The Good News Email 06-08-2014

Dear All,
Greetings from Los Angeles! What a glorious service in the Southland Region today as Megan Mathews gave a moving communion as her farewell before the Spirit takes her to Portland this week where she’ll serve alongside our dear Ricky & Coleen Challinor! Also, Chris Bryant delivered an unforgettable contribution message centered on “investing in the Kingdom” and Cory was masterful as always in his encouraging sermon on A Practical Faith from James 1:2-8!

 
The 2014 Global Leadership Conference (GLC) – ZION’S DREAMERS – is exactly two months away! Please be registering for this historic event at CAICC.net. Please also, if possible, stay at our host site the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort of Palm Desert as we have committed to 500 room nights to allow us the “free” usage of their beautiful conference facilities! You may register for these incredible rooms at our City of Angels Church Website as well! 
 

Pray for this seminar as after a few months of preparation, the most extensive and comprehensive GLC Program ever will be coming out this week! Highlights will include the Second Annual ICCM Commencement, the sending out of the DFW and Chennai Mission Teams, and sermons from the books of the original ZION’S DREAMERS – Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Haggai and Zechariah! And to God be the glory! 
 
And now more detailed reports from around LA…

Cory Blackwell: Greetings from the Southland Region!!! Southland had an action packed weekend! On Saturday, our awesome brother Hector Sanchez, who leads our dynamic Kids Kingdom Program, gathered about 30 of us to surprise his girlfriend Wendy Lopez, who joyfully works side-by-side with Hector in Kids Kingdom, to propose to her! It was a heartfelt time as we all came together at Wendy’s favorite prayer spot at Manhattan Beach to support Hector as he got on one knee and humbly asked Wendy to be his wife. Wendy of course said Yes!

Sunday was dynamite from the start as the singing was electric! For communion, we asked our dear sister Megan Matthews to share her life. In her own words, here’s a little of what Megan shared: What an amazing day in Southland as God has blessed me to serve in the ministry here for 2 ½ years! It has been so inspiring to see how God has grown this region not just in numbers but in maturity!

I’m so thankful for all the brothers and sisters that have loved me unconditionally, supported me and allowed me to serve them. I was given the opportunity to share communion today, what the cross means to me and the text I shared was Romans 5:1-11. In 2010, I went through a difficult time in my life, going through a divorce of 20 years of marriage. I “fled” to Santiago, Chile to be with the church there and my best friend Helen Sullivan who helped me heal by pouring faith into me, helping me to believe that God could still use me and had a plan for me. I just needed to go to Him and have faith. 

After eight months in Chile, I came to LA with the Sullivans in hopes to dream again! Through Romans 5, I learned that there is always “hope”as long as I am alive and serving the Lord. This translated to me as I must never quit! Although God allowed me to go through much suffering (because of my sin), I persevered as I had much to change in my character. And because of God’s love and Jesus’ sacrifice for me, “the ungodly” (vs. 6), I have learned how to have “peace with God” (vs. 1) through much prayer. The cross is everything to me. It’s why I do what I do!

Southland, I love you all dearly as Paul wrote in Philippians 1:3-11, “I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel…” It has been a very humbling experience and such an honor to serve alongside of Cory Blackwell. I look forward to hearing all God will do as Cory now has the opportunity lead Southland with his amazing wife Jeraldine! Also, I am very grateful for God’s plan in having Shepherds appointed to watch over the lives of Evangelists and Women’s Ministry Leaders. The love and friendship that Nick & Denise Bordieri as a Shepherding Couple has shown to me is inexpressible!

As bitter as it is to leave my family in Southland, I know it will be sweet to be with my family in Portland. Only God can heal us, as Portland was a city I never planned on living in again! I am so excited and truly grateful for the sacrifice of so many in Portland to allow me to serve in the fulltime ministry there. Pray for me!

After our service, every Southland disciple gathered in the fellowship hall to celebrate as family with laughter and tears just how much Megan has impacted this ministry! Many hearts shared their experiences, memories, moments with her from Bible studies to hiking and praying in the hills to deep life talks! Her friendship and leadership has been a gift to me from God! Megan, thank you for raising up my beloved wife Jeraldine (Jee) to now lead Southland with me!

Brandyn Speckman: We are so grateful how God has moved so powerfully in the Ventura Region by bringing new souls into His amazing Kingdom! It all began four weeks ago with an incredible woman named Catie! Catie has been a catalyst for increased faith in Ventura!! She studied the Bible and was baptized in one week!!!

