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Greetings from warm and sunny Los Angeles!
Our Almighty God has been moving powerfully throughout the world as there have been so many exciting events and developments in God’s SoldOut Movement since the last Good News Email on December 13, 2015! And as remarkable as 2015 was with the planting of Moscow, Russia; Manila, Philippines; Sacramento, USA; Stockholm, Sweden; Abidjan and Korezouzoua, Ivory Coast, this new year promises to be even more exhilarating! Lord willing, the Spirit will plant Bogota, Colombia in April; Seattle, USA in June; the Tenth Crown of Thorns City – Lagos, Nigeria in June; the Eleventh Crown of Thorns City – Dubai, United Arab Emirates in August; Tampa, USA in September; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo in October; and Bangalore, India in November! Enjoy reading these chronicled miracles of God! And to God be all the glory!
Lord willing, the Lagos Mission Team – led by
Andrew & Patrique Smellie – will be sent-out
from the City of Angels Church
on May 22nd!
BREAKING NEWSBlaise Feumba – Overseeing Evangelist of Haiti: “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus!” (John 1:40-42) 30 months after Alexis Turgeau, a former Mainline Church of Christ preacher, was properly converted and baptized during the 2013 Global Leadership Conference in Los Angeles, he eagerly went back to his people and fellow Churches of Christ preachers. Like Priscilla & Aquila to Apollos, Alexis resolved to “explain to [them] the way of God more adequately.” (Acts 18:26)
Alexis Turgeau – the first sold-out disciple
of Haiti – rejoices at his baptism with
Tim Kernan and Blaise Feumba
at the 2013 GLC!
Alexis & Maryse Turgeau – the Port-au-prince
Church Leaders!
During my first mission trip to Port-au-prince in September 2013, after countless intense Bible studies, seven other preachers came to the conclusion that they needed, like the 12 disciples of Ephesus, to get “properly” baptized!
The seven preachers baptized during Blaise’s
first missionary journey to Haiti!
Alexis again, like Andrew the apostle with Simon his brother, convinced another of his dearest friends and preachers in the city of Jacmel that he had found the true Kingdom of God! Jean-Bonard traveled to the Los Angeles ICC Winter Workshop in January 2014 seeking revival! Alexis and I were blessed to study the Bible with him there and after three days, he was baptized! After the workshop, Jean-Bonard immediately went back to his Church of Christ congregation rejoicing and ready to share with them the truth that he had discovered! So on my second missionary trip, 25 people, including Jean-Bonard’s amazing wife Loverlie, were baptized from Jean-Bonard’s church which was reconstructed to become the Jacmel International Christian Church (ICC)!
Jean-Bonard immediately after his baptism
at the 2014 Winter Workshop!
After my third missionary journey in April 2015, from one sold-out disciple the number of disciples had increased to five churches in five cities – Port-au-prince, Camp-Perrin, Duclair, Jacmel and Mirebalais!
Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the Island
of Hispaniola which is not far from Cuba!
The next amazing miracle the Lord worked through Alexis and his fellow-worker Jean-Bonard is the conversion of another Church of Christ preacher Moise Deshommes in Fort-Lauderdale, Florida! After the 2015 GLC, Alexis and Jean-Bonard resolved to share their faith with Moise. They asked for Matt Sullivan’s help and support as he leads the Orlando, Florida ICC. Astonishingly, Moise, his wife and 13 other people were baptized in Ft- Lauderdale forming the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale ICC Remnant Group! From there, Moise carried the torch of the good news to his friend Wakine Jean, another Church of Christ preacher who was visiting him from a northern city of Haiti – Cap-Haitien! After studying with Moise and Matt, Wakine Jean and his lovely wife Marthe were baptized and eagerly resolved to go back to share what they had learned with their entire congregation!
Matt (left) disciples Moise (blue shirt) on how to
study and baptize Wakine Jean and
his wife Marthe!
Upon Wakine Jean & Marthe’s return home and with the help of Alexis, Jean-Bonard and their team, many people studied the Bible and we now have 25 disciples in Cap-Haitien, our latest ICC planting in Haiti!
Adeline Chery is baptized into God’s Kingdom by
Jean-Bonard (left) and Wakine Jean (right) –
the leader of the new Cap-Haitien ICC!
In less than 30 months, from August 2013 to February 2016, from only one sold-out disciple, Alexis, the number of disciples has reached 187 in 6 churches and in 6 cities of the Island of Haiti and 13 more disciples in Ft. Lauderdale – making a total of exactly 200 Haitian disciples! Extraordinarily, 25 of them are former Church of Christ and Pentecostal preachers! To our awesome Lord be all the glory!Tim Kernan – Director of the 2016 Global Leadership Conference: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!” (Acts 1:8) Jesus’ radical vision for the first century church was for it to spread “to the ends of the earth” in the lifetime of the Apostles! Therefore, the exciting theme for the 2016 GLC is REVOLUTION! The date for this momentous occasion is Sunday, July 31st through Tuesday, August 2nd!
Save money and register for the 2016 GLC –
REVOLUTION – with the Early Bird Special!
On Friday, July 29th will be the exciting Church Builders Workshop and the one-of-a-kind International Campus Devotional! On Saturday will be CyberCon, The MERCYWORLDWIDE Symposium, The International Teen Devo and the fun filled Talent Show and PURE Dance! Registration this year is $185. However, until mid-March we are offering the Early Bird Special for $160! You may register for the 2016 GLC as well as securing housing by going to the City of Angels International Christian Church Webpage at CAICC.net. Let’s be praying for Jesus’ Global REVOLUTION to extend “to the ends of the earth” in this generation!
Joel Parlour – the Seattle Mission Team Leader: “I will give you every place where you set your foot…” (Joshua 1:3) First of all, Courtney & I are very grateful for the opportunity to plant a discipling church in Seattle, Washington in just a couple months! It has been inspiring being discipled by Tim & Lianne Kernan, who are great church planters, and training under their leadership!
