Good News Email – Special Edition – 06-22-2014

Greetings from Los Angeles! Unique to the SoldOut Movement is that we share Jesus’ dream to evangelize the nations in a generation and we have a definitive plan to accomplish this noble task which we call the Crown of Thorns Project! (1 Timothy 2:3-4; Isaiah 32:8) This plan is being realized as the City of Angels International Christian Church was planted in LA by 42 sold-out disciples from Portland on May 6, 2007! During these seven years, the Spirit has multiplied these disciples into over 3,000 disciples with a Sunday attendance approaching 5,000 in 54 churches, in 25 nations on every populated continent in the world!

As most are aware in the SoldOut Movement, we divide every city where we plant a church into regions. Under the Lead Ministry Couple, every region has an appointed Evangelist and Women’s Ministry Leader who have the charge of not only taking care of the “flock” but to evangelize that area of the city. (2 Corinthians 10:13-17) So similarly to fulfill Jesus’ dream, we have divided the globe into “world sectors” that collectively span the globe “so that all [196] nations [of the world] might believe and obey Him!” (Romans 16:26)

In keeping with Jesus’ plan to focus on a few and after much prayer by Elena & me, the Spirit has put on our hearts to select the following couples to be the SoldOut Movement’s World Sector Leaders (WSL’s): Chris & Theresa Broom – USA North Quadrant And India; Tim & Lianne Kernan – The USA Northwest Quadrant And Canada; Matt & Helen Sullivan – USA South Quadrant; Michael & Michele Williamson –Europe; Oleg & Aliona Sirotkin – Russian Commonwealth; Andrew & Patrique Smellie – Africa; Cory & Jee Blackwell – Middle East; Raul & Lynda Moreno – Central & South America; Joe & Kerry Willis –Austral-China; Kyle & Joan Bartholomew – Pac Rim; Nick & Denise Bordieri – Movement Shepherding Couple; Tony & Therese Untalan – Movement Shepherding Couple; and Michael & Sharon Kirchner –Movement Administration and Law. For the present time, Elena & I will continue to lead the LA Church, which through our Region Leaders disciples all the churches in the USA Southwest Quadrant… which we have called “Judea” for the past five years in reference to the Crown of Thorns Plan. (Acts 1:8)

Beginning at the 2014 GLC, each “world sector grouping” will include the following existing churches: USA North Quadrant And India: Boston, Chennai, Chicago, New Delhi, NYC, Philadelphia, Syracuse, Washington DC; The USA Northwest Quadrant And Canada: Denver, Eugene, Montreal, Portland, San Francisco, Toronto; USA South Quadrant:DFW, Gainesville, Houston, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (South Florida), Orlando, San Antonio; Europe: Amsterdam, Curacao (Caribbean), London, Madrid, Paris, Stockholm; Russian Commonwealth: Kiev, Moscow, Novosibirsk; Africa: Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Haiti, Hire, Kikwit, Kinshasa, Polokwane; Central And South America: Bogotá, Caracas, Guatemala City, Mexico City, Santiago, Sao Paulo; Austral-China:Sydney; Pac Rim: Alakanuk (Alaska), Davao, Guam, Hilo, Honolulu, Manila; and since the Blackwells are still in LA, the USA Southwest Quadrant and the Middle East will be combined and include: Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, and Santa Barbara.

In Luke 10, we find that Jesus commissions a second group called “The 72.” (Fascinatingly in the Eastern Orthodox tradition they are called “The 70 Apostles.”) These preachers along with “The 12,” Jesus’ family and His women leaders compose “The 120″ of Acts 1:15. These “120” become the foundation of the church as “The 3,000″ that are baptized after Peter’s Pentecost Sermon are “added to their number that day.”(Acts 2:41-42) Also unique to the SoldOut Movement, we are building a second group of unified preachers and their wives – “our 72″ – which we have chosen to call the “Crown of Thorns Council.”

Let’s pray that God’s Spirit working through all of these leaders can bring our rapidly growing number of churches “to complete unity to let the world know” our wonderful Savior and awesome Lord – Jesus Christ! (John 17:23) And to God be all the glory!

Another historic event was on June 14, 2014 – The SoldOut Movement’s International Day of MERCY! Since every SoldOut Movement Church is a MERCY Branch and every disciple in the SoldOut Movement is a MERCY Ambassador, the impact of this incredible day was literally “felt” around the world! Read on and discover that in each world sector our “light [shone] before men [to] see [our] good deeds and praise [our] Father in Heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

 

 
HEADLINE NEWS – LOS ANGELES
 
Chris Broom of the OC Region: “In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers… While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.”(Acts 13:1-3)

What an incredible couple of weeks it has been in Orange County! Just two weeks ago, we prayed over Chris & Kerri-Sue Adams and the four awesome disciples the Spirit sent with them to lead the Ventura Region! Then last week, we prayed over Gerey & Lori DiCastro and their son Corbin as the Spirit sent them and the rest of their precious family to Dallas! Lori is Shay Sears’ sister and is so looking forward to being with Tyler & Shay as they plant the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Church this summer!

Then today, we welcomed Luke & Brandyn Speckman and their family along with Ashley Watson and Scotty Kendrick as they joined the OC Region from Ventura! I have peace in my heart knowing that the Spirit has chosen such a wonderful couple as the Speckmans to take over the work here in Orange County! To close my last service in the OC Region today, we prayed over Adam Zepeda who the Spirit has chosen to go to the West Region to in time to lead the entire LA Campus Ministry, as well as Carl Buckner, Tracy Shelbrack and Amar Panduranga who are going with my family and me on the 31 member NYC Supplemental Mission Team!