Then a week after Catie’s baptism, Domenike & Iresha Fitts studied the Bible eagerly and were baptized! Finally, last week our newest sister Alysha was baptized into Christ! Alysha is the friend and babysitter of our newly baptized married couple! She was so urgent about changing her life she covered a “worldly” tattoo on her arm and changed her phone number (completely on her own!!) by the Discipleship Study!!!! She is a woman with radical conviction and radical repentance!!!

Sonia Gonzalez of the East Region: “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20-21) This Scripture certainly continues to come true in the East Region as last Sunday we saw yet another miracle as the Cal Poly Pomona Ministry baptized their sixth woman this year – Cindy!

In the beginning of this year, we were faced with “an opportunity” that Cal Poly didn’t have any female student disciples! After much prayer and fasting, the Holy Spirit has done “more than we could have asked or imagined!” Cindy is from Loas which is a country in Southeast Asia, and she speaks Mong. It is so remarkable to see that God wants us to go to all nations as we do not have a church in Laos… yet! And Cindy is actually our first Asian in the East Region and now we have three more Asians studying the Bible!

Also as encouraging, God sent us “A Mighty Man” and one of my husband’s best friends, Blaise Feumba, came to “guest speak” at our Midweek Service! And after an awesome Park Service today, we are headed out to Las Vegas to take one of the most zealous young songleaders, Justin Tucker, to live there as one of the members of the LV Supplementary Mission Team! In only three more weeks, my husband & I will be moving to Las Vegas and Lord willing show the world that “what happens in Vegas, doesn’t stay in Las Vegas” but goes to all nations as we are going to train leaders to go all around the world to plant churches! “And to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations! For ever and ever! Amen.”

Chris Broom of the OC Region: During Paul’s farewell to the Ephesian elders, he talks about how hard he had worked among them for the sake of the gospel and Paul urges them to do the same, quoting to them the very words of Jesus, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35) It is with this spirit that we in Orange County say goodbye to Chris & Kerri-Sue Adams and the four incredible disciples now known affectionately as the “VENTURA 6!”

Chris & Kerri-Sue have been dear friends and partners in the gospel for many years! They are the epitome of sold-out disciples of Jesus Christ and I have watched them prove it over and over again! While we may be“more blessed” to give Ventura these wonderful, hard-working servants of Christ, Ventura is sure to be blessed as well!

Chris & Kerri-Sue have led churches in Syracuse and New York City and most recently, have led the Singles Ministry of Orange County to bear much fruit! In fact, just a week ago at Men’s Night Out, I met a man named Otilio who had been studying the Bible with Chris and the single brothers. When I said to him, “I heard you will be getting baptized soon,” he replied, “Yes, tonight!” Sure enough, he studied right after church and was baptized at 1:30AM!

Capil Marhatta: Greetings from the Sensational South Region! The old saying goes, “When the leaders are away, the disciples are gonna play!” Our young, dynamic full-time intern Anthony Olmos and his fiancée Cassidy Deaves were given the charge to lead the flock as the Sirotkins were away in Moscow preparing the remnant group to be ready to receive the Moscow Mission Team from LA in December. And Anthony & Cassidy didn’t let the disciples take a break from the work of God! God continued to bless the South with four more additions! Rocio Gonzalez was restored last Sunday in our Singles Ministry as she realized that going back to the world of partying is just like she remembered, “An empty way of life!” (1 Peter 1:18)

Last Sunday, Charles from Nigeria and this Sunday Nadia were baptized in the Campus Ministry! Nadia was met by our young zealous Cerritos Campus Sisters Yun Hee Choi and Tory! Finally, God answered our “secret weapon sister” Karolina’s “impossible prayer” by helping to baptize her “cost” to becoming a disciple – her ex-boyfriend Luis!

Cesar Limon: “At once the Spirit sent Jesus out INTO THE WILDERNESS, and He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended Him.” (Mark 1: 12-13) Greetings of love from the Inland Empire Region! God is an awesome God as we have seen five miracles in the past two weeks! At our last Friday Night Devotional, we saw Asante, from the UCR Ministry, and Monique, from the COD Ministry, both get baptized into Christ!

Incredibly this past Sunday, our dear sister Rebecca Glazner was able to baptize her mom, Lisa! Rebecca shared that though it continued to seem impossible, she continued to pray and beg God in tears for her mom to be saved. Now her mom is eternally grateful for her daughter’s continual faith and perseverance!

Also in the Palm Springs Sector, Erwin was baptized this past Wednesday into our Singles Ministry as he works at the Marriott where we will be hosting the GLC!

