Good News Email – 10-05-2014

Greetings from Los Angeles! Elena & I returned home on Wednesday evening from a month-long missionary journey to Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW), London, Manila and Honolulu! Though “we” had intended to be side-by-side with our dear friends Raja & Debs Rajan in “officially” planting the Chennai Church, the Lord gave this honor to Luke & Brandyn Speckman! Infused with a great faith, the Chennai International Christian Church celebrated their Inaugural Service with an attendance of 236, two baptisms and a restoration!

Our first stop on our missionary trip was the great twin cities of Dallas-Ft. Worth! With 23 disciples on the DFW Mission Team and in the Remnant Group alongside another 25 disciples from around the country, God blessed their Inaugural Service with 128 in attendance!

Elena & I and everyone in the audience were so moved by Tyler’s powerful sermon, The Purposes Of God!

Next the Spirit carried us off to London! Though our heart was to encourage this great congregation as they prepared for the European Missions Conference, we were the ones who were more encouraged at their incredible Midweek Service!

Not only was the singing angelic and the fellowship “hot” but we were privilege to meet their last three baptisms who were all South Africans! After service, we spent time with Jacques & Jeanette Groenewald, two of the original members in the heroic London Remnant Group, as they have made the decision to return to their homeland of South Africa to begin the Johannesburg Remnant Group in July 2015! Lord willing, they will be joined by several of the South African converts in London!

Since our visas were not granted in time to go to India, we flew to Manila to continue to prepare this remnant group of 38 for the coming of Kyle & Joan Bartholomew and the Manila Mission Team in early May 2015!

Though we spent two weeks and endured the aftermath of two typhoons (hurricanes), it was quickly apparent why the Spirit had “redirected” our steps! (Proverbs 16:9) After a gracious welcome on Saturday at the airport, we met with the “core leadership” of the church – Rich & Angie Tabizon, John & Anna Malnegro, and Gina Dela Peña. Here we made the plan to meet with them every day from 10AM to 12Noon teaching many of the lessons from the ICCM.

On Sunday, the extremely low attendance of 38, I thought at first was due to the recent typhoon as some roads were still flooded. But by the end of the day, it was clear that a “spiritual typhoon” of contempt had engulfed the church.

Since we were close to several of the members, we began to root out this demonic attack with lovingly teaching and applying the Scriptures. On the following Sunday – again held in the aftermath of a second typhoon with no real push – God brought 78 to celebrate in our worship service!

Of special note, Lymwel Mejia placed membership from our former fellowship repenting of a “double life” as he was refreshed to have discipling back in his life!

On Monday since the Tabizons had not had much of a chance to see the other municipalities of Metro Manila besides Makati, the leadership core group – joined by Ronnie Gonzalez and Alvin & Marilen Panlilio – set out to “spy out” and claim for the Lord by prayer the key campuses and cities of Metro Manila!

Our first two stops were in Quezon City at the two top campuses in the Philippines: Ateneo University and “UP” – the University of the Philippines! At Ateneo, we prayed for Marc & Maika Carbonell – members of the Manila Mission Team converted in LA and recent graduates of Ateneo – to find an apartment right across the street from this gorgeous campus!

At UP, we were all mesmerized by the potential of the over 22,000 students at this “activist oriented college!” Elena & I reminisced about leading Bible Talks there and the drove of students that were easily gathered to attend!

After a heartsy prayer, we traveled to “Old Manila” and ate at what is known as one of the best Filipino Restaurants – The Aristocrat! Here each of us enjoyed different but equally tasty dishes: Chicken Adobo, Deep Fried Lechon (pork), Pancit Palabok (noodle dish), and Fish Tinola! But for some reason we forgot to order some Kamaro (mole crickets) and Balut – a developing duck embryo boiled alive and eaten in a shell often served with rock salt or spicy vinegar!

After finishing our drinks of Halo Halo and Coconut Juice, we traveled but a short distance on Roxas Boulevard to see Rizal Park and to go into the Old Manila Hotel, where Douglas MacArthur used as his headquarters as the Allied Commander of the Pacific during World War II.

Our final stop was Fort Santiago. Here we were reminded of the price of revolution as we prayed over this historic place where the Father of the Philippines, Jose Rizal, was imprisoned and then led to the park bearing his name where at just 35 years old was martyred by a firing squad on December 30, 1896. One of his most famous quotes greatly inspires most disciples, “It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great ideal.”

At our last service, there was a very tearful goodbye and the promise of “we shall return” for the Inaugural Service in June 2015!

Following our exhilarating time in the Philippines, Elena & I were carried by the Spirit to Honolulu! It was so refreshing to be with our dear friends Lou Jack & Cathi Martinez! After a very informative d-time, many of the lessons that God taught us in Manila about dealing with contempt were able to be tailored for Sunday’s sermon and Bible Talk Leaders Lesson!

Though once more we endured a wet Sunday morning, most excitingly, two women were baptized into Christ!

Upon returning home to LA, we were so encouraged by the Spirit working through the tremendous leadership of Andrew & Patrique Smellie, all the LA Region Leaders and our Shepherding Couples! During our absence of almost five weeks, God blessed the City of Angels Church with 57 additions – 46 baptisms and 11 place memberships, about half coming from our former fellowship seeking revival! And to God be the glory!

And now detailed good news reports from each of the World Sectors…

HEADLINE NEWS – LOS ANGELES

NEWS FLASH – Nick Bordieri, Director of MERCYworldwide: The Third Annual 2-1-3 Arm-to-Arm MERCY-Red Cross National Blood Drive on September 20th was an amazing day! The Red Cross has the “2-1-3″ nomenclature because “every 2 seconds blood is needed; 1 pint of blood saves 3 lives!”

Last year, 136 pints of blood were collected in three participating “MERCY branches” – LA, NYC and Portland! This year, seven cities participated – LA, NYC, Chicago, DC, SF, Portland, and Phoenix – and 521 pints were collected thus impacting 1,563 lives!

A common message we hear from the Red Cross is the continuous need for blood donors throughout the year to support hospitals around the country. Here are two quotes from the Red Cross Staff. Hope, a Red Cross nurse, stated, “Surprisingly, only a small percentage of the population is aware or participates in blood drives. For this reason, the work that MERCYworldwide is currently doing is necessary to spread awareness and give others an opportunity to focus on those less fortunate!” Tammy, an Account Manager for the American Red Cross, stated, “We don’t realize the need until a family member is affected.”

