Good News Email – May 10, 2016

With 5 on the Mission Team and 26 in the Remnant Group, God gave us 140 in attendance! Then on the weekend of April 22-24th in New York City (NYC), instead of us encouraging the church, the NYC Church's zeal and love encouraged Elena & me as we introduced Luke & Brandyn Speckman as their new Church Leader Couple! On April 28th to May 1st was the historic First Eurasian Missions Conference in Moscow! This seminar was so refreshing and exciting for all of us who participated! For the final session – on Orthodox Easter Sunday – we met in the famed Presidents Hotel with an attendance of 282 and witnessed 2 restorations, 1 place membership from our former fellowship, and three baptisms! Everyone at the conference came away believing the theme – NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD! Thanks for your prayers as God did "immeasurably more than all we [asked] or [imagined]!"

 
BREAKING NEWS
 
Kip & Elena's Missionary Journey: On Wednesday, April 13th, Elena & I flew to Bogota, Colombia! We were enthusiastically greeted at the airport that evening by the Bogota Church Leaders – Jose & Daniela Otero – and the fired-up Bogota Disciples singing in Spanish, We Love You With The Love Of The Lord! Elena cried hearing our Movement's universal greeting in her heart language!
 

 
Thursday morning, we heard the news of an incredible miracle – the founding of the SoldOut Press International by Carlos Mejia and Hector Gomez! Hector Gomez started the Berea Publishing House in Bogota several years ago. The Berea Publishing House not only prints Christian books, but Hector has attained the rights to sell most Christian books that have ever been printed including our former movement's DPI Books. Therefore, under the Berea umbrella, the SoldOut Movement through SoldOut Press International will now literally be able to print books in several languages and sell them around the world!
 

 

After this news, Hector, Carlos, Lucy, Elena and I worked on the pictures for Elena's book, which is essentially her Doctoral Dissertation. Elena has entitled her book which focuses on the "Women's Elevation Section" in Luke 7-8, ELEVATE – Jesus' Global Revolution For Women! Lord willing, it will be available at the 2016 Global Leadership Conference at the end of July in both English and Spanish!
 

 
That evening, the Oteros, Mejias and us held a planning meeting for all of the events of the weekend and for the Bogota Church's first few months!
 

 

The next day on Friday, we headed to the world renowned Catedral de Sal (Cathedral of Salt), which is in Zipaquirá a couple hours outside of Bogota! Upon walking its length, all of us were in awe of this massive Cathedral which was once an active salt mine. The tunnel (cathedral) lies about 200 feet underground and is a little less than a mile long with several "mini-chapels" along the way. The tunnel ends at a massive hall 70 feet high where 8,000 can gather to worship! Sadly, false doctrines of Christianity were held by the builders, yet we all marveled at the passion for God these miners must have had! If only the truth could have been preached! All were inspired by the banner on one statue which read,

(Matthew 5:13)
 

 
Friday evening, I preached and Raul Moreno translated in Spanish to the Bogota Church which is composed of 26 remnant disciples. These 26 disciples and the five on the mission team from Mexico City brought 30 more remnant disciples out to hear the lesson,

Through the exiling of the Jews and their return as outlined in 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, we learned the principle that God scatters and God gathers! This helped so many confused remnant disciples to understand the decimation of our former movement and that now God is gathering a new movement from the "farthest horizons!" (Nehemiah 1:8-9)
 

 
Saturday was spent in many studies and meetings. Then on Sunday, April 17th was the Inaugural Service of the Bogota International Christian Church with 140 in attendance!
 

There were so many highlights from the restoration of Ximena by her 86 year old mother Clarita to Carlos Mejia's incredible sermon on the dry bones raised to be a vast army for God in Ezekiel 37! Another highlight was Raul bringing out to the service his dynamic father-in-law Guillermo Perdigon and his cousin Marie Elena! After meeting Lynda's father, I see where Lynda gets her charisma and zest for life!
 

 

Following the service, we had a tremendous celebration at Salvador & Martita Deluque's home! This dynamic remnant couple filled their home with music, food and so many people! We had a time of sharing to close the afternoon, where almost all shed tears of joy during so many incredible accounts about the visitors!
 

 
To date, God has blessed this dynamic congregation with 11 additions – 6 baptisms, 4 restorations and 1 place membership from our former fellowship! Encouragingly, on one Sunday just a couple weeks ago, God gave this baby church planting three baptisms: a second campus student Michael Santamaria and two singles Katherine Bermudez and Harold Friedman.

Harold is a college friend of Hector Gomez who started the Bogota Remnant Group! Katherine is the cousin of our sister in Chile Andrea Bermudez. Without a worldwide unified fellowship, Harold and Kathrine may not have been saved! The Bogota ICC now numbers 42 sold-out disciples!
 