Also good news is that we are so proud of one of our incredible teen disciples, Savannah, as she was admitted to Arizona State University! We are all confident she will do great things for the Lord in the Phoenix Church!

Lastly and most encouragingly was the unforgettable, life changing weekend for all the disciples in the Palm Springs Sector as we had our first ever Campus Camping Retreat entitled, Into The Wilderness! After exploring Yosemite on Friday, we immediately built a bonfire and heard our first lesson entitled, Sent Into The Wilderness!

Then on Saturday morning after eating a delicious breakfast and having our quiet times together, Phillip, the prophet, kicked the day off with a HOT lesson called, Attended By The Angels. Right after that, we split up men and women and each had four lessons on Overcoming The Temptations Of The Wilderness, followed up of course by d-groups. It was truly a weekend filled with tears, laughter, repentance and refreshment!

Of course there is no other way to close out a retreat than with a refreshing baptism and that is exactly what occurred as Trey was born-again just under the Yosemite falls!

God has been gracious to the Palms Springs Sector as we have had weekly additions since our first service back in January giving us 20 additions with only one fall away, who were praying to restore soon! And to God be ALL the glory!

Chris Chloupek: “How ya do’in?” from the Mighty AMS Region! We have “wrapped up” our second entry into 168 Film and it is entered into their International Film Festival. This is a “faith based” festival where each team draws a Bible verse and then must write, cast and produce a short film. The challenge is it must be filmed, scored and edited in 168 hours – which is one week!

The title of our film is RESPECT. The verse we drew was Romans 13:7,“Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.” As Christians, we owe every human being respect, regardless where they stand with God. That will open doors for people to want to hear the truth. You can go to the YouTube link to view the trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjAPTWWf548. RESPECT will be further developed into our Second Annual GNN FILM which will be available for viewing throughout this upcoming GLC in August! Please pray for us to win in the festival and have impact in our world!

Special thanks to Jason Bond, Ed Washington and Beach Eastwood and all the other disciples who volunteered their time and hearts to make this film a success!!!!! Oh yes… The film was inspired by the true story of the main character!

THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE “SOUL” BUSINESS!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA & CANADA

NEWS FLASH – Tim Kernan: Greetings from the Toronto Mission Team… now landed in Toronto! Well this has been an incredible two weeks since our moving Send-off Service on May 25th! A massive thank you to the LA Church and all disciples who the Holy Spirit used to help send us out on this incredible mission! The mission team drove 2,200 miles from Los Angeles to Toronto. We were warmly welcomed in Las Vegas, Denver and Chicago by the disciples before arriving in Toronto! Thanks so much for the encouragement along the way!

Already it was incredible to‎ see the restoration of Lianne’s father – Steph Brown! So grateful to Kip, Michael Kirchner, Blaise Feumba, Chris Broom, Nick Bordieri, Lance Underhill and everyone else who had such an incredible impact on him! There is no way for me to describe what this means for me that my children’s grandfather is once again a disciple! It’s also priceless for me to now be able to announce that Steph Brown is now officially starting the Montreal Remnant Group! God is awesome!

We are all so excited about what God is going to do here in Toronto! Please pray for all of our Bible Talks that begin this week!

NEWS FLASH – Jack & Jeanne McGee: We thank God that the three disciples of the newly formed South Florida International Christian Church had nine people in attendance at our first House Church Service! All three counties of the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale Metro Area – Palm Beach, Broward and Miami Dade – were represented and we look forward to watching God grow His church as we do our part by sharing the Word with others!

We are especially encouraged by a study with a woman named Selethia that we “inherited” from the Orlando ICC! She lives in Riviera Beach in Palm Beach County and “joining” our South Florida group has cut her trip to church by two hours since she was driving up to Orlando for services before we arrived! She is on target to complete L & D this week!

Also, we praise our God for the awesome news that Princeton George and his lovely girlfriend Joy Axelson – and perhaps four other disciples – will be sent from LA at the GLC to lead and bolster the South Florida Remnant Group! Princeton, Lord willing, will be fulltime supported by our weekly contributions!

 
Anthony Eckels: “We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfectin Christ. To this end [we] labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in [us].” (Colossians 1:28-29) God continues to bless the recently planted Houston ICC with phenomenal victories!

Two weeks ago, the disciples gathered for a Memorial Day Cookout! Elisa Coyle was scheduled to be baptized following the party… In spite of being caught in a flood and their car getting stuck in a lake of flood waters, she was baptized at 9PM! At her baptism, we reminisced that six years ago on this same day Steve & Melanie – Elisa’s parents – radically repented of their own sins and went from being separated to being a baptized couple who was united in Christ! There were tears of joy as we shared with Elisa how proud we were of her personal decision to make Jesus Lord as a 14 year old teen!

