Greetings from Sao Paulo and Mexico City! In Sao Paulo, Brazil on February 19-21, 2016, the
First Brazil Missions Conference – EN CHAMAS (ON FIRE) – was held with 231 in attendance! Then on the next weekend in Mexico City, this awesome congregation hosted for the first time the
Latin American Missions Conference (LAMC), whose theme was
LA GRAN COMISION (THE GREAT COMISSION)! God gave this young church of 72 a tremendous attendance of 249! These two churches and all of us that sacrificed so much to participate were profoundly impacted! This Good News Email will be primarily focused on these two historic events, but first some BREAKING NEWS from around the world!
The Heroic Bogota Mission Team led by
Jose & Daniela Otero and sent out by
the Holy Spirit at the 2016 LAMC!
BREAKING NEWS
Kyle Bartholomew – Lead Evangelist of the Manila Church: Greetings from the Metro Manila International Christian Church! It has been amazing to see how God is moving so powerfully this year and I want to share not just good news, but incredibly good news! This year our pace-setter in our Campus Ministry is Rizal Technological University (RTU)! This is our newest Campus Ministry that began at the first of the year! RTU’s University Hymn is Dare To Dream! And dream they have as they nicknamed the original Bible Talk and now the whole ministry – “Warrior Nation!” This ministry was planted and is led by two amazing disciples: RJ Castro – from the LA Mission Team and Rose Sobreno – a local convert born and raised in the Philippines! In just nine short weeks, God has allowed the RTU Campus Ministry to grow from just four to now 18 sold-out disciples by adding to their number 14 souls through baptism!
Rose with new converts, Sam and Cath,
echo the “Manila Motto” – One
Kingdom! One Movement!
To highlight this fact, just two weeks ago, RTU had five baptisms on a Sunday, February 21st and today they had four more! Truly God is working powerfully in the Warrior Nation!
The five RTU Baptisms on February 21st: Mark,
Zhaira, Fatima, Janien and Renmar!
Also, very exciting was last night we had our first Singapore Remnant Group Meeting in which Kuya Ronnie Gonzalez, led a powerful charge to a group of 14 who were all considering whether God is calling them to evangelize this great country! Please pray for Singapore as Kuya Ronnie will be leading the charge to plant a remnant group there this coming June as two disciples are already there waiting – one being his wife Charito!
In Manila, Kuya Ronnie (red ICCM Shirt) inspiring
the other 13 Disciples at the First Meeting
of the Singapore Remnant Group!
Truly God continues to pour out His blessings on the Metro Manila ICC as since June 7th at our Inaugural Service, we have now seen a total of 125 additions – 96 baptisms, 20 restorations, and 9 place memberships all seeking revival from our former fellowship! We truly serve an amazing God!
Danthia Carter (not a SoldOut Movement Member) writes on Facebook: At the Golden Corral as these young men walk to their seats they grab each other’s hands and start praying! After they got done, I told them that was lovely and beautiful. They all said thank you and start giving more praises. Saying we need to spread the Word of God everywhere. Let’s see how many “shares” and “likes” we get from this post. They fellowship with THE CITY OF ANGELS SOUTHLAND REGION. (Presently at 3PM on Sunday there are 8.4K likes, 1.1 K Comments, and 9K Shares!)
Our dear and bold Southland LA Brothers’
prayer has inspired a viral sensation!
Debs Rajan – Lead Women’s Ministry Leader in Chennai: Greetings in the Lord! I would like to share with God’s Worldwide Family the moving account of Parthiban Angamuthu – (aka Ben) our Campus Leader – converting his entire family!
Presently, Ben is doing his PhD in Mathematics! It was not easy for him to come this far… Ben, like David, was tending sheep in his village. During his school days, he studied at night under a lamp because there was no electricity in his house. He lived in a thatched hut without electricity till his 12th Grade. In his 10th Grade, he secured 88% and was the school topper! The school gave him a scholarship to pursue his 11th and 12th. In his 12th Grade, he was again the school topper with 83%! His parents were unable to support him for further studies and wanted him to start working. The school authorities urged the family to send him for higher studies and secured for Ben a scholarship and accommodation in Loyola College! And so the Spirit moved him to Chennai!
In time, Ben graduated with 88% in Mathematics and continued to do his Post Graduation in Mathematics and received an amazing 90%! The college gave him a full scholarship to do his double Masters and he cleared it with 93%! Ben went on to do his PhD in Mathematics! It was during this time he was invited to the church and started studying the Bible. He had to move to another state in India to continue his PhD, but since there was no church there, he decided to forego his PhD and was baptized as a sold-out disciple willing “to do anything, go anywhere, and give up everything” for Jesus and His movement!
Parthiban (center) is all smiles after
being forgiven of his sins!
Exactly one year later, God answered Ben’s prayers. He was one among three in the whole state selected by the Central Government of India for a full scholarship with accommodation in Madras Christian College (in Chennai) to do his PhD!
During these days, Ben’s mom Mariyammal got a severe fever and had a nervous breakdown. Her family took her to the hospital, but she was losing her memory and was advised to be shifted to a Mental Institute. Ben was disturbed and spoke to Raja. Raja advised Ben to bring his mom to the church. Mariyammal came to church and started studying the Bible immediately after church that fateful day even while she was suffering with a high fever! Though she is uneducated, her zeal for God and His Word brought about a complete healing and she was baptized! There was no need to go to any Mental Institute!
