Special Edition
August 31, 2018

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Dear Friend,
Warm greetings from Los Angeles! Truly, the 2018 Global Leadership Conference – EMPOWERED – was our best one… yet! The Sunday Worship Service will surely be talked about in Heaven! The singing by the almost 2,700 in attendance was angelic! In the Communion, RD & April Baker – LA's new Ventura Region Leaders and heroes of the Middle East – brought us to the cross! Joe & Kerry Willis were hysterical in motivating us to give generously at the Contribution Charge! Then came the glorious Sixth GLC Commencement of the International College of Christian Ministries where a record 92 received their BA Degrees and a record 6 received the prestigious Master's Degree! Andrew Smellie of Lagos gave the message of the hour on TRANSFORMING POWER! Following, we witnessed 21 souls make their "good confession" and then were baptized into Christ! After these amazing miracles, we prayed on our knees for the Holy Spirit to send out the Columbus (Ohio) and Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Mission Teams, as well as to send out Nick & Denise Bordieri to Phnom Penh (Cambodia) to establish and oversee the Chhim MERCY Orphanage for the next year! To close the service, we stood arm-in-arm singing with LuJack Martinez The Glory Song – International Version! And to God was given all the glory!

 
HEADLINE NEWS
The 2018 Global Leadership Conference
For Elena & me, the 2018 GLC began on Thursday evening, August 9th with the World Sector Leader (WSL) Retreat!

Before pairing up for dinner, the World Sector Leaders gathered for a reception on the rooftop of the DoubleTree Hotel in beautiful Dana Point!

Sadly, our dear sister Michele Williamson was not able to be with us as she had to fly to Perth, Australia for the Memorial Service of her beloved mother. Praise God, Michele flew to LA and joined the GLC Festivities on the following Tuesday!

 
On Friday, August 10th, as is the custom at every World Sector Leader Gathering, Elena & I shared for Communion! After the bread and juice were passed around, we held up the bread and proclaimed, "We are family!" Then we raised our cups and asserted, "By God's grace to grow!"

After singing Jesus Is Lord, Andrew Smellie preached a very powerful lesson on WE HAVE DIVINE POWER! During his speech, Andrew spoke about the many challenges of the Lagos Disciples, which included taking a stand against parents to come to a "new church," taking a stand at their jobs so as to come to all church services, and since Lagos is so religious, taking a stand against all of the false doctrines! To illustrate these challenges, Andrew shared about Tolani Abiodun when he first came home to Lagos from being converted in London. His father said to him, "Jesus is Lord in Heaven, but I am your God on earth! Obey me!" Praise God, Tolani took a stand and is now the Campus Ministry Intern for the mighty Lagos Church! Then we broke into Men's and Women's D-Groups!

 
For the remainder of Friday, the World Sector Leaders spent precious bonding time with one another! On Saturday, we continued to spend time together as we all moved to the Anaheim Sheraton for the remainder of the GLC!

 
On Sunday, August 12th, was the much anticipated IGNITE Church Service! IGNITE is an eight-day teen leadership program dynamically led by Ricky & Coleen Challinor of Los Angeles!

They selected 30 teens and 8 IGNITE Interns from all of the SoldOut Movement Churches around the world!

Each day had a special theme from A Day of Evangelism to A Day of Confession to A Day of MERCY, and even A Day of Fun!

 
The inspiring IGNITE Church Service was led entirely by the IGNITE Teens with terrific singing led by Myles Keys of LA and a powerful Welcome by Chris Burdick of Phoenix and Shefali Rajan of New Delhi!

Then we were led in an International Prayer by Chris (English), Anna Smirnova of Moscow (Russian), Daniela Velasco of LA (French), Lucas Tria of São Paulo (Portuguese), Giovanny Martinez of Portland (Spanish), Lidiia Sirotkina of Moscow (Ukrainian), Miriam Chundula of London (Bemba), Shefali Rajan (Hindi), and Luke Chiappetta of LA (English)!

 
Of special note, Josiah Fisher of Washington DC introduced Bella Swann of New Jersey who shared for Communion! Bella publicly opened up for the first time about her struggle to forgive the older man – that claimed to be a disciple – who molested her on multiple occasions. Bella said in tears, "It was like I put Jesus on the cross again, because I thought I had the right to be angry and to not forgive. When I remembered all that Jesus did for me, then and only then was I able to fully forgive."

 
For the sermonettes, we were inspired by Jordan Swann of New York City – The Slippery Slope Of Having No Hope, Lucas Tria – The World Needs More Amore, and Dylan Harding of LA – Faith Sets The Pace To Win The Race! Jordan in his sermon confessed his cowardliness in sharing his faith with one of his high school volleyball teammates – Steve. To his dismay, while still in high school, Steve passed away in his sleep without Jordan sharing with him. Then Jordan shared the conviction that changed his life, "My comfort is not worth the price of someone else's salvation!"

 
The IGNITE Service came to a close with two baptisms, a restoration and a word of encouragement from Elena & me!

The remainder of the day was spent in fellowship with disciples from almost 30 nations!