This week, we welcomed Robbe & Rachel Hart, who moved 1,900 miles with two small children from Idaho to be a part of God’s Movement! Robbe is from our former fellowship and was encouraged to move here by Jay Hernandez! To God be the glory as He gathers His remnant from“the furthest horizon!” (Nehemiah 1:9)

Mike Patterson: It has been amazing to see many of the young Christians here in Gainesville raising up! Most of them attend our “Adullam School of Preaching” (Ministry Training/Staff Meeting) with aspirations to go into the full-time ministry one day and/or attend the ICCM! We have recently been teaching on core convictions that we hold dearly to as a movement (Remnant Theology, Evangelism of the Nations in One Generation, The Sin of Autonomy, The Lostness of the World, Biblical Counseling, etc.), as well the entire congregation has received a deeper conviction on evangelizing this planet!

Last Sunday, our group of 30 disciples, saw a total of 67 at church for our Bring Your Neighbor Day! This was our second largest attendance since our Inaugural Service in January of 99! We were so grateful to have Ted & Kathy Green of the Orlando Church in town to celebrate with us, as Ted moved our hearts during communion with his vulnerable sharing about his college days at the University of Florida. Excitingly, we ended the service with the baptism of Delray! Delray was met by one of our newer Christians, a former street preacher named Joseph (whom everyone calls Muzic)! It was exciting seeing this young man lead a majority of Delray’s studies!

This weekend was especially awesome as a few of us joined the Orlando Church for their H20 Campus Retreat! For me the highlight was watching our newest intern Marcel Turner delivered an inspirational sermon on loyalty! Then today, the Gainesville Church made the almost three hour drive to go worship with Orlando at Cocoa Beach! It was certainly a homecoming as we are eternally grateful that such a young congregation decided to send us out in faith and we now are seeing the fruit of this faith almost every week! To God be all the glory!

Gabe Reed of Eugene: Great news from Track Town, USA!! My wife & I are enjoying our new home after a two day journey across California to the great city of Eugene, Oregon! We are excited to build on the great foundation of the Eugene Church laid by the Ciaramellas, the Clarks and the Beas!

Eugene has always been such a sacrificial church sending out great leaders all around the movement and we are excited to continue that trend! For me, it’s a homecoming because Eugene is the place where I was met and baptized at the University of Oregon! Already since taking over the leadership of the church, the Lord has added six to our number in the month of June so far!

We are especially grateful to Ricky & Coleen Challinor for helping us during this transition; Jason & Sarah Dimitry for all their advice in building an incredible discipling ministry; and of course, Victor & Sonia Gonzalez for training and preparing us to lead this incredible church! We could not take on this task without the help of a worldwide movement!

Very excitingly this week, we are announcing by faith the plan to start a House Church in Corvallis, Oregon in January 2015! Corvallis is home to the great college of Oregon State University! Although OSU is our bitter in state rival, “luckily” the Bible calls us to “love our enemies” so we are excited to do all that’s necessary to build an incredible ministry there! Pray for us as we are praying to have 10 additions in Eugene during the month of June! We love you with the love of the Lord!

Courtney Parlour of Syracuse: Last weekend, we were showered with wisdom and encouragement from Ken & Cheryl Chin, who drove five hours – arriving at 2AM Saturday morning! They were our guest speakers at our 2014 Parenting Workshop entitled, Raised With Christ. (Colossians 3:1) We came together on Saturday morning for refreshments and fellowship followed by several impacting lessons from different parents in the fellowship highlighting many dynamics of parenting. At the end of the workshop, we opened it up for Q&A where the Chins were “surgical” in their discipling. (Ken is a dentist and Cheryl is a doctor!) We all left incredibly inspired!

This Saturday, we had the FUN Retreat kicking off our Campus and Teen Summer Campaign – F.U.N. The F stands for “Fruitfulness!” The Ufor “Unity!” And the N stands for “kNowing God!” (We aren’t the greatest spellers!) These three elements of discipleship will enable us to solidify the foundation we have established and continue to watch God build upon it!

Finally, many tears were shed today as the entire church and many visitors stayed for the Good-bye Party of our dear sister Sharon Groman. At the end, Sharon shared a faithful charge from Jeremiah 29:11 explaining that going on a mission team has been her “Kingdom Dream” and God is now fulfilling it! The Syracuse Church has been touched by Sharon over the last couple decades in many ways and will miss her heart of servitude, creativity and leadership! We feel so honored to pass this “priceless gem” to join the NYC Supplemental Mission Team!

