Good News Email – 11-9-2014

Greetings from the disciples in New York City, London and LA! What an incredible two weeks for Elena & me worshiping with the powerful NYC Church and participating in London’s glorious 2014 European Missions Conference (EMC)!

The angelic singing of the European Missions
Conference unified the hearts of the
disciples as we had song leaders
from different European nations
and sang in different
languages!

Then upon coming home to Los Angeles our hearts were refreshed as our beloved congregation surpassed our 6X Thanksgiving Missions Contribution Prayer Goal thus honoring God in 2014 with a total Missions Contribution of an astounding $793,567– 27X our weekly contribution!

The City of Angels Church West Region turned
obstacles into opportunities and surpassed
their 6X Missions Prayer Goal!

The highlights of our time in New York City (NYC) included special moments with Chris & Theresa Broom and Mike & Brittany Underhill as well as visiting with our son Sean’s family!

The McKeans were refreshed by the fellowship of the
NYC Church Leaders – Chris & Theresa Broom
and Mike & Brittany Underhill!

The NYC Sunday Service was remarkable! So many awesome and open visitors! The warmth of the fellowship and the angelic singing immediately touched our hearts and made us feel at home! Then there was Carl Buckner’s rap song and a special “jazz presentation” ofJerusalem by Austin Broom, Mike Underhill and Wes Hardin! Also, Sue Rivera blew it out singing Via Delarosa! So much talent in NYC’s fledgling AMS Ministry!

Carl Buckner rapping about the
glorious Kingdom of God! 

The New York City International Christian Church!

Karl – Andew Smellie’s father – and his new wife
Marie enjoy the NYC Church Fellowship!

The NYC Disciples were “super encouraging”
and met every need during
the McKeans’ visit!

Then it was off to London for the European Mission Conference!Approximately 200 gathered over the weekend for this life-changing experience! The ultimate highlight of the 2014 EMC was the unveiling of the European Crown of Thorns Plan!

Again using Jesus’ vision of Acts 1:8, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,” the plan (like Jesus’) is simple: the European “Jerusalem” is London; the equivalent of “Judea and Samaria” is England and the rest of the UK; and “the ends of the earth” are all the nations of Europe! Targeted are: Stockholm (2016), Amsterdam (2017), Madrid (2018), Berlin (2019), Rome (2020), Bucharest (2021), Warsaw (2022), Budapest (2023), and Athens (2024)! Of course, in “Phase Two” of this plan, churches such as Stockholm will send plantings to the capital cities of their surrounding nations: Oslo, Helsinki, Copenhagen, etc.!

The Crown of Thorns
Europe!

Also attending the EMC were Anthony & Cassidy Olmos, former members of the Paris Mission Team! After much prayer, today in LA we announced that since the Sirotkins will be leaving for Moscow in just one month, the new Region Leaders of the South Region will be Anthony & Cassidy! This is an incredible honor as the South Region has been a “cradle of leadership” for so many Ministry Couples, Interns and Mission Team Members! Included in this number are: the Kernans (Paris and Toronto), the Dimitrys (Las Vegas and San Francisco), the Sirotkins (Moscow) not to mention the Pattersons now in Gainesville, the Rohns in Boston, Erick and Sean Valenzuela in Sydney, and Michelle Miranda and Daniela Juarez now serving the Lord in Toronto!

The new South Region Leaders of LA –
Anthony & Cassidy Olmos!

With daily baptisms this week, the City of Angels Church – which started the year with a little over 700 disciples – has been blessed by God in 2014 to add 456 souls – 328 baptisms, 46 restorations, and 82 place memberships several of whom came to us directly from our former fellowship seeking revival! And to God be all the glory!

HEADLINE NEWS – LOS ANGELES

Ighodaro Odighizuwa: “As the rain and the snow come down from Heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my Word that goes out from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)

Greetings from the Inland Empire Region! Over the past three weeks God blessed us with six additions – five baptisms and one restoration! Today, the Single’s Ministry of the IE had two incredible baptisms: Janno Pokk and Emecka Agwe! That the Word of God “will not return to God empty” shows in the baptism of Janno Pokk, who moved just recently from Tallinn, Estonia to Stockholm, Sweden just to seek the Kingdom of God!

Janno is a very talented Estonian professional musician. He plays jazz and has studied composition in Tallinn’s Musical Academy! He is very skillful on several different instruments, including guitar and piano, however his specialty is the Nyckelharpa – a 700 year old traditional Swedish musical instrument, which makes him very attractive for the Stockholm Church planting!

Janno plays the Nyckelharpa!

Janno studied the Bible as an atheist over seven years ago when Argo & Anu started a Remnant Group in Tallinn, Estonia. He argued with the brothers about the existence of God and stopped studying the Bible shortly afterward! For the next seven years, Janno saw clearly how God took everything he had away from him that stopped him from becoming a disciple. After losing his long-time girlfriend, his job, his home and just a month ago suffering a heart attack at the age of 33, he packed up everything he had – crossed the sea from Estonia to Sweden and knocked on the door of the brothers flat in Stockholm begging to study the Bible again!

He studied with the brothers The Seeking God, The Word of God andThe Discipleship Studies making a decision to follow Christ! The brothers asked Janno if he was willing to “give up everything, do anything and go anywhere for Christ!” He answered emphatically, “Yes!” Then the brothers asked him, “Are you willing to move to the Inland Empire tomorrow?” He once again answered, “Yes!” After traveling 26 hours, studying the Bible with the brothers all week, and seeing the power of the Kingdom of God, Janno was baptized today as a sold-out disciple here in the Inland Empire!

After his baptism, Janno joins the IE Brothers
in issuing their weekly challenge,
“You will be next!”

He is staying in the IE to be trained until the beginning of next year and will return to Sweden in January after the Winter Workshop to help prepare the way for the 2016 Stockholm Mission Team! God is truly incredible, as he is already gathering the missionaries who will bring the hope of the gospel to Northern Europe!

Janno is now all about the mission and helps
out with the “next baptism” – Emecka!

God is a God of miracles! Not only did we see the incredible baptisms and the restoration today, but God showed himself Lord through our Special Missions Contribution! With a goal of $11,600 – through the power of God and the sacrifice of His saints – we blew out our 6X Special Missions collecting $16,600 – $5,000 ABOVE our prayer goal! And to God be all the glory!