On behalf of the World Sector Leaders, let me express our thanks to the seven participating churches who have now “shed their blood” for the cause!

Chris Chloupek: Greetings from the AMS Region and the City of Angels Church Singles Retreat – SOAR! This weekend’s retreat was phenomenal! Our theme was SOAR from Isaiah 40:31, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will SOAR on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.” 

Sonja & I feel very privileged to lead the Singles Ministry here in the City of Angels Church! With that said, our vision is to raise up single men and women to set the pace for this powerful ministry! We had 13 different single brothers and sisters from the various LA Regions preach at the retreat held at the JW Marriott in Desert Springs! Dennis from Ventura & Corrina from the AMS, who are dating, spoke on Soaring Single! They shared how keeping God first as singles and then in their dating relationship makes it so special!

Then we had an amazing Men and Women’s Program based on 1 Timothy 4:12, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” For the Women’s Program, Ariel from the West, April from the Central, Lenny from the OC, and Casey from the AMS did an outstanding job preaching on Faith, Love, Purity, Life And Speech.

For the Men’s Program, Brad from Southland, Miguel from Southland, and Anthony from the AMS Region preached vulnerably on the same topics!

Saturday night, the singles had free time to enjoy each other’s fellowship. Some even ventured 8,500 feet up the famous tram in Palm Springs! Sunday, Morgan Martin gave a heartfelt monologue about her love for the cross of Christ. David from the IE did an insightful contribution. There were electric performances by Michael, Heather, Thurzday and Corrina from the AMS throughout the program! And to close the retreat, our keynote speaker, RD Baker from the AMS Region preached excitingly on the reward of Heaven for those who continue to Soar With God! So encouraging were the disciples that traveled from San Diego, Phoenix and as far as Washington DC!

In the AMS Region, we have had four wonderful baptisms in September! Of special note, our son Chase who is 16 years old made Jesus his Lord on September 10th!

There’s no business like “soul” business!

Andrew Smellie: “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:1-2) Greetings from the West Region!

This month has truly been a month of “pruning” as the Lord has purified the “quiet reservations” and discord that have been present in the hearts of “dear friends that have chosen to be overcome by years of past hurts!” Sadly, even today, I was forced to disfellowship and mark a dear friend and brother for contempt. (Deuteronomy 17:12-13)

The good news is that as we focus on protecting the purity of the church and teaching the flock to be brought to complete unity (John 17:23), the Lord begins the harvest! Today, Grace Gana, a Mongolian single who had just moved here in December of last year, was baptized! At her baptism Grace shared how she had come to the United States for one reason, but God brought her here for another reason, so that she could seek Him with all of her heart! In her search, she was unfortunately introduced to a sect of Sun Myung Moon’s Church, where she experienced a great deal of pain. However, this didn’t stop her search for the truth. Grace is now so excited to fulfill her purpose as a disciple and help build God’s church!

Travis Frazier: Greetings from the North Region!!! God has added two incredible sisters to our family!!! Akelee Relliford, a talented singer/artist who has performed on American Idol, decided to give up everything to follow God!

Mariah, an amazing campus student, despite much opposition decided to make Jesus Lord of her life and is now your sister in Christ!

Last but not least, it is with great joy that we welcome Jason Woody, our new Campus Intern!! Since his arrival from Sydney, our Campus Ministry is on fire!

We are so grateful to have this incredible young man be part of our North Region Family!! To God be the glory!!!

Capil Marhatta: Greetings from the Sensational South! The South Region has been learning how to love as we had some “Fun in the SON” at ourBring Your Neighbor Day on September 14th! God gave us a record attendance of 157 with Sophia and Lidia Sirotkin leading the way with bringing out eight visitors!

The Lord continues to bless us as in September we had five awesome baptisms – Audra Oul, Sebastian, Shanay, Alex and finally David from the Campus Ministry who was baptized this Sunday night at 10pm at Belmont Shores!

We also had lots to celebrate as our “young Evangelist” Oleg Sirotkin turned “46” and is just as young in heart and zealous to build God’s house as any young minister in the Movement! If you have any doubt about that statement, please listen to his sermon from this past week about how he broke down the need for “chickens” not “golden eggs,” and you’ll be encouraged, convicted and inspired on getting “chickens!”

Finally, as Forest Gump famously said, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.” And little did I know that my boyfriend Joe Estep would take me on a date on a boat with the Sirotkins out in the Long Beach Harbor and that here he would ask me to be his wife! Of course I said, “Yes!” To God be all the glory!!

Chris Adams: God continues to answer our prayers to build family in the Ventura Region! Anthony Zarate, our song-leader, was doubly blessed as his brother Nick studied the Bible and repented by God’s grace, despite strong opposition from Satan at his high school and was baptized on September 14th in front of the whole Ventura family!

Additionally, just a few weeks later at the Single’s Retreat this past weekend, Anthony serenaded a surprised Kassandra Campos (who serves the Ventura Teen Ministry) with his guitar on a boat-ride full of close friends and God blessed them as our newest dating couple in the Ventura Region!

Lastly, Lance & Connie Underhill delivered an outstanding Parenting Workshop this past Saturday for the Married Disciples and some remnant disciples! Their teaching was grounded in Moses’ wisdom from Deuteronomy 4 and which inspired all of us to imitate their humility, perseverance, joy and devotion “first to the Kingdom” and then to our God-given families! All we can say up here in Ventura County is, “IT’S GOOD TO BE IN THE KINGDOM!”

Kyle Bartholomew: Greetings from the Central Region! These past three weeks have been amazing as three have been added to our number through baptism! First, we saw Yifan who is a young Chinese campus student study the Bible and get baptized after just two days of intense Bible study! We have since been invited by his former church’s pastor to preach the message of discipleship to their entire congregation! Pray for this incredible opportunity that has been orchestrated by God! (Acts 17:26-28)

Then Marie, a “Kingdom Kid” whose parents and older sister have already become disciples, was baptized! This conversion was particularly inspiring, as God continues to unite families by the blood of Christ in the Central Region! (Luke 1:17)

Finally, we had our first Pasadena City College student baptized as Armand came to the faith and gave his life to God! We now have a presence on four major campuses in the Central Region of Los Angeles! Pray for us as many more miracles are on the way!!!

