Greetings from Los Angeles! Our prayers have been answered! Andrew Smellie – the World Sector Leader for Africa – just received a two year, multiple entry visa to Nigeria! Lord willing, Andrew will leave LA for Lagos to “spy out the land” on November 2nd and return November 11th!
Andrew is returning to his beloved Africa in early November to lay the groundwork for the planting of the Lagos International Christian Church!
In this endeavor, he will be nobly assisted by Goodhope Atason, the Mainline Church of Christ preacher that joined God’s new movement in September, as Goodhope leads the Lagos Remnant Group! Therefore, given the “Nigerian Call” by Benedict Atason (Goodhope’s father and also a new member of the SoldOut Movement), the fact that Lagos’ population of 21 million is the largest city on that great continent, and the incredible number of Nigerian nationals in the movement, the decision has been made for the Crown of Thorns Church in Africa to change from Johannesburg, South Africa to Lagos, Nigeria! Lord willing, Andrew & Patrique Smellie will plant Lagos in April 2016!
Through the Holy Spirit, Benedict (left) issues the
“Nigerian Call” and Andrew gladly answers!
BREAKING NEWS
Seattle, Washington: “The Word of God continued to increase [numerically] and spread [geographically]!” (Acts 12:24) God is leading His movement to more and more USA cities! On Sunday, October 25th, the announcement was made that the Seattle Mission Team will leave from LA at the same service that the Lagos Mission Team will be sent out – April 3, 2016! Joel & Courtney Parlour of Syracuse feel very honored to lead this momentous planting!
Joel & Courtney Parlour are very excited to lead
the Seattle Mission Team as Courtney’s
family lives in the Seattle Area!
The team will be composed of disciples from Syracuse, Portland, Eugene, San Francisco and LA! Praise God that the Spirit is raising up Anthony & Maria Franklin to take up the Parlours’ mantle and lead “the little church that could… and did” – the Syracuse International Christian Church!
According to Wikipedia, “Seattle is the largest city in… the Pacific Northwest Region of North America, and, as of July 2013, is the fastest-growing major city in the United States! The Seattle Metropolitan Area of around 3.6 million inhabitants… includes Tacoma and Olympia!” As well, Vancouver, Canada – a metro area of another three million – is only 120 miles to the north, and Portland, Oregon – birthplace of the SoldOut Movement – is only 150 miles to the south!
Since Seattle is only a three hour drive from Portland
and five hours from Eugene, these congregations
are particularly inspired to plant the largest
city in the Northwest!
Interestingly, one of the nicknames for Seattle is the Emerald City! And indeed Lord willing at the planting in April 2016, this “somewhere over the rainbow” place is where “skies are blue, and the dreams that [disciples] dare to dream really do come true!” No longer will the lost be “sleepless in Seattle,” but the gospel of peace, hope and love will be preached!
Courtney readies her son Brinton for their
upcoming move by gearing him up in a
Seattle Seahawks uniform!
Jacob Beas of Sacramento: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I PRESS ON to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 3:12) Greetings from the newly planted Sacramento City International Christian Church! Though our Inaugural Service was September 13, 2015, God has already blessed our “baby planting” with three baptisms and two restorations!
Jacob & Courtney Beas – the Sacramento City
Church Leaders – are doing a great job
teaching their daughter Jezelle
to hate sin!
Of note, we just finished our two week campaign entitled, PRESS ON! God really blessed the faith and hard work of the Sacramento State Campus Ministry as we had the largest Bible Talk on our last week of the campaign with 21 visitors! Also even more exciting that week, we had our first campus student baptized! Our new brother Jazz is a Computer Engineering student and a member of Alpha Pi Alpha Fraternity! Great things are happening in the capital of California! Please keep us in your prayers!
Jacob and Tyler warmly embrace and
welcome Jazz into the Kingdom!