 
On Monday evening, August 13th was the initial Crown of Thorns Council (COTC) Meeting! As most disciples are aware, the SoldOut Movement is striving to reduplicate Jesus' ministry! So, the World Sector Leaders are paralleled to the 12 Apostles and the Crown of Thorns Council is paralleled to the 70 Apostles of Luke 10! The Jews – who were descendants of the 12 sons of Jacob, which formed the physical nation of Israel – came to understand that Jesus selected 12 Apostles as He was building a new "spiritual Israel!" Jesus later selected the 70 Apostles to convey His dream to evangelize all nations as Genesis 10 in the Table of All Nations has 70 nations listed!

 
After the Welcome and Prayer, the Crown of Thorns Council enjoyed a time of Good News Sharing!

Following a short break, Raul Moreno of São Paulo gave the unforgettable charge, PRAYER THAT IS POWERFUL AND EFFECTIVE! His six points were: 1) Pray For Everyone In Your Ministry By Name; 2) Prayer Can Change God's Mind; 3) Believe Before Praying; 4) Forgive For God To Answer Your Prayers; 5) Spiritual War Delays Answered Prayers; and 6) One Prayer Can Change Everything!

 
On Tuesday morning, August 14th, the Crown of Thorns Council gathered for Men's and Women's Programs! Michael Williamson addressed the men and Elena spoke to the women on the theme of SYNERGOI, which when translated from the Greek means co-worker!

 

In essence, each group was taught from the Scriptures that we are co-workers with God (2 Corinthians 6:1) and co-workers with each other! (Philippians 4:3) From the Greek word "synergoi," we derive the English word "synergy." The definition of synergy is the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. So, with God as our co-worker, we can do so much more than on our own, and because God has chosen to limit Himself according to our faith, God can do so much more with us as His co-workers if we are filled with faith! As well, working side-by-side with another disciple increases our boldness, our faith and our love! After these stirring messages we broke into D-Groups!

 
After a lunch break, the World Sector Leaders gave brief reports to the Crown of Thorns Council on "their" congregations, which covered all 92 churches now composed of 7,000 disciples in 35 nations in the Movement!

To close the afternoon, we discussed the 2018-2024 Road Map and the new SoldOut Movement Retirement Program for full-time ministry disciples!

 
At 5:00PM that Tuesday, the Prayer War Room was opened to "empower" all the disciples around the world, especially those who would participate in the GLC! A special thanks to Yamin Leyton and Karen Maciel for setting up and sustaining this great endeavor!

After opening the Prayer War Room, I hurried over to the Sheraton Hotel to meet Tim, Michael and Elena for the signing of the ICCM Diplomas!

 
That evening at 8:00PM, all of the ICCM Faculty around the world met together for the ICCM Chancellor's Dessert Reception! After a short charge, I asked the 2018 Master's Degree Recipients – Jason & Sarah Dimitry, Blaise Feumba, Sharon Kirchner, LuJack Martinez and Matt Sullivan – to share what meant the most to them in attaining their degrees!

 
On Wednesday morning, August 15th was the Church Builders Workshop where almost 700 came to learn all that they could about being better church builders! Andrew & Patrique gave a stirring Welcome!

This was followed by 10 Admonitions by me. I addressed various topics from improving our song selection for worship services to communicating with the Lead Evangelist of a disciple whose heart is to be on a mission team before this disciple is officially asked to be on the team.

After this, Kolbe & Rebecca Gray of London shared about the exciting new ICCM Alumni Program!

 
Since Luke Speckman has been used by God to not only build the powerful New York City Church, but to oversee the thriving three churches in India, we selected him to speak on the theme, MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT! Luke preached from 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 where Paul shares that God said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness… That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong!" Luke's easy-to-remember points were: 1) Weaknesses, 2) Insults, 3) Hardships, 4) Persecutions, and 5) Difficulties! As Luke began his speech, he asked the question, "Has Christ led you so far in 2018 in triumphant procession in your church?" He answered this question, "Yes… but the question really is, 'Were you following?'"

After a break, we broke into three tracks: Track One – Campus Leaders emceed by Raul & Lynda Moreno; Track Two – Church Leaders overseen by Luke & Brandyn Speckman; and Track Three – Overseeing Church Leaders directed by Elena & me!

Unique in this GLC was that Track One – Campus Leaders was conducted by the leaders converted as campus students through the efforts and prayers of the São Paulo Church! The speakers included Vini Rodriguez, Bia Hida, Caio Costa, Luis Viera, Malu Dias, Danilo & Carol Bataglin, Tulio & Vaítsa Amaral, and Luca Di Beo!

 

On Wednesday evening at 6:00PM was the ICCM Alumni Reunion! After Kolbe & Rebecca explained the purpose of forming an Alumni Association, as well as the benefits to those who join, I gave the charge, THE ARDUOUS ROAD TO GRADUATE DEGREES! I opened and closed with Robert Frost's narrative poem, The Road Not Taken! The final stanza reads,
 

 
I shared this poem to convey that the road to a Master's or Doctorate Degree is indeed very difficult and time consuming, and that is why it is "the one less travelled by!" Yet, when one achieves this goal, there is a "sigh" not of regret, not of relief, but of deep satisfaction! Indeed for an Evangelist or Women's Ministry Leader, these degrees will make "all the difference" in winning as many as possible!