The Seattle Mission Team Leaders – Joel & Courtney
Parlour – with their son Brinton in Seattle’s
iconic Space Needle!
Since January we have been able to talk on the phone with the 20 courageous disciples from San Francisco, Portland and Eugene, who are set to come on this mission team! Each of them have such wonderful hearts! We are equally grateful for the disciples coming with us from Syracuse, New York! The Spirit is pulling together so many disciples from around the world to reach out to their friends and family in and around Seattle! I have been amazed at the number of connections the family of God has there – including my wife who is from Seattle!
Courtney takes Lianne to see the world
famous Gum Wall!
Upon arrival at the Seattle Airport, my blood began surging through my veins as the Kernans and us “set our feet” and prayed for God to evangelize the awesome city of Seattle! I was overwhelmed with joy and peace for the next several days as we traveled about the city planting our feet and then praying at every turn!
Tim, Lianne, Joel, Courtney and little Brinton
pray and plant their feet all over Seattle
claiming it for the Lord!
My faith grew as we overlooked the city and the Cascade Mountain Range, seeing Mount Rainier in the distance and dreaming of the many things God is going to do! The metro population of Seattle is almost four million! Seattle is home to many top tier corporations such as Starbucks!
Tim & Joel enjoy a cup of coffee at the
very first Starbucks Store!
The college campuses – especially the University of Washington – are full of ambitious young people dreaming of making an impact on the world!
The Parlours can not wait to evangelize the over
45,000 students at the University
of Washington!
My prayer is that God will unleash His Spirit in ways never before seen in the States! Many universities are populated by high percentages of Asian students and I think of the limitless potential for mission teams, specifically for the Hong Kong Mission Team!
The Seattle skyline with majestic Mt. Rainier
in the background!
Please pray for our Inaugural Service which Lord willing will take place on June 12th! It seems to me that so many of you have someone that wants to check things out so do not hesitate to give them my number (312-339-8347), email (joel.parlour@usd21.org), or my Facebook!Michael Kirchner – Administrator for the SoldOut Movement: “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.’” (Luke 2: 13-14) Greetings from Los Angeles! I believe that we are a people who bring “glory to God in the highest” as “His favor rests” on us! Congratulations to the LA, Boston and Santa Barbara Churches for “over-delivering” their 3X Missions Goal! All other churches will conduct their 3X Missions on February 14th and 21st.
Michael & Sharon Kirchner – the World Sector
Leader Couple for Administration and Law!
I have been asked questions with regards to the needs for this early missions. There has been an escalation to our overall missionary needs that include some of the following: We currently have almost 600 disciples in Africa which is now our largest mission field outside the USA! We have sent Andrew Smellie to Africa three times this past year to gather the remnant in South Africa; conduct our First African Missions Conference; to oversee the plantings of the Abidjan and Korozuzoua Churches; and to establish a foundation in Lagos to plant this tenth Crown of Thorns Church early this summer! God willing we will see Kinshasa officially planted in the Fall!Manila is approaching 150 disciples in seven months after its Inaugural Service! This explosive growth has generated the need to add more ministry staff for the church to support a metropolitan area of over 20 million souls! As well, Sydney has needed extended financial support beyond our original projections. It is one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in, and Joe and the team have gained significant traction in not only building Sydney but converting several Chinese nationals ready and willing to go “home” to evangelize 1.3 billion Chinese souls!
In the last several months, we added staff and brought missionaries back into LA for training and strengthening. Tim & Lianne Kernan, Chris McGrath, Megan Mathews, Princeton & Joy George, Emilio & Tatiana Bonilla, Jared & Rachel McGee, and Mason & Nathalie Fetelika are some of those changes! We also desperately needed to add to our Admin Staff Yelena Astanin as well as Nick & Jacque Economo!
Yelena Astanin is the Financial Administrator
for the SoldOut Movement!
Nick & Jacque Economo are the World Sector
Admin Couple for Los Angeles!
We need to plan and prepare for the seven 2016 church plantings! Costs occur more and more in advance to get the mission teams set up and ready to grow the churches quickly! Lagos alone will cost almost $100,000 to set up because of flights and the need to give a year’s payment of rent upfront for each of the three apartments – one for the Smellies, one for the sisters on the team, and one for the brothers!Finally, we have historically set our budgets off the church contribution pledges. Disciples are disciples and we take them at their word that they will give what they pledge. We have fallen short on our projected income with significant “missing” contribution and disciples giving “under” their pledge. That said, there is a “slip” factor that must be taken into account and we are beginning to better understand and manage this for the future.
On behalf of all of your World Sector Leaders, let me commend your continued generosity to support missions! God and us greatly appreciate your many sacrifices for the cause! Let’s continue to “praise God” for the great missions victories!
Nick Bordieri – President of MERCYWORLDWIDE: The American Red Cross has a motto, “The worst disaster is not being prepared.” In that regard, over 20 fired-up MERCY Ambassador Coordinators – representing each region in the Los Angeles Church – gathered this past Saturday for MERCY’s Disaster-Emergency Preparedness Team Kick-Off Meeting! LA’s Lead Evangelist, Tim Kernan, led the charge by calling us to be prepared individually and collectively, as well as to be leaders within our church family, in our homes, neighborhoods and in our communities!
MERCY and the American Red Cross
partner in a National Blood Drive!
The vision of MERCY’s Disaster-Emergency Preparedness Team is to equip the disciples first here in LA and eventually in other parts of the world for disaster and/or emergency situations. We will draw on the diverse expertise and extensive experience of our team members. At our first meeting helping to train us were former SWAT police officers, military personnel, medical technicians, nurses and outdoor enthusiasts, to name a few. MERCY’s Preparedness Team will meet on a bi-monthly basis to develop a practical program, leveraging our growing partnership with the Red Cross for specialized training where appropriate!
The MERCY Logo has gone GREEN!
Learn more about A.D.E.P.T. on MERCYWORLDWIDE’s Facebook Page!
