July 14, 2018

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Dear Friend,
Greetings from Dallas/Ft. Worth, Moscow, Lagos, Dubai and Los Angeles! Elena & I had a terrific time with the Dallas/Ft. Worth Church as we joyfully celebrated Mother's Day! Then it was on to Moscow for the amazing Eurasian Missions Conference on May 18th through May 20th, where almost 250 disciples came together to celebrate THE ETERNAL COVENANT! That same Sunday, the City of Angels International Christian Church (CAICC) raised over one million dollars for Missions! Then at the end of May, I had the great honor to preach at the 11th City of Angels Church Anniversary Service! Two weeks later, the CAICC had a record attendance at their Bring Your Neighbor Day (BYND) of 2,105! On Saturday, June 16th was the incredible International Day of MERCY where thousands around the world were served by the zealous and loving MERCY Ambassadors! At the African Missions Conference on June 21st to June 24th in Lagos, God blessed us with seven baptisms! On Friday, June 29th, in a very tearful leadership exchange, RD & April Baker – the Father and Mother of faith of the Middle East – graciously entrusted the souls of the 35 sold-out Dubai Disciples to Miguel Mendez and Megan Mathews! And to God be all the glory!

HEADLINE NEWS

GLC highlights will include amazing preaching, extraordinary singing, glorious fellowship, the Sixth Commencement of the International College of Christian Ministries, and the Spirit sending out two more OPERATION EAGLE Mission Teams: Columbus, Ohio and Milwaukee, Wisconsin!

We will also be hosting the "Kingdom's Got Talent Show!" This year is the fifth such occasion! If you are interested in performing, please send a video of your act to the Director of KGT5 – Jay Causey – by July 15th! The full GLC Program has been posted on the City of Angels Church Website!

The registration fee is $200 for a regular ticket; $180 for a current ICCM student; and $100 for a teen registration! Our Prayer Goals are for 1,800 American Disciples and 200 International Disciples to participate in the 2018 GLC as this will allow us to financially break even! Register now! (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-global-leadership-conference-empowered-tickets-42924191412)

 
We are encouraging every Church Leader Couple, every Shepherding Couple and every CAICC Region Leader Couple to stay at the Sheraton Park Hotel. The cost of a room is $139/night plus tax. The group rate is available until July 17th, so book now! (https://www.starwoodmeeting.com/events/start.action?id=1801311047&key=E24CAE4)

 
There will not be a Global Leadership Conference next year to financially allow particularly American Disciples to attend Geographic Missions Conferences outside of the United States! Thus, this makes the 2018 GLC all the more important to attend! Be praying that over 2,000 disciples from around the world will come together for this momentous event!

Nick Bordieri – World Sector Leader of MERCYworldwide: "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16)

On June 16, 2018 all of the SoldOut Movement Disciples on all six populated continents of the world became MERCY Ambassadors to let our light shine during the 11th Annual International Day of MERCY! Donning our KNOW MERCY T-shirts in a sign of unity across the globe, we served hurting individuals and communities with hearts of compassion and a spirit of joy!  

 
Our passion to live out our purpose did not go unnoticed! So many lives were impacted by MERCY Ambassadors during this year's Day of MERCY! I particularly like the name the Sacramento Community gave the MERCY Ambassadors: "Angels in Green Shirts!" The following pictures only give a glimpse of how God used the Angels in Green Shirts!

 
Andrew Smellie – World Sector Leader of Africa: Greetings from Lagos, Nigeria and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), respectively the largest and third largest cities on the continent of Africa according to WorldAtlas.com! After an inspiring African Missions Conference in Lagos, I had the privilege to travel to Kinshasa on Wednesday, June 27th to help build a sold-out base of disciples by strengthening the Kinshasa Church Leadership and planning the evangelization of the almost 80 million souls of the DRC!

On my arrival to Kinshasa, at 1:30AM on Thursday morning, I was greeted by Micky & Lyly Ngungu, the Evangelist and Women's Ministry Leader for the Kinshasa Church, along with seven other zealous Kinshasa Disciples!  

 
After getting some rest on Thursday, I met with the Ngungus for lunch and celebrated Lyly's birthday as we reviewed the status and history of the Kinshasa Church. Micky & Lyly are both Congolese and became disciples in early 1993 in Johannesburg, South Africa as a married couple with two kids! After moving to Abidjan, Ivory Coast because French was their native language, they were called to the ministry in 1995 and planted the Kinshasa ICOC in October of that year! After moving back to Abidjan from 1997-2000, they returned to their homeland in 2000 and led the Kinshasa Church which reached 800 disciples by 2005!

 
Sadly, due to the "Great Tribulation" in the fall of the ICOC, the Ngungus were mistreated and deeply wounded spiritually. There was deep division in the Kinshasa Church as the ICOC usurped the Ngungus' leadership and eventually disfellowshipped 12 key leaders. Included in the 12 were the Ngungus, who chose to take a godly stand against returning to autonomy and other Mainline Church of Christ doctrines. In 2007, Lyly in desperation took a job in South Africa just to make money as a nanny, since the Ngungu Family had grown to four children – Li, Sarah, Lena and Delia! After meeting with Tim Kernan back in 2012, Micky was eager to join the new Movement and came with a group of 150 remnant disciples also desperate for revival! At our First African Missions Conference in Abidjan in 2015, Lyly was restored to the Lord! Now both Micky & Lyly live in Kinshasa together, strong and united in the Lord!

