March 8, 2018

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Dear Friend,
Greetings from Manila, Stockholm, Orlando, São Paulo, Mexico City and LA! Indeed, this has been a very busy two months of travel for Elena and me! In Manila, we spent two weeks as we introduced Richie and Elizabeth McDonnell as the new Metro Manila Church Leaders, and helped them conduct their New Year’s Workshop! Following, Elena headed home and I continued on to preach in the great Stockholm and Orlando Churches! Then Elena and I traveled to São Paulo on January 27th for the World Sector Leaders Retreat and the incredible 2018 South American Missions Conference (SAMC), where the Quito Mission Team was sent out! After returning to LA for a few days, we then flew on February 13th to Mexico City for the thrilling 2018 Latin American Missions Conference (LAMC)! So exciting that with the plantings of Albuquerque, New Mexico last Sunday and Quito, Ecuador, God’s SoldOut Movement has multiplied from the 42 Portland Disciples that planted the City of Angels Church in May 2007 to now almost 6,000 disciples in 91 churches in 35 nations on all 6 populated continents of the world! Truly this is not merely a movement of men, it is the very Movement of God! And to God be all the glory!

 
HEADLINE NEWS
Joshua Christensen – Lead Evangelist of Albuquerque: Greetings from beautiful New Mexico! The Holy Spirit sent out the Albuquerque (ABQ) Mission Team on Sunday, January 7th at the City of Angels Church Winter Workshop!

Since that time, the team has secured housing, jobs and one baptism – Izaac Pacheco, a student at Central New Mexico University!

 
Amazingly, for our Inaugural Service, the 13 ABQ Disciples saw God bring 147 in attendance! We were blessed to have 29 disciples from Denver, 27 from Phoenix, 10 from LA, 26 children in Kid’s Kingdom, and 42 adult guests – 3 to 1 visitors to ABQ Disciples! For this historic day, we were especially honored to have in attendance the World Sector Leaders: Tim Kernan, Tony Untalan, Nick Bordieri and Michael Kirchner!

Another highlight is that as a Movement – through OPERATION EAGLE – we are now in 17 of the 50 States in the USA!

 
Richie McDonnell – Lead Evangelist of Metro Manila: Greetings from Metro Manila and Metro Cebu, Philippines! It has been an incredible first 61 days in the Philippines! Elizabeth, Sawyer, Lucy, Nathalie and I arrived in Manila on January 4th, warmly welcomed by so many of the brothers and sisters of the Metro Manila International Christian Church (MMICC)!

 
Drs. Kip and Elena McKean arrived that same evening, and they immediately began to introduce us to all of the incredible leaders in the MMICC over the next couple of days. Then they officially introduced us to the church at that Friday night’s Congregational Devotional!

Our first Sunday Service on January 7th with the MMICC was incredible! Elizabeth shared for Communion, the McKeans shared for Contribution, and I preached my first sermon of 2018, entitled, MEN AND WOMEN WHO DREAM taken from Psalm 126! To conclude the lesson, I called the MMICC to dream for the evangelization of all 17 cities of Metro Manila, the 7,107 islands of the Philippines, and all 11 countries of South East Asia!

 
During the next week, Kip took Carlos Robielos, RJ Castro and Elizabeth and me to “spy out the land” at many of the key campuses! Most impressive were the University of Philippines (UP), Ateneo and the Intramuros Campuses!

Then, the following weekend was our New Year’s Workshop, titled STRONG IN THE GRACE! It was a phenomenal time of faithful preaching, encouragement and spiritual revival for all of the brothers and sisters! It was also great having John and Anna Malnegro – the Metro Cebu ICC Leaders – and 15 others from the Metro Cebu ICC participate in the New Year’s Workshop in Manila! 

 
At the conclusion of the New Year’s Workshop, the MMICC took ahold of the challenge to see the Lord bring daily additions in the year of 2018! The Lord is beginning to answer this prayer as we had our first two baptisms of the year on Sunday, January 14th – Quennie Biongan (the younger sister of Felip) and Airi (the daughter of the Javiers)! And on that Sunday, we had 187 disciples! So we are quickly gaining momentum! So after our first crazy 61 days, we are now at 223 disciples, which is a growth of 36 disciples through 8 place memberships, 5 restorations and 24 baptisms… and sadly, one fall away! And to God be the glory!

 
To really get the Metro Manila Campus Ministry off to a great start for 2018, I gathered all of the Campus Interns and leaders at the Old Manila Campuses of Intramuros to set an example of a model Bible Talk. We all met together in a park beside the Intramuros Campuses at 6:00AM for a time of prayer, and then we shared our faith for two hours on the campuses! Then we had our Bible Talk! Incredibly, the Lord blessed the efforts of the 24 disciples by giving us 38 visitors at our first Bible Talk of the semester! 

 
Two weeks after the New Year’s Workshop, the MMICC had our Bring Your Neighbor Day on January 28th, where we were fasting and praying for the Lord to break our record attendance! Amazingly, after only two weeks of fasting, prayer and sharing our faith, the Lord blessed our faith and deeds, giving the then 194 disciples of the MMICC a record attendance of 424!