HEADLINE NEWS
The Crown of Thorns Project Update
In 2009 the Crown of Thorns Project – the SoldOut Movement’s plan for the evangelization of the nations in this generation – was initiated! Phase One is the planting of twelve of some of the most influential cities of the world! Guided by prayer and discernment about governments and remnant groups, these 12 cities were selected: Santiago, London, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Paris, Sydney, Chennai, Moscow, Manila, Lagos, Dubai and Hong Kong! In this updating report, the reporter’s name and their city is followed by the date of the year of planting in parenthesis. These reports will help us to be more specific in our prayers!
Alfredo Anuch of Santiago (2009): “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!” (Ephesians 3:20-21)
Alfredo & Alejandro Anuch – the new
Santiago Church Leaders!
Greetings from the Santiago International Christian Church! We are very humbled before God, because He has done “more than all we ask or imagine!” Since my wife Alejandra & I were appointed the leaders of this amazing congregation just eight months ago, God has added 49 souls to His church – 34 baptisms, 10 restorations and 5 place memberships! And, in the first five weeks of 2016, God has added 5 more souls – 1 baptism, 2 restorations and 2 place memberships! To God be the glory! The highlights of 2015 were: Our Third Central And South America Missions Conference where we had more than 300 on Sunday; Women’s Day – LET IT GO – with 140 women in attendance; the sending out of 20 disciples on the Supplemental Mission Team to Mexico City; and a Special Contribution of 14X to help them in their first months!
The 2015 Central & South American Missions
Conference gave everyone the vision to
evangelize their home nations!
For Alejandra & I, it’s very special that our friends, Marco & Ellia Aravena, disciples from the ICOC for almost 18 years, finally joined us last week in God’s new movement! After visiting for a month, including Sunday Services, Midweeks, and a Marrieds Retreat, their words were, “How many years have we lost? This is the church that we should and want to be in!” Remarkably, Marco studied the Bible with me 14 years ago! God has an incredible plan for each and every one of us!
Marco & Ellia (center) with the Anuches (left)
and the Figueroas!
Last Friday, a young woman from the Catholic University – the number one university in Chile – was baptized! Maria sought God with all her heart and after two weeks she’s now our new sister in the faith!
Our newly baptized sister, Maria (center) along with
the women of the Catholic University Campus
Ministry imitates the challenge given by the
IE Region of LA, “You will be next!”
And finally, God in His grace says, “For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes!” (Proverbs 24:16) This Sunday, God has brought back to us our brother Manuel! He was a disciple for about seven years, and after he suffered the consequences of living far from God, he remembered the Kingdom of God as the best place in the world! Now, he and his family have a real hope!
Manuel (center) is joyfully restored by
Carlos (right) and Giovanni!
Michael Williamson of London (2010): God blessed 2015 powerfully! God gave us a total of 70 additions (52 baptisms, 8 placed memberships, and 10 restorations) and 13 new dating couples, while collecting an extra $68,000 (USA Dollars) for the Stockholm Mission Team! God also helped us support Russia for $6,000, Africa for $2,000, while raising up two new shepherding couples at the EMC and one radical Nigerian Evangelist slated for the Lagos Mission Team – Yomi Bello! Additionally, the Spirit moved in London to send a dear son in the faith Kolbe Gray to train in LA and prayerfully to bring back his girlfriend Rebecca Rico to London in August!
Lord willing, in August, Kolbe & Rebecca will
be heading to London after the 2016 GLC!
Also, we were privileged to help begin the Johannesburg Remnant Group! We sent nationals Jacques & Jeanette Groenewald accompanied with two single professionals – Kudzai and Clark! The four of them have been doing an incredible job establishing a strong base in this great city!
On the Sunday of the 2015 EMC, the Groenewalds
share for Communion before they are sent-off
by the Spirit to Johannesburg!
We ended 2015 with a wonderful wedding celebration of two beloved disciples, Jonathon & Ele Channer! Inspiringly, before they were baptized, they broke off their engagement in order to date purely seeking God will all of their hearts! Of special note, Jonathon’s twin brother, Jermaine studied the Bible first, and then baptized Jonathon, who in turn baptized his fiancée Ele!
Congratulations Channers!
2016 kicked-off with our Winter Workshop entitled, We Are Family…Till the End! At the workshop, the Holy Spirit blew in Menno, Yuklin and their beautiful daughter Sulin Zoutendijk from Amsterdam! The Zoutendijks were the last of the faithful remnant disciples to move from Amsterdam to London and their impact has been phenomenal! Encouragingly, this weekend there were many tears as Yuklin was able to baptize her sister Johanna who travelled here from Trinidad only a few weeks after the Zoutendijks landed! Amazingly, Johanna was one of the three international baptisms this past Sunday, and has three sons who live in Toronto, Canada! One of her impossible prayers is to move to Toronto to baptize her boys! We all know that “with God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26)
Yuklin (right) enthusiastically embraces her
sister Johanna after her good confession!
Norlune from Sri Lanka was also
baptized this Sunday!
baptized this Sunday!
Words cannot express our gratefulness to LA for sending Anthony & Cassidy Olmos! “Instant Impact Anthony” and “Kind Cassidy” have literally changed the church! Please be praying for the remnant disciples from Birmingham and Manchester who are close to forming groups in these respective cities of England!
London has four faith goals this year! 1) For every member to not only recommit to a powerful walk with God but to become Bible Talk Leaders! 2) To start ICCM-London! 3) To raise up two Evangelists and one Women’s Ministry Leader! and 4) To double in size growing from 150-300! Thanks for your prayers as they are making a huge difference!
Raul Moreno of Sao Paulo (2011): “Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you.” (2 Corinthians 10:15-16) Greetings from São Paulo, Brazil my fellow brothers and sisters around the world! 2015 was indeed an incredible year for the church as we saw a dream become a reality! Like the Scripture above, Paul’s desire was to preach to new “regions.” In 2015, we went from having one service every Sunday to three regions that meet separately throughout this mega city. In doing so, God is raising up leadership to lead these regions! Going to regions is super important because Metro Sao Paulo is over 20 million in population and very spread out!