Jay Shelbrack of Chicago: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19) We are very excited to share all the changes going on in Chicago! This was a crazy last two weeks as we moved the Franklins into the heart of Chicago to officially lead the Downtown Region, and the Millers moved to join Barb & myself in co-leading the West Region for some intensive training!

We also said our “goodbyes” to the “Tenacious 10″ who are moving to New York City throughout this month to help support the supplemental mission team!

Once again love is in the air as we have another new dating couple as Brice & Tiffany made it official last Saturday night!

Finally, we announced our new six unpaid Summer Interns, and Umberto, who will be a paid Summer Intern! He will begin to lead the Campus Ministry for all of the Chicago Church! Pray for us as we begin our Summer Campaign!

Today, Satan attacked us as we arrived at worship service to a fire alarm that would not turn off! As we prepared for worship, the alarm continued from 7-9:50 AM! Only ten minutes before the service was to start, it was shut off! Then, it began once again during the actual service for a few minutes! The disciples were courageous and kept the “fire alive” as we were able to baptize Kristi, a teacher in the Chicago Public Schools! She shared how she had been raised in a religious household and when she was called to walk like Jesus and change areas of her life, she would say no, but then she would reason through the issues and obey. She has been coming since November and couldn’t deny what she saw in the disciples’ lives!

Despite the alarm, so powerful was the service that two new visitors asked if they could get baptized! Pray for our boldness, as we’re very excited to see how God will bless all our efforts this summer!

Coltin Rohn of Boston: “Ask the Lord of the hahvest, therefore, to send out workers into His hahvest field.” (Matthew 9:38) Lana Douglas (one of the original “30 would be disciples”) and Sheila Karonis (who helped plant the original LA Church from Boston in 1989) are workers in God’s “hahvest field!” Together with the help of my lovely wife Mandee, Sheila and Lana baptized Marcia who is only 62 years young! Marcia is the nurse of the Karonis’s daughter Joy. After seeing such a great spirit in Joy (who is mentally handicapped but spiritual) decided to come to the meetings of the body and study the Bible! Last Sunday she had her sister and daughter at service to see her baptism!

A big “thank you” goes to Jake & Jen in the AV Region of LA for sending us Shauna Edwards, as she placed membership today! She is already helping our Campus Ministry and encouraging our souls, especially the soul of her awesome, spiritual boyfriend Preston Inkley!

Today was bitter sweet as we had our Send Off Party for Roger & Kama Parlour and Naamah Armstrong! Like the Antioch Church who sent out Paul and Barnabas, we truly are sending out “our best” to be a part of the NYC Supplemental Mission Team! Naamah has received the “Greatest Transformation Award” and is truly a living example of Philippians 4:4! Roger & Kama have poured themselves out since moving here to help plant Boston and have become a “Mom & Dad” to the church by serving as our Shepherding Couple! We are going to miss them so very much!

Coleen Challinor of Portland: Greetings from the City of Bridges! This week was incredible! Not only was the sun out but it was the second anniversary of Aaron, Gabby, Gordo, Ricky and myself being sent by the Spirit to Portland from LA! It’s been amazing to see what God has done these past two years in the Northwest USA! Also, I want to give a special thank you to Jason & Sarah Dimitry for coming here this weekend to encourage, inspire and lift is us up!

Today, we had an incredible Park Service where again the Latin Ministry outdid themselves making food and selling it for Special Missions! But the highlight was that Kelli Moser was baptized into the Tualatin River! Kelli is a registered nurse was converted into the Mormon Church as a teenager. Although she sincerely believed what they taught, she started seeking God because she started seeing that not everything that the Mormon Church taught was Biblical.

She searched for God for years then “randomly” asked a sister who fell away where she should go to church. Of course once you’re a disciple you know the truth no matter how far you want to run in the world and live the life you want to live. This sister quickly got Kelli connected with the single sisters here and the rest is history! Kelli has deep convictions that“even if we or an angel from Heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached… let him be eternally condemned.”(Galatians 1:8)

Emilio Bonilla of Las Vegas: “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.” (Psalm 34:17-19) Greetings from “Saint City!” Today, we saw this Scripture come to life as Crystal was “[delivered] from all [her] troubles” by God through the saving waters of baptism!