Also, I would like to say a special thank you to Sameer & Loidy Frenzley who were nothing short of amazing as they coordinated our Day of MERCY last weekend! Their efforts in particular helping to rebuild the Sensory Wall for the Blind Children’s Learning Center was absolutely phenomenal!

Lastly, I would like to welcome our two newest brothers who were baptized in the OC Single’s Ministry: Adrian and Armando!

Cesar Limon: “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:11) Grace and peace in abundance from the East Region! Debbie & I are extremely grateful, honored, and excited to be able to serve in the Mighty East as their newly appointed Region Leaders! Victor & Sonia Gonzalez Sr. have done an outstanding job building the “foundation of Jesus Christ!” It was evident by the love, joy and serving attitude of each disciple that they are all incredible sold-out disciples… or as Victor would put it – JUST DISCIPLES!

We are also very thankful for the three disciples that dropped everything in Palm Springs to join us in serving the Mighty East: Ashleigh Friends, Richard Noches and Valeria Garcia! God has already begun the miracles as Marcos Torres was baptized after our first Leaders Meeting! Marcos’s gratitude for his salvation was evident as he gave up his full-time job and has been taking long bus trips to make it to every meeting of the body!

Pray that we can continue to build on the foundation that has already been laid – Jesus Christ! We love you all!!

Capil Marhatta: Greetings from the Sensational South! “In view of God’s MERCY, we offered our bodies as living sacrifices…” (Romans 12:1) Last Saturday on our Annual MERCY Day, we served the Rescue Mission in Downtown Long Beach. We had four different projects that included: serving the homeless food in the Samaritan House; painting facilities; helping organize their thrift store; and even pampering the women at Lydia Home with mani’s and pedi’s!

MERCY Weekend wasn’t complete without a soul added to God’s Kingdom and our new sister Hannah received God’s “mercy!” Hannah was met by her friend and now brother in Christ Christian Ybarra!

Three more placed membership with Jessica Rosas and Saray Valencia coming over from the IE Region, and Artem Varlakov from Moscow, Russia who came to train for the ministry and prepare for the Moscow Mission Team.

Finally, my awesome boyfriend and co-leader of the Teen Ministry Joe Estep and Artem Varlakov were accepted into the ICCM! They were very honored! To God be the glory Amen!

Chris Chloupek: “How Ya Do’in?” from the AMS Region! Most excitingly, we baptized our first teen, Natalyn! Her Mom, Brenda was baptized about a month earlier!

As well, everyone is still talking about the LAST CITY OF ANGELS SINGLES NIGHT OUT event titled; DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY! It was truly a night to remember as Singles from our 11 Regions attended!

Lastly, we were so encouraged by our intern Princeton George when he asked his girlfriend Joy Axelson to be his wife at the end of the “good news sharing” at Staff! They will be getting married near the GLC and then Lord willing they’ll be heading to Florida to lead the South Florida Remnant Group! 
 

There’s no business like “soul” business!

Garrett Bradly of the IE Region: On Tuesday night, we had the privilege of witnessing Bryant, a business major at UCR, become a part of God’s Kingdom! Bryant was originally reached out to by our valiant Sydney missionary, Jason Woody, and studied the Bible all the way toLight and Darkness, but his stubborn pride prevented him from making the leap to become a disciple. The brothers tried to contact him for months, but he would ignore their calls and text messages, and he admitted that he even purposely avoided the brothers at the colonnade!

About a month ago, Bryant’s best friend from second grade, Asante, also began to study the Bible! One Friday, they “randomly” ran into each other on campus and Asante shared with him about how he had been studying the Bible with this group called “LIFE on Campus.” Astounded that his best friend was studying with the same group, Bryant slowly began to study the Bible again. A week later, Asante was baptized (with Bryant in attendance) and when he was asked “who’s next?” he simply pointed at his friend and stated, “Bryant will be next!” Well, God blessed his faith, and Asante was able to baptize his best friend two weeks later!

Michael Kirchner: Greetings from LA! Even through the “heavy lifting” of raising almost $600,000 in LA’s Mission Collection in May, as well as sending out almost 50 disciples to plant and strengthen churches in the last six months, the City of Angels Church continues to be blessed by God as in the first 142 days of 2014, there have been 252 additions – 184 baptisms, 32 restorations and 36 place memberships! Never lose sight that “each number” is a precious soul with a name to God! And to Him be all the glory!
 
HEADLINE NEWS – USA SW QUADRANT AND MIDDLE EAST
 
Richie McDonnell: Greetings from Sunny Santa Barbara! These past few weeks have been amazing! For our MERCYworldwide Event, we served at Casa Esperanza, a homeless shelter where we prepared meals for dozens of homeless people! One of the volunteers was so impacted by our group that he came out to church the next day saying, “I’ve been to a lot of churches and there’s just something different about your group! You have a zeal and spirit that I’ve never seen!”

That same weekend, we had the baptism of Guillermo “Memo” Beltran! Another addition to our awesome Single/Marrieds Bible Talk! He’s the second brother to be baptized of our sweet pre-teen, Stephanie! She started coming around a few months ago, and then decided to “join” our church and leave the Mormon faith, of which she had just been baptized into. She’s currently going through the “Character Studies” while still being super evangelistic at only 11 years old! Her other sibling, her sister Nallely as well as Nallely’s fiance Robert, are both close to the waters of baptism! Never underestimate the impact of loving the neighborhood kids! 
 

