Category: Good News Email

Happy New Year and “grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!” (Ephesians 1:3) The incredible Winter Workshop on January 2-4, 2015 in Los Angeles began this new year centered on the book of Philippians with the inspiring theme – THE UPWARD CALL! One of the many highlights of the weekend was the announcement that, Lord willing in 2015, the Spirit will plant Moscow, Russia in February; Manila, Philippines in June; and Stockholm, Sweden in September! By the end of the year, of the 12 Crown of Thorns Cities, amazingly only three are left to be planted – Johannesburg (2016), Cairo or another Middle East Capital (2016), and Hong Kong (2017)!

The first Crown of Thorns City to celebrate the New
Year was Sydney! The Sydney Disciples brought
in the New Year while most of us in LA were
“having Quiet Times” at 5AM Pacific
Coast Time (PCT) on our
December 31st

!
Metro Manila celebrated 2015 at 8AM (PCT)
on New Years Eve Day!

Hong Kong as well celebrated at 8AM (PCT)!
 Chennai Disciples practice the “Cupid Shuffle!” India
celebrated New Year’s at 10:30AM (PCT)!

The disciples in Moscow rang in the
New Year when it was 1PM in LA!

Gumboot dancers performed on New Years Eve as
Johannesburg rang in the New Year at 2PM (PCT)!

The Egyptians had a peaceful New Year’s Celebration
filling up Tahrir Square in Cairo at 2PM (PCT)!

The City of Lights – Paris – had a spectacular
celebration at 3PM (PCT)!

In “Merry ‘Ol London,” Big Ben ushered
in 2015 at 4PM (PCT)!

In Sao Paulo…

Balloons saluted a New Year!

The Sao Paulo Disciples celebrated at 6PM (PCT)!

Santiago’s New Year came at 7PM our time in LA!

And in Mexico City, the 2015 New Years was a night-
long festival that began at 10PM in Los Angeles!

Yet as inspiring as the historic plantings of Moscow, Manila and Stockholm are, there will be far less “moving around” – especially from LA, where we have sent-out over 200 disciples during the last two years to plant and strengthen churches! Prayerfully, during 2015 – The Year of Maturity, we will focus not only on “the three leadership fountains” for the SoldOut Movement: the Campus Ministry, the AMS Ministry, and the Remnant, but also to “mature” and appoint new Evangelists and WML’s in almost every one of our plantings and several of the LA Regions! Maturity means multiplying disciples and multiplying the leaders to graciously lead them!

The  Courageous Stockholm Mission Team led
by Argo & Anu Arneson!

The 2015 Winter Workshop was kicked-off on Friday morning, January 2nd with the Church Builders Workshop!

Friends and family came from all around the world
for the 2015 Winter Workshop! So awesome to
have the “Mejia Familia” from Chile!

The initial lesson – FOR ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST – was an “upward call” to all church leaders to refocus their time and energy on Christ Jesus! That evening about 500 disciples attended the Bible Talk Leaders Workshop where Matt Sullivan delivered the inspiring speech, PROGRESS AND JOY IN THE FAITH!

Matt Sullivan of Orlando dynamically
preaching the Word!

On Saturday, there was The Men’s Program from 9AM to Noon which was followed by The Women’s Program which was held from 2PM to 5PM. The speech I CAN DO ALL THINGS was eloquently preached by Chris Broom to the men and Helen Sullivan to the sisters!

Helen Sullivan encouraging the Sisters
to say, “I CAN!”

To close The Men and Women’s Sessions, a hilarious Bible Talk Skit – showing disciples what to do and what not to do at Bible Talk – was brilliantly directed by Cesar & Debbie Limon!

The Bible Talk Skit gave us several
humorous moments!

In the evening, Nick & Denise Bordieri and Tony & Therese Untalan inspired The Shepherds Classby specifically addressing the role of the Shepherds to hold up the Evangelists’ arms!

Sunday, January 4th was the LA Congregational Worship Service where we were joined by the Las Vegas and San Diego Churches! The atmosphere was electric as ten brothers and sisters shared about their ministries which are located all around the globe!

The enthusiastic disciples at the Sunday Worship
Service of the 2015 Winter Workshop!

Then Carlos & Lucy Mejia presided over a very moving communion entitled, I COUNT EVERYTHING A LOSS, and Joe & Kerry Willis inspired us for the contribution on the theme ofCONSIDERING THE INTERESTS OF OTHERS! For the sermon, Andrew Smellie gave a very stirring keynote address on THE UPWARD CALL!

Joe & Kerry Willis share about the incredible
sacrifice of the entire Sydney
Mission Team!

In the afternoon and evening was the gorgeous wedding and joyous reception of Kirk & Margie Hamula – both ICCM Students!

Kirk & Margie recently returned to LA after
their honeymoon in Madrid!

On Monday morning was the first Crown Of Thorns Council Meeting of the new year. Congratulations goes to our three newest couples: Roger & Kama Parlour, Jay & Barb Shelbrack, and Lance & Connie Underhill! This session began with Joe Willis addressing the brothers onEVERYTHING IS UNDER HIS CONTROL. Elena spoke to the sisters on the same theme. That afternoon, Kyle Bartholomew gave one of the greatest lessons that I have ever heard which was entitled, BEING LIKE-MINDED! 

The Crown of Thorns Council!

That evening was The International College of Christian Ministries (ICCM) Faculty & Regents Reception! Very excitingly, new faculty and roles were introduced: Tim Kernan as the President of ICCM – Toronto, Lianne Kernan as the Dean of Women of ICCM – Toronto, Kyle Bartholomew as the President of ICCM – Manila, Joan Bartholomew as the Dean of Women of ICCM – Manila, Anthony & Cassidy Olmos as the Directors of Marketing, Cesar Limon as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, Rebecca Rico as another Graduate Teaching Assistant, Adam Zepeda as Academic Resource Teaching Assistant, and since there are now extension campuses of the ICCM in other nations, I will be privileged to serve as the Chancellor of the International Colleges of Christian Ministries!

Adam Zepeda & Rebecca Rico are two of our
new ICCM Graduate Teaching Assistants!

On Tuesday January 6th, the World Sector Leaders Council convened. Tim Kernan preached an incredible lesson from chapter one of Philippians entitled WHATEVER HAPPENS! To close out this session we had a very stimulating discussion about the SoldOut Movement’s future plantings from 2015 to 2018!

For Wednesday lunch, Andrew & Patrique Smellie – the World Sector Leaders of Africa – and Elena & I met with Nick Winn of Gordon’s Bay, South Africa. (Gordon’s Bay is about an hour’s drive from Cape Town.) Nick, after attending the entire Winter Workshop made the decision that afternoon for his congregation to officially join the SoldOut Movement!

Andrew celebrates the new Gordon’s Bay
Remnant Group with dessert, but then
remembers his new year’s diet!

Lord willing in March, Andrew & Patrique will speak at the Gordon’s Bay International Christian Church! Then the three of them will travel to Johannesburg to “spy out the land” as Nick grew up there! Prayerfully, the Johannesburg Remnant Group will begin this summer under the leadership of Jacques & Jeanette Groenewald now in our London Church!

Nick Winn – with camera in hand – can’t wait to return
to South Africa to share about the Winter
Workshop and meeting Andrew Smellie
and Jacques Groenewald (right)!

Extraordinarily, during the two weekends following the Winter Workshop, we witnessed our second and third weddings of the month – AJ & CL Penedo and Daniel & Patty Granger!

Congratulations to AJ & CL Penedo
of the Southland Region!

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Daniel & Patty Granger
of the OC Region!

God really used the Winter Workshop to motivate and strengthen the City of Angels Church as January has been an incredible month! We have seen our pledges for weekly contribution rise from $29,809/week to $36,020/week! Also, there are now 93 students enrolled in the International College of Christian Ministries (ICCM) Bachelor’s Program which met for the first time this year on Saturday, January 24th!

Since the focus of the ICCM is glorifying Jesus, our
Latin motto is “Venia et Veritas,” which
comes from John 1:14 as Jesus is
“Grace and Truth!” 

A light breakfast is provided before the ICCM Class…
Professor Bartholomew and Professor Smellie are
caught sampling Stan’s Donuts before
the students have a chance!

As well, on the following morning at our Bring Your Neighbor Day, God gave to us 1,506 in attendance! So, in the extremely busy first 28 days of 2015, God has blessed us with 30 additions – 21 baptisms, five restorations and four place memberships! All of this is so remarkable and we have 11 more months to go in 2015! And to God be the glory!

And now more good news from around Los Angeles…

HEADLINE NEWS – LOS ANGELES
Ighodaro Odighizuwa: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8) Warm greetings of love from the San Bernadino Sector of the Inland Empire Region! 2014 was an incredible year for the Inland Empire Region as we started out with 56 sold-out disciples and God blessed us with 114 additions! At the 2015 LA Winter Workshop, we experienced a historic event as the Spirit sent 34 disciples to plant the 12th Region of the City of Angels Church in Palm Springs! We also sent out nine disciples to start our new sector in San Bernadino led by Ashley and myself!

Argo presents Sal & Patricia Velasco with
the Fire Trophy! (Luke 12:49)

Each member of the new Zealous Palm Springs
Region also received the “Fire Trophy!”

The new Radical San Bernadino Sector!

It has been a very “WINDY” 2015 so far and the Spirit continues to move as 12 precious souls were added to our number in the month of January including six baptisms and two restorations! Today we had a record Bring Your Neighbor Day attendance of 145! We were privileged to witness four incredible campus students baptized from three different IE Campuses: Eric from UCR, Nichole from RCC, and two CSUSB students Jeremy and Erin were baptized into Christ!

Nichole of RCC gives the IE Challenge,
“You will be next!”

Like all IE baptisms, Erin of Cal State San Bernadino,
lovingly gives the charge, “You will be next!”

Jeremy is a music major at Cal State San Bernadino (CSUSB) specializing in the piano and cello. He was reached out to this past Wednesday and did an “on-the-spot Bible study!” Jeremy shared that he has been praying for God to send him people that could show him God’s will for his life. After concluding that we were the answer to his prayers, he started eagerly studying the Bible twice a day and was baptized today on our BYND Service!

With Jeremy’s baptism, we now have two
strong disciples at CSUSB!

Lastly, this January, the IE disciples are putting into practice, “Love one another,” as we have three new dating couples: Jason Woody & Daniela Payan, Erik af Klint & Michelle Pettit, and Garrett Bradley & Kelechi Kalu!

The IE’s three new dating couples – Garrett & Kelechi,
Erik & Michelle, and standing on each side is
Jason & Daniela – issuing the challenge,
“You will be next… to date!”

Lance Underhill: “It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth.” (2 John 1:4) The South Region is rejoicing with all that God is doing! First, Clarrisa, a great young lady, was introduced to the church by her friend, Aaron Turner – who is now in San Francisco. Over a four year period, she studied the Bible with Coleen Challinor in OC; later with Chenelle Patterson in Orlando; and then with Sarah Dimitry in San Francisco! Although brought up very religious, she finally realized after four years that she hadn’t watched her “life and doctrine closely,” and was baptized as a disciple last Sunday!

After four years of studying the Bible off and on,
Clarrisa becomes a baptized disciple!

Secondly, the South is jubilant as we surpassed our new pledge goal! Last but certainly not least, Stacy & Lynette Ybarra and their son Christian have been accepted into the ICCM as unpaid interns! The whole Ybarra Familia has added so much joy to the South! Just last year, their teen daughter Cameryn – although the youngest in the family – was the first to seek God with all her heart and then lead her family back to God! God is truly amazing!

On the day they were restored, Stacy & Lynette (left)
rejoice that their son Christian becomes a disciple!
Now all three are in the ICCM!

Cory Blackwell: Greetings from the Southland Region! Sunday was an incredible day! The Lord blessed us with our best Bring Your Neighbor Day ever! With 111 disciples, God blessed us with an attendance of 253 fired-up souls worshiping God! Our newly formed First Century Choir did an outstanding song called Give Him Glory! It had the church singing with great joy and then we were brought into the presence of God as our dear sister, Ciera Mercano – who is classically trained – sang, Open My Heart. I want to commend our Women’s Ministry led powerfully by the love of my life, my wife – Jeraldine! They worked around the clock completing studies, counting the cost, and baptizing at the service four precious women – Talisha (the physical sister of Ricky Ball), Jade, Sarita and Izzy, a zealous campus student at El Camino College!

Our precious new sisters: Talisha and Sarita!

During the sermon titled Kingdom Eyesight, we learned that God wants to 1) Reclaim Our Lives; 2) Reshape Our Futures; and 3) Redeploy Us To Win The Nations In Our Generation!Following, all our friends and family enjoyed a feast of foods prepared by the Bible Talks!

Cory calls for disciples to be willing to be “deployed”
to any and all nations!

Chris Adams of the Ventura Region: Around Christmas, our dear brother Miguel (Bear) reached out to a friend from elementary school named Ruth on Facebook. Shortly after, Ruth bumped into another bold sister, Alysha, at Starbucks who shared with her, and she began to study the Bible and to see the love of the disciples! Later, Ruth admitted that during her first “counting the cost session,” Kerri-Sue made her feel “quite uncomfortable” with her probing questions, so she walked away briefly. However, not long after, on January 9th, she “came to her senses” and thanked everyone at her baptism for believing in her and sticking with her, even when she was doubting God!

Ruth (third from the right) joins the ever growing
worldwide chorus, “You will be next!”

Finally, today’s Bring Your Neighbor Day Service was the most powerful service to date, since Kerri-Sue & I arrived in June 2014 with the “OC-4!” Pray for our workers to increase!

Luke Speckman: Greetings from “the OC!” We are very eager to get to work in the new year! To get geared up, we had an “Intern Training Class” at the end of 2014! We met together every day for two weeks from 10PM to Midnight and the curriculum included preaching, ministry book reading and reports, fun activities all with an expectation of excellence, and commitment to the end! Amazingly, 41 disciples committed to this rigorous schedule!

The two week “training classes” were filled with
singing, studying the Scriptures, and even a
game of “Chicken in the Hen House!”

We concluded our class by praying over Orange County in several different locations, and then the Interns led the following Sunday service including all preaching, sharing, singing, and praying! It has been an incredible journey for Brandyn & myself being in Orange County and we are so grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow from such an incredible group of disciples!

The OC Interns praying over Laguna Nigel!

Lastly, we are so thrilled to have Princeton, Joy, Glenn and Eric with us in the OC, who recently placed membership from the Miami Remnant Group! Please keep us in your prayers!

The OC Region sings to Princeton, Joy, Glenn and
Eric, “We love you with the love of the Lord!”

Cesar Limon: “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.”(Acts 17:6 ESV) Grace and peace in abundance from the East Region! If we are to be like the First Century Church then we as well are to “turn the world upside down!” This was our theme at ourBring Your Neighbor Day as God allowed us to have 99 at church – our highest attendance! Amazingly this past week after our pledge drive, our weekly contribution went from $804 to $1,206, that’s raising it over 50%! Thank God for pledge drives! Also this past week was encouraging to send-off Kevin Hetrick to be the Campus Minister for the North Region and it was refreshing to receive Garrett Bradley from the IE Region as he is a great “partner in the gospel” to me!

The record setting East BYND – 99 in attendance!

Excitingly, this past Wednesday, Nick – a foreign exchange student from South Korea – was baptized into Christ! He shared that he was an atheist his whole life until he saw the fellowship and the love of all the disciples! We believe he is the seed for South Korea as his dream is now to go back to preach to Word to His people!

While Nick shared at his baptism, the disciples
were thinking, “This is our future
Evangelist for South Korea!”

After the Winter Workshop, we sent out nine disciples on the “Azusa City Mission Team” and in the first two weeks they have seen their first two baptisms: Chris and Luis! Jorge and Sara have been doing an awesome job leading this team as they secured brothers and sisters households, and have had impact on both of “their” campuses: Citrus College and Azusa Pacific University!

Chris, the historic first baptism of the Azusa Mission
Team, challenges all at Citrus College,
“The Gospel will reach you next!”

On Saturday at the ICCM, Sara was extra fired-up as she started dating Jovanny from our Central Region… God is good! Much love from the East!

Congratulations to Jovanny & Sara!

Chris Chloupek: How Ya Do’in? from the AMS Region! In John 5:17 Jesus said, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” In the AMS, we are so grateful that we have a God that is always at work in our lives! We are very thankful for ICCM and how this is preparing so many disciples for the full-time ministry! We have eight disciples in the AMS that our currently enrolled! Among them are Nick & Jackie Iadonisi – our two new paid interns in the AMS! They lead a Bible Talk called the “NEXT LEVEL” that takes place in Nick’s gym, as Nick is also a personal trainer. Please pray for Nick who has submitted his video to compete in the next American Ninja Warrior Competition. Please view his submission video athttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UrVe6DmVxM especially if you are struggling to keep your New Year’s diet resolution!

Nick & Jackie have provided a tremendous spark of
enthusiasm that has spread across the
entire AMS Region!

Finally, I am very excited to say that the latest GNN Film, RESPECT is up for viewing on theCaicc.net! Click on the Arts, Media, Sports Region link or click on the following link to view it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEXv_G8ylUs. It is based on a true story about a brother who overcame the sin of homosexuality. It was made by the sacrifice of disciples in the AMS Region! As disciples in the AMS Region, we are committed to using our talents to evangelize the entertainment world for God. Our mantra is “Heart for God first, talent second!” There’s no business like “soul” business!