Chris Adams of the Ventura County Region: We are so grateful for the recent pruning that God knows will make us even more fruitful! Despite Satan’s attacks and in some ways because of the spiritual battle, God has brought the church together in a powerful way! Evidences of the grace of God: 1) Super generous disciples found a way to surpass our 6X Thanksgiving Missions Prayer Goal today! 2) An awesome combined service with the Santa Barbara Church that reminded us all of how much fun it is to be disciples and how God used the Ventura Region “to birth” this glorious new church earlier this year!

Elizabeth and Kerri-Sue – the respective Women
Leaders of the Santa Barbara and
Ventura Churches!

Disciples always have more fun!

And 3) My wife, Kerri-Sue, Kiana Lindsey, Melida Rios and Jessica Schmidt boldly started a Dorm Bible Talk at California State University at Channel Islands last week and there are several women studying who want “to seek God with all their heart!” (Psalm 119:1-2)

Cory Blackwell: “And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'” (Romans 10:15) God is doing many great things in the Southland Region! This past month, after overcoming the challenges in the ministry of contempt, impurity and a lack of zeal for God’s house, the good news is so much its overwhelming!

After much prayer, fasting and hard work, the Lord allowed us to surpass our Missions Goal of $20,000! I am humbled and honored to serve alongside such a wonderful group of disciples!

The hard-working Southland Bible Talk Leaders!

I want to thank the Central Region for sending Levi & Mel Bartholomew to lead our Teens as they have made immediate impact! Our Teen Ministry is on fire! The hearts and maturity of our Teens came alive as they raised $722 in one day of tagging!

The phenomenal Southland Teen Ministry!

As well, I also have a special place in my heart for single moms being raised by one! One of our single moms, Mimi McLoud raised her missions, but was so moved by what Jesus had done in her life so she continued to raise funds by selling food and baked goods for other disciples! Branesha Clay another single mom worked so hard to get one of her friends to service to see the Kingdom, as she had been very reluctant to come. When Branesha’s friend came this Sunday, she was so blown away by the love, zeal and commitment to spread the message of Jesus that she said, “I must become a part of this church and God’s mission!”

Branesha (left) and Mimi “set
the pace” for all the single
moms in Southland!

I am so proud of our newly formed First Century Choir! Today they led us into the very presence of God through praise and worship! Though the world “sees” only “problems” here in South Central LA, like our God we “see” so much talent and “opportunity” in Southland to bring glory to His Kingdom on earth! Keep us in your prayers!

The First Century Choir!

Capil Marhatta: Greetings from the Sensational South! It is always exciting to wait in expectation for the closing part of service to see what the disciples brought to the Lord for their 6X Missions Goal! Earlier, Oleg – our firey Region Leader and Moscow Mission Team Leader – gave the Bible Talk Leaders two plans: Plan-A where we will REST (Genesis 2:2) from all of our hard work, or Plan-B where we will go back out and tag after church until we hit our goal! Praise God that He blessed our tagging with over $1,000 on Saturday to help us blow out our goal by more than $3,000!

As well, God has been very gracious to us by adding to our number three more souls through baptism: two awesome new brothers – Anthony and Adrien last week – and Brianna who was baptized after service today!

Johnny and Jordan rejoice with Adrien
as he enters the Kingdom!

Cesar Limon: “Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner.” (Exodus 17:15) Grace and peace in abundance from the East Region! It has been evident that the Lord has been our “Banner” as we witnessed eight be added to our number in the last three weeks, and we collected 151% of our THANKSGIVING MISSIONS GOAL!! I am speechlessly proud of all the disciples for their countless efforts with tagging, all kinds of fundraisers, and their continual dying to themselves daily so that others can live. (2 Corinthians 4:12)

The first two baptisms that we witnessed be brought to life are Ariana and Destiny as they were baptized at the same time after service, thus becoming spiritual twins! Ariana was baptized after several months of coming out and Destiny was reached out to by her cousin Monique, our dear sister from the Palm Springs Sector!

Spiritual twins – Ariana and Destiny!

We also saw Arwendo, Gilbert, Khamille (President of Computer Science Club) and Rianne (Civil Engineering student), all be baptized into Christ! Baptisms are always incredible but most excitingly for me was seeing Fernando & Jackie Chavez be restored to their “first love!”

Gilbert quickly proclaims, “The Gospel
will reach you NEXT!”

Fernando was baptized at 15 years old and was married to Jackie in 2003 but sadly after not receiving discipling and also allowing lukewarmness to creep in, their hearts drifted from God. Very excitingly today at Leaders Meeting, he shared how he feels as if they were just baptized again! God is awesome as they have two beautiful daughters who are the exact age of the two girls already in our Kids Kingdom, one being my daughter!! They stated, “We took too long of a break and we are ready to hit the floor running so that lukewarmness does not creep back in!” That they are doing as they have been in several Bible studies, opening up their home for different meetings, and they are hosting our New Christian Membership Orientation next week! Pray for us as we are praying for you!

The newly baptized and the Remnant Veterans all
proclaim, “The Gospel will reach you NEXT!”

HEADLINE NEWS – EUROPE

Michael Williamson: Greetings from London! We had an incredible week of passion and inspiration at this year’s 2014 European Missions Conference – ZEAL FOR MY FATHER’S HOUSE!

Michael Williamson – the European
World Sector Leader!

The week kicked-off the Sunday before the conference weekend by Ron Harding of Washington DC admonishing us with the heartfelt sermon,YOU ARE A SON OF GOD! Ron shared passionately and vulnerably about his current and past challenges alongside his awesome wife who shared for communion. You felt the zeal of God’s love as many tears were shed including tears from our new sister Stephanie who was baptized immediately after service after attending our fellowship for over a year!

Ron Harding moves the London Church to tears!

At Thursday’s Church Builders Workshop, Chris “Know who you are in the room” Broom gave an inspirational sermon for all evangelists and future church builders entitled, COME SEE MY ZEAL! He was followed by Tim Kernan’s charge, ZEALOUSLY BUILDING THE HOUSE OF GOD! My favourite point (even though we do not know the exact place where the fatal arrow killed Josiah) was ZEAL EVEN WITH AN ARROW IN YOUR NECK! We then moved straight into Men’s And Women’s Classes.

The Women Speakers of the Church
Builders Workshop!

This was followed by The Speakers Luncheon at one of my favorite places to dine – an incredible Indian buffet!

The Speakers Luncheon was scrumptious and
the fellowship was even better!

Thursday night was the Inaugural Presentation of the new London Choir that had everyone rockin’! Then Cory Blackwell’s winsome spirit inspired us all in his sermon calling us to have EVEN GREATER ZEAL!

Cory preached that man’s greatest
sin is not giving God glory!