On Friday, we visited the University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN), which numbers over 26,000 students! It is a large campus, and a few disciples who graduated from UNIKIN also work at the university. Our prayer is for the whole Kinshasa Church to meet in their large amphitheater soon! 

 
On Friday night, I was encouraged to meet with all the 42 Bible Talk Leaders of the Kinshasa Church! Since the Democratic Republic of Congo is French-speaking and my secondary school training in French is far from fluent, I was grateful to have Micky translate for me! His ability to speak in English has grown tremendously, and inspires me to practice and become fluent in French! We are also looking forward to having our dear friends Blaise & Patricia Feumba move back to Abidjan, Ivory Coast in June 2019, so that they can oversee the evangelization of the 14 French-speaking Countries on the continent of Africa!

 
After preaching to the leaders from Ezekiel 33 and giving them an admonition to be courageous and to call every disciple to be "fully committed" (2 Chronicles 16:9), they were inspired to surpass the "former glory" of 800 members in the ICOC and do "even greater things" for the Lord! After our d-groups that evening, I was told that because of the lack of availability of water for a baptistery on Sunday, we would need to meet on Saturday morning at the Congo River to see 13 souls baptized – a new record in the Kinshasa Church! At 2:00AM, we greeted Amadou & Angele Sountoura – the present Abidjan Church Leaders – with the same warm SoldOut Movement Welcome that I received! 

 
After the baptisms we went to the hospital to encourage Lyly's sister Martha, one of the most fruitful Sector Leaders of the Kinshasa Church! Despite three rounds of chemotherapy for breast cancer and enduring a mastectomy, she was fired up to greet us and sends her love to the Lagos Church and to the disciples around the world!

 
On Sunday, we celebrated the start of the Kinshasa Church Reconstruction with much singing and dancing! I preached on being RELIGIOUS OR RIGHTEOUS? from Daniel 3 to an audience of 579 souls! In fact, we probably had well over 600 as there were even more people outside of the windows listening intently to the message as Micky translated in French!

 
After a great day of worship, Amadou preached at a very fired up Bible Talk Leaders Meeting on the lessons that God taught him in the reconstruction of the Abidjan Church just three years ago! He concluded by sharing about their Bring Your Neighbor Day on June 17, 2018 where 150 Abidjan Disciples had 602 in attendance and witnessed 8 baptisms and 1 restoration! Amadou preached that those kind of miracles will only occur when the foundation of a congregation is composed of only sold-out disciples! Amadou explained that this sold-out foundation was accomplished by counting the cost with every Abidjan Church Member!

 
What a privilege it is to serve the Lord on the Motherland of Africa! Please pray for forceful advancement as God continues to build His Kingdom in the DRC and throughout the African continent!
 
Richie McDonnell – Lead Evangelist of Manila: Greetings from the beautiful 7,641 Islands of the Philippines! The month of June has been incredible for the Filipino Churches! The Metro Manila ICC celebrated our Third Anniversary on June 10th with a record attendance of 433!

 
Then both the Metro Manila and Metro Cebu Churches had an amazing Day of MERCY on June 16th! It was a day filled with serving the young and impoverished children of the Payatas Community, which is a neighborhood adjacent to a dumpsite. The people of Payatas rummage through the dumpsite to recycle the trash for their everyday lives. This community is the poorest of the poor. Most of them are unable to afford an inexpensive jeepney ride out of the neighborhood, costing only about $0.14 USD. 

 
In Metro Cebu the Day of MERCY was just as awesome! The MERCY Ambassadors similar to us in Manila played games with the children of Barangay Ermita, performed songs, and danced with the kids! Delicious food was provided for all of the children and over 100 backpacks of school supplies were given to them as well! God was truly glorified on this Day of MERCY!

 
Next, on June 24th, the Metro Cebu Church hosted its very First Women's Day where 18 sisters and 7 visiting sisters had 96 women in attendance and 3 baptisms!

 
It has been an exciting month as the Lord continues to "add to our number!" The Metro Manila ICC has been blessed by God with 83 additions in 2018 so far – 56 baptisms, 16 restorations and 11 place memberships! Also of note, a new remnant group of 13 has come out just a three hour bus ride north of Cebu in Daanbantayan! And to God be all the glory!
 
Anthony Olmos – Lead Evangelist of Paris: Greetings from Kiev! Though it has been difficult to be away from Paris, I am very appreciative of Kip and Oleg giving me the opportunity to reconstruct the Kiev Church! It has truly been an amazing time here, as Cassidy & I have fallen in love with the disciples and this incredible city! God has been glorified as we celebrated the One Year Anniversary Service of the Kiev Church on a boat! With 40 disciples, we had 191 in attendance! By God's grace, we will have many baptisms and restorations very soon!

 
These past three weeks in Kiev have been inspiring, yet extremely challenging! Most challenging of all is that Cassidy suffered her second miscarriage in the past few months, and now both of her Fallopian tubes have been surgically removed – one from each miscarriage! We were very encouraged by Cassidy's doctor when she shared that Cassidy might still be able to become pregnant through "in vitro fertilization." I am so very proud of her as she is still radiant, faithful and trusting in the Lord! We celebrated her 30th Birthday this past weekend! To make it extra special, I surprised Cassidy on Friday morning with a "piece of Paris" cake! After her cake, our Father and Mother in the faith – Michael & Michele Williamson – sent beautiful flowers that moved Cassidy to tears! We continued to celebrate that night at a restaurant overlooking all of Kiev!

