese! One news article claimed that the celebration in Sydney of the Chinese New Year (which was during my visit) is the largest outside of China! So the Spirit may be forming the Hong Kong Mission Team at this very moment!
The iconic Sydney Opera House colored ruby red in
honor of the Chinese New Year! Perhaps the
Spirit’s “yellow brick road” to be followed
by disciples will go from “Oz” to China!
Please also keep in your prayers all of us who will be participating in the Central & South American Missions Conference in Chile this coming weekend! Then after being with the Mighty Santiago Church, Elena & I are looking forward to encouraging the Great Sao Paulo Church the following week! (Therefore, there will not be another Good News Email for two weeks.)
In closing, “I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel… And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more… so that you… may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ… to the glory and praise of God!” (Philippians 1:3-5, 9-11)
Much love,
Kip