HEADLINE NEWS – Campus Ministry
Kyle Bartholomew of the Philippines: Greetings from the Metro Manila International Christian Church! Upon the mission team’s arrival, we decided to begin focusing on three main campus areas. 1) NORTH: The University of the Philippines and Ateneo led by Zach Shields & Ariel Butler. These are arguably two of the top three universities in the Philippines! 2) WEST: The Manila Campuses led by John & Anna Malnegro. This area consists of a large collection of universities, namely La Salle University which is considered the other of the top three universities in the Philippines! 3) CENTRAL: The Makati/Mandaluyong Area currently led by Jason Alejandro and Rose Sabrino. This area also holds a number of great universities such as RTU and University of Makati!
Zach & Ariel will be married December 5th!
Since our Inaugural Service on June 7, 2015, God has grown our campus ministries from just four disciples to an incredible 39 sold-out disciples! So miraculous is that the UP Campus Ministry has grown from zero to 11, the Central Campus Ministry has grown from zero to eight, and our fastest growing campus ministry in Manila has grown from just four disciples to an amazing 20 disciples in just five short months!!! This past Sunday was another astounding example of the incredible harvest of young people that are coming to God, as Reymer, Ralph, and Phillip were all baptized into Christ!
John & Anna have been so fruitful in leading the
Manila Campuses even though they are
blessed with three children and
Anna works a full time job!
Reymer was a religious young man who is also a tremendous student athlete at the RTU Campus Ministry! He is the champion in the martial art sport of Arnis at RTU! After watching a young disciple named Clieford share his faith daily at the RTU Campus, Reymer approached Clieford and asked if he could be a part of his church as Reymer was amazed at Clieford’s personal example! After a few weeks of studying the Bible, Reymer made the decision to put God first in his life and was baptized into Christ!
After his baptism, Reymer is pursuing “a
crown that will last forever!”
Ralph, a soccer player at RTU, had studied the Bible a few times but was deceived by Satan to still feel confident in his relationship with God. Yet after studying Discipleship on Friday before Campus Devotional, Ralph was stunned as he realized he was not a true disciple and wanted to get baptized as soon as possible! He studied all day Saturday, and after giving up everything was baptized into Christ on Sunday!
Ralph (left) is fired up after the Cross Study with
Clieford (center) and Jason!
Ralph (center) and Reymer (right) are bapitzed
through the efforts of Jason (left) and the
great RTU Bible Talk!
Lastly, Phillip who graduated from Ateneo-Davao and is currently a master’s student at the University of Philippines was baptized into Christ! Very exciting is that Phillip’s baptism opens an incredible door at the University of Ateneo! Although currently a UP student, he lives in Ateneo’s dormitory! This is a very private university and one we have been praying to get onto! We are praying that as the Phillip of the Bible took the gospel to all of Samaria, the Phillip of the Philippines can take the gospel to all of Ateneo!
John Malnegro and Gina dela Pena on
the beautiful campus of Ateneo!
Please keep us in your prayers, as “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few!” (Matthew 9:37)
Joe Willis of Sydney, Australia: G’day Family! “Clap your hands, ALL YOU NATIONS; shout to God with cries of joy.” (Psalm 47:1) It brings us such joy to be able to share with you all the incredible things God is doing through our campus students! There is definitely an emphasis on students here in Sydney, as 19 out of our 35 disciples in the congregation are studying either full or part time!
The fun-loving Sydney Campus Ministry!
We are on four of the five main universities in Sydney, with a Bible Talk on the fifth! As well, we are at three other colleges! God is amazing as we have been able to see so many miracles through our student outreach!
Andrew is an incredibly gifted Aussie, who was baptized this past year, and studies Mechanical Engineering at the prestigious Sydney University! Andrew is extremely excited to have our brother Brian from Santa Barbara join him on campus as Brian starts his Psychology studies at the beginning of the new year! Lord willing, there will be a new Bible Talk here starting in January!