The Morenos have begun to “regionalize”
the fast-growing Sao Paulo Church!
The dating couple, Danilo Bataglin & Carol Postigo, is leading our West Region! They are both from the University of Sao Paulo (USP) and Danilo just graduated last December and is now training full-time for the Lord! Caio Lopes is our South Region Leader and he is also an USP graduate! Last but not least, we have Renato & Maria Jose Tria leading our mighty East Region! They were a powerful couple in our former fellowship that served as an Evangelist and Women’s Ministry Leader!After starting with just seven on the mission team in 2011, we finished 2015 with 137 disciples and we are dreaming to have a great year for the Lord, especially on the campus! In the last three weeks we have had five baptisms! One of them being Aline, who is doing post graduate work at USP!
Aline (middle) jumping from joy after her baptism!
As well, last Saturday, we had a MERCY Event in which we detonated blood and visited the elderly! Please keep praying for our Brazil Missions Conference in two short weeks!
EM CHAMAS (ON FIRE) is the theme of the First
Brazil Missions Conference to be held in
Sao Paulo on February 19-21, 2016!
Carlos Mejia of Mexico City (2012): Greetings from the Mexico City Church! We are so incredibly grateful for 2016 as the Lord has blessed us with many miracles! I had prayed at the beginning of the year that the Lord would open the floodgates with 10 additions in January, which for the first month of the year of a church of 50 is a hefty prayer! At the last Sunday service of the month on January 31st, I saw that we ended the month with 9 souls added to God’s Kingdom and I was a bit sad but grateful that we had 9 more souls in the Mexico Church! But… in my mind, we were missing the one “soul!”Interestingly, I received a call about 7pm that Sunday evening from Hector Gomez and he said, “Bro, there is a guy who wants to finish his studies and is available tonight so perhaps we could baptize him this week!” We met together at 8:30pm that night, and Alberto was on his last study so we finished off the Church Study! At the end of our time, I asked him when he wanted to get baptized. Alberto then responded with a question, “Where is the water?” (Acts 8:36-38) And at about 11:45pm, we baptized him and he is now your brother! The Lord of the harvest blessed our prayers… but it’s always His timing not ours!
God answers Carlos’ prayer for 10 additions
in January with Alberto’s baptism!
We also are very excited that Hector & Adriana Gomez, our remnant group leaders in Bogota, moved to be with us as of January! They moved here with their awesome kids, Daniel, Santiago and Ana Sofia! It was encouraging to see God use Hector to help Alberto get baptized! We can’t wait to see what the Lord will do with Hector & Adriana as they take over Jose & Daniela Otero’s fast-growing Marrieds Ministry!
Hector Gomez preaching at the
2015 CSA Mission Conference!
We were saddened by the departure of some of our best friends – Jared & Rachel McGee – as they did a tremendous job building our Campus Ministry at UNAM! Thanks goes out to the City of Angels Church for sending two of their most effective young interns to lead our Campus Ministry – Miguel Limon & Myrna Lopez!
Miguel & Myrna are so fired-up to lead
the Mexico City Campus Ministry!
Also, please be praying for the Latin American Missions Conference in Mexico City on February 25-28, 2016! We are also excited to have the send-off of the Bogota Mission Team at that Sunday’s service! Please help send any brothers and sisters from your churches to come and get inspired to become missionaries here in Latin America! The following information will help you to register and also book your hotel room at the incredible Hilton Reforma Hotel! Please send any questions to Albert Wagers (alwagers@usd21org). We love you and can’t wait to see you here in Mexico!To register:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-latin-american-missions-conferencela-gran-comision-tickets-18183388003
THE GREAT COMMISSION is the thrilling theme
for the Latin American Conference to be held
in Mexico City on February 25-28, 2016!
To book your hotel:
http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/groups/personalized/M/MEXRFHH-GRCCOM-20160225/index.jhtml#reservation
Philippe Scheidecker of Paris (2012): Bonjour les frères et soeurs! In August 2012 when the 12 disciples on the Paris Mission Team – led by Tim & Lianne Kernan – arrived, my wife Prisca & I were so overjoyed! In the first three months, the Paris Church doubled in size! Then Satan struck as the Kernans’ visa was denied in November after being in London for the European Missions Conference! Ultimately, God used this to send the Kernans to encourage the disciples in India, to plant the church in Canada, and eventually He sent them back to lead LA! However, for us in Paris these became difficult years. Since the Team was composed mostly of Americans, over time all of them had to return home to the USA. In retrospect, God has taught us so much in leading the Paris Church.
http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/groups/personalized/M/MEXRFHH-GRCCOM-20160225/index.jhtml#reservation
Philippe Scheidecker of Paris (2012): Bonjour les frères et soeurs! In August 2012 when the 12 disciples on the Paris Mission Team – led by Tim & Lianne Kernan – arrived, my wife Prisca & I were so overjoyed! In the first three months, the Paris Church doubled in size! Then Satan struck as the Kernans’ visa was denied in November after being in London for the European Missions Conference! Ultimately, God used this to send the Kernans to encourage the disciples in India, to plant the church in Canada, and eventually He sent them back to lead LA! However, for us in Paris these became difficult years. Since the Team was composed mostly of Americans, over time all of them had to return home to the USA. In retrospect, God has taught us so much in leading the Paris Church.
The Paris Mission Team – led by Tim & Lianne
Kernan – a few hours after the amazing
Inaugural Service where 67
were in attendance!
Philippe & Prisca Scheidecker who gallantly
assumed the leadership of the Paris Church
after three months when the Kernans’
visa was not renewed!
In November, we bid a fond farewell to Anais Laurent, the last member of the Paris Mission Team, as she needed to go back to LA and resume her career. We are so grateful for all the missionaries, as their names are forever engraved on the Paris Church foundations!
A heroin of the faith in Paris, Anais at her
Going Away Party… Welcome
back to Los Angeles!
For me the greatest miracle of 2015 was the baptism of my daughter Rebecca on the 15th of August! She turned 14 last week! Like her amazing Mom, she is a firecracker and leads the sisters in singing; she shares at communion; and often does the welcome with a brother!