 
After four weeks in Metro Manila, Elizabeth and I flew 350 miles (570 km) to Metro Cebu to encourage the church there and spend time with John and Anna Malnegro! After an incredible welcome by the disciples at the airport on Friday afternoon, we gathered for a Congregational Devotional that evening! Then on Sunday, the Metro Cebu ICC had their Bring Your Neighbor Day! 32 disciples had an amazing attendance of 112, and three souls were baptized into Christ!

 
Today, Sunday March 4th, the Metro Manila Church hosted its very first Women’s Day with the theme ELEVATE! Astonishingly, with 114 Metro Manila Sisters, God blessed them with an attendance of 358! As well, there were three baptisms and one restoration at our Women’s Day! I was so proud of my wife Elizabeth and all of my Metro Manila Sisters for hosting this awesome event!
 

 
Please keep not only the churches in the Philippines in your prayers, but also our upcoming Pacific Rim Missions Conference (PRMC) on April 5-8, 2018! This year’s exciting theme is STRONG AND COURAGEOUS! All of the speeches and classes are on the Book of Joshua, as Joshua led God’s people to conquer the Promised Land!

The PRMC will be held at Hotel Jen, Pasay City, Metro Manila. (The link to discounted rates will be posted soon!) However, you can register now at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-pac-rim-missions-conference-strong-courageous-april-5th-8th-tickets-43260086082.
 
Mark Garrido – Overseeing Evangelist for the Hawaiian Islands and Guam: Greetings from the “Surf Sector” of the Pacific Rim Tribe World Sector, which our dear leader Tim Kernan refers to as “Surf and Turf” – the “Turf Sector” being the Western USA and Canada! 

 
This past Sunday in Honolulu on the Island of Oahu, the Lord blessed us with an incredible “one for one” visitors at our Bring Your Neighbor Day Service! Of special note was the emotional restoration of our brother Alex Pangelinan – the first cousin to Zach Shields of our Metro Manila Church! During one of our Bible Studies, I will never forget what Alex shared, “I AM BLIND BUT NOW I CAN TRULY SEE!” Alex went on to say, “My blindness will not stop me from living out the vision of Jesus!” After service, we had an incredible potluck and many friends who visited for the first time did Bible Studies!

 
Kona – which is on the West Shore of the Big Island – also had an incredible restoration, Alexander Aehegma!

 
At the Kona Church, Souvi and Parmina Kiona heard the Word of the Lord and saw that they were not pleasing God by living together in a sinful way. After repentance, Souvi and Parmina were married by David Kelly and now have been added by baptism to God’s great Kingdom!

 
In Hilo – which is on the East Shore of the Big Island – Maddie, like her older teen sister in the Directo Family, was baptized! The whole family encouraged Maddie with leis around her neck to say, “We love you with love of the Lord!” GO TEEEEEEENS!

 
On February 11th, John Escano was baptized in the beautiful Island of Guam! John is the fourth baptism since the planting of the Guam ICC with just five remnant disciples joining only four disciples on the mission team, who were sent out at the 2017 GLC!

 
Please continue to pray for the “Surf Sector” as many are about to enter the surf!

Mike Patterson – Lead Evangelist of Boston: In the last five weeks, God has given us eight additions – five baptisms and three place memberships from the Charlotte Remnant Group! Chenelle and I have been so encouraged by our new partnership in the Gospel with Luke and Brandyn Speckman as they just began discipling us a month ago!

Today, our service was themed Never Enough from a song in The Greatest Showman! Special performances of the song Never Enough by Janah Dawson and From Now On by David Rydstedt and the choir amazed us all! Luke’s sermon A MILLION DREAMS inspired us to dream big for God and build the church to 140 by the end of the year! Brandyn gave her Communion based off the song This Is Me and for one of the only times I can remember, there was a standing ovation for Communion! God gave us for our Bring Your Neighbor Day today our highest attendance ever as a church of 156! Highlights of the day included the baptisms of Carter, a freshman Harvard student, and Heidi, a Suffolk student!

Other good news is that we had ICCM a week ago on the Harvard University Campus, as the college now lets us use these amazing rooms for free! We will also be having our first Friday Campus Devotional at Harvard! This should be a permanent location for us!

Chi Leong – Lead Evangelist of Hong Kong: Greetings from China! 2018 has been awesome so far as we had our first Chinese New Year Church Service! The Lord generously blessed us with a total attendance of 31 including 7 disciples!

Also on the first day of the Lunar New Year, God allowed us to baptize a Filipino woman named Shaineh!

 
Sadly, late last year, my amazing co-leader for the women – Naomi Radnaabazar – was not allowed to return to Hong Kong because of visa issues since she is from Mongolia. Although we miss her dearly, we are so excited that the City of Angels Church is graciously sending Alicia Winthein to help the women for three months starting April 1st! We look forward to all the great things God will continue to do in Hong Kong!