 
After having a few finger foods at the ICCM Alumni Reunion, many were off to the International Campus Devotional (ICD), which started at 8:00PM! This event is always one of the highlights of the GLC! This year, the ICD was overseen by the Smellies, who continue to win students to Christ at the University of Lagos! After several students shared good news from their campus ministries around the world, Coltin Rohn – the Columbus Mission Team Leader – preached the sermon entitled, I DECLARE YOUR POWER TO THIS GENERATION!

 
Thursday morning, August 16th was the First General Session of the GLC! After a phenomenal Opening Video and the joyful Welcome by Tim & Lianne Kernan – the City of Angels Church Leaders, we participated in an International Prayer in 20 different languages: English, Spanish, Ukrainian, Samoan, French, Chamorro, Hindi, Swedish, Mandarin, Ebo, Twi, German, Dutch, Cantonese, Tamil, Thai, Russian, Amharic, Tagalog and Portuguese!

 
Then came the thrilling Flag Ceremony where 35 national flags – the nations of the SoldOut Movement Churches – were paraded!

 
Following, Elena & I shared the GOOD NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD coming from all six populated continents! Included in this presentation were the 10 plantings in 2018 in the SoldOut Movement: Albuquerque (New Mexico), Quito (Ecuador), Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo – DRC), Mbuji-Mayi (DRC), Bandundu (DRC), Kikwit (DRC), New Delhi (India), Sean-d'Eau (Haiti), Columbus (Ohio), and Milwaukee (Wisconsin)!

 
We shared in some detail about the four newly reconstructed churches in the Democratic Republic of Congo! Amazingly, their collective membership is over 400 disciples – the largest being Kinshasa, now the second largest church in the Movement, at 283 disciples!

 
We also praised God for the incredible turn around in Manila! After the devastation of losing their Lead Ministry Couple in 2017 with the consequence of so many fall aways, God has blessed the Manila Church in 2018 with 105 additions – 75 baptisms, 17 restorations and 13 place memberships! In 2018 – The Year of Grace, God has grown this incredible group of disciples from a membership of 187 to now 254 sold-out disciples!

 
Also, so exciting is that after just four months since the New Delhi Mission Team of 38 arrived from Chennai, God has blessed them with 73 additions – 51 baptisms, 21 restorations and 1 place membership! The New Delhi ICC is now 126 sold-out disciples!

 
There was so much good news that I forgot to mention the encouraging report from Haiti! Since Alexis Turgeau – a Mainline Church of Christ Preacher from Port-au-Prince (Haiti) – was baptized five years ago at the 2013 GLC, God has multiplied this amazing disciple into 384 disciples in now 9 churches throughout Haiti!

 
Then after the GOOD NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD came more great news: The Reinstatements of Chris & Sonja Chloupek of Orlando as an Evangelist and a Women's Ministry Leader in the Kingdom of God!

 
After the San Francisco Church Band led us to sing an old favorite hymn, Power, Blaise Feumba of LA delivered the tremendous speech, HIS POWER AND HIS GLORY! His convicting points were: 1) You Must Know His Glory; 2) You Must Show His Glory; and 3) You Must Fear His Glory! After this amazing lesson, we headed out to lunch!

 
In the afternoon, two Specialty Workshops began at 2:30PM: CyberCon emceed by the Lead CyberEvangelist of the Movement – Ron Harding of LA, and the MERCYworldwide Summit directed by the World Sector Leaders for MERCY – Nick & Denise Bordieri of LA! At CyberCon which was attended by over 200 disciples, Ron delivered the message EMPOWERING THE VOICES OF THE PROPHETS, which was followed by three more CyberEvangelist Appointments: AJ Penedo, Alex Rohde and Brice Williams all of LA!

At the MERCY Summit, Nick delivered the message, EMPOWERED THROUGH COMPASSION IN ACTION, where he very enthusiastically shared about the Chhim MERCY Orphanage and our new partnership with the Children Social Welfare Services of Cambodia and MERCYworldwide! As well, Nick announced that Denise & he will be moving to Cambodia in September for a year to oversee the orphanage – which has 58 children already – and to lead the Phnom Penh Remnant Group!

On Thursday evening were the Men's and Women's Programs! Joe Willis and Elena were the respective emcees for these life changing sessions! At the beginning of each of these sessions there was a Kingdom Appointment! At the Men's Program, Cory Blackwell appointed his valued son in the faith Markus Cameron to be an Evangelist, as they work together in the great Chicago Church!

 
At the same time, Elena appointed her dear daughter in the faith Lauren Ona to be a Women's Ministry Leader, as they work side-by-side in the AMS Region of LA!