Crystal is the mother of our dear sister Tinite who was baptized in December. Tinite being her mother’s best friend immediately shared her faith after her conversion. Tinite even did the Seeking God Study after only two weeks of being baptized herself! Crystal is hardworking single mom who has overcome her many troubles, such as drug addictions and abusive relationships. It’s awesome to see Crystal and her daughter persevere so much and now be united in the Kingdom!

Andrew Smellie: Greetings from New York City! This weekend was incredible as God blessed us with beautiful weather to enjoy our Fun In The “Son” Fellowship on the Great Lawn of Central Park! From basketball to volleyball to handstands with the backdrop of the awe-inspiring NYC skyline, we had a blast!

My beautiful wife Patrique also met and invited Tim Gunn – the fashion consultant & TV personality who is well-known from the reality TV show,Project Runway – out to church! Mr. Gunn was eager to know more as Patrique informed him that it was the same family of churches that Angelica Grima (of the LA Church now in the London Church) had invited him to when she had given him a Bible at her audition for Project Runway! Mr. Gunn remarked, “I remember her because no one had ever done that for me before!” Please pray that he will see the hand of God that is leading him to be reconciled with the Lord! (Acts 17:26-27)

Today we also celebrated the return of our dear brother Paris Edmond from the Southland Region of the LA Church! Paris is eager to influence his family for the Lord and finish his undergraduate studies here in NYC! Please pray for us as the countdown for the 31 disciples of the NYC Supplemental Mission Team – headed up by the Brooms and Underhills – begin to arrive in just three weeks! We love you all!

Jeremy Ciaramella of Phoenix: Greetings from the “Valley of the Son!”Hoop For A Mission was a tremendous success – from start to finish!

The event attracted dozens of basketball players as well as featured a slew of amazing local talent which performed between each of the competitive brackets! One such performer, Lelea Founa has been onEllen, Disney, local television and even performed with Phoenix native Alice Cooper! Phoenix Sun’s player Channing Frye generously donated four autographed pairs of shoes which were the prizes for the three point contests!

Many sporting goods stores and local businesses also donated raffle prizes! Josiah & Kristin, our Singles Ministry Leaders (who recently had their son Kingston just last month!), put this incredible event together in two weeks’ time, pulling together disciples from every ministry and getting us all unified on raising funds for missions! Indeed, “How good and pleasant it is when [disciples work] together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1) In the last four months, the Phoenix Church has worked together to raise over $4,000 through garage sales, tagging, car washing and Hoop For A Mission! We’re looking forward to these events for next missions!

God blessed us with an incredible young woman who was baptized into Christ at Women’s Midweek – Natalie! She is a full time student at ASU, met on campus by Janelle and Sydney, and wrestled for two months tackling several life issues “head-on!” God has moved through her changes to impact her father and both of her younger brothers who are all now studying the Bible!

Jeremiah Clark: “I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit.” (Leviticus 26:4) Greetings from the Mighty Denver Church! Today the church braved the rains sent from the Lord and pushed through to have an amazing “Park Service” at the home of Joe & Jolyn Ruybal! God also continues to rain down blessings as we were able to see Erica Triche, the fiancé of Kevin Horton, place membership from the amazing DC Church!

So encouraging, we had 86 in attendance today and so far we have given over $20,000 towards our missions goal which we will be collecting in only 13 days! To God be the glory!

Lou Jack Martinez of Honolulu: THE BAD DAYS FOR THE DEVIL IN HONOLULU ARE BACK! WE’RE HAPPY TO REPORT THAT PUI TSEFROM HONG KONG WAS BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST THIS SUNDAY!!!Pui is an international student who is studying abroad from the great city of Hong Kong, China! Our brother RJ Castro (who is now serving in the AV Region of LA) had met Pui some two years ago here in Honolulu. RJ had studied the Bible with him and yet because of other priorities consuming Pui’s life, he was unable to give up everything and become a disciple of Jesus Christ. However on and off, Pui had continued to come to church. Finally he decided to surrender his entire life!

Many things were “hard teachings” for Pui being from a background of ATHEISM. However through the power of the message of the cross of Jesus Christ and seeing the love of the disciples, Pui came to a complete faith that saved him through being BORN AGAIN in the waters of baptism!!!!

SO AWESOME for our Bring Your Neighbor Day that Kyle Bartholomew – the father of faith for both the Honolulu and Hilo Churches – so encouraged us with the vision of our amazing HAWAII 5-0 Plan! This is an AGGRESSIVE 5-year plan to plant 5 churches over the next 5 years in the Islands: West Oahu (2015), Guam (2016), Kona (2016), Maui (2017), and finally Kauai (2019)! Aloha!