Friday morning was the keynote lesson, ZEAL FOR YOUR FATHER’S HOUSE admonishing the church to be holy! Stressed was “TO BE FAITHFUL IS TO BE FRUITFUL!” We then presented our plan to evangelize our charge of the European World Sector: THE CROWN OF THORNS EUROPE! Brothers and sisters were so inspired that throughout the conference they gave me their names for the Stockholm, Amsterdam, Madrid and Berlin Mission Teams! God is moving! Here is the opening video of the 2014 EMC which features THE CROWN OF THORNS EUROPE! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV_eIjUxoS4

Friday night, Chris Broom brought the house down with a clever display of apologetics and passionate preaching in ZEALOUS FOR THE FEAR OF THE LORD!

Chris weaves into his sermon apologetics that
strengthen the disciples’ faith!

We closed the night out with an incredible high energy AMS Concert featuring several artist including “Dutch” aspiring rapper (on iTunes) Jay Way, our sister Jeanette (former X-factor finalist), and “Kia Pope and the Supremes” with a witty remake of Meghan Trainor’s, All About That Bass, which they rewrote as All About That Faith!

Jeanette Yeboah-Mensah (our X-Factor Sister)
sings “Ain’t Nobody!”

Simon Oxton wrote his own song, “Everything!”

Kia Pope backed up by her sister Kathryn and
Kenny Giwa really get the crowd going as
they sing, “All About That Faith!”

Who could forget Ron Harding’s Saturday morning speech, THE ZEAL OF PHINEHAS! This Scriptural lesson challenged all disciples to have the “ZEAL TO DEAL” with sin in the church! To close the Saturday Morning Program, there were exciting Campus, Singles And Marrieds Breakout Sessions!

Michele (right) and Maria form the
“One, Two Leadership Punch”
for the London Sisters!

In order to train and plant the Amsterdam Church,
the Zoutendijks and the Vermaats will be moving
from Amsterdam to London next year!

That afternoon was the Annual England Against The World Football Match! Sadly, we – the London Church – suffered our first defeat on the football pitch in London! After successfully winning The Kingdom Cup for the first three years in a row, we humbly gathered for a moment of silence and then joyfully crowned our dear brothers from around the world the victors! (We are already working on our strategy for 2015!)

Michael Hart – the England Team Captain – presents
the Kingdom Cup to Erik af Klint – the
Captain of the World Team!

That evening, the Singles and Campus danced the night away, while the Marrieds enjoyed a “romantic night out” in beautiful London! Capping off the evening for the Singles, Kaspar Tambaur of Stockholm & Alicia Winthein of Miami-Ft. Lauderdale started dating as well as Kevin & Sandra of Paris! Love was in the air at the EMC!

Congratulations to Kaspar & Alicia!

Congratulations to Kevin & Sandra!

Even the “mature Christians” felt love
was in the air during the EMC!

Sunday it was quite evident why God has raised up Kip to lead our movement! Once again it was his speech entitled ZEAL FOR THE ENDS OF THE EARTH that had the hearts buzzing with faith, zeal and love for our Father’s house! We closed the service “welcoming home” our veteran brother Steve Frasier who was on the Toronto Mission Team, our lovely sister Rebecca Martinez from our sister church in San Francisco, and four baptisms!

Since the Conference Center would not allow the
baptistry inside the building, the London
Disciples creatively had a truck
with a baptistry in the back
for the baptisms!

Yannick travels all the way from Paris
to be baptized at the EMC!

The EMC’s four baptisms – Helios,
Densel, Job and Yannick!

The zeal continued… Sunday night Victor & Krista Ochieng were married! God is awesome!

Mr. & Mrs. Victor & Krista Ochieng!

Please stay tuned for the 2015 EMC on November 5-8, 2015, simply entitled – GLORY!

Jen Watkins was outstanding as the
Director of the 2014 EMC!

The Zealous Speakers for this year’s EMC are
looking forward to the 2015 EMC – GLORY!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA SW QUADRANT

Jeremy Ciaramella of Phoenix: Greetings from the Valley of the Son!“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) God has been moving powerfully here for our Thanksgiving Special Missions!

The Phoenix AMS Ministry collaborated with 25 other disciples and put on an astounding Fashion With A Passion Show this year which included over 40 models (many of them professionals), six different local fashion lines, a dozen local businesses as vendors, 10 sponsors, around 400 in attendance, an awesome local band (The Hipnotix), and raised over $4,500! The fashion show was covered by professional local photographers, Fox-10 News, as well as Arizona Foothills Magazine – “Congrats on a well-organized and successful event!” – Stephen Yap, AZ Foothills Magazine!

A truly special moment during the evening was when Rico Jones surprisingly asked Janelle Rushen to be his wife – and she said, “YES!”

Rico & Janelle celebrate their engagement!

Josiah & Kristin Smith spearheaded this amazing evening, and it was inspiring to see what God was able to do with the combined dedication, faith and zeal of the disciples involved!

The Smiths – Kristin, Josiah and Kingston!

We also celebrated God adding to our number this past week a dear sister and her daughter as they placed membership from the Portland Church Family – Jamie and Mialynn Wessels!

The Phoenix Sisters of Encouragement welcome
Jamie (right) and Mialynn Wessels (second
from the left)!

God also made His church grow with a new single brother, Casey Clegg! He was met “randomly” as he approached us while we were tagging for Special Missions and asked about why we were doing the fundraiser. The reason he stopped initially was because his check engine light just “went on” as he drove by and he parked near us to check it out. Of course, after he set up to study the Bible that morning and drove off… the light “mysteriously” went off!

Our new brother Casey can testify that
“God works in mysterious ways!”

We are so grateful to see how our God is moving and bringing souls into His Kingdom, blessing our efforts to plant and to water! “To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus” in this and all generations! Amen!

Elizabeth McDonnell: Greetings from Santa Barbara!! We are so grateful to bring you good news from our beautiful city!

Two weeks ago, Richie preached an incredible lesson on Heaven! While it convicted all of our hearts, one heart in particular was especially moved. A SBCC student also named Richie, was deeply impacted.

Richie had been studying the Bible for a couple weeks, but had hit some roadblocks in really wanting to give up everything for God. But after my husband preached about our ultimate goal, “little” Richie came up to him and told him that he wanted to fully commit to Jesus and wanted to get baptized as soon as possible! So on Monday they met up and “Richie” McDonnell multiplied himself and baptized “Richie” Huerta in the ocean! He is an incredible addition to our growing SBCC Campus Ministry!