 
Cory Blackwell – Overseeing Evangelist of Dubai: My good news is Miguel Mendez! After we attended the Latin American Missions Conference (LAMC) in Mexico City, Miguel and I flew directly to Dubai so that I could introduce him to the church! Miguel has taken to Dubai like it has been his home for years! He had visitors at church the very first day, which was his first sermon too! It was incredible to see Miguel so bold and confident in the Lord!

He has one awesome young man named Aris past the Light and Darkness Study, who is poised to be baptized Lord willing on Friday! I am so happy with the way that the Dubai Church Leaders – RD and April Baker – have received him with love and care. Megan Mathews arrives in Dubai in one month to be April’s right hand sister!

 
So amazing to think that just 14 months ago, there were but 13 disciples in Dubai. Yet during that time through the power of the Holy Spirit, God has given them 33 baptisms – four already in 2018!

 
RD, April, Miguel, Jee and I are so very grateful for all of the sacrifices and generosity shown to the Dubai Church by our USA Churches that keep our mission dreams alive in the Middle East!
 
Jason Dimitry – Lead Evangelist of San Francisco: Greetings from the Bay Area! 2018 is off to a triumphant start! Our goal as a church this year is to have 150 additions! The Lord blessed us with exactly 100 additions in the calendar year of 2017, and so we are faithful that God will do “even greater things” in 2018! It has been eight weeks and we are sitting at 16 additions thus far – 15 baptisms and 1 restoration! A highlight of these first two months was the sending out of the Hayward House Church at our Bay Area Winter Workshop in January!

We sent out 10 incredible disciples led by Fred Palmer and Jenora Cooper, two non-fulltime ministry people, and they just had their first two baptisms last Sunday!

Anthony Olmos – Lead Evangelist of Paris: Greetings from the City of Lights! When we arrived in Paris from London with the five disciple Supplemental Mission Team, there were 13 disciples in the Paris Church! With these 18 disciples, God blessed us with 61 at our Inaugural Service on October 8th! Since that time, even though I was in the hospital on two separate occasions late last year, the Spirit has given us seven baptisms and one restoration! The zealous Paris Church is now 26 fired up disciples!

Two of the amazing baptisms have been in 2018! The first was Dr. Michele Wokem, who has her PhD in Pharmaceutical Studies! She battled her emotions and pride for weeks. We knew she was ready when at our House Church Service she stood up and said, “I don’t ever want to let my logic or pride get in the way of Jesus’ truth! I want to be baptized for real today!” Her act of faith was so moving that it inspired our now brother Lilian Dalin to be baptized the following week! Lilian had been coming out for months and was even giving his tithe, but he was afraid to commit. One act of faith changed it all!

Keep us in your prayers as we have Women’s Day on March 25th with the title, Tout Commence Par Un Rêve! (Everything Starts With A Dream!)

Joe Willis – Lead Evangelist of Sydney: Greetings from the “Land Down Under!” 2018 has been a great year so far as we launched a two month “Big Bang” Evidences Campaign that has seen the church grow from 48 to 56 disciples! Included in this time was our Annual All Night Prayer with 14 visitors in attendance and ending in the baptism of Schuster from Shenzeng – which will be our first Mainland China Planting in 2020! We also had our Annual Chinese New Year Service with exactly 100 in attendance!

Three very faith-building baptisms were: Arm, our first Thai Brother; Daniel, the best friend of Dom our German Intern, who was only visiting for a holiday; and Jessi, the best friend of India, who had just come off a 14 nation missionary journey for the denominational group Youth With A Mission!

This Sunday, we had an amazing 86 in attendance! After service, Hiroshi, who studied in Shanghai in English School but speaks Mandarin, was baptized! He also carries a New Zealand passport and is only 19 years old!

 
Elena Sirotkina – Lead Women’s Ministry Leader of Moscow: We are very happy to welcome a new couple into the Moscow Church Family – Denis and Julia! Denis first came to know about the church six years ago, but under the pressure of persecution from his family, Denis stopped studying the Bible. However, the disciples did not stop praying for him, and a little more than a month ago, Denis came to church, and wanted to become a disciple once again! Yet Denis faced a challenge – he had to tell his wife of his decision! When he finally shared it, Julia called him out on being quiet about his wish to study the Bible, and said that now she wants to study the Bible also and be baptized! With great urgency, Denis and Julia studied the Scriptures and were baptized! Julia now sings in our choir, and Denis helps with the sound tech!

 
Furthermore, we are happy to greet three young sisters who were baptized into the church – Eunice, Angelica and Milana!

  
After a strong spiritual influence of the World Sector Leaders Retreat and the South American Missions Conference in Brazil, Oleg – my awesome husband – and I are on fire for God! Upon returning home, we preached John 15 about the purification of our hearts through the Word of God and called the church to repent by returning to the high standard of the sold-out disciples of the first century! Today, the Moscow Church is united in fasting, daily sharing of faith, and prayers for not only daily baptisms, but also baptisms of future leaders to evangelize Eurasia in our generation! We are very grateful for God’s miracles of repentance and baptisms!
 