Girl on fire for the Lord –
Rebecca Scheidecker!
We also had the privilege in November to witness the baptism of Yolenne Assignon (her sister Kelly was first baptized in London) and Marianne Zakpa – two very fired-up campus sisters! As well, we organized the first wedding of the Paris Church with Kevin & Sandra!
In 2015 was the first wedding of the Paris
Church – Kevin & Sandra Lackenn-Toto!
They are now very excited to spend their first Valentines together as a married couple! We have a tradition in the Paris Chruch – on Valentines, the brothers cook and serve an exquisite dinner to the amazing single and campus sisters! That the least we can do as gentlemen to honor our dear sisters! Now, I’m excited to announce that plans are being formulated for late this year or next year for the sending of a Paris Supplemental Mission Team from London! Lord willing, this great effort will be led by Anthony & Cassidy Olmos – who were members of the original Paris Team! Please pray that we can secure the visas necessary for them to spend the foreseeable future baptizing our beloved French countrymen! Famille jusqu’à la fin! (Family to the end!)
Anthony & Cassidy Olmos – the high-powered
Campus Ministry Leaders for the
London Church!
Joe Willis of Sydney (2014): Time has flown so fast as last week we celebrated our Second Anniversary! In this very atheistic country, the Sydney Church now numbers 41 sold-out disciples! It has been great start to 2016 in Sydney as we celebrated our Second Year Anniversary Service with the baptism of a great young leader from the largest Pentecostal church in Syndey – Hillsong Church! Dominik is originally from Germany and trilingual having spent time on as he puts it “the mission field in Peru!” All Dominik wants to do is to go into the fulltime ministry!
The CBD Bible Talk led by Pete Wade and Merari
Escalante! Pete met Dominik (center)
evangelizing in Sydney CBD
on Christmas Eve!
Escalante! Pete met Dominik (center)
evangelizing in Sydney CBD
on Christmas Eve!
This baptism was followed this week with the baptism of a top Master’s Degree graduate from University on New South Wales – Samuel, who is from Lagos, Nigeria! As well we celebrated Chinese New Year with an “All Chinese led Worship Service!” It is so amazing to see gathering people from all nations! Please pray for us as this year as we have a prayer goal to divide the Sydney Church into three sectors and grow from five Bible Talks into 10!
Joe & Kerry – the Sydney Church Leaders – dream
of doubling the Sydney Church in 2016!
Great news from the Hong Kong Mission Team! Just two years ago, the dream started to send out the Hong Kong Mission Team from Sydney as Kip visited Australia for our Inaugural Service and God demonstrated how many Chinese God had placed in here as raw material for evangelizing China! Today we celebrated Chinese New Year with 70 at church with the whole service being run by non-paid Chinese Christians! These young zealots led the singing, welcome, communion, contribution and preaching in Mandarin and English! Dean Lam preached on life can be like his favorite Asian foods: Chicken feet, Jelly fish and Seaweed! 1) Don’t run away like chickens from God’s Word! 2) Don’t wobble like Jelly fish! 3) Step tightly wrapped up in God like sushi in seaweed!
After the Chinese Sunday Service, all in attendance
enjoy some tasty Chinese food!
Hmmmmm! Very tasty jellyfish!
In just 18 months we will be planting the Hong Kong Church – the Twelfth Crown of Thorns Church! So if you are from China, Hong Kong or Taiwan don’t wait, move to Sydney to be part of the genesis of saving 1.3 billion souls!
Sydney honors their huge Chinese population
on their New Year by lighting the
Opera House in red!
Debs Rajan of Chennai (2014): Greetings from the Land of the Tamils! Last year in September we celebrated our first anniversary! During that first year, God blessed us with 101 additions – 94 baptisms and 7 restorations! Prayerfully, our second year will be even more fruitful!We are very grateful that we could attend the 2016 Winter Workshop in Los Angeles! The theme Family Throughout The World stayed on our minds as we came back to our workshop and started focusing on our Bible Talks to make them into living and active families!
The Chennai Church Disciples at their Winter
Workshop sport their theme T-shirts –
“Anchor of Hope!”
Almost all of our Bible Talks have caught fire and have started having many visitors! One exciting Bible Talk is at Madras Christian College! Very creatively, Parthiban, our campus leader, organized a meeting there for the Mathematics Department so that my husband Raja could preach the Word to the 35 non-Christian students who came!
Murali being washed of his sins by
the waters of the Marina!
The waters make a mighty splash after
Aaron gets baptized!
In January, we also organized a “Holy Spirit Convention” with an entry fee! This is simply an extended Bible Study on the Holy Spirit. A few pastors and prominent women came! In all we had a turnout of 37 visitors!
The Q and A in progress during
the Holy Spirit Convention!
God has added seven souls in the past few weeks and one of particular interest is Balaji, who is doing his Bachelor’s in Computer Science! He was met by Harish, a campus disciple. Balaji was so impressed by the changes in Harish’s life that he also decided to follow Christ but his father was upset. So Balaji’s father went to Harish’s house and threatened Harish’s father! Harish’s father convinced Balaji’s father that their sons are going to a safe place and this will do them much good! Memorably, just a few days later, Balaji was baptized into Christ! Continue to pray for all of South Asia to be evangelized in this generation!
Balaji is so jubilant right after he declares,
“Jesus is Lord!”
Elena Sirotkina of Moscow (2015): So great to be in the Kingdom of our amazing God and celebrate the First Anniversary of the Moscow International Christian Church together with our friend, discipler and hero in the faith – Kip McKean! On Friday, January 29th, Kip shared about the good news from around the world and then challenged us with a lesson on King Hezekiah!
Kip is welcomed by the Moscow Disciples singing,
“We Love You With The Love Of The
Lord” in English!
On Saturday, all of our students gathered for a Campus Workshop with Kip to discuss the plans and the challenge of faith to baptize more students – a younger generation to evangelize the world! All were very inspired and united in prayers!
