Dear All,

Greetings from Los Angeles! Sunday, after much prayer and fasting, our Father in heaven blessed our Bring Your Neighbor Day goal of “1,000 for the Lord” with a record attendance of 1,191! Also, He added to our number seven baptisms, one restoration, and two place memberships this week! We also blew out our new pledge of $24,300 by over $1,000 as we gave to the Lord $25,421!

Elena & I are so encouraged to be serving in the South Central Region alongside Cory Blackwell and Megan Matthews. Our South Central Region BYND was incredible! Last January 2011, Cory started this ministry with just nine disciples, and on Sunday our now 52 disciples had 170 at church! Not only did we witness the powerful restoration of Abdul, the moving baptism of Hilda, the humble communion sharing by Megan, and enjoyed an incredible “international pot luck lunch,” but Cory delivered one of his very best messages of all time!

Cory shared very vulnerably about his life’s many valleys – both before and after becoming a disciple. He shared about the death of his brother, growing-up without a father, being “let go” from the NBA, his divorce from the mother of his four precious children, and wandering in a spiritual desert after the demise of our former fellowship. After each account Cory summarized his emotional and spiritual state with the phrase, “I was afraid and alone.” After leading us in a very stimulating Scripture study of King Asa, Cory shared that as he placed membership in the City of Angels Church in November 2010, he was restored to his “first love” for God. Then, after sharing in detail God’s many blessings on his physical family, his closing words were so profound, “So today, knowing I’m in the presence of my God and so encouraged by my spiritual family in South Central LA, I’m no longer ‘afraid and alone!’” Though most of us were in tears, we gave a standing ovation to Cory, but in actuality to our loving Father in heaven!

 

Now more refreshing good news from around the world…

 

Mike Underhill of Chicago: In John 17:23, Jesus prayed for His disciples, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” Today at our Sunday service, we had a blow-out attendance of 311 – our highest attendance ever without a guest speaker – and saw miracles that come only from a united movement of God! First were visitors who were family members of disciples in our sister congregations. Our dear brother, from Honolulu, Paul Schaefle, encouraged his mother to attend service today in Chicago, and afterwards, she told the sisters here that she “loved it!” Iwona, from the South Region of LA, was visiting family here and brought her mother and younger brothers out to service today, and they too shared that they loved it! Also, a sister here had been praying to have an old friend come out to church. She asked her long-time friend in Phoenix to visit the Phoenix Church. Not only did her friend attend service in Phoenix, she brought her other friends as well! Also, a young woman named Lydia, who is originally from Portland, started studying the Bible here at Columbia University. It turns out she is childhood best friends with Ricky Challinor and Gordo Esparza of LA!

Lastly, an incredible young man with great talents in film, Dom, was baptized today! During his studies this week, he shared with his friend Marcus about his upcoming baptism, Lord willing, on Sunday. Dom’s friend Marcus shared about how his sister was just baptized in Los Angeles. After talking some more, they realized that Marcus’ sister was Morgan, who just became our sister in LA in the AMS Region last week! She had been urging him to go visit the Chicago Church and Marcus saw God’s hand working in amazing ways by placing Dom in his life. (Acts 17:26-27) He attended service today, saw Dom get baptized, and started studying the Bible immediately after service! Here in Chicago, we’re so grateful to be part of a unified movement that Jesus prayed for and gives us hope for everyone’s family and friends throughout the world!

 

Vic Gonzalez Jr.: Greetings from the church way down here in the Southern hemisphere – Santiago, Chile! God continues to bless us with more and more fruit! In the 42 weeks since the “supplemental mission team” arrived, our gracious Lord has blessed us with 54 baptisms! So far in 2012, God has blessed us with a Campus Ministry baptism, a Singles Ministry baptism, and a Marrieds Ministry baptism! Now that’s team work! To God be all the glory!

 

Lola Lof of Kinshasa: What a wonderful service today as we had a big time together with brothers and sisters in listening to a powerful sermon entitled, Victory Over Prideful Attitudes. This lesson helped all of us – