2017 Prayer Goals ⏤ NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

“Nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)

The inspirational theme for the SoldOut Movement for 2017 is The Year Of The Impossible! Therefore, the title for this year’s Winter Workshop is NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD! It has been one year since our dear father and mother in the faith, Kip & Elena McKean, have entrusted Lianne & me with their beloved City Of Angels Church. Under their continued daily guidance and tutelage, the church has been blessed by God with the most baptisms ever in any one week ⏤ 19, the most baptisms in one month ⏤ 43, the largest Missions Contribution ever at 1.14 million dollars, and the largest attendance ever ⏤ 2,285! This has all been accomplished by the Spirit despite the sending out of 121 disciples to plant and strengthen churches, while undergoing full leadership transitions and overhauls in 10 of our 12 Regions. Satan threw many “shenanigans” at us in 2016, but the noble disciples of Los Angeles have embraced the battle with grace, moxy and panache!

In addition to these incredible feats, God has allowed us to establish a number of projects to provide forceful advancement throughout the church: Operation Khyber Pass, where we sent out disciples to revitalize the Chicago, New York City and Hilo Churches, as well as sending out the Dubai, Seattle and Lagos Mission Teams; Project Tyrannus, where we put into motion a plan to reach all of the 65 major campuses in the greater Los Angeles area; Prepared For Service, where we went after increasing the quality of our Bible Talks, Sunday Worship Services, Discipling and other church related activities; Project Blacksmith, where we strove to teach First Principles to every disciple in the church; Project Heart Language, where we initiated Spanish, Tagalog, and soon-to-take-shape Mandarin speaking devotionals; and Project Armor Bearer, where we are planning to raise up a strong right-hand man and woman for every Region Leader Couple in the City of Angels Church. This project has raised up some incredible leaders and resulted in the amazing appointments of Mason & Nathalie Fetelika of the AMS, Kirk & Margie Hamula of Las Vegas, Preston & Shauna Inkley of AV, Caleb Cohen and Lizbeth Florez of the South, and the Sloans, who are now in Hilo and were appointed at the Christmas Service! God is truly raising up a new generation of incredible leaders!

While we relish the memory of all the good times, victorious struggles, and camaraderie of 2016, it is now time to look to the future! The following are our 2017 Impossible Prayer Goals:

1) “But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” (II Corinthians 1:9) First and foremost, as a church family we must grow in our reliance on God. While we went to God on all major decisions in 2016, I do believe that there is dramatic room for improvement in our quiet times and reverence for God.  By drawing near to our all-loving, omnipotent, heavenly Father, we will see Him do the Impossible in 2017!

2) “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews…” (I Corinthians 9:19) Many of our disciples struggle to have an evangelistic impact simply because they do not know anyone outside of the church. They have been “quarantined” by Satan from the surrounding community that so desperately needs them. This year, I want to challenge us to stretch ourselves and pursue “warm contact” in our community! If you are interested in weightlifting, running, cooking, martial arts, dance, skydiving or other such activities, why not take up a few classes a month and connect with your neighbors who share the same interests? Not only will this enrich your quality of life, but it will allow us to build evangelistic friendships in existing social networks just like the First Century disciples used the Synagogue and Lecture Halls.

3) “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit — fruit that will last” (John 15:16) We must continue to face and defeat the fall-away problem. This can and will be accomplished through the following: prayer and fasting, building family before baptism, inspiring New Member Orientations, ensuring that the church is made up not only of great Bible Talks, but also great Christian family homes and Singles apartments, having teams of Shepherds led by Evangelists, involving new Christians in the ministry, coordinating carefully and not giving in to the sin of recruitment, faithfully taking everyone through the Follow-Up Studies, putting the spotlight on perseverant disciples and “Heroes of the Faith”, making the Chemical Recovery Ministry available in every Region, teaching character, and finally, by getting young Christians to the 2017 GLC and other international Missions Conferences! We will surely overcome this problem as nothing is impossible with God!