And now the good news from our World Sectors…

HEADLINE NEWS – USA SW QUADRANT  

Jeremy Ciaramella: Good news from Phoenix! “At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.” (Acts 10:1-2) God moved the heart of a women named Angelica Rivera – who reflects the nobility seen in our first century brother Cornelius!

Like him, Angelica fears God – the first kiss she and her husband shared was at their wedding! Also like Cornelius, she is devout – leading women’s Bible studies and even going on a missionary journey to Manila, Philippines! And yet, she humbly recognized that she had never heard the“message through [which she] and [all her] household would be saved!” Glory be to God that she joyfully and tearfully responded to the saving message in the Scriptures and therefore was“baptized in the name of Jesus Christ!” immediately after counting the cost late Saturday night!

A God-seeker all her life, Angelica finally
receives the Holy Spirit of God!

Please be praying for her husband who is also studying the Bible! Thank you for your prayers and“partnership in the gospel!” (Philippians 1:5)

Erin Fruithof: Greeting from Las Vegas! We are super fired-up for all the incredible things God has been doing here! Last week, we had our first campus baptism of 2015! God has blessed the UNLV Campus Ministry with Jaycel, a hardworking full-time student from the Philippines! We met Jaycel a week before school started and went straight into the studies. Her love for God was obvious and Jaycel wasted no time changing her life to become a sold-out disciple of Jesus Christ! She fell in love with God and her new purpose in life to make disciples and was willing to give up everything she had to be united with God, including her boyfriend of three years! After four days of studying the Bible, Jaycel was baptized and has been going after the vision to evangelize the world in our generation ever since!

Jaycel’s baptism excites the entire
Las Vegas Church!

This past Sunday, we had an awesome Bring Your Neighbor Day! God completely blessed our services and broke our attendance record with 91 people! It was incredible to see every table at Chipotle with Bible studies after service! As well, we are super grateful to be able to send three incredible disciples from the UNLV Campus Ministry to the ICCM this semester: Arvind, Yine and Shamika! We know that they will continue to do great things this year for the Lord as they are fortified by their studies with the ICCM!

Richie McDonnell: Greetings and Happy New Year from Santa Barbara! The Lord has been blessing us with some beautiful weather as we close out January! (Praying for you Boston, Syracuse and NYC!) To start off the month, we combined our Winter Workshop with the San Francisco Church in that great city! The workshop really was an UPWARD CALL! Upon coming home, we launched a sharing campaign for both the Campus and Singles Ministries. Also, today was our First Anniversary Service, marking the successful completion of our first year as a church where we more than doubled in size!

On top of all of this, we had an awesome baptism of a student at the SB City College, Sam! Sam had a troubled and neglected past, full of many hurts, but finally found what he was looking for – the “pearl of great price!” (Matthew 13:45-46) To God be the glory!

Sam (right) makes his treasure the Kingdom!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA NW QUADRANT & CANADA

Tim Kernan: Greetings from Toronto, Canada! It’s been an incredible and “action packed” few weeks! First of all it was blow away to see the amazing baptism of Donna (Smellie) Clark’s daughter Meighen! Everyone was in tears as a crowded room of disciples and family shared about how much she has grown into her mother’s footsteps to become a wonderful woman of God!

Donna and “Uncle Kevin” joyfully baptize Donna’s
daughter – Meighen!

Shortly after, Lianne & I were so honored to be able to attend the Los Angeles Winter Workshop!We were so glad to be able to bring a very special sister, Andrea Foo-Fat, with us to meet “rest of the family” down in Los Angeles! It was so heart-warming to be with disciples from around the world to get the year started right! Of special note Lianne & I were so encouraged to get together with our Northwestern USA and Canada World Sector Leadership D-group comprised of the Church Leaders and other aspiring and talented disciples for a great Italian dinner at Buca di Bepo!

The leaders of the USA NW Quadrant & Canada
World Sector enjoy a pleasant meal together!

Returning invigorated and ready to attack 2015, the Toronto Church rallied at our Winter Workshop! It was a rousing time of hot preaching and cold outdoor activities such as tobogganing! It was also a massive present for all of us that Steph Brown, Lianne’s father, has now officially and permanently moved to Toronto and that on his birthday!

Finally it was so encouraging to head to Portland for the Portland & Eugene Winter Workshop! It was a joy to be with all the disciples there but especially the Dimitrys, the Challinors, the Reeds and the Limons who will soon be assuming the Portland Church Leadership after the Challinors head out to LA in late May!

The Dimitrys, the Challinors, the Kernans and
the Limons stand united for Christ!

Please continue to pray for Toronto as we advance into this “Winter Harvest” in the snowy North!

Jason Dimitry: Greetings from your family in San Francisco! Wow, where do we begin! God has done so much since our last report! During this “out of season” time of ministry, God has added six to our number!

Particularly inspiring were the baptisms of two brothers, Ray and Ricky Carungay! Their sister Cindy became a disciple four months ago, and she immediately started reaching out to her family. It was amazing to see these siblings united in Christ on Sunday!

Cindy, Ray and Ricky are now united in Christ to
help their parents enter the Kingdom!

God also blessed us with the life-changing UPWARD CALL Winter Workshop! Thanks to Jeremiah & Julie Clark, Richie & Elizabeth McDonnell, and the entire Santa Barbara Church for encouraging us with your preaching and fellowship! Also glorifying God at the workshop, Elliot Svenkeson & Camille Santiago, our Teen Leaders, were engaged!

True love – Elliot & Camille!

At the beginning of the year, it was on Tim’s and my hearts to somehow, some way, with very limited resources, plant a church in our World Sector. From a geographical standpoint, I suggested Sacramento. We started praying and by faith I brought it before the San Francisco Church and made it our goal for the year! Out of the blue a couple days later, Kip calls me wanting to talk about the possibility of starting a house church in the Sacramento area due to our dear sister Rebecca Rico’s mother studying the Bible who lives there. One thing led to another and after further discussions with Kip, Tim and myself, I’m so excited to announce that at this year’s Global Leadership Conference in August, Lord willing, we will be sending-off and officially planting the Sacramento International Christian Church with Jacob & Courtney Beas leading the charge!

Jacob & Courtney are training under the Dimitrys to
Lord willing plant the Sacramento ICC
in August 2015!

Also check out our World Sector news broadcast called the I’M IN Network:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkNXx9zpwPY.

Ricky Challinor of Portland: Greetings from the City of Bridges!!! We had an amazing Winter Workshop as we were privileged to hear so many young preachers lay out the Word of God! There is no better way to end a Winter Workshop than with two amazing baptisms and an inspiring wedding!! Ray & Viridiana Gallardo are an amazing young couple. This young man is a future Latin Ministry Leader! “Viri” – who is 8 1/2 pregnant – is expecting to have their little girl at any moment! Yet for the sake of their salvation, they made the radical decision for Ray to move out until they would be married on Sunday! Praise God!

Today, there was much rejoicing in Heaven as two more were brought to salvation! The Lord brought back one of His sheep in Gelacio Andrade’s restoration! Also very encouraging was the baptism of Alex – a student at Portland State University! This young man, though very talented and intelligent, made the humble decision to make a true “180” in his life to make Jesus Lord! As he shared at his baptism, “It’s time to say good-bye to Catholicism and hello to Baptism!”

Alex has deep convictions to preach
against false doctrines!

Lastly, I want to thank the Dimitrys and Kernans for being here for the workshop, as they are best friends to Coleen & me! We and the entire church are so grateful for them! Please continue praying for the Portland Church as we have our Bring Your Neighbor Day – Back To The Bible as we are praying for a record attendance!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA SOUTH QUADRANT

Matt Sullivan of Orlando: “At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place. Listen! Listen to the roar of His voice, to the rumbling that comes from His mouth. He unleashes His lightning beneath the whole Heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth. After that comes the sound of His roar; He thunders with His majestic voice. When His voice resounds, He holds nothing back. God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; He does great things beyond our understanding.” (Job 37:1-5) God has certainly done great things for us in the last few weeks with thunderous and marvelous things happening in Orlando!

Our year started off powerfully at our Winter Workshop centered on Philippians as we simply imitated the awesome LA Church’s Workshop. (1 Thessalonians 2:14) The preaching was phenomenal as so many young leaders spoke with power and wisdom to inspire our congregation to have a great year with the theme: 2015 The Year Of The Dream! Then God blessed us with the addition of Marcel Turner (of the Gainesville planting and Mike’s right hand) as our new Campus Minister! Along with Tia Taylor, they have powerfully led our Campus Ministry to set-up 200 Bible studies in the first two weeks of the semester! Currently there are about 10 students up to The Kingdom Study and many visited yesterday at our Bring Your Neighbor Day!

In addition, the Singles Ministry has about 25 studying the Bible and have already had two baptisms this year! One was Darren from our Full Sail Singles Bible Talk who was powerfully moved by the love of the disciples and now believes he can overcome his past and be used by God to save others!

Darren anticipates entering the Kingdom of Light!

Excitingly, the Holy Spirit has blown Rob & Jenny Bolton along with their two beautiful daughters, Lexi and Karli, from Gainesville down to Orlando to help us continue building our powerful Marrieds Ministry! We are so excited to report that during our pledge drive the Lord “thundered” and helped us raise our weekly contribution by over $825 which allows us to have two full-time interns! Finally, the Lord has blessed us with my best friends and partners in the gospel being appointed a Shepherding Couple – Ted & Kathy Green!

Matt & Helen appoint some of their best friends –
Ted & Kathy – as Orlando’s newest
Shepherding Couple!

Anthony Eckels: “In this way the Word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.” (Acts 19:20) Greetings from the Houston International Christian Church! We kicked-off the year with ourWinter Workshop entitled, Consuming Fire For 2015! During the workshop, we announced Houston’s first paid intern, Jonathan Smoot, and five unpaid interns who will be working at the University of Houston with 40,000 students!

The Austin disciples were unable to be at the workshop due to an ice storm. So, Elizabeth & I took a trip to Austin to join their Bible Talk last Friday to encourage them. They had so many commitments that Grant Hill rented a community center with his own money to accommodate all their visitors! With a total attendance of 27, we had a Bible study on Joshua taking the land! I challenged them to all study the Bible so they could take by storm Austin: “the live music capital of the world” and University of Texas’ 53,000 students! The response was incredible! The following Sunday, Austin had 12 people travel 2 1/2 hours to church in Houston! The Holy Spirit is blowing in Austin!

The Austin Bible Talk with 27 in attendance!

This past week we launched our AMS Ministry at a cafe called Bohemeo’s in downtown Houston! Six disciples had a total attendance of 14 at their first Bible Talk, set up six studies, and had a jam session following!

The AMS Bible Talk packed out Bohemeo’s Cafe!

Lastly, this Sunday at our Bring Your Neighbor Day Service, we had a record attendance of 74! Continue to pray for more workers to gather the great harvests awaiting in Houston and Austin, Texas!

Mike Patterson: “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.” (1 Corinthians 9:19) 2015 has already started off with God doing the miraculous in Gainesville! Our Winter Workshop was named after our theme for 2015, Win As Many As Possible! We ended the workshop with our Bring Your Neighbor Daywhich was also our First Year Anniversary Service, having our highest attendance ever of 112!

Inspiring to me over the weekend was seeing all the younger disciples raising up and preaching especially after having sent out nine members to strengthen other churches. We had the special privilege to send Marcel Turner and Bobby Hodge to Orlando to strengthen the Campus Ministry and Rob & Jenny Bolton to help build the Marrieds Ministry in Orlando! All were on the Gainesville Mission Team and we are extremely grateful for their contributions in building this congregation!

The Bolton Family was very instrumental in
the planting of the Gainesville Church!

Already this year, we have seen three baptized into Christ: two campus students Alex and Andre, and our brother Alex Jones baptized his wife Katrina!

Alex is fired-up to baptize his wife Katrina!

The first Alex mentioned is a UF student who had been attending the ICOC for four months and was even on campus handing out invites to their service. He saw us having Bible Talk and decided to join us. Thinking he may be a disciple, since he had been attending our former fellowship for so long, I did The Discipleship Study to find out. To my surprise he had never been baptized and didn’t even know it was necessary for salvation! Alex being so fired-up to find the truth and to see a church that is on fire for God, studied daily and was baptized!

Alex appreciates the zeal and love in
God’s new movement!

God did so many amazing miracles last year that we chronicled on a slide show which we presented at our Anniversary Service! (https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0oZ3MxBWKZkeWhycEcya2VyUXM/edit?usp=docslist_api) But we believe that with many more disciples than at our start last year, God will do “even greater things” (John 14:12) in 2015 as we continue to strive “to win as many as possible!”

HEADLINE NEWS – EUROPE

Michael Williamson of London: “I’m not ashamed of the Gospel because it’s the power of God!” (Romans 1:16) God has been at work in this great city during the month of January! We kicked-off the New Year with a “punch” as Reece (a former amateur boxer) was baptized at ourNew Year’s Eve Party!

Reese is excited to share Christ
with his little sister!

We were then “blessed” by our new sister “Blessing” who was baptized a week later at ourWomen’s Midweek Service, and on Sunday Lauri Vaher from Stockholm placed membership! Lauri will be helping us in the singles leading a Bible Talk in the West, as he completes a three month internship in Furniture Restoration.

Blessing has become a real “blessing” to
the Great London Church!

Upon our return to London from the life-changing Winter Workshop in LA (arguably one of our best), the Lord added three to our number as Mara from Gainesville placed membership as she is studying abroad here till May; Richard from Hungary was baptized; and Victor Komo’s sister Betty, who originally came to London for her brother’s wedding, was married to Christ herself!

Richard is the seed of the Gospel for
the entire nation of Hungary!

Every married couple dreams that their wedding will
touch the hearts of their family members. Victor’s
prayers were answered in Betty’s baptism!

God has been moving with the remnant as Rene & Anita Vermaat of Amsterdam are finishing the details of their move to London hopefully next month! Additionally, I’ll be traveling to Ireland in two weeks in hopes of starting another remnant group! Please pray for our Winter Workshop entitled,TRANSFORMATION THROUGH DISCIPLING (Romans 12:2) where Jake & Megan Studer from the mighty Toronto Church will be guest speakers! As well next weekend, we unveil our 2015 Prayer Goals, one of which is to hire another full-time couple to help with the work here on London’s incredible campuses! 2015 here we come!

HEADLINE NEWS – AFRICA & THE CARIBBEAN

NEWS FLASH – Nick Winn the Minister for the new Gordon’s Bay ICC Remnant Group:Greetings from Gordon’s Bay, South Africa! God is surely stirring the hearts of men in this generation, as we are excited to “officially join” the SoldOut Movement! Our first official Midweek Service went excellently after my return from the LA Winter Workshop! All the disciples were grateful to hear they are now a part of God’s worldwide movement! In the words of Justin Scott who was baptized in December, “I’m excited about a lot of things… especially hearing and seeing the new movement! The fact that we have brothers and sisters all around the world is mind blowing!”

Nick (third from the left) with the brothers with
dreams for evangelizing Africa!

Pray for the skeptics… and there are a few, that God will soften their hearts! The entire church is so looking forward to having Andrew & Patrique Smellie preach to us in late March! Love from Gordon’s Bay!

NEWS FLASH – Jerry Koroma the Minister of the new Freetown, Sierra Leone ICC Remnant Group: My wife & I together with our small fellowship are so grateful to God as we have been longing to be connected to the ICC for more spiritual growth and fruitful Christian operations ever since we began reading many of your websites! We welcomed our change of name from our present “Gospel Christian Church Sierra Leone” to the “Freetown International Christian Church!” We are presently meeting in a primary school hall for all of our activities… Sunday: Divine Service, Wednesday: Midweek Service, and Fridays for prayers. The Government banned public gatherings due to the Ebola Outbreak, so we are not having Bible Talks at the moment that would have been have been done on Fridays in disciples homes.

Let’s welcome the Freetown International Christian
Church into the SoldOut Movement!

It is now a crime to gather in a place from five people and above! Even when we evangelize, we go out in two or three persons but that’s what Jesus said to do! (Mark 6:7) To conclude, I have a very great passion to meet the needs of the poor and needy in this part of Africa! Thank you “for your partnership in the gospel!”

Amadou Sountoura: “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.” (Matthew 9:38) Greetings from the Ivory Coast! The Abidjan Church has started this year with a 40 Day Fasting Campaign for a year of “uncommon harvest!” God has graciously already begun to answer these prayers, as so far since the beginning of January we have had weekly baptisms! Of note, one of our Shepherding Couples – Patrice & Esther –  after baptizing their first son last year, baptized their daughter Paule-Irene last week!

Patrice & Esther – along with their son – applaud
their daughter’s baptism!

Perhaps even more encouraging was the baptism of Agaud a former Governor! Truly, God is honoring our prayers “for kings and all those in authority… so that all men [can] be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

“You will be next!” has been adopted by Abidjan’s
Disciples and our new brother – Agaud the
Governor (suit and red tie)!

Also, two singles, Denise and Fofana, were baptized into Christ! So as of January 25th, we now have 190 sold-out disciples in Abidjan!