 
Both programs had the same main speech, BE STRONG IN HIS MIGHT AND POWER! John Causey of LA preached for the brothers, and Lynda Moreno spoke to the sisters! John's two catchy points were Power Up and Open Up! John was quite open about getting "touchy" as he has gotten older. He confessed that this is one of his main struggles. John was recently asked how he had overcome and he humbly answered, "I realized that I am not a strong disciple, but I need to be a plugged-in disciple!"

 
During the Women's Program, Lynda Moreno shared with the sisters one of the secrets to being empowered by God, "Alone the world is going to change you, but together we are going to change the world!"

 
Following the main speeches, several short charges were preached: Empowered Devotional Life (Matt Sullivan/Patrique Smellie), Empowered Life-Force (Michael Williamson/Lucy Mejia), Empowered Life Skills (Michael Kirchner/Therese Untalan), Empowered Brotherhood/Sisterhood (RD Baker/Lianne Kernan), Empowered Marriage (Anthony Olmos), Empowered Fatherhood/Motherhood (Oleg Sirotkin/Aliona Sirotkina), Empowered Evangelism (Richie McDonnell/Helen Sullivan), Empowered Discipling (Kolbe Gray/Rebecca Gray), and Empowered Generosity (Joe Willis/Kerry Willis)! Then after these "empowering" charges, there were many who enjoyed late night fellowships!

 
Friday morning, August 17th were the invaluable World Sector Sessions! These inspiring seminars included the following groupings: Tribe – Western USA, Canada and Pacific Rim; SAGES – Eastern USA and South Asia; Southern USA, Central And South America; Europe And Russian Commonwealth; Midwest USA And Middle East; Africanus – Africa, Mid-Atlantic USA And French-Speaking Caribbean; and Austral-China!

 
Each session followed the same pattern: Singing, Welcome and Prayer, Heroic Bible Talk Sharing and then the main charge – THE WORD SPREAD AND GREW IN POWER! In some sessions, there were co-teachers. So the main speakers included: Richie McDonnell, Matt & Helen Sullivan, Carlos & Lucy Mejia, Oleg Sirotkin, Michael Williamson, Cory Blackwell, Andrew Smellie and Joe Willis!

 
Following a break, short charges were given on the theme, Empowering Principles! These charges in every session gave several younger leaders an opportunity to preach at the 2018 GLC! Comprising these charges were: Empowering Commitment To The Cause, Empowering Standards, Empowering Unity, Empowering Women's Ministries, and several others very interesting titles!

 
For lunch, we held 2019 Mission Team Luncheons at various locations! These were by invitation only, but if a disciple was interested in the planting, the mission team leaders were always accommodating! There were Mission Team Luncheons for: Amsterdam (Netherlands), Atlanta (Georgia), Auckland (New Zealand), Bahrain, Davao (Philippines), Johannesburg (South Africa), Lima (Peru), and Salt Lake City (Utah)!

 
That evening was the Second General Session – The Kingdom Banquet!

Cory & Jee Blackwell gave a rousing Welcome which was followed by a very powerful Opening Prayer by Oleg! Then we enjoyed a scrumptious dinner!

 
At the end of the dinner, there was a Special Performance by Lauren Ona, the LA Choir, Dancers headlined by Earnest Baker, and the awesome San Francisco Band – Sovereign Sounds!

 
Following this were the historic CyberMinistry Appointments! Ron Harding appointed the first three "CyberWomen's Ministry Leaders:" Alicia Dunn of Washington DC, Jacque Economo of LA, and Chantelle Anderson also of LA!

 
Then we witnessed another engaged couple – Sean O'Conner & Krystal Legarda – appointed Evangelist and Women's Ministry Leader by Jared & Rachel McGee!

 
Undoubtedly, the highlight of the Kingdom Banquet was the keynote address for the 2018 GLC simply entitled EMPOWERED! This life-changing message was delivered so eloquently by the Director of the GLC – Tim Kernan! 

We ended the evening with Micky Ngungu and Andrew Smellie leading us in most disciples' favorite song from Africa, There Is A Joy! A huge conga line quickly formed that circumvented the entire room!

 
On Saturday, August 18th began our Third General Session! Raja & Debs Rajan of New Delhi gave the Welcome and Prayer!

Following, Nick & Denise Bordieri directed the MERCY Presentation! Highlighting the day was Jarrett Barrios, CEO of The American Red Cross in Los Angeles, who addressed the entire GLC! He was so exuberant as he spoke about the new national partnership between the Red Cross and MERCY in installing lifesaving fire alarms in the poorer areas throughout America!

 
Then, I preached the 90-minute presentation, A GREATER GLORY – The History Of The Mainline Churches Of Christ, The ICOC And The SOLDOUT Movement! Every situation in our lives and every situation among God's great people has a "parallel" somewhere in the Bible! I used the Books of 2 Chronicles, Nehemiah, Ezra and Haggai to teach how God worked to gather and build His Movements! I concluded this presentation with a view of Heaven and that all of our challenges on earth as disciples are "worth it!" (You can hear and see the entire presentation at https://youtu.be/kdhpVqU6LwQ.)

