Good News Email – May 31, 2015

After a time of worshipful singing, the three new Super Region Leaders preached Jesus’ vision from Acts 1:8, “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!” Since Tim Kernan will be leading the LA Church by next summer, he eloquently preached on JERUSALEM; Cory Blackwell, having deep convictions from all his years of raising funds for Missions Contributions, challenged us with the message – JUDEA AND SAMARIA; and Andrew Smellie, soon to be leading the Africa Missions Conference, delivered the inspiring close-out message – THE ENDS OF THE EARTH! Afterward, the brothers prayed in one group and the sisters in their group!

The fired-up City of Angels Region
Leaders D-Group!

With their colorful traditional Nigerian dresses,
Udo’s grandmother and mom add to the
inspiration of the evening wedding!

The sacred wedding vows of disciples shine
bright in a world full of divorce!

NEWS FLASH: The inspirational theme of the 2015 Global Leadership Conference (GLC) is SAVIOR OF THE WORLD! Our theme as well as all of the lessons and classes at this year’s GLC focus on the Gospel of John! All of the Conference Program (as well as all of the Pre-Conference Festivities) will be held at the beautiful Anaheim Hilton at 777 West Convention Way, Anaheim, CA 92802!

NEWS FLASH – Nick Bordieri: “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” (Proverbs 14:31) On June 13, almost 4,000 MERCY Ambassadors will be participating in the Seventh Annual International Day of MERCY! From North and South America to Europe to Africa to the Russian Commonwealth to India, Australia, the Pac Rim and the Hawaiian Islands, MERCY Ambassadors will be serving their communities in projects ranging from serving the elderly to caring for those with disabilities to providing for the homeless to encouraging the youth, just to name a few!

And now more detailed reports from around Los Angeles…

HEADLINE NEWS – LOS ANGELES

Krystal Legarda: Warm greetings from beautiful Orange County! It was a bittersweet time for our region as we sent-off the San Diego Supplemental Mission Team! Although many tears were shed, there was much rejoicing as we “tore ourselves away from them.” (Acts 21:1) We have full confidence that God will use them in great ways in San Diego as they are truly many of our very best!

In the midst of all the transition, God added two to our Campus Ministry! Samantha, a psychology student at Cal State Fullerton was added through baptism!

Carl’s (above) and Anthony’s conversions
have fired-up the AMS Brothers! 

Congratulations to our newest dating couples, Matt & Naveh and John & Genina! (Matt is from the Southland Region and Genina is from the Central Region!)

Congratulations to John & Genina!

Bonita Holmes: Greetings from the mighty Southland Region where in the month of May God’s Spirit has been blowing His disciples from city to city according to His purpose! Last week, our dear brother Emmanuel Gonzales (Manny) was sent-off to serve the Lord in Portland, Oregon! Manny is one of the original nine that started the Southland Ministry! He has served humbly and powerfully since its start in 2011! We will miss him dearly, however we are even more excited to witness the amazing things he will do for God in Portland as a Singles Leader and Song Leader!

Kevin Hetrick: “Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.” (Ecclesiastes 11:6) The Lord God has privileged the North Region this May with victories which have been sought through prayer and diligent sowing in all areas of life! Seeing that a miracle was needed to reach our 20X Missions Goal, our whole region decided to climb to the mountain top in Santa Clarita and beg God, like the prophets of old, to make our hopes a reality! God was faithful as we were able to give generously for His Kingdom, exceeding our goal! If you would like, listen to Blaise’s inspirational sermon THIS GENERATION now posted on YouTube! (https://youtu.be/qyN9E4dchrI)

Daniela Payan: Greetings from the Tribe of the Inland Empire! “You sent abundant rain, O God, to refresh the weary land.” (Psalm 68:9) The month of May has definitely been so encouraging, as the IE has been refreshed through five baptisms and one restoration!

The Latin Women’s Devotional Leaders – Rebecca,
Lenny, Daniela, Sandra, Myrna and Patricia!