The Campus Workshop!
The next day from the Moscow Campus Ministry, Artem was baptized! He was met in RCTU University of Moscow and immediately the brothers did the Seeking God Study! Afterward, Artem prayed to God for the first time in his life! Then following a month of diligently studying the Bible, he was baptized at our Anniversary Service!
Artem was the first fruit of the Campus Workshop!
As well Valentine, who was baptized a year ago at our Inaugural Service on February 1, 2015, baptized Irina at our First Anniversary Service! As a young woman, Irina wore a veil at the wedding of Valentina! Now Valentina has seen Irina’s spiritual marriage with Christ!
Irina (left) and Valentine – best of friends
and now best of sisters!
This Sunday, God allowed us to witness the baptism of Tengiz – the second Mongolian baptized in our church! Tengiz is a second year university student studying engineering! It is so awesome to see how God is gathering a missionary team for Mongolia! We are truly an international church!
Zulya (right) is one of two Mongolian
Disciples in the Moscow Church!!
Not only is the Spirit bringing open hearts to be baptized, but He is gathering His remnant as well! Alexander was baptized in 1995, when he was a teenager! In 2003 when our former fellowship choose to not have discipling relationships anymore, Alexander fell into a depression and then into many sins. Yet in his tears he prayed to find a church like he was baptized in! Then after almost 13 years, one day God led him to meet on the street my awesome husband Oleg Sirotkin! After one week of refreshing and reestablishing his convictions from the Bible and repentance, Alexander was restored!
In planting the Moscow ICC, Oleg & Elena through
God’s power have overcome persecutions, visa
challenges, bomb threats at their children’s
school, and the weather!
The Moscow Church began with 17 members on the mission team from LA, who were remnant disciples from Russia and Ukraine. Each of them supported themselves in LA from two months to two years! Upon arriving in Moscow, they were joined by 30 more disciples in the Moscow Remnant Group! Amazingly, the Moscow International Christian Church now numbers almost 100 disciples as God blessed us in our first year with 77 additions – 41 baptisms, 24 restorations and 12 place memberships!
The exemplary Moscow Mission Team!
At the First Anniversary Service of the Moscow ICC,
Oleg preaches to a standing room only crowd!
Finally, we would like to invite you to the First Eurasian Missions Conference to be held in Moscow on April 28 – May 1, 2016! Come and share in the faith and love of the Moscow Church and the beauty of the great city of Moscow!
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE is the stirring theme of
the First Eurasian Missions Conference
to be held in Moscow on
April 28 – May 1, 2016!
Sunday of this historic seminar will be held
at the famous Presidential Hotel!
Maika Carbonell of Manila (2015): “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine…” (Ephesians 3:20) Mabuhay! At the start of 2016, the leadership laid out the 2016 Prayer Goals before the church with the theme Immeasurably More! It’s exciting to see what God has in store for us, but it’s been amazing to see what He has already done! He has definitely blessed the church as there have been 109 additions since our Inaugural Service on June 7, 2015 — 83 baptisms, 18 restorations, and 8 place memberships from our former fellowship seeking revival!
Key members of the Manila Mission Team,
Marc & Maika Carbonell, now serve as
the World Sector Administrators
for the Pac Rim!
Of special note, RJ Castro and Rose Sobrino started the “Warrior Nation” Campus Ministry at the start of 2016! In the few weeks since they began their ministry, they have already baptized four students from the Rizal Technological University (RTU)!
Though pointing to Maruja, Rose (green shirt) is
surrounded by the three women she has
baptized this year – Jenielyn,
Clarice and Maruja!
Also of note, God continues to unite even more families in Christ! Bernard, who was baptized last November, wanted nothing more than his wife to become a disciple. Through much patience and perseverance, his prayers were answered as he baptized his wife Jass just yesterday! Also dear to our hearts is the restoration of Charrie, the wife of Ronnie Gonzalez! Despite being physically separated as she lives in Singapore and he in Manila, Charrie saw the changes in Ronnie’s life! This inspired her to get right again with God and His church! Excitingly, they will be united once again in June as Ronnie will be sent-off at the Austral-Pac Rim Missions Conference to lead the Singapore Remnant Group!
The First Austral Pacific Rim Missions Conference –
HEROES OF THE FAITH – will be held in
Manila on June 17-19, 2016!
Lastly, the first semester of the International College of Christian Ministries – Manila (ICCM-Manila) officially began January 30th! The 39 new students and future church leaders walked in the room with gratefulness and excitement! However, after hearing Kyle’s lesson on Jesus’ Dream, they exited the room with even more zeal and eagerness to give their whole hearts not just to the program, but to the evangelization of the entire Pacific Rim World Sector!
Kyle & Joan Bartholomew (center) are the President
and Dean of Women respectively in the
newly founded ICCM-Manila!
Please keep praying for the harvest and the workers here in Manila!FAMILY NEWS
New York City: On December 19th, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, we celebrated the wedding of Aaron & Sharmayne Viscichini! They are a dynamic young couple! Both were converted in Chicago and then went on the San Francisco Mission Team before coming to NYC with their spiritual parents, Mike & Brittany Underhill a little over a year and a half ago. They gave up paid church intern positions in SF to come to NYC and get jobs in order to help build the church here! After only six months, God called them back into the ministry and they are currently serving as the Campus Ministry Couple for the NYC Church!
Congratulations Aaron & Sharmayne!
Phoenix: Greetings from the Valley of the “Son!” “A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.” (Proverbs 31:10) We had the honor as God’s family to see Anthony & Gabrielle united in Christ and made “one flesh” before God and the laws of the land! The wedding was very special, and gave us a chance to really meet and love-up on their respective families! It was so encouraging for the Schultzes and the Ciaramellas to share in their premarital counseling! The humility and sincere desire to honor and obey God in the Pattersons is what makes both of them so “noble” and this has shown through in their engagement and their Biblical standard of impeccable purity!
Congratulations to the Pattersons!