Alfredo Anuch – Lead Evangelist of Santiago: Greetings from Chile – literally “the ends of the earth!” Incredibly, in December, God initiated a new remnant group in South America – Lima, Peru, which currently numbers seven sold-out disciples!

 
Also very exciting for the Santiago Church, since it is summertime here when school is out and most take vacations, in the first two months of 2018, God has added 14 new souls!

 
In early February, 35 disciples of our 200 members flew 2,600 km (1,600 miles) from Santiago to São Paulo to attend the best ever South American Missions Conference! During this event, God allowed my wife Alejandra and me to appoint two Chilean Evangelists and Women’s Ministry Leaders: José and Pilar Vargas, who are Region Leaders, and Manuel and Claudia Palma, who are the Quito Mission Team Leaders! Keep the Quito Mission Team in your prayers as they are preparing for their Inaugural Service on March 11th!

Luke Speckman – Lead Evangelist of New York City: 2018 has kicked off with an exciting start for us! Firstly, we were able to increase our contribution and put Dao Henderson (formerly of Dubai) on Staff to co-lead the NYC Campus Ministry with her amazing boyfriend Nick Enfantino. Also, we put Jill Swan on Staff who co-leads the New Jersey Region with her incredible husband, Dave! Up to this point, Jill had been self-supported in the ministry with the earnings from their house and business sale in California! 

One of the most exciting developments that has happened this year is my approval as a Religious Life Advisor at Columbia University through the office of the University Chaplain! (Columbia is one of eight Ivy League Colleges, which includes Harvard and Yale! Presently, we have six students at Columbia!) I act as an officer for Columbia and have been given a Columbia ID and email, shared office space, and counseling hours so that I can spend time with students who need spiritual guidance! Essentially, I am given space in the Chaplain’s building with the expectation that I will do Bible Studies with students! This is obviously a very exciting opportunity and I have already made some incredible connections in the Columbia Community!

On a personal note, Brandyn and I are so proud of our 17 year old son, Malik! His high school won the State Championship in Basketball for the second year in a row! At 6’7″, Malik is the starting forward!

Raja Rajan – Lead Evangelist of Chennai: Greetings from India! In the past eight weeks, God gave us 10 baptisms, of which eight of them were campus students! The Chennai Church now numbers 226 disciples strong!

 

Of special note is Kenvin who is just 17 years old and had intense persecution at home as he challenged even his grandpa of not being a Christian. His family (father, mother, sister and grandfather) were very upset and came to persecute the church as well as to stop the baptism. However, when they came to church, Kenvin’s entire family was blown away by the love, fellowship and the message! After the message, Kenvin’s father came up to me and said, “According to what you preached from the Scriptures, even I am not a Christian!” His father pleaded with me to not let his son drift away from this fellowship and then agreed to participate in his son’s joyful celebration! The entire family rejoiced at Kenvin’s decision!

Kenvin’s younger cousin Celsia, who is doing her Engineering Degree, was so inspired by Kenvin’s convictions, that she too studied the Bible and was baptized!

Last Saturday, 110 disciples went to the Government Rehabilitation Centre, which is actually a Colony for Lepers that lies in the outskirts of Chennai. The disciples started at 6:00AM in the morning with fruits and biscuit packets to spend time with the “Untouchables” of society! Every disciple was moved and came back saying truly how grateful they were to God for their own lives!

Lastly, we are very excited to announce the theme for the South Asia Missions Conference (SAMC) – UNSTOPPABLE! The Chennai Church will be hosting this historic event from April 19-22, 2018!

Lord willing, at the Sunday Service of the SAMC, 40 disciples will be sent off on the Delhi Mission Team giving us three churches in three of the five key cities of India! You may register for the SAMC at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-south-asian-missions-conference-unstoppable-april-19-22-tickets-43770522812!
 
MCKEANS’ MISSIONARY TRIPS
After spending the first two weeks of January working with our dear Metro Manila Church, Elena flew home, but I continued onto Stockholm for three days!

At that same time, Oleg and Elena Sirotkin flew into Stockholm from Moscow as Scandinavia is in their Eurasian World Sector. As well, they asked our new Kiev Church Leader – Victor Masleanicov – to come for the meetings! Warmly receiving all of us were the incredible new leaders of the Stockholm Church – Kaspar and Ashley Tambaur!

 
After all the meetings, on Thursday night January 18th, Oleg and I addressed the Stockholm Church to encourage and strengthen them! It was a tremendous time of fellowship and revival!

 
On Friday, I flew from Stockholm in Orlando – with short layovers in Frankfort and Chicago – finally arriving late that night! I was able to see my Mom for the first time since my Father’s Memorial Service in late November 2017.

 
Elena and I flew into São Paulo on Saturday, January 27th and had dinner that evening with the dynamic São Paulo Church Leaders – Raul and Lynda Moreno!