Richie McDonnell multiplies himself by baptizing
another “Richie” (blue towel)!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA NW QUADRANT & CANADA

Gabe Reed of Eugene: Greetings from Track Town, USA!! The Lord has worked in a powerful way in Eugene the past couple of weeks! Two weeks ago, we had a spectacular International Day! All the disciples pitched in to bring food to our International Potluck right after service! In this outstanding service, we highlighted Jesus’ dream of world evangelism in this generation. We also highlighted all the different places the Eugene Church has impacted in the past 10 years through raising Special Missions and sending out people!

My personal favorite part of the service was the baptism of another University of Oregon student Kasey! Kasey is a freshmen at the “U of O” and also the president of her dorm hall!

As in Thessalonica where many prominent women
were baptized, so it is in Eugene
with Kasey’s baptism!

Also our Special Missions Contribution is next week and already we have 60% turned in and Lord willing are anticipating doubling that next week!

Coleen Challinor of Portland: Greetings from the City of Bridges! “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4) Last Sunday was a day that should be included in “The Chronicles” of God’s modern day movement! From 5PM to 7PM, we held a Memorial Service in honor of the death of Fred, Tiffany and Mila Fefelov. The room was packed to the rim with an attendance of 426 people!!!!

Our dear brother and sister –
Fred & Tiffany Fefelov!

At the memorial service, there were 426 in
attendance with three TV Stations
covering this moving event!

Fred & Tiffany have been a “victory story” for the Portland Church from beginning to end. Tiffany was the first baptism that Ricky & I had when we arrived to Portland on June 9, 2012. Fred left the next day for Afghanistan as a contracted worker. Then three months later, Fred came to visit the same weekend as our Annual Marrieds Retreat and was so inspired he quit his job in Afghanistan; stayed back in Portland; began to study the Bible; and a month later he was baptized!

Fred & Tiffany were best friends to Ricky & me, as well as everyone in the church. Their love, compassion and zealous love for God deeply impacted every disciple not only here but in many of the churches! They will be greatly missed, yet we look forward to seeing them one day again in Heaven.

It seems like a “Shakespearian tragedy” to see that the Marrieds Retreat was the catalyst that united their family in Christ, and then would be the same event that would send them off to Heaven. But we know that our God’s plans are beyond understanding, as many in the family that were once hardened to the gospel are now soft-hearted and open to studying the Bible. Beyond that there were dozens of fall aways who were cut to the heart and turned to the cross immediately after they attended the Memorial Service!

Ricky preaching and sharing his
heart at the memorial service!

The church and the families are dedicated to wrap their arms around their oldest son Ewan, whom we all call “Fefe!” This is not the last you will “see” of the impact of the Fefelovs’ lives and deaths! Let us hold steadfast to our purpose as we move forward in evangelizing the world in this generation, while we still have time on this earth to do so. To God be the glory!

Today was an incredible House Church Sunday at Portland State! Ricky did an incredible job teaching the church about Gideon and how God loves underdogs! Today, a talented teen named Erandy Peña was baptized into Christ and is now the youngest in our “Off the Wall” Teen Ministry!

Her parents, Rogelio & Mireya are Bible Talk Leaders in the Latin Ministry and it is amazing to see how God is using their family to help so many! It was so inspiring to hear her share about how the love of the Kingdom helped her overcome so many things in her life. She shared about how this was the second time she studied the Bible and boldly called everyone who is studying the Bible to get baptized and not make the same mistake she did!

Since Erandy is a “Kingdom Kid,” her baptism
inspired the entire Portland Church! 

Jeremiah Clark of Denver: My wife & I have been so encouraged by being able to attend the EMC and then to visit the wonderful nation of France the past couple weeks! It truly is faith building to be part of a movement with a worldwide vision to evangelize the world in our generation!

The Clarks (left) met up with their mentors –
the Hardings – at the EMC!

In our absence, God continued to move powerfully in the Mile High City of Denver! Just a little over a month ago Nick Bross attended one of our powerful Men’s Midweeks and was moved to tears! Nick had studied the Bible in the Denver ICOC on and off for almost seven years, yet never made the decision to become a disciple. However, through his friendship with Joe Campbell, he began to study the Bible and God moved his heart! Truly God sets the times and the places… Nick was baptized and became your brother in Christ! (Be praying for his wife who is now also studying the Bible.) Many of his friends who came to his baptism were from our former fellowship and were very encouraged by Nick’s decision! To God be the glory!

Nick finally finds salvation through the
efforts of the Denver Brothers!

Courtney Beas: Greetings from San Francisco! What a glorious month it has been already here in the Bay Area! God has been moving powerfully as we have witnessed three baptisms: Shoshanna, a freshman at San Jose State and Agnes, a single mom from San Francisco, were both baptized last Sunday! And this Sunday Danisha was ready to be born again!

Also the church here is buzzing with anticipation for our Special Missions next month! We are confident that we will not only make our goal but will blow it out as we have already collected $15,687 which is 55% of our goal! We are so proud of the congregation’s hard work as over $6,000 has come from just seven tagging events!

Please continue to pray as we have more who want to be baptized this week! It certainly is shaping up to be a “November to remember!”

HEADLINE NEWS – USA SOUTH QUADRANT

Matt Sullivan of Orlando: “No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. NEVERTHELESS, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.” (Acts 5:13-14) The last two weeks have been so encouraging and challenging at the same time as the Lord is always refining His church! In spite of great opposition, “NEVERTHELESS”several have been added to our number!

We began our Singles Ministry Monday Night Devotionals just eight weeks ago and already six have become part of the church! Two placed membership and four were baptized with several more studying the Bible! The Singles have come alive and this weekend we cranked out our First Annual Singles Retreat entitled, NEVERTHELESS. It was an incredible time as 20 camped out and 28 gathered for Sunday worship! So many disciples preached and for many it was the first time… And they did an amazing job!

In addition, two weeks ago, two students were baptized at our “All Florida” Campus Retreat! Jaleni and Kyle studied and counted the cost in just two weeks and are now your faithful brother and sister!

The Campus Retreat, headed up by Mike & Chenelle Patterson and hosted by the Orlando Church, was incredible! The retreat title wasIMPACT and that is exactly what it had… IMPACT! 67 students from Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Gainesville and Orlando gathered on Friday and Saturday! Then Sunday a few more came out as we had an attendance of 70 fired up and zealous campus students (along with my wife & me)! We were sent off Sunday with a charge to IMPACT every campus in each of our cities and then get to EVERY CAMPUS IN THE WORLD!