They serve here tirelessly as the Tempe House Church Leaders and have stepped-up to also serve as our Singles Ministry Coordinators! Anthony was converted 15 years ago as a teen in Wichita, Kansas and has a maturity about him that is both reassuring and inspiring! Gabrielle was converted in Santa Barbara about four years ago by the McDonnells and is known for her genuine joy and sincere compassion for others! We are so thankful God brought them both here to the Phoenix Family and we were allowed the privilege of celebrating their marriage in Christ! To God be the glory!Kinshasa: God keeps blessing us with weddings! Dadou & Mimi Gapusu were married on January 17, 2016! So, since the remnant group started in 2010, this is the 18th wedding that we have celebrated!
Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Gapusu!
Chennai: Arumugam Rasu & Nisha were blessed with a baby girl! (In India, names are not chosen for a while after birth.) Arumugam & Nisha lead one of the most fruitful Bible Talks!
At the hospital, Arumugam & Nisha rejoice
in the Lord with their five day
old baby girl!
Los Angeles: So exciting in the South Region was seeing the marriage of Henry and now Shantel Zepeda on December 19th!!! They were baptized at our Christmas Service and that next Saturday were married to bring final unity with their two beautiful little baby girls!
Congratulations to Henry & Shantel Zepeda!
Another highlight for the South Region and for many around the world was the long awaited birth of Mason & Nathalie’s baby girl Kessiah Alofamoni Fetelika! Our precious final addition of the year came on December 31st, 2015! She is a joy to the South Region and Mason & Nathalie are such incredible parents!
Kessi’s first Midweek Service! According to
Dad, she loved every minute of it!
On Sunday, December 20th in the IE Region, another awesomely beautiful wedding was Jason & Daniela Woody! Their families so enjoyed all the festivities with the disciples!
Congratulations to Jason & Daniela Woody!
Jason & Daniela want to encourage those that want
to get married this year, “You will be next!”
The Woodys were dynamic interns in the LA Church, and were sent by the Spirit immediately after their honeymoon to be further trained by Tyler & Shay Sears in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Church! They’ve already had a tremendous impact there as their first Bible Talk at the University of Texas – Dallas had 17 visitors!Vanessa Zepeda & Brian Clavel of the Victorious Ventura Region were zealously married this past Friday, February 5th in Orange County! God brought their two families together in an amazing way, as the joy and friendship of the Kingdom impressed many of their family and friends, who are not yet disciples! This couple was so giving and excited to celebrate with all those they love, that we practically had to escort them out of their own reception to send them on their way to the honeymoon!
Congratulations to the Clavels!
Denver: Greetings from the Rocky Mountains, home to the Mighty Denver Church and the 2016 Super Bowl Champions – the Denver Broncos! It has been a great start to the year in the Denver Church as God has encouragingly added seven to our number! We also were able to have a particularly encouraging addition with the birth of Kevin Horton Jr. (KJ). KJ was born on January 6, 2016 to the proud parents – Kevin & Erica Horton.With a healthy pregnancy free of complications, the Hortons were surprised when at 37 and a half weeks, Erica required an emergency C-section due to a placental abruption. A placental abruption is a very uncommon event in which the placenta separates from the uterus, preventing oxygen and nutrients to get to the baby. The Hortons got to the hospital just in time, and despite KJ requiring resuscitation, had they arrived at the hospital any later KJ would not have made it! God was working! After his birth, KJ’s MRI scans revealed global brain damage, prompting the doctors to predict serious long term developmental complications, future surgeries, and a possible life limited to a vegetative state. The advice from the doctors was to remove baby KJ from life support.
However, the Hortons refused to submit to the doctor’s ultimatum because as their good friend Joe Ugorji said, “Medicine helps, but God heals.” And He certainly did! With great faith, fervent prayer, loving family and the rallying prayers of the Denver Church, the miracles began to show God’s faithfulness!
First, after a week in the NICU, the Hortons were able to hold their son! Then KJ came off the breathing machine and did great breathing on his own. Then, the once persistent seizures completely stopped. They saw him eat on his own diverting a potential surgery to install a feeding tube; IV’s were removed; his kidneys were healed; and finally after two weeks and two days in the NICU, KJ was able to come home! To date, he has been to two church services and experienced a Bronco’s Super Bowl victory! To God be the glory!
KJ is a modern day miracle!
Syracuse: Congratulations to Gary & Nicole Franke on the birth of their son Thomas Franke! Thomas was born on February 5th at 9:59pm and weighed 5 lbs 9 oz! We are so encouraged that God keeps adding to our family in every way!
Thomas Franke is the newest addition
to the Syracuse Church!
Moscow: In January our spiritual family celebrated an amazing event – the birth of Nazar, the first son of our lovely disciples and heroes in the faith, who were on the Moscow Mission Team – Sergiy & Olena Pometun!
Meet and welcome little Nazar Pometun!
As well during Kip’s visit for our First Anniversary Service, Dema Serafonov surprised his girlfriend Tonya Morozova with an engagement ring when he pretended to “just” be going to the Catherine the Great Museum to help Kip better appreciate Russian history! So in Tonya’s mind when Dema asked her and several others to come along to the museum, she was under the impression that at the museum Kip would get a few pictures for the Good News Email.At the end of touring the museum, for a small fee, anyone could dress in clothes made like those from the late 1700’s during Catherine the Great’s reign! So the entire entourage got dressed up in period clothes!
The Russian Disciples having a little fun!
Then, after taking many pictures, Kip said, “Dema, thanks for helping me get these awesome pictures for the Good News Email! We’re done!” That was the signal for Dema to get down on his knee and propose in a very romantic way! Tonya said yes; jumped up and down; and then cried! Of course, this was captured for the Good News Email!
Congratulations Dema & Tonya!
LOCAL LA NEWS
Tim Kernan – Lead Evangelist of the City of Angels Church: Greetings from unclouded Los Angeles, California! It’s been an incredible 38 days in 2016 and God has blessed us with 26 baptisms and 13 restorations – more than daily additions!