Pray for the Oteros and this fruitful group of disciples to multiply throughout their great nation and into surrounding nations!
 

 
After a brief stop in Dallas where we spent time with Tyler & Shay Sears and Jason Woody and of course our two Texas granddaughters, we arrived in New York City on Wednesday, April 20th! We spent the next few days with Luke & Brandyn Speckman, who will be moving from LA to New York City in June to become their new Church Leaders! Much of our time was spent sharing with the Speckmans about the miracles in that great city in our former fellowship in the 80's and 90's!
 

 
On Friday evening, Elena & I presented the Speckmans to the Mighty NYC Church, and they were received with open arms! Then I preached about the impact of Jesus' ministry in the first century and that if we apply His principles we can have the same impact in the twenty-first century! Saturday all four of us met with Jay & Barb Shelbrack and the four Shepherding Couples! Then we went to a couple of the key campuses in Manhattan – City College of New York and the prestigious Ivy League college – Columbia University! After praying over each of them, the Speckmans went on to see NYU!
 

 
Sunday was phenomenal! Upon entering the room, the atmosphere was electric! The singing was "off the charts!" Brandyn poured her heart out at communion and Luke preached the Word! All told, 152 disciples had 233 in attendance!
 

Jay & Barb Shelbrack have done an outstanding job in the interim since taking over in January!
 

Our vision for the NYC Church is to build seven regions to evangelize this city of over 20 million! One in each of the five boroughs – Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten Island, as well as two more in Long Island and Newark, New Jersey! We are calling this "Operation Gotham" and prayerfully this plan will be accomplished through God's Spirit working in the NYC Disciples in the next two years!

 
After a day of rest, on Tuesday we met with the Shelbracks one last time, and then headed to the airport. After a couple flight delays, we arrived on Wednesday night in Moscow to the joyous singing of We love You With The Love Of The Lord! Though we did not have our bags for three days, the Moscow Disciples provided us with all we needed!
 

 
Thursday was filled with meetings and that night was the Speakers Dinner held in a private room at a very tasty Russian Restaurant! To begin the Speakers Dinner of the historic First Eurasian Missions Conference, we read Psalm 126, "When the Lord brought back the captives to [Moscow], we were like men [and women] who dreamed! Our mouths were filled with laughter and our tongues with songs of joy…" Then we sang We Love You With The Love Of The Lord in Russian then French then English and then in Russian again! Indeed, our mouths were filled with laughter at our attempts at Russian, but we all felt that the theme of the conference was being seen – NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD – with the rebuilding of the Moscow Church after one year now numbering over 100 disciples!
 

 
Friday was the Church Builder Workshop and Raja Rajan of Chennai, India delivered a powerful message, MORE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE! Then there were several charges on Church Growth Practicals by Mike Underhill of Chicago, Lance Underhill his father from LA, Dima & Tanya Serafonov of Moscow, Elena, Anthony Olmos of London, Jenia Sobolev of Moscow, Alexey Voroshenko of Moscow, and Yuriy Zykov of London – he zealously preached in his mother tongue of Russian! Of course all of the lessons were translated so that both Russian and English speakers could understand!
 

Friday evening was the official opening of the conference and the singing was amazing! Michael Williamson gave one of his most inspiring sermons on FAITH THAT MOVES MOUNTAINS! Following was a short but moving concert!
 

 

 

 
Saturday morning was the Men's Session and that afternoon was the Women's Session! The main speeches were forcefully and lovingly delivered by Anthony Olmos and Mike Underhill for the brothers, and Elena McKean and Elena Sirotkina for the sisters!
 

 
Saturday evening was MERCY Night with every participant wearing their green MERCY t-shirt! What a sense of unity was felt in this sea of green! Slava & Lena Kapsky – the Moscow MERCY Directors – shared about MERCY's impact in their great city! The evening closed with the sermon, GO IN THE STRENGTH YOU HAVE!
 

 

Kip preaches about the raising up of an exciting "new
generation" of teens in the movement!

 
Different than the other sessions, on Sunday we met at the beautiful Presidents Hotel with an astounding attendance of 282!
 

 

Singing and dances opened the Worship Service and final session! Then Dima Serafonov was appointed by Oleg Sirotkin an Evangelist in the Kingdom of God!

 

 

 

Following, the Sobolevs shared for communion how their marriage had fallen apart after the collapse of our former fellowship, so much so that Jenia left the family for a while. But God through the Sirotkins brought them into the new movement and all has been forgiven and healed as their oldest daughter Anya was baptized that day! Very touchingly, Raja and his daughter Shefali presided over the contribution and shared their appreciation for the missions money sent from the States, and challenged the Russians to have the same appreciation by giving to their weekly and missions contributions!
 