We are so excited to be discipled by the Blackwells and to be in the Middle East World Sector! Pray for us as we believe that planting the Santa Barbara Church in January is preparing us to plant a church of sold-out disciples in the Middle East in the not too distant future!

Chris Shultz of Phoenix: Greetings from the Valley of the “Son!” For our Annual MERCYworldwide Event, 59 disciples and 32 visitors braved the 110 degree sun! We partnered with a local orphanage, Sunshine Acres.

This amazing facility houses over 100 children and provides them with a safe, nurturing environment. They take in children who would otherwise be homeless due to their parents being incarcerated or incapacitated by drugs and/or alcohol. We helped organize the donations so they could incorporate those items into the store for sale. Matt, who is the store manager, was a child that was raised there. He stated, “It is always uplifting that God provides for our needs through people like you!” In fact, due to our collective efforts, we provided an entire week’s worth of labor for the orphanage – a savings of over $2,500 and over 460 labor hours!

Darby & I are so proud of the hearts of the disciples who not only give their time, but make this an evangelistic event! Julie Rosselli, who was one of those 32 visiting, was baptized earlier this week! She is an amazing single mother of three energetic boys and braved the heat so she could serve alongside her future brothers and sisters! 
 
HEADLINE NEWS – USA NW QUADRANT AND CANADA
 
NEWS FLASH – Gabe Reed of Eugene: Greeting from Track Town, USA!! So far in our very first month in this great city, the Eugene Church has had nine additions: three baptisms, two restorations, and four place memberships from LA to strengthen this congregation! Amazingly, the four from LA have already been personally fruitful four times!

In the Campus Ministry, we have a prayer goal to double the number of students at our University of Oregon Ministry by the end of the summer from three disciples to six! Excitingly one of the baptisms was a young man named Ryan who will be getting his degree in Business Administration this fall… already bringing our total to four!

Also, personally encouraging to my wife and I is the “tenth addition” of the month with the birth of our beautiful daughter, Abigail Rosalyn Reed! I am so inspired by my wife! In her last month of pregnancy, we moved to Eugene and she has been personally fruitful! She is truly an upward call of tenacity and I am so grateful that God has allowed me to marry this incredible woman of God! Lastly, a very special thank you to all the disciples in Eugene who helped us so much during this time by cooking meals for us every night while my wife recovers from the delivery!

 
Tim Kernan: Greetings from Canada… Aye? It has been an incredible first 22 days here in Toronto! In the past three weeks, God has blessed us with two wonderful restorations: Lianne’s incredible father Steph Brown and Harvey Webber! God’s hand is truly moving here in Canada! Thank you to the brothers and sisters in LA and Chicago who reached out to and encouraged these resurgent prayer warriors!

Also, we had our first service out of my apartment and in a proper location today! All the disciples sang extra loudly and with great joy! The level of encouragement here is electric as between our three Bible Talks we now have over twelve hot studies! This week alone we have four group sharing times planned where we are going to hit the pavement at the incredible University of Toronto – a campus of almost 65,000 students!

Please pray for us as we have only 14 days left before our Inaugural! We can’t wait to see the disciples from LA, Paris, NYC, Syracuse and Chicago! Love you all very much from the Toronto International Christian Church (TICC)! As we say here in Toronto: TICC, TICC, BOOM!!!

Jeremiah Clark: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.” (2 Corinthians 2:14) Greetings from the mighty and greatly encouraged Denver Church! God continues to lead us to victory as we joyfully spread the gospel in the Rocky Mountains! This past Saturday, we served both the Denver and Boulder communities for the Day of MERCY! With donations of food and water from local businesses totaling over $2,500, we hit the streets to take care of the needs of over 250 homeless men and women!

Over the past week, God has added four to our number through baptism! Included were two campus students, Anastasia and Jordan!

As well, two amazing men from the Marrieds Ministry! John Bujaci, the husband of Christy who was baptized in November, made Jesus his Lord today! And secondly, another baptism today that was personally encouraging for me was that of a powerful man by the name of Joel. Just six months ago while I was on a prayer walk, the Spirit prompted me to share my faith with Joel. He shared today through tears (bringing most of the congregation to tears as well) how the cross has completely changed his life and purpose!

Lastly, we were able to give and blowout our First Annual Special Missions Contribution in the Denver ICC. It was delightful to watch the children be the first among us to give! They put their own hard earned pennies into a giant piggy bank kept in the children’s ministry class which they broke open together and gave to God in front of the congregation totaling nearly $400! The adults then followed suit as they “opened wide their [own] hearts” and gave without hesitation bringing our total missions contribution to an amazing $45,434 which is nearly 30X our weekly pledge! God was truly glorified today as His people gave everything they had, and “even beyond their ability!” (2 Corinthians 8:3)

Mike Underhill of San Francisco: For the past few weeks, we have been tagging as a church for Midweeks and Friday Devotionals and it’s been awesome seeing what God has done! First, we have seen that San Francisco residents have amazing hearts when we are bold, because after going out three times a week this past month we’ve already raised $14,000!