Our largest campus ministry is on Macquarie University, which is led by our dating couple Sean & Teigan! We have five full time students! We playfully (and joyfully) call it the “Chinese Ministry” as Sean & Teigan are the only two that aren’t Chinese! Although this is true, God has been able to use them powerfully to baptize Calvin, Dean “The Machine” (who also leads a Bible Talk on campus), Jeremy and Maggie – all Chinese young people! Despite the culture challenges coming to Australia from China, these dynamic students have grown an amazing amount in such a short time and have really taken up the calling to go back to Hong Kong when God calls them!
Shaun photobombs Sean & Teigan – the
Macquarie University Campus Leaders!
Recently, God has allowed us to start a new Bible Talk at the University of New South Whales (UNSW)! This is led by Chi Leong, who just moved from our fellowship in Chicago and Jenna Loheed, who recently started interning for the church. These two have been on campus every day, and God has definitely blessed their efforts with fruit in the first three weeks! Here Chi met and baptized our new brother, Cain – who is from Taiwan! And it doesn’t stop there as we also have two beautifully bright Aussie women, Chidera, originally from Nigeria, and Leslie who’s family is from Ghana, at Western Sydney University, and are both studying nursing and have amazing hearts for God.
Additionally, studying part time at colleges are, Erick, Sean, Jade, Merari, Pete – our missionaries, as well as Keiko and Themis! Also, we have been able to see God work not only on campus but in schools! Edward and Vatherine, two young and zealous students from China, were baptized just a day apart and are excited to welcome their friend and another young student, Z, who was baptized just this Saturday morning!
After Z’s (second from the left) glorious baptism, Sean,
Edward – a sixteen year old high school student, and
Dean “The Baptizing Machine” rejoice
with the angels!
What seems impossible is always possible with God! Thank you for all your love and support and please continue to pray for us here in Sydney! We love you with the love of the Lord!
Mike Patterson of Gainesville, Florida: “I looked and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.” (Revelation 6:2) In the apocalyptic vision, some believe that God shows John the Apostle the white (for purity) horse and its rider “bent on conquest” which is to bring the purity of the gospel to the ends of the earth! In the city of Gainesville, 57% of the population is made up of college students! That means that out of five people you share your faith with in this city, about three will be college students! A powerful campus ministry in this city is an absolute necessity!
The inspirational Gainesville International Christian Church!
The University of Florida (UF) is one of the most internationally perse colleges in the States and has been called the “Public Ivy League” of the South! With nine baptisms and one restoration in the church since August, the disciples have been “bent on conquest” to evangelize the world, realizing through campus ministry it can be done from the UF! God has given us a campus ministry of 24 enrolled UF students and 11 enrolled at Santa Fe College – ranked the # 1 community college in the USA this year! Collectively, we have begun studying world missions at our last Campus Devotional. I announced how each “LIFE Group” (Bible Talk) will be assigned a nation of their choice or from the SoldOut Movement’s “Crown of Thorns Project” to study and prepare a presentation on how they would prepare to plant a church there if it was just them. We talked about the cost of moving, learning a new language, adapting to the culture, learning world religions, raising money (Special Missions which the GICC has raised over half for November!), persecution, imprisonment, and even death!
Hannah, a UF student from Nigeria, was baptized
and celebrates her newfound salvation!
I then paralleled that to how we can begin training now here at the UF by breaking up the campus into five geographic zones. These zones are based on “Population Centers” where thousands of students hang out and study such as the Reitz Union and The Hub, as well as “Living Complexes” (dormitories and Fraternities/Sororities), and Campus Housing (surrounding apartment complexes filled with students). By being willing to uproot our housing and current LIFE Group locations, we will go to these new places which have more people to reach out to. I unleashed our “Campus Conquest Plan” to send “mission teams” of LIFE Groups to these untapped Population Centers! This plan will help us to reach opinion leaders on campus that can only be reached by going to where they are!
As well, I challenged our campus ministry to pay the price of humiliation and rejection in reaching out to opinion leaders! In practical terms, this means being willing to move back into the dorms just to be around more students to evangelize, joining intramural sports teams to reach out to their members, and being willing to stay in Gainesville after graduation to help build the church!