Luke Speckman: Greetings from Orange County!!! It has been a very exciting time for us over the past several weeks as we are so grateful for the Velascos overseeing the OC Region while we were in Chennai! During September, the region witnessed 11 added to our number with seven baptisms and four placed memberships! We were especially encouraged by Jermaine, Stephanie and Sophia Peacock placing membership from our former fellowship!

Even though every baptism is absolutely precious to God and to us, there was one that was especially noteworthy for Brandyn and me as our son Malik made Jesus Lord of his life and was saved through the waters of baptism!

Also, today was bittersweet as we sent out the Velasco Family to lead the Palm Desert Sector (soon-to-be-Region) of the City of Angels ICC!

Ashley Godwin of the IE Region: “But the Word of God continued to increase and spread!” (Acts 12:24) Greetings of love from the hot Inland Empire Region! The Word of God is continuing to spread here as we have seen 18 new additions since the beginning of September – 13 baptisms and 5 place memberships! It’s great to see how God is reaching so many different kinds of people in different stages of life through his powerful Word!

Yadira, a 61 year old woman, was reached out to by our dear brother Eddie Alvarado from the OC Region. She started to study the Bible with the sisters just three weeks ago. Though seeking God actively for the past 15 years (reading her Bible and praying), she knew that something was still missing! Her humility towards the Word of God and her excitement to finally start to understand was very encouraging to all of us. She was baptized as a sold-out disciple of Christ this last Sunday!!

During her studies, she reached out to her childhood friend, Eva (62). Eva has been also seeking God for years leading her to be baptized on three different occasions! Last time, to make sure it was really the “right way,” she traveled to Israel and was baptized in the Jordan River! Studying the Bible with the sisters, she quickly understood that the only “right way” was to give up everything and become a disciple of Christ! Today that is exactly what she did as she made Jesus her Lord and her best friend and was baptized in the tap water of Riverside! To God be the glory!

Cesar Limon: “Your God reigns… [so] you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 52:7, 12) Grace and peace in abundance from the East Region! God has been leading us from the front and from the “rear” as we have witnessed six souls be added to God’s Kingdom in the past three weeks! Francois, a Cal Poly student, was reached out to almost three years ago by our brother Nick but declined the invitations several times. God humbled him on his travels back to his homeland in Cameroon and so when he came back he​ humbled out and was baptized! (Special thanks to Blaise Feumba for getting in there with him!)

Also very inspiring was the baptism of Justin, a Chinese exchange student at Mt. SAC straight from Singapore! God did not waste any time in reaching out to him as he was invited out just two weeks after he arrived! Justin quickly heard God’s call, studied and was baptized!

Lastly, God has blessed us with turning in over half of our Special Missions!! God is good! So good that prayerfully this Sunday, He is allowing me to marry His incredible daughter, my best friend, and the woman of my dreams – Debbie Bosch! Pray for us as we are praying for you!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA SW QUADRANT AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Evan Bartholomew: Greetings from San Diego – the “City of Motion!” God has been moving very evidently in the church here, as we’ve had a number of incredible victories over the past month! For starters, God answered our prayers for Bring Your Neighbor Day as we had over one-for-one visitors and about 100 in attendance! The following week, we were greatly privileged to join the Orange County Region of the City of Angles Church for an amazing worship service – which was a great encouragement to our congregation! Also, we witnessed three awesome baptisms: Amber, Ramone and Kelsey! We were especially encouraged by the baptism of Kelsey whose father is a preacher in a denominational church!

Last Sunday was also victorious for us as a church – though bitter sweet! The San Diego Church was able to send-out Glenn Cruz to help strengthen the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale Remnant Group! It was very sad for me to see him go after all he has done for the church here, but also very exciting since I know he’ll be a great asset for the group in Miami!

Please keep us in your prayers, as my wife & I are 12 days past our due date and are expecting our second son Blake at any (and every) moment!

Victor Gonzalez Sr.: Greetings from Las Vegas! “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24) We are really enjoying the First Principles Classes! It is solidifying our faith; uniting us; and allowing us to be equipped to multiply! Today we had an incredible Bring Your Neighbor Day with a record attendance of 117!!! We had so many Bible studies happening after church!

I’m super fired-up and encouraged about starting the Latin Ministry here in Las Vegas! It is being led by Jose Torres and Liz Gonzalez! As well good news, today we had the incredible baptism of Karla! She is a full-time student at UNLV who had never read the Bible before in her life, but through the studies she became a super sold-out disciple! God answered her prayers of finding the truth but found something different than she had ever heard of – ”THE KINGDOM OF GOD!”

Richie McDonnell: Greetings from the saints of beautiful Santa Barbara! It has been an encouraging month of September as God has been working powerfully through our faith! At our International Sunday, we had a record attendance of 65 with only 23 disciples! Also encouraging is we are now averaging over 50 in attendance on regular Sunday services! Excitingly, our campus ministry, The Vine Ministries, became an official club at Santa Barbara City College, and multiple people are currently studying the Bible!

Lastly, two souls were added to our church with the baptisms of Robert and Nallely, thus putting us “over the top” in our prayer goal for doubling the original 11 disciples on the mission team! They have been studying the Bible and coming around since the church was planted in January. However, because they were living together unmarried, they never were baptized because God calls for absolutely purity in the lives of His disciples!

After much prayer, Bible study and refreshing repentance, they gained the faith to uphold God’s standard and decided to live separately (despite having three children together), thus, making Jesus Lord of their lives when they were baptized into Christ! Incredibly, Nallely is the sister of Memo and Carlos who were baptized previously in the church, and all reached out to by Stephanie, the 11 year-old pre-teen in our congregation! Now, Robert & Nallely are planning to get married very soon and build their family upon the foundation of Christ!

Please pray for our first Women’s Day next week! Love you all!

Jeremy Ciaramella of Phoenix: Greetings from the “Valley of the Son!”It has been an amazing time the past few weeks! Fashion With A Passion (facebook.com/fwap2014) is an exciting event planned by our new AMS Bible Talk Leaders, Josiah & Kristin Smith! It is being held at “The Venue” in Scottsdale and the manager of the facility donated its use – a value of several thousand dollars!

“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) Of great joy to the church here are the three baptized in the past three weeks! Taneka is a single mother with two beautiful children and has grown into a joyful, gentle and transparent disciple as she studied the Bible with the sisters in the East! Steve is a mature single man who has developed deep convictions about God’s righteousness and repented of lifelong addictions – devoting himself to being in the CR Ministry for the past couple of months! It was powerful to see them get baptized on the 21st of September!