Each speaker – Mike, Chenelle, Marcel, Justin (our new campus intern), Princeton & Joy and several others – flat out preached the Word! Truly we can say “NEVERTHELESS” we will have an IMPACT on Florida and the South USA with hearts like that! Then excitingly, last week we were able to appoint eight unpaid interns! Four sisters and four brothers!

Lastly, we made the announcement that as of January 12th, Marcel Turner (currently the Campus Intern in Gainesville at UF) will become our new Campus Minister here in the Orlando Church! And to God be all the glory!

Mike Patterson of Gainesville: “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24) With almost 50 additions so far this year since our Inaugural Service in January, the saints in Gainesville are “laser focused” on completing the task of world evangelism in our generation!

Testifying to this fact are the two amazing baptisms we have been privileged to witness! Rob another amazing student at Santa Fe College was baptized at the end of October and then today another one of Tim Le’s co-workers Alex was baptized! Tim Le is a professional working full-time with a family and kids and has one of the most fruitful Bible Talks in the congregation! The entire church has been so inspired at how many of his co-workers are studying the Bible! His job now has three disciples at it!

It takes financial sacrifice to spread the gospel of God’s grace. So today we had our First Annual 5K Run/Walk “Turkey Dash!” Our brother Brady Vaughn did an amazing job putting this together. Many of the disciples raised secured pledges leading up to the event and today alone with all the entrances into the race we raised around $500! Congratulations to Joseph “Muzic” Melara who took first place in the event! Please pray that God gives us exactly what we need November 16th for our Thanksgiving Missions Contribution.

Mike and Jenny both ran track in college…

But Jenny “dusts” Mike and finishes fourth!

Also, good news was that my wife Chenelle Patterson did a phenomenal job doing her first Women’s Day in Orlando on November 1st! And to God be all the glory!

Anthony Eckels: Greetings from Texas! The Lord continues to do great things at the Houston ICC! The campus continues to build momentum as we meet every Friday night in the middle of the University Center at the University of Houston with an average attendance of 25!

Sunday we rejoiced as Latoya was baptized! Latoya works at an advertising agency and is a student at Houston Community College. Although she grew up in a religious home and her father is a preacher in Jamaica, she was seeking more from her relationship with God. As she began to study with Chantelle and the other women, she humbly saw that she was not a disciple and eagerly studied many late nights! Today Latoya became your sister in Christ!

Finally, the HICC appointed two deacons and a deaconess on Sunday! Marley Depew was appointed as a WebDeacon; Melanie Coyle was appointed as a WebDeaconness; and Steve Coyle was appointed as Deacon of Administration! The church recognized them for their excellence in serving God’s Kingdom!

Congratulations to Marley, Melanie and Steve!

HEADLINE NEWS – AFRICA & THE CARIBBEAN

Lola Lof of Kinshasa: “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.” (Acts 5:42) Greetings from the Democratic Republic of Congo – a nation of 72,000,000 lost souls! That said, the Kinshasa Church is experiencing weekly growth as the Lord has added to our number seven new disciples in the last two weeks with the addition of Felly, Santos and his wife Niclette who were baptized this week!

Felly, Santos & his wife Niclette are
triplets in the Lord!

We now have a church of 285 sold-out disciples ready to turn this great country of Congo in the heart of Africa “upsidedown!” (Acts 17:6 RSV)

Jean-Bonard Colin of Jacmel: “The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice.” (Psalm 97:1) The Lord is reigning even on the distant shores of Haiti!

I was very curious when I heard Alexis Turgeau’s testimony 14 months ago. As a Mainline Church of Christ preacher, he was convicted (like Apollos) of not preaching the “right doctrine and the whole truth” and did not hold back on reviewing Jesus’ convictions on what it means to be a “baptized disciple!”

Extremely curious to find out what really moved him to resign as a preacher, study the Bible all over again, and then be baptized at the2013 GLC, I traveled to Los Angeles for the Winter Workshop in January this year. After studying with Blaise and Richard, I then realized that I also was not right with God even though I have been an ordained preacher in my former fellowship! I was joyfully baptized at the Los Angeles Winter Workshop and was eager to go back to my hometown of Jacmel in Haiti to share with my congregation of about 70 members!

In just nine months of witnessing, sharing my faith and proclaiming the “whole truth of salvation,” and with the baptism of Fabienne Etienne last week, the Lord has now built a new sold-out church of 52 baptized disciples in Jacmel, Haiti!

Fabienne experiences a “peace that passes
understanding” after her baptism!

HEADLINE NEWS – RUSSIAN COMMONWEALTH

Eugen Sobolev: Privet from Moscow! On the last week, God allowed us to see a miracle – we saw the baptism of Fabrice Katende – young man from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo! Fabrice came from Africa to do his Master’s in Economy in University of Moscow, but because of a lack of funds Fabrice started to work to support himself. He was met by Dima and they started to study about discipleship. In spite of language challenges and a demanding working schedule, Fabrice did the most important thing – he made Jesus his Lord and was baptized! This is a true miracle as God had to bring him out of his hometown traveling 7,000 km for salvation!

With Fabrice’s baptism, the Moscow Church’s
influence reaches into Africa!

God showed us another miracle – Nikita, a 15-year old teen, who was added to the Kingdom through the waters of baptism! He moved from Kiev to Moscow six months ago with his mother Aliona. In spite of his young age, Nikita fully supports himself and pays for food, accommodations, and all his duties while he studies in college! All of us – and especially his mom Aliona – are so happy God allowed us to see the start of the Teen Ministry in Moscow!

Nikita and his mom are equally excited
about Moscow’s new Teen Ministry!

And of course our daily prayers are for the Sirotkins and the Moscow Mission Team whose send-off from LA is on December 14, 2014! We now have 46 disciples in the Moscow Remnant Group with three more coming from the Ukraine, and with the eight Russian-speakers from Russia and Ukraine still in LA training, Lord willing, we will start the Moscow International Christian Church with at least 57 sold-out disciples!

Believing that much fruit can be born in Russia, the
Moscow Disciples ask, “Orange’t you glad
you’re sending a Mission
Team to Moscow?”

HEADLINE NEWS – CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA

Carlos Mejia: “You are PRECIOUS and honored in my sight because I love you!” (Isaiah 43:4) God describes here His motivation for His work of salvation! Bottom line, He loves us! We are“PRECIOUS” in His sight. This is the passage that encompassed our awesome Women’s Day entitled, PRECIOUS! The Lord blessed the faith of our awesome 60 sisters with a total attendance of 160 – that means they had exactly 100 visitors!