I received more feedback on this lesson than any that I have preached in the last few years! Here is a sample: Dear Kip, It really convicted me as far as comparing the Boston Movement, gathering prominent young leaders who were trained Biblically out of Mainline Church of Christ programs (Crossroads) – vs the SoldOut Movement, with the remnant who are joining being older, and not as freed up to go anywhere to lead. That is something I hadn't really put into account, and mildly corrupted my attitude about the SoldOut Movement's emphasis on campus ministry. It took so long for it to finally click that these are the Movement's next leaders (much like the younger folks were in the early days of the ICOC). I mean, I was baptized at 20 years old in a campus ministry… and I am so grateful!

 
Also, a dear veteran disciple was watching from Seattle! He was baptized in the frigid Puget Sound in 2001, and recently placed membership in the Seattle ICC! This lesson resonated deeply with him, answered many questions for him, as well as confirmed many of his suspicions that he has had about what happened to the ICOC. He is super fired up after watching a couple of the lessons from the GLC, especially yours. He really wishes he could have been there to meet many incredible disciples from around the world, as well as to share with you in person his support and gratitude to be in God's true Movement!

Following the break, we attended the Specialty Ministry Sessions, which included: The AMS Global Conference, The Shepherds Forum, The Second Language Ministries Seminar, The Song Leaders Workshop, The Teen Ministry Seminar, The Administration World Congress, The Kingdom Kids Coordinators, and The Chemical Recovery Congress!

 
That afternoon was the ICCM Rehearsal, and that evening was followed by The Mature Singles Mixer, The Teen Devotional And Dance, The Talent Show and The PYUR Dance!

 
On Sunday was the grand finale of the 2018 GLC – The Sunday Worship Service! John & Emma Causey gave the Welcome and Opening Prayer!

Then came the Kingdom Appointments of Dave & Jill Swann by Luke & Brandyn Speckman! The Swanns lead the New Jersey Region of the New York City ICC! In her response to being appointed, Jill shared Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart!" Jill shared that she was baptized exactly 27 years ago on August 19, 1991, and becoming a Women's Ministry Leader was one of her Kingdom dreams! Dave followed by sharing that he was thrilled to enter the full-time ministry for the first time at 50 years old! His region affectionately calls him – Papa Swann!

 
The Communion was one of the best ever as April Baker shared her trials to remain faithful through all of her years! She spoke about her severe physical heart challenges and how God has used this to guide RD & her, as well as giving her the opportunity to "win as many as possible!" (1 Corinthians 9:19)

 
The Contribution was done by the author of the SoldOut Press International's newest book – Money Is The Answer For Everything – Joe Willis and his lovely wife Kerry!

 
Then came the Sixth Commencement Of The International College Of Christian Ministries where 92 received their BA Degrees and 6 were awarded their Master's Degrees! Inspirationally, after the ICCM Chairman of the Board of Regents – Michael Kirchner – welcomed all to the 2018 Commencement, Wagner's Ride Of The Valkyries was the music played for the Processional!

 
As the Chancellor of ICCM, I was privileged to introduce the ICCM-Global Faculty, the ICCM Board of Regents, and all of the ICCM Extension School Presidents and Deans of Women! Amazingly, God has multiplied our dream into 11 extension campuses in Columbus, Lagos, Los Angeles, Manila, Miami, New York City, Portland, San Francisco, São Paulo, Toronto and Washington DC!

 
Following, I gave a short charge on SCROLLS AND PARCHMENTS sharing about the books that have been published by SoldOut Press International that were ICCM Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations!

 
After Dr. Tim Kernan explained the European Degree System and Dr. Elena Garcia McKean shared from the ministry of Jesus about The Role Of Women In The ICCM, we were inspired by the Valedictory Addresses given by our 2018 Valedictorians – Joey Gregory of Columbus and Alicia Winthein of LA!

 
Then came the conferring of the ICCM BA Degrees given for four different disciplines: Ministry – represented by red tassels, Ministry And Administration – blue tassels, Ministry And Charity Services – green tassels, and Ministry And Shepherding – white tassels!

 
Following came the awarding of six diligent disciples for the impressive ICCM Master's Degree!

 
Before the reading of Psalm 126 for the Benediction, we observed the Tassel and Stole Ceremony! The tassels on the graduates' graduation caps were moved from right to left, signifying that their new-found knowledge needs to be used in making decisions with the heart!

Secondly, each BA Recipient was encouraged to give his or her stole to the individual most responsible for them to attain their degree!

 
After a short break, Andrew Smellie delivered a message for the ages, TRANSFORMING POWER calling every disciple to make radical decisions from the GLC! Andrew had two points: Transform From Loving Tradition To Loving Truth and Transform From Loving The Praise Of Men To Loving The Praise From God! Andrew's final words of admonition were, "Transformed people, transform people!"

 
Then came one of the most amazing highlights of the entire GLC as we witnessed 21 baptized into Christ! Of very special note were the baptisms of Capil Estep's mom – Krishna, who is of royal blood from Nepal, and Luke Speckman's dad and mom – Fred & Virginia, who were at one time missionaries for a denominational church in Kenya! Not only did August 19, 2018 become Fred & Virginia's spiritual birthdays, but also that day, they celebrated their 46th Wedding Anniversary!