Sal Velasco: Greetings from Palm Springs! It has been so exciting to see our God work through the amazing hearts of a young passionate and growing ministry of 34 here in the Palm Springs Region! We prayed and fasted and God blessed us as we surpassed our Special Missions Goal of $10,860 by $5,271!

The week after the special, a young college student at COD by the name of John was met by three different disciples in two very distinct occasions and locations! Our dynamic campus leader Alfredo Lopez met John on campus and invited him to church at the school! A short time later, a couple of brothers from our Marrieds Ministry, Daniel Lowe and Robert Kryler, were on the bus and they saw John reading his Bible. They shared their faith with him and later found out that he literally lives across the street from our brother Robert Kryler! God totally had John’s number, and John does actually have a number since he is the second string quarterback on the COD football team!

Also of special note was the baptism of Ashley, a senior at UCLA! Ashley is a Pre-med, Physiological Studies Major who is applying for Medical School at UCLA! She just received a high-paying job for the summer working fulltime as an assistant for an Oral Surgeon in the area!

Ashley’s baptism has ignited the UCLA
Women’s Ministry!

Steve Stencil: Greetings from the Mighty East Region! These past two weeks have been momentous and nothing short of miraculous as we’ve had the bittersweet privilege of sending-off the “Portland Eight” Supplemental Mission Team consisting of Cesar & Debbie Limon, Fernando & Jackie Chavez, George Castillo, Valeria Garcia-Pineda, Phillip Redmon and Monique Carrasco! We understand that God only sends out His best, which leaves the second tier of leadership the responsibility of “raising up and carrying the torch.”

Last but not least, Sunday Service was a blast as the East Region met it’s Extended Special Missions Goal by over 100%! To God be all the glory for His ever present grace and mercy!

Mark Garrido: Good news from Central Region! This past month has been fantastic! Out of Central Region, we had the greatest privilege of seeing Kyle, Joan, Brett, Conner and little baby girl Bree Bartholomew sent out of LA to Metro Manila, Philippines to commence the evangelization of the Pacific Rim nations!

WEEK ONE: With so many sent out from Central Region, it was necessary for us to raise up new leaders! As we presented our plans to God, it became clear that the USC Campus Ministry should be led by Bryson Okuno & Jazzy Yogi, both transplants of Honolulu! The CSULA Ministry will be led by Jovanny Gochez & Sara Oros! The PCC Ministry will be led by Nathan Carr as our current leader Stefano Barbis is preparing to join Alfredo & Alejandra Anuch in the Santiago de Chile International Christian Church after the GLC where he’ll gather the Lima, Peru Mission Team! Of special note, the ELAC Campus Ministry will now be led by Jeff Martinez who is in fact an ELAC convert!

WEEK TWO: My beautiful and amazing wife Keri & I were blessed with the incredible opportunity to resume the good work that Kyle & Joan have been doing here in Central LA to prepare us for “Lord willing” the planting of the Guam International Christian Church in a year or two to come! Serving, preaching, Bible studies, vigorous discipleship, inspiring, challenging, refocusing, planning and setting goals for our region has made this month a truly delightful experience as we have been drawing close to God all together as a unified region!

Thomas stumbles upon God’s true church! 

Lance Underhill: Greetings from the Sold-out South Region! We are so excited and grateful having Tim & Lianne Kernan as well as their sons – Junior and David – back in the South! The Kernans’ love, faith, hard work and vision for the “tribe” here has inspired all of us and we anticipate the “miracles” that are about to happen!

Today, we witnessed our first baptism Chatara, since the Kernans were passed the baton! However, most exciting this month to Connie & me was the arrival “home” of our youngest son Joey back after four years on the mission field in Sao Paulo, Brazil!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA SW QUADRANT & THE MIDDLE EAST

“Mama Sonia” Gonzalez: God has been doing incredible things in the church in Las Vegas! Last Sunday was an exciting day for us, as we witnessed the marriage of my daughter Sara to an awesome man of God – Udo Ibe!

Victor escorts his daughter Sara and
then marries her to Udo!

Like “a cord of three strands” Christian
marriage is bound together by
the Holy Spirit!  

We also had the incredible privilege of having our dear brother Blaise Feumba and his awesome family visiting for the wedding and doing communion for us!