Seeing Mariyammal’s zeal, her daughter Mageswari who came to help Mariyammal with her treatment was amazed by the love of the disciples and started studying the Bible! She went back to the village and told her husband that she needs to move to Chennai. She, along with her two daughters (ages six and three), moved to Chennai and Mageswari was baptized! Then the younger sister Seetha came to visit her mother and check out the church! She was impacted by the message and went back to the village and told her husband! Her husband Murali was against Christianity because he felt that everyone was fake. Undeterred, Mageswari brought Murali to church the very next Sunday to check it out! Murali too was impacted by the Word and the love of the disciples! They both decided to move to Chennai with their two children and studied the Bible and now are baptized disciples!
“Ben” baptizes his brother-in-law Murali!
Since most of the family had moved to Chennai, Ben’s father Angamuthu decided to come to Chennai. Ben had lost hope that his father could change, because he was a drunkard. After coming for few weeks, there was a drastic change in his father and he wanted to study the Bible! Soon the Word brought about an amazing change and Ben’s father Angamuthu was baptized too!
Ben’s baptized family: Dad, Mom and his
two Sisters – Mageswari and Seetha!
One last piece of good news from Chennai! David, a Pentecostal preacher, was baptized just last Saturday! Our God is the God of Miracles!
Oleg Sirotkin – Lead Evangelist of Moscow: We are so excited to share with all of you the amazing news that Sergei & Lena Lamekiny – another former fulltime couple in the ICOC – have joined God’s new movement in Moscow! Sergei came to the Inaugural Service of the Moscow ICOC in 1991 and still remembers Kip’s sermon that day! He was baptized a couple months later!
After 15 years, Sergei (right) meets Kip again at
Moscow’s First Anniversary Service!
In March 1992, Sergei started working for the church fulltime. That summer, he was sent on the mission team to Novosibirsk! There in 1993 his future wife Lena was baptized! After returning to serve the Lord in Moscow, in 1996 the Lamekinys came back to Novosibirsk as Sector Leaders. In March 1996, their daughter Kristina was born! In 2001, they were sent to plant the church in Omsk! God blessed them to be leaders of that church for nine years! There God gave them a son Nikita in 2006!
In the summer of 2010, Sergei & Lena were called to move in Nizhniy Novgorod to take responsibility for the church in this city and two other small churches in Kazan and Samara! They spent two-and-a-half rather hard years leading the Nizhniy Novgorod Church and in December 2012 they were dismissed as “not talented in public and personal communication.”
For the last three years, they have been dutifully leading a Bible Talk, spending time in tears, and praying to God to give them a new destination! Heartbreak upon heartbreak, during that time their daughter left the church after a year in Christ.
Then at the first of this year, Sergei contacted me! I asked Sergei to come to our First Anniversary Service and to see Kip again! After studying out the SoldOut Movements Core Convictions with Kip and me, and an overnight visit by Elena & I to Nizhniy Novgorod three hours away, Sergei & Lena joyfully joined God’s movement! They are moving to Moscow very soon!
The Moscow Disciples welcome Sergei (blue jacket),
Lena (white jacket), and Kristina (center)!
RD Baker – Dubai Mission Team Leader: “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known…” (Romans 15:20) Truly these are exciting times for God’s Kingdom, as we continue our pledge to plant churches in all nations in our generation thus fulfilling the Great Commission! 2016 will be the year we begin our thrilling, yet difficult work in the Middle East with our first planting – the 11th Crown of Thorns City which is Dubai, United Arab Emirates!
RD & April Baker – the courageous Dubai
Mission Team Leaders!
Dubai, the largest of seven states making up the United Arab Emirates, is nestled in the Persian / Arabian Gulf. Forbes Magazine says Dubai is now one of the five most visited cities in the world! With over 2.3 million people, Dubai is truly made up of all nations, a population comprised of Arabs, Persians, Filipinos, British, Indians, Americans and many other countries!
The Burj Khalifa in the center of Dubai is
the tallest building in the world at
2,722 feet (830 meters)!
My wife April & I believe that it will prove to be the ideal pillar city for us to plant churches in all the Persian Gulf and throughout the entire 18 countries of the Middle East!
“A great door for effective work has been opened to me, but there are many who oppose me.” (1 Corinthians 16:9) Knowing the difficulties that lie ahead for this missionary journey in the heart of Islam, the call and need of the hour is for sold-out, dedicated and talented disciples to “step up and step out” on faith and volunteer for the work that must follow! Now is the time we must assemble those God has called for this noble task and are serious about accomplishing the mission at hand.
2.3 million lost souls live under
the Dubai Flag!
We are looking movement-wide for disciples who can obtain employment in Dubai, are teachable, grounded in the Bible, and will bring a mature, stable presence to our team. Knowledge of the culture, a firm grasp on Islam and the Arabic language, and a heart to love the Arab peoples are a plus! Our prayers are that the Blackwells – the Middle East World Sector Leaders – and April & I will “spy out the land” in late May. Then Lord willing, I will have found a job to support my family and start work in Dubai around July 1st. Then the Dubai Mission Team will be sent out by the Holy Spirit on Sunday, July 31st at the
2016 Global Leadership Conference! We have our eye on September 4th for our Inaugural Service! If you would like to join the team, please contact me at
rd.baker@usd21.org.
Tim Kernan – Director of the 2016 Global Leadership Conference: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!” (Acts 1:8) Jesus’ radical vision for the first century church was for it to spread “to the ends of the earth” in the lifetime of the Apostles! Therefore, the stirring theme for the 2016 GLC is REVOLUTION! The date for this momentous occasion is Sunday, July 31st through Tuesday, August 2nd!