Most of the World Sector Leaders also flew in that same day, so as to be able to worship with the São Paulo ICC on Sunday morning! In particular, Elena and I wanted all the World Sector Leaders to “see” the amazing São Paulo Campus Ministry of 70 disciples! Of special note, 35 of these disciples go to the University of São Paulo (USP) – the number one ranked college for all of Central and South America! Therefore, Raul arranged for a “Young Guns Sunday,” where the spiritual and talented students (or recent graduates) preached the Word!

At the Worship Service, Raul asked me to say some closing words of encouragement to the church. I shared with the 200 São Paulo Brothers and Sisters that they were the model church for the Movement in Campus Ministry! Then I had the World Sector Leaders all stand and after I introduced them, I said, “If Jesus were here in the flesh, I believe He would say to each of you, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it!'” (Luke 10:23-24)

 
To conclude the service, we witnessed five baptisms and one restoration!
 

 
Late Monday morning, the World Sector Leaders boarded a bus to go to our retreat site in Campos do Jordão, which is about a three hour bus ride from São Paulo!

That night the 12 World Sector Leader Couples came together for Communion and a dinner! Since it is the Year of Grace for the SoldOut Movement, at the Communion as we each held a piece of bread torn from one loaf, all repeated after me, “We are family!” Then lifting up a communion cup of red wine in their other hand, they repeated, “By God’s amazing grace!”

 
On Tuesday morning, we gathered for my lesson entitled, STRONG IN THE GRACE!

Afterwards, we broke into Men’s and Women’s D-groups to confess our sins, thus building a greater unity. The remainder of the day we spent time as individuals and as couples with one another.

 
On Wednesday morning, we came together to go over the SoldOut Movement Road Map! This was an exciting time as we discussed new church plantings, missions contributions, new appointments for Evangelists and Women’s Ministry Leaders, and how to work with couples in nations where divorce is not legal. Again, the remainder of the day was spent with various disciples! Some of us did play ping-pong and one brother was undefeated… I will not embarrass the many brothers who lost by naming their names!

 
Thursday morning, the World Sector Leaders again boarded a bus to head back to São Paulo. That evening was the first event of the 2018 South American Missions Conference (SAMC) – The Speakers Dinner!
 

 
During the Speakers Dinner, Alfredo and Alejandra Anuch of Santiago preached at the International Campus Devotional!

 
The theme for the 2018 SAMC was from Revelation 2:26, ATE O FIM (TO THE END)! Friday morning was the Leaders Workshop! Dr. Tim Kernan of Los Angeles delivered a powerful opening speech, PERSEVERE TO THE END!

Then we heard very interesting short challenges entitled, TO THE END FOLLOWING THE FOOTSTEPS OF: STEPHEN by Alfredo Anuch, ESTHER by Lynda Moreno, JAMES (John’s Brother) by Renato Tria – the São Paulo East Region Leader, RUTH by Shay Sears of Dallas, DEBORAH by Carol Bataglin – the São Paulo West Region Woman Leader, and PAUL by Danilo Bataglin – the São Paulo West Region Leader!

 
To close out the workshop, Dr. Andrew Smellie of Lagos preached the stirring address, FIRM TO THE END!

 
On Friday evening was the thrilling First General Session! Highlights included an incredible Video, a Cultural Dance, a Drum Troop and a Flag Ceremony of all the flags of the South American nations!

Then Elena and I were privileged to share Good News From Around The World! Following came the Kingdom Appointments of two awesome married couples from Santiago: Jose Andres and Pilar Vargas as well as Manuel and Claudia Palma!

Then we heard two charges! The first was by Michael Kirchner, TO THE END IN FINANCES! The second charge was given by Tony Untalan, TO THE END AS A SHEPHERD!

Then Cory Blackwell powerfully closed out the evening with the sermon, TO THE VERY END OF THE AGE!

On Saturday morning was the Men’s Workshop! The main speakers were Matt Sullivan of Miami who was very vulnerable as he spoke on LOVE TO THE END, and Michael Williamson of London who inspired us with the lesson, EVANGELIZING THE NATIONS TO THE END!

 
Saturday afternoon was the Women’s Workshop! Elena preached on LOVE TO THE END and various sisters gave enthusiastic short charges!

 
Saturday night was MERCY Night where all of us put on our green MERCY T-shirts! Nick and Denise Bordieri – the Global Directors of MERCYworldwide – shared about different MERCY Projects around the world!

Then came the unforgettable Skit simply titled, TO THE END that depicted the cosmic battle between God and Satan!

 
Following, Dr. Raul Moreno passionately preached on IRREPROACHABLE TO THE END!
 

To conclude the evening, there was the Pure Dance where the theme was Galaxy and so everyone was asked to wear a futuristic outfit!

 
On Sunday was the incredible Worship Service where 369 gathered to praise God! The Sirotkins of Moscow moved our hearts in Communion! The Willises of Sydney convicted us about the Contribution!

 
Following a short break was the First ICCM-São Paulo Commencement where 16 very deserving students received their BA Degree in Ministry!
 