The women were encouraged as they were able to see through models (each sister chose an era of history) how women evolved through the years from Sarah to Cleopatra to the modern day woman!

The Santiago Sisters “model” the women
through the eras of history!

My wife Lucy shared her life vulnerably and preached a powerful lesson to the women which included the following points: 1) The Love Of God Is Precious; 2) The Word Of God Is Precious; 3) The Kingdom Of God Is Precious; and 4) You Are Precious! I am personally so proud of my wife as she sacrificed and gave her whole heart to all the sisters and their visitors! Lucy is truly “precious” in my life!

Carlos is inspired by his awesome wife Lucy’s
preaching and overseeing of the
fantastic Women’s Day!

Interestingly, one of the sisters Valeska that was recently restored owns a spa here in Santiago and donated some treatments for the raffle. As the treatments were being raffled, Valeska’s name was called as a winner of her own spa treatment! She immediately went on stage and said to everyone, “The first person that wants to study the Bible immediately please raise your hand and you’ll receive this prize!” Valentina raised her hand and two weeks later (today) we witnessed her baptism as she made Jesus Lord and believed that she is “PRECIOUS”in God’s eyes!

Valentina not only receives the gift of a spa
treatment from Valeska, but she also
receives the gospel as well! 

Excitingly, we have had eight additions in that past three weeks including a single brother that our powerful missionary Albert Wagers studied the Bible with and baptized today – Victor Alcaino! We also had Blanca Vidal who is the aunt of our Evangelist, Alfredo Anuch, restored today! Blanca is the sixth member of the Vidal Family to join us!

Albert rejoices with Victor!

Please sign up for our upcoming Central & South American Missions Conference, February 12-15, 2015 at our website www.icisantiago.cl! The cost of registration is $175 which includes our Kingdom Banquetand an awesome t-shirt! Come join us if you have a dream or want to get a dream for the foreign mission field! To God be the glory!

Renato Tria: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:8) Greetings from the church in Sao Paulo! The “Paulista” Disciples have lots of joy about sharing Brazilian good news! The Lord added through baptism Gabriel, who studies Engineering at USP! Now we’re 34 disciples in the Campus Ministry that continues to grow and expand!

Joey and Danilo baptize Gabriel into Christ!

Daniela, who resides in a nearby town to São Paulo, was also baptized! She’s now totally committed to be used by God to save the lost!

Though Daniela lives outside of Sao Paulo, she
has been faithful in everything
since her baptism!

We also cranked out our first Campus/Teen Retreat here in São Paulo with a grand total of 52 which God wonderfully blessed! Everything from the massive amounts of food, including a Brazilian BBQ, the band, convicting lessons, talent show, outdoor competitions, and much more was all masterfully exercised!

Joey preaching the Word at the Campus
Retreat in “Portugues!”

The disciples have not stopped talking about the “piece of Heaven” that they truly experienced during this spiritual retreat entitled LEVANTA-SEwhich was a replica of the Elevate Retreat there in Los Angeles! Pray for us as we pray for you!

Jared McGee: “Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (2 Peter 1:4) Greetings from God’s people in Mexico City! It was exactly six months ago that Rachel & I arrived here in Mexico. We didn’t totally know what to expect, we just had to hold on to God’s “precious promises” and do what we have been so diligently trained to do and make disciples! God has not failed to deliver on any one of His promises!

The congregation here has been through many storms. Contempt, gossip, idle threats made by outsiders, and malicious lies are just a few of the weapons that Satan has utilized to scatter the sheep. The faith of every disciple has been challenged, tested and refined by fire! But anything “precious” must go through a time of refinement! We now have 18 totally sold-out disciples! Since we had less sisters than brothers, we decided to host the first Women’s Day in Mexico this past Saturday, November 8th. It was an incredible victory! The seven sisters of the Mexico Church had 20 visitors out! We are grateful for the Mejias as they graciously allowed us to imitate the theme used in Santiago,PRECIOUS – based on the Scripture in Isaiah 43:4!

So many of the women in attendance were moved to tears through hearing the heartfelt testimonies of the sisters and the powerful lesson delivered by awesome wife Rachel. 15 of those who came are eager to study the Bible, so we ask for your prayers that our Lord will bring about an incredible harvest of women this month! And to our “precious” God be all the glory!

HEADLINE NEWS – PACIFIC RIM & AUSTRAL-CHINA

Rich Tabizon: Greetings from Metro Manila! The power of the Living God is truly evident in Southeast Asia! The Bible says in Isaiah 43:6, “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth.” This past week, God brought back two of His“daughters” from “the ends of the earth!” Jenny Soriano, a treasury clerk for Rustans Supercenters came to be baptized before the Lord! Jenny is the roommate of Anne Corminal and now her eternal sister in Christ!

The work of our sister Anne was not yet complete… Anne’s other roommate, Faye Cabarrubias, also came to be baptized before the Lord! Faye is a third year Accounting Student at the prestigious Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT). Faye is now you sister in Christ and looking forward to spreading the Word of God at MIT!

Furthermore, the Bible says in Luke 21:5, “For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.” This past weekend, five of our courageous sisters of the Manadaluyong Bible Talk were “apprehended” by Mall Security for sharing their faith! Very surprisingly in this the most “Christianized country of the world,” sharing your faith is considered solicitation and not allowed in certain establishments here in the Philippines! The security forces here in the Philippines have the right to detain and question just like regular law enforcement. Our sisters stood firm and shared their faith with their capturers! They were later released and excited that they were worthy to suffer for Christ! (Acts 5:41) Like the Apostles, they are now sharing their faith more than ever!

Lou Jack Martinez: The brothers and sisters of the Honolulu ICC continue “to fight the good fight of the faith” in the Islands – on several different fronts!!! First of all, we’ve had our first two Open Mic Nights organized by Simi Fruean, Jr. to kick off our new AMS Ministry and at both events, we’ve had OVER FORTY (40) VISITORS each time!!! Please pray for abundant fruit from this new outreach!!!

Honolulu’s Open Mic Night!

Additionally, we’ve started THREE (3) NEW BIBLE TALKS: 1) at the Nursing School at UH-Manoa, where Jane Chesmore and the recently-baptized Ainsley Haoatai just had three visitors; 2) Leeward Community College, where the legendary Chris Teves is coming out of “ministry retirement” to help us start our West Region Campus Ministry; and 3) Hawaii Convention Center, where Ka’ihe Tahara just moved to begin his new life as a married man with Christle Iaea, who will join him there November 15th, after they’re married this weekend!

Ka’ihe & Christle!