Sign up soon for the 2016 GLC
at CAICC.net!
On Friday, July 29th will be the exciting
Church Builders Workshop and the inspirational
International Campus Devotional! On Saturday will be
CyberCon, The MERCYWORLDWIDE Symposium, The International Teen Devo and the fun-filled
Talent Show and
PURE Dance!Registration this year is $185. However, until Tuesday, March 15th, we are offering the Early Bird Special for $160! You may register for the 2016 GLC as well as securing housing by going to the City of Angels International Christian Church Webpage at CAICC.net. Let’s be praying for Jesus’ Global REVOLUTION to extend “to the ends of the earth” in this generation!
Tim Kernan – the 2016 GLC Director – getting disciples signed up for the Early Bird Special!
Kip McKean: Dearest Brothers and Sisters, Keep in your prayers the other Geographic Missions Conferences! If you were not able to attend the
Brazil Missions Conference or the
Latin American Missions Conference, begin to pray that somehow, some way that God will give you the time off work or school, the finances and the visas to attend one of the following life-changing events this year!
Oleg Sirotkin – Lead Evangelist of Moscow: Privyet! We are praying for as many of you as possible to come to our First Eurasian Missions Conference in Moscow, Russia! We celebrated our First Anniversary Service of the Moscow Church on January 31st! During our first year, God added to the 17 on the Mission Team and the 30 in the Moscow Remnant Group 77 additions – 41 baptisms, 24 restorations and 12 place memberships! The following websites will guide you in registering for and participating in the Eurasian Missions Conference on April 29th – May 1st!
The theme for the First Eurasia Missions
Conference is NOTHING
IS IMPOSSIBLE!
HEROES OF THE FAITH is the upward
call theme of the APRMC! Kip McKean: There are three other Geographic Missions Conferences later in the year! The
European Missions Conference in London is entitled,
LIVING BY FAITH and the dates will be October 27-30, 2016! The
First South Asia Missions Conference in Chennai, India will have the theme
EXODUS! The dates are November 4-6, 2016! The
African Missions Conference is shared about just below by Andrew Smellie!
Andrew Smellie – World Sector Leader of Africa: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:2) On May 22, 2016, the SoldOut Discipling Movement will witness an historic event – the sending from LA of the First Mission Team Planting to the continent of Africa in LAGOS, NIGERIA!! Appropriately called “the Giant of Africa,” Nigeria is the home of over 180 million lost souls – the largest of the 54 nations of Africa with a land mass that is twice the size of California! The Lord has continued to gather His remnant into the Lagos Remnant Group from the Mainline Church of Christ, our former movement – the ICOC, and also a number of Nigerian disciples from the London ICC whose UK visas have expired, but their faith for their homeland is still ablaze!
Andrew Smellie will return to his beloved
Africa to plant the Lagos ICC!
From Friday, June 24th to Sunday, June 26th, we will celebrate our Second African Missions Conference (AMC) entitled, A Great Light Has Dawned! The close of this momentous event will be the Sunday June 26th Inaugural Service of the Lagos International Christian Church!
The theme of the African Missions Conference in
keeping with the planting of Lagos is
A GREAT LIGHT HAS DAWNED! This historic event will be held at the Four Seasons by Sheraton – Lagos, Plot 9/10 Block 2, Oniru Chieftaincy Estate, Victoria Island. Please stay tuned as an Eventbrite Website with further details will be up soon! Last year, we celebrated our
First AMC in Abidjan, Ivory Coast as over 500 gathered in attendance to worship and witness 12 baptisms! Lyly Ngungu, the wife of Micky Ngungu – the Kinshasa ICC Leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – was restored to the Lord after being apart from her husband in Johannesburg, South Africa due to work challenges! She now serves faithfully beside her husband in her homeland and leads the Kinshasa Sisters powerfully!
HEADLINE NEWS
Raul Moreno – Lead Evangelist of São Paulo: Greetings from São Paulo, Brazil! God has been good to our church as history was made as we were able to celebrate our First Brazil Missions Conference (BMC) from February 19th to the 21st entitled, EM CHAMAS! All the sermons and classes were inspired by this great theme!
The theme EM CHAMAS (ON FIRE) was prophetic
as every BMC participant left the
seminar, left ON FIRE!
Thursday night we had a scrumptious Speakers Dinner, Brazilian style, in an amazing “Churrascaria” (Steak House) on the beautiful Paulista Avenue which is the business center of this great city! It was a great time of fellowship, sharing and thoroughly enjoying all-you-can-eat steak!
Raul & Lynda Moreno welcome all the speakers
for the BMC to the Churrascaria Feast!
Jason & Sarah Dimitry came all the way
from San Francisco!
All the speakers were encouraged by the
hospitality of the Sao Paulo Church who
provided the Churrascaria Dinner!
Friday morning, we started the festivities with Registration and our very own Campus Workshop!
The Sao Paulo Sisters are ON FIRE to register
Alfredo Anuch who traveled from Santiago!
The Campus Workshop began with a
powerful Pre-Service Prayer!
Then Tim Kernan delivered an unforgettable sermon, in the way that only Tim can do, entitled, Thrown Into The Fire from the book of Daniel! I will never forget one of his points, When Thrown Into The Fire Expect Company! Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the fire, but the Angel of the Lord was there to rescue them! This should always give us comfort as God does not forget His servants when we go through difficult trials!