 
After these glorious celebrations came the Send Off of the Columbus and Milwaukee Mission Teams, as well as the send off of Nick & Denise Bordieri who will lead the Chhim MERCY Orphanage in Cambodia! Everyone fell on their knees to pray for the Holy Spirit to empower them to do "more than we asked or imagined!"

 
To close the most awesome of all GLC's, we "bridged the aisles and came together arm-in-arm" as LuJack led The Glory Song – International Version!

 
That Sunday evening, as well as on Monday and Tuesday, many disciples stayed in LA to have more fellowship that would "empower" them to do "even greater things" upon their return to their home congregations! And to God be all the glory!

FAMILY NEWS
Eugene: Congratulations to David Rydstedt (baptized in Eugene) & Sara Garcia (baptized in Mexico City), who were married on the beach in Santa Monica just a few hours after the conclusion of the GLC!

 
Boston: On August 10, 2018, Gianni DiFusco & Skyla Eastman were married under a beautiful sunset overlooking the mighty city of Boston! God painted the sky just for them, as the these two souls became one!

 
New York City: On August 11th, Gerald & Danielle Gayle were married in the Brooklyn Region!

 
London: On August 25th, Richárd Frankó proposed to his girlfriend Lisa Picciano of New York City while she was visiting him in London! She of course said, "Yes!"

 
Orlando: Praise God that the father of Chris Chloupek – the Evangelist of the Orlando Church – was restored to the Lord!

Portland: Greetings in the Lord! We had an amazing addition to the Limon Familia – the Portland Church Leaders – with the birth of their son Nathanael David on July 16th!

 
What a joy it was to host over 30 disciples flying in to witness the wedding of "our" Ohio missionaries – Craig and Keshia, as they officially became the Davidsons on August 4th!

 
There was much love in the air as the next day, we witnessed the engagement of Cesar & Debbie Limon's son and daughter in the faith – Jorge Castillo & Valeria Garcia-Piñeda! They will be getting married October 20th in Portland, Oregon and would like to invite everyone to this special event! God is good… all the time!

 
Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW): The entire DFW Church was ecstatic over the wedding of Hector & Taylor Mogollon!

Honolulu: Our administrator Kawika Kelly & Reina Quimzon became engaged and will be married September 3rd!

 
Kiev: In June, we celebrated the awesome wedding of Sasha & Alina Balitsky! This marriage strengthened them, and immediately following their honeymoon, Sasha & Alina began to work full-time in the ministry!

 
San Diego: Just before the impactful 2018 GLC – EMPOWERED, God "empowered" Fabian & Edimar Velasco to be fruitful with their beautiful new son, Isaac Jedidiah Velasco! Isaac was born July 24th at 8:20AM, weighing in at 8.15 pounds and 20.5 inches long! We are also excited that the Velascos will be stepping up to lead a newly established house church in the Greater San Diego ICC! To God be all the glory! 

 
Albuquerque: Encouragingly, a young married couple named Jet & Yuri Heredia were baptized in Albuquerque! Yuri is the cousin of Bridgette Sanchez and Yunice Luna in the Metro Heights Region of LA! Jet was baptized first and then he was blessed to baptize his wife Yuri!

 
Seattle: On July 29th the Seattle Church witnessed the beautiful wedding of Owen & Letecha Hartley on the gorgeous Golden Garden Shores of Puget Sound!

 
Manila: Beth Tagimacruz was baptized in 1993 and was restored to the Lord in 2015 following a life-threatening stroke. She knew that God still had a purpose for her life, and after her restoration she baptized her mom, sister, daughter and niece! On August 22nd, she passed on to glory after being in the hospital for three months battling several health complications.

 
Cebu: Aki Cabañero & Lou Ariate are full-time Campus Interns in Cebu, and they became engaged on July 25th!

 
Washington DC: Ms. Dolores Russell was baptized on March 18, 2018, and then went home to our Heavenly Father on her 87th birthday July 18, 2018! Her daughter Denise Russell and grandson Lawrence Russell were by her side during her studies, her illness and her glorious return to our true home! The church was united in prayer, as we watched her humble heart desire to be baptized! So we now rejoice as Dolores went on to glory as a faithful disciple!

  
Wedding Bells are almost here, as we had an engagement! This couple has been friends for a few years now, and then at the Singles Christmas Party in 2017, Bryan asked Judith to be his girlfriend! After dating for six months, he asked her to be his wife! She said, "yes" with enthusiasm! In Bryan's own words, "I would have never have made this choice (to be married) in the world." Now, he sees that God truly meant for Judith to be his "wife of noble character" and sees her worth through God's eyes!

 
Penelope Rose Carrothers was born on June 5, 2018 to Christopher & Patricia Carrothers! This little bundle of joy was excited to finally join us all! She was a quick delivery, without complications, and as you can see is a happy little baby girl!