Excitingly as well, we have our first ever Women’s Day coming up this Saturday with the theme UNMASKED! Helen Sullivan of Orlando will be the keynote speaker!
Pray for GICC’s first ever Women’s
Day – UNMASKED!
Already in our campus ministry, God has blessed us with three thriving All Women’s LIFE Groups: 1) The Lakeside Dorm at UF named “Christ Ambassadors,” 2) At Santa Fe College as “Birds of a Feather,” and 3) In one of the apartment complexes mixed with campus and singles which is named “Jewels for Jesus.”
The “Jewels for Jesus” rejoice at the baptism of our
new Cuban sister Natalie, an awesome
Santa Fe student!
Please pray for me in my Greek Class at the Extension Campus of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in Jacksonville, as I am striving to fulfill my foreign language requirement for my ICCM Master’s Degree in Ministry so that we can bring the ICCM here to Gainesville! Glory be to God!
Pray for Mike to complete his ICCM Master’s
Degree so that he can establish
ICCM-Gainesville!
Coltin Rohn of Boston, Massachusetts: Greetings from Boston, the “Promise Land” of Campus Ministry! Truly from a campus ministry perspective there is no other city in the world quite like Boston! Being only about 90 square miles, Boston has a population of over 650,000 people, making it the fourth densest city in the USA! Amazingly Boston is home to 56 different colleges and universities! Boston is also home of the oldest University in America, Harvard founded in 1636! Boston University is our largest college with over 41,000 students while second is Northeastern with 37,000 students! Amazingly, out of 655,884 people living in Boston, 336,273 of them are students!!! Pray for us as God has given us such a great charge in campus ministry!
Starting 2015 with only nine campus students, God has blessed us with 19 campus baptisms! We now currently have disciples enrolled at Berkeley College of Music, Boston College, Boston University, Fisher College, Northeastern, Mass Bay Boston, and the University Massachusetts – Boston! As well this year, the Spirit restored a very dear sister to many in the movement Bridgett Corban of Portland, Oregon! Of course it only took one campus retreat with Boston, NYC and Syracuse to help her see she should no longer “be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed!” (Romans 12:2) Thank you Joel Parlour, Chris Broom, Syracuse ICC and NYC ICC for making our Fall Retreat a time that we all could fall back in love with God and His family! This was one of the best retreats ever!
Chris Broom preaching with all his heart
at the Northeast Fall Campus Retreat!
Another exciting addition is our Japanese brother Sanada Yuki! Yuki was very successful in Japan as a Computer Scientist. However, after a rough porce, Yuki decided to move to the States so he could study English at Boston University English School, hoping to fill the void in his heart. On the 26th day of being in the USA, Yuki – who was an atheist – was invited to Bible Talk! Though Yuki did not know what he was getting into, he came that very instant! On the 60th day in our country, Yuki was baptized as your brother in Christ!
However, after completing his course at BU, the government would only allow him 60 days to stay in the USA unless he was enrolled in another university. So in order to extend his student visa, Yuki signed up for a two week class at Kaplan which bought 60 more days! We are praying and trying to extend Yuki’s stay again, but be assured, his deep conviction is to move only to countries where we have a SoldOut Discipling Church! Excitingly Yuki starts his new job on November 2nd again as a Computer Scientist, a job he can work from “home” anywhere in the world! And to God be the glory!
After studying English for five months, Yuki boldly
shares why he’s a disciple for communion
from 2 Corinthians 5:14!
Raul Moreno of Sao Paulo: We here in Brazil are very excited to see God’s dream of evangelizing the world in our generation become a reality! That said, evangelizing the world for us begins right here in Sao Paulo! With exactly 135 disciples in our congregation, we now have three regions that meet separately on Sunday! We have the East, West and South Regions! What is really exciting is that two out of our three regions are led by campus conversions from our University of Sao Paulo (USP) Campus Ministry!