 
The next day was the most special surprise of all for Cassidy, as her best friend Rebecca Gray secretly traveled from London to Kiev! This was the most special as Cass was "stung" by unbelief! Both sisters embraced each other and were filled with emotion as each wept in each other's arms! This was really one of Cassidy's best birthdays!

 
Dustin Miller – Lead Evangelist of Denver: Greetings from the beautiful Mile High City! It has been an incredible last few months as we have seen the Denver ICC grow in so many ways! Amanda & I are so proud of the church in Denver as we blew out our Missions Goal of $80,000 (which was a 32x for us)! Also, we have seen 13 additions since the last Good News Email on May 5th, and have even sent out our intern to Albuquerque and an incredible sister to Columbus, Ohio!

 
Since volunteering to send Shyloe Pollard to Albuquerque, God blessed us with 4 amazing place memberships! It is incredible to have seen firsthand how God really does take care of us when we trust Him! Lastly, very encouraging to me was to see the baptism of Angie Garcia! Angie was reached out to by our dear sister Jennifer Torres during a very tough time. Jennifer gave birth to a son named Sam, and very sadly only a few minutes later he passed away. It was during this time that Jen reached out to Angie. Angie shared at her baptism that it was seeing Jen's incredible faithfulness and love for God during her trials that inspired Angie to pursue a relationship with God and make Him Lord of her life! 

 
Lastly, Curt & Morgan Valdez have joined our efforts to evangelize the Rocky Mountains! Amanda & I are so excited to build an incredible partnership in the Gospel with them!

 
Alfredo Anuch – Overseeing Evangelist of Quito: The Quito (Ecuador) Church was planted in March 2018 by Manuel & Claudia Palma! They were sent off at the South American Missions Conference last February! The Lord used the Palmas, and they valiantly grew the church from 9 disciples to 19 disciples in just three months! This was remarkable! That being said, we know that Satan often attacks after victories, and that is precisely what he did. Satan attacked the Palmas through discouragement and acedia. Now, the good news is that the Palmas are faithful and happy to be back in the fellowship in Santiago!

 
As the Lord always does, He provided a new leadership couple to lead the Quito Church to build on the foundation of the Palmas. That couple is Anthony & Alejandra Rodriguez, who planted and led the Monterrey (Mexico) ICC.

The Rodriguezes are fired up to be in Quito, and once again God is taking care of His church as He always does!
 
Peter Markarian – Lead Minister of Gainesville: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." (Matthew 5:8) Greetings from Gator Country! In the past two months since Jessica & I were blown by the Spirit to Gainesville, the miracles have been nothing short of phenomenal! First off, we are very grateful for Marcel & Tia Turner's love, patience and training! So amazing for the Gainesville Church was that in the midst of preparing the Miami Supplemental Mission Team, God gave us five powerful additions!

 
One of these baptisms was met by our brother Zach Dryden a year ago! He studied the Bible, but at the time he was heavily engrossed in Satan worship. After arguing with the Scriptures, he decided to walk away only to return a year later humbled by God. He ran into the brothers once again, and after restudying for about four weeks, Trey was baptized! He went from being a pagan in the Kingdom of Darkness to now a prince in the Kingdom of Light!

 
On that very same day, a supplemental mission team was sent to Miami! It was a tearing of heart as friendships had been forged in just a few short years with these faithful few, and yet God has called them to "even greater things!"

 
Lastly, the parents of two sisters here have been heavily persecuting them and the church, and even went as far as to file a complaint to the University Police Department! That is when one of the workers overheard them making their complaint, and instead of being repelled, he was compelled to find this controversial church! He recalled at that moment, "I have not heard of persecution like this since the Crossroads Church in the 70's and early 80's!" After finding us online, Steve & Angie Middleton – who were both part of the Crossroads Movement and the ICOC – attended their first service and quickly realized that "this was the church they were baptized into!" About three weeks later after becoming dear friends to the Turners, Jessica & me, they officially placed membership with God's SoldOut Discipling Movement! The Middletons were so moved by the passion and fire of every single disciple in the fellowship! Steve shared with tears in his eyes that his heart has again been ignited on fire like the day he was first baptized! 

 
Raul Moreno – World Sector Leader of Central and South America: "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going." (Hebrews 11:8) What an amazing passage! Abraham went to Canaan even though he had never been there, and he was blessed because of this faith! Likewise, the São Paulo Church has made some radical decisions to see our part of the world won for Christ! At service, we announced all the changes and everyone was filled with joy and with tears as well! Here are the plans we laid before the Lord:

 
1. After the GLC, Tulio & Vaítsa Amaral will move from leading the Tatuapé Sector to lead the South Region of the São Paulo Church! Lynda & I will be there with them for six months to further their training. In January 2019, the Amarals will move to Santiago, Chile to learn Spanish, as in February 2019, they will plant the Lima (Peru) Church! We already have a small remnant group there, and we have several more Peruvian Disciples in both São Paulo and Santiago that will go on the team!

 
2. After the GLC, Danilo & Carol Bataglin will move from leading the West Region of the São Paulo Church to, God willing, Dallas, Texas to bolster the campus ministry work there! After that time, they will move to Santiago for about a year to lead the campus ministry!

 
3. After the GLC, Vini Rodrigues & Bia Hida will move from the South Region to lead the West Region of the São Paulo Church! The West Region will be divided into two sectors: an English Sector and a Portuguese Sector! An English church service is very attractive to opinion leaders in São Paulo, so we will use this resource to save those individuals!