Denise (red) and Fofana (striped shirt) issue the
challenge, “You will be next!”

We are looking forward to hosting the First African Missions Conference in late June! Won’t you plan to join us! Merci!

Alexis Turgeau: “Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest?’ I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John 4:35) The fields are indeed “ripe for harvest” in Port-au-Prince, Haiti! On December 14, 2014, seven people were baptized! Three more were baptized on December 28th, and today, amazingly five more souls were added to the Lord’s Church through baptism!

Benjamin Musac – second to Stevenson in their
Baptist Church – is baptized into Christ!

Benjamin’s wife follows him!

So in the past six weeks, God added 15 new disciples to our number and we now have 135 disciples in the four churches in Haiti!

Luke Speckman – the Overseeing Evangelist of East Africa: Greetings from your brothers and sisters in Busia, Kenya! In spite of hardship and persecution, the new year has gotten off to a great start as the church has had six baptisms in the month of January – Daniel, Willis, Euphemia, Monica, Marylyn and Robert!

Mike introduces to the Busia Church their six
future brothers and sisters!

Prayer before the six baptisms!

Mike baptizing Marylyn!

The disciples are very excited and inspired by what God has been doing and to be a part of a movement of churches committed to evangelizing the world in our generation! Please keep the church in Busia in your prayers!

HEADLINE NEWS – RUSSIAN COMMONWEALTH

Oleg Sirotkin: Huge greetings from Moscow! After the arrival of the Moscow Mission Team from Los Angeles in mid-December, we counted the cost with everyone in the Moscow Remnant Group and on the Mission Team. So at the moment, we have exactly 46 sold-out disciples of Jesus Christ! Then during the three weeks in January before our February 1st Inaugural Service, the entire church went through First Principles! Having to “solidify” by counting the cost; having to “unify” by going through First Principles; we are now ready to “multiply” to the glory of God!

The Moscow Disciples had so many of their friends
join them for the First Principles Series!

There is only one week before the Inaugural Service of the Moscow International Christian Church on February 1, 2015! Pray for us as there are seven people who want to “move-in” and/or be restored on that Sunday! This historic service will be held at the beautiful Swissotel at 11:00 AM! The closest Metro Stop is Paveleckaya, so please invite any of your Moscow friends or family! And we are very happy that Kip is coming to help us on the Inaugural Sunday Service!

The Moscow ICC Inaugural Invitation highlighted
their meeting place – The Moscow Swissotel!

Finally, thanks be to our awesome God, as well as to our American and London Sister Churches for your powerful prayers and your incredible financial sacrifice that makes all our efforts possible!

HEADLINE NEWS – CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA

Carlos Mejia: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”(Zechariah 4:6) Greetings from Santiago de Chile! We are so excited to host the Central & South America (CSA) Missions Conference in just two short weeks! Our theme is SINO POR MI ESPÍRITU! (BY MY SPIRIT!) Due to amazing church growth in Santiago and in our sister churches, we have outgrown our previous location! This year the conference will take place at the Hotel Gran Palace which is located in the heart of the historic downtown area of Santiago Centro, just one block from “La Moneda” – the equivalent to America’s “White House!”

The 2015 CSA Missions Conference – BY MY SPIRIT!

The CSA Missions Conference will begin Thursday morning at 9AM with a Leadership Workshop where our brother Kip will kick-off the conference with the speech, LED BY THE SPIRIT! Classes till 1PM will follow! Then on Friday evening the official program begins with the sermon, WALK BY THE SPIRIT! Saturday morning will be opened up by Raul Moreno speaking onMY SPIRIT WILL BRING JUSTICE TO THE NATIONS! Then there will be various workshops centered on the Campus, Singles and Marrieds Ministries! That evening, Renato Tria of Sao Paulo will preach at the Kingdom Banquet! His lesson is SPIRIT AND TRUTH! Sunday, we will hear from Cesar & Debbie Limon for communion, Matt & Helen Sullivan for contribution, and Alfredo Anuch of Santiago will preach on BY MY SPIRIT! That evening we will host an Open Mic Night!

The Mejias welcoming disciples from all over Latin
America to the 2014 CSA Missions Conference!

Please, sign up now for this historic event! http://www.eventbrite.com/e/sino-por-mi-espiritu-zac-46-tickets-14259565745?utm_campaign=new_eventv2&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eb_email&utm_term=eventurl_textPray that the conference will continue to motivate us to tirelessly work to plant churches in every country in Central and South America! And to God be the glory!

Raul Moreno: “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’”(Revelation 21:5) Happy New Year from São Paulo, Brazil! We are all excited to see the “new”things God will do this year here in Brazil! Some of the recent highlights were: the baptisms of an awesome married couple: Luis & Cristiany; Paulo was restored from our former fellowship and he is ready to win souls having been fruitful even before his restoration; and on the campus front, Bruna was baptized!

The Sao Paulo Campus Disciples enthusiastically
welcome their new sister Bruna!

We were also proud to “welcome home” Valdermar who placed membership from the awesome London Church where he spent a year as an exchange student hailing from USP University! Thank God for the Kingdom!

Vladermar and his sister Ana – who is a disciple
studying law at USP!

Jared McGee of Mexico City: Since the last Good News Email, God has blessed us with two baptisms and two place memberships! One of those baptisms was Antonio, a computer engineer at UNAM, ranked as the number eight university in all of Latin America and boasting a student body of over 320,000 students!!! We’ve all been super impressed with how intelligent Antonio really is! However, there is a great meekness about him, but when he talks, everyone stops to listen! All the more encouraging is his rapid absorption and retention of key Bible passages and principles especially in the book of Acts!

Antonio’s baptism fired-up all the
Mexico City Brothers!

With the Spring Semester starting this Monday, all the disciples are more ambitious than ever to get back into the battle on campus! To aid in this tremendous effort of evangelizing UNAM, and thus all of Mexico, the Santiago Church graciously sent us Anna Hernandez, a very dear sister to Rachel & me!

Anna arrives in Mexico City ready to roll
up her sleeves and save souls!

Even though UNAM is an acronym for “National Autonomous University of Mexico,” I take great solace, joy and a godly pride knowing that we are in the TOTALLY UNIFIED – and not at all“AUTONOMOUS” – movement of God! And to Him be all the glory!

HEADLINE NEWS – PACIFIC RIM & AUSTRAL-CHINA

Joe Willis: Greetings from Sydney as this year’s theme is: “Extreme ’15!” We are grateful to God that nearly all our missionaries received their visas to come back to Australia for another two years! We are just waiting for Mason & Natalie Fetelika’s visas to come through! So please keep them in your prayers!

Mason & Nathalie on their dearly beloved
University of Sydney Campus! Pray for
their visas to return to Australia!

We started the year off with the whole month of January focusing on prayer, which included an All Night Prayer! We started at the Opera House; then prayed around the major landmarks of Sydney; and then prayed through our “extreme prayer list” on top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge! We are expecting God to blow-out our First Year Anniversary Service next week!

The start of the All Night Prayer in front of the Opera
House with the Sydney Bridge in the background!

We also coupled this with our Australia Day Weekend Beach Service in 94 degrees, where Andrew our youngest Christian did his first communion! Keep praying for us who are “down under” to turn things “right-side-up” for Christ!

Andrew solemnly sharing while presiding
over communion!

Rich Tabizon: Mabuhay (Live Long) from the Metro Manila International Christian Church! The power of the living God is evident in Manila! 2014 was an exciting year as we witnessed twenty-one individuals make Jesus Lord of their lives and be baptized into Christ! Psalms 126:1-3 (NSAB) expresses our joy best, “When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with joyful shouting; then they said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.”

Metro Manila!

2015 is poised to be a momentous year for the Metro Manila Church, as we will welcome the Manila Mission Team in roughly 98 days! Our goal is to add twenty-four sold-out disciples by the time Kyle & Joan Bartholomew set foot on Filipino soil to bring our membership to seventy sold-out disciples!

Lord willing, Kyle & Joan leave for Manila in
a little over three months!

God is already moving in this great land, as two weeks ago, a former Women’s Ministry Leader placed membership! Cathy Manresa, who was converted nearly twenty-three years ago in the former fellowship, has decided to shake-off the lukewarmness and rededicate her life to her “first love!” Cathy has recently stated that it is good being back amongst sold-out disciples and she is inspired by the power of God!

Cathy courageously joins God’s new movement!

Jane Chesmore of Honolulu: “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)Gigi Paulus is an incredible young woman who had been searching for love, purpose and family. Gigi and her son Gary moved to Hawai’i from Micronesia four years ago to start their lives over. What Gigi did not know was that God had a plan all along to provide her with, literally, a whole new life!

But Gigi began to feel all alone and depressed in “paradise.” Within a few years, she found herself jobless, homeless and caught in a dangerous relationship that led her and her son to stay in a domestic violence shelter for a time. Then, one day late last year, Gigi and Gary were sitting down at a table near Kapahulu Safeway eating some ice cream. That was when Gigi noticed two men reading their Bibles, one of whom was our very own brother, Jamal Carter from the UH Campus Ministry! Gigi thought she was seeing two angels from the Lord! At that moment, she knew that this was a sign from God, reminding her that she needed Him and that she needed to get into His Word!

After offering the “two angels” ice cream, Gigi was invited to church by Jamal and the rest is history! She studied the Bible every week with our lovely, hard working sisters Misty Aiona, Jazmine Yogi, Cathi Martinez, Christle Iaea, Elle Lee and me. And today Gigi was born again, baptized into Christ, while her son Gary happily looked on!!!

Gigi finds the Kingdom at last!

Gigi and Gary now have their own apartment room, a secure job, the true purpose for living, and the greatest family of all – the Kingdom of God!

Also today Joseph Ortiz was restored to the body of Christ!!! Joseph had a very hard time giving his whole heart to the Kingdom because of trust issues and left the body of Christ early last year. But a few brothers stayed in touch with Joseph while he was away and Phil Kelly was able to get Joseph to come back and visit our weekly after-service luncheon about a month ago. Joseph immediately felt the love he had felt before when he was first baptized, and realized that this was still his family in spite of everything he had gone through! So great to have Joseph back with his brothers and sisters!!!

Lou Jack & Cathi enjoyed Christmas in Hawaii
not just for the weather, but for the Ohana!

Finally, the Lord gave us ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY (130) IN ATTENDANCE today for our Bring Your Neighbor Day – our best attendance in several months! Mahalo for your prayers!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA NORTH QUADRANT & INDIA

Chris Broom of New York City: It was amazing to kick-off 2015 by attending the LA Winter Workshop, and I was particularly inspired by all the brothers and sisters who spoke and how much everyone has matured! Upon our return, we were blessed to have Raja & Debs Rajan and Joel & Courtney Parlour as guest speakers at our NYC Winter Workshop and we want to extend a heartfelt thanks to both couples for pouring themselves out for us! Of special note, Debs Rajan had prayed to see snow for the first time and that’s exactly what happened! So we chose to give them, as a parting gift, a NYC snow globe!

Debs dreamed and prayed to see
snow in New York City!

Today, God blessed our Bring Your Neighbor Day with our best attendance to date of 215 and a contribution of $8,000! We especially want to thank God for the three baptisms, two restorations and one place membership He has added to our number of late! All additions are special, but these last two restorations have been extra special! First, we were able to see a “Kingdom Kid” come back to the fold when Dominique, the son of Richard & Khanni Caoile of the Portland Church, was restored!

Then Alex, who was still in the process of restoration, reached out to Mike who was baptized! Mike, a student of Queens College, is from China, but his grandfather is from North Korea and Mike now has a dream to go home and evangelize his people!

Before his baptism, Mike shares eloquently and
powerfully about his dream to evangelize
China and North Korea!

Titi (front middle) celebrates with the
Boston Sisters after her baptism!

The Boston Brothers rejoicing with the
angels at Julius’s restoration!

Though a Teen Disciple, Lisa impresses
all with her maturity in Christ!

Brenda and Abi baptize their sister, Mayte, who
is the last of the four sisters to be baptized
in the past month!

Chi, who was born in China, was initially met
by the San Francisco Church!

Sergio, who was invited by a visitor,
was baptized in just one week!

Deb wrestled with the Scriptures to
make peace with God!

Marlyn not only joins Victor in marriage, but also in
co-leading the Central Region!

Ron preaching his heart out on the National Mall!

Congratulations to Aaron & Aurielle!

The O’Donnells were gracious hosts to the Rajans
during their stay in New York!

Raja calls the 12 interns the “Engine of
the Chennai Church!”

The Gallant Moscow Mission Team!

Merry Christmas from Los Angeles! So much has happened the last three weekends: The City of Angels Church Annual Financial Presentation Service, the International College of Christian Ministries last session of 2014, Joe & Capil Estep’s amazing wedding, the Shepherds Retreat, and today’s Annual Christmas Worship Service where the Spirit sent-out the Moscow Mission Team!

The Moscow Mission Team!

Every Sunday following Thanksgiving in America (since this a low visitor Sunday), the City of Angels International Christian Church has our Annual Financial Presentation Worship Service! This year to save money, we met with double services in the Southland Region building. Overseen by a man of great integrity and the Administrator of the SoldOut Movement, Michael Kirchner “broke down” our expenditures and the Spirit’s accomplishments of the year as “we take pains to do what is right not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men.” (2 Corinthians 8:21)

Maika Carbonell helps Michael Kirchner put together
an amazing power-point presentation for the
Financial Overview Worship Service!
Michael Kirchner explains the details of the
SoldOut Movement’s finances!

Excitingly, even though many were away for the week for Thanksgiving with their physical families, three were baptized that Sunday and one was restored!

Baptized at the Financial Service, Andrea (second
from the left) alongside the East Sisters
shares, “The Gospel will
reach you next!”

The following week was the last session of the ICCM for our first students who began the program in January 2013. Chris Adams and Elena McKean were outstanding in their one hour presentation on Islam. After a short break, Andrew Smellie gave a riveting and convicting class on Atheism. Both presentations brought me to tears as all of us in the ICCM deepened our convictions that we can and we will evangelize the nations in this generation!

Chris and Elena inspire the ICCM Students and
Faculty about evangelizing the Islamic World!
Professor Smellie teaches the ICCM Students how to
reason with Atheists to win them to Christ!

The next day on Sunday, I had the privilege to escort Capil Marhatta down the aisle as her “stand-in Dad” to marry a dear brother to many – Joe Estep! As well Oleg Sirotkin and I presided over the ceremony and following a Nepalese tradition, two doves representing “love and a new life” were released after the pronouncement that Joe & Capil were “husband and wife!”

Congratulations to Joe & Capil Estep!

The following weekend was the Shepherds Retreat where our SoldOut Movement Shepherding Couples – Nick & Denise Bordieri and Tony & Therese Untalan – met with Elena & me to evaluate the past year, plan the future year, and pray over all the churches around the world!

The Shepherds Retreat was a time of refreshment,
bonding, planning and prayer!

On Sunday December 14th was our All Congregational Christmas Service! One extraordinary highlight was the MERCY Toy Drive where each of our members donated “a toy that they would like to receive” to the underprivileged of LA!

Thank you to Nick & Denise for overseeing the
International MERCY Toy Drive!

As well, we “thanked” Jim & Donna Fenton for overseeing Kids Kingdom for almost three years and the Sisters of Encouragement welcomed five from Miami – of special note is the dearly beloved couple, Princeton & Joy George!

Cory Blackwell addressing the Kids Kingdom
Teachers at Early Service as Cory & Jee are
the new Kids Kingdom Coordinators!

Then after various members of the Moscow Mission Team shared for Communion and Contribution, Oleg Sirotkin – the Moscow Mission Team Leader and the Russian Commonwealth World Sector Leader – preached an unforgettable sermon on The Gifts Of God – Forgiveness, Repentance and the Holt Spirit! (Acts 2:38)

Kirill & Lesya Karasiov of Moscow inspirationally
preside over contribution!
Oleg begins his sermon with humorous quips about
his “dated pictures” in the CAICC Bulletin!

This week in the City of Angels Church, we had nine additions – four of whom were baptisms!

To close out our Christmas Service, Carlos Diaz
leads the congregation in singing
Feliz Navidad!

Therefore with 17 days left in 2014, the Lord has blessed us with 493 additions: 356 baptisms, 50 restorations and 87 place memberships – many of whom are from our former fellowship and have come to us seeking revival! And to God be the glory!

And now more detailed reports from each of our World Sectors…

HEADLINE NEWS – LOS ANGELES

Nick Bordieri – Director of MERCYworldwide: Hello everyone! So below is a link to a Youtube Video of the episode of The Bad Girls Club in which MERCYworldwide is featured in Season 13, Episode 10… Start playing around 12:48 minutes in! So a little background… The Bad Girls Club is the most popular show on the Oxygen Channel, now in its 12th Season. The show focuses on the altercations and physical confrontations between a number of highly aggressive, quarrelsome and sadly unruly women. In my opinion, each of the women tend to have psychological and behavioral problems and act mischievously.

That said, “the girls” worked very hard, had a positive attitude, and did a great job helping us paint and repair the “Transition Home” in Compton in June during the Day of MERCY! The MERCY Ambassadors “love bombed” these girls, sharing and giving their hearts during the project! In the end, tears were shed as the “Bad Girls” thanked everyone for the wonderful experience working side-by-side with such a loving and spirited group while “giving back” to the community! (Acts 20:35) Yes, “bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33), but today we witnessed that “good company transforms bad character!”

