Blog

Chris Broom of the OC Region – August 25, 2013Engracia and Lily are going to be a part of the new Santa Barbara Sector led by Richie & Elizabeth McDonnell, which will become the Santa Barbara Church Planting in January 2014!

Luke Speckman – August 11, 2013Today, Tomas Gonzalez placed membership in the Santa Barbara Sector, moving from the Portland Church. Also, in Ventura, we witnessed the tearful restoration of our dear brother Marcel Turner. His restoration was very healing for our ministry and for me personally, as he has been a son in the faith to me! For all of these miracles, we stand in awe of God!

Luke Speckman – July 21, 2013On Friday, Richie and I drove up to Pismo Beach to do a Bible study with Eric, a remnant disciple who wants to join the Santa Barbara Sector! Pismo Beach is about 180 miles outside of Los Angeles! Truly the beacon of light cast by the LA Church shines brightly all over Southern California and even up the Central Coast! We had a great Bible study and an incredible prayer overlooking the Pacific Ocean. During our prayer, a pod of whales slowly swam by about 100 yards off shore! They repeatedly spouted as they swam by and one whale “waved” to us as he lifted his entire fin out of the water! It was an amazing, memorable moment!

Luke Speckman of Ventura – June 16, 2013
Today the entire Ventura Region met in Santa Barbara for the Inaugural Service of the Santa Barbara Sector! 70 disciples and friends met on the campus of Santa Barbara City College – rated by the Aspen Institute as the number one community college out of the over 1,000 in America! It was an amazing service with incredible singing, sharing and preaching!

One of the many highlights was Jose & Liz Corral (born, raised, married and baptized 19 years ago – all in Santa Barbara!), who delivered a tearful communion! They shared their spiritual journey fighting against lukewarmness, worldliness and wealth’s deceit. These temptations led to them moving away from Portland to their comfort zone of Dallas. When they saw how far they had fallen, they moved to Phoenix in 2010 in order to get back to their first love! Now they have returned “home” to Santa Barbara to bring their rekindled fire to this very beautiful but very lost city.

Richie preached a powerful sermon that encompassed conviction, love, humor and Santa Barbara facts that gave to all great encouragement! We are so proud of both Richie & Elizabeth! Finally, we are excited to announce that our dear brother, Dale Bryant, who was converted at ASU and came with us to Ventura last year on the mission team, is now an official “Unpaid Intern” and a student of ICCM! He has been Richie’s armor bearer and right hand man in Ventura and now in Santa Barbara! Please be praying for the Ventura Region, as well as our Santa Barbara Sector, who Lord willing, will become a self-supporting church by January 2014!

Kip McKean – June 16, 2013
On Sunday morning, Elena & I were so blessed to participate in the Inaugural Service of the Santa Barbara Sector at Santa Barbara City College! Richie & Elizabeth McDonnell are the new full-time leaders of this noble effort, whose vision is to evangelize the almost 500,000 of Santa Barbara County! Using Deuteronomy 9 as his key text, Richie’s sermon – A Great Fire From A Spark – was one of the finest that I have ever heard from a young man just 21 years old! To also be commended are Luke & Brandyn Speckman, who have done an outstanding job of discipling this remarkable couple! Lord willing in January 2014, this sector will become the Santa Barbara International Christian Church!

Luke Speckman – June 2, 2013
Greetings from Ventura! What an incredible week this has been! Tuesday evening, we established our first foothold in Santa Barbara as Jose & Liz Corral arrived from Phoenix! The second wave came in on Thursday around midnight when the “Chicago Fab Five” (Jason, Dara, KaSella, Dori, and Bria) pulled into Ventura where they’ll be staying until they can secure housing in Santa Barbara!

On Friday, Pat & Sparkle Boea Jr. and the South Central Campus Ministry came to Ventura to welcome the “Chicago Five” to California and join us for our Campus Devo! The devo was electric with about 40 in attendance! South Central stayed the night in Ventura, and then on Saturday morning, I cooked breakfast for everyone (about 50 people) at our house where we had an amazing time of fellowship!

Another highlight was seeing the Spirit send-out the seven who placed membership in Ventura – along with our own Richie & Elizabeth McDonnell and Dale Bryant – to form the Santa Barbara Sector! Please keep them and us in your prayers as well as the first Santa Barbara Service which will be on June 16th! We are so proud that the Lord has raised-up Richie & Elizabeth to lead the Santa Barbara Sector and we have full confidence in them! A special thank you to Chicago for sending “the Fab Five” to us, as well as to the Phoenix Church for sending the Corrals! Please keep us in your prayers!

Elizabeth McDonnell – May 19, 2013
As the planting for the new Santa Barbara Sector rapidly approaches, God continues to bless our efforts both here in Ventura and in Santa Barbara! After taking a trip to look at apartments where the mission team will most likely live, we were shocked at the blatant wickedness that surrounded the UCSB Campus! The area that my awesome husband Richie & I are planning on living is called Isla Vista. It is surrounded on three sides by the campus of UCSB. (The fourth side is the ocean! Amen!) In six tenths of a square mile resides 17,000 people (most are UCSB students), which influxes to between 30,000 and 40,000 people on the weekends because of the huge party scene! In broad daylight you can see people in a drunken stupor and even partying on rooftops! The crime caused by the influence of drugs and alcohol is so high, that the chance of being a victim of a crime in Isla Vista is 1 in 24! This place may seem crazy, and even dangerous, but that’s why we’re fired-up to go because it’s places like this that need to hear the gospel the most! On a very positive note, Doriene Turner – a sister on the SB Mission Team – has already been accepted to Santa Barbara City College! Lastly, when I moved to California from Arizona a year ago, I prayed that God would only give me a job where someone was going to become a disciple. After nine weeks of intense job searching with “no luck,” I was initially discouraged! But God always knows what He is doing! I eventually secured a job at the YMCA where I met my boss Rebecca! As a result she came to church and was baptized this past Wednesday night in the Pacific Ocean at 11:30PM! God has given me such a great friend in her, and I’m so excited to see what else God has in store! We love you all so much!