But since money doesn’t really matter to God – since He Has all the money in the universe at His disposal – we wondered why God wanted us to tag. Well another reason came to light this Sunday when an incredible SF State woman was met and baptized by our joyful sister Tahlia! Tahlia was going door to door asking for money. She knocked on Eva’s door, but really it was Jesus knocking through Tahlia! When Eva was asked to donate, Eva said “Why not?” Then Tahlia asked her to come out to church and Eva said, “Why not?”

Eva came and immediately started studying the Bible! During her sharing before her baptism, she read Luke 14:33 where Jesus says one must give up everything to be His disciple. Eva did give up everything and it turns out that knock at the door really proved to be Jesus asking for everything in Eva’s life!

Sarah Dimitry of Las Vegas: “In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and MARROW to thy BONES.” (Proverbs 3:6-9 KJV) Greetings from Saint City!

This Sunday was very special as we watch Eli make Jesus Lord of her life! Her persevering and fighting spirit leaves all of us with no excuses, as she is by morning, a radio talk show host and by day, a graduate law student at UNLV, all the while battling the 4th Stage of bone marrow cancer! As Eli read the above Scripture at her baptism, she explained that God could heal her, if He willed it, even down to her “marrow and bones.” I smiled with tears.

Ricky Challinor of Portland: “For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands.” (Psalm 92:4) Greetings from the City of Bridges! The International Day of MERCYwas amazingly led by David & Margarita Jackson! The disciples were able to pass out care packages to the needy of the city and there was definitely great joy for the privilege of being able to serve in this way. We are so grateful for MERCYworldwide as we are truly making a “worldwide” impact!
 

The Lord has added four to our church family these last two weeks – two baptisms and two placed memberships! Shaunai is a freshman at PSU and eagerly studied the Bible during the week of finals! She truly put the Kingdom first and was baptized into Christ during finals!

Janet is an incredible woman who was baptized in the Latin Ministry! She came with a friend to Bible Talk and although her friend didn’t make it, she saw that God had a plan for her life!

Caleb Cohen placed membership with us from the incredible church in Eugene! Caleb now wants to train for the ministry! Lastly, we are extremely honored to have Megan Mathews place membership with us! The church truly is grateful for LA’s Southland Region to “send” their “best and brightest shining star” to us here in Megan! My dear wife has the powerful partner in the gospel that she has longed and prayed for!

 
HEADLINE NEWS – USA SOUTH QUADRANT
 
Jeanne McGee of Miami-Ft. Lauderdale: Our first baptism since the Spirit planted our remnant group two weeks ago is a “Kingdom Baptism!” Welcome your new sister Selethia (Lee) Jackson! She was baptized today in the Atlantic Ocean leaving the dark behind and entering into the light!

I think of her as a “Kingdom Baptism” because she was contacted by her former basketball coach, Chantelle Anderson, who is now a sister inHouston! Chantelle was reached out to by her physical sister, Kristin Smith, who lives in Phoenix! Selethia began her studies with sisters inOrlando and she was driving over two hours to attend services there! When Jack & I moved here a few weeks ago, I was able to take over her studies and she began to attend services with us in the newly formedSouth Florida International Christian Church!

We have fallen in love with Selethia because of her integrity and her heart for God and we are sad that she will be moving to Houston in the middle of July. We are not worried about her as she has a job, a best friend and a loving church family waiting there for her!

Anthony Eckels: Greetings from the two month old Houston International Christian Church! On June 13th, my wife Elizabeth’s birthday, God gave her the best birthday present ever: Jay, Angie, Alonzo and Nathan Hernandez moved to Houston from Hilo, Hawaii! We are so grateful to have their partnership in the gospel and their friendship!

Saturday, they jumped right in to serve as we had our first HoustonMERCY Project feeding over 100 needy people in Hermann Park.

We are so inspired by our sister, Chantelle Anderson! She was fruitful with her friend Selethia who is presently in West Palm Beach! Sunday we watched her baptism on Skype from Houston! As Chantelle enthusiastically stated, “Selethia’s baptism is a great example of why it’s so important to be connected with other disciples as a worldwide church!”

Mike Patterson: God’s power continues to be displayed here in Gainesville, Florida! For The International Day of MERCY, the church volunteered with Rebuilding Together to help make repairs and paint a Boys and Girls Club! Tina, the Director of our Project, shared how she almost cried when she walked in and saw all the volunteers saying that most groups only have ten percent of their volunteers show up! Impacted by this display, she came to Women’s Midweek and has started studying the Bible! She even came to our Leaders Meeting today and said she has never seen so much joy in a group that comes to serve! Please pray for her Bible studies!

Mitch one of our newer conversions at University of Florida (UF) shared his faith with his classmate named Ben. Ben comes from the Jewish religion and decent. God was already working in his life to bring him to a faith in the Messiah and so Ben went looking for answers in the Catholic and Mormon Churches. As God would have it, the first classmate Mitch shared with after his baptism was Ben! After enduring family persecution for leaving the Jewish religion, Ben was baptized into Christ last Thursday night!

Today we witnessed another miracle as Tomas was baptized! Tomas is over 60 and our seasoned brother Curtis met him sharing his faith before our Inaugural Service in January. Tomas came to our Inaugural Service and after six months of wrestling with the Scriptures, Tomas in tears expressed his gratitude to God and was baptized! Please pray for his wife and children to become followers of Jesus as well!

We can’t wait to see you all at the GLC!

Matt Sullivan of Orlando: “Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation!” (Psalm 71:17-18) Old and young alike have been praising God the last few weeks here in the “renewed” Orlando Church! Almost 40 people are now studying the Bible and three have already been baptized!