The Bad Girls Club Redemption – Season 13, Episode 10: http://youtu.be/mQTcLvlOSMw

For our Seventh Annual International MERCY Toy Drive in LA, we partnered with the ABC School District, the second largest school district in Los Angeles! Over 1,000 toys were collected and will be distributed to children of the ABC’s Migrant Educational Program! The Migrant Educational Program serves over 1,500 underprivileged students, whose families live below the poverty line.

MERCY has begun a new partnership with the
Migrant Educational Program of the
ABC School District of LA!

The Program Director, Angela Fernandez, tearfully expressed her gratitude to the MERCY Ambassadors of the LA Church for our commitment to these children and families during this holiday season, and for our new budding partnership!

Lance Underhill: “[We] press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [us] heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14) Privet from the Sold-out South Region! On Sunday, we tearfully said good-bye to Oleg & Aliona Sirotkin and their two extraordinary daughters – Sofia and Lydia! We will miss them dearly along with Dima, Artem, Sasha, Masha, Oleg, Victor, Jenia, and Kirill & Lesia, as the Holy Spirit is sending them back to Moscow where over 40 other Russian disciples are waiting for them!

Lance Underhill (right) is already missing his
beloved “spiritual children” on the
Moscow Mission Team!

The South will now “press on” straining toward what is ahead as Anthony & Cassidy Olmos – our new South Region Leaders – have “hit the ground running” by calling everyone in the South to be sold-out! Amazingly, in the past couple weeks, God has blessed us with two fathers of disciples being baptized – Juan and Elpidio – through the Singles Ministry valiantly led by Stacy & Lynette Ybarra!

Jee Blackwell of the Southland Region: November was an incredibly fruitful month for the Women’s Ministry! Our brother Emmanuel Gonzalez, who is one of the original nine that started the Southland Region four years ago just celebrated his 5th Spiritual Birthday! His birthday prayer was that his little sister would become a disciple. He had his prayer answered when his little sister Jasmine came to Los Angeles from Fresno in November, made Jesus Lord of her life, and was baptized!

Richard Cradle, our awesome Belizean brother who is also our Head Usher, celebrated his 2nd Spiritual Birthday! His prayer was for someone in his family to become a disciple. The week of our Marrieds Retreat, his cousin Sharisse Beard came out to service! She started studying the Bible and was baptized into Christ in November!

Richard celebrates his second spiritual birthday
by baptizing his cousin Sharise!

About four years ago, our awesome evangelistic brother Miguel Mendez befriended a woman on Twitter named Alicia Marie Jones – a flight attendant with American Airlines. Time passed, but Alicia was keeping up with the movement through social media! A few weeks back some of the disciples were at a local Popeye’s Chicken in line to order food… Miguel was also there! Alicia was in the same line! She was invited out to church! She studied the Bible almost every day with the sisters and was baptized into Christ!

Though a stewardess, Alicia is now
soaring in the Spirit!

Lastly our Campus Ministry on Cal State Dominguez Hills met a girl named Sad’e and was baptized at our Thanksgiving Financial Workshop! Jesus’ words hold true that if we “remain in the vine we will bear much fruit.”

Sad’e’s zeal has inspired the entire
Southland Region!

And to God be all the glory!

Morgan Valdez: Greetings from Central Region! God has been moving powerfully here in the Campus Ministry despite most of our ministries being at the tail end of their school semester. We have a new sister in Christ as Jennifer was met on ELAC last week, studied every day, and was baptized on the last day of school! By her full submission to the Scriptures, she told her boss she could no longer work Sundays and in response he changed her entire schedule that very night!

Morgan (right) and Jennifer are now not
only sisters, but best of friends!

Also, very exciting is that Yofi, who is a USC campus student, was baptized! Please keep his sister, Adjoa – who is also a USC student, in prayer as she has also been studying the Bible and God willing will be baptized this week!

Ighodaro Odighizuwa: “Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” (Habakkuk 1:5) Warm greetings of love from the Inland Empire Region! God never ceases to amaze us by staying true to His promise to do the impossible! During the past five weeks, God has given us 13 additions: 10 baptisms, two restorations and one placed membership! Today’s service was historic as we had our 112th member, Julian, baptized into Christ!

Cheyenne of the Riverside Sector joins her IE
Sisters in issuing their weekly challenge,
“You will be next!”
The Palm Springs Sector’s Triplets – (from left
to right) Robert, Alex and Francisco!
The IE Region doubles in size in 2014 from 56
to 112 disciples with the baptism of Julian!

It was incredible because we started out 2014 with 56 sold-out disciples and God has exactly doubled the number of disciples here in the IE! To Him be all the praise, glory and honor!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA SW QUADRANT & THE MIDDLE EAST

Elizabeth McDonell: Greetings from Santa Barbara! This whole year has been just fantastic, but the last few weeks have been exceptional! To start, we went on our first church-wide retreat titled, We Are Family.

The fun-loving Santa Barbara Disciples
at their Fall Retreat!

Then to close out the retreat – which was held by a nearby lake – at Sunday service we had our first restoration, Guillermo Beltran, and a baptism of a UCSB student, Kashira! Kashira has been a zealous rights activist, but now sees that the most worthy cause is to save souls for eternity!

Kashira (VINE t-shirt) rejoices in her new salvation!

Then, amidst the torrential downpour of rain and 60 mph winds, we baptized another woman, this time a SBCC culinary student, named Alynna on Thursday! It was a bit scary but God protected us! She’s an awesome addition and already is studying the Bible with two of her friends here in Santa Barbara!

Alynna – baptized in the midst of a storm –
finds peace in Christ!

And as one disciple put it, with the ending of the spiritual drought in the Women’s Ministry came the ending of the physical drought here in Santa Barbara! Please continue to pray for us and we love you with the love of the Lord!

Janelle Rushen: Greetings from Phoenix! I am so proud to share that after studying the Bible and working through her heart, Teya Robinson made the decision to get baptized and make Jesus Lord of her life!

During her studies Teya was challenged to work through bitterness with her father and a few other family members. After having those difficult and challenging talks she was able to mend her relationship with her father. He came out to witness her baptism along with and her stepmother and mother Friday after devotional in a chilly ASU fountain! They were deeply impacted by her radical change and the love of the disciples!

Teya is greeted by both her physical and spiritual
families after her baptism!

On Saturday, 70 MERCYworldwide Ambassadors gave their hearts to about 100 orphans in a Christmas Celebration at Sunshine Acres Orphanage. For our toy drive, each disciple HANDMADE a Christmas card and placed a gift card of the child’s choice inside.

The Phoenix MERCY Ambassadors bring “light”
to the Sunshine Acres Orphanage!

Truly, we’re striving to live out James 1:27, “Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Evan Bartholomew: Greetings from the beautiful – and of late wet – city of San Diego! The Lord has blessed us in these past few weeks with some very encouraging victories! First, we were able to welcome into our Kingdom family Alan and BrookeLynn through baptism! Both were met at San Diego State University, where Alan is a student and BrookeLynn “just so happened” to be signing-up people for the Bone Marrow Registry to help those battling with Leukemia. Both Alan and BrookeLynn have amazing hearts, and have quickly endeared themselves to the disciples here!

The San Diego Disciples graciously welcome
Alan and BrookeLynn into God’s Family!

Also, God has worked through us once again to blow out our Thanksgiving Mission Contribution Goal of $13,649 by several thousands of dollars! I am so grateful and continue to be inspired by the church here as they have given so sacrificially over and over again!

Chris, San Diego’s “Missions Motivator,” shows that
the SD Disciples blew out their Prayer Goal!

We are looking forward to joining those who will be in LA for the 2015 Winter Workshop! Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the saints in San Diego!

Victor Gonzalez Sr. of Las Vegas: It has been a privilege being able to witness God’s power and the unity in the Spirit within the church that was planted by the Dimitrys here in Las Vegas! They did an awesome job building an amazing base of sold-out disciples! Then this past summer, the LA Church was very gracious to send 16 missionaries from their East Region to help build and strengthen the church here even more!

Victor & Sonia Gonzalez are the dynamic
Las Vegas Church Leaders!

It was super inspiring to have the First Principles Classes with the whole church and see the “Blazing Bereans” win the competition with almost perfect scores all around! We gave to the Lord our 10X Special Contribution for Thanksgiving and in fact gave much more than what was expected! Also, we had the incredible visit of our brother Josue Soriano, a missionary from the Mexico City Church! It was very encouraging for everyone to have him preach what he has learned being on the mission field!

The “Blazing Bereans” celebrate their
First Principles Victory!

Lastly, we had an amazing new sister born into Christ last Sunday – Reny! Reny is a campus student from CSN and promises to be a great leader for the sisters! Pray for us! Feliz Navidad!

The LV Sisters all adore and admire
their newest sister – Reny!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA NW QUADRANT & CANADA

Jeremiah Clark: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” Greetings from the Mighty Denver Church! The last few weeks have been truly encouraging as God continues to use His people to bring the “good news” to the Rocky Mountains! Inspiringly, we have seen three campus baptisms over the last few weeks: Ashaad and Lizzie from our CU Denver Campus Ministry and Christel, a freshman at the prestigious CU Boulder Campus!

Ashaad and Lizzie are welcomed additions
to the Denver Campus Ministry!

God also blessed us as we were able to blowout our Thanksgiving Missions Contribution by giving over 150% of our goal! Lastly, it was so encouraging to see our fired-up Marrieds Ministry keep pace with the Campus Ministry by adding two to their number last Sunday as we saw David & Kristin united with Christ in the waters of baptism! To God be the glory!

After Dave’s baptism, he had the privilege
and honor to baptize his wife Kristin!

Tim Kernan: Greetings from Toronto, Canada… eh! God has truly blessed the disciples here “more than we could ask or imagine.” It’s been an incredible time of growth for the congregation as God has added two more remnant disciples and three through the waters of baptism in the last month!

The Toronto Brothers surround and encourage
their newest brothers – Paul and Eddy!
Kevin, Jun, Harvey, Steven and Anna
at Harvey’s baptism!

Also, God blew out our Special Collect Goal of $5,000 with $6,400 contributed! Also, with a goal of 70 for our Christmas Bring Your Neighbor Day this Sunday, we were so happy that God gave us 73 at service! Lastly the Toronto Teen Ministry led by Kevin Smellie went horseback riding this Saturday and had a blast!

The adventurous Toronto Teen Ministry!

The following video is our “Christmas card” to all of God’s Movement! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43hBzmmpM10

Gabe Reed of Eugene: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Greetings from Track-town USA and home to the #2 Football Team in the country – the University of Oregon Ducks! (My alma mater!!!!)

It has been an incredibly inspiring time as we’ve seen God working so much in the past month! First we’ve gotten the privilege to witness six added to our number in the past four weeks: five baptisms – Sandy, Anthony, Makayla, Forest, and Courtney; and one restoration – Lynne Pengra!

Forest lives up to his name and is
baptized in the forest!
Courtney is thrilled to have
a purpose for her life!

Also another victory was with our Special Missions Contribution! Our goal was $10,380, but through tagging, fundraisers, personal sacrifice and a lot of prayer, we were able to blow out our goal with a total of $12,756! And to top things off, during today’s service we were privileged to see the seven members of our “Corvallis House Church” sent-off! This has been a long-standing prayer for the church and it’s been incredible seeing how God has answered by blessing all the members to get jobs and housing before the actual send-off! We are all excited to finally see a Bible Talk at Oregon State University!

Though the University of Oregon and Oregon State
University are rivals, in the Kingdom they
will become one team!

Pray for us as we prepare for God to use us in even more powerful ways as we come into the new year!

Jason Dimitry: Greetings from San Francisco! God has done amazing things since our last report in early November! We saw nine baptisms in November, one of them being Amanda, a pre-med student and our 2nd baptism at UC Berkeley!

Amanda’s (second from the left) enthusiasm
for the Lord is contagious!

Since the arrival of the Supplemental Mission Team from Las Vegas in mid-July, we have seen the church grow by 40%! God is working in all four of our house churches and I’m so fired up about the powerful leadership team that has been forged in this great city! On December 7th, we had our Fall Special Missions. Our goal was $28,700, yet God allowed us to raise – through diligent tagging and sacrifice – over $37,000 for missions! Also, today at our Christmas Service, it was so encouraging to donate over 100 toys to orphans in Oakland through the Big Brother and Big Sister Program!

Finally, it was great to have Aaron Turner place membership from our sister church in Portland, where he has valiantly served as an intern for the last two years! I know this powerful young prophet will add so much to our Campus Ministry! We also want to wish all our dear brothers and sisters throughout the Kingdom a very Merry Christmas! Much love from your family in the Bay!

Ricky Challinor of Portland: Greetings from the City of Bridges!!! The past few weeks have been some for the record books! Since the last Good News Email five weeks ago, we have been honored by God to add nine to our number: five baptisms, two restorations and two place memberships! We were also able to see two new couples start dating! The first were Caleb Cohen & Lizbeth Flores who are our Teen Leaders, and the second couple is Andrey Astanin & Cynthia Maldonado who have been an incredible help to the church in the Campus and Latin Ministries!

Of course the most inspiring moments the last month were the five baptisms we were privileged to see! Included are: Mario & Alejandra are the most humble and mature couple and Arturo & Jessica who have been dating and living with each other for over eight years. They are now engaged in the Kingdom of God and are doing it the right way, God’s pure way! The last baptism was Jessica’s sister Blanca whose sharing brought the whole room to tears.

The Latin Ministry rejoices in Alejandra
and Jessica’s baptisms!

As well, we were filled with great joy to welcome back our dear brother, Mason Lally to the place where it all began for him! Excitingly that same Sunday, we collected our 6X Missions Contribution. With a prayer goal of $18,200 and an impossible prayer goal of $24,000, God brought in $24,704!!!!!!

The Portland Kids Kingdom performs The Angels,
Lambs, Lady Bugs and Fire Flies
Christmas Play!

To close out the service we were a bit saddened, but honored to send-out one of my best friends and “son in the faith” Aaron Turner to San Francisco to start the next chapter of his life! Words cannot express my deep gratitude and love for this incredible brother in the Lord!

Aaron is dearly beloved in the Portland Church and
will be a great “letter of recommendation”
in San Francisco!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA SOUTH QUADRANT

Matt Sullivan of Orlando: “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” (John 4:42) Excitingly in the last 10 weeks, the Lord has blessed us with 17 additions: three place memberships, one was restored and 13 have been baptized! We have also been able to celebrate marriage at our Marrieds Retreat entitled, The Honor of Marriage with Chris & Theresa Broom as our guest speakers! They were used powerfully as the Lord bonded hearts and strengthened our marriages!

Chris & Theresa Broom were so encouraged by
participating in the Orlando Marrieds Retreat!

Then, Helen & I were so fired-up to host our first Church Leaders Retreat for the USA South Quadrant World Sector! Mike & Chenelle Patterson of Gainesville, Anthony & Elizabeth Eckels of Houston, and Tyler & Shay Sears of Dallas-Ft. Worth came to town to be with my wife & me and I must tell you that it was an incredible time of dreaming, scheming, praying and planning for the evangelization of the South USA with some Caribbean dreams mixed in!

The South USA Quadrant Leaders take some time to
relax after a full weekend of training!

Finally, two of our newest disciples, Zarius and Zico have been abundantly fruitful as the Lord has used them to see six become disciples in the last few weeks: Judiene, Will, Fred, Kyle, Adrian and Yolanda! This has inspired so many to say… “We know [now for ourselves] that this man really is the Savior of the world!”

Adrian, age 17 just baptized three weeks before,
now baptizes his mother Yolanda!

Mike Patterson: “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing…” (Acts 6:1) As my brother Kip would say, “And that is how it needs to be in these days” and certainly it is here in Gainesville! In the last five weeks, we have seen eight come to Christ in baptism: three University of Florida students, two single men, a married woman, and two teens from Buchholz High School to start our Teen Ministry!

Shyan, a University of Florida student, can
now have vision for the Kingdom!

At our November 30th First Annual Financial Presentation, we saw the Scripture fulfilled in Malachi 4:6, “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers…” as family members were united in Christ! Dave & Ticia Fergot, who courageously moved from our sister church in Syracuse to help plant the San Francisco Church and then moved to Gainesville earlier this year to help us, baptized their 14 year old son Sammy!

After years of prayer, Dave & Ticia baptize
their son Sammy!

Jacob Wessels, who was our first University of Florida baptism in February of this year, baptized his mom Gloria!

Another highlight was to see Tim Le baptize another one of his co-workers from “Mind Tree” – Robert! Tim now has three disciples at his work place, not including himself, and still others studying the Bible there!

2014 has been phenomenal! In the last couple of weeks, we officially started our Chemical Recovery Ministry with Rob Bolton leading it; we became an official club at the University of Florida called “LIFE on Campus;” and we just finished our Gospel of John Sermon Series which has resulted in “much fruit!” (John 15:8) Starting with 17 disciples at our Inaugural Service in January of this year, our Father in Heaven has blessed us with 47 baptized into Christ and 10 place memberships! Our total membership is currently 57! And to God be the glory!