So encouraging was that Vini Rodrigues de Souza and his father Augusto both received degrees, which was the first degree ever for Augusto and Vini was the Valedictorian!
 

 
After a fairly long break, I was privileged to speak on VICTORIOUS TO THE END!
 

Then we witnessed seven more baptisms and another restoration! 

To close the service, the Holy Spirit sent out the Quito Mission Team and we sang together the “Brazilian Version” of LuJack Martinez’s Glory Song, which not only gave the history of the Discipling Movement since 1979, but included details about South America and in particular the Brazilian Churches!

Exactly a week after the SAMC, Tulio and his mom Luisa baptized Rita, Tulio’s grandmother and Luisa’s mom!

 
After a few days of being home in Los Angeles, Elena and I flew to Mexico City on Tuesday, February 13th for the Latin American Missions Conference (LAMC)! The exciting theme of the LAMC was CONVICCION DE CORAZON (CONVICTION OF THE HEART)!

That night, we had a great dinner with the gallant Mexico City Church Leaders – Carlos and Lucy Mejia! Then after working on our speeches all day on February 14th – Valentine’s Day, Elena and I were blessed to celebrate dinner that night with our dear grandson and granddaughter in the faith – Adam Zepeda and Lauren Ona! What a great time we had!

 
On Thursday morning, the Leadership Workshop was held at the newly built and gorgeous Mexico City ICC Building!

In attendance were approximately 200 Americans – 120 were leaders graciously brought by Tim and Lianne Kernan from the Pac Rim Tribe World Sector! As well, about 75 Mexican Leaders were in attendance! Dr. Raul Moreno gave the first speech entitled, AN OPEN HEART! Most of the Evangelists were cut by Raul’s fourth point, When Raising Up Leaders, Expect To Lose Them Quickly!

 
Following this tremendous sermon were several charges on LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES OF THE HEART: The Heart To Learn by Hector and Adriana Gomez of Mexico City, The Heart To Teach by José and Daniela Otero of Monterrey, The Heart To Train Others In Righteousness by Ricky and Coleen Challinor of LA, The Heart Behind Correcting by Joel and Courtney Parlour of Seattle, The Heart Of Being Thoroughly Equipped by Jason and Sarah Dimitry of San Francisco, and The Heart For Confession And Atonement by Jared and Rachel McGee of LA! During this session, came perhaps the most quoted words of the conference concerning Bible Talks by Coleen Challinor, “It’s not okay to not have baptisms!”

 
Following the close of this session around noontime, the International Delegates boarded buses to the Teotihuacán Pyramids! For the previous two years, Elena and I thoroughly enjoyed the bus ride with the disciples, climbing the pyramid, and the Mexican Buffet Dinner at the Gran Teocalli Restaurant! However, this time both of us were quite sick and needed to save ourselves for Friday!

 
On Friday, Tim and Lianne Kernan gathered all of the Church Leaders in the Pac Rim Tribe World Sector for a four hour Training Session! Then at about 5:30PM, a 7.2 earthquake hit 200 miles south of us in Oaxaca! We still felt it very strongly and as a matter of fact, all of the buildings in Mexico City had mandatory evacuations! Since the earthquake had paralyzed the city with everyone in the streets, the First General Session started over an hour late at around 8:30PM. Yet, the LAMC Participants were all the more fired up as we remembered Acts 4:31, when after the disciples had prayed for great boldness, God answered with an earthquake and the Bible simply reads, “And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly!” After a rousing Welcome and an International Prayer, we witnessed a terrific Opening Video on reviving a frozen heart!

Quite creatively, for the LAMC Registration, all of the Registration Staff were wearing doctor’s coats and stethoscopes signifying that we were all undergoing “major heart surgery” by attending the LAMC!

 
Following the phenomenal video by José Otero, Elena and I shared Good News From Around The World!

Then the Mexico City Teen Ministry put on a dance performance that none of us will ever forget, which ended in the Parade of Flags of Central and South America!

 
After this, we saw the Kingdom Appointments of Kwaku and Ashley Sarkodie of San Francisco!

 
That evening, Cory Blackwell of Chicago closed out this momentous day with the sermon, THE GREAT PHYSICIAN! Cory opened his lesson by asking the question, “Do you remember how sick you were as a non-Christian?”

 
On Saturday morning, we gathered for the Second General Session! Dr. Tim Kernan delivered a tremendous lesson entitled, DISCIPLES AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART! Tim began his lesson with the words, “The God who invented fire, speed, lions and sharks wants to talk to you about His heart for forceful advancement!”

Then we heard charges on The Heart Of MERCY by Nick and Denise Bordieri, The Heart Of A Shepherd by Philippe Scheidecker of Mexico City and Travis and Cecy Frazier of LA, and The Heart Of Finances by Nick and Jacque Economo of LA!

 
Then to close out the morning, we broke into Men’s and Women’s Sessions on THE HEART OF THE CHURCH – BIBLE TALKS! That afternoon, special classes were offered and perhaps most talked about was Carlos Mejia’s lesson on, DARKNESS TO LIGHT – OVERCOMING ABUSE!