Veteran soldiers of the cross – Victor
and Blaise!

Elena embraces the “Feumba Sisters” – Helena,
Odelia and “Mama Patricia!”

Joy Axelson: “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24-25) It has been a bittersweet few weeks here in the Mission Bay Church in San Diego. After serving selflessly in San Diego for nearly five years, the Spirit has blown Evan & Kelly Bartholomew to meet the needs of the Orange County Region of our City of Angels Congregation! Together, with five other gallant disciples; Bobby & Kensey Merrett, Tyrone White, Amber Anderson and Alicia Amezcua they have become known as the “OC Seven!”

Jeremy Ciaramella: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity… There the Lord bestows His blessing, even life forevermore.” (Psalm 133:1,3) Greetings from Phoenix!

We are so grateful for our unified movement of churches! This past week we had five incredible disciples visit us from the North Region of LA – David & Ashley Caldwell, Fred & Manu Batson, and Jonathan Panossian! Fred opened our service with a great prayer; Ashley shared vulnerably about the gift of the cross for communion; and Jonathan shared a presentation for contribution – “An Attitude of Gratitude” about his trip with the Feumbas to Haiti! It was so moving many were in tears realizing the suffering of their Hatian brothers and sisters! Thanks be to God that we can have unity in our fellowship so that we can see the needs worldwide and get inspired to go after raising money for Special Missions!

We are so thankful that God has sent to us Gabrille Murillo from Santa Barbara!

Richie McDonnell: Greetings from sunny Santa Barbara (SB)! It has been an incredible month of May! We had our first Santa Barbara wedding; the new SB Church Leaders – Dennis & Corinna Sloan of LA – placed membership; and the Spirit has sent us out to lead the incredible Washington DC Church!

Santa Barbara’s very first convert, Alex, who was baptized almost two years ago as a UCSB graduate student, married Bria, one of the original SB Mission Team Members from Chicago, on May 10th! It was such a privilege being able to reach out to Alex at UCSB, study the Bible with and baptize him, and then to perform his wedding ceremony! God really does have great plans for us when we choose to seek Him with all of our heart! (Jeremiah 29:11-14)

Elizabeth & I believe that we both really “grew up” while we were in Santa Barbara! We are going to miss this great church so much (and meeting for Sunday service right next to the beach), but we are excited for the next great adventure that God is taking us on in Washington DC!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA NW QUADRANT & CANADA

Gabe Reed of Eugene: “Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the Kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the Word of the Lord.” (Acts 19:8-10)

Greetings from the Northwest and Canada World Sector!! I am writing this from our dear partners in the gospel Jason & Sarah Dimitry’s apartment after an amazing weekend with the electric San Francisco Bay International Christian Church (SFBICC)!! My wife & I are so grateful for their friendship and leadership! We have learned so much from them and hope we can imitate and bring many of the great qualities we have seen in them and in the SFBICC this weekend back to Eugene!

In month of May in Eugene, we have seen four more added through the waters of baptisms!! Two from Oregon State University (Riker & Christina) and two more from the University of Oregon (Kelli & Ezra)!

Kelli (above) and Ezra  are baptized into the
crankin’ University of Oregon
Campus Ministry!

I just want to take the time to lift up our amazing Campus Ministry! This time last year, we had just nine people in our Campus Ministry with just three full-time students at the U of O and one at Lane Community College. Today, after a year of bold preaching and daily Bible Talks, our Campus Ministry stands at 27 strong disciples! Amazingly these original nine disciples did not just grow numerically but also expanded geographically! We now have a presence on the two top schools in the state of Oregon – the University of Oregon and Oregon State University – bitter rivals in the world!

The UO and OSU Disciples after repenting
in D-group!

Jason Dimitry of San Francisco: Greetings from your family in the Bay! God gave us great victories in May with six additions, including Brooke Helm from Eugene who placed membership to be on the Sacramento Mission Team!