Bill Hamilton: “Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, ‘Come let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few!’” Greetings from the Charlotte International Christian Church! This Scripture rings true in the hearts of the eight disciples in Charlotte who moved from the awesome Washington DC Church a few weeks ago!

This week, we witnessed the congregation’s first baptism followed by an attendance of 17 this Sunday! The baptism of Khrystyne “Keer- Sten” Jones was indeed an awesome early Christmas present from God to us! Keep us in your prayers!

Tyler Sears: “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” (Ephesians 5:15-17) Greetings from DFW! It has been quite an encouraging time for the disciples in Dallas the last few weeks as the Lord blessed us with the baptism of a young woman named Whitney! Our zealous brother, Bryan, invited her out at his job and Whitney made sure not to be “foolish” but found “the Lord’s will” for her life and was baptized!

Whitney represents the start of another Campus Ministry, which means the Lord has allowed us to grow from one campus to five in our first year!

As well, it was a blessing to be able to serve our community for the MERCY Toy Drive Event on Saturday! We served at a local organization called “Captain Hope’s Kids” and organized nearly 3,600 toys that will be sent out to homeless children in the community. I was so proud of Job & Erin Sterling who coordinated this momentous effort! Job was “making the most of [the] opportunity” and brought out co-workers and students from his job!

The hard-working DFW MERCY Ambassadors! 

Lastly, Shay & I had the privilege of spending time with the church leaders of the US South Quadrant World Sector in Orlando last week. It was a faith-building and life-changing time for us both as our hearts were melded as one with the Sullivans, Eckels and Pattersons. We can’t wait to see all God is going to do in the coming years in Texas, in the South USA, and around the world! Thanks for all your love and prayers!

Anthony Eckels: Greetings and Merry Christmas from the Houston ICC! Elizabeth & I were so encouraged to travel to Orlando last week for the South Quadrant Church Leaders Retreat! We are grateful to Matt & Helen Sullivan for the amazing work they are doing in Orlando, and it was especially exciting and inspiring to see all of our sons and daughters in the faith that we left behind in Orlando now baptizing and living out the Great Commission!

This past Sunday we celebrated the body of Christ by giving each member and their children a framed design that had their name, Psalm 139:14, and a word cloud including the personal strengths that they each contribute to the body of Christ here in Houston! These words were compiled by their fellow disciples in the congregation and everyone was inspired reading what strengths everyone appreciates about them!

We also welcomed Hannes & Krista Vakkur as they placed membership at our Thanksgiving Worship Service!  Hannes & Krista joined us from the Mighty DC Church and have jumped right in helping at the Austin Bible Talk.The Austin Bible Talk has also been blowing it out with an average of one to one visitors! Although Austin is a two hour drive from Houston, they had five visitors with them on Sunday!

Jay & Angie Hernandez, Tiffany & Kris Taylor, and
Grant Hills welcome Krista & Hannes
Vakkur (far right)!

God is teaching the disciples to love deeply and their love is reflected in the record attendances for the last two Sundays!

HEADLINE NEWS – EUROPE

Michael Williamson: Greetings from London! The title Finish Strong was our Leadership Lesson a few weeks ago as we approached the end of this incredible year in London! And this has certainly been the case with two more campus students baptized this month and God blessing us with over $26,200 (6X) raised for our 5X Christmas Missions Contribution!

As we reflect on the year highlights, they have certainly included our nomination as one of the top societies at Middlesex University (where our brother Charles Nwabuze was also elected Valedictorian of his Law Class); the solidification of our West Region largely from the efforts of George & Angelica Grima; the Spirit’s surge of South Africans added to our number (five in total) through the powerful leadership of Yomi Bello; and the North Region inspired our brother and sister from Madrid, Spain – Carlos and Karla Vargas – to move to London! Not to mention a few months after our April Missions Contribution, 26 sold-out disciples raised the funds ($1,800 average per disciple) to make it to the August GLC in Los Angeles!

Then in November, we were inspired at this year’s European Missions Conference – ZEAL FOR MY FATHER’S HOUSE where six were added to our number! Also, our AMS Ministry was fruitful with the 2013 X-Factor Finalist Jeanette Yeboah as she too was baptized! So, with 51 additions this year, we now have 114 sold-out disciples in London! Merry Christmas!

The Effervescent London International
Christian Church!

Omarr Therranciel of Paris: “What an indescribable gift” from God to be dating my best friend in the Kingdom – Beatriz Acosta from the London ICC! And the awesome privilege to ask her on the lock bridge viewing the Eiffel Tower! Paris is definitely “La Ville de l’Amour!” (The City of Love!)

Warm congratulations to Omarr & Beatriz!

HEADLINE NEWS – AFRICA & THE CARIBBEAN

Luke Speckman – Overseeing Evangelist for East Africa: I bring you warm greetings on behalf of the brothers and sisters in Busia, Kenya! As many of you know, this summer the Holy Spirit planted a church in the remote village of Busia, which is on the border of Kenya and Uganda. Marius Beniet, a brother converted by Blaise Feumba in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, traveled to Busia and after counting the cost, baptized a local church leader (Mike) as well as several in his congregation.

Over the next few weeks, Marius made several trips to Busia and baptized about 20 disciples! Soon afterward, Lola Lof of the Kinshasa ICC spent a month in Busia to walk with Mike and train him as well as to strengthen the church.

In the SoldOut Movement, no matter where you go
on Sundays, there’s communion, Kids Kingdom
and heart-felt prayers!

I am so proud of Mike as he has powerfully led this fledgling church through great difficulties including having no money for salary or a building so that they meet in a make-shift “tent” with wooden legs and a tarp as a roof. And yet the Busia ICC has still continued to multiply!

The Busia International Christian Church!

Recently, four more were baptized into Christ by Mike: Jael, Philis, Moriss and Violet! Please pray for your brothers and sisters in Busia, as well as for all of Kenya and Africa!

Mike (second from the left) with the new disciples:
Jael, Philis, Moriss and Violet!

Alexis Turgeau of Port-au-Prince: “‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.’” (John 4:34) My wife Maryse & myself came back from the 2014 Global Leadership Conference (GLC) in Los Angeles with a renewed vision to see our dear Island of Haiti and our city, Port-au-prince, won to Christ in our generation! After much prayer and fasting to be fruitful beyond measure, today after church seven were baptized into Christ!

Smiles of happiness are on the face of all
seven of the new disciples as
well as Alexis (far right)!

We are amazed to see how far the Lord has taken us! I was baptized at the 2013 GLC just 15 months ago as a sold-out disciple, and today, we are now 118 disciples in four churches in Haiti! Please keep us in your prayers as we pour out ourselves out “to win as many as possible” Haitian lost souls!

Amadou Sountoura of Abidjan: “‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. ‘Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, Go, throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.’” (Mark 11:22-23) A brother named Kipre fled to avoid the civil war in the Ivory Coast and took his family with him to live in Korezouzoua, a town five hours away from Abidjan! He did not stop sharing his faith and believed God could use him to start a new church in that area! Two years later with the help of the disciples of the Abidjan Church, we now have 65 sold-out disciples in that locality from the faith of one disciple!

With the increasing number of disciples came the challenge of finding a place of worship! They took the matter in their hands and decided to build a venue! After much prayer and fasting, the chief of the area was invited to church and – moved by the Holy Spirit – he offered the church a piece of land where the disciples have been putting stone on stone with hard work and sacrifice. Today a 200-seat building is almost completed after five months!

The faith of the Korezouzoua Disciples is
constructing this new building!

Not only are the disciples building “physically,” but in the past two weeks, six more souls have been added to their number as they continue to build God’s “spiritual temple” – His church! To God be the glory!

One of the six baptized in Korezouzoua
(red) with Amadou (blue)!
The other five baptisms!

Lola Lof of Kinshasa: “Then He said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.’” (Luke 9:23) Greetings from the Democratic Republic of Congo! In spite of my poor health condition (complications from diabetes), we organized our BYND in just my region and the Lord blessed 62 disciples with 127 in attendance last Sunday! After the service, Jean-Pierre and Andrew were baptized into Christ!

Lola (second from the left) fires up Jean-Pierre
and Andrew after their baptisms!

Thank you so much for your prayers for my health and the financial support that is helping me to have access to medical care! I so appreciate being a small part of a dynamically growing worldwide movement of God!

HEADLINE NEWS – RUSSIAN COMMONWEALTH

Eugene Sobolev: Privet from the Moscow Remnants! God has blessed the over 40 sold-out disciples here with an amazing harvest while LA was preparing the Moscow Mission Team send-off – which some of us watched on Livestream!

A very encouraging true story: Jenia was trying to find “true Christians” via the Internet. (Yes, Google can help to seek God too!) She simply typed “true Christians” and at the top of the page she found our website moscowicc.org! Then she came to church that Sunday. Jenia was seeking God so zealously that she got baptized the next Sunday – November 16th!

The Holy Spirit uses Google to guide Jenia (red)
to true sold-out Christians!

And more – after her baptism Jenia had been planning to take a vacation in Turkey, but instead immediately bought a ticket to LA to witness the Moscow Mission Team Send-off! And right now she is in LA enjoying the fellowship with many other “baby Christians!”

Then on November 19th on Women’s Midweek, our sisters shared in the restoration of Yulia – an 18 year old campus student! She fell away about an year ago, and so sad, her parents were divorced a few months ago. This event moved her so much that she could not even wait for Sunday to be restored and so was restored at Midweek!

Then on November 23rd, we witnessed the birth of spiritual twins – Sergey and Olga! Sergey – Armenian by nationality and a professional singer – was invited to the church by his cousin Ada, who was restored a few months ago! Sergey came to Moscow to find a “better life,” and we can confirm that his purpose is fulfilled!

Sergey (center) finds not a “better life,” but the
“best life” and like his LA Inland Empire
Brothers he gives the challenge,
“You will be next!”

As well, Olga – a single mom of two kids – was trying to find a “true church” for about 20 years! She even traveled to Ukraine as a missionary! When Olga first came to church and saw the love of the disciples, she said, “This is what I was looking for 20 years!”

At this moment all of us are looking forward to the Mission Team’s arrival! And not only us – but two more people are at the stage of “cost counting” and wanting to be baptized, and there’s another who’s anxious to meet the Mission Team who wants to be restored! Oleg, please come!

The ever-increasing Moscow Remnant Group!

HEADLINE NEWS – CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA

Raul Moreno: “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” (Revelation 21:5) Greetings from São Paulo my dear Brothers and Sisters! We are looking forward to this coming new year, yet 2014 was a great year of growth for the church and in particular in the Campus Ministry! We now have exactly 30 disciples just at USP University – tied for the number one rated university in Central & South America! Of note, the last two weeks at USP were the baptisms of Vaitsa (Oceanography) and Flávio (Applied Mathematics)!

Also baptized during this time were Maria Jose, Natalia and Tulio! And Tulio’s mother Luisa was restored to Christ!

Maria Jose, Natalia and Tulio are baptized
into the Kingdom of God!

And last but not least, my dear fellow missionary Joey Underhill is finally dating a great sister named Ana, which is a miracle of considerable proportion! Feliz Natal!

A match made in Heaven – Joey & Ana!

Jared McGee: Season’s greetings from the saints in Mexico City! The most encouraging news of the past few weeks is definitely the restoration of our dear brother Harody Montoya! Harody was baptized in 1998 at fifteen years of age and served at a high capacity in several Teen and Campus Ministries throughout the years. After falling away from the Lord four years ago, Harody was restored to the Lord and His church this month!

Another “Veteran Disciple” – Harody (second from
the left) – finds his way home to the Father!

Employing Herody’s 10 years of experience in working with HOPE Mexico, he has wasted no time in putting his hand to the plow in helping with our MERCY Toy Drive! Just yesterday, the two of us were on the radio promoting our event which will take place next Sunday! We are so grateful that God has continued to call out the remnant and to put the appropriate pieces into place so that Mexico and all of Latin America can be evangelized in our generation!

Carlos Mejia:  Greetings from the Chilean disciples in the Santiago ICC! Incredibly, in the last nine weeks, God has blessed the church with 25 additions in the six zones that compose our congregation! Of note, the Spirit has been moving powerfully in the Campus Ministry as we have had five baptisms of which four are from the Catholic University, which is tied for number one school in Latin America!

This Sunday was very special as we were able to celebrate our Annual Christmas Day of MERCY. As a church we have served a children’s home through our partnership with ECAM, a foundation working with abused and abandoned children.

This year we were allowed the privilege to have our Christmas Service on their grounds and invite the children and the staff to participate. There were Christmas songs, special theater and song performances by disciples and stockings for the kids at ECAM full of goodies! There was a very special gift from the church: a projector for the kids to watch their favorite movies! Finally, we were able to enjoy a delicious Chilean meal complete with empanadas and a barbecue! Without a doubt and in the words of our Lord… “It is better to give than to receive!”

The zealous Santiago MERCY Ambassadors!

Happy holidays and to God be all the glory!

HEADLINE NEWS – PACIFIC RIM & AUSTRAL-CHINA

Joe Willis: Greetings from Sydney! What an amazing year in 2014! And what a weekend! We had our First Annual Christmas Banquet, Awards and Talent Show last night, and this morning said an emotional farewell to nine missionaries that came with us a year ago to start the Sydney International Christian Church! They have gone home to LA for Christmas to apply for their student visas and to return as soon as possible!

The nine American Missionaries were sent back to LA
with heavy hearts, because their visa situation
was unresolved. As of this GNE, all nine
have received their visas to return!

To finish off our weekend, at 11PM we baptized Andrew, a Sydney University student, that the Lord graciously allowed me to meet six months ago!

Joe meets and baptizes Andrew, who
may become a “Timothy!”

In the past few weeks, we had Yamin Leyton Godoy and his “Mum” Eugenia move-in from the Santiago (Chile) Church, and an end of year retreat on Cockatoo Island of the middle of Sydney Harbor!

Then Zolt, another great Australian college student, was baptized just three days ago, who was met by Pete Wade on the basketball court!

Pete’s boldness brings Zolt into God’s Family!

So after a 10 ½ months since our Inaugural Service, God has grown the church from the original 12 missionaries to exactly 30 disciples – through 22 additions! Praise God that we now have a significant Student Ministry on three campuses, a Sports Ministry, a Music Ministry and a Business Ministry!

The Sydney International Christian Church!

Everyone is very excited about our theme for next year – “Extreme 2015!” Lord willing, we will be having an extreme Sports Ministry with sky diving, bungee jumping, surfing and deep sea fishing! We have hired a weekly studio for our musicians to start an band! We are going on Extreme Retreats throughout the year: Extreme Luxury for the Marrieds and Extreme (Climbing) Heights for the Singles, as well as a Father and Son Retreat and a Mother and Daughter Retreat!

Please pray for us, as we are holding our First Chinese Service on Chinese New Year in February 2015 with our young prophet Dean “The Machine” Lam preaching his first full sermon – switching between Mandarin, Cantonese and English!

Dean “The Machine” Lam preaching in Sydney…
and maybe someday in Hong Kong!

Merry Christmas to all from the Sydney Saints!

Lou Jack Martinez of Honolulu: Despite the many and varied challenges of 2014, it was a BAD YEAR FOR THE DEVIL in the Islands of Hawaii​! Some of the highlights include: 1) We had a RECORD Bring Your Neighbor Day with 185 in January; 2) We had THREE (3) amazing Women’s Days in Honolulu, Hilo and Manila; 3) We collected Special Contributions in excess of 31X in June and November; 4) We sent David & Beth Kelly to lead our new Kona House Church; 5) We sent Scott & Terra Utter to lead our Hilo Church; 6) We married off Josh & Kristin (Fukuda) Aguirre, as well as Ka’ihe & Christle (Iaea) Tahara, and Chaz Schmidt & Frances Babauta ​were engaged; 7) We sent out a total of 16 disciples to the mission fields of Los Angeles, Chicago, Orlando, Hilo, Kona, and even ​Sydney, Australia; and 8) We sent more disciples to the GLC from the Hawaiian Islands and Guam than ever before – 49!

Josh & Kristin Aguirre!

Lastly, we baptized 24, with the latest being our new brothers, Garrison Carter at UH-Manoa and Daniel Dias in our fledgling West Region, and our new sister Chi Otto in the East Region!

At baptism, Chris shares in Christ’s
death, burial and resurrection!

Rich Tabizon: This year the Metro Manila International Christian Church (MMICC) with the help of MERCYworldwide served the people of Quezon City’s Payatas Landfill – commonly referred to as “The Dumpsite!” We selected this location with the help of our Intern – Rosas “Rose” Sobrino – and Kuya Ronnie Gonzalez. Recently written, “Payatas is Manila’s main waste dump with garbage piled as high as seven stories in some places.”

Quezon City’s Payatas Landfill – “The Dumpsite!”

Thousands of impoverished people, many of them children, survive by sorting through the waste and gathering items they can recycle. The average daily income in Payatas is around $4.00 to $6.00 US Dollars!

The MMICC MERCY Ambassadors
entertain the children!

Our charge was quite simple: Serve the people of Payatas with love and compassion. Members of our congregation served nearly 110 children a simple but hearty “caldo” (soup) and brought smiles to the faces of many children as we handed out toys! The Metro Manila Church through the efforts of Nimrod Malnegro gathered over 180 toys for this event!