 
On Saturday evening was the much anticipated Kingdom Banquet! The food was amazing and the Mariachis were even better!

Although I consider this the most difficult time to preach, as many people are quite distracted and tired, Carlos Mejia preached on PRECIOUS BLOOD and humorously shared about different personalities being one of four colors – red, yellow, blue and green! To conclude, Carlos challenged us from the Scriptures that our differences need to be overcome if we as true disciples are to be a united witness to a lost world!

 
To cap this amazing evening, there was a Family Pure Dance!

 
For various reasons, the Fourth General Session – The Congregational Sunday Worship Service – was scheduled to begin at 2:00PM! At this epic service of 447 in attendance, the singing was incredible as we sang mostly in Spanish, but some in English! Then came the touching Kingdom Appointments of Miguel and Myrna Limon! The Limons lead the Movement’s Model Teen Ministry in Mexico City, which now numbers 25 sold-out disciples!

 
Communion and Contribution were beautifully done by Salvador and Patricia Velasco of LA and Daniel and Patty Granger of LA, respectively! After a short break, the Mexico City Teens once more dazzled the entire LAMC with another heartsy Special Dance Presentation!

 
The keynote address was CONVICTION OF THE HEART! My opening text was the account of Hosea and Gomer and how God was like Hosea who took back His fallen bride Gomer – who is parallel to us! My two points were simply, Grace Motivates and Grace Does Not Negotiate!

 
The service closed with nine baptisms, two restorations and one place membership! Yet that did not really tell the whole story, because just a couple days before, four others were baptized! Therefore, for that week, God blessed the Mexico City Church with 16 additions making them 193 disciples strong!

Everyone walked away from this incredible Missions Conference with the Great Physician removing our “hearts of stone, and giving us a new heart of flesh!” (Ezekiel 36:26) And to God be all the glory!
 
FAMILY NEWS
São Paulo: Congratulations to Tulio Amaral and Vaítsa Haratsaris on their engagement! They serve as Sector Leaders in the East Region of the São Paulo Church! Both Tulio and Vaítsa shared the same sentiment about their engagement while serving in church leadership, “We are feeling inexpressible joy!”

Also from São Paulo, another couple was engaged! Congratulations to Vini Rodrigues de Souza and Bia Hida! Amazingly, they met about eight years ago in high school, and then started dating in college! They broke up to become disciples four years ago, and then dated in the Kingdom for two times, two years apart. Amazingly, the way that Vini and Bia conducted themselves in the Kingdom inspired both of Vini’s parents to become disciples! They now lead the South Region of the São Paulo Church! Bia says, “Being engaged is a constant reminder of how much grace God has given us!”

 
A fourth Brazilian engagement happened at the end of the Women’s Program of the South American Missions Conference when Valdemar Monteiro got on his knee to ask Fernanda Gomes to be his wife! In tears, she said, “Yes!” very quickly!

San Francisco: San Francisco witnessed the incredible wedding of Emmanuel “Manny” and Adina Alberto! They dated in the world but then Adina studied the Bible in March of 2015 and broke it off with “Manny” and was baptized! Manny then studied the Bible with Jason Dimitry and was baptized two months later! They now serve diligently as the San Francisco Kingdom Kids Coordinators!

Las Vegas: Congratulations to Arvind and Yine Patel who were married by Jason Dimitry on February 25th! This was a particularly exciting wedding as Arvind and Yine were some of the first converts in Las Vegas back in 2013 when the church was planted by the Dimitrys! 

 
Stockholm: On January 17th, our dear sister Anna Karlsson went on to glory after a short and intense battle with cancer. Working as Dr. Erik af Klint’s nurse, she became a disciple during the remnant group days of the Stockholm Church. Anna was dearly loved by all in the church for her sense of humor, hospitality and character. One of Anna’s favorite things was song leading in the Kingdom! We all miss her, but are looking forward to seeing her at the resurrection of the righteous! (John 11:25-26)

 
More news from Sweden… Baby Oliver Tambaur entered into this world on March 1st at 8:03AM at 3.45kg (7.6 pounds) and 52cm (20.6 inches)! He is a healthy, gorgeous baby! Baby Oliver, Ashley and Kaspar are all doing well!

 
Kiev: Alex Balitskiy and Alina Ignatchenko were engaged on New Year’s Eve in the Kiev Church!

 
Orlando: Congratulations to Wayne Shaw and Larci Robinson on their recent engagement!

 
Denver: Excitingly, our dear brother Adrian Garcia and sister Lidia Barrios were engaged in December and will become one in marriage on April 21, 2018! Adrian and Lidia were both baptized in the San Francisco Church and moved with Dustin and Amanda Miller to Denver last year! They have been tremendously instrumental in building the church of the Rocky Mountains, and we believe that they will continue to do “even greater things” as a married couple!