 

 

Because of time constraints, OIeg Sirotkin's lesson EVEN GREATER THINGS was not translated but his "zealness" motivated all of us!
 

 

That day, two were restored, one placed membership from our former fellowship, and three were baptized!
 

 

 

Afterward, we had tremendous fellowship over coffee and tea discussing with all the visitors what meant the most to them at the service! There were so many big smiles, teary eyes and thankful hugs from both non-Christian and remnant disciple visitors!

 

 

Joel Parlour – Lead Evangelist of Seattle: Just a quick update about the mission team since our arrival on April 6th! Within two weeks of arriving all 19 members of the team, who have landed so far, have secured jobs and homes! Since our landing, we have been about the Father's business and are studying the Bible with many people – including several University of Washington (UW) students – the top university in the State of Washington!
 

 

Please pray for our Inaugural Service on June 12th! If you know anyone in the Seattle area please encourage them to come! If possible, talk to your church leader, and see if you could come with them! Lord willing, we will be worshiping at the Talaris Conference Center (4000 NE 41st St, Seattle, WA 98105), about a mile from UW. If you would like to connect us with anyone feel free to give out my phone number (312-339-8347) and my email (joel.parlour@usd21.org) or Courtney's number (951-616-8759) and email (courtney.parlour@usd21.org)! Looking forward to seeing many of you soon! Thanks for your support, love and prayers!
 
Cesar Limon – Lead Evangelist of Portland: Greetings from Portland and the Pacific Northwest Churches – Seattle, Portland and Eugene! Today was very awesome as we saw four baptisms at our Portland Park Service with each sharing a very moving testimony!
 

 

The Portland and Eugene Churches were especially excited for the arrival of the Seattle Team in the Northwest USA! We were able to initiate this partnership at our Summit Weekend where all three churches gathered! We had over 180 in attendance and 2 baptisms! Also soon after the Seattle Mission Team's arrival, their interns traveled the short three hours from Seattle to be with us in the Portland-ICCM! We already held our first ICCM class with Seattle joining and Joel did an awesome job teaching, A GREATER GLORY!
 

Exciting to think that he was one of the original 30 in the first ICCM Class back in January 2013 and now he is leading the Seattle Church and doing an incredible job overseeing Portland and Eugene! Pray for us to evangelize all of the Northwest USA, and to provide the funds and disciples to send to all nations!
 

 

Jermaine & Stefanie Peacock – the San Diego Church Leaders: Greetings from sunny San Diego! The Spirit is blowing strong waves of encouragement into this great city! Four moving baptisms recently; Fabian Velasco and Edimar Torres are now a newly engaged couple; and an amazing Bring Your Neighbor Day! 
 

 

 

On May 1, 2016, our congregation was "officially" renamed the Greater San Diego International Christian Church to reflect what we believe is God's vision to take the message of Christ throughout the San Diego – Tijuana (Mexico) Metro Area of 5 million lost souls! To kick-off this vision, God blessed our Bring Your Neighbor Day with a record-breaking Sunday attendance of 203! This Service was especially exciting as we revealed our Crown of Thorns San Diego Plan to evangelize the entire area by planting Bible Talks in all the cities that make up this metropolitan area. At the end of the service, we witnessed the inspiring baptism of Carmen Dominguez who under heavy persecution still decided to make Jesus Lord of her life! To God be all the glory!!!
 

 

 

Tim Kernan – Director of the 2016 Global Leadership Conference: 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 stirring theme for the 2016 GLC is REVOLUTION! The date for this momentous occasion is Sunday, July 31st through Tuesday, August 2nd!
 

 

On Friday, July 29th will be the exciting Church Builders Workshop and the inspirational International Campus Devotional! On Saturday will be CyberCon, The MERCYWORLDWIDE Symposium, The International Teen Devo and the fun-filled Talent Show and PURE Dance! The 2016 GLC registration this year is $185. You may register and secure housing by going to the City of Angels International Christian Church Webpage at CAICC.net. Let's be praying for Jesus' REVOLUTION to extend "to the ends of the earth" in this generation!
 
Nick Bordieri – World Sector Leader of MERCY: "The worship that God wants is this: caring for orphans or widows who need help and keeping yourself free from the world’s evil influence. This is the kind of worship that God accepts as pure and good." (James 1:27 ERV) The Seventh Annual International Day of MERCY is quickly approaching on June 18th, preceded by our Day of Prayer and Fasting by the entire movement on Friday, June 17th!
 

Projects will be held in all our branches (churches) around the globe, which include projects with orphans in Phoenix, Sao Paulo and Manila! MERCY London and Moscow plan to work with children hospitals, while NYC will hold multiple projects, as will Los Angeles including a partnership for Fire Prevention with the Red Cross and a Human Trafficking Community Awareness Day! Mark your calendars and let's plan on making this year's International Day of MERCY the most inpactful to date!
 