Lastly there is the encouraging conversion of Telma, a full time ASU student from Angola Africa, repenting and being baptized into Christ on October 1, 2014! What a glorious way to start the “fall harvest!”

HEADLINE NEWS – USA NW QUADRANT AND CANADA

NEWS FLASH – Tim Kernan of Toronto: Greetings from Toronto, Canada! We are so grateful for the amazing things God is doing through His movement here in “the T-Dot” (Toronto)! In the past 18 weeks since the planting of our congregation, our Amazing God has blessed us with 16 additions!

We are so honored to introduce to everyone the eight additions to our fellowship since the GLC! Nikeisha is an awesome childcare worker whose husband is also now studying; Loga an accounting student who dreams of the ministry; Tony & Vita an amazing married couple; and Delray the nephew of our dear sister Bernadine were all baptized into Christ!

Also Stephen & Anna placed membership from our former fellowship and Claud was restored! Last but not least, the Narcisos moved from Calgary to Toronto and are now nestled into a beautiful home in North Toronto! We are so grateful to have them with us! God also poured out His grace among us with 64 in attendance at our recent Bring Your Neighbor Day!

This coming weekend, we are so excited to host the Leadership Couples, Shepherds and Interns of the USA NW Quadrant World Sector from the Mighty San Francisco, Denver, Portland and Eugene Churches here in Toronto for a Leadership Retreat to build stronger relationships with our Lord and one another! Please pray for us as we pray for you! Much love from Toronto! TICC, TICC, BOOM!

NEWS FLASH – Jason Dimitry: “Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced at what God had brought about for His people, because it was done so quickly.” (2 Chronicles 29:36) I bring you good news from the San Francisco Bay! What God has done in the last twelve short weeks since we landed with the Supplemental Mission Team from Las Vegas has been absolutely incredible! What’s most amazing of all is how quickly it all happened!

God has been able to bless us with raising the contribution over $1,000 per week in giving; restructure the house churches; replanting the San Jose Ministry; appoint a Shepherding Couple and Shepherding Couple-in-Training; raising up unpaid interns; and starting an Open Mic Night in Oakland! If all of this wasn’t enough, God has given us 14 additions in 12 weeks – 10 of them being in the last four weeks!

Among them include an attorney in Oakland, a football player at UC Berkeley (the number one public university in the USA), two restorations from our former fellowship, and God has also given us converts on the SF State, the University of San Francisco, Berkeley City College and San Jose State!

One of the highlights for me was definitely last Sunday! The honor to appoint Cyndee & Gary Ochs as a Shepherding Couple was one of my most memorable moments – not just of being here in San Francisco, but of my entire 15 years of being a follower of Christ!

Please pray that this incredible momentum continues and that many more are brought to the Lord in this great city!

Ricky Challinor: We are so grateful that the GNE is back! The Lord has blessed us with three restorations in the last month! Truly the angels in Heaven are rejoicing over Thomas, Anna and Lonnie! Lonnie was baptized when he was 14 years old about four years ago. However, over the last year, he drifted in his heart and started living a double life. How moving it was to hear him apologize to God, the congregation and plead with anyone to repent of hidden sin like he did!

The Lord blessed our Bring Your Neighbor Day Service entitled,Transformed with 198 present! As well, we are so excited to start our First Principles Series this Wednesday as so many who visited today will hear how to seek God with all their hearts! Lastly, I wanted to personally thank Megan Mathews who has helped us with our administration here in the Northwest and who also has lifted up Coleen & my arms in everything she does; truly we do not deserve her but we are so blessed! Please pray for us as great things are ahead!

Jeremiah Clark: Greetings from the Mighty Denver Church! Over the last few weeks, God has been strengthening and growing the church in many ways. Due to our congregation more than tripling our very first year, we have faced the task of raising up new leaders to meet the needs of our multiplying church! This Sunday, 31 dynamic leaders returned from ourFirst Annual Leaders Retreat at Bear Trap Ranch entitled, Transformed On The Mountain! While worshipping together in the Colorado mountains at over 9,000ft elevation, we truly had a “mountain top experience” and every disciple was forever changed!

Led by the faithful Matthew & Marlo Lovacheff, two weeks ago, we celebrated our very first graduates from Chemical Recovery with the graduations of Jason Reali and Nicole Larocque!

Encouragingly, we also recently witnessed two more additions to the church! One of those was a single girl by the name of Bronte, who was met by Jason Reali at work! Bronte was impacted by Jason’s lifestyle and after quitting her job and spending the next few months living wildly, Bronte ran into Jason and decided to come to “check out his church!” After two weeks of studying the Bible with the sisters till nearly 2AM every night, Bronte decided to make Jesus the Lord of her life and was baptized!“God [truly does] determine the times and places!”

Stephanie Reed of Eugene: Greetings from Tracktown, USA! God has been working miracles as it has been a “September to remember!”

We launched our campaign to storm the University of Oregon and the harvest is plentiful as we have so many people studying the Bible! We have had three additions in the past month – one baptism and two restorations! One significant miracle was a girl named Kassi, who was a friend of our Corvalis House Church Leader – Reina Smith. She was living in Seattle and they were studying through Skype. Reina challenged her that if she really wants to be a disciple she needs to be where there is a church full of disciples. God worked it out… Kassi was fired from her job; moved back to Eugene; studied intensely for days; and she is now our sister in Christ!

Lastly, we have been working tirelessly bringing in a “financial harvest” through tagging, yard sales, car washes and personal sacrifice. Praise God, we are at 52% of our prayer goal! Please continue to pray for us as we continue to build up this part of the Kingdom!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA SOUTH QUADRANT

NEWS FLASH – Anthony Eckels: Greetings from Houston! God has done amazing things including adding eight since the GLC in August, and as of this Sunday, officially doubling our number since the planting of the Houston International Christian Church (HICC) in April! We recently welcomed Grant Hills and David Laurel from Austin, Texas! Grant had been striving to make disciples in Austin including baptizing David over a year ago! After visiting the Houston Church, Grant was brought to tears and realized his need to be a part of the movement in order to continue to further God’s Kingdom! Grant and David have established a Bible Talk in Austin and always have visitors out to the HICC Worship Service which is almost a two hour drive!