Individual attention was given to so many!

News spread quickly that a church was handing-out food and toys to the children of Payatas, and so the children came running from all directions looking to see what was happening in their barangay (community). Fortunately for us, we had toys for the masses and we gave with all of our hearts and then received the gift of joy when we experienced the smiling faces of the children that surrounded us!

Giving to the children of the impoverished barangay was no easy task, but it was the hearts of the members of the Metro Manila Church that made it special. There was sorting and preparing, praying and laughing!

All the MERCY Ambassadors poured
themselves out all day!

The children of Payatas may never realize that they are disadvantaged or even poor. The smiles on their faces and the joy that exuded from their laughter made this day a tremendous success and made all of our hearts more grateful for all the Lord has given us materially but all the more so spiritually! Merry Christmas!

Because of MERCY, these five may
be our brothers someday!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA NORTH QUADRANT & INDIA

Chris Broom of New York City: Today’s Christmas Service was one of the most moving I have ever been a part of! The “part singing” was angelic, not to mention those that brought the church to our feet with special performances like Dara, Krystal, Ernest, Carl, Wes and Sue! All in all, 197 were in attendance to witness Alex’s tearful restoration to God and Esperanza’s emotional graduation from our Chemical Recovery Ministry!

Of course one of the highlights of the day was our Fourth Annual MERCY Toy Drive where every member of the church joyfully brought a toy to donate to the students of the Dr. Rose B. English School! The Rose B. English School is a transitory school meeting the educational needs of children mostly from the five surrounding homeless shelters. Because of their socioeconomic situation, many of these students have few clothes and very little nutritious food. The thought of Christmas presents would be at best an unrealistic fantasy were it not for the generosity of the New York City disciples!

On top of that, God has blessed us the last couple of weeks with two more baptisms at the City College of New York; Kelvin and Christina!

Kevin and Christina are now vibrant disciples
in the dynamic NYC Campus Ministry!

I am so proud of the New York City Church and their love for missions! The original goal for our Thanksgiving 10X Contribution was $54,548, but after our fall pledge drive where we raised our weekly contribution by over $2,000, the new multiple was $76,870! The total amount of missions that God gave us was $77,877!

Finally, and on a personal note, Theresa & I celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary on December 3rd! I am so thankful to God for giving me such an amazing partner in life and in the Gospel! We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a very fruitful New Year!

Maria Franklin of Chicago: “Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.” (Psalm 95:2-3) God is always powerfully at work, and these past few weeks we have been inspired by so many miracles!

First on November 23rd, through the generosity, creativity, hard work and fundraising efforts of the disciples, we were able to raise over $82,500 for our Thanksgiving 11X Missions Contribution blowing away our goal by $4,500! Glory be to God! Two Saturdays ago, the victories continued to resound as the church blew out our MERCYworldwide Christmas Toy Drive and collected over 130 toys for children with disabilities! This was phenomenal as the goal was to collect 100 toys!

Since the last GNE in early November, God saved six precious souls through the saving waters of baptism! Craig, Misheon, Alicia, Fani, Abby and Brenda! Fani was reached out to by Amana, a teen at a local high school. She began to study and her two older sisters – Brenda and Abby – took notice and wanted to study also! The older sisters were both baptized last weekend and Fani was baptized today!

Alicia was initially reached out to by Bob McMurray seven years ago after he was restored. As a professional single working as a sales consultant for a medical clinic, Alicia was able to “indulge” in seeking all the things of the world. Finally after years of being enticed by Satan, she realized that the world had nothing to offer and aggressively sought God with all her heart and was baptized two weeks ago!

Alicia (right) gives up the world and
inherits the riches of the Kingdom!

Of special note, Iwona Zwijacz placed membership with us from the South Region of the City of Angels ICC. It is great to have her back as she was initially baptized here in 2008! We love you with the love of the Lord!

Ron Harding of Washington DC: Greetings from the capital of the United States! “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8) It has been a tremendous year which comes on the heels of supporting the birth of the Denver, Dallas and Houston Churches, while also sending additional disciples to Santiago, Boston, Denver and LA – then losing nine more to Charlotte to establish a new remnant group!

However, the Lord has provided everything we’ve needed along the way to both grow the church here in DC and to be a part of supporting the phenomenal growth of our movement. We prove the Scriptures with our lives that when you work together to have “worldwide equality” (2 Corinthians 8:13-15) in the spreading of the Gospel, the Lord still takes care of those who truly “seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness!” To Him be all the glory!

Ron & Tracy Harding’s faith to send out disciples
around the world has inspired the entire
SoldOut Movement to be
more selfless!

Joel Parlour: Greetings from snow-covered Syracuse! Today we glorified God at our Annual Christmas Service with 120 in attendance! Rod Carter wrote and directed a phenomenal play, the kids performed a Christmas carol, 78 toys for the MERCY Toy Drive were collected, and the service concluded with two very powerful baptisms – Brad, a married man and father of seven kids, and Catherine, the twenty year old daughter of Henderson & Sofia!

Brad (second from the left) becomes the hope of his
family of nine as he was baptized into Christ!

Henderson & Sofia baptize their second daughter
on Sofia’s fifth spiritual birthday!

This has been a great year for the Syracuse Church! God has given us so much: 25 additions (23 are still faithful); many new Bible Talk Leaders raised up; a surplus of $26,598 for our 2014 Missions Contribution; many wonderful MERCYworldwide events; ten of some of our strongest members sent out to plant or strengthen churches; and amazing spiritual strengthening! We will start the new year off with over 70 sold-out disciples and eagerly expect an even more awesome 2015! Merry Christmas!

Coltin Rohn: Greetings from Boston – the city of many “Havhast” fields! “For this reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness… knowledge… self-control… perseverance… godliness… brotherly kindness… and love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:3-8)

The year of 2014 has been a great Year of Prayer! For us in Boston, it was the year God trained us to be men and women OF prayer, as God added to our faith “perseverance!” God has grown our faith in every area, and now we are ready to be effective this upcoming year. Though we have gone through hard times, God allowed us to raise over $61,000 for Special Missions; have a record attendance at our Bring Your Neighbor Day; add to our ministry staff; raise-up not one but two Shepherding Couples: the Karonises and the DiFuscoes; and have successful MERCY Events: Day of MERCY, Blood Drive and Toy Drive!

Today, Ted Karonis has not only raised up to be a great Shepherd, but also a great preacher! Ted called us to have a “Spiritual Christmas” and not a “Christ Mess” or a “Christ Missed!” (See the Sermon @ bostonicc.org!) It was a great follow-up to our church-wide Chariot Ride we had Thursday night with 10 people studying the Bible! Please keep us in your prayers as many are counting the cost going into the New Year!

Pray for the Boston Chariot Ride
to bear much fruit!

Roger Green: “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.” (Psalm 68:5) It was a fantastic Sunday for the disciples of the Chennai International Christian Church, as we had 10 girls visit us from an orphanage. All the disciples sacrificed and raised-up funds for the MERCY Toy Drive! The girls not only received their precious toys but also had fun, games and lunch along with our kids!

The Kingdom Kids and the children from the
orphanage joyfully receive their
Christmas gifts!

At the end of November, a very concerned mom started to pray and fast for her daughter Divya, who was making friendship with the world. The very next day Divya was invited by our sister Hema, who was also praying that very moment to reach out to someone. Divya came to church and started studying the Bible. The next Sunday, her mom and sister Grace were at church. Amidst persecution, both Divya, who is doing her Engineering in Bio Technology, and her sister Grace, who is studying to be a chartered accountant, were baptized!

Divya and Grace (standing second and fourth) are
dearly beloved by all of the Chennai Sisters!

Also Dhanaraj and Abraham, who are doing their Bachelors in Philosophy and Economics respectively from the esteemed Madras Christian College, made a decision to follow the King of Kings! We also had Rajamani who has completed her Masters in Bio Technology and Nalini an X-Ray Technician, make decisions to become disciples!

Dhanaraj no longer holds to any man-made
philosophies, but has deep convictions
of the Bible’s absolute truth!
Rajamani (center) takes up her cross
and is baptized!

Since our Inaugural Service on September 21, 2014, God has added a total of 26 souls, and as of today, the Chennai Church reached a 100 sold-out disciples!

Finally, the Chennai Church would like to thank all of the disciples in LA for their love and sacrifice for having Raja & Debs come over for the 2015 Winter Workshop! I am sure they will come back fully equipped to take the church to the next level! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Dear Brothers and Sisters: Christmas for most disciples is such a glorious celebration! Perhaps more than any other holiday, Christmas is a time to appreciate our physical families and our spiritual family – God’s church!

Jesus’ birth is “the reason for the season!”

Heather Harvin – one of our new ICCM students and Unpaid Interns – is a professional recording artist and an inspirational disciple in the AMS Region of LA! Here is her latest music video – One Last Gift – that captures the “good times” and the “joy of love” during the holidays! http://youtu.be/rsfMo1h2_ko (The couple kissing at the end of the video is Nick and Jackie Iadonisi – two of our newest newlyweds! In fact, everyone in the video is a disciple!)

2014 – The Year of Prayer – has been incredible as the Spirit has sent out mission teams to Gainesville, Florida; Santa Barbara, California; Sydney, Australia; Houston, Texas; Toronto, Canada; Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas; Chennai, India; and Moscow, Russia! Another highlight was the selection of the SoldOut Movement World Sector Leaders! For me personally, the answered prayer for Elena’s complete healing from bone cancer causes me to fall on my knees in thankfulness to God!

In the midst of growing hostilities between Russia
and the USA, The Year of Prayer moved God
to send-out the Moscow Mission Team
from America! 

Let’s begin to pray that 2015 brings even more glory to our Father in Heaven! Therefore, please “lift up holy hands to God” for The City Of Angels Winter Workshop on January 2-4, 2015 entitled, The Upward Call as all the lessons will come from the book of Philippians! (Philippians 3:14) This “life-changing workshop” will usher in The Year of Maturity!

The Good News Email Crew of Rebecca, Elena and
Kip are so appreciative of all those who have
contributed reports and pictures that have
stirred the hearts of disciples
around the globe in 2014!

Let us during the holidays treasure and exemplify the words of the song that angels sang at Jesus’ birth, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rest!” (Luke 2:14) Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
We are family… to the end,
Kip

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

Greetings from Los Angeles! This weekend the City of Angels Church simultaneously held our Campus and Marrieds Retreats! The location of the Marrieds Retreat – BEST FRIENDS OF ALL TIME – was the beautiful Westlake Village Hyatt in Ventura County! Elena & I both agree that this was far and away the most inspirational Marrieds Retreat that we have ever attended!

200 Disciples gathered for the 2014 Marrieds
Retreat – BEST FRIENDS OF ALL TIME!

On Saturday, we heard incredible messages from Argo & Anu Arneson, Nick & Denise Bordieri, Tony & Therese Untalan, Luke & Brandyn Speckman and Blaise & Patricia Feumba!

Luke & Brandyn preached on the theme,
“Live In Peace With One Another!”

The other highlight were the games, entitled, Minute To Win It hosted by “Graham Wellington” (aka Jason Bond)! Each of our 11 regions in the City of Angels Church selected a couple to represent them! These wholesome and creative games included: Mad Dog, Tea Party, Ready Spaghetti, Tilt-a-Cup, Separation Anxiety, Shoe Fly Shoe, Movin’ On Up, Chocolate Unicorn, Face The Cookie and for the championship – The Elephant Walk!

“Graham Wellington” hosts MINUTE TO WIN IT!

Pat & Sparkle of the Southland Region win
the first round of “Mad Dog!”

The Batsons of the North Region battle against the
Carbonells of the West Region in a furious
game of “Tea Party!”

Between games, “Graham” would solicit volunteers
for random questions that would be
rewarded with gift cards!

“Ready Spaghetti” proves quite difficult for the
Ericksons of the AV and the Garridos
of the Central Region!

The Bogartz almost master “Chocolate Unicorn”
where they must build a seven layer
tower of ding dongs!

“Elephant Walk” decided the winner…

The Diazes of the East Region are crowned
champions by overcoming the gallant
efforts of the Swanns from
the Ventura Region!

Sunday’s Worship Service was even more exciting! The singing for us “old married people” was almost angelic; Chris & Kerri-Sue Adams moved our hearts at Communion; the Bartholomews increased our faith at the Contribution; and Luke Speckman hit a “homerun” on the keynote speech! However, the singular highlight for me was the restoration of a couple – Nelson & Jhoanna Umlas – in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – that we all observed through Skype being projected on our screen! Thus formed the SoldOut Movement’s first church in the Middle East! After both made tearful confessions of faith centered on Jeremiah 29: 11-14 where God promises, “I have plans to prosper you…” the entire Marrieds Retreat sang to Nelson & Jhoanna, We Love You With The Love Of The Lord!

As Cory & Jee Blackwell look to the large screen,
AJ has the Umlases viewing through Skype the
entire retreat audience as they are restored!

Since their picture was on the cover for the Marrieds
Retreat, the Limons have literally become the
“poster children” of the Marrieds Ministry!

The Perezes and the McKeans shared a lovely
double date on Saturday night!

The Stockholm Mission Team Leaders – Argo &
Anu Arneson – did a phenomenal job
directing the Marrieds Retreat!

The SET APART Campus Retreat was indeed
a “mountain top experience!”

The men and the women had intense, encouraging
and prayerful D-groups that will help set
them apart as Christian students!

Human Foosball!

Richie & Elizabeth McDonnell share how the
Lord has worked on the Santa
Barbara Campuses!

Patrique gladly helps Rebecca with her lesson!

Kwaku preaches the Word!

By studying the Word, the Campus Brothers are
determined to be Mighty Men of God!

Congratulations to our newest dating
couple – Kwaku & Ashley!

The Campus Brothers and Sisters are so fired-up
that Kwaku is finally dating!

Adam passionately pleading to the students that the
Campus Ministry is the key to world evangelism!

As the retreat ends, all of the campus disciples are
inspired to be SET APART upon their return!

Vanessa even before she was baptized
began to serve like a disciple!

Elim joins the IE Sisters in issuing their almost
daily challenge, “You will be next!”

Erick is more than happy to give the challenge
to his ex-girlfriend, “You will be next!”

As the 100th member of the IE Region, Julie
proclaims, “You will be in the next 100!”

The Palm Springs Sector Brothers teach their new
leaders – the Velascos – and their new disciple
Martin to joyfully issue the IE Challenge!

God’s “hand-picked” partners in
the gospel – Cory & Jee!

The Jeddah Remnant Group Leaders – Nelson
& Jhoanna Umlas and their precious
children Nicoli Joshua and Michele!

Song of Songs was the romantic theme
for the Phoenix Marrieds Retreat!

Destiny is destined to do great things for the Lord!

The radiant speakers and teachers for the
glorious Santa Barbara Women’s Day!

Gabby baptizes her dear
mother Sonia!

Mom and her youngest son Blake! And
yes, Dad is doing just fine!!!

So dear to so many, the Fefelov Family – Fred,
Tiffany, Ewan and Mila!

Christine’s baptism helped the Portland
Church to remember their purpose
in the midst of tragedy!

David welcomes the USA NW Quadrant
Church Leaders to Canada!

The NW USA – CANADA World
Sector Logo!

The Kernans take the NW USA Church Leaders to a
local vineyard and share about John 15!

Angelo is baptized by his father Tony as his
loving mother Vita fully approves!

The disciples after the Montreal
House Church Service!

Tim & Lianne adore Montreal as they were
both baptized in this great city!

Somewhere under this nighttime fog bank, we “know
by faith” that Angela was baptized into Christ!

Angela emerges from the fog and darkness
of sin and becomes our dear sister!

The Reeds are in awe of God’s power conveyed
by watching Niagara Falls!

Evgiste is the seed of the gospel for
his homeland of Rwanda!

Sharea is warmly welcomed into
the Kingdom of God!

Dennis & Kathi find revival in the GICC!

Congratulations to Joseph & Courtney!

Our newest disciples in the great Orlando Church –
Rosalie, Zarius, Jennifer and Will!

The Sullivans have done an outstanding job
motivating the Orlando Church after
sending out so many disciples to
plant Gainesville and Houston!

Elizabeth and her mom Martha are
now sisters in the Lord!

Chris surprises Melissa with roses and asks
for her to be his girlfriend! Of course
she said yes!

There’s still time to come to the 2014 EMC –
Zeal For My Father’s House!

The Williamsons reaching out to Anthony Joshua!

Mo (left) is greeted by her new sisters
Krista (middle) and Diane
who met her!

The three French-speaking Evangelists – Tim, Blaise
and Amadou – study with Alexis (second from the
right) and make him into a baptized disciple!

Alexis lives near here in Port-au-prince!

Jean Bonard & Loverly Colin – leaders of
50 disciples in Jacmel, Haiti!

Ouattara an ex-Muslim getting baptized!

Ouattara (second from the left) issues the challenge
to all Muslims, “You will be next!”

Abidjan’s Campus Ministry continues to baptize
amazing students like Gerard!

Lyly joins the Family of God!

Micky holds Vicky’s hand up
triumphantly after
his baptism!

Dr. Sergey & Lena Pometun go to Moscow
now equipped to make disciples!

Dima (left) doing a study at a famous Russian
restaurant in Moscow – McDonald’s!