4) “James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.” (Galatians 2:9-10)

As the Kingdom grows, so does MERCYworldwide, as the benevolent arm of the church. Indeed each SoldOut Movement disciple is a MERCY Ambassador! Therefore, MERCY’s Impossible Prayer Goals for 2017 are as follows:

1. Appoint MERCY Directors in each Region throughout LA.
2. Appoint at least 28 MERCY Interns in Los Angeles.
3. In addition to participating in the global events of the International Day of MERCY on Saturday, June 18th and the MERCY Christmas Toy Drive on Sunday, December 18th, we are asking each Region to establish at least one project that addresses the local needs of their respective community.

5) “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.” (Exodus 36:5) Beginning on Sunday, January 8th, we will be initiating our annual pledge drive with the goal of raising the weekly contribution by $5000 a week as a congregation.  This is a necessary jump in order to meet the budgeting needs of our growing family.  Additionally, on May 14th, we will be collecting a 25-times Special Missions Contribution!  We pray that God allows us to blow it out to an impossible level!

6) “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.” (Acts 16:5) Excitingly, we are faithfully planning for each Region to grow to at least 100 disciples in the new year and for those that are over 100 to get to 150 and “Sectorize”! Lord willing, we are going to do this by doubling the the number Bible Talks, as well as by continuing to pursue our Regional Crown of Thorns Projects. As well, we plan to send out new Bible Talks ⏤ in the same style that we have sent out Mission Teams ⏤ at Super Regional Services! Also, we will continue to advance the Tyrannus Project to reach ten more campuses which would take us to 43 of 65 major campuses in the Los Angeles Area! Lastly, we plan to raise up ten more Shepherding Couples and ten more paid interns throughout the City of Angels Church in 2017!

7) “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” (Acts 13:2) While last year’s plan for incoming and outgoing disciples was called “Khyber Pass”, this year’s plan is called “Silk Road”!  We are planning to send the delightful Bartholomews to Toronto, while bringing the awesome Studers to Los Angeles for further training and strengthening. We are also very excited about the Valdezes who have come from Honolulu to strengthen the Ventura Region. Lord willing, they will take over the leadership of the Ventura Region when the Bartholomews leave for Canada. In addition to the Valdezes, the Sobolevs will be coming from the Moscow Church to the North Region for further training under the Feumbas. Additionally, we look forward to initiating Operation Eagle ⏤ a plan to plant a US church in every remaining US state in ten years ⏤ beginning in 2018!

8) “Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.” (Acts 20:16) Our prayer is that the City of Angels Church has a Staff and membership presence at each of the exciting Missions Conferences planned for 2017.  These conferences are the Latin American Missions Conference in Mexico City, Mexico, on February 8th-12th; the Brazil Missions Conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on February 17th-19th; the African Missions Conference in Lagos, NIgeria, on April 21st-23rd; the Eurasian Missions Conference in Moscow, Russia, on May 5th-7th; the European Missions Conference in London, England, on October 26th-29th; and the Global Leadership Conference (GLC) in Manila, Philippines, on August 3rd-6th!  The incredible theme for the GLC is VICTORIOUS!  We are praying that we will be able to have 200 Los Angeles disciples representing the City of Angels Church in Manilla at the GLC!  The registration cost for the GLC is $225 per person.  However, there is an “early bird” special price of $205 that will end soon.  So please register as quickly as you can!  

9) “I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may…save some of them.” (Romans 11:13-14) This year we want to take our social media campaign to the impossible next level! We want to take #ICCTestimonials and #ILoveMyChurchICCC to Twitter, YouTube and Instagram in particular. Satan had dominated the cyber continent for too long and disciples must now make God’s presence felt!

10) Our final Prayer Goal is for every disciple to have their own impossible prayer goals! What are your personal impossible prayer goals? Write them down, pray about them, and hashtag your answered prayers at  #ICCTestimonials!

2017 is the year of the Impossible! Impossible dreams, impossible hopes, impossible love and impossible victories! We enter into this year with a clear vision and with faithful preparation! Let us move ahead with the confidence and boldness that grace brings! Let us advance together, as a family, to see all the impossible things that God will make possible this year!

Love you all very much!
Tim