HICC was blessed to witness the baptism of Akeem Simpson at the Dallas Inaugural Service! Also, we have had three dear friends Lisa Robillard, Noah Robillard and Vanessa Flores place membership from Orlando! The entire congregation was moved to tears as Jay & Angie Hernandez shared about their amazing son Alonso who was baptized two weeks ago! The addition of Alonso also brings the Teen Ministry to five baptized teens – adding all five in just five months!

Finally, this past Sunday we were able to share in the baptism of Vin Simpson, a co-worker of Marc Pierre who both celebrated their birthdays on October 5th, which is now her spiritual birthday as well! How amazing to see God reward Marc’s perseverance with fruit on his birthday!

NEWS FLASH – Tyler Sears: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10) Greetings from DFW! God has been answering our prayers as the Dallas Cowboys are miraculously 4-1! But much more importantly, it has been a miraculous time since the GLC as the Lord has added three to our number through baptism! Jesee, a young man studying engineering at UT-Arlington, was baptized and already is trying to reach out to his classmates! Another young man named Narada, who is studying engineering at TCU, was baptized the same day!

Narada is part of the Track Team at TCU and is from Zimbabwe and has a heart to go back to his people! Lastly, we saw Ava, a young woman from TCU who is studying social work and political science, be baptized at Women’s Midweek!

Shay & I are so proud of the church and their hearts for the mission of Jesus Christ “to seek and save what was lost!” We are especially proud of the disciples who “held down the fort” before the mission team came as they’ve opened their homes and hearts to help us along the way! Please continue to pray for us as we fight to save souls from a place that is filled with such religiosity and delusion! We know God is going to continue to fight for us!

NEWS FLASH – Princeton George: Greetings from sunny South Florida and the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale International Christian Church! “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10) I’m sure they partied in Heaven, back-to-back-to-back over our first three baptisms since the team arriving in mid-August! Numbered among the three are Carlos Sanchez’s mother Gloria and Eric Shapiro, a friend of our brother Ben in the Gainesville ICC!

Also to be reconciled was Windley, who is a student at Miami-Dade College, reached out to by his longtime friend Chantal, as they dated in the world. After seeing her conviction of wanting to live a pure life and eventually studying the Bible and becoming a disciple, Windley started coming around and couldn’t shake the truth!

Also this week, we had my dear friend and partner in the gospel, Glenn Cruz, place membership from our fired-up church in San Diego! He already adds so much maturity to the group and can’t wait to hit the ground running for the Lord!

Of special note, all of the team has secured jobs and we now have a new official house church location – “Our House!” God so blessed us as we have finally secured our place for only $700! After much paint and cleaning we finally have a place to call home! Please pray for your fellow workers down in South Florida! To God be the glory!

NEWS FLASH – Mike Patterson: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12:32) When Jesus is lifted up as the standard of the church, the lost will be drawn to Him!

This has been an incredibly fruitful month for the church! We witnessed in the last 29 days, a total of nine precious souls baptized into Christ! Last week we saw four of them baptized into Christ on one Sunday! I’m especially proud of my amazing wife Chenelle Patterson as six of the nine baptisms were incredible women, like Alexis, who is part of Greek life on campus! We are now at 47 disciples since our start with 17 back in January!

With momentum already going, we had our Bring Your Neighbor Day Service on September 7th where 91 people came out! LeJames and Georgina were baptized that day and deciding to honor God with purity and were married at the end of the church service!

Excitingly, we were able to announce not only putting Yinet Montesino on staff as a campus intern to work alongside our other campus intern Marcel Turner, but we were able to announce our “unpaid interns:” Jacob Wessels, Muzic Melara and Brady Vaughn! Pray for us to continue to be able to put on more interns and full-time workers for God as we believe this is one of the keys to effective ministry growth.

With so many young Christians, we have had a blast taking them throughFirst Principles to “solidify, unify, and multiply” disciples! Pray for us as we have our Special Missions Contribution and Women’s Day coming up in November!

Matt Sullivan of Orlando: This past month since our last Good News Email has been nothing less than amazing as “more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number!” This is in spite of several times that we were “publically exposed to insult and persecution!” (Hebrews 10:33) The joy of the congregation has grown and weekly more men and women are studying the Bible, while the young disciples are growing quickly as they too take on roles of leadership. After sending out the Gainesville and Houston Mission Teams this year, once again we are having 100 or more at our Sunday morning worship services and having weekly additions!

The Lord blessed us with one “move back,” Curtis White (our fired-up faithful missionary who went to Gainesville and baptized three disciples), one restoration (Chantal who came back to the Lord powerfully and filled with gratitude), and four baptisms! One baptism in particular was so inspiring as Judenie watched her former boyfriend Zico, with whom she has a child, baptized a few weeks ago. She was blown away by his changes and so continued studying till she too was ready and then baptized!

That same afternoon after her baptism, Zico asked her to be his girlfriend – but this time with Kingdom standards! She said, “Yes!” Then three weeks ago during the “Welcome,” Zico got down on one knee and asked Judenie to be his wife… Again she said “yes” in front of the whole congregation! They will be married this week!

HEADLINE NEWS – EUROPE

NEWS FLASH – Michael Williamson: Greetings from London! With six additions in the last five weeks alongside stunning warm weather for the UK, God has been good to us! Since our beloved Deacon Couple – the Groenewalds – have answered the call to plant the South African Remnant Group next July, the last few months have literally been the “SURGE FOR SOUTH AFRICA!” We have seen FIVE South African baptisms! Each disciple has faithfully risen above the many Satanic challenges, persecutions and tests to proclaim, “JESUS IS LORD!”

One brother, whose wife threatened to leave him if he was baptized, has stood strong inspiring his wife to study with the sisters in the church! Next week, Lord willing, he will lead his first Bible Talk! Another faithful brother placed second at South Africa’s National Wrestling Olympics! Then we were so blessed to have Kip & Elena preach at Midweek Service a few weeks ago as they were on their way to Manila, which was not only rewarding, inspirational and convicting, but it flat out lit a fire under the entire congregation!

So last week, the “SOUTH AFRICAN SURGE” continued as we baptized another radical campus brother Frank alongside our dear sister Jeanette who was #10 on UK’s X-FACTOR last year! Jeanette was met by Simon Oxton, encouraged by George & Angelica Grima, convicted by several sisters, and after a “tad bit of running,” she’s now your sister!

We were also blessed to not only have Carlos Vargas place membership three weeks ago, but this Sunday his lovely wife Karla (alongside Camilla their four year old daughter) joined us from Madrid, Spain!