The Moscow MERCY Ambassadors!

Liuda leaves everything behind in the Ukraine
to join the Moscow Remnant Group!

Olympics Day for the dynamic Sao Paulo Church!

Only disciples can have this much fun!

The Sao Paulo Interns: Joey Underhill, Caio Lopez,
Rocky Valadez, Vini Rodrigues, Carol Postigo,
Danilo Bataglin and Mariana Souza!

Another Kingdom Kid – Regiane – truly
enters the Kingdom!

Father and son in the gospel – Carlos and Jared!

Martha & her husband Felipe are
now one in Christ!

“The Favorites-themed Sunday” and
the afternoon picnic!

The Sydney Disciples have a Spartan-like mentality!

Leslie is baptized by Nathalie, Keira
and her brother Len!

Barbara & Jay have inspired the entire
Sydney Church by their preaching,
teaching and example!

Nathalie restores Keiko to her “first love!”

With Keiko’s restoration, we now
have the “Hong Kong Five!”

The daring Duong Family!

Dave preaching to an amazing crowd of 39 in Kona!

Ronnie baptizes Noli…

Noli baptizes his son Ivan…

Now, father and son are brothers in Christ!

Nimrod & Vis Malnegro are astute in the
Philippines Banana Business which
is #3 in the world!

Our newest intern in Manila – Rose!

Edwin, Onz and Miguel – the three amigos!

Courtney (far right) is embraced by
her new found family!

Brittany shares that the cupcakes are selling
like hotcakes at NYC!

Since Kwaku is baptized as a freshman, the Syracuse
Church is praying that he will become a
great campus leader!

Brad is overjoyed to place membership
in the Mighty Boston Church!

Christi’s passion for people came from
her passion for God!

Joe congratulates his son Luke after
the biggest decision of his life!

Dustin preaches on “Seeing What God Sees!”

The Chennai Campus Ministry is on fire! Gabriela
(back center) is one of four students
baptized in the last two weeks!

The Chennai Brothers rejoice after Alpha
(checked shirt) is baptized!

Tina (center green) is a brilliant young woman who’s
smart enough to make Jesus Lord!

Mary (center) is restored at a House Church Service!

Malala is the youngest Nobel Peace Prize
winner ever and lends her voice to
change the world at the
risk of her life!

Thanks for everything Elena for “charm is
deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a
woman who fears the Lord is to
be praised!” (Proverbs 31:30)

Greetings from Los Angeles! Elena & I returned home on Wednesday evening from a month-long missionary journey to Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW), London, Manila and Honolulu! Though “we” had intended to be side-by-side with our dear friends Raja & Debs Rajan in “officially” planting the Chennai Church, the Lord gave this honor to Luke & Brandyn Speckman! Infused with a great faith, the Chennai International Christian Church celebrated their Inaugural Service with an attendance of 236, two baptisms and a restoration!

Luke & Brandyn Speckman join Raja & Debs Rajan to
“officially plant” the Chennai International
Christian Church!

Our first stop on our missionary trip was the great twin cities of Dallas-Ft. Worth! With 23 disciples on the DFW Mission Team and in the Remnant Group alongside another 25 disciples from around the country, God blessed their Inaugural Service with 128 in attendance!

An incredible 128 were in attendance for the
DFW Inaugural Service!

Elena & I and everyone in the audience were so moved by Tyler’s powerful sermon, The Purposes Of God!

Tyler Sears dynamically preaching the Word!

Next the Spirit carried us off to London! Though our heart was to encourage this great congregation as they prepared for the European Missions Conference, we were the ones who were more encouraged at their incredible Midweek Service!

Michael & Michele Williamson are getting in

Michael & Michele demonstrating the English
hospitality of having “a spot of
tea” with Elena!

Not only was the singing angelic and the fellowship “hot” but we were privilege to meet their last three baptisms who were all South Africans! After service, we spent time with Jacques & Jeanette Groenewald, two of the original members in the heroic London Remnant Group, as they have made the decision to return to their homeland of South Africa to begin the Johannesburg Remnant Group in July 2015! Lord willing, they will be joined by several of the South African converts in London!

Jacques & Jeanette are more than
ready to establish the J’burg
Remnant Group in
July 2015!

Since our visas were not granted in time to go to India, we flew to Manila to continue to prepare this remnant group of 38 for the coming of Kyle & Joan Bartholomew and the Manila Mission Team in early May 2015!

As they come out of customs, the McKeans receive
the “SoldOut Movement Welcome” of the
singing of We Love You With
The Love Of The Lord!

Though we spent two weeks and endured the aftermath of two typhoons (hurricanes), it was quickly apparent why the Spirit had “redirected” our steps! (Proverbs 16:9) After a gracious welcome on Saturday at the airport, we met with the “core leadership” of the church – Rich & Angie Tabizon, John & Anna Malnegro, and Gina Dela Peña. Here we made the plan to meet with them every day from 10AM to 12Noon teaching many of the lessons from the ICCM.

The Metro Manila Core Leadership Group
gathers at the Tabizons’ apartment!

On Sunday, the extremely low attendance of 38, I thought at first was due to the recent typhoon as some roads were still flooded. But by the end of the day, it was clear that a “spiritual typhoon” of contempt had engulfed the church.

The McKeans overcame the aftermath of two
typhoons, and used the Scriptures to
overcome the “spiritual typhoon”
of contempt!

Since we were close to several of the members, we began to root out this demonic attack with lovingly teaching and applying the Scriptures. On the following Sunday – again held in the aftermath of a second typhoon with no real push – God brought 78 to celebrate in our worship service!

The Metro Manila Sunday Worship!

Of special note, Lymwel Mejia placed membership from our former fellowship repenting of a “double life” as he was refreshed to have discipling back in his life!

Lymwel is restored to his “first love” by placing
membership in the Metro Manila Church!

Milo (center) who was met by Kip and baptized in
1989 is now in restoration studies with
Ronnie and Rich!

On Monday since the Tabizons had not had much of a chance to see the other municipalities of Metro Manila besides Makati, the leadership core group – joined by Ronnie Gonzalez and Alvin & Marilen Panlilio – set out to “spy out” and claim for the Lord by prayer the key campuses and cities of Metro Manila!

The Disciples after praying over the Ateneo Campus!

Our first two stops were in Quezon City at the two top campuses in the Philippines: Ateneo University and “UP” – the University of the Philippines! At Ateneo, we prayed for Marc & Maika Carbonell – members of the Manila Mission Team converted in LA and recent graduates of Ateneo – to find an apartment right across the street from this gorgeous campus!

John proudly wears his ICCM
Cap on the UP Campus!

At UP, we were all mesmerized by the potential of the over 22,000 students at this “activist oriented college!” Elena & I reminisced about leading Bible Talks there and the drove of students that were easily gathered to attend!

After a heartsy prayer, we traveled to “Old Manila” and ate at what is known as one of the best Filipino Restaurants – The Aristocrat! Here each of us enjoyed different but equally tasty dishes: Chicken Adobo, Deep Fried Lechon (pork), Pancit Palabok (noodle dish), and Fish Tinola! But for some reason we forgot to order some Kamaro (mole crickets) and Balut – a developing duck embryo boiled alive and eaten in a shell often served with rock salt or spicy vinegar!

Zech enjoying a favorite Filipino
delicacy of fish eyes!
Got Balut?

After finishing our drinks of Halo Halo and Coconut Juice, we traveled but a short distance on Roxas Boulevard to see Rizal Park and to go into the Old Manila Hotel, where Douglas MacArthur used as his headquarters as the Allied Commander of the Pacific during World War II.

Elena and Gina outside Rizal Park
and the Old Manila Hotel!

Our final stop was Fort Santiago. Here we were reminded of the price of revolution as we prayed over this historic place where the Father of the Philippines, Jose Rizal, was imprisoned and then led to the park bearing his name where at just 35 years old was martyred by a firing squad on December 30, 1896. One of his most famous quotes greatly inspires most disciples, “It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great ideal.”

A mural at Fort Santiago of Jose Rizal’s martyrdom!

At our last service, there was a very tearful goodbye and the promise of “we shall return” for the Inaugural Service in June 2015!

On our last night, Elena shares about Nimrod & Vis
Malnegro moving from Davao to Metro
Manila within a month!

Following our exhilarating time in the Philippines, Elena & I were carried by the Spirit to Honolulu! It was so refreshing to be with our dear friends Lou Jack & Cathi Martinez! After a very informative d-time, many of the lessons that God taught us in Manila about dealing with contempt were able to be tailored for Sunday’s sermon and Bible Talk Leaders Lesson!

The Honolulu International Christian Church!

Though once more we endured a wet Sunday morning, most excitingly, two women were baptized into Christ!

Dian and Ainsley are baptized!

Upon returning home to LA, we were so encouraged by the Spirit working through the tremendous leadership of Andrew & Patrique Smellie, all the LA Region Leaders and our Shepherding Couples! During our absence of almost five weeks, God blessed the City of Angels Church with 57 additions – 46 baptisms and 11 place memberships, about half coming from our former fellowship seeking revival! And to God be the glory!

And now detailed good news reports from each of the World Sectors…

HEADLINE NEWS – LOS ANGELES

NEWS FLASH – Nick Bordieri, Director of MERCYworldwide: The Third Annual 2-1-3 Arm-to-Arm MERCY-Red Cross National Blood Drive on September 20th was an amazing day! The Red Cross has the “2-1-3″ nomenclature because “every 2 seconds blood is needed; 1 pint of blood saves 3 lives!”

Nick holds Cory’s hand to give him the
courage to donate blood!

Last year, 136 pints of blood were collected in three participating “MERCY branches” – LA, NYC and Portland! This year, seven cities participated – LA, NYC, Chicago, DC, SF, Portland, and Phoenix – and 521 pints were collected thus impacting 1,563 lives!

Olimpia and Alejandro prepare to give
their blood for the cause!

A common message we hear from the Red Cross is the continuous need for blood donors throughout the year to support hospitals around the country. Here are two quotes from the Red Cross Staff. Hope, a Red Cross nurse, stated, “Surprisingly, only a small percentage of the population is aware or participates in blood drives. For this reason, the work that MERCYworldwide is currently doing is necessary to spread awareness and give others an opportunity to focus on those less fortunate!” Tammy, an Account Manager for the American Red Cross, stated, “We don’t realize the need until a family member is affected.”

Even the teen disciple Klim “loved” giving his
blood so that others could live!

On behalf of the World Sector Leaders, let me express our thanks to the seven participating churches who have now “shed their blood” for the cause!

Chris Chloupek: Greetings from the AMS Region and the City of Angels Church Singles Retreat – SOAR! This weekend’s retreat was phenomenal! Our theme was SOAR from Isaiah 40:31, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will SOAR on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.” 

The City of Angels Church Singles Retreat – SOAR!

Sonja & I feel very privileged to lead the Singles Ministry here in the City of Angels Church! With that said, our vision is to raise up single men and women to set the pace for this powerful ministry! We had 13 different single brothers and sisters from the various LA Regions preach at the retreat held at the JW Marriott in Desert Springs! Dennis from Ventura & Corrina from the AMS, who are dating, spoke on Soaring Single! They shared how keeping God first as singles and then in their dating relationship makes it so special!

Then we had an amazing Men and Women’s Program based on 1 Timothy 4:12, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” For the Women’s Program, Ariel from the West, April from the Central, Lenny from the OC, and Casey from the AMS did an outstanding job preaching on Faith, Love, Purity, Life And Speech.

For the Men’s Program, Brad from Southland, Miguel from Southland, and Anthony from the AMS Region preached vulnerably on the same topics!

Men of God Battle Cry!

Saturday night, the singles had free time to enjoy each other’s fellowship. Some even ventured 8,500 feet up the famous tram in Palm Springs! Sunday, Morgan Martin gave a heartfelt monologue about her love for the cross of Christ. David from the IE did an insightful contribution. There were electric performances by Michael, Heather, Thurzday and Corrina from the AMS throughout the program! And to close the retreat, our keynote speaker, RD Baker from the AMS Region preached excitingly on the reward of Heaven for those who continue to Soar With God! So encouraging were the disciples that traveled from San Diego, Phoenix and as far as Washington DC!

In the AMS Region, we have had four wonderful baptisms in September! Of special note, our son Chase who is 16 years old made Jesus his Lord on September 10th!

Years of prayer by Chris & Sonja are answered
when Chase is baptized!

There’s no business like “soul” business!

Andrew Smellie: “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:1-2) Greetings from the West Region!

This month has truly been a month of “pruning” as the Lord has purified the “quiet reservations” and discord that have been present in the hearts of “dear friends that have chosen to be overcome by years of past hurts!” Sadly, even today, I was forced to disfellowship and mark a dear friend and brother for contempt. (Deuteronomy 17:12-13)

The good news is that as we focus on protecting the purity of the church and teaching the flock to be brought to complete unity (John 17:23), the Lord begins the harvest! Today, Grace Gana, a Mongolian single who had just moved here in December of last year, was baptized! At her baptism Grace shared how she had come to the United States for one reason, but God brought her here for another reason, so that she could seek Him with all of her heart! In her search, she was unfortunately introduced to a sect of Sun Myung Moon’s Church, where she experienced a great deal of pain. However, this didn’t stop her search for the truth. Grace is now so excited to fulfill her purpose as a disciple and help build God’s church!

The West Sisters are overjoyed by Grace’s
decision to accept God’s grace!

Travis Frazier: Greetings from the North Region!!! God has added two incredible sisters to our family!!! Akelee Relliford, a talented singer/artist who has performed on American Idol, decided to give up everything to follow God!

Akelee (third from the right) decides to
use her many talents solely for God!

Mariah, an amazing campus student, despite much opposition decided to make Jesus Lord of her life and is now your sister in Christ!

With Mariah’s baptism, the North Sisters are
fruitful for a second straight week!

Last but not least, it is with great joy that we welcome Jason Woody, our new Campus Intern!! Since his arrival from Sydney, our Campus Ministry is on fire!

Jason (back center) is rallying the North
Region Campus Disciples!

We are so grateful to have this incredible young man be part of our North Region Family!! To God be the glory!!!

Capil Marhatta: Greetings from the Sensational South! The South Region has been learning how to love as we had some “Fun in the SON” at ourBring Your Neighbor Day on September 14th! God gave us a record attendance of 157 with Sophia and Lidia Sirotkin leading the way with bringing out eight visitors!

The record setting South Region BYND!

The Lord continues to bless us as in September we had five awesome baptisms – Audra Oul, Sebastian, Shanay, Alex and finally David from the Campus Ministry who was baptized this Sunday night at 10pm at Belmont Shores!

Camryn and Capil baptize a dear friend
into Christ – Alex!

We also had lots to celebrate as our “young Evangelist” Oleg Sirotkin turned “46” and is just as young in heart and zealous to build God’s house as any young minister in the Movement! If you have any doubt about that statement, please listen to his sermon from this past week about how he broke down the need for “chickens” not “golden eggs,” and you’ll be encouraged, convicted and inspired on getting “chickens!”

Oleg Sirtokin – the Moscow Mission Team Leader!

Finally, as Forest Gump famously said, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.” And little did I know that my boyfriend Joe Estep would take me on a date on a boat with the Sirotkins out in the Long Beach Harbor and that here he would ask me to be his wife! Of course I said, “Yes!” To God be all the glory!!

Congratulations to Joe & Capil!

Chris Adams: God continues to answer our prayers to build family in the Ventura Region! Anthony Zarate, our song-leader, was doubly blessed as his brother Nick studied the Bible and repented by God’s grace, despite strong opposition from Satan at his high school and was baptized on September 14th in front of the whole Ventura family!

Nick’s (second from the right) whole family
rejoices at his baptism!

Additionally, just a few weeks later at the Single’s Retreat this past weekend, Anthony serenaded a surprised Kassandra Campos (who serves the Ventura Teen Ministry) with his guitar on a boat-ride full of close friends and God blessed them as our newest dating couple in the Ventura Region!

Congratulations to our newest
dating couple – Anthony
& Kassandra!

Lastly, Lance & Connie Underhill delivered an outstanding Parenting Workshop this past Saturday for the Married Disciples and some remnant disciples! Their teaching was grounded in Moses’ wisdom from Deuteronomy 4 and which inspired all of us to imitate their humility, perseverance, joy and devotion “first to the Kingdom” and then to our God-given families! All we can say up here in Ventura County is, “IT’S GOOD TO BE IN THE KINGDOM!”

Kyle Bartholomew: Greetings from the Central Region! These past three weeks have been amazing as three have been added to our number through baptism! First, we saw Yifan who is a young Chinese campus student study the Bible and get baptized after just two days of intense Bible study! We have since been invited by his former church’s pastor to preach the message of discipleship to their entire congregation! Pray for this incredible opportunity that has been orchestrated by God! (Acts 17:26-28)

With Yifan’s baptism, God continues to draw Chinese
disciples into his modern day movement!

Then Marie, a “Kingdom Kid” whose parents and older sister have already become disciples, was baptized! This conversion was particularly inspiring, as God continues to unite families by the blood of Christ in the Central Region! (Luke 1:17)

Marie joins her parents and older
sister in God’s Family!

Finally, we had our first Pasadena City College student baptized as Armand came to the faith and gave his life to God! We now have a presence on four major campuses in the Central Region of Los Angeles! Pray for us as many more miracles are on the way!!!