Also, Joe & Mary Santos have stepped up to start our Teen Ministry Sunday, which takes place every Sunday, providing Teens and Pre-Teens with their own age-specific messages to inspire them to do great things for God at their respective high schools/middle schools!!!

Santos Ohana!

Finally, God gave us our FOURTH BAPTISM IN FOUR WEEKS whenXach Baldwin was baptized into Christ at the West Region’s First Service!!! In his own words, out of all of the churches that Xach had been to, the Honolulu ICC was the “real deal!” Like most religious people in Honolulu, Xach had never been taught the importance of baptism in God’s plan of salvation (Acts 2:38; 1 Peter 3:21; Acts 22:16); nor had he learned any of the First Principles of Christianity! (Hebrews 5:11-14; 6:1-2)

Xach studied urgently with Alex Aehegma, Chaz Schmidt, Katsu Kawabata and Scottie Togiola over the course of a week! And, at our first West Region Service, Xach made his decision to be born again, to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of his sins, and then he received the gift of God’s indwelling Holy Spirit!!!

Xach finds the “real deal!”

Please keep praying for the Hawaiian Islands!!!

Terra Utter: Greetings from the Mighty Hilo Church! We have had an amazing couple weeks, as all of the disciples here have been working so hard studying the Bible with people and raising money for Special Missions! We had an amazing victory in the outcome of all of our hard work… Our goal was just over $9,000 and with 47 sold-out disciples we not only hit our goal but surpassed it by just over $4,000! God is amazing!

In addition to Hilo’s great Special Missions victory, the Kona House Church had an amazing baptism on October 24th, Henoch Heimana – the husband of our sister Barbara! Barbara, a disciple of four years, had been fervently praying for her husband to be baptized. Henoch had been an atheist since the age of 13 when he lost his faith in the existence of God. Henoch says, “I prayed to God and there was no answer. So I assumed that God didn’t exist.”

After Barbara became a disciple, Henoch began persecuting her for going to church and did not allow the sisters to come and visit her at home. When Henoch met David, the Kona House Church Leader, they immediately hit it off with a mutual love of the ocean and of body-boarding! After six weeks of intensive Bible studies (and David proclaiming to Henoch that God was indeed answering his prayer from when he was 13), Henoch came to a faith, repented and was baptized!

Henoch (second from the right) & Barbara are
now joyfully united in Christ!

Now, Henoch, originally from Tahiti, who speaks French, Tahitian, and English, wants to lead a Bible Talk in his town of Waikoloa on the Big Island and then travel the world proclaiming the good news of God’s Kingdom!!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA NORTH QUADRANT & INDIA

Joel Parlour: Praise God for the amazing miracles we have seen in the beautiful city of Syracuse! This has truly been a Spirit-led week!

Tuesday night during a Light & Darkness Study, my awesome wife Courtney went into labor! By Wednesday, she gave birth to our first child Brinton James! We spent most of Thursday in the Nursery Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for some respiratory problems that Brinton had. Thank God he is OK now!

Introducing for the very first time –
Brinton James Parlour!

Friday, we had a wedding! And Sunday was a celebratory Campus & Teen Service because of the launch of our new officially recognized club: CONNECT Campus Ministry!

Syracuse’s new Campus Ministry Logo!

Today, service ended with three amazing baptisms – John, Iesha, and a zealous college student Kevin!

Kevin is amazed at the Kingdom!

Iesha went to high school with Zasha who invited her out to a Bible Talk about a month ago. She started consistently attending the visitor saturated Bible Talks at Onondaga Community College and then brought her fiancé John out to church that Sunday.

Though they shared a deep love for each other, at The Light & Darkness Study both John & Iesha saw the need to live separately until marriage which was quite a challenge considering they had three children together! So in three days, we planned a wedding and on Friday afternoon pronounced them Mr. & Mrs. John Cannon! Then today John made Jesus Lord and was baptized and then turned around and baptized his wife Iesha! Praise God as He brings families together in Him!

John & Iesha find the Lord and then
are married in the Lord!

Mike Underhill: Greetings in the Lord from New York City! God has been moving in very exciting ways in the past few weeks here! While the Brooms have been away for the EMC and the strengthening of the Chennai Church, the disciples in NYC have been working tirelessly to meet our Prayer Goal for Missions Contribution. In the past few weeks, we have raised almost $10,000 in cupcake sales alone!

$10,000 Cupcakes!

Also, the Latin Ministry had their first Spanish-speaking Worship Service led by the Garcias who just moved here from the Chicago Church into the “Gran Manzana” – that’s Spanish for the “Big Apple!”

Today was an incredible day for our Campus Ministry as we had a Campus Service entitled, Changing The World In Our Generation!God is working powerfully in NYC and the campus is ripe for the harvest! To God be all the glory!

Aaron preaching the Word on NYC’s
Campus Ministry Sunday!

Maria Franklin: Greetings from Chicago! What a whirlwind it has been the last couple of weeks! Jacob was baptized and added to the HYPER Teen Ministry! Jacob is a senior in High School! It’s so inspiring to see so much energy from the teens fueled towards God and His Mighty Kingdom! Of special note, the teens also won the Best Costume at ourChurch Halloween Party as they teamed up and dressed like Lord of the Rings characters!

This past Tuesday, Kwehnui Tawah (better known as Pappie) was baptized into Christ and added to the Downtown Region! Pappie is an intelligent young man from Tunisia and a senior at the prestigious University of Chicago majoring in Economics. Pappie studied the Bible last semester, went on a summer internship in New York City, and visited the church there. When he came back, he made the decision to go after God with all his heart! We are excited to have a disciple once again in one of the top universities of the world!

Last Sunday, church was buzzing with energy as we were excited to have the Shelbracks back from Australia! Despite jet lag and a 17 hour time change, Jay delivered a powerful sermon on faith! It was evident he was being carried through the Spirit by faith as he had just arrived at midnight the night before! The Shelbracks brought back a powerful video presentation of the Sydney Church to encourage the disciples in Chicago by showing the impact that their Missions Contributions has had! To close off an awesome day, Madison was baptized and added to the West Region! Madison was reached out to by Amanda Miller and invited to Bible Talk at Triton College!

Madison is overjoyed to start
her new life in Christ!

Today, church was electric! My awesome husband, Anthony, powerfully delivered the sermon entitled, Building A Great Church! Early this morning, 19 of us gathered in the heart of the city on this cold day, and ran the “Hot Chocolate 5K.” Through this effort, we have raised over $2,000! Keep us in your prayers as we are working hard to blow out our Special Missions Contribution! On another note, A big congratulations to the Miller Family as they welcomed their son Walker into their life this past Friday! Everyone is happy and healthy!