Our West Region is led by a dating couple – Danilo Bataglin & Carol Portico! Both are majoring in Civil and Environmental Engineering! Our South Region is led by Caio Costa who has a Masters in Physics, and turned down a scholarship to pursue his doctorate at Moscow State University in Russia to go into the full time ministry! Danilo & Carol are three years old in the Lord, and Caio is just two years old in the Lord! So now I better understand the importance of building the Campus Ministry! If we dare convert “five talent” disciples, in a few short years God gives us potential church leaders!
Caio (left) and Marcus baptize Willy – an
Engineering student at USP!
Indeed, the Campus Ministry is the main fountain of leadership for the Movement of God! Some may ask, “Why focus so much on the Campus?” I believe there are six reasons: 1) Idealism of Youth. “Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, your young men will come to you like dew from the morning’s womb.” (Psalm 110:3) It is usually young people that are idealists and want to change the world! That is one reason that we need to convert campus students at this very special stage in in life! 2) Unhindered by Life’s Problems. “An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit.” (1 Corinthians 7:34) At the “campus stage of life,” most usually do not have to worry about debts, bills, husband, wife or kids. Therefore, you have more time to devote to Jesus’ ministry of seeking and saving the lost. You have more time to be trained!
3) Hearts Are Less Damaged by Sin. “…From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:15) Sin damages our hearts! Thank God that with Jesus, our hearts can be healed! Yet, the younger that one is converted, the more one avoids destructive sins and so this lessens the impact that sin has on your heart! 4) Talent. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:48) God gives talents for a reason; they are to be used for God’s purposes! On the campus, generally speaking, we find a greater percentage of talented people than those who do not have the privilege to go to university.
Gabi (middle) – an Otheanography student at USP –
was baptized last Friday after the Campus Devo!
5) Nationals. “Go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19) Collectively speaking, the campuses in our cities attract students literally from every nation of the world! These “foreign nationals” are usually their country’s “best and brightest!” All of these disciples hold the potential to “go home” and not only plant the church in a nation that we do not have a foothold, but to become their Evangelists and Women’s Ministry Leaders! 6) Long life. This last reason is self-explanatory! The younger one is converted, the more time that one has to serve God! Also, usually the more energy as well!
Presently, we have 49 students in the Sao Paulo Campus Ministry! 34 are USP students, and last month, we had our Annual Campus Retreat with 70 in attendance!
Liliam was baptized two weeks
ago at the SP Retreat!
The Sao Paulo Campus Retreat was high impact!
Finally, God willing, we have the dream to plant the Rio de Janeiro Church in 2017! This church planting will mainly consist of campus students and the leaders of the mission team are Danilo & Carol!
Danilo & Carol serve as SP’s West Region
Leaders as they train to lead
the Rio Mission Team!
Please keep praying for us as we pray for you, and may we all collectively build campus ministries that will evangelize the world in our generation!
Cesar Limon of Portland, Oregon: “Paul… took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the Word of the Lord. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul…” (Acts 19:9-11)
Grace and peace in abundance from Portland’s VISION ON CAMPUS Ministry! Imitating our first century brothers, we also have had daily Bible Talks on campus and we have seen God do “extraordinary miracles” as we have witnessed seven campus baptisms in the last seven weeks and one restoration! So since the Supplemental Mission Team from LA arrived in June, God has multiplied the Portland Campus Ministry as we started with 11 students and now we are at 24 awesome campus disciples!
Out of gratitude for Debbie’s (center) tireless
leadership, the Portland sisters throw her
a light-hearted Baby Shower!
So exciting as well, Domonique Diaz placed membership from the great church in Los Angeles and is dating our new full time Intern, Jorge Castillo!
Congratulations to Jorge & Domonique!
All baptisms are miracles but there are two in particular that stand out! First was the spiritual union of the Mendoza brothers! Miguel who was living in Tacoma, Washington needed to move to Portland to be restored! His biggest cost was leaving his family, one of whom was his brother Gilbert! After trusting God and being restored, he moved to the brothers household here and then challenged his brother Gilbert to come visit! Gilbert visited once and was challenged to move after his Discipleship Study! He refused due to his job and after going back home he said things were just not the same after knowing the truth. So he quit his job and moved to Portland with the brothers and was baptized shortly after!