We are only weeks away from the 2014 European Missions Conferencewhere we will unveil the exciting “CROWN OF THORNS EUROPE!” Please pray for and register ASAP at www.londonchurch.org.uk. And to God be all the glory!!

HEADLINE NEWS – AFRICA & THE CARIBBEAN

Blaise Feumba, the Overseeing Evangelist of Haiti: Since the GLC, the Lord has added five more souls to our Haitian Churches! In the Port-au-Prince Church, powerfully led by Alexis & Maryse Turgeau, Mickenson Pierre-Louis and Sanchez Cherry, a former Seventh Day Adventist, were baptized! As well baptized were a young voodoo priest – who was invited by Alexis named Francky Pierre-Louis – and our new sister Dieunose whose husband was baptized!

In the church in Chantal, a 62 year old woman, Therese Loradin was baptized by our 75 year old former Mainline Church of Christ preacher, Reles Latour!

Lastly, September was also very fruitful with the MERCYworldwideProgram for the needy in Chantal. The MERCY Ambassadors served to gather and fed 33 poor children and more elderly people without help or support of any kind! To God be all the glory!

Lola Lof of Kinshasa: Greetings from the Democratic Republic of Congo! Three weeks ago, the Holy Spirit sent me through your financial sacrifice to Busia in Kenya to build a solid foundation of sold-out disciples there under the supervision of our brother Luke Speckman, the Evangelist in charge of Eastern African Churches. God’s grace was with me despite some trouble in my health due to some diabetic problems, as four were powerfully baptized – Ezekiel, Beatrice, Suzanne and Geoffrey! So as of today, there are 24 sold-out disciples in Busia!

Also, God has blessed the Kinshasa Church with three baptisms: Yves, Elie and Anne! Of special note, Anne is the precious wife of our brother ”Papa” Pierre! (62 years old!) Anne was a Protestant believer since her childhood and struggled a lot to leave her denomination, but finally she has understood that her salvation should be her only priority and decided wholeheartedly to join her husband in God’s Kingdom! To God be all the glory!

HEADLINE NEWS – RUSSIAN COMMONWEALTH

Andrew and Larysa Kaminski: Greetings from Kyiv, Ukraine! On September 21st, we celebrated the first teen addition to the Kyiv Remnant Group – Ira (15)! She started to go to church at the age of six with her mom, our dear sister Ivanna, and is the eldest of four kids in the family. All the efforts of Kid’s Kingdom teachers and Ivanna’s faith finally brought a beautiful fruit!

One of the events that strengthened Ira’s decision to be a disciple was during her school exams in May, when she already started to study the First Principles. Preparing for the first and hardest exam where everyone was supposed to cheat (even teachers hinted that they allowed it), in the last moment, she decided to rely on God and threw away all her cribs. She passed that exam with the highest grade, and the same was with the rest of her exams! Now Ira is not only an excellent student and a great helper in her family, but a faithful disciple and a joy for all the Kyiv Church!

HEADLINE NEWS – CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA

Raul Moreno: “For the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10) Greetings from São Paulo! The Saints in Brazil love the Kingdom of God with all their hearts and souls and we are excited to hear the good news this week from all over the world! Here, the Lord added six to our number in September: five through baptism and one through a place membership!

Plus we had the incredible honor of having our incredible friends and powerful Evangelist and Women’s Ministry Leader Carlos & Lucy Mejia from Santiago to preach and teach the church for a weekend!

Of note, Alexandra’s baptism was very special! She is the mother of Viny who is an awesome USP campus student in the congregation! Viny’s dad was baptized about three months ago and now this nuclear family is completely united in Christ as he is the only child! This indeed is the dream of every disciple of Jesus! Much love from São Paulo!

NEWS FLASH – Carlos Mejia: Greetings from God’s Church in Santiago! The last eight weeks have been amazing as the Lord has given us 17 additions: 15 Baptisms and 2 Restorations!

Today Stephen was baptized in our powerful campus ministry! Stephen is a remarkable young man who came to Chile from Ohio seeking to be a missionary in Latin America! Evidently, God “who is seeking true worshipers” didn’t waste time and put the right people into his life to study the Bible and make him into a true disciple of Jesus! Today at his baptism, the brothers shared how inspired they were by Steven’s zeal to help evangelize Latin America as he dreams of becoming an evangelist in God’s Kingdom!

In our very dynamic Married Ministry, a special couple was added to our number! My wife Lucy shared her faith with María José at a favorite lunch spot for disciples, Popeye’s Chicken! The following week, she and her husband, Rodrigo, came to church; they studied the Bible and two weeks later were baptized into Christ! At their baptism, María José shared that the day Lucy invited her, she had prayed that morning for God to save her marriage, because Rodrigo & her were about to separate and seek a divorce!

Since their baptism, God has poured out blessing after blessing and is rapidly healing their marriage! To God be all the glory!

Jared McGee: Greetings from God’s people in Mexico City! We have had four baptisms in the last four weeks! Every conversion this month has been heart moving and very inspiring! Felipe, in his heyday, played professional soccer for the “Cruz Azul” here in Mexico! As well, we saw two UNAM students added, one a Physics major, and the other a Mechanical Engineer major!

For our Bring Your Neighbor Day, the 17 sold-out disciples of the congregation had 51 people in attendance! We also want to highlight the restoration of our dear sister Perla who has been such a great encouragement to us all! God is moving powerfully!

HEADLINE NEWS – PAC RIM & AUSTRAL-CHINA

NEWS FLASH – Joe Willis: Greetings from Sydney, Australia – your mates down under!

I would like to particularly address the USA Churches, as I know at this time you are raising Special Missions to continue the support of the work out here and we wanted to make sure you know that we know and are very grateful for last year’s money and this years!

We have carefully watched the spending of every penny that you have given us, and in imitating your generous hearts, we are raising our own to become self-supporting as quickly as possible! Our Special Missions Contribution for the 26 Christians here is 10X in November. Our prayer goal is over $20,000! To encourage you, our average regular contribution (including students) is over $100 per member each week! Your generosity last year set us a great example to set up the church and this has carried over into our everyday lives!

When we first came, every mission team member decided to give a minimum of $85 regular contribution each week, despite not having jobs and only giving out of savings that they had brought with them. Although there have been a lot of struggles, loss of accommodations due to lack of jobs and money, now these missionaries have been richly rewarded as Jade, Merari, Sean and Erick now have jobs making over $50,000 a year, and Pete with a job of $147,000 a year! God has blessed their sacrifice unbelievably!