God is exploding our Teen and Campus Ministry as all three baptisms these last three weeks were in their teens! In addition, God has given us two record attendances (since the planting of Gainesville and Houston) of 130 at our Annual Cocoa Beach Service with Gainesville visiting and then yesterday we had 124 at our International Day! The food was amazing and the winners for Best Presentation, Best Overall, Most Authentic and Best Dessert were honored! After the amazing lunch, we had a piñata for the kids and an unbelievable Tug-o-war Competition that will go down in history till next year! Campus, the “youth,” is licking their wounds as the “old and gray” got the best of them this year!

A few months ago a young lady from Winter Park High School slipped a note into my daughter Melissa’s locker asking to make sure she was a Christian and to see if they could talk. Melissa followed up and Jocelyn began to study the Bible. At 16, she began to receive persecution at home but stood firm with her convictions. Jocelyn was an answer to Melissa’s prayer for three years to help other teens become disciples as she was baptized and is now your sold-out sister!

Then the very last week of their senior year, a 17 year old senior, David, decided it was time to ask Melissa out on a date – figuring it was his last chance as Melissa was going off to USC for college! He asked her out and Melissa simply responded, “I only go out with guys from my church, but I want to invite you out to visit.” David felt a bit rejected and yet left happy that at least he got an invitation! He came to Devo and loved the fellowship! David studied the Bible faithfully and made radical changes. Sunday at service his mother and other friends and family got to witness his “new birth” and now David is your brother! Please pray with us as we have a prayer goal of baptizing 10 Campus and Teens by the end of summer and God has already given us three!

 
HEADLINE NEWS – EUROPE
 
Michael Williamson: Greetings from the London MERCY Ambassadors!

The past two weeks have been moving rather quickly as we began our annual First Principles Classes for the new Christians, placed memberships, and restorations. It’s been incredibly unifying as the First Principles coincide with our separate Men’s and Women’s Mature Classes taught by George Grima and my lovely wife Michele. What excites me most is the buzz afterwards from both classes! The disciples are definitely seeing the value of deepening their conviction as they study!

That said… nothing was as inspiring as seeing our brother Clebber baptized immediately after the Seeking God Class! Clebber is an incredibly dynamic Brazilian single professional who happens to be the manager of our brothers Jamal Roul and Ashley Adjai at the famous Portuguese BBQ Chicken restaurant “NANDOS” – Kip’s favorite spot to eat in London! It was so faith building seeing these two young men grow in their character to the point where they inspired their boss to become a sold-out disciple! He’s an incredible addition to the Singles Ministry!

Additionally, we had our dear sister Roslyn from the Island of Curacao (Mother of Denise Kukoyi) join the church for the next few months alongside an incredible young Columbian campus student! Marisol is very excited to join the church for two months over the summer until school starts up again in Madrid! Encouragingly she’s from our beloved Madrid Remnant Group and is studying law at the prestigious La Complutense University. Marisol plans to complete her Bachelor’s by January next year and then move to London!

Finally please pray for our trip to Amsterdam this week as we gather God’s remnant. Pray that all five disciples will move to London before the EMC to build the Amsterdam Mission Team! Oh yes… Go Team USA!!!!

HEADLINE NEWS – RUSSIAN COMMONWEALTH
 
NEWS FLASH – Eugen Sobolev: Privet from your Moscow MERCY Ambassadors!

We are all so happy here to see the story of three friends – Masha, Tanya and Sasha! Masha got baptized first in 2011. She invited her friend Sasha and she became a disciple as well. But it took three more years to persuade Tanya to follow Christ’s steps, but finally – a week ago – she got baptized too! It was so awesome to see that her mother was so happy at Tanya’s baptism that she attended the church this Sunday and started to study the Bible!

The great news of the Russian Commonwealth World Sector is so encouraging! We have remnant groups in Kiev, Ukraine; Novosibirsk, Russia; and Moscow, Russia. However, when the McKeans and Oleg & Aliona Sirotkin visited in November 2013, we gave a plan to God to bless! We would focus on building up Moscow in preparation for the mission team coming from LA in December 2014. We prayed that the Moscow Remnant Group would grow from 20 to 40! As of today through move-ins from Kiev and Novosibirsk, restorations and baptisms we are now at 42 sold-out disciples… and counting! 
 
HEADLINE NEWS – AFRICA
 
NEWS FLASH – Blaise Feumba, the Geographic Sector Leader of French speaking Africa and the Caribbean: I bring you greetings from the five churches of French speaking Haiti all of whom were initiated by the conversion of the former Mainline Church of Christ preacher – Alexis Turgeau at the 2013 Global Leadership Conference!

Another former Mainline Church of Christ preacher after being taught one must be a disciple at baptism (Matthew 28:19-20), Jean Bonard, was baptized in January of this year in LA during the Winter Workshop!Since then, the Lord has been blessing his passion to build a “SoldOut Church” of only baptized disciples in Jacmel. So in six months with the recent baptism of Monique Jean Baptiste, a Teacher Nurse, the church now has 40 sold-out disciples!

Please keep the churches in Haiti in your prayers as they are recovering from a Chikungunya Epidemic!

Amadou Sountoura: “This is what the Lord Almighty says: In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’” (Zechariah 8:23) Greetings from the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire! God has continued to bless the church in Abidjan with nearly weekly baptisms, as this week Janvier and Michelle were baptized and added to His church! 
 