Luke Speckman: Greetings from Orange County!!! It has been a very exciting time for us over the past several weeks as we are so grateful for the Velascos overseeing the OC Region while we were in Chennai! During September, the region witnessed 11 added to our number with seven baptisms and four placed memberships! We were especially encouraged by Jermaine, Stephanie and Sophia Peacock placing membership from our former fellowship!

The Peacock Family places membership in the
City of Angels Church and finds
spiritual revival!

Even though every baptism is absolutely precious to God and to us, there was one that was especially noteworthy for Brandyn and me as our son Malik made Jesus Lord of his life and was saved through the waters of baptism!

Malik’s baptism brought so much
joy to Luke & Brandyn!

Also, today was bittersweet as we sent out the Velasco Family to lead the Palm Desert Sector (soon-to-be-Region) of the City of Angels ICC!

The Velasco Family bring the “loving Latin
touch” to each ministry that they lead!

Ashley Godwin of the IE Region: “But the Word of God continued to increase and spread!” (Acts 12:24) Greetings of love from the hot Inland Empire Region! The Word of God is continuing to spread here as we have seen 18 new additions since the beginning of September – 13 baptisms and 5 place memberships! It’s great to see how God is reaching so many different kinds of people in different stages of life through his powerful Word!

Joel (front left) joins the IE Brothers in issuing
the almost daily challenge, “You will be next!”

Yadira, a 61 year old woman, was reached out to by our dear brother Eddie Alvarado from the OC Region. She started to study the Bible with the sisters just three weeks ago. Though seeking God actively for the past 15 years (reading her Bible and praying), she knew that something was still missing! Her humility towards the Word of God and her excitement to finally start to understand was very encouraging to all of us. She was baptized as a sold-out disciple of Christ this last Sunday!!

Even the more mature IE Sisters join with Yadira
in issuing the summons, “You will be next!”

During her studies, she reached out to her childhood friend, Eva (62). Eva has been also seeking God for years leading her to be baptized on three different occasions! Last time, to make sure it was really the “right way,” she traveled to Israel and was baptized in the Jordan River! Studying the Bible with the sisters, she quickly understood that the only “right way” was to give up everything and become a disciple of Christ! Today that is exactly what she did as she made Jesus her Lord and her best friend and was baptized in the tap water of Riverside! To God be the glory!

Eva (third from the right) imitates Yadira’s faith and
issues the challenge, “You will be next!”

Cesar Limon: “Your God reigns… [so] you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 52:7, 12) Grace and peace in abundance from the East Region! God has been leading us from the front and from the “rear” as we have witnessed six souls be added to God’s Kingdom in the past three weeks! Francois, a Cal Poly student, was reached out to almost three years ago by our brother Nick but declined the invitations several times. God humbled him on his travels back to his homeland in Cameroon and so when he came back he​ humbled out and was baptized! (Special thanks to Blaise Feumba for getting in there with him!)

Francois and the East Region Brothers proclaim,
“The Gospel will reach you next!”

Also very inspiring was the baptism of Justin, a Chinese exchange student at Mt. SAC straight from Singapore! God did not waste any time in reaching out to him as he was invited out just two weeks after he arrived! Justin quickly heard God’s call, studied and was baptized!

Justin, another awesome Chinese Brother,
enters the Kingdom of God!

Lastly, God has blessed us with turning in over half of our Special Missions!! God is good! So good that prayerfully this Sunday, He is allowing me to marry His incredible daughter, my best friend, and the woman of my dreams – Debbie Bosch! Pray for us as we are praying for you!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA SW QUADRANT AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Evan Bartholomew: Greetings from San Diego – the “City of Motion!” God has been moving very evidently in the church here, as we’ve had a number of incredible victories over the past month! For starters, God answered our prayers for Bring Your Neighbor Day as we had over one-for-one visitors and about 100 in attendance! The following week, we were greatly privileged to join the Orange County Region of the City of Angles Church for an amazing worship service – which was a great encouragement to our congregation! Also, we witnessed three awesome baptisms: Amber, Ramone and Kelsey! We were especially encouraged by the baptism of Kelsey whose father is a preacher in a denominational church!

Having a strong Biblical background, Kelsey (second
from the left) promises to rise up
in leadership quickly!

Last Sunday was also victorious for us as a church – though bitter sweet! The San Diego Church was able to send-out Glenn Cruz to help strengthen the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale Remnant Group! It was very sad for me to see him go after all he has done for the church here, but also very exciting since I know he’ll be a great asset for the group in Miami!

Glenn Cruz gets ready to join his best
friend Princeton in the Miami-
Ft. Lauderdale Church!

Please keep us in your prayers, as my wife & I are 12 days past our due date and are expecting our second son Blake at any (and every) moment!

Victor Gonzalez Sr.: Greetings from Las Vegas! “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24) We are really enjoying the First Principles Classes! It is solidifying our faith; uniting us; and allowing us to be equipped to multiply! Today we had an incredible Bring Your Neighbor Day with a record attendance of 117!!! We had so many Bible studies happening after church!

I’m super fired-up and encouraged about starting the Latin Ministry here in Las Vegas! It is being led by Jose Torres and Liz Gonzalez! As well good news, today we had the incredible baptism of Karla! She is a full-time student at UNLV who had never read the Bible before in her life, but through the studies she became a super sold-out disciple! God answered her prayers of finding the truth but found something different than she had ever heard of – ”THE KINGDOM OF GOD!”

The LV Sisters graciously welcome Karla
to the Kingdom of God!

Richie McDonnell: Greetings from the saints of beautiful Santa Barbara! It has been an encouraging month of September as God has been working powerfully through our faith! At our International Sunday, we had a record attendance of 65 with only 23 disciples! Also encouraging is we are now averaging over 50 in attendance on regular Sunday services! Excitingly, our campus ministry, The Vine Ministries, became an official club at Santa Barbara City College, and multiple people are currently studying the Bible!

The Vine Ministries look to bear much fruit!

Lastly, two souls were added to our church with the baptisms of Robert and Nallely, thus putting us “over the top” in our prayer goal for doubling the original 11 disciples on the mission team! They have been studying the Bible and coming around since the church was planted in January. However, because they were living together unmarried, they never were baptized because God calls for absolutely purity in the lives of His disciples!

After much prayer, Bible study and refreshing repentance, they gained the faith to uphold God’s standard and decided to live separately (despite having three children together), thus, making Jesus Lord of their lives when they were baptized into Christ! Incredibly, Nallely is the sister of Memo and Carlos who were baptized previously in the church, and all reached out to by Stephanie, the 11 year-old pre-teen in our congregation! Now, Robert & Nallely are planning to get married very soon and build their family upon the foundation of Christ!

The SB Disciples encourage Robert & Nallely
immediately after their baptisms!

Please pray for our first Women’s Day next week! Love you all!

Jeremy Ciaramella of Phoenix: Greetings from the “Valley of the Son!”It has been an amazing time the past few weeks! Fashion With A Passion (facebook.com/fwap2014) is an exciting event planned by our new AMS Bible Talk Leaders, Josiah & Kristin Smith! It is being held at “The Venue” in Scottsdale and the manager of the facility donated its use – a value of several thousand dollars!

Pray for Fashion With A Passion to
bring many people to Christ!

“For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes? Is it not you? Indeed you are our glory and joy!” (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20) Of great joy to the church here are the three baptized in the past three weeks! Taneka is a single mother with two beautiful children and has grown into a joyful, gentle and transparent disciple as she studied the Bible with the sisters in the East! Steve is a mature single man who has developed deep convictions about God’s righteousness and repented of lifelong addictions – devoting himself to being in the CR Ministry for the past couple of months! It was powerful to see them get baptized on the 21st of September!

Steve (second from the left) is baptized with
the help of the CR Ministry!

Lastly there is the encouraging conversion of Telma, a full time ASU student from Angola Africa, repenting and being baptized into Christ on October 1, 2014! What a glorious way to start the “fall harvest!”

With Telma’s baptism, the seed of the gospel
for Angola has been sown!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA NW QUADRANT AND CANADA

NEWS FLASH – Tim Kernan of Toronto: Greetings from Toronto, Canada! We are so grateful for the amazing things God is doing through His movement here in “the T-Dot” (Toronto)! In the past 18 weeks since the planting of our congregation, our Amazing God has blessed us with 16 additions!

We are so honored to introduce to everyone the eight additions to our fellowship since the GLC! Nikeisha is an awesome childcare worker whose husband is also now studying; Loga an accounting student who dreams of the ministry; Tony & Vita an amazing married couple; and Delray the nephew of our dear sister Bernadine were all baptized into Christ!

Tony is baptized and then he baptizes his
wife Vita immediately afterward!

Also Stephen & Anna placed membership from our former fellowship and Claud was restored! Last but not least, the Narcisos moved from Calgary to Toronto and are now nestled into a beautiful home in North Toronto! We are so grateful to have them with us! God also poured out His grace among us with 64 in attendance at our recent Bring Your Neighbor Day!

The Narcios moved all the way from Calgary to
Toronto to be in a SoldOut Movement Church!

This coming weekend, we are so excited to host the Leadership Couples, Shepherds and Interns of the USA NW Quadrant World Sector from the Mighty San Francisco, Denver, Portland and Eugene Churches here in Toronto for a Leadership Retreat to build stronger relationships with our Lord and one another! Please pray for us as we pray for you! Much love from Toronto! TICC, TICC, BOOM!

NEWS FLASH – Jason Dimitry: “Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced at what God had brought about for His people, because it was done so quickly.” (2 Chronicles 29:36) I bring you good news from the San Francisco Bay! What God has done in the last twelve short weeks since we landed with the Supplemental Mission Team from Las Vegas has been absolutely incredible! What’s most amazing of all is how quickly it all happened!

God has been able to bless us with raising the contribution over $1,000 per week in giving; restructure the house churches; replanting the San Jose Ministry; appoint a Shepherding Couple and Shepherding Couple-in-Training; raising up unpaid interns; and starting an Open Mic Night in Oakland! If all of this wasn’t enough, God has given us 14 additions in 12 weeks – 10 of them being in the last four weeks!

Victor is the first fruit of the newly
revamped San Jose Ministry!

Among them include an attorney in Oakland, a football player at UC Berkeley (the number one public university in the USA), two restorations from our former fellowship, and God has also given us converts on the SF State, the University of San Francisco, Berkeley City College and San Jose State!

Kate (middle) is a high powered lawyer in Oakland!

One of the highlights for me was definitely last Sunday! The honor to appoint Cyndee & Gary Ochs as a Shepherding Couple was one of my most memorable moments – not just of being here in San Francisco, but of my entire 15 years of being a follower of Christ!

The adorable Ochs Family – Gary, Cindy,
Sarah and Jason!

Please pray that this incredible momentum continues and that many more are brought to the Lord in this great city!

Ricky Challinor: We are so grateful that the GNE is back! The Lord has blessed us with three restorations in the last month! Truly the angels in Heaven are rejoicing over Thomas, Anna and Lonnie! Lonnie was baptized when he was 14 years old about four years ago. However, over the last year, he drifted in his heart and started living a double life. How moving it was to hear him apologize to God, the congregation and plead with anyone to repent of hidden sin like he did!

Lonnie re-enters the Kingdom with
fire in his soul! 

The Lord blessed our Bring Your Neighbor Day Service entitled,Transformed with 198 present! As well, we are so excited to start our First Principles Series this Wednesday as so many who visited today will hear how to seek God with all their hearts! Lastly, I wanted to personally thank Megan Mathews who has helped us with our administration here in the Northwest and who also has lifted up Coleen & my arms in everything she does; truly we do not deserve her but we are so blessed! Please pray for us as great things are ahead!

Best of friends and partners in the
gospel – Coleen and Megan!

Jeremiah Clark: Greetings from the Mighty Denver Church! Over the last few weeks, God has been strengthening and growing the church in many ways. Due to our congregation more than tripling our very first year, we have faced the task of raising up new leaders to meet the needs of our multiplying church! This Sunday, 31 dynamic leaders returned from ourFirst Annual Leaders Retreat at Bear Trap Ranch entitled, Transformed On The Mountain! While worshipping together in the Colorado mountains at over 9,000ft elevation, we truly had a “mountain top experience” and every disciple was forever changed!

Led by the faithful Matthew & Marlo Lovacheff, two weeks ago, we celebrated our very first graduates from Chemical Recovery with the graduations of Jason Reali and Nicole Larocque!

Congratulations to Jason for his graduation from CR!

Encouragingly, we also recently witnessed two more additions to the church! One of those was a single girl by the name of Bronte, who was met by Jason Reali at work! Bronte was impacted by Jason’s lifestyle and after quitting her job and spending the next few months living wildly, Bronte ran into Jason and decided to come to “check out his church!” After two weeks of studying the Bible with the sisters till nearly 2AM every night, Bronte decided to make Jesus the Lord of her life and was baptized!“God [truly does] determine the times and places!”

Bronte’s enthusiasm for the Lord
inspires all the Denver Sisters!

Stephanie Reed of Eugene: Greetings from Tracktown, USA! God has been working miracles as it has been a “September to remember!”

We launched our campaign to storm the University of Oregon and the harvest is plentiful as we have so many people studying the Bible! We have had three additions in the past month – one baptism and two restorations! One significant miracle was a girl named Kassi, who was a friend of our Corvalis House Church Leader – Reina Smith. She was living in Seattle and they were studying through Skype. Reina challenged her that if she really wants to be a disciple she needs to be where there is a church full of disciples. God worked it out… Kassi was fired from her job; moved back to Eugene; studied intensely for days; and she is now our sister in Christ!

Gabe & Stephanie Reed – the charismatic
leaders of the Eugene Church!

Lastly, we have been working tirelessly bringing in a “financial harvest” through tagging, yard sales, car washes and personal sacrifice. Praise God, we are at 52% of our prayer goal! Please continue to pray for us as we continue to build up this part of the Kingdom!

HEADLINE NEWS – USA SOUTH QUADRANT

NEWS FLASH – Anthony Eckels: Greetings from Houston! God has done amazing things including adding eight since the GLC in August, and as of this Sunday, officially doubling our number since the planting of the Houston International Christian Church (HICC) in April! We recently welcomed Grant Hills and David Laurel from Austin, Texas! Grant had been striving to make disciples in Austin including baptizing David over a year ago! After visiting the Houston Church, Grant was brought to tears and realized his need to be a part of the movement in order to continue to further God’s Kingdom! Grant and David have established a Bible Talk in Austin and always have visitors out to the HICC Worship Service which is almost a two hour drive!

HICC was blessed to witness the baptism of Akeem Simpson at the Dallas Inaugural Service! Also, we have had three dear friends Lisa Robillard, Noah Robillard and Vanessa Flores place membership from Orlando! The entire congregation was moved to tears as Jay & Angie Hernandez shared about their amazing son Alonso who was baptized two weeks ago! The addition of Alonso also brings the Teen Ministry to five baptized teens – adding all five in just five months!

Finally, this past Sunday we were able to share in the baptism of Vin Simpson, a co-worker of Marc Pierre who both celebrated their birthdays on October 5th, which is now her spiritual birthday as well! How amazing to see God reward Marc’s perseverance with fruit on his birthday!

NEWS FLASH – Tyler Sears: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10) Greetings from DFW! God has been answering our prayers as the Dallas Cowboys are miraculously 4-1! But much more importantly, it has been a miraculous time since the GLC as the Lord has added three to our number through baptism! Jesee, a young man studying engineering at UT-Arlington, was baptized and already is trying to reach out to his classmates! Another young man named Narada, who is studying engineering at TCU, was baptized the same day!

The DFW Church celebrates after the
baptisms of Jesee and Narada!

Narada is part of the Track Team at TCU and is from Zimbabwe and has a heart to go back to his people! Lastly, we saw Ava, a young woman from TCU who is studying social work and political science, be baptized at Women’s Midweek!

Ava (second from the right) finds a true sisterhood
in the DFW Church!

Shay & I are so proud of the church and their hearts for the mission of Jesus Christ “to seek and save what was lost!” We are especially proud of the disciples who “held down the fort” before the mission team came as they’ve opened their homes and hearts to help us along the way! Please continue to pray for us as we fight to save souls from a place that is filled with such religiosity and delusion! We know God is going to continue to fight for us!

NEWS FLASH – Princeton George: Greetings from sunny South Florida and the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale International Christian Church! “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10) I’m sure they partied in Heaven, back-to-back-to-back over our first three baptisms since the team arriving in mid-August! Numbered among the three are Carlos Sanchez’s mother Gloria and Eric Shapiro, a friend of our brother Ben in the Gainesville ICC!

The Miami-Ft. Lauderdale Church’s
first three baptisms!

Also to be reconciled was Windley, who is a student at Miami-Dade College, reached out to by his longtime friend Chantal, as they dated in the world. After seeing her conviction of wanting to live a pure life and eventually studying the Bible and becoming a disciple, Windley started coming around and couldn’t shake the truth!

Also this week, we had my dear friend and partner in the gospel, Glenn Cruz, place membership from our fired-up church in San Diego! He already adds so much maturity to the group and can’t wait to hit the ground running for the Lord!

Glenn arrives in Miami-Ft. Lauderdale!