 
4. The English Sector will be led from August 2018 to December 2018 by Lynda & me with Luca di Beo assisting! In January 2019, the Holy Spirit will bring Sophia Sirotkina from Moscow to São Paulo as she just "happens to be" dating Luca! Then for the first six months of 2019, Luca & Sophia will lead the English Sector, and when Luca graduates from USP in June, Lord willing, they will move to London to further their training to plant a discipling church in Rome!

 
5. After the GLC, our Tatuapé Sector will be led by Renato & Maria Jose Tria! This sector will be used to train two awesome young dating couples for the ministry: Alex Carrim & Daine Ferreira and Gabriel Especamilha & Amanda Silva!

 
Thank you LA for sending missionaries to São Paulo to plant our church seven years ago! God-willing, we will imitate your example to produce a similar result! Oh yes, we are so ecstatic to welcome Jasmine Mikulak of LA to help Lynda & me with our children's homeschooling! Indeed, "God is good!" (Psalm 106:1)

 
Brian Carr – Lead Evangelist of Eugene: After completing our Missions Contribution, we moved into our "Fight for Someone Summer of Fun Campaign" where everyone adopted the goal of finding one open person to befriend, study the Bible with, and baptize! Excitingly, Leo was baptized into Christ just 10 days into the campaign!

Tyler Jongsma from Sacramento came to surprise his dad in Eugene for Father's Day and reached out to his friend Denny. Amazingly, Tyler and I made plans to go hike a mountain one morning and do a follow-up study with our newly baptized brother Leo, and Denny just "so happened to be" at the same mountain to go hiking that morning! We ended up all hiking the mountain together, studying the Bible with Denny at the top, and in less than two weeks he was baptized as our brother in Christ! To God be the glory!

 
Raja Rajan – Lead Evangelist of New Delhi: Greetings from the Capital of India! God has given us more than we could ask or imagine! Since the New Delhi Mission Team landed in New Delhi just 63 days ago, God has added 70 souls – 38 baptisms, 19 restorations and 13 place memberships! So with 38 on the mission team, God has grown the Delhi Church to now 108 sold-out disciples!

 
We started with just one teen, our daughter Isheeta, and now in just two months, we have 17 teens in the New Delhi Church!

 
We also had our first marriage in the church – Vignesh & Scarlett! Vignesh is from a Hindu background and Scarlett from a Muslim background! At their wedding, the disciples fulfilled the Scriptures to be "their" mother, brother and sister as both physical families did not come for the wedding! However, it was a magnificent and glorious celebration!

 
We started the First Principles Classes and many from our former fellowship heard the teaching and said, "We have never heard such teachings before;" "We were never taught these truths as only the full-time workers did the studies;" "These teachings are good and will help me to teach others effectively;" and "I am so happy I get to learn how to teach others!"

 
We are so excited to meet all of our brothers and sisters from across the world during the GLC in just five weeks!
 
MCKEANS' MISSIONARY TRAVELS
Elena & I were so looking forward to going to Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) for the Mother's Day Weekend on May 11th through the 13th! Not only were we able to fellowship with the DFW Church and their valiant leaders – Tyler & Shay Sears – but we were able to spend great time with our daughter Olivia, her husband Santtu and our two precious granddaughters – Scarlett (5) and Savannah (2)!

 
One of the many highlights of the Mother's Day Service was the Welcome and Opening Prayer! The Welcome was given by Ernesto & Stephanie Morales and the Prayer was done by their disciple sons – Geo and Aiden! Then beautiful roses were passed out to all the "moms" in the audience that day!

 
Amazingly, without talking to each other, Nicole Peralta moved our hearts for Communion as she shared Proverbs 3:1-6, and Elena for Contribution shared Proverbs 3:9-10!

 
For the sermon entitled GOD'S AMAZING GRACE, I chose the account of Hosea & Gomer to help the brothers and sisters appreciate God's amazing love for us as sinners! After church, we were blessed to have an incredible Mother's Day meal with Santtu, Olivia, Scarlett and Savannah!

 
Then Elena returned to LA, but I went on to Moscow for the Eurasian Missions Conference! I was met at the airport by Raul Moreno of São Paulo, Oleg & Aliona Sirotkin – the Eurasian World Sector Leaders – and the new dating couple Luca Di Beo also of São Paulo & Sophia Sirotkina! The exciting them was THE ETERNAL COVENANT!

 
On Thursday evening, May 17th, we had the Speakers Dinner which was in fact a delicious meal! To conclude that evening, I gave a short charge on GOD SCATTERS AND GOD GATHERS challenging all the leaders to be like Jesus and be the very hands of God in gathering the lost and the remnant! My four points were simply, 1) God Gathered; 2) Jesus Gathered; 3) Paul Gathered; and 4) We Must Gather!

 
Friday morning, May 18th was the Leadership Workshop where Michael Williamson of London preached to a packed house on THE ETERNAL COVENANT! He stressed that disciples do not have a "contract" with God, but a "covenant!"

 
Then we divided into Men's and Women's Programs! Anthony Olmos of Paris preached to the men on A COVENANT OF LOVE! I will never forget his account of Cassidy – who like Anthony – had been very fired up over her newfound pregnancy because she had previously suffered two miscarriages! However, Cassidy was rushed to the hospital for a third miscarriage! And yet, Cassidy was singing Thank You Lord! This was a huge upward call for me to be joyful as it was a very tough day since my father would have turned 90 years old that day.