A baptism that particularly ignited the church was that of Tyre Ellison, a UC Berkley starting football player and graduate! Though nobody told his mom or ex-pastor the location of the baptism, they somehow showed up with several members of his church and other members of his family and tried to argue and physically pull him away! It was incredible to see him stand up to them about his convictions and victoriously march toward his baptism even receiving persecution all the way to the waters! When Tyre came out of the waters, the church erupted in joyful celebration as they watched him stand “strong in God’s amazing grace!” Since then, his mom came to church and apologized; his sister came to Bible Talk; and his brother is studying the Bible!

Even during his playing days at UC Berkeley,
Tyre had a heart for people,
especially children!

Sunday service today was incredible as we had Gabe Reed of Eugene preach and we saw Fred, a newly restored brother, baptize his 70 year old mom Margarita!

Fred is overjoyed to baptize his mom
Margarita into Christ!

John & Laura Zimora are appointed a
Shepherding Couple for the
SF Bay Church!

However, the real highlight was that we had the City of Angels Supplemental Mission Team place membership along with three other amazing sisters totaling 12 additions! Today Coleen & I presented Cesar & Debbie Limon – the new Portland Lead Ministry Couple – with a carved lighthouse to “pass on” this incredible congregation into their hands as they truly will be a “shining light” to this city!

And of utmost excitement was the baptism this month of Elle Weber, the daughter of our dear original Toronto Remnant Group couple – Harvey & Nanette Weber! Truly an example of God’s love and faithfulness to a couple who continues to display their love and faithfulness in the work here!!

Harvey (second from the left) & Nanette (right) are
so encouraged that their daughter Elle has
joined them in the Toronto Church Family!

Jeremiah Clark: Greetings from the Mighty Denver Church! The last few weeks have been truly faith-building and inspiring as God continues to grow the church both numerically and geographically! First, God has added a new House Church (HC) as we officially planted the East HC led by the dynamic couple – Matt & Marlo Lovacheff! Last week, they had their Inaugural East HC Service and the Lord blessed the 10 disciples of the East HC with 55 in attendance! Matt preached his most powerful and inspiring lesson to date, as he encouraged everyone to give their full hearts to God and His mission!

Vi embraces the joy of her salvation!

Ron Harding of Washington DC: Greetings from the Capital of the United States! “So the Word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith!” (Acts 6:7) I am so very encouraged by the absolute focus of the church as we approach my last week here in DC before moving to LA to serve alongside in the Southland Region with my dear friend – Cory Blackwell! The DC Church has surged forward week after week, adding 12 souls in the last nine weeks!

Melanie Coyle: God blessed the Houston Church by surpassing our Special Missions Collection this past Sunday! Our faith goal was $31,660, but God blessed us with $32,255! Each Bible Talk pulled together to help one another with their goals, remembering Galatians 6:2 – “carrying each other’s burdens!” One of the highlights was our first Teen Car Wash where they raised over $350 washing giant pick-up trucks!

God also blessed us this past Friday with two baptisms, Troy and Jules! A couple weeks ago at Men’s Midweek (held at the University of Houston), John Smoot prayed in the opening prayer, “God I pray that any men who hear this prayer will come over to hear your Word preached, make a decision to study the Bible, and become a disciple!” Troy, a U of H Engineering student, heard the prayer, walked over, and joined the men for Midweek! Troy immediately began studying the Bible and was baptized on Friday!

Matt Sullivan: “You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.” (Psalm 18:35) The Lord is stooping down mightily for the incredible Orlando Church as we have had 21 additions in the first 22 weeks of 2015 – 16 baptisms and five who moved in!

Debra – a UCF Senior – celebrates her salvation!

Brianna – another UCF Student and RA in her
dorm – is baptized at Orlando’s Annual
Cocoa Beach Church Service!

HEADLINE NEWS – EUROPE

Argo Arneson: The Lord appeared to us in the past saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” (Jeremiah 31:3) Greetings of love from Stockholm, Sweden! Our Mission Team is doing great because God is “teaching, rebuking, correcting and training” us so that we may all be “thoroughly equipped” and ready for our Inaugural Service on September 20, 2015!

Our “baby brother” Kenneth leads
the Stockholm Brothers Jazz Jam!