 
Gainesville: Greeting from the home of the University of Florida! It is bitter sweet to share that our dear sister, Sherry Beck, passed onto glory in late December 2017. Bill and Sherry Beck were pillars of the Gainesville Church, and Sherry had become a best friend to Tia Turner – the leader of the Gainesville Sisters. Bill valiantly stood by her side every day to ensure she was comfortable and ready for the Lord. A week before her passing, her last question to Tia was, “Can you read to me about Heaven?” Lastly, please pray for Bill who was “blown by the Spirit” to Honolulu to be a part of our sister church there and to live with his son Jeremy Beck and his family.

The amazing women in the Antelope Valley Region and the beautiful sisters in the West Region led the way this past Saturday! Our dear sister Julie Clark of San Francisco preached powerfully in the Antelope Valley, and I was so honored to be able to speak in the West! From the decorations to the testimonials, the interpretive dance and the incredible baptisms, all of the visitors were so moved and inspired!

At the AV Women’s Day Fashion Show,
Sam Massman (third from the left)
wore her mother’s Indian
heritage outfit!

In her testimony, Mik Mengija cheerfully reflected
on the hope that God restored in her life!

Julie Clark inspired the 28 disciple women of the
AV Region and their 102 visitors as well!

The Lord answered the prayer of Karen Maciel – the
Co-Editor of the Good News Email – to bless the
West Region Women’s Day “beyond anything
they could ask or imagine!”

Coleen Challinor – the charismatic West Region
Women’s Ministry Leader – introduced the
three women who shared their
testimonies: Kerri-Sue,
Frida and Alexys!

In the West Region, a beautiful interpretive dance
was performed by Precious, Jazmin and Kaitlin!

Then this past Sunday, the mighty women of the Metro Heights, AMS, Inland Empire, Ventura and East Regions gathered in their respective regions for incredible Women’s Days that had such an unforgettable impact on all who attended! My mother in the faith Dr. Elena Garcia McKean inspired the women in Metro Heights!

Emma Causey and Elena – the keynote speaker
for the Metro Heights Women’s Day – are
expecting God to give them much
fruit from the day!

The 59 sisters in the Metro Heights Region had a
packed house of 156 in attendance!

Melinda Contreras (second from the left) is the
Woman Leader of the Indianapolis
Remnant Group!

In the AMS Region, Lauren Ona marvelously directed her very first Women’s Day! Therese Untalan – LA’s dear Shepherdess – was the key speaker for the women of the AMS!

Lauren Ona was outstanding in directing her very
first Women’s Day for the AMS Region!

Kristin welcomed to the AMS Region Chantelle –
her “big” sister (6’9″), who is a former WNBA
player! Chantelle is a motivational speaker
and now a part-time intern for the AMS!

As Heather sung Scars To Your Beautiful,
Jasminn used her talents to glorify
God in dance!

Therese Untalan was the keynote speaker for the
AMS, as she was Miss Guam in 1985!

The AMS Sisters were so fired up
for Dakota at her baptism!

Sarah Dimitry – my partner in the Gospel and the Women’s Ministry Leader of the great San Francisco Church – spoke powerfully to the Inland Empire, and Julie Clark delighted the women in Ventura!
 

Brittany – the Coachella Valley Region Leader,
Krystal – the San Bernardino Sector Leader,
Sarah – the San Francisco Church Leader,
and Rachel – the IE Region Leader,
huddled to conduct the
IE Women’s Day!

Sarah preached a heartfelt lesson
on UNFADING BEAUTY!

Morgan (left) led the Ventura Women’s Day
with the guidance of Patricia (center)
and Cecy!

Lastly, Margie Hamula preached her first keynote address at a Women’s Day to her amazing women in the East Region!

Margie inspired the faithful 27 East Women to
have an astounding attendance of 102!

Patti Deaves – Cassidy Olmos’ mom – participated
in the East Region Women’s Day, which was the
first Women’s Day that she has come to in
Cassidy’s seven years as a disciple…
and she won the Raffle!

And so, for 262 sisters present at the seven Women’s Days this weekend, their total attendance was an astonishing 787 with 10 women getting baptized and making their good confession, “Jesus Is Lord!” Truly God blessed the efforts of the women here in LA!

Vonisha – a student at Cal State San Bernardino –
was baptized in the IE’s beautiful rose
petal covered baptistry!

I would be remiss if I did not lift up the brothers that helped this weekend, as they poured themselves out by serving, ushering, fasting and many of them bringing visitors for our Women’s Days to bring glory to God! Praise God that we have such amazing brothers who lead us and encourage us as we fight to bring as many souls to Christ as possible!
 

The remarkable brothers of the Metro Heights
Region served at the Women’s Day
with incredible zeal!

Under Ricky Challinor, the West Region Brothers
bonded through serving at the incredible
West Women’s Day!

I cannot wait to see what God does this coming weekend in the remaining five Women’s Days in the Orange County, Central, South, Coachella Valley and North Regions! Stay tuned, because God is not through yet!
 

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For more information, please visit the City of Angels International Christian Church website at CAICC.net

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