 
Following Anthony's inspirational lesson, five short charges were preached by Slava Kapskiy of Moscow, Kaspar Tambaur of Stockholm, Vlad Matveyuk of Moscow, Luca Di Beo and RD Baker! Kaspar shared a terrific insight: The Greek word for co-worker is "synergoi." This is where we get the English word – synergy – which means the performance of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts! So in 2 Corinthians 6:1, we are "co-workers with God," therefore we can do much more than we thought possible! Being a "co-worker" with fellow disciples as Paul shared about in Philippines 4:3, each of us is motivated to do more!

 
In the Women's Program, Michele Williamson of London spoke on ELEVATE FOR ETERNITY!

 
After her lesson, the five charges were given by Aliona Sirotkina, Sophia Sirotkina, Masha Bizimova of Moscow, Cassidy Olmos of Paris, and April Baker of Dubai!

 
For lunch, I was able to fellowship with Erik & Michelle af Klint and Erik's son Gustaf that I had known since he was in elementary school!

Later that afternoon, Oleg and I studied "remnant theology" with Sasha & Paulina Korostelov of Kiev, who were attending our former fellowship yet seeking revival! The following weekend they placed membership with the Kiev ICC!

On Friday evening, was the First General Session of the Eurasian Missions Conference! The singing was incredible! Then came a powerful Opening Video! Following was the always inspirational Flag Ceremony of all the Eurasian Nations! While the flags were paraded into the conference hall, Sophia beautifully sang the lead for the Moscow Band as they sang, Make Me A Believer!

 
Then I was privileged to share GOOD NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD!

 
Then came a brief but powerful MERCY Presentation by Nick & Denise Bordieri – the World Sector Leaders of MERCY – and Slava & Lena Kapskiy, the Moscow MERCY Directors!

To conclude this "MERCY Moment," we saw several of the Down Syndrome children – that the Moscow MERCY Ambassadors reach out to regularly at Dancing House – perform a dance with their house parents! There was not a dry eye in the auditorium!

 
After a break and more singing, Oleg preached the Word as only Oleg can preach it with humor and conviction on the theme, GIVE YOUR LAST DROP OF BLOOD!

 
On Saturday, May 19th was the Second General Session! I spoke on THE COVENANT OF GRACE! After a half-an-hour break, we divided into three sessions: Marrieds, Singles and Campus And Teens! For the Marrieds, RD & April spoke together on THE ETERNAL MARRIAGE COVENANT! This class was followed by Admonitions by Erik & Michelle Af Klint of Stockholm, Victor & Sonia Gonzalez of LA, and Dima & Tanya Serafonov of Moscow!

 
The Singles Track was led by Anthony & Cassidy on the theme ENJOY BEING SINGLE! Short charges were given by Timur & Vika Butakov of St. Petersburg, Juriy Zykov of London, and Yulia Ursul of Kiev!

 
For the Campus And Teens, Raul spoke on FORCEFUL ADVANCEMENT! Then the students were treated to amazing practical Biblical teachings from Luca, Sophia, Vlad and Masha!

 
Then at 3:00PM was the Football (Soccer) Tournament: Moscow vs. the World! Well, it ended with Moscow handily winning 8 to 3!

 
Saturday night was the Third General Session – The Kingdom Banquet! There was sooooo much food and very tasty too!

 
Then we heard Raul deliver the masterful speech, ETERNAL IMPACT calling us to focus our eyes not on this world, but on all things eternal!

 
Sunday morning, we opened up church with a Mini Concert! Sophia and the Moscow Band again sang, Make Me A Believer! Marina Pryadko of Kiev sang a famous Russian song which translates to, I Will Stay. Ada Rodriguez of Moscow – a professional singer – treated us with Raise Me Up in English, and Walt Whitaker of Stockholm sang an amazing song that he wrote, I'm A Soldier!

 
After this, Michele Williamson shared for Communion saying, "The Kingdom is all I have!" Then, Raul read Haggai 1:2-4 and gave a stirring Contribution Charge!

 
Then RD Baker gave the close out speech, ETERNAL GRACE! He preached on the Great Commission in Matthew 28, and then told the story of the Dubai Mission Team which celebrated their Inaugural Service in September 2016! There were 9 on the team, and they did have 6 restorations in that Fall! However, there were no baptisms, as well three on the original team returned to their homelands in the Fall because of visa issues. So the then 12 Dubai Disciples at the 2017 January Winter Workshop were called to repent and in the next 12 months, God blessed them with 29 baptisms! RD laid it out, "I learned that people are as open my mouth!" He went on to say, "So you do not want to be a missionary on a mission team? Well, it's too late! You signed up to be a missionary when you were baptized!" It was an incredible send off speech for all of us!

 
At the end of the service, Lena placed membership; Tanya was restored; and Julia was baptized!

 
The fellowship went on for quite some time after the phenomenal singing of the closing song, Молитва За Cмелость (Prayer For Boldness)!

 
Three weeks after the 11th Anniversary Service of the City of Angels Church on May 27th, Elena & I flew to Lagos, Nigeria for the African Missions Conference (AMC) entitled, FEAR NONE… EXCEPT GOD!

 
After an incredible Nigerian Feast, we heard our dynamic brother Blaise Feumba deliver the stirring message, FEAR GOD AND GIVE HIM GLORY! My favorite quote from that amazing message was, "The power is not in the messenger, the power is in the message!"

 
In the morning of June 22nd, we met at the Virginrose Hotel for the Church Builders Workshop of the AMC! Andrew & Patrique gave the Welcome and announced that it was Patricia Feumba's 50th Birthday!