Ron Harding of Washington DC: “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12-13) Greetings from the Capital of the United States! Tracy & I certainly had our faith and vision stretched attending the incredible EMC in London!

Most encouraging to us personally while we were away was to not only see the DC Church run EXACTLY as it does while we are here, but to see the Rangas and the Region Leaders work with all their might to take it higher! In our absence, the church added five souls – four baptisms and one restoration! As well, the University of Maryland had its fourth baptism in four weeks!

Steve Ranga baptizes Kai-Cho into Christ!

It was so exciting to see Malika Johnson baptize her sister Charmaine!

Malika and Charmaine are now “double sisters!”

Upon our return from England, we encouraged the church with a slideshow of the EMC! We continued studying the Book of Ephesians learning about putting on God’s supernatural battle armor, which gives every Christian strength and protection!

Debs Rajan of Chennai: Namaskaaram (Greetings in Malayalam!) Since September 21st at our Inaugural Service, the Lord has added to our number 14 baptisms and three restorations! Jude, a campus student in Visual Communications and an accomplished guitarist, had visited our church a few months ago but was unwilling to give up everything. He came back; studied the Bible; and decided to make Jesus the Lord of his life!

Jude prayerfully will be as hardline
as his Bible book namesake! 

Last week on Wednesday morning at 1AM, the disciples huddled at the airport to welcome Chris & Theresa Broom! As they walked out of the airport, our loud anthem We Love You With The Love Of The Lordawakened many!

Over 40 Chennai Disciples greet the Brooms at 1AM!

Later in afternoon, we met with the Brooms, to make plans and Satan attacked my husband with a high fever, joint pain and a severe headache but he persevered! In the evening we had our Women’s Devotional and Theresa encouraged the disciples to Feed Their Faith.A very appropriate and need of the hour message!

The next day, early in the morning, we had to rush my husband to the hospital as the fever had gone up to a 104 degrees F. Still Chris preached at Staff an awesome message titled ZEAL! Later in the afternoon, Chris & Theresa visited Raja at the hospital and prayed with him which really encouraged him!

Pray for Raja & Debs Rajan… Pray for Raja’s health
and pray for the Rajans’ collective wisdom
to evangelize India!

The next day Friday, while I was at the hospital attending to my husband, Chris & Theresa met Thomas & Shirly and later Chris preached and gave a vision to all at the Campus Devo to evangelize the Sub-continent of Asia – 1.7 billion people! By Saturday, God healed my husband and he was discharged from the hospital. On Sunday, the service was electrifying as we met in the same hall that Chris had preached in four years ago! At that time, Chris had inspired our group of only 22 in 2010 to fill the hall. Now to see the hall full was inspiring! I am so proud of my husband, coming out of the hospital and inspiring all of us by leading the songs with the band! We had a pot luck, where all the disciples brought lunch and “ate together with glad and sincere hearts!” (Acts 2:46) At 2PM, the whole church gathered for the Leaders Meeting… No one wanted to go home!

Chris preaching the Word as only Chris can do!

Thank you so much Chris & Theresa for encouraging our souls! And thank you USA Churches for your Thanksgiving Missions Contribution that helps support our efforts for the Lord! The Chennai Church now is at 92 sold-out disciples and we are praying for God to make us 100 before Christmas! To God be all the glory!

Dear Brothers and Sisters: Today, Sunday November 9th was the 25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. A vestige of World War II, the Berlin Wall was erected by the Communists in 1961 as a dividing line between the Soviet Union (15 nations headed by Russia) who occupied East Berlin and the USA who occupied West Berlin. Sensing the danger of the hour, President John F. Kennedy went to Berlin and proclaimed his and the West’s “oneness” with all who desired freedom, when he said, “Ich bin ein Berliner!” (“I am a Berliner!”) Yet the Cold War continued to deepen.

President John F. Kennedy rallies the people
of West Berlin and around the globe to
have hope to change the world!

Many years later, I first entered heavily guarded “Check Point Charlie” (the only way in from West Berlin to East Berlin) in 1987. The division of the city by this huge and hideous cement wall was foreboding and one could sense the weighty “hostility” on both sides! As a small group of four brothers, we prayed in East Berlin that God would somehow allow us to evangelize the then Communist Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

In 1989, as Communism began to fail in the Soviet Union and ours and many, many others prayers were being answered, President Ronald Reagan eloquently pleaded with the goodhearted Soviet Union leader, “Mr. Gorbachev, Open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down this wall!”

President Ronald Reagan spearheads the emotional
tidal-wave that ultimately tears down
the despised Berlin Wall!

And on November 9, 1989, that is what Mr. Gorbachev bravely did! Pictures of this can be seen as the music group The Scorpions commemorates this historic moment with perhaps my favorite song, The Wind Of Change. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rUKiPyhy-0

All of Berlin and the free world celebrate
the demise of the Berlin Wall!

By 1991, this event allowed us to send a 17 member mission team (mostly Americans) to Moscow that in its first year God blessed with 850 baptisms… One of the first 100 baptisms was Oleg Sirotkin!

Today for communion in the South Region of LA, we read Ephesians 2:13-20. Of note were verses 14, 16 and 20, “For Christ Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility… [reconciling] both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility… Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s family!” Again, as tensions mount between the USA and Russia over the Ukraine, this passage once again is a rallying point for true disciples!

Indeed, the South Region has been gloriously led by our dear Moscow Mission Team Leaders – Oleg & Aliona Sirotkin! During their two years of training in LA, 17 Russian and Ukrainian remnant disciples have “paid their own way” for tickets, housing and food just for the privilege to train in the City of Angels Church! Truly, in the “Sensational South Region” only accents would allow a visitor to know who is an American Christian and who is a Russian Christians as there is absolutely no “hostility” – just an amazing sense of being God’s one family!

Oleg, Aliona, Sophia and Lydia will lead the
Moscow Mission Team as they come
“to Russia with love!”

Let us all fall to our knees to praise God who through the blood of Jesus has “adopted” us into His precious and awesome family! Indeed, what an incredible year of plantings this has been for the SoldOut Movement Family of Churches: Gainesville (January), Santa Barbara (January), Sydney (February), Houston (April), Toronto (July), Dallas-Ft. Worth (September), Chennai (September) and for God’s grand finale – Moscow, Russia will be sent out by God’s Spirit – Lord willing – on December 14th – just a little over a month from now! And to God be all the glory, honor and praise! Amen!
Much love,
Kip