Michael Williamson: Greetings and love from London, England! God is AWE-some! With a faith goal of £65,000 (US$99,243) God blessed months of bucket shaking in tube stations (tagging) and financial sacrifice as the church raised £69,786 ($109,734) to blow out our 20X Missions Goal! God also added five souls this month to the Kingdom in baptisms!

A few days later on Sunday, Berenice – a young single woman – was baptized! She was met by Michele over a year and-a-half ago and after a wild follow-up story began studying the Bible again! She then attends our incredible Women’s Day and decides to LET IT (ALL) GO and study the Bible! Berenice comes from a religious background where her father was a very famous Pentecostal Pastor in Romania, and she even went to Africa at her own expense on missionary trips to “save the lost!” After doing her timeline with the sisters, she grabbed Michele’s pen and crossed out her whole religious experience and said that means nothing now! It was incredible to see “the scales fall from her eyes” as she became a true baptized disciple and the first seed for our Bucharest Crown of Thorns planting in 2021!

Then on Sunday, a Portuguese family was united in Christ as Regina the wife of our brother Helio was baptized!

Ashley leads his team to victory!

The London Church has “Footy Fever” and is
“hot” to use it for evangelism!

HEADLINE NEWS – RUSSIAN COMMONWEALTH

Larisa Kaminskay: Hello from Kyiv, Ukraine! May was a fruitful month for the Kyiv ICC! Three souls were added to our number through baptism, and now we are 25! God worked powerfully through Oleg & Elena Sirotkin, as they spent four weeks with us in April during their efforts to secure proper papers for their children. From their many efforts, on May 12th, we had a double baptism: two friends – Liuda and Alina – were baptized into our Campus Ministry! It’s very encouraging that Liuda was invited by Ira, who is only 15 years old and only half-a-year in Christ, and whose zeal inspires all the church! Another good news is that Liuda – while studying the Bible – invited her dorm roommate, Alina! They began studying together and were baptized the same day!

Natasha was so fired-up that her husband
was finally baptized into Christ!

It is truly wonderful to see how God fills our “international church” in Moscow with brothers sisters of different nationalities with a dream to return to their own nations to lead them to Christ! Vadim from Ukraine was baptized in May! He was impressed with seeing the changes in his mother after her baptism! Then on May 17th, Tatyana from Kalmykia, one of the regions of Russia, was baptized! She grew up in a Buddhist family and steadfastly observed these traditions, but she met Victoria – a disciple of Jesus! Tatiana understood that only Jesus died for her sins and was physically resurrected from the dead! And He is the only Savior! Along with her, in this day in Moscow, was baptized Stephen – our new and very grateful brother from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo!

Then on Saturday, the church gathered at one of the train stations of Moscow to meet with songs our sister Zoe and her little daughter from Yekaterinburg! Zoe left the church several years ago and married and went to live in France. She realized that without a relationship with God and service to Him, nothing makes sense! Zoe has met with the leader of the women of the Paris Church, Prisca Scheidecker, and shared that she is divorced and wants to return home to Russia and to be with the church. Prisca inspired Zoe immediately go to Moscow and go our church! Eventually, Zoe sold her car and went to Moscow with her young daughter. And today all of our church celebrated the restoration of Zoe to the movement of God’s Kingdom!

Zoe gets a little help from Tanya
during her restoration!

NEWS FLASH: Please pray for all the churches in Africa as we prepare for our First African Missions Conference in Abidjan, Ivory Coast from June 26-28, 2015! Our theme comes from Revelation 5:9, EVERY TRIBE, LANGUAGE AND NATION (TOUTE TRIBU, LANGUE ET NATION! – in French)

Nick Winn of Gordon’s Bay: “It is the Lord Christ you are serving!” (Colossians 3:24) Straight forward and to the point, as long as we know who it’s all about, He will give victory upon victory!