As double brothers – Gilbert (blue) and
Miguel (red) – are bonded forever!
With all these new brothers in the house, they were in need of starting a new household! So they began to search and pray very specifically to find a low-price, high quality apartment, right next to campus! Long story short, God brings Sergio a few weeks ago into the brothers’ lives and they come to find out that he was looking for “Christian roommates” to move into his two bedroom apartment that is a block away from campus! After his baptism this past week, we initiated the new brother’s household! God always provides!
Sergio’s (second from the right) baptism and
apartment are answered prayers!
Lastly, we began the Fall Semester of the new ICCM-Portland! I am so excited to see what God does with these 16 students from Eugene as well as Portland! Big thanks to Tim & Lianne Kernan for flying down to give us an amazing first class – The Ten Commandments Of Preaching! Time to preach the Word! Love you guys!
Tim & Lianne flew from LA to Portland to preside
over the opening of the Portland-ICCM!
Debs Rajan of Chennai, India: At the 2015 Winter Workshop earlier this year, Kip gently challenged us to focus on the Campus Ministry! In Chennai, all of our campuses are guarded and no outsider is allowed to enter. So we had to figure out a plan to get the students to come to us! That’s how Campus Chronicles was born! Once a month on a Sunday evening, we organize a Christian Chronicle Event and invite all the students we know to come! In the month of August, Parthiban, who is doing his PhD in Mathematics; Pamela Edwards, who has done her Double Masters in Physics and was a Lecturer at Women’s Christian College; and Prathap Kumar, who has done his Masters in Social Work and is a Professor in Hindustan College of Arts and Science, shared their lives vulnerably and quite powerfully!
Ben, the Campus Ministry Leader while pursuing his PhD in Mathematics, gives a powerful speech during the Campus Chronicles Meet!
Pamela once a Professor at Women’s Christian College,
just completed her Double Masters in Physics!
Prathap has not only completed his MBA,
but he is also a Professor!
To make it fun, we had creative games, which bonded the visitors and the disciples! Our band also entertained us with Christian Rock Songs! The band attracted many musicians to join us as well!
Kevin, from Loyola College, is the new drummer
for the Chennai Church Band!
Kenny, who is finishing his final year in
B.E. Mechanical, is a key-boardist!
In the month of August and September alone we had 16 campus baptisms! In the beginning of this year, we were only on three campuses. Praise God now we are on 10!
Shajin gets happily splashed in the Marina!
Anisha is so grateful now that she
has been forgiven!
Bhuvaneshwar, another Soccer player from
Loyola, gets an extra splash!
Pamela, Prathap, Parthiban, Satish who is doing his Masters in Economics and Amelya Arputharaj who has done her Masters in Business Administration, are dedicated to organizing these events and to generating new studies! We will be having our next Campus Chronicle Event on November 29, 2015! Prayerfully, some day it will be “chronicled” that not only every campus in Chennai was reached with the gospel but every campus in India! To God be all the glory!
VIDEO NEWS
Eugene, Oregon: The following is the inspiring Welcome Video at the “Tribe Retreat!” The Tribe Retreat was held by Western USA, Canada and South Asia World Sector in Eugene, Oregon on October 9-11, 2015! This video was produced by the talented Eliott & Camille Svenkenson of San Francisco! Enjoy! https://www.dropbox.com/s/ipv8oldll2zz9mf/thetribews_retreat_2015.mp4?dl=0
Los Angeles, California: This is a must see! The gifted Heather Harvin of the AMS Region sings at the City of Angeles Church SINGLES NIGHT OUT Devotional. Heather encouraged all the participants by singing her rendition of the late Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You. This prepared our hearts for the topic of the night which was Having Great Relationships In God’s Kingdom starting with God! God will always love you!!! https://youtu.be/QpnbtNZrhJQ
FAMILY NEWS
Los Angeles, California: “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9) On Saturday, October 10th, the light of love shined brightly in the North Region with the wedding of Salvador & Perla Mosqueda! “Sal” as we affectionately call him was restored about two years ago from our former fellowship and has been praying earnestly to find a wife! God answered his prayer! Relatives and parents and many disciples from our former fellowship came to celebrate the union of these two incredible disciples! To God be the glory!