 

Please join me in congratulating Joe & Denise Chiappetta, who have been appointed MERCY Los Angeles Branch Directors, once they arrive from Chicago in July!
   

 

I'm also very excited to announce MERCY's Internship Program, and the appointment of MERCY's first two interns: Aaron Uriarte (Southland Region of LA) and Jason Collier (MERCY Santa Barbara)! Please join me in congratulating both Aaron and Jason! My wife Denise & I can't wait to hear about all the good news around the globe from The Seventh Annual International Day of MERCY!
 
HEADLINE NEWS
Update: The Crown of Thorns Project
The Crown of Thorns Project is the SoldOut Movement's vision and plan to evangelize the nations in this generation! It is merely an imitation of Jesus' vision and plan to evangelize the nations in His generation! Before ascending to Heaven, Jesus said to the Apostles, "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) For the SoldOut Movement, our Jerusalem is the Los Angeles Church; our Judea and Samaria are the United States and Canada; and the ends of the earth are still the ends of the earth! In Phase 1 of The Ends of the Earth, we targeted 12 of the most international cities of the world, guided by remnant groups. From these 12 churches the remaining nations will be targeted for church plantings! This plan was put into effect just seven years ago and here are the updates along with their year of planting in parenthesis:
 
Alfredo Anuch – Lead Evangelist 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)
 

 
Greetings from the Santiago International Christian Church! April was a very special month for Santiago… We had our first campaign called: "I HAVE MANY PEOPLE IN THIS CITY!" Highlights include: 1) A prayer goal for 14 new souls for Christ! 2) In each d-time share your faith with 14! 3) Each disciple shares with 14 every day! 4) Each day, we pray for 14 minutes more than what we were praying! 5) Every 14 days, we will fast! 6) Read in the Book of Acts: 1 chapter each day! And in answer to our prayers: Exactly 14 new souls were added in April – 13 baptisms and 1 restoration! So we now have 141 members – 30 additions this first third of the year – so our prayer goals for 2016 of 100 baptisms and 200 in membership are well within reach!
 

 

Two baptisms were of note: Santy – a Bolivian nurse – came to Chile invited by Martha, a young Christian who was baptized in August 2015. Santy was a "sold-out Catholic," practicing most of their traditions for many years. However, she studied the Bible and after four weeks she said, "Jesus is my Lord and my Savior!"
 

 

Daniel, a student of the Catholic University was invited by our zealous brother Cristobal at the end of March. Daniel showed his heart from the first study (Seeking God)… After this one powerful study, Daniel left his false doctrine church, his girlfriend and his part-time job for the Kingdom of God!!!
 

 

Michele Williamson – Lead Women's Ministry Leader of London (2010): On Sunday April 19, we held our Sixth Annual Women's Day in our gorgeous and "posh" new Sunday venue Porchester Hall! Our theme BEAUTIFUL – inspired by the "unfading beauty" of 1 Peter 3:3-4 – was a hit when evangelizing as so many women in the world have lost God's perspective of who we were created to be! (Genesis 1:27) With an amazing fashion show, delicious meal prepared and served by our incredible brothers, and a vulnerable keynote speech from Cassidy Olmos, God blessed our 69 sisters with an attendance of 319! So inspiring was our awesome Congregational Shepherdess Maria Hart, who had 34 personal guests attend! Please pray for a "beautiful harvest of souls" and please watch our video at https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_zovvaLOeDE.
 

The following Thursday, Michael & I, the Olmoses and three single disciples (Jurij, Jeanette and Richard) traveled to Moscow to attend the First Eurasian Missions Conference! We felt so loved by the disciples from the moment we were warmly greeted at the airport, and were deeply impacted by the messages of faith delivered by Raja, Kip, Anthony, Mike Underhill, Elena and Oleg! The leadership is doing a fantastic job and we left fully convinced that Для бога нет ничего невозможного (Nothing Is Impossible With God)!
 

 
Raul Moreno – Lead Evangelist of São Paulo (2011): "Love is patient, love is kind…" (1 Corinthians 13:4) Happy Mother's Day from São Paulo! As we celebrate this most joyous holiday in most parts of the world, we are reminded that God loves us like a very caring father and also like a loving and compassionate mother! (1 Thessalonians 2:7,11)

Mothers are great gifts from God, but equally amazing is the fact that in the Kingdom, we have many inspiring spiritual mothers that God uses for us to remain in the straight and narrow path! For Lynda & I, Elena McKean truly epitomizes spiritual motherhood for our movement! Elena, during all of your visits to São Paulo, we cannot help but to think about this passage, "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment… but from the inner disposition of your heart, unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is precious in God's sight." (1 Peter 3:3-4 BSB) However, behind this "gentle and quiet spirit," is a drive, resolve, prayer life and faith in our Lord Jesus that is stronger than steel! That is why I think that God chose you to be Kip's wife! You are the perfect balance for him! Thank you on this day for being a spiritual mother to us all!
 