After a short break, we came back together with the song, Come And See where a Conga Line quickly formed around the room!

 
The afternoon was open so it afforded more opportunities for fellowship and some rest! That evening was the First General Session!

The opening included amazing singing, a Cultural Dance Performance, a Welcome Video and the Opening Prayer by Dr. Benedict Atason – the "Man of Nigeria!"

Benedict was given the name "Man of Nigeria" similar to the "Man of Macedonia" in Paul's dream recorded in Acts 16 where a "Man of Macedonia [begged Paul], 'Come over to Macedonia and help us!'" This gave direction to Paul – from God – to expand his ministry from Asia to Europe! Likewise, Benedict's plea to Andrew and me was to change the Crown of Thorns Project's key African City from Johannesburg to Lagos! This we did!

 
Then we had a very encouraging session where several different disciples shared GOOD NEWS FROM AROUND AFRICA!

 
On Saturday morning, June 23rd, we divided into Men's and Women's Programs! The lessons from Proverbs 23:17 – BE ZEALOUS FOR THE FEAR OF THE LORD – were delivered by LuJack Martinez and Elena respectively!

 
Then each program heard five very interesting 20 minute charges: Overcoming The Fear Of Failure, Overcoming The Fear Of Family, Overcoming The Fear Of Sacrifice, Overcoming The Fear Of Job Loss, and Overcoming The Fear Of The Past! When I heard Bolaji speak so powerfully on Overcoming The Fear Of Job Loss, I sensed that he would once again become a very influential Evangelist!

After a short lunch break, we boarded small buses to go to our MERCY Project at the Red Cross Orphanage in the underprivileged community of Makoko! Unfortunately, it rained during our time there so it limited some of the disciples' access to the orphans. That said, those of us that were able to go into the buildings had a terrific time holding babies, singing Kingdom Songs with the younger children, and doing crafts as well as playing games with some of the older orphans!

 
That evening was the Talent Show and Dance Party! Elena & I were not able to attend, as this was the only time available for us to fellowship with Bolaji & Chinyere! The Akinfenwas are a very talented couple who served full-time in our former movement overseeing the work in three African Nations! Lord willing, Chinyere will join Bolaji on the full-time Lagos Staff in the very near future!

Sunday, June 24th was the Final General Session and the AMC Worship Service! To open up the service, our hearts were greatly moved by the singing and an International Prayer! I still remember leaning over to Michael Williamson and enthusiastically sharing that there is no place else where the singing is as powerful as in Africa!

 
The Sunday sermon was WHOM SHALL I FEAR? by Dr. Andrew Smellie! Very interestingly, Andrew had three points: 1) What Do Religious People Fear? 2) What Do Irreligious People Fear? and 3) What Should Disciples Fear?
 

 
To gloriously close out the AMC, LuJack Martinez wrote new words to The Glory Song – The Africanus Version!
 

Monday, June 25th Elena & I had very special times with the Lagos Women Interns and Tolani & Kate!

Then we were off to the airport to fly from Lagos to Frankfurt to Dubai! As we neared Dubai, so many awesome memories of the Dubai Mission Team and Inaugural Service flooded our minds!
 

Upon landing in Dubai on Tuesday night, June 26th, since we were in a Middle Eastern Country, there was no singing by the disciples, but there was loud cheering and signs warmly welcoming us to the United Arab Emirates! We also circled up and had an awesome prayer!

 
Our main purpose for going to Dubai was to oversee the change of leadership from RD & April Baker to Miguel Mendez and Megan Mathews! The next two days were spent in fellowship times with these four courageous disciples!

 
Since RD was preaching and he usually led the singing as well, I volunteered to "come out of retirement" and to lead several of the songs for our worship service!

For Communion, April shared about her life and how her time in Dubai had impacted her.

Before RD preached, we were shown a slideshow about all the good times and the baptisms in Dubai for the past two years! Inspirationally, the song Time Of Your Life was played during the slideshow! The title of RD's sermon was THE END OF CHAPTER ONE! He began his lesson by recounting the sacrifices of the original nine-person mission team and the astounding Inaugural Service attendance of 56! He also shared about April suffering a heart attack and ensuing cardiac arrest for four minutes in 2017! Yet, God blessed the 12 Dubai Disciples of January 1, 2017 with 40 baptisms in 21 months! Due to the transient nature of the city of Dubai, 10 of these baptisms have moved "home" to nations such as India and the Philippines! As RD finished his sermon, there was not a dry eye in the house!
 

After service, we had lunch and an awesome study with a remnant couple – Sada & Dores Kochunni! A week later, Sada placed membership in the Dubai ICC!

 
Saturday, we had a farewell breakfast with the Bakers knowing that we would see them very soon in Los Angeles, where they will become the Ventura Region Leaders!

 
Saturday night was the Going Away Party for the Bakers! The room was exquisitely decorated with balloons and pictures of the Bakers' Dubai Days! Pasted on the wall at the back of the room was the heartwarming thought, "Home is where the Lord is!"

FAMILY NEWS
Portland: It is great to be a part of a worldwide Movement as Cristina, who was studying the Bible earlier this year, was told by her husband that if she was baptized, he would divorce her. Cristina was having a hard time until she went on a prayer run and it finally clicked for her: God is a lot more important than anyone or anything! She was baptized that weekend and then because of certain situations, they soon moved to Mexico City! Her husband Raul had met the disciples in Mexico City… And then he met God through the studies and was baptized! Excitingly, Cristina then baptized her mom and Cristina returned to Portland last month, but this time with her mother and her "formerly persecuting" husband as disciples of Christ! Praise God we have a church in Portland! Praise God we have a church in Mexico City! And praise God we have churches in so many cities to baptize our families!