Tim Kernan’s humor and Biblical insights
stirred every campus student’s heart!
Following Tim were seven short charges about several Biblical heroes who were on fire for God!
The seven short charges were delivered by Adam,
Shay, Danilo, Carol, Sarah, Jason and Caio!
Sarah had so much fun delivering a translated
lesson! Bia also enjoyed the moment!
Later on, Kip & Elena dynamically presented The History Of The Campus Ministry! In this deep and cool lesson, Kip elaborated on a very interesting and insightful yet innovative premise that the Apostles were in fact the first Campus Ministry because Jesus was a Rabbi (teacher) and the Apostles were his “young” students! You MUST listen to this ground-breaking sermon!
Kip & Elena humbly shared about some of the
mistakes they made in building Campus
Ministries as a young ministry couple!
Those lessons were enough spiritual nourishment for a whole conference, yet God loves to give us “more that we can ask or imagine.” With this principle in mind, on Friday night we had the official start of our conference combined with our MERCY Night! It was so unifying as a Movement to see the sea of green as everyone had a MERCY Shirt on!
MERCY Night at the BMC!
We had two exciting cultural presentations as two brothers and a sister danced the Capoeira! The Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art which has dancing elements to it with music playing in the background! Only Brazilians would think of putting dancing into a martial art! That is one of the reasons why I love Brazil so much!!!! Immediately following, a group of our very talented sisters performed a sweet Afro-Brazilian Samba Dance! They did an incredible job!
The Capoeira Martial Art Dance!
The adorable Samba Sisters!
Elena shares a picture of herself the year that she
became a disciple and several thought
the picture looked incredibly like
our new sister Gaby!
To end the night, Kip spiritually brought “the fire” with his sermon aptly entitled, Fire From Heaven! The entire São Paulo Church experienced the full range of the emotional spectrum with this sermon! We felt very loved, encouraged, corrected, admonished, rebuked… and then loved again! It is great to have an Overseeing Evangelist come to your church and lovingly meet what was lacking in the church! Thank you Kip!
One of the amazing highlights for Kip was seeing
all the preachers that Raul is training to
evangelize Brazil: Caio, Vini, Flavio,
Joao Carlos, Adam, Danilo,
Luca and Renato!
Because of God working through Kip’s discipling, we have put before the Lord the following goals for the São Paulo Church this year:
1. Start the ICCM-São Paulo in April.
2. Begin our Pledge Drive in April.
3. Re-train all the Bible Talk Leaders to do all the studies and to be effective.
4. Plant the Rio House Church in July.
5. Have 80 additions in 2016.
6. Send out the Rio planting at the 2017 BMC.
7. Appoint two disciples as Evangelist and/or Women’s Ministry Leaders at the 2017 BMC.
Wow, I have written so much already and I have only covered one day of the conference! But there are still two days left! Well, Saturday and Sunday were amazing as we heard deep and impactful lessons from Jason Dimitry, Elena McKean, Alfredo Anuch, Renato Tria, Shay Sears, Adam Zepeda and the São Paulo Church Interns!
Renato Tria!
Though emotional, Shay Sears preaches in flawless
Portuguese as she was on the original
Sao Paulo Mission Team!
Elena McKean!
Alfredo Anuch!
Gina dela Pena traveled 39 hours from Manila
to preach at the BMC in Sao Paulo!
I have to say that even in this state of jubilant expectation after the BMC, we are waiting for the great young evangelist and my dear son in the faith Adam Zepeda to join us as a missionary in Brazil! Thank you LA Church for giving up one of your young prophets to this mission field! Hopefully, God will get him a wife here! If he can’t get a wife here, he may need to be like Paul! Lol! (Laugh out loud!)
Raul’s fatherly touch has inspired Adam to rely
on God from the day Raul baptized him!
At Sunday Service, God gave us 231 in attendance with three awesome baptisms!
Raul preaching to a packed house
on Sunday morning!
Marina (center) is a Master’s Student at the
prestigious University of Sao Paulo!
Renato’s heartfelt sharing about his
life was very moving!
Gustavo’s mom – a sold-out disciple – gives him
one last admonition before his baptism!
Gustavo is baptized by his two older brothers –
Anderson (left) and Eduardo who
are also disciples!
Of note, in the last three weeks, the Lord has given us 8 additions with 7 baptisms and 1 place membership! We were also able to unveil the exciting Crown of Thorns Project for the Central & South America World Sector which filled the disciples with dreams of becoming missionaries! God is good!
The Anuchs help to unveil the Crown of
Thorns Project for Latin America!
Shay and all who traveled from afar forged best
friendships with the amazing
Brazilian Disciples!
After this great conference ended on Sunday afternoon, Lynda & I immediately hopped on a 40 minute flight with our dear friends the Kernans, Dimitrys, Shay Sears and Eileen Mengis to Rio de Janeiro to not just see this beautiful city, but this was our first “spying out the land” trip! God willing, we will have an optional Rio “Spying Out The Land” Trip for those who come next year to the 2017 Brazilian Missions Conference and we’ll meet with the Rio Mission Team on Tuesday night for a Devo!
Rio de Janeiro is a massive city of
over 12 million!
Driving along the famous Copacabana Beach!
Copacabana Beach!
For the entire “spying out the land” trip, Jesus
had the Kernans’, the Dimitrys’ and
the Morenos’ backs!
At every landmark, the Disciples would pray and
plant their feet claiming Rio for God’s glory!