 

After prayer, the decision has been made to send this same compassionate love to Rio de Janeiro in the form of a church planting in February 2017 at our Brazil Missions Conference! However, it has become apparent for the need to plant a House Church prior to that time so that the way can be paved for the church planting! So, I'm pleased to announce that Lord willing in July 2016, Caio Costa will plant the Rio de Janeiro House Church! 
 

Also, the Lord has blessed the São Paulo Church with ten additions in the last six weeks! Please keep us in your prayers! We love you!
 
Carlos Mejia – Lead Evangelist of Mexico City (2012): "When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the Apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them." (Acts 15:4) Greetings from Mexico City! We are extremely happy to "report everything" that God is doing in our part of the world! In the month of April, God has given the church a total of 17 additions growing our membership of 50 to start the year to now over 100 sold-out disciples! We were blown away as two couples that placed membership last month were former fulltime Sector Leaders in the ICOC! 
 

 
In our very first week of May, the Lord has brought us 5 more additions which included one campus and two singles baptisms!
 

 
Of special note, the Lord brought to us Leonel & Cristina Torres, a wonderful couple who placed membership today directly from our former fellowship! At one point they led 1/4 of the Mexico City ICOC as Super Regional Leaders – over 1,000 disciples! They are an amazing couple for the Lord as they have also previously served as missionaries leading powerfully in various states in Mexico! We are so grateful to have Leonel & Cristina as partners in the gospel, as they are eager to roll up their sleeves and rebuild God's Kingdom! To Him be all the glory!
 

 
Philippe Scheidecker – Church Leader of Paris (2012): Bonjour! It was just simply amazing and a huge blessing from God for Prisca, our daughter Rebecca, and I to attend the First Eurasia Missions Conference, and experience first-hand the love, care and dedication of our brothers and sisters in Moscow! As Kip preached about on Friday night, it was especially moving for us to see the "next generation" that God is raising up for His glory: our daughter Rebecca (14) from France, Sofia (15) from Russia, Shefali (16) from India, and now Anya (12) who was baptized at the conference! 
 

 
This is what our daughter Rebecca said, "Since the conference was not too big, it was easier for me to get to know the different brothers and sisters… It was great to go and hang out with the teens as one group! I also loved the translation and organization! Sophia was already one of my best friends, but it was great to become friends with Shefali and Anya so quickly, to attend one of Anya's studies in Russian, and to see her become my sister through her baptism after the Sunday service! We need to build unity with every generation!"
 
Needless to say, we came back from the conference inspired, encouraged and so grateful for what God is doing throughout His Kingdom! We can't wait to come back next year with more disciples from Paris and Europe!
 

 

As well, at the conference, plans were made for Anthony & Cassidy Olmos and a small supplemental mission team from London to land either immediately following the 2016 European Missions Conference in October or after the Winter Workshop in January 2017! Prisca & I are very honored to have already begun our discipling relationship with the Olmoses who will be the new Paris Church Leaders! Pray for Paris to live up to our nickname: the City of Lights!
 

 
Joe Willis – Lead Evangelist of Sydney (2014): G'day mates! I wanted to share one of the ways that we made our Special Missions Contribution this year! We originally trained the church on how to make cupcakes to sell… Well then someone suggested we take water bottles to help people "wash down" the tasty cupcakes! Interestingly, people started to be more interested in giving money for missions for bottles of water! So by the end of our push, we would stand opposite a prominent place near a supermarket and ask for donations for mission work in exchange for a bottle of water, which had a "suggested price" of $1! When we ran out of bottles, we simply went into the supermarket and bought more! The CBD (Central Business District) Bible Talk raise over $1,400 doing this on a few Saturdays with several people giving $5, $10 and $20 notes on occasion!
 

 
Debs Rajan – Lead Women's Ministry Leader of Chennai (2014): "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." (John 15:18-19) Greetings from the "Land of Temples!" India is a nation of 1.2 billion lost souls with many cultures and languages. Each of our 29 states has many languages! In fact, there are 122 major languages and an additional 1,600 other languages!
 

 

We have been praying to baptize people from every state! Saima, who is from the state of Tripura, was recently met by Yassa Green. Saima has completed her Bachelors in Sociology and is now planning to do her Master’s. Since she has decided to stay back in Chennai and be a sold-out disciple of Jesus, she has been facing severe persecution! However, seeing Saima's convictions, her cousin Salka also started studying the Bible!
 