 

Another great miracle that really encouraged the disciples and impacted millions of Ivoirians was the two young girls from the Abidjan’s Kids Kingdom! Grace Nda and Prisca Don – respectively eight and nine years old – passed the Middle School Final Year Exam among the higher scores in the whole country! They had the chance to appear on the National TV during a very popular program viewed in almost all French Speaking Africa to share their success story! As well, they were congratulated by the musical group “Magic System” – well renown in Africa and Europe!

Lastly, it was so encouraging for all of us in Abidjan to know that we were side-by-side all of the MERCY Ambassadors around the world!

Lola Lof of Kinshasa: Greetings from the “MERCY Ambassadors” in the Democratic Republic of Congo!

As described in JOHN 2:17, Jesus’ disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” If Jesus was consumed by “excessive love” for the “house” of his Father, we must do the same!

Some weeks ago, one of our former brothers Thomas who is a policeman and who had been in prison with me when I was under arrest on the military base for the cause of Christ, surprisingly attended last month’s Congregational Service and decided to study the Bible for his restoration!

Then I made up my mind to go and set up a Bible Talk where Thomas lives on the military base with the permission of his chief. While there, God touched the heart of another policeman who usually attends our Bible Talk meetings. After studying the Bible with us, Kotoko decided to make Jesus the Lord of his life and was baptized!!! His wife was so astonished to see the life change of her husband of whom she declared, “If a church can change the unchangeable heart of my husband, I will become one of the members!” Please pray for Kotoko’s wife, Clarisse who is studying the Bible, and also for the restoration of Thomas who has opened the gate for the salvation of lost souls on the military base! We believe more souls will be saved and to God be all the glory!
 

 
HEADLINE NEWS – CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
 
Raul Moreno of São Paulo: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.” (Psalm 118:1) Dear Family around the world: The Lord has been good to us here as three have been added through baptism in the last two weeks! First, Madalena was baptized as a “young spirited” 73 years old! She deeply loves the Kingdom of God!

Then two USP Engineering students were baptized into Christ through the efforts of the Campus Ministry! Ramon is in his second year doing Computer Engineering and Jonatha is doing Naval Engineering in his first year! They are both fired up for the Lord!

We also had our mighty MERCY Event! It was awesome! The church went to an activity center that serves orphans and very poor children. We had a ton of activities and a lot of fun and food! At the end, the disciples did a play called, David And Goliath that everyone enjoyed very much!

Lastly, we had the privilege to host Adam Zepeda from the Mighty LA Church for a little over a week here in São Paulo! Adam’s spiritual growth as a three year old disciple is amazing! Adam is a mighty man of God who did an incredible job preaching and encouraging the disciples here! He was also blessed to experience all facets of São Paulo… He even experienced tear gas for the first time in his life as we both got caught in the middle of a World Cup protest! I’ll tell you, it is great for clearing up the sinuses! LOL!

Jarod McGee of Mexico City: Greetings from the “La Ciudad de la Esperanza!” (The City of Hope!) We have had an incredible two weeks here in Mexico as God has been moving powerfully! Today, a young campus student from UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México with over 324,000 students!) named Eduardo was baptized!

Last week, Hector Becerra was restored to the Lord and His church! We were all stirred in our hearts as he shared with such passion, zeal and brokenness! Amazingly, Hector was baptized in 1995, but in the last few years began to drift from God, and eventually walked away from his Savior. We are so happy to have our brother back!

Lastly, our International MERCY Day was an incredible success! We were able to feed over 50 homeless people in an area inundated with displaced and uncared-for souls. Of the many times I’ve been able to serve in this small way of passing out a bagged lunch, I have never seen people more grateful to receive a nutritional meal! The hearts of all the disciples were deeply moved, and we couldn’t help but think of the day when we’ll be able to feed thousands of people here in Mexico! We thank God for His “mercy” and we are so grateful to be a part of “MERCY… worldwide!”

Carlos Mejia: Saludos from the Iglesia Cristiana Internacional de Santiago! We had an incredible time of serving last Saturday for ourInternational Day of MERCY! We had the privilege of serving ECAM Chile – Fundación de Egresados de Casas de Menores which is a home for children that have been abused or/and abandoned. We have an ongoing project with this foundation to improve the quality of life for the 40 children that live there.

Albert Wagers and Michelle Brown did a fantastic job organizing and assuring that our day of service was excellent. We were able to give them 44 new mattresses as well as mattress covers, install smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors, and insulate the windows as we are entering the winter months in the Southern Hemisphere… and it gets really cold! We also did landscaping – cleaning the yard and trimming trees and bushes. It was a very encouraging time for the disciples as many guests accompanied us, including Lucy’s parents who were visiting with us. Her parents shared that they were impacted by the work of MERCY and happy to be there serving!

Also this past week, two fired up young disciples, Paola Huerta and Isaac Garcia from our sister church in Mexico City, placed membership with us to work as fulltime interns! 
 

Hector Gomez of Bogotá: “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!’” (Luke 15:17) This is what Nestor Melo said at the time of his restoration during our Sunday service! Nestor was baptized when he was 17 in the Campus Ministry of the ICOC in Bogota, Colombia, where he also served as an intern for two years! Six years ago, he fell away from God but on June 1, 2014 he was restored! 
 