 
Mexico City: "Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him." (Psalm 127:3 NLT) It was an exciting July for Gustavo & Sofia Flores! Not only were they both baptized, but to finish off the month on July 31st, the Lord blessed them with the birth of their new son, Joshua Flores!

 
New Delhi: John & Salma, who lead the abundantly fruitful New Delhi Teen Ministry, are happily married now!

God blessed Gabriel & Seema in "starting" a new family with the birth of "Baby Genesis!"

 
Satbeer & Nisha, who now lead a Bible Talk, were blessed with a baby boy – Nishanth!

 
San Francisco: Kyle Gibson & Janelle Mendoza were happily engaged on July 23, 2018!

The soon-to-be Nathaniel & Sam Pavon were engaged on July 30, 2018!

Afa & Tromila were blessed with Finiasi Molikeilahi Maile, who was born on July 30th at 8 pounds, 13 ounces and 21 inches long!

Excitingly, Anthony Fellis & Monica Fang were engaged on August 11, 2018!

Freddy Quintana & Alejandra Rivera were engaged during the GLC on August 18, 2018!

Sacramento: "Then immediately [the jailer] and all his family were baptized… He was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God – he and his whole family!" (Acts 16:33-34) We had a very empowering worship service the first Sunday after the GLC! To close out, we witnessed the very moving baptism of Brandon Baskus, whose whole household has now been impacted by the Gospel! It all started with Richie being baptized last month, who is on the Sacramento City College Wrestling Team! Then Richie's mom, Selina (Brandon's wife), was baptized a few weeks ago! Then Sam, the youngest son, was baptized two weeks ago, giving us our first teen baptism! God is truly displaying His power in a mighty way in Sacramento!

 
Los Angeles – East Region: Congratulations to Kirk & Margie Hamula, the East Region Leaders, on the birth of their son – Jeremiah James!

Inland Empire Region: Please welcome the newest addition to the IE Family from Juan & Jhoselyn Mota – Leah Nicole who at her birth on August 16th was 19 inches!

Orange County Region – UNIDAD Sector: Meet the Gonzalez Familia! Jonathan (Jonny) & Lily were restored to the Lord and there kiddo Jayden is now studying the Bible and wants to be a disciple!

Metro Heights Region: Congratulations to Richard Cadle & Victoria Monroe on their engagement!

All in the Metro Heights Region are so moved by the repentance of Josiah Garcia – the son of Noel & Janice!

 
Jimmy & Carol Idrees were united in Christ through baptism with their teen daughter – Keilly Lopez at the GLC!

 
Coachella Valley Region: God has been uniting families in the Valley this summer as we were able to see three family members baptized! First, Michael was able to baptize his son, Andrew, who moved to Coachella Valley from Texas to be with his dad!

 
And Cesar (who was baptized in February) was able to baptize both his mom, Sonia, after months of persecuting and his sister Silvana, who was a true three-day conversion!

 
Central Region: We were so blessed to see the incredible baptism of a wonderful Filipino woman named Myrna! Myrna's son, Karl, was baptized over a year ago in the Pasadena City College Campus Ministry and Myrna has studied off and on for the past year, battling with her religiosity. Yet recently, God opened up her heart, and she studied urgently for three weeks and was baptized on August 5th!

 
Valentina Marulanda was baptized almost a year ago at USC in Los Angeles, and on her trip home to Miami, Florida for winter break, she was questioned and persecuted by her family! However, after seeing her love and faithfulness, Valentina's mom and teen sister started attending the Miami ICC! Her teen sister, Susana Marulanda-Ortega, was baptized on July 22nd, and miraculously at GLC Sunday, Valentina's mom, Nora Ortega, was baptized as a sold-out disciple!

 
It is so awesome to be in a Movement where family members can be baptized through the efforts of a sister church in another city!
 
EDITORIAL
"I Never Want To Go To Columbus!"
"The wind blows where it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit!" (John 3:8) Lord willing, tomorrow September 1st, Karen Maciel – one of the best hearted disciples that Elena & I have ever known – will pack up her car and drive over 2,000 miles to Columbus, Ohio where she will be the last Columbus Mission Team Member to arrive! So why did she say just four months ago, "I never want to go to Columbus?" Learning of her extraordinary life may help you understand, will likely inspire you, and perhaps prevent you from saying the word "never" to God!

 
Karen was born in Tijuana, Mexico on September 19, 1994 to a beautiful young woman – Araceli De La Huerta! Karen has two older sisters – Vanessa and Lizbeth Maciel. Karen has never met her father, but was graciously given her stepfather's last name Maciel, so that she would not feel different or left out as she grew up. (Her stepfather is the biological dad of her two sisters.)

Since her oldest sister Vanessa is a United States citizen, in the year 2000, Karen's mother and stepdad legally crossed the border with Karen's older sister with a temporary visa. However, similar to Moses' mom who radically risked Moses to "save" him, Karen's mom paid complete strangers to smuggle across the Mexican border to America Lizbeth just 7 years old and Karen at 5 years old! The two of them were transported to three different homes full of Mexicans waiting to be brought to the United States. This all happened in one day! They were told to be brave and to pretend to be sleeping so as not to get nervous if they were questioned at the border. Once across, the smugglers gave back to their worried mother and stepdad at an agreed upon location two now very grateful little girls!