Since returning from LA and the Winter Workshop in January, the church in Gordon’s Bay has had many ups and downs in the form of persecutions, restorations and of course the remarkable visit of Andrew & Patrique which inspired the group in an amazing way! But yesterday and today we saw two wonderful additions to the church! Amid heavy persecution from her husband, Elena Pokotylyuk and her mom Anna – both from Ukraine – studied the Bible! Elena, who speaks good English, studied with the sisters here and was baptized yesterday! And Anna, who studied via Skype in Russian with Sasha Korotova of Moscow was baptized today with the entire church in Moscow watching the baptism live via Skype!

After Elena is baptized, the next day she
helps her mom into the water
to baptize her!

Nick broadcasts Anna’s baptism to the
Moscow Church Service!

Anna talks with and is encouraged by many
of the Moscow Disciples!

Blaise Feumba – the Overseeing Evangelist of Haiti: “For we know, brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our Gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the Word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.” (1 Thessalonians 1:4-6) I can only imagine the overwhelming joy of Paul the Apostle when he received the news that the Thessalonian Church was still growing even though he only spent three weeks there to plant the church!

I am equally amazed by the work of the Holy Spirit in Haiti! 19 new sold-out disciples were baptized as the result of our 10 days trip in April! Marvelously in this month of May 10 more people were baptized in Port-au-Prince and Mirebalais! Our latest planting in Mirebalais, started during our trip with the proper conversion of Louisius Exilien a former Pentecostal preacher and his wife Mary, now have 16 sold-out disciples after the baptism of three more souls this month!

Alexis Turgeau’s baptism at the 2013 GLC!

Micky Ngungu: The Kinshasa Church, blessed to be the second largest in the movement with over 300 disciples, continues to grow in number as the Lord added to our number five more souls this month!

Lola, my awesome fellow church leader, and I are so eager to attend the African Missions Conference in Abidjan at the end of this month! Pray for us! And to God be all the glory!

HEADLINE NEWS – CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA

Adriana Gomez: Greetings from the Bogota ICC! This is an example of our unity in Christ… Some months ago, a Colombian couple had fled our country threatened by evil people! They arrived to Chile and when they and their children were hungry, cold and practically naked, they contacted the church there and the disciples helped them, showing them the true love of God! The news traveled across the Andes Mountains and their families wanted know “that kind of Christian people” here in Bogota! Last month, the wife’s sister, Elena was baptized in Christ, and recently, her parents, Joaquín & Belén were baptized in Christ too! Also, Elena’s other two sisters and their husbands and children are now regularly attending church!

Raul Moreno: “And the Lord added to their number…” (Acts 2:47) The Lord was so good to us here in São Paulo as we had eight additions in the past four weeks! Jefferson and Clara were baptize from USP University; Jefferson studies Math and Clara Natural Sciences!

Jefferson (above) and Clara are welcomed
additions to the awesome USP
Campus Ministry!

Carlos Mejia: “After He drove the man out, He placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:24) Greetings from Santiago! Today was an historic day in Santiago as the Lord has allowed us to “hand over” the church to our dear friends Alfredo & Alejandra Anuch, the first Chilean nationals in the history of this movement (and the ICOC) to lead the church in their home country!

Lucy & I presented Alfredo & Alejandra with a Bushido sword, or “Samurai Sword,” which is an emblem of power and spirit! The very possession of such a valuable instrument imparted to the samurai warrior a feeling and an air of dignity and responsibility! It was also a symbol of what was to be in a Samurai’s heart and mind – loyalty and honor! A Samurai would choose death over living with a false heart. As we presented Alfredo & Ale with two Samurai swords, I read from Genesis 3:24 and charged them “to guard” the church with their sword of truth, which is the Word of God!

HEADLINE NEWS – PACIFIC RIM & AUSTRAL-CHINA

Kyle Bartholomew: Greetings from Manila, Philippines! We are so very grateful for all of the churches around the world who sacrificed by taking up a Special Missions Collection this year which has enabled us to be sent out to the Philippines!

Cherry (left) and Christialyn (second from the
right) are baptized by Cathy and Gina!

Rogelio (above) and Annliza were gently
restored to God and His church!

With her soul finally fulfilled with God’s Word, Kristin was asked to give up everything for Jesus and His Kingdom, and she was baptized today in the beautiful Hawaiian waters and now she is your sister in Christ!