Not only have we had financial and career blessings, but most impressively your money has saved souls! The church has grown from 12 to 26 sold-out disciples! God has converted many atheists as well as four Chinese nationals who Lord willing will be the base of the Hong Kong Mission Team and then into the one billion plus souls of China! We now have student ministries on the three main campuses of Sydney!

We have started a professionals ministry which includes young professionals, a doctor and a mortgage lender! As well, there is now a developing “sports ministry” as the Spirit has converted a professional soccer player and a sport therapist for one of the 12 top rugby teams in Australia! Lastly, we are beginning to build an Arts & Media Ministry, starting with Open Mic Nights, dancing and busking!

Hearts are being mended; souls are being saved; marriages strengthened; because YOU sacrificed for us! As you sacrifice once again, please do not tire of doing good for great is your reward in Heaven! You will surely meet the souls your dollars saved and they will thank you for eternity! Pray for us as we pray for you!

Rich Tabizon: Mabuhay Galing sa Metro Manila! (Greetings from Metro Manila!) We are so very thankful for the recent two week visit of the McKeans! After re-laying a sold-out foundation, the power of God is now evident once again in the Philippines! Just as King Hezekiah re-opened the doors of the temple of the Lord, the Metro Manila Church has declared the doors to the Kingdom of God open! (2 Chronicles 29:3) We have consecrated, purified and restored God’s vision for Metro Manila and for the over 100,000,000 lost souls on the 7,105 islands of the Philippines!

Just a King Hezekiah called the remnant of the Lord to celebrate the Passover, we too have called the people to return to the Lord! (2 Chronicles 30) This past Sunday, we held our very first Bring Your Neighbor Day, and our gracious Lord blessed our efforts and allowed a great victory for the 39 disciples in Manila, as we had 103 people in attendance!

Pray for us, as we gather the clusters of fruit the Lord has set before us! To God be the glory!

Lou Jack Martinez of Honolulu: Aloha my sisters and brothers in the Kingdom! It’s been a really bad week for the devil!!! Not only did we have the honor of our beloved parents in the faith, Kip & Elena McKean being in town, but we also had the tremendous joy of seeing TWO (2) amazing ladies born again into the Kingdom of God!!!

Dian (No “e”) Heather Creedan came to Honolulu from Barbados, after a brief stint in New York. The former Revlon model was at the Safeway grocery store and overheard our brother Alex Aehegma talking about Bible Talk. She asked if she could participate in this interesting Bible discussion, and Alex humbly offered his girlfriend, Rufel Gelbolingo‘scontact number! Dian came to church and was blown away but soon she took ill and did not wish to burden the brothers and sisters… So, she essentially disappeared for a while.

She was able to return to church on September 21st and she proceeded to humbly ask Rufel if she could be baptized as soon as possible, given that she was scheduled for surgery on her eye and would not be able to be immersed after the surgery for a very long time. Dian then studied every day and was baptized one week later!!!

In the campus ministry, God has answered a couple “impossible prayers” from Jane Chesmore and Kristin (Fukuda) Aguirre. Jane’s impossible prayer was to see one of her classmates in the same field become a disciple! Kristin’s impossible prayer was to see one of her childhood friends become a disciple… Ainsley Haotai was reached out to by her classmate, Jane Chesmore! Ainsley came to our “Bring Your Neighbor Day” Great Hawaiian Chili Cook Off!!!! When Ainsley came to church, she saw Kristin (Fukuda) Aguirre! Ainsley and Kristin have known each other since the seventh grade! Right after church that Sunday, she told Jane that she wanted to study the Bible and was baptized Sunday!

Finally, this past Wednesday night, we got to witness the baptism of Joey Naranjo, originally from San Diego, CA!!!

Please pray for our Hawaii 5-0 Plan, as well as our upcoming AMS Open Mic Night Kickoff on October 17th, our very first West Region Service October 26th, and our Special Contribution coming up in November!!!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA NORTH QUADRANT & INDIA

NEWS FLASH – Chris Broom: Greetings from the City That Never Sleeps! In John 15:5, Jesus states, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Mike Underhill preached an amazing lesson using this Scripture just a few weeks ago to prepare us for the Autumn Harvest!

Then, at our Labor Day Picnic, we celebrated in advance for the harvest that God would bring!

From that time, God has added nine to our number; three baptisms, two place memberships and four restorations! Just today, Mario & Kayla were restored! They are an incredible young married couple that attend City College! Satan attacked their faith during their summer travel and the transition of leadership here in NYC. Sadly, they soon stopped reading their Bibles and as young Christians, it didn’t take long to drift into past sins and stop attending church. Thanks to the efforts of Mike & Brittany Underhill among others and God’s perfect timing to bring Andrew Smellie back to New York for his own father’s wedding, their faith has been restored and they stood before the church today with great humility!

Finally, the church here has sacrificed tremendously to overcome the financial challenges of adding a second full-time couple! Amazingly, through our pledge drive, we raised our weekly giving from an average of $5,281 per week before the Global Leadership Conference in early August to an average of $7,248 per week since that time! Pray for us as we pray for you!

NEWS FLASH – Maria Franklin of Chicago: “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, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21) Greetings from the Windy City!

God is always working and the evidence of His love and grace has been shown to us by many things, specifically with 16 additions the last two months: 14 baptisms, 1 place membership and 1 restoration! Two weeks ago, we had five additions in one week! We are very excited for our Latin Ministry as it went through a challenging time at the beginning of the year, but through the leadership of Victor Montano, it has turned around in a powerful way! Of the 14 baptisms six were from the Latin Ministry!

Of special note is the restoration of our dear brother Mike Rosenau! Mike is a brother from our former movement and was restored this past Sunday! He saw our former fellowship slip into a lukewarm state and chose to go to a denomination out of convenience. After a number of challenging life situations, he reconnected with our Lead Evangelist, Jay Shelbrack, a close friend to him for over 24 years. Once he saw the faith and love of the disciples, his faith was renewed and he showed tremendous gratitude for a chance to be restored once again!

It is with a painful yet joyful spirit that we share that on September 19th our beloved and exemplary brother Bob Sperling passed away at the age of 89. Bob “fought the good fight and finished the race!” This past Friday, we held a congregational memorial for Bob where so many stories were shared as well so many examples of his great walk as a faithful disciple of Jesus! He was such a higher calling to us all!