 
NEWS FLASH – Ron Harding of Washington DC: Greetings from the Capital of the United States! “At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he… prayed to God regularly.” (Acts 10:1-2) The last two weeks have been a glorious time of watching the Lord lay the foundation for three future mission teams by gathering his lost and wandering children from Nigeria, Mongolia and Trinidad! In this process, we’ve been so blessed to see five precious souls added in the last two weeks – four by baptism and one restored!

Besides the “DC Mongolian invasion,” where Enkee, Doku and Zula – who recently baptized their friend in LA – baptized their other friend Ariuna, who shared in tears about her desire to go back to Mongolia to save her people!

Also, Rachel Basdeo of Trinidad was restored! As well, we all watched in amazement as three more members of the Jamabo Family were baptized! Driven by the foundation of God-fearing parents (Deinma & Neng), their sons – Tonye and Dala – came in February to separate Bible Talks on opposite sides of the city, not knowing that each of them were attending a Bible Talk from the same church! Convicted and inspired by our Campus Ministry, Dala decided to get baptized, setting off a firestorm of persecution from his parents, Deinma & Neng, who came to service to“take charge” of their son. (Mark 3:21) Then, Tonye – who did not know his brother had studied or was being baptized that day – finally took his invitation and came to church! So the parents (Deinma & Neng) and the two sons (Tonye and Dala) all ended up realizing that God had orchestrated that each of them – on COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PATHS – were now all at church together! (Acts 17:26-27)

The Guteng Family – who are also Nigerian and had persecuted their daughters before the whole family was baptized – immediately jumped in to share “their story.” Being in awe of the Holy Spirit coordinating such an amazing family reunion, the entire Jamabo Family including their two teen daughters all began to study the Bible! Today rejoice with us as Dala, Tonye, Deinma & Neng are now your brothers and sister in Christ, with the two daughters very close to baptism! God is truly a powerful and amazing and merciful God!

HEADLINE NEWS – INTERNATIONAL

NEWS FLASH – Joe Willis of Sydney: Greetings from Downunder! Today was our most amazing Sunday yet! Because of the multicultural population here we had our first International Day, run mainly by the young Christians. With prayers in Spanish, Chinese and English, incredible food, entertainment, the 21 Sydney disciples saw our greatest attendance yet of 47!

Then after all the celebrations, God topped off the day with the baptism of a “real Aussie” Keiryn who was met by Teigan – our first baptism here in Australia!

Teigan has been so inspired by being part of an international movement that she has booked her flight to the GLC! Pretty incredible when you think she did not even believe in God as of January of this year! 
 
John Malnegro of Manila: Mabuhay!!! The Metro Manila International Christian Church had a blast when Kyle Bartholomew and Rich, Angie and Zech Tabizon arrived here over a week ago!!! Kyle appointed the Tabizons during our Sunday service, as the first ever Shepherding Couple for the Metro Manila Church! Truly, only in the movement of God can we experience such real brotherhood worldwide! We are so grateful first to God and to all the disciples of the great City of Angels Church for sending the Tabizons to us! They are really precious gifts!!!

We’re very excited about the amazing things that God will do beginning in Metro Manila and then going into all the Islands of the Philippines, and finally into all Southeast Asia! And to God be the glory!

Michael Williamson: Greetings from a very SUNNY London! It’s been an eventful two weeks! First we are proud to announce the appointment of our new fulltime intern Jurij Zykov! Jurij was originally baptized in the Mighty OC Region of the City of Angels International Christian Church! He is a talented young man whose deep conviction to “seek first the Kingdom” motivated him to live in London while finishing his degree at the University of Applied Science in Germany finishing with top honors! Jurij’s been fruitful with many of the brothers here in London, and most recently was offered $100,000 (US) at his job to deny the call of God! Jurij believes there’s only one answer to the call of God, “Here am I send me!” (Isaiah 6:8)

This Sunday, there was not a dry eye in the room as former evangelist Arni Sicam shared his life during communion and contribution! Arni, originally born and baptized in the Philippines, is one of Europe’s top inventors and lives in Amsterdam and is a part of the remnant group there. He shared powerfully with the church how God freed him from the Satanic shackles of homosexuality and how the unceasing love of Jesus brought him back last year after falling away! Excitingly, Arni has decided to move to London!

Last but by no means least, the church is so fired up to have Krista Cameron join us as our newest fulltime Campus Intern! We are so grateful to the LA Church, especially the West Region, for their hearts to nurture and support Krista during her time there. We must say… our dear brother Victor Komo hasn’t stopped smiling since his girlfriend arrived last Wednesday!