(Joshua 1:3)
And the fun did not end in Rio! The very next week after our conference, Lynda & I headed to Mexico City to participate in the
Latin American Missions Conference! Carlos & Lucy did an outstanding job planning and directing this great conference as they always do with all the seminars that they host! The Mexico City Church is so blessed to have them as leaders!
Carlos Mejia – Lead Evangelist of the Mexico City Church: Greetings from Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos! The Great Commission was the stirring theme of the 2016 Latin American Missions Conference (LAMC)! For the past three years, the Lord allowed us to host this event in the great city of Santiago de Chile! So this year was the first year for this inspirational occasion to be held in Mexico City! The entire event was held at the beautiful Hotel Hilton Reforma!
After three years in Santiago, the LAMC is
held in Mexico City for the first time!
The population of Mexico City is 25 million…
and growing!
The gracious hosts for the LAMC were Carlos
& Lucy Mejia – the Lead Ministry Couple
for the Mexico City Church!!
The Church Builders Workshop was from 9AM to Noon on Thursday, February 25th! The singing was incredible even though many of the Americans could only hum the melody! After all, we sing the same songs with the same sold-out heart! Dr. Kip McKean preached an unforgettable message entitled, The Churches Were Strengthened In The Faith And Grew In Numbers! Kip began with an overview of the Scriptures on the growth of God’s movement in the first century in the Book of Acts. He then laid out from Acts 4:13 that “the extraordinary was accomplished by the ordinary!” I felt very challenged by the message and upped our church growth goal to 100 additions in 2016!
Raul translates for Kip at the Church
Builders Workshop!
Following, we split into Men’s and Women’s Sessions. The Brothers heard amazing messages from Emilio Bonilla of LA, Renato Tria of Sao Paulo, Jose Otero of Bogota, Alfredo Anuch of Santiago, and Raul Moreno of Sao Paulo speaking on The Five Core Convictions Of The SoldOut Movement!
Emilio Bonilla is one of the most powerful
young preachers in the movement! The Sisters had the same theme for their breakout session! Their speakers were my lovely wife Lucy Mejia, Lynda Moreno of Sao Paulo, Daniela Otero of Bogota, Alejandra Anuch of Santiago, and Dr. Elena McKean of LA!
Lucy admonishing and encouraging
the Sisters!
Then it was off to see the Teotihuacan Aztec Pyramids! About 140 of us boarded three buses and traveled northeast a little more than an hour from Mexico City. Everyone was blown away especially with our singing and praying at the top of the tallest of the pyramids where at one time there were human sacrifices! We sang the song, Dios Tu Pueblo Canta (God Your People Praise You!) In this former center of pagan worship, we sang one verse that can be translated, “You’re the one God, the true God!” Now this renowned place of blood and death has become a glorious place of vision and hope for God’s new movement in Mexico!
Time to board the buses!
The bus ride!
140 Disciples get ready to climb the highest
of the Aztec Pyramids!
Whew!!!! That was a lot higher than most
of us thought… Except Carlos!
Heard more than a mile away, Malcolm leads us in
the beautiful song, Dios Tu Pueblo Canta!
With an inspiring view from the top of the pyramid,
Renato Tria prays for the evangelization
of all Latin America!
Climbing down was soooo much easier!
Time to get a siesta!
After climbing down the pyramid we got into the buses again and headed for the famous Gran Teocalli Restaurant! What a celebration we had!
For some reason as we pulled up to this famous
restaurant – the Gran Teocalli – we all felt like
the food was going to be a temptation…
And we were right!
What an incredible meal! Then
came the live Aztec Dance!
Daniel & Patty and Gordo & Jen really
got into the performance!
On Friday night from 7PM to 10PM was the official Opening Session of the LAMC! On an encouraging note, the Americans were starting to get the hang of our Spanish hymns! After the singing came The Welcome, an International Prayer in three languages – Spanish, Portuguese and English, then our Opening Video! Then, Drs. Kip & Elena McKean presented The Good News From All Around The Kingdom! Following was another highlight – The Flag Parade Of Nations!
The flags of the four evangelized Latin American
nations were paraded to the stage!
The first is the Chilean flag carried
by Jose Andres & Pilar!
Then came Vini & Vaitsa proudly
carrying the Brazilian flag!
Then as Alberto & Lesly stood tall,
it was “Viva la Mexico!”
The dashing remnant couple – Salvador &
Martita Deluque – carried
Colombia’s colors!
Then the entire crowd waved small flags from
all the nations of Latin America… And
we believed that someday all these
flags will be on stage!
Not to be forgotten is Sara Oros Gochez – the
heroine who single-handedly saved the
Mexico City Church from false
teachers in 2014!
After a short break, Jose Otero preached a fiery sermon – Leave Your Land! We closed with a very special song! On Saturday morning was our MERCY T-Shirt Day!
MERCY Day at the LAMC! To kick-off the day, Raul Moreno delivered a remarkable lesson – Come Follow Me! After the break, we broke into three separate programs: Campus, Singles and Marrieds!
The speakers for the Campus Ministry
Program were “increíble!”
Following, Jeremy Ciaramella – one of our movement’s CyberEvangelists – delivered a powerful lesson on the darkness of the internet and our opportunity to have our lights shine on the internet! We entitled his lesson, Go… To The Invisible Continent!
Jeremy Ciaramella delivered a message about the
Internet that should be preached in every
SoldOut Movement Church!