Finally, for our MERCY Red Cross Blood Drive, we raised 44 pints of blood! Keep us in your prayers as we gear up for our 11X Thanksgiving Contribution!

Joel Parlour: Autumn greetings from Syracuse! In the last three weeks, we have seen three souls added to our number – Brison, Sue, and Deb! After 17 years as a disciple, sadly, Deb fell away from the Lord. During her restoration she said, “I never thought it would happen to me.” Surely, we should take heed to 1 Corinthians 10:12, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” Sue’s restoration was equally powerful as she humbly apologized to the church and is one of the most evangelistic sisters in the congregation!

Very special to me however was the baptism of our new brother Brison! Entering the gym one day, I decided to reach out to the best basketball player I saw. After he “crossed-over” some point guards and dunked on many people, I looked at Brison and thought, “The Spirit is leading me to him!” After a few persistent weeks of inviting him out to church – and being “crossed-over and dunked on” a few times myself – Brison finally came out and then it only took a short time for him to fall in love with God and become your brother in Christ! Please pray for our Autumn harvest!

Coltin Rohn: “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed.” (Psalm 126:1-3) The Lord has truly restored our fortunes here in Boston! On September 28th, we celebrated ourSecond Anniversary Service as we had our largest attendance ever with 117!

God allowed us to have our Overseeing Evangelist from New York City, Chris Broom & his wife Theresa, come and lead us in some of the most inspiring lessons! Thank you Brooms for coming and serving us so powerfully!

Also, God has blessed us with Rico Rodriguez getting restored and four baptisms this past month: David, Jose, Tyrell and Armine!

And today, Jhoally placed membership from San Francisco and is now serving full-time as an intern here! Thank you Jason & Sarah for sending her! Also today, Ted & Sheila Karonis were appointed as a Shepherding Couple in the Kingdom of God!

And on a very special note, on October 4th at 7:24pm, God blessed Mandee & me with our second daughter Trina Elise Rohn, named after my mom who passed away in 2007. And to God be the glory!

NEWS FLASH – Ron Harding of Washington DC: “When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves – praise the Lord!” (Judges 5:2) Greetings from the Capital of the United States! The last several weeks have been amazing! Since our Annual Pledge Drive, the Lord not only raised our weekly pledge by about $1,000 per week, but He blessed us with eight additions in the last four weeks, four of whom were baptisms!

Our attendance has also increased from an average of 165 to 180! I’m so proud our House Church Leaders in DC. We collectively decided that we would all pray and go out with extra focus in each finding someone to personally study the Bible with and three of the last four baptisms have come from the our House Church Leaders sharing their faith and being personally fruitful! Because of this great example and the mercy of our Lord the church has more people studying the Bible than any other time this year! To God be all the glory!

NEWS FLASH – Luke Speckman: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says…” (Ezekiel 7:2) Although we had be praying for Kip & Elena’s extended visit to Chennai, India to officially plant this Crown of Thorns Church, our Sovereign Lord had a different plan in mind! Six days before their departure, the McKeans received news their visas had not yet been approved, so Kip asked Brandyn & myself to go in their place as we have five year visas!

What an honor to be a part of this special time for the Chennai Church! The majority of our time and efforts were spent training the 14 Interns to prepare them for their charge to evangelize the 1.7 billion people of the Indian subcontinent!

The Inaugural Service was held on September 21st and God blessed the 84 disciples present with a record 235 people in attendance, as well as two baptisms and a restoration! What a glorious day for the Lord!!!

Though I stayed a week after Brandyn left for LA to take care of our four children, we are equally grateful for the incredible partnership in the gospel as well as our very dear friendship with the Rajans! They are to be commended for their hard work, faith, and perseverance to see “the lost” of India won for Christ!

NEWS FLASH – Debs Rajan of Chennai: Vannakkam! (Greetings in Tamil!) I bring you more good news from the land of 33,000 temples! Tamilians are known to be warm, friendly and hospitable people. No wonder the Apostle Thomas decided to make Chennai his base!

The whole Chennai Church extends their gratitude to Luke & Brandyn Speckman for pouring their hearts and lives into people from the time they landed in Chennai! We had First Principles Classes every day, which included tests, discipling times and reaching out to the lost! The hard work of the Interns and disciples paid off as 84 disciples had 235 in attendance!

The focus was on the campus and the Lord blessed us with many engineers, dentists, under grads, etc…  70% of the visitors were from campuses! Luke preached an amazing message, The Meaning Of Lifefrom Ecclesiastes. Brandyn shared very vulnerably for the communion, which cut our hearts and brought tears!

On that day, we saw David and Darshan baptized and Suresh was restored! Darshan is Jayaprakash and Lilly’s son!

Many studied the Bible and then last Sunday we had seven more men get baptized and one woman restored!

Of special note was Paulpandi, who was a traditional Pentecostal preacher who came to Chennai to buy raw materials to build his church. Johnny, our newly appointed Intern, studied the Bible with him, and Paul quite humbly accepted that was not a true Christian! He then was baptized into Christ! Johnny and Leno have gone with Paul to his home town to study the Bible with his wife and his church!

By the grace of God, there will be so many more getting baptized in the days to come! “The harvest is plentiful” and God has blessed us with the now trained workers, the newly appointed Interns, to reap the harvest! Thank you so very much sister churches in the United States – especially Los Angeles – for your incredible financial sacrifice that allows us to hire so many Interns! To God be the glory!

Dear Brothers and Sisters: Let us always remember, “God’s incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead!” (Ephesians 1:19-20) This extraordinary power resides in each one of our hearts to accomplish the will of God! Be even more encouraged that “God placed all things under Christ’s feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church!”(Ephesians 1:22) This means that our Sovereign God is at work through the weather (typhoons), visas, disease (Ebola and HIV), the ISIS threat in the Middle East, the economic woes of Europe, and the Umbrella Revolution of Hong Kong to bring about His will “that all men be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:3-4)

With the Moscow and Manila Mission Teams having been selected, isn’t it remarkable that as we NOW focus on the last three of our 12 Crown of Thorns plantings – Hong Kong, Cairo (or a city in the Middle East), and Johannesburg that NOW Chinese disciples are being converted in Sydney, Sao Paulo and LA? That NOW South Africans are being baptized in great numbers in London? That NOW we have disciples inquiring about initiating a remnant group in the Middle East? Take heart! Our God is moving… And to Him be all the glory, honor and praise!
Much love,
Kip