Eugen Sobolev: “The Lord says, ‘It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.’” (Isaiah 49:6) Privet from Moscow! Last Sunday we witnessed the restoration of Ada – a professional singer! She was baptized in 1994, but left the church in 2010 and lost her hope to ever be saved! But thanks be to God that she was met in the subway by our sister Natasha four months ago! Natasha was shocked when she saw “the church she was baptized into” and though it was not easy, she studied the Bible and was restored to her“first love!” 
 

Another blessing from God was the visit of our dear leaders Oleg & Aliona Sirotkin from LA this past week! Indeed, we felt the spirit of “Jerusalem!” We are extremely thankful for all lessons, preaching and teaching that we heard during the week! As of today, we have exactly 40 disciples in the Moscow Remnant Group!

Jared McGee of Mexico City: Greetings from Ciudad de la Esperanza – “The City of Hope!” It has been an incredible month since we arrived here on May 8th! The Lord has blessed in incredible ways! We are so excited to fill our new meeting place, which is right in the heart of Downtown! God is already answering our prayers, as today God brought us 16 visitors, giving us a total attendance of 40!

On Saturday night, we had the Singles Ministry over for an awesome Dating Devo! It was inspiring to see the hearts of all these young disciples “soak up” the Biblical teachings that apply to pure and encouraging dating in the Kingdom!

We would also like to thank Guillermo Huesca, an old hero in the faith, for being a guide, a friend and a support for us here in Mexico! There is much fruit on the way!

Carlos Mejia: Greetings from the Iglesia Cristiana Internacional de Santiago! We announced this year at our Central & South American Missions Conference (CSAMC) that by faith we will send a mission team from Santiago to Bogota, Colombia at our next CSAMC in February 2015! This is amazing as just two months after setting this faith goal, the Lord gave us a fired up remnant group in Bogota! With this dream for Bogota as our focus, our congregation has been working diligently for our Special Missions Contribution. God has blessed the persistence and sacrifice of the Santiago disciples as we’ve surpassed our goal of $20,000! To our amazement, God allowed us to give $22,000!

Also, last Saturday our AMP Ministry, led by Anthony & Alejandra Rodrigues, held an incredible Open Mic Night! God blessed their hearts as we saw the fruit of their labor, Claudio – their neighbor and a very talented saxophonist – was baptized into Christ this Sunday!

It’s marvelous to be a part of God’s movement and to see the unity as we prepare for the International Day of MERCY as we host various disciples from throughout Latin America here in Santiago! This week, we have two sisters visiting from Sao Paulo, one brother from Bogota, and two young fired up souls from Mexico City! We are truly ONE UNIFIED MOVEMENT! Please continue to keep us in your prayers and to God be ALL the glory!
 
Dearest Brothers and Sisters: Friday June 13, 2014 is the SoldOut Movement’s Day of Prayer and Fasting for our International Day of MERCY, which is the next day on Saturday! Every disciple in the SoldOut Movement is a MERCYworldwide Ambassador! Historically, with the Sydney Church planting, this Saturday for the first time, MERCY will have projects on all six populated continents of the world! Pray and fast that our individual and collective impact will glorify and honor God through projects that are reaching out to “orphans and widows” as well as the elderly, the poor and the needy! (James 1:27)

This time of year I’m flooded with memories, as June 1, 2014 marked the 35th Anniversary of the birth of the Boston Movement with the gathering of the “30 would-be-disciples in the Gempels’ living room!” We owe so much to these pioneers of faith as God’s new SoldOut Movement is the “remnant” of this once glorious movement of God! Pray on Friday for more and more remnant “veteran” disciples to join God’s modern day movement to help us in the evangelization of the nations in this generation!

As well, the day before – May 31st – was my 60th Birthday! At Staff that week, Sonia (Gonzalez) Green tried to encourage me. She asked, “Do you remember the sermon you delivered when you turned 50 years old?” With a little hesitation, I said, “Well… no.” Sonia continued, “Well you ‘taught’ that since Moses was 120 when he died, so half that age is 60, so this must be the ‘Biblical’ beginning of middle age! So I guess you are now ‘just starting’ middle age!” I smiled as I did recall that encouraging thought and that Sonia – just 13 at the time – remembered my sermon!

Thank you to everyone for expressing your thoughts to me through Facebook and cards! And may “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!” (1 Thessalonians 5:28)
Much love,
Kip