Tim & Lianne Kernan lead the City of Angels Church
Staff up Mt. Shalom to pray for 2016!
Staff up Mt. Shalom to pray for 2016!
Lianne & I are so grateful to the McKeans who paved the way for victory in their thoughtful and meticulous passing of the torch of leadership to us on Sunday, December 13, 2015! We are so honored to serve the City of Angels Church!
Our 2016 really began on December 14, 2015, when we gathered the mighty Super Region Leaders and went into the San Bernardino Mountains after the Christmas Service! The Blackwells, Martinezes, Feumbas, Luke Speckman (Brandyn was home recovering from her miraculous surgery), Lianne and I took the time to share our life stories with one another and bonded in an amazing way!
The next day we were joined by the LA Region Leaders, the Admins and Congregational Shepherds for an amazing meal prepared by Mark & Keri Garrido and a powerful time of Confession. 1 John 1:5-10 was in full effect as we split up the men and women into two groups and vulnerably shared our sins with one another. We were drawn together in fellowship and our sins were washed away anew! The brothers’ group was feeling pretty good about their thoroughness, but once the last brother shared, we all began to wonder how the women were doing! A full three hours later the red-eyed sisters descended from the top floor to a standing ovation from the brothers!
The LA Region Leaders Retreat in the snowy
San Bernardino Mountains brought
everyone closer to God and
each other!
On the first week of January, we had our Bible Talk Workshop! All 138 Bible Talks had the opportunity to stand before their respective regions and share their newly conceived Bible Talk names, geographic territory, the members names, as well as their faith goals! This invigorated the church and truly launched all the Bible Talks! It also set us up in a powerful way to go into the Winter Workshop ready to learn and draw closer to God! Since that time we have seen a further 12 Bible Talks initiated!
The 2016 Winter Workshop was indeed the best one… yet! The theme was from 1 Peter 5:8-9, FAMILY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD! Highlights included the Church Builders Workshop, the Bible Talk Leaders Workshop, and a Saturday All Congregational City of Angels Church Service!
Tim Kernan preaches for the All Congregational
Service, sharing hurtful things in his life
that he had not shared publicly before!
The Saturday LA All Congregational Service!
Michael Williamson of London preaching
passionately at the Men’s Program!
At the Women’s Program, Michele Williamson
shares about God’s tender heart
towards all women!
Sunday we met by Super Region! Excitingly, it was announced that Emilio & Tatty Bonilla would be coming down from San Francisco to lead the Palm Springs Region! Jason Dimitry appointed Emilio an Evangelist at the Saturday Service!
Jason appoints his beloved son in the faith
Emilio as an Evangelist in the
Kingdom of God!
The Winter Workshop was LiveStreamed into 54 nations including: Israel, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and China! Thanks goes out to Alex Rhode and his crew for this amazing service to the Kingdom and outreach to nations where there is not a SoldOut Movement Ministry… yet!
LiveStreaming all major SoldOut Movement
Events is having a global impact!
Coming out of the Winter Workshop, we went into our Generosity Drive where we inspired the members to be generous in their pledges! Amazingly our weekly giving has risen from an average of $29,000 weekly to a consistent average of $39,000! Instead of “burdening the church” this Generosity Drive – expressed in a 25% jump in giving – drove the disciples to put their hearts where there treasure was: in the Kingdom!Next we charged straight into a powerful Bring Your Neighbor Day! With torrential rain (equivalent of a blizzard in Moscow!), we still broke our all-time high and set a new record of 1,683 in attendance!
The new class of young prophets and prophetesses
in ICCM-LA met on January 23rd!
Another leadership change came in our AMS Region as Princeton & Joy George were graciously received as their new Region Leaders! Enhancing the leadership as well has been the coming of Josiah & Kristen Smith from Phoenix! Josiah serves as a part time intern and Kristen has her own TV Show! Furthering the incredible surge in the AMS has been the overseeing by Andrew & Patrique Smellie and Rob & Burg Onekea being appointed the Regional Shepherding Couple!
Princeton blew out his first AMS Sermon entitled,
HEAVEN IS FOR OVERCOMERS!
With the Peacock Family moving to take the George’s role in San Diego, we prayed for more help to fill the big hole left by Jermaine & Stefanie’s departure from the OC Region! Prayers were answered as we are very excited to welcome Jared, Rachel and Priscilla McGee from Mexico City to be a part of our City of Angels Church Family in the OC!
Priscilla McGee has great vision for her
Dad & Mom – Jared & Rachel!
1 Corinthians 15:57 “…but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Finally, on Sunday, the City of Angels Church demolished the 3X Missions Goal of $89,729! The saints raised $143,602! That’s $53,873 OVER or over 160% of the goal! We want to thank you Jesus! We want to thank all the amazing LA Leaders for their faith, example and dedication! And we want to thank all the LA saints!Dearest Brothers and Sisters: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the FAMILY of believers THROUGHOUT THE WORLD is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:8-9) In this The Year of Family for the SoldOut Movement, let us continually pray for each other to be “self-controlled and alert” to overcome Satan and all of his demonic angels! Pray this month especially for the impact of the upcoming Brazil Missions Conference and the Latin America Missions Conference! Pray daily for the preparations for the seven plantings scheduled for this year!
Pray especially for the Tenth and Eleventh Crown of Thorns Cities – Lagos and Dubai – to be planted this year and the Twelfth and last Crown of Thorns City – Hong Kong – to be planted in 2017! If the Spirit accomplishes this, then Phase 1 of the Crown of Thorns Project – the SoldOut Movement’s plan to evangelize the world in this generation – will have been completed in just eight years!
Pray for RD & April Baker – the Dubai Mission
Team Leaders – to bring living water into
the hot desert of the Middle East!
Finally, pray for Elena & me as we travel to Brazil and Mexico that “words may be given us so that [we] will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel!” (Ephesians 6:19)
Elena warmly embraces her day old third
granddaughter – Savannah!
Thanks for your partnership in the gospel in prayer and deed! And to God be all the glory!
Much love,
Kip
Much love,
Kip