God is doing amazing things as all the Interns and all the disciples are working really hard in the heat to save as many souls during the summer holidays! Praise God as He has blessed us with 34 additions in the first four months of 2016! We now have 149 sold-out disciples in Chennai – 45 of them college students! 
 
Oleg Sirotkin – Lead Evangelist of Moscow (2015): To get a firsthand glimpse in five minutes of our First Eurasian Mission Conference, please go to my dear friend and brother Lance Underhill's Facebook page on ICC Hot News – Moscow! (https://www.facebook.com/lance.underhill.3?fref=ts) In just five minutes, you too will come to believe that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

The ICC Hot News Team of Lance (right) and Mike
Underhill at the EAMC interview Dima
minutes before he is appointed
an Evangelist!

 

 

Maika Carbonell – Administer of the Pac Rim World Sector living in Manila (2015): Mabuhay! The Metro Manila Church has been filled with excitement and fire! Since our Inaugural Service exactly 11 months ago on June 7th, God has blessed us with 157 additions – 124 baptisms, 24, restorations and 9 place memberships! Of special note, 21 souls have been added since our Bring Your Neighbor Day held on April 17th! This means that we have had daily additions for the last three weeks! Many of these are family members of the disciples. With this, the church's faith continues to grow as they witness God answering their personal prayers!
 

Special to the hearts of all the parents in the congregation were the baptisms of Arnold & Masah Melicor’s two sons! Arnold & Masah are two remnant disciples that have been a great example, as they travel nine hours every Sunday to get to church! Their commitment and sacrifice may seem foolish to the world, but this allowed their sons to see what it really means to be sold-out for Christ! On April 10th, their eldest son Caleb was baptized, as well as their nephew Stephen! One week later, their second son Cholo was baptized!
 

Maria Ligaya – fondly known as "Tita (Aunt) Guy" – had been checking out the church for quite some time, but wrestled with the decision to place membership from our former fellowship. All of that changed, however, when she saw her granddaughter Kai get baptized! She saw that our church was indeed fulfilling their purpose of making disciples as they studied the Bible with her, and they were doing it with the zeal, love and the same happiness that she used to have as a young disciple! A few days after Kai's baptism, Tita Guy placed membership at our Midweek Devotional!
 

All of us in the Metro Manila Church are so looking forward to the First Austral-Pacific Rim Missions Conference which will be held here on June 17-19, 2016! Please go to our Metro Manila ICC Website for more detailed information! http://www.mmicc.net/
 

 

Lastly, we are saddened but as disciples encouraged to share that our brother Clemente Saturinas passed away last April 29th from a heart attack. Just a few months prior, as he suffered from his second heart attack, he prayed to God to give him a second chance in life so that he could get right with Him. God answered his prayers, and shortly afterward, he met Joaquin & Susan Martelino! They invited him to church and to study the Bible. On April 17th, he repented of all his sins, confessed that Jesus was the Lord of his life, and was baptized! Just two weeks after starting his new life as a Christian, he was taken by God to glory as he was on his way to Bible Talk! This too is our glorious hope in Christ!
 

 
Andrew Smellie – Lagos Mission Team Leader (2016): "The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth." (Isaiah 26:7) Greetings from Lagos, Nigeria – home of the 2016 Africa Missions Conference, entitled, A GREAT LIGHT HAS DAWNED and the birthplace of the Lagos International Christian Church, which celebrates its Inaugural Service on June 26th! I have just returned from Lagos this week after a productive journey to "spy out the land" as our Mission Team makes final preparations to be sent out from Los Angeles to Lagos on May 22nd! 
 

 

The Lord has been working to make our path "level" and "smooth" as the entire team has been assembled in the AMS Region, from as far as Portland, Oregon to Gainesville, Florida! Attalee Dixon, the final member of our Lagos Mission Team, just placed membership with us today! Attalee is a student at the University of Florida with a focus on African languages – particularly Yoruba, which is the native language spoken in Lagos! Recently, she received an award of recognition for excellence at the intermediate level! God is preparing us to be effective! 
 

 

In addition, our housing in Lagos been nailed down with 24 hour electricity (a luxury in Nigeria!), as well as our Africa Missions Conference accommodations at the Four Points by Sheraton (www.fourpointslagos.com)!  
 

 

To attend this historic event, please register at: www.amc.iccchurchevents.org! With the addition of my dear "nephew in the faith" from London, Yomi Bello, we now have eight souls in the remnant group waiting for us, and on my last Sunday in Lagos before returning to LA to gather the team, the Lord blessed us with 26 in attendance with many from our former fellowship seeking revival! 
 