 
Denver: We were all able to witness the incredible baptism of Dave Jones! Dave is the father of our young campus brother Sean and has been attending church since Amanda & I moved to Denver a year and half ago! We are very proud of Sean and the example he has set for his family!

 
Dallas/Ft. Worth: Hector Mogollon & Taylor Williams were engaged on May 12th and their wedding is planned for August 11, 2018! Hector was baptized in the South Region of Los Angeles in 2011 and was a key member of the DFW Mission Team! Taylor was baptized in DFW in 2015 and is also the sister of Ryan & Nikki Williams in San Diego! Together they help lead our Teen Ministry!

 
Boston: On May 13, 2018, Sharmayne Viscichini gave birth to her first child, Ethan Tobias in Brooklyn, New York just two weeks before Aaron & Sharmayne left New York City to lead the mighty Boston Church! Aaron shared, "What a miraculous experience that will forever change our lives and my perspective on the strength of women, as Sharmayne had an all-natural birth!"

Also, on Saturday, July 7th, Gianni DiFusco got down on one knee and proposed to the "love of his life" Skyla Eastman! These two talented disciples just started leading the Boston AMS Ministry and are "superlatively happy" (Psalm 119:1-2), as they enter into this new adventure and new stage of life!

 
New York City: On June 25th, we had our smallest addition to the New York City Family! We are honored to announce "Baby Iva Merritt" is finally here!

 
On June 30th, our dear brother Jamal Ellis was "finally" engaged to be married to an amazing woman of God – Urline Jean-Baptiste!

 
Mexico City: The first six months of 2018 have been simply amazing as God has given us 44 baptisms, 8 restorations and 5 place memberships! One of our most recent miracles is the birth of Isabella Wagers, the beautiful daughter of Albert & Jeny!

 
Moscow: On June 10th, Rezo & Sasha Davitadze inspired the entire Moscow Church at their wedding with their love for God and their vows to one another!

Kiev: Congratulations to Sasha & Alina Balitski who dynamically lead the Kiev Campus Ministry!

Las Vegas: José & Liz Torres are now the proud parents of two beautiful little girls! Their second daughter – Riley Margarita Torres Gonzalez – was born on May 3rd at 6:40AM at 7lbs. and 18inches!

São Paulo: At the 2018 Women's Day, everyone rejoiced that Luca's mom Marisa Vila Real was baptized into Christ!

 
Honolulu: This past week, we had two incredible teens baptized! Toa and Meleane are the son and daughter of Joe & Mary Santos – the Honolulu Shepherding Couple!

 
Hilo: Chris & Mahe Directo – who serve as the Hilo Shepherding Couple – baptized their youngest son, Austin! So now their family is totally united in Christ!

San Francisco: Since the last Good News Email, two of our amazing interns here in the San Francisco Church – Tyre Ellison & Jael Cook – were engaged! Lord willing, they will be married in November and then next year at our Annual Winter Workshop, "the Ellisons" will lead the planting of our fifth region in Hayward, California!

 
Los Angeles – Metro Heights Region: Congratulations to Omar Valdovinos on the baptisms of his twins – Savana and Ezekiel!

 
Also, a special congratulations to Mario Mijango & Michelle Miranda on their engagement!

 
Los Angeles – Antelope Valley Region (AV): For the AV Teen Ministry, we witnessed the baptism of Isaah Hernandez on June 28th and Christina Hernandez on July 5th! To add to these miracles, Isaah and Christina are the younger siblings of Malonie Penn (our new teen leader) and the children of our amazing sister Genisha Williams! Their family now has four disciples united in Christ!

Los Angeles – AMS Region: Our dear brother Terri Tait passed on to glory on June 8th. On the card sent with the beautiful bouquet of flowers to Debbie Tait in honor of her disciple husband was written, "Terri touched so many lives as 'he fought the good fight and finished the race!' Our spirits are lifted from our loss because we will see him in Heaven! Our condolences to you who must remain separated from your love for a while. We are family… by God's amazing grace, the City of Angels International Christian Church."

 
Miami/Ft. Lauderdale: On a very bittersweet note, we had our dear sister Juana Dominguez join the angels last Tuesday. She is the grandmother of Dania who moved to Miami from NYC to be on the mission team. Dania had one dream coming here and that was for her grandmother to become a disciple! Juana made her good confession and was baptized late last year at 88 years of age! Since her health was failing, Juana could only make it to a few Bible Talks, one House Church Service, and just a few months ago, she had enough strength to attend one Congregational Service! She was so full of life and at one point was so fired up that she stood up during service and lifted her hands in joy and Dania and the Spanish Ministry were amazed! She leaves behind a very grateful family, including Joseph, Dania's cousin who was also baptized a few months ago! The family is sad, but content, knowing Juana made it home!

 
Manila: Incredibly, on June 2nd, Felip Biongan & Wis Leuterio, the Ateneo Campus Ministry Leaders, became engaged at the Armor Bearers and Shield Maidens Royalty Gala! 

 
On May 19th, the Manila Church celebrated the wedding of Arkho & Hon Andalis! 

 
In the last two months, it has been incredible to see so many physical family members become spiritual family together! Joy's younger brother, Wil, was baptized! Yanyan, the teenage daughter of Lito was baptized! Janine's mother, Margarita, was restored! Aires's sister, Love, was baptized! Ge's cousin, Mela, was baptized! Rose's sister, Che, was baptized! Mark's niece, Grace, was baptized! Maricel's daughter, Justine, was also baptized!