Congratulations to Sal & Perla!
The last two months have been incredible in the Central Region as they have enjoyed two amazing weddings. What an incredible miracle it was that after 20 years of being faithful in the Lord, Nate Reed married his best friend Bianca Bell on September 6th!
Nate & Bianca – “Sweets for the sweet!”
On October 18th, Sara Oros said “I Do” to the man of her dreams Jovanny Gochez. What an incredible celebration for all of Central Region and especially the campus ministry they oversee.
Sara & Jovanny found “true love”
in the Kingdom!
As well, let’s welcome “Baby Audrey” born July 17th at a very healthy 8lbs. 13oz.! Congratulations Ed & Alicia Washington of the AMS Region on their beautiful baby girl!
Awww… Baby Audrey!
Joseph Nihal Estep Jr. was born on September 6, 2015 to Joe & Capil Estep of the West Region! Capil was courageous throughout her pregnancy until the end! (John 16:21)
Capil and her precious son Joseph Jr.!
The most beautiful little girl was born to first time parents Pat & Sparkle Boea who lead the Vine City Sector in the Southland Region! Mila weighed in at 8lbs. 13oz.! Pat shares, “What we love about our little Mila is her spunky personality! She is so innocent, talkative and fun loving! Our lives have been forever changed for the better as a result of her birth! She has helped us to understand God’s love on such a deeper level. She is such a great addition to the family and we couldn’t imagine our lives without her joyous presence. Daily we are reminded of the Scripture that says, “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him.” (Psalm 127:3)
Introducing Mila Boea!
Washington DC: Congratulations to Richie & Elizabeth McDonnell on the birth of Lucy Abigail McDonnell on September 3, 2015! At birth “Baby Lucy” measured a healthy 8lbs 1oz and was 20.5 in.!
The movement’s newest fashionista –
Baby Lucy!
Chennai, India: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18) On October 11th, Franklin & Meena Prabakaran were married!
Congratulations to Franklin & Meena!
In retrospect, Meena’s life is a modern day fairytale! She grew up on the streets and hardly had three meals a day. She started working at a very young age as a maid to help both herself and her family, as her dad had passed away when she was 12 years old. She worked for 10 years and supported her family. After getting into a relationship, she was rejected by her boyfriend because he found a “better bride” who was wealthy. Because of this her mother used to beat her and said that she was a burden and a disgrace to them.
Her former boyfriend’s words to her that she was a “beggar” and her mother’s words that she is a “disgrace” kept playing on in her mind and she decided to end her life. As she walked towards the railway station, she questioned God, “Do you exist? Are you for real? I dare you to change my life. Maybe I should just die.” She sat down waiting for the train to arrive, so she could throw herself in front of it and end her life. As she waited, Gayatri came by and invited her to church! Gayatri shared her life and about Jesus being the Savior! She also shared Jeremiah 29:11 that God had a plan to prosper her! Meena accepted God’s Word and was baptized!
Meena at the Railroad Station where
she was invited!
She then remained faithful to God through all her persecutions. When she invited her family for her wedding, they were rude to her thinking that she wanted financial help. She insisted on their presence, so they came and were shocked to see the beautiful wedding of Franklin & Meena! Her mother and her friends were impacted by the love of the disciples and the way the wedding was arranged. Her mother told her friends, “Please go to Meena’s church, they will set your life right!” Her friends commented, “Superb wedding!” Franklin & Meena now live “Happily ever after” in Christ!
Debs Rajan helps Meena with the final preparations
for her fairytale wedding!
In the Kingdom, all of Meena’s dreams came true!