 

Please pray for this the Tenth Crown of Thorns planting to be the start of many "lights of hope" across the African continent! 
 
RD Baker – Dubai Mission Team Leader (2016): Pray for the Spying out the Land Trip that the World Sector Leaders of the Middle East – the Blackwells – and April & I will take from May 23-31, 2016! Pray that I can land a job on the trip and then start a job by July 1st so that April & I can lay the foundation for the Dubai Mission Team to come immediately after the 2016 GLC! So that you can pray for them, let me introduce the Dubai Mission Team: Anna Avrils, Jamal Ellis, Dao Henderson, John & Genina Tuason all of LA, and Gina dela Pena of Manila and June of Chennai!
 

 

Joe Willis – Overseeing Evangelist for Hong Kong Mission Team (2017): Already, the Lord is gathering a stalwart group of Chinese disciples in Sydney which will become the Hong Kong Mission Team! We need to encourage every Chinese disciple who is fluent in at least one dialect of Chinese to move to Sydney to train for this vital and last Crown of Thorns Mission Team. That said, we may need to plant two or three Chinese Churches in rapid succession; one in Hong Kong – which is our Crown of Thorns City – and is primarily Cantonese speaking. The other may be in Taipei, Taiwan because they speak Taiwanese and/or in Beijing in Mainland, China where they predominately speak Mandarin.
 
Leading the Hong Kong Mission Team which Lord willing will be sent off at the 2017 GLC – thus completing Phase #1 of the planting of the 12 Crown of Thorns Cities – is Che Leong, and accompanying him are: Dean Lam, Candice Lee, Brian Lin, Calvin Shuen, Themis Shuen and Cain Peng all of Sydney, as well as Charlotte Xia and Lan Yang of LA!
 

 
FAMILY NEWS
 
Sydney: We are so excited in the Sydney Church to see the engagement of our first conversion Teigan Fraley to one of the original missionaries Sean Valenzuela, who was part of a group of Christians who met her on campus two years ago! Sean "converted" our church building into a "candle light trail of presents" right up to Sean standing in a love heart of candles where he proposed to Teigan with the church hiding in the balcony, who at Teigan's reply "yes" then erupted into applause!
 

 

Las Vegas: We are incredible grateful to God for the awesome blessing that Udo & Sara Ibe received as Bryce Isaac Ibe was born on April 25, 2016 at 11:04 pm, 6 lbs. 8 oz. and 18 inches long! Bryce's Abuelo & Abuela are the Las Vegas Church Leaders – Victor & Sonia Gonzalez! To God be the glory!
 

 

Washington DC: Elliot & Brittne Powers who were gloriously married in the Kingdom last summer, welcomed their new daughter, Skai (pronounced "sky") Olivia Powers, on March 27th!
 

Skai!

 
Also, God blessed Muoki & Rosita Ndaka with their fourth child on April 27th, as their son, Jacob Muoki Ndaka, was born!
 

 
Orlando: Childhood friends and partners in the gospel Windeley Ambroise (baptized in Miami when Princeton & Joy were there) and Chantal Williams (who just graduated from UCF with a degree in Speech Pathology) were engaged just a few weeks back and we are so fired-up for their upcoming wedding on October 2, 2016!
 

 
Los Angeles – Orange County Region: Isaias, Ana and little Sophia Valentin are still celebrating the birth of Sophia's little brother Mateo!
 

 
Scot Kendrick proposes to his beloved Ana Turcious! Lord willing at the end of the year they will move as a married couple to New York City to be partners in the gospel with their spiritual dad and mom – Luke & Brandyn Speckman!
 

 
East Region: Excitingly, Jonathan & Bree Pedraza, the Bible Talk Leaders of the Ontario-based "Mountain Movers," just had their baby boy, Malachi, on April 18th!
 

 
AMS Region: Adorable baby Caleb Drew was added to our number just last week! He is the son of proud parents – Daniel & Rebecca Drew!
 

 
Stockholm: The Kingdom Wedding of Kaspar & Ashley Tambaur was glorious beyond words! Their complete purity not only set a great example for all future dating couples but completely amazed and inspired the non-Christians in the audience!
 

 
LOCAL LA NEWS
 
Tim Kernan – Lead Evangelist of the City of Angels International Christian Church (CAICC): Happy Mother's Day! This Friday night, we had our Fourth Annual CAICC Basketball League Championship! The Bulls of the Southland Region, led by our awesome brother Cory Blackwell, won the championship for the third straight year! His Bulls defeated the heavily favored Grizzlies 45 to 38! Congratulations to all the amazing brothers and sisters who competed so valiantly this year!
 

 

Every CAICC League Game begins with two prayers –
one from a member of each team! That said, few
gave the Bulls even "a prayer of a chance"
against the Grizzlies as the Bulls had
lost to them during the season!