Nestor’s fire and passion for God and His charge to “make disciples”has been reignited as he continues to bring visitors to church every Sunday! God is already blessing him by bearing fruit as Jenny Fonseca was met by Nestor! Jenny was baptized today as a true disciple of Jesus after having to confront her family’s very strong traditions and Catholic background! Jenny has brought her daughter Laura, who is studying the Bible with the “Youth League” (taken from the Justice League of Superheroes) which is the Campus/Teen Ministry of the church! Please keep us in your prayers so that we can “bear much fruit” in Colombia! 
 
HEADLINE NEWS – AUSTRAL-CHINA
 
Joe Willis: Greetings from Sydney, Australia! Last Saturday was special on so many levels! As a church not only did we watch the Australian Soccer Team play Chile at breakfast, but we also Skyped the Santiago de Chile Church at half time! It was inspiring to show our many young Christians how unified we are in the worldwide movement of God!

We then proceeded to take part in our first International Day of MERCY serving autistic kids!

And to round off the day, our young disciple Lennox Tweneboa – who plays semi-professional soccer for St. George in the Sydney League – scored the “Goal of the Week” as shown on this link IGA Goal of the Week – Round 14. Indeed a pretty spectacular goal!

 
HEADLINE NEWS – PAC RIM 
 
Mike Watari, Founder of the Hawaii Christian Gamers League: “Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ‘Āina i ka Pono!” (The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness. – Hawaii State Motto) Aloha from Honolulu! The life of the land is indeed perpetuated in righteousness, as the Kingdom here on Oahu literally “worked the land” for our 2014 Day of MERCY! The disciples teamed up with Kāko’o ‘Ōiwi (an organization aimed at preserving Native Hawaiian culture and practices) to help maintain their Lo’I (taro patch). Taro was a staple food of the Ancient Hawaiians and this edible tuber is what is used to make poi, a Hawaiian delicacy!
 

 
The disciples learned what it really means to “wade in the water” and to be a “stick in the mud” (as Mary Santos puts it), as the Lo’I is essentially a giant pit of mud and water! A lot of puns were thrown around (as well as mud) as the disciples helped clean the Lo’I and learned how to cultivate and plant taro!

In addition to our Lo’I cleanup, we also held an “Airbed and Canned Food Drive” for the Next Step Homeless Shelter, which helps over 200 men, women and children to get back on their feet. Many were surprised and encouraged that we came out with several airbeds, considered by the homeless in these shelters to be a very generous and rare donation!

This past Sunday was (as Lou Jack says) “A BAD DAY FOR THE DEVIL” as Alex Moon was baptized into Christ! Alex (an IT professional) is the very FIRST (1st) BAPTISM in our newly established Christian GAMERS MINISTRY! Filling a need to “be all things to all people” (1 Corinthians 9:19-23), we started a “nerd outreach” (myself with the help of a few other like-minded disciples) which quickly became the Hawaii Christian Gamers League – our Kingdom’s very own Gamers Ministry!!! Alex was reached out to by Jazmine Yogi and me at our first official Monday Night Gaming Session, and quickly fell into good, clean “Kingdom habits,” as he attended each and every “meeting of the body” and fellowshipped with disciples at every opportunity!

Before Alex was even baptized, he was already looking for opportunities to jump into studies to help others receive God’s gift! We look forward to seeing more fruit, as many more potential souls study God’s Word in our Gamers Ministry… because EVERYONE (including the geeks and nerds) needs Jesus Christ in their life! 
 

MAHALO AND GOD BLESS FROM BEAUTIFUL HONOLULU, HAWAII!!!

John Malnegro of Manila: Greetings from the Philippines! We too feel so honored that our future Evangelist and Women’s Ministry Leader – Kyle & Joan Bartholomew – will be the Pac Rim World Sector Leaders! As well, we are so grateful for Rich & Angie Tabizon as they have strengthened the Manila Church with their convictions from the Word of God and are helping us to establish a foundation of only sold-out disciples!

In addition to this, we are in the midst of a pledge drive that will enabled us to hire Gina Dela Pina, who was a former Women’s Ministry Leader in the ICOC and has continued to faithfully serve in that capacity in our current fellowship! She has been a great inspiration and an example for our church while demonstrating faith under fire!

Because of all that God is doing, we have now created a new prayer goal for this next year before the Manila Mission Team arrives on June 1, 2015.  Our prayer is that God will work through us to double our number from 35 to 70 sold-out disciples in a little under a years time! This would give the mission team an incredible foundation to build on to bring the message of God to our entire country! Please join with us in prayer as we strive to see these dreams become a reality!
 
HEADLINE NEWS – USA NORTH QUADRANT AND INDIA
 
Andrew Smellie: “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.” (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20) Greetings from the Concrete Jungle of New York City where the MERCY Ambassadors are literally giving their blood to save the city!

The past two weeks have been an overwhelming flood of emotions as we celebrated both Father’s Day and my final service as the Evangelist for almost three years of the remarkable NYC Church! During these two marvelous weeks, through the power of God, we were blessed with three more incredible baptisms: Anayka, a campus student from Staten Island; Elaina, a model and talent scout from Manhattan; and McDillon, a Trinidadian single from the Bronx!  
 

The church is excited to welcome the Broom and the Underhill Families, as well as the 31 sold-out disciples from around the movement, who will help to build the NYC Church to even greater heights as the pillar church of the new USA North Quadrant World Sector! Please pray for Patrique & me as we head back to the West Coast to re-join our spiritual family in Los Angeles and bond with the Feumbas and Speckmans as we prepare to evangelize the great continent of Africa!