Three physical sisters: Adriana (left) and Lorainna
(right) – both of Mexico City – and their sister
Elvera Casas in whose home the new
Cancun Remnant Group meets!
Then Nick Bordieri, Michael & Sharon Kirchner, and Hector Gomez respectively spoke on Go Heal The Sick, Go To The Ends Of The Earth, and Go To The Noble Hearted! We closed our Morning Session by presenting the Crown of Thorns Project for Latin America! Raul and I were privileged to pray over it!
Raul and Carlos pray over the Latin America
Crown of Thorns Project!
Saturday night was the Kingdom Banquet where Alfredo Anuch spoke on Teach Them To Obey! We also had some special entertainment by mariachis and then a Family PURE Dance!
The Kingdom Banquet!
The dearly beloved Kirchers – the World Sector
Leader Couple for Administration and Law!
Mariachis!
Since it was Lynda’s birthday, she & Raul were
invited to dance along with the Mejias!
Alfredo preached Biblically that there are
no excuses for not being sold-out
for Jesus’ Revolution!
The momentous evening closed with
a Family PURE Dance!
However, Alfredo did not eat at the banquet since
he was speaking, so he went out late night
for dinner and ordered a Mexican
treat… worms and scorpions!
Ummmm!
Alfredo cleaned his plate!
Sunday morning was the grand finale – The Worship Service! Communion was amazing as my sister Cecy Frazier & her awesome husband Travis shared their lives… and many of my sins!
Travis & Cecy Frazier presided over a
tremendously moving communion!
Following was contribution by Hector & Adriana Gomez, who initiated the Bogota Remnant Group and now have moved to Mexico City to establish the Berea / SoldOut Publishing Company! Our first book will come out at the
2016 Global Leadership Conference – Elena McKean’s book entitled,
ELEVATE – Jesus’ Global Revolution For Women! In English it will be in hardback and in Spanish a paperback!
Then came one of the most moving times in my life – the baptism of Lucy’s & my oldest son Carlos! Baptized immediately before him was Daniel, the son of Hector & Adriana! So our Teen Ministry is cranking!
Hector asks the two most important questions
of his son Daniel’s life!
Adriana’s 15 year prayer for Daniel to
be baptized was answered!
Father and son become dear Brothers!
Then came the Send-off of the Bogota (Colombia) Mission Team! This team of five gallant disciples led by two of my best friends – Jose & Daniela Otero – will be joined by the now 30 member Bogota Remnant Group!
Globes were given to the five on
the Bogota Mission Team!
Carlos presents not only the Bogota Mission
Team (in hats!), but also five remnant
disciples from Bogota that came
to the LAMC!
That night, Kip & Elena graciously celebrated Carlos’ baptism with Lucy, Andrew, Carlos and me with a wonderful dinner! God has been so good to me! Continue to pray for the Mexico City International Christian Church!
The McKeans celebrate their spiritual grandson
Carlos’ baptism! As well as being very proud
of their other grandson – Andrew!
Jose Otero – Bogota Mission Team Leader: “You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God!'” Greetings from Bogota! Our God is an Awesome God! Today, the five of us on the Mission Team had our first Sunday service since arriving in Bogota! It was a packed house with an attendance of 55! Truly, when we lift up our voices with a shout, saying, “Here is your God” people listen! And to God be all glory! Amen!
Malcolm & Alexa (left) will serve as the Campus
Ministry Couple as Jose & Daniela
lead the Bogota ICC!
The Bogota Mission Team is already fruitful
as Daniela (left) and Martita (right)
restored Esperanza at the LAMC!
Alfredo Anuch – Lead Evangelist of Santiago: Greetings from “the ends of the earth!” It is summer here in Chile and even though January and February have historically been slow months of growth for the church, this summer God has blessed us with 12 baptisms in these first eight weeks! To Him be the glory!
Santiago de Chile as viewed from the
famous San Cristobal Hill!
Felipe Roman, a civil engineering student in the Catholic University, was baptized three weeks ago… For around four months, we studied the Bible with him almost every day, and so his faith went from Gnosticism to true Christianity! It was so impressive to hear him say in front of our 23 Campus Ministry Disciples, “Jesus is Lord!” Now Felipe is studying the Bible with others and defends Jesus with passion!
Felipe is now a radical sold-out disciple!
Another amazing conversion, was that of Benjamín Gonzalez, who in 1980 was baptized in the Traditional Church of Christ here in Santiago! A while later, he became a preacher and planted two Mainline Churches of Christ! This man, despite his experience and his later studies in theology, decided to become a child to be sure of his calling before God. After three weeks and realizing that what he had believed and taught for years about conversion had been a wrong doctrine, he made the decision to become a disciple of Jesus, be baptized again, and this time go out to preach the good news of Jesus with the same strength and heart from 30 years ago!
Benjamin – a former Mainline Church of Christ
preacher – has a vision to help evangelize
all of Central & South America!
Because we believe that God can do much more than what we can think of or imagine (Ephesians 3:20), we have decided that our goal as church is to have 100 additions in 2016 and thus finish with over 200 disciples for Christ! Our first step of faith was our service today in a new location in the Marina Las Condes Hotel, which has an event room with a capacity for 300 people!
After being inspired by the First Brazil Missions Conference and feeling terrible that we only had three disciples from Santiago participate, so today we told the church that the Summer of 2017 won’t be one more summer for the Santiago Church, because the Campus and Singles Ministries (presently a combined 80 disciples) will be going to Sao Paulo, Brazil to be a part of the Second Brazil Missions Conference! God willing, around 100 disciples will be going from Santiago to Sao Paulo for this amazing event! Only one word can summarize what is coming: REVOLUTION!!!