 

The All Star Game came immediately following! In a close back and forth game between the East and West All Stars, the West prevailed 76 to 73! 
 

 

Next year, we are looking at having a whole sports season, which would start right after Special Missions Contribution in May! We could potentially have four weeks of basketball, then followed by four weeks of soccer, in the weeks leading up to the GLC! We are also looking at potentially adding an LA vs. The World Basketball Championship, and an LA vs. The World Soccer Championship to the 2017 GLC Program! Stay tuned for more details!
 

 
Over the past several weeks, Lianne & I along with the CAICC Shepherds – the Bordieris and the Untalans – and the CAICC Admin Couple – the Economos – have been visiting every church and LA Region in the Crown of Thorns Project's "Judea" (California plus Nevada and Arizona)! We dubbed this venture "The Walls of Jerusalem Project!" In each place, we have focused the messages on the SoldOut Movement's Distinguishing Core Convictions, inspiring the disciples about Special Missions, reinforcing the conviction that every Bible Talk should be fruitful in every church, and much more!
 

 

 A very special element of "The Walls of Jerusalem Project" has been to honor the heroes of the faith – those disciples who have stayed faithful to the Lord for a significant period of time. This is a special time in each service where we ask some of these individuals to come forward. The Region Leaders and other disciples share about them. They are then presented with a "Shield of Faith Pin" before they address the region or the church. We have been so moved by these spiritual heroes and their inspiring testimonies of perseverance!

 
"Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions." (Ezra 8:21) This Saturday, we fasted as a church for God to add to our contribution and to use us to do great things around the world! We are so proud of all the disciples being sent out on missions teams this year. We are praying that they will be safe, and that our Special Missions Contribution will surpass their needs! Everyone in LA is feeling the loss of Cory & Jeraldine Blackwell and their Supplemental Chicago Mission Team; Andrew & Patrique Smellie and the Lagos Mission Team; Luke & Brandyn Speckman and the New York City Supplemental Mission Team; RD & April Baker and the Dubai Mission Team; Mark & Keri Garrido and the Hilo Supplemental Mission Team; Kolbe Gray & Rebecca Rico who are going to the awesome London Church; and Adam Zepeda, who is going to the delightful Sao Paulo Church! We will miss them all sorely!
 

 

On the other hand, we are excited to receive Coltin & Mandee Rohn from the Boston Church, who will be strengthening the mighty Orange County Region; as well as Mike & Brittany Underhill from the great Chicago Church, who will be moving to the Central Region! Please pray for us as we are at a full tilt for these last seven days leading up to the Special Missions Contribution!
 

To close, I simply want to lift up our new Southland Region Couple – Ron & Tracy Harding! Because of Cory & Jee's amazing efforts, the Hardings will be leading the largest region in the CAICC! Congratulations goes to them as just three weeks ago, they saw their prayers for 18 years answered as they baptized their older son Devon into Christ! Keep us in your prayers as we are diligently praying to God to become a church of over 1,000 disciples this calendar year!
 

Editorial by Kip McKean
Dearest Brothers and Sisters: May 6th marked the Ninth Anniversary of the Inaugural Service of the City of Angels International Christian Church! With just 42 sold-out disciples from Portland joined by the 12 in the remnant group in Los Angeles, God has multiplied this courageous church over these past nine years into almost 5,000 disciples, in 66 churches, in 33 nations on all six populated continents of the world! Truly, this is not a movement of men but it is indeed the modern day movement of God!
 

 
Though God's movement is growing numerically and spreading geographically, there remains a deep sense of family! At the Eurasian Missions Conference in Moscow, participating were not simply Russian Christians, British Christians, Indian Christians, Congolese Christians and American Christians, but all came to a profound conviction that God's call is to be Global Disciples! Our love for the Father and His people must supersede our loyalty to our country of citizenship, our nation's international policies, and even our beloved physical families. Through the ages, nationalism, sentimentality and a quest for comfort have destroyed righteous global initiatives of all kinds – especially movements of God.
 

 
A long-held conviction for me as an American is that since God has blessed America with so much, then America has a moral obligation to reach out and to help the less fortunate of other countries. Likewise in the Kingdom, God expects us who are blessed with so much – "every spiritual blessing" – to reach out and to help those less fortunate: anyone outside of God's family. (Ephesians 1:3) Let us remain ever thankful to God as all of us in the SoldOut Movement owe a huge debt of gratitude for those that prayed for us, reached out to us, and sacrificed financially so that God could build His church in "our" city! So in this month of Missions Contributions for the Lagos and Dubai Mission Teams as well as existing churches in the third world, let us remember: "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously… Be generous on every occasion, and… your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God!" (2 Corinthians 9:6-11)