To our dear brothers and sisters of the NYCICC: You have made our days of service in this great city a joy that we will never forget! A special “Thank You!” is also well deserved to our incredible Shepherding Couples, the Chins & O’Donnells, who have served tirelessly with great faith and courage to become the “spiritual parents” of this young church! We are eternally grateful for how they refreshed our spirits and discipled our marriage! We [will always] love you NYC Church with the love of the Lord!

Coltin Rohn of Boston: The hearts and spirit of each disciple was so awesome to see as everyone had a smile on their face as we served the poor for the International Day of MERCY. God blessed us through the Karonises’ with two incredible projects in Lynn: One being an elementary school that needed some love and care from masonry work to carpentry work to cleaning and painting; the other project was building planter boxes for the locals to grow vegetables in. Not only does this provide healthy food for nearby families, but has also successfully pushed gangs out of the area! Ted was also appointed as our Boston Director ofMERCYworldwide!

On Father’s Day, Sal & Jen Difusco were appointed as a Shepherding Couple in the Kingdom of God! Sal & Jen were once in the ministry here in Boston in the ICOC. However after leaving and being in the world for 10 years, they knew it was past due to get right with the Lord once again. When searching for a church with strong convictions on the Word of God they came across the Boston ICC through divine intervention!

Now after 22 months, they are stronger than ever and capable of being Shepherds for the entire congregation! Last Sunday, I presented a “Pompeii Gladius” to Sal & Jen with the inscription of Psalm 149:6 engraved on the blade, “May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edge sword in their hands.” This is the same type of sword the Romans had in Jesus’ day and could of been the type of sword Peter carried with him! (Luke 22:49-50) This sword was primarily used to defend and protect the family!

This past Sunday was filled with laughter, songs of joy, but also tears of sadness as we officially “sent out” Roger & Kama Parlour and Naamah Armstrong to NYC! We are truly sending out our “best” as these are amazing disciples! Roger preached the sermon of his life and quite frankly I believe every disciple should listen to it! (Watch BostonICC.orgto see the video!) After everyone was “sliced and diced” and encouraged to change, we had our newly appointed Shepherd pray over Roger & Kama (who have served tirelessly as Shepherds) and Naamah. Pray for us as we pray for you!

Maria Franklin of Chicago: Greetings from the Windy City! The Spirit is blowing in all directions so we are working hard to take care of all the disciples that are in transition in God’s “Move” ment! (John 3:8) Last week, it was exciting to have Cory Blackwell preaching at Midweek! He came into town to choose the “Fab Five” that will move from Chicago to strengthen the Southland Region of LA! Today in the Latin Service, we honored Juan Carlos & Betty Garcia, who labored arduously to establish and build the Latin Ministry from a few to 52 adults and 54 kids! They will be leaving this Friday to join the Supplemental Mission Team heading to New York City! We will miss them greatly!

Last Saturday, it was fun and humbling to have 150 MERCY Ambassadors serving the homes with residents with disabilities! Thanks to our MERCY Coordinator Joe Chiappetta every year we have been able to participate in this incredible service to the community!

To finish out the fundraising to send our three teens to IGNITE, the teens and teen workers held a bake sale. With the church’s support of providing amazing baked items, they were able to raise over $500! Now that’s a crankin’ bake sale!!!

Love is in the air! Saturday night, our Central Region Leader, Victor Montano, proposed to his lovely girlfriend, Marlyn, in front of the renown Buckingham Fountain, and she excitedly said YES!

Lastly, congratulations to our fearless and loving leaders Jay & Barb Shelbrack as they celebrated their 30th Wedding Anniversary last week! We are so grateful for their exemplary marriage that draws those with hurting marriages into God’s Amazing Kingdom!

NEWS FLASH – Debs Rajan: Greetings from your brothers and sisters in Chennai, India! Sheril, a Human Resources Manager, battled between pleasing God and her family for more than a year and decided to please God and be baptized even though her family emotionally blackmailed her!

Sudha, married with two boys, had to go through a lot of persecution as her husband asked her to “choose him or choose the church!” When Sudha chose Jesus as her Lord, her husband beat her very badly and walked out of her life. He still gives threatening calls to her and us, but Sudha remains strong in God’s grace!

Anand, a campus student doing his Civil Engineering, was impacted by Samuel’s love and made Jesus the Lord of his life and was baptized! It is awesome to see all these men and women deciding to choose Jesus against all odds!

Last of all, today we witnessed the most beautiful and wonderful marriage of our Interns Roger & Yassa! As in fairytales, this couple had to face a lot of opposition from their families, but it ended with “Happily Ever After!”

 
Dear Brothers and Sisters: The 2014 Global Leadership Conference – ZION’S DREAMERS – is less than two months away! The registration fee is $175 and covers all the activities from Sunday August 10th to Tuesday, August 12th! One of the many highlights will be on Sunday evening at The Great Banquet where Blaise Feumba will deliver the message from Nehemiah, MEET THIS THREAT! Most of the sessions will be “live-streamed” around the world! Please register atCAICC.net.

A very special thanks goes to Nick & Denise Bordieri, the Directors of MERCYworldwide, as well as to all of our local congregational MERCY Directors for making the International Day of MERCY such a success! The true impact of our Day of Fasting last Friday and InternationalDay of MERCY the following day will only be known in eternity!

“To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen!”(Philippians 4:20)
Much love,
Kip