FAMILY NEWS
Boston: Tim Roseborough & Jovani Small tied the knot on February 13th! These “love birds” were converted through the Boston University Campus Ministry and graduated just last year! It has been so inspiring to have been able to witness them fall in love with God, and then fall in love with one another! Both their families were greatly impacted as they watched in awe the Roseboroughs’ first kiss and the servitude of all the disciples at their wedding!
Congratulations to Tim & Jovani!
Chennai: All the Disciples celebrated the gorgeous wedding and holy union of Subash & Amanda!
Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Subash!
Sydney: The Sydney Church had its first and I must say spectacular wedding of Lennox & Kiera Tweneboa! Lennox originally came to the church in our first year after leaving our former fellowship by finding us on the Internet! He also brought Kiera, helped baptized her at the beach, and after much humility, advice and trust in God, saw the desires of his heart come true as married her amid their family and friends, accompanied by a troop of African drummers which he then surprised Kiera by joining and showing off his talents on the drums!
Congratulations to the Tweneboas!
Sao Paulo: Two evenings before the Brazil Missions Conference commenced, Danilo Bataglin & Carol Postigo were celebrating their engagement! God was simply solidifying His plans for them – as a married couple – to plant the Rio de Janeiro Church after the February 2017 Brazil Missions Conference!
Congratulations to Danilo & Carol who Lord
willing will plant the Rio de Janeiro
Church in February 2017!
Los Angeles – Palm Springs Region: “He has made everything beautiful in its time…” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) Last week we witnessed an incredible miracle, as Tony & Munisa Herrera were married in God’s Kingdom! Tony was met by our dear brother and evangelist Salvador Velasco, who shared with him persistently for over a year. Eventually Tony came out to church, broke up with his then fiancée Munisa, and became a true disciple! Fast forward to January… Munisa becomes a baptized disciple and now they have been united in Christ through marriage! Please pray for Lucas, Tony’s son, who is a teen and studying the Bible!
Congratulations to Tony & Munisa Herrera!
Los Angeles – Ventura Region: Please welcome the newest addition to the Swann Clan in Ventura! Kyle, Samantha and Scarlet Swann were so happy to welcome Conor Jay Swann into their precious family on February 9th at 4:30am!
Scarlet’s first meeting with her new brother Conor!
Tim Kernan – Lead Evangelist of the City of Angels ICC: Greetings from rainy and beautiful Los Angeles, California! Lianne & I were so blessed to have been invited to the First Brazil Missions Conference, hosted by some of our very best friends − Raul & Lynda Moreno! The conference was one of the best I’ve ever attended, and Sao Paulo is such a delightful city! We met so many amazing disciples, and we wholeheartedly recommend that as many as possible attend the Brazil Missions Conference next year! After the conference, the Morenos invited the Dimitrys and us to join them on a short flight from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro. We began “spying out the land” there for the 2017 church planting! I just can’t say enough about how impressed we are with the amazing Sao Paulo Church!
At the Sao Paulo Airport, Tim & Lianne are given
a SoldOut Movement Welcome with the
song – We Love You With The Love
Of The Lord!
This missions conference deeply reinforced my conviction that it is the best thing for the SoldOut Movement to have Kip & Elena freed up to focus on worldwide growth and the strengthening of our awesome Crown of Thorns Churches! It was amazing to see their effectiveness, and the hunger of the people for their time and skillful discipling. As was written about David, so it can be said of the McKeans, “[The McKeans] shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands [they] led them!” (Psalm 78:72) The disciples beamed with joy at the McKeans very felt presence at the conference!
Kip & Elena were so proud of Raul & Lynda
and the Sao Paulo Church for all of their
planning and hard work to host
the First BMC!“And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.” (Genesis 9:7) I’m so very proud of every disciple in the City of Angels Church, and I’m especially amazed by the faith of all 45 Bible Talks that have been fruitful this year! In the first 67 days of 2016, God has given us 76 outstanding additions – 61 baptisms and 15 restorations! Upon my return from Sao Paulo, we had a special Friday Morning Staff Session for all of the Region Leader Men where we dreamed together and pledged ourselves to our Biblical and idealistic conviction that every one of the 138 Bible Talks in the City of Angels Church can, should and will be fruitful this year! It will take skillful and inspirational hands to accomplish this goal, but we genuinely believe we have the Evangelists and Women’s Ministry Leaders for the task!
Tim & Lianne take the entire City of Angels Church
Staff up Mt. Shalom to pray for workers!
We also had a special session for all the Shepherding Couples, the Evangelists and the Women’s Ministry Leaders in the congregation last Sunday night to continue to build unity. We had a rousing study of Genesis 18 and 19, comparing the camp of Abraham and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Even though the meeting finished at 9:30 PM, the Region Leaders and Shepherding Couples could still be found fellowshipping an hour later! A very special thank you to Denise Bordieri for preparing the food (Nick was at the Latin American Missions Conference), Tony & Therese Untalan for organizing the meeting, and for all our Shepherding Couples across the whole congregation for participating!
Tony & Therese oversee the Shepherding Couples
in the SoldOut Movement!