 
Karen's teen years were filled with sports as she played basketball and took up boxing after her nose was bloodied in middle school by in Karen's words, "A really big girl!" In high school, she excelled in cross-country and track! She also did quite well in her studies!

 
In January 2012 at 17 years old while working at Tacos Mexico Restaurant, Karen was met by Ezequiel Gonzalez. However, first he reached out to her sister Lizbeth who also worked at the mall, but she was not interested so Lizbeth "volunteered" Karen! Ezequiel came to her job with his little sister Sara. Sara and Karen exchanged numbers, but even though Karen texted her, there was not a response. Six months later at the Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) Freshman Orientation, Ezequiel reached out to Karen again, but neither recognized the other. Karen did go to Bible Talk and there Sara recognized her and vigorously apologized for not following up! Karen was so inspired by the disciples' love and the Bible study that she attended Devo that same night!

The next week, Karen studied the Bible every day and was baptized at the City of Angels Church All-Congregational Service on July 1, 2012! This was the day that I first met Karen!

 
On her second spiritual birthday, July 1, 2014, she moved to Las Vegas on the Supplemental Mission Team and led the UNLV Campus Ministry with her then fiancé. Sadly, a few months later, he fell away with another sister! Karen felt abandoned and betrayed by this young man. A few months later at the Jose & Liz Torres Wedding in Las Vegas, Elena & I met Karen again, as Elena had met her at the Staff Meeting before Karen left for Las Vegas. We were touched by her genuine warmth, her enthusiasm to serve by helping Sonia Gonzalez to cook for the wedding, and her effectiveness in the ministry at such a relatively young age of 19! It was then that I asked her to become a student at ICCM, as I saw so much potential! As well, the decision was made for the church to sponsor Karen for her DACA Work Permit!

 
In October 2015, we asked Karen to return to LA. This she gladly did as she went on to lead the San Bernardino Sector Women under Adam Zepeda and Rebecca Rico, who led the very fruitful IE Region! Since Rebecca was discipling Karen, when Rebecca left to join her future husband working in the London Church, she emphatically said, "Karen is the best person to replace me as your Assistant for the Good News Email as she is very effective, very smart and 'knows everyone!'"

 
So, in July 2016, Karen became Elena's & my Assistant! Her work ethic with the Good News Email has been extraordinary in many long days and nights and in quality editing… redacting!

Peter and John were "unschooled and ordinary men" (Acts 4:13), yet after being with Jesus these fisherman wrote a very high quality of Greek in their writings! Similarly, Karen has become an excellent writer! In fact, she frequently "gently" corrects my grammar and punctuation! These are just a few of the reasons that Karen is now an ICCM-Global Assistant Redactor! (The ICCM-Global Redactor-in-Chief is Chris Adams, a Yale University Graduate, and the other Assistant Redactor is Dr. Jen Watkins, who received her PhD in Medieval Studies from another Ivy League School – Cornell University! Yes, Karen is now in their "league!")

 
Elena & I thought we were going to have Karen for a couple more years, but the Spirit has directed otherwise. In April of this year, Karen had "caught the eye" of Joey Gregory – a very fruitful Campus Intern in the OC Region! He called me up several times for advice as he saw me as Karen's dad in the faith! When Elena & I first sat down with Karen to "explore" if she had an interest in Joey, who was the right hand man for Coltin Rohn on the Columbus Mission Team, Karen's first words were, "I will never go to Columbus!" Well, after a few dates, Joey won Karen over! So not unlike Silas, Luke and Timothy with Paul's Macedonian Vision, it can now be said of Karen, "After [Joey] had seen the [Columbus Vision, Karen] got ready at once to leave for [Columbus], concluding that God had called [her] to preach the Gospel to them." (Acts 16:10)

 
Why did she say, "I never want to go to Columbus?" It was simply because she loves her LA spiritual family and her mom Araceli so, so much! After all, she loved taking care of her mom, and in LA are her two spiritual Dads – Ricky Challinor and me! (She had several great moms in the faith as well – Coleen Challinor, Lianne Kernan, Megan Mathews, Sonia Gonzalez and Elena to name a few!)

As well, Karen now understands that disciples must love God and His plans more than not just their physical families, but their spiritual families too! All this said, I am tearing up as I write this, because Karen has become a true daughter in the faith to Elena & me! She now understands the principle: Never say never to God! Do you?

 
Let us all pray for the Milwaukee and Columbus Inaugural Services on September 19th and October 7th respectively, as well as for Nick & Denise Bordieri, who are joyfully leaving the comforts of America to oversee the Chhim MERCY Orphanage in the third world of Southeast Asia! Pray as well for every disciple in the SoldOut Movement to be EMPOWERED by God's Spirit to take His Gospel to all nations in this generation! And to God be all the glory!
We are family… by God's amazing grace,
Kip