LOCAL NEWS
Tim Kernan of Los Angeles: “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’” (Isaiah 6:8) Greetings from the City of Angels Church Campus Ministry! Lianne & I are extremely honored to lead this incredible group of disciples, as well as the remarkable South Region! So far in the LA Campus Ministry this year, God has blessed us with 158 student baptisms giving us over 300 sold-out disciples on 31 campuses! Also, at the upcoming 2016 Winter Workshop on January 8-10th, to further the Tyrannus Project to have disciples on all 56 campuses of LA, we are praying and planning that the Spirit sends out Bible Talks to at least three more key campuses!
Roger & Yassa Green have served the Lord for the
last few months at Fullerton College learning
all they can before they return to
Chennai in December!
Excitingly, at today’s Tribe Super Regional Sunday Service (South, OC, IE and East Regions), we witnessed seven incredible baptisms!
The Tribe Super Region Sunday Service!
Tim – the Tribe Super Region Leader – preaches a
memorable sermon on Jephthah!
In the Latin Sector of the OC Region, the Grangers
make disciples of Jonathan & Lily Gonzalez!
After Jonathan was baptized he baptized
his beloved wife, Lily!
One of the baptisms from the IE Region was Ashley, a world class sprinter who will be competing in the 100 Meter Dash in the 2016 Barbados National Championships for a chance to qualify for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro!
To introduce Ashely before her baptism, Rebecca
Rico shares a very moving account
of Ashely’s life!
At the conclusion of the service, Jessica Salvador was sent off through the Holy Spirit in prayer to strengthen the Mighty Sydney Church!
Jessica Salvador – the sister of Patty Granger –
is sent by the Spirit to Sydney!
Also baptized last week in the South Region was Tiara a middle blocker on the Cal State Long Beach Women’s Volleyball Team standing 6’4″ tall! She has every reason to be prideful yet her humble heart was like Cornelius in Acts 10. Even while studying the Bible, she brought out three of her teammates to church because she wanted everyone to hear the truth like she had! Truly the Lord is working but pray for us! Go Beach! So, just a quick invite to our dear sisters in the West Region – who gallantly won the City of Angels Church Women’s Volleyball Tournament in September – the South Region is willing to have a “practice match” at any time!
Tiara’s baptism inspired the entire South
Region Campus Ministry!
From the West and AMS Regions, we held our Second Annual Run 4 Missions on Saturday, October 24th from 8AM to noon! 20 disciples gathered together at the Santa Monica Pier to run three miles to the Venice Pier and back to raise funds for our 9X Thanksgiving Missions! Several of these disciples have raised hundreds of dollars, however making us all proud was our campus freshman Klim Kostenko, who – though admittedly not as athletic as some – trained for two months beforehand to run the six miles straight to raise money for missions! What was most impressive was that after he finished the six miles and caught his breath, he then went out immediately to get more sponsors for his run and invite friends to church! What a heart for missions!
Klim (second from the right) trained for two
months for the Six Mile Run 4 Missions!
A last piece of good news: The City of Angels Church continues to build new sectors in her regions in order to multiply in not just our church but in each region! Of special note is the Southland Region which now has four sectors led by RD & April Baker, Ron & Tracy Harding, Pat & Sparkle Boea, and Miguel Mendez who is “assisted” by Cory & Jee Blackwell who lead the region!
Cory & Jee Blackwell – the Southland Region
Leaders and proud grandparents of Amdyn!
Dearest Brothers and Sisters: Please keep Elena & me in your prayers as next week we fly to London to participate in the European Missions Conference – GLORY! (http://londonchurch.org.uk/londonchurch-emc-2015/)
It’s not too late to register and participate
in the 2015 EMC – GLORY!
Then we are off to Moscow for a special Spiritual Enrichment Weekend! To conclude our round-the-world trip we will be speaking in Metro Manila! Truly, we are seeing the miracles of the first century happening again in the twenty-first century! “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.” (Colossians 1:6) And to God be all the glory!
We are family… to the end,