Lastly, it was incredible to see a whole family brought to unity in Christ: the Siasat Family, who were seeking spiritual revival after having left the ICOC years ago! First, the youngest teenage daughter and Kingdom Kid, Jaja, was baptized, which then inspired her older sister, Christia, to be restored the following week! These events finally culminated in their two parents, Relly & Gina, getting restored the week after! To God be the glory! 

LOCAL LA NEWS
Tim Kernan – Lead Evangelist of Los Angeles: "But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (1 Corinthians 15:57) Greetings from sunny and beautiful Los Angeles, California! We are currently in the middle of an unprecedented heatwave as temperatures have hit 117 degrees! The highest previous record in Downtown LA was 112 in 1990! Lianne & I do not have air-conditioning, so it has been a little like living in a Western movie at the Kernans!

 
We are so grateful to God for all the amazing things that are happening right now highlighted by raising over 1.1 million dollars for Missions in May! 

Another landmark victory was the record attendance of 2,105 at our Bring Your Neighbor Day on Sunday, June 10th!

Thank you to Kip & Elena who called each LA Disciple to fast and pray to move God's heart until that disciple had collected five commitments for the BYND! Lianne & I are so grateful for each LA Disciple who fought so hard for this immense victory!

 
Another amazing story is that of Anthony & Tayyiba "Ty" Haneef-Park who were baptized on Saturday, July 7th in the FORCE Sector of the Orange County Region! Ty is a three-time Olympian in Women's Volleyball! Amazingly, she won silver medals in both Beijing and London! Anthony is a fighter pilot who ran track and played football for the Air Force Academy! Ty was met through the CyberMinistry via Chantelle Anderson's Confidently His VLOG! Ty came out to the AMS Women's Day with Chantelle! After Ty heard Chantelle's testimony and Therese Untalan, the keynote speaker, she immediately started to study! Our mighty Congregational Shepherds – Tony & Therese Untalan and Nick & Denise Bordieri – led most of the studies!

 
Lastly, it is so encouraging that our dear sister Yelena Astanina has recovered from a diabetic coma and is now back working in our amazing Movement Administrative Staff! Please keep us in your prayers as we are in the middle of radicalizing all of our Bible Talks! And to God be the glory!
 
EDITORIAL
International Nationals
The 2018 African Missions Conference in Lagos had so many memorable moments! From a church-building perspective, perhaps the most profound for me was when I was introduced to Tolani Abiodun and Deji Aregbesola – both Nigerian nationals who were baptized in London through the efforts of Michael Williamson! Upon their returning home to Nigeria, Andrew Smellie saw both of these "International Nationals" to be five-talent men! Therefore, they quickly became full-time interns and students at ICCM-Lagos!

 
Women International Nationals that have made a huge difference in Lagos are Tina Nwachukwu and Kate Awara! Again, both five-talent and full-time interns! What makes these four disciples so special is that they have renounced "their rights" to live in the First World! It could be said of Tolani, "By faith [Tolani] when he had grown up, refused to be known as a [Londoner]. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as a greater value than the treasures of [England], because he was looking ahead to his reward! By faith, he left [England], not fearing [his parents'] anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible!" (Hebrews 11:24-27)

 
Other young national disciples that have had a terrific impact returning to their homelands or their heritage include: Marc & Maika Carbonell, Zach & Ariel Shields, RJ Castro and Carlos Robielos – in Manila; Lucy Mejia, Miguel & Myrna Limon in Mexico City; and six of the Hong Kong Seven Mission Team! All of these disciples have made a huge difference in building these key churches!

 
It also occurred to me that God in His foreknowledge knew that our former fellowship would be scattered because of our sins. Yet, He left a small remnant in most nations that allows us to initially begin remnant groups. In time, we are able to plant churches by sending mission teams or by reconstruction. International remnants have allowed us to build incredible churches in India (Raja & Debs Rajan), Russia (Oleg Sirotkin), Ukraine (Aliona Sirotkina), London (Michele Williamson), Sydney (Kerry Willis), Santiago (Alfredo & Alejandra Anuch), Paris (Philippe Scheidecker), Lagos (Goodhope & Bonita Atason and Bolaji & Chinyere Akinfenwa), Abidjan (Amadou & Angele Sountoura), Kinshasa (Micky & Lyly Ngungu), Johannesburg (Jacques & Jeanette Groenewald), and seven more couples in seven other African Nations!

 
Often, remnant disciples from our former fellowship or Mainline Churches of Christ come into God's new Movement still hurting from being in lukewarm congregations. Most have lost a great deal of trust in God and in church leadership leading them to the sins of acedia, contempt and even lukewarmness! "To win the remnant," young church leaders must have a respect for these "veterans" in the war against Satan. In love, we must offer trust and mercy even when the remnant are hesitant to give their hearts. We must continue to "fry the airwaves" in getting God's message out to the remnant – both in churches and fallen away!

 
It is time to call our young national disciples to remember their vow at baptism – "go anywhere, do anything and give up everything!" Yes, the price is high, but what a joy it will be to bring "their people" and for many their physical families the message of the Gospel and the gifts of forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, the Church and Heaven for eternity! So looking forward to meeting and hugging all of our International Nationals at the 2018 Global Leadership Conference! And to God be all the glory in all nations!
We are family… by God's amazing grace,
Kip