She first came out to church while Kyle & Joan Bartholomew were here on their way to Manila and was particularly moved by Joan’s communion! She started studying the Bible and realized her need for God and soon decided to get baptized! This girl has persevered through so much to get to where she is today and we couldn’t be happier or more proud of her and her decision to make Jesus Lord! Welcome to the family Kate!!

Jenna was very instrumental in
making Kate into a disciple!

Chris Broom of New York City: The Bible says in Psalm 145:7, “They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.” Truly, May has been an incredible month with much to celebrate! First, God added six more to our number – three baptisms and three place memberships! Of special note was Bonnie, a Chinese engineering student and the first baptism in our newly formed Columbia University Bible Talk! And she was baptized during finals week! Bonnie was one of three freshmen selected to go on an all-expense-paid trip to Japan, where the student ambassadors visited prestigious universities to help “bridge the gap” between the two countries!

Shannon stops to get a “selfie” as she graduates!

Some of the NYC graduates take a moment
to smile for the camera!

This past Saturday, she married her best friend, Vladimir Antoine! The wedding was absolutely breathtaking and we enjoyed wonderful fellowship with disciples who were visiting from Los Angeles, Boston, Washington DC, Dallas, Syracuse and Toronto! So awesome to be a unified movement of churches!

Finally, the Spirit has decided to blow Preston & Shauna (soon to be the Inkley’s on June 6th!) across the country to be the Campus Ministry Couple in the Antelope Valley Region of LA! I originally thought the Spirit was blowing a bit too hard as it can be so challenging to say goodbye to your best friend! Preston and I have grown so close and it has been such a privilege to walk together and see him grow up spiritually over the years. I’m so proud of the man of God that he has become and I’m reminded in our friendship of Proverbs 18:24, “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” God has raised him up to be an amazing peer to me and a great leader! I speak on behalf of the whole church when I say it’s hard to lose someone like Preston, but we are fired-up to be part of a sold-out movement of churches and we are willing to do what it takes to see this world evangelized in our day! We will miss them both so much, but we are excited to see the great things they are going to do in the AV!

Latinfest!

Courtney Parlour: “‘I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Haggai 2:7) God is shaking up the city of Syracuse, New York! These past few weeks have been exciting as we are wrapping up our fundraising for missions! Some of the amazing women in the church put on a Rummage Sale that was an astonishing HIT! We had advertisements in the newspaper, on the radio, sign holders on the streets, a bake sale, and lots to sell! Not only was it a great way to raise money, but also to empty our homes and share our faith! Hundreds of dollars were raised in just a few hours!

God is also shaking up the campuses here in Syracuse! This week it was very encouraging to watch another OCC student baptized – Tilia! She is a vibrant young woman and has already brought out many of her family members to church!

Debs Rajan: Namaste! (Greetings in Hindi!) Thank you LA for sending Luke & Brandyn Speckman to Chennai! We are very grateful for the partnership to evangelize 1.7 billion souls in the Sub-continent of Asia! The disciples have been very encouraged by their Scriptural teachings!

The fruit from the Campus Event – Tharas –
makes Jesus his Lord!

Phillip – the baptized disciple!

Philip’s hometown of Raipur!

Dear Brothers and Sisters: In closing, let us all praise God for the phenomenal 20X Missions Collection taken in the United States Churches for international missions now totaling over $1,500,000! Now let’s pray that God will multiply these “loaves and fishes!” (Matthew 14:19-21)

Please keep on praying for the Inaugural Service of the Metro Manila International Christian Church just a week away! After the Inaugural, Elena & I will travel to Sydney to once again be side-by-side in the Lord’s work with Joe & Kerry Willis! We will return to LA on Sunday, June 21st. Then, Lord willing on the 22nd, I will go to witness the miracle of the First African Missions Conference in Abidjan, Ivory Coast! If all goes as planned, I will return June 29th!

In closing, thanks for all of your gracious greetings on Facebook and in cards on my 61st Birthday on May 31st! This last picture was one of my favorite cards!