This past Friday night at the All Congregational Campus Devotional on the USC Campus, Joel & Courtney Parlour − the Seattle Mission Team Leaders − preached an amazing sermon to us entitled, Broken Hearts Break Hearts! Also joining us for the devotional was Brian & Joaly Carr from Boston, who are in LA training and preparing to lead the mighty Eugene Church when Gabe & Stephanie Reed move to the Southland Region in the middle of April! We are so blessed as a movement to have such inspiring and dedicated young leaders!
Joel & Courtney Parlour preaching at LA’s All
Campus Devo with more than 300 students!
On Saturday and Sunday, eight of the 12 LA Regions hosted this year’s Women’s Day Event, creatively entitled Once Upon A Time.
Rob Onekea designed a special Women’s Day Invite
for each of LA’s 12 Regions!
In the North Region, 37 sisters had 86 women in attendance; in the South Region 30 sisters had 70 women in attendance; in Orange County 70 women had 160 women in attendance; in the Central Region 26 sisters had 71 women in attendance; in the West Region 36 sisters had 86 women in attendance; in the Ventura Region 25 sisters had 87 women in attendance; in the Southland Region 83 sisters had an astonishing 220 women in attendance and two baptisms; and amazingly in the East Region, 27 sisters had 125 women in attendance! Please join me in praying for the harvest and the Palm Springs, Inland Empire, Antelope Valley and AMS Regions to blow out their Women’s Day Events this coming weekend!
Makaela and Sonrisa Bordieri sample the Southland
Region Women’s Day Breakfast!
April (pink) has her younger sister Celina (left), her
sister-in-law Lovenia (center), and her niece
Moriah (holding her Bible) as visitors
to Women’s Day in Southland!
Pam Boea praying over the Southland Breakfast!
Lisa Davis – Supervisor of Child Development and
Special Programs for the ABC Unified
School District – gives a riveting
testimonial about becoming
a disciple!
Elena joyfully preaching the Word!
Keosha is one of two baptisms at the outstanding
Southland Region Women’s Day!
I have included the beautiful theme video for the
LA Women’s Days! Brandyn Speckman, Mike Purdy and Evan Bartholomew are to be highly commended for this extraordinary piece of art that renders a sobering and yet inspirational message for all women and men!
https://youtu.be/gYIIkgJnTdo?list=PLkPMuF3CMp3dg04BzlHVK8urQ4-3YpmueFinally, it has been great for Lianne & me to be in the West Region to support Chris McGrath and Megan Matthews as they take the reins of this now glorious Region! This last Sunday, however, when Chris pulled out his guitar at the end of his amazing lesson and began strumming and singing Poor Wayfaring Stranger, I turned to Lianne and said, “Our work here in the West Region is done!” Chris and Megan are now fully ready to grab this region and to take it to heights that have never been reached before! Lianne & I are humbled and grateful for all that God has done, and is doing, through all of the over 900 LA Disciples! Please continue to keep us in your prayers!
The Southland Region Women’s Day 2016 – Once Upon A Time (The Keynote Speaker is Elena McKean): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ_qTyWYg4
Editorial
Dearest Brothers and Sisters: The motivating vision of God’s SoldOut Movement is the evangelization of the nations in THIS generation! 1 Timothy 2:3-4 reads, “This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” This Scripture clearly teaches that God’s will is for all men (and women) to be saved! So the question comes… Is God’s will, your will? If it is then you now have God’s vision for everyone that is living – THIS generation – to be saved!
One of 20 Starbucks in Sao Paulo!
One of 122 Starbucks in Mexico City! So
Starbucks has evangelized the world!
As well, Jesus prophesied to the 12 Apostles in Matthew 24:9-14 that all nations would be evangelized in their lifetimes! Jesus taught them in what is known as the Olivet Discourse – which are some of His last words before His arrest a few days later, “Then you [Apostles] will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me… And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Jesus conveys in no uncertain terms that the Twelve will be hated by all nations! To be hated one must be known! All nations would know the Apostles’ message and then they would be martyred for this heroic effort! This is again conveyed when Jesus shares that “the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world… to all nations and then the end will come.” The end is the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD! This prophecy was fulfilled as the Apostles evangelized all nations in THEIR generation!
A Sao Paulo Pizza Hut!
A Mexico City Pizza Hut! So Pizza Hut
has evangelized the world!
Paul writing from prison in Rome in 62AD states the same, “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing… This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.” (Colossians 1:6, 23) In fact, the Book of Acts begins with Jesus’ last words before His ascension where He speaks the Apostles about His dream of an evangelized world in Acts 1:8, “You [the faithful Eleven Apostles] will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This becomes Luke’s outline for the Book of Acts! The church begins in Jerusalem in Acts 2:41-42, “Three thousand [were baptized and] they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer!” This is the church and it starts in Jerusalem!
A Sao Paulo Burger King!
A Mexico City Burger King! So Burger King
has evangelized the world!
By Acts 9:31, Luke records that the gospel has reached “Judea and Samaria” – old Israel, “Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.” So part two of Jesus’ vision in Acts 1:8 was accomplished! And of course by Acts 28, Paul reaches Rome and Rome’s influence goes “to the ends of the earth” and this is where Paul writes, “The gospel… has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven!”
A Sao Paulo McDonald’s!
Converts to McDonald’s in Mexico City! So
McDonald’s has evangelized the world
without the Holy Spirit! Let us not doubt
that God working through His
movement can evangelize the
nations in this generation!
Our first century brothers and sisters did it! So let His movement in the 21st century become equally resolute to accomplish Jesus’ dream in THIS generation! And to God be all the glory!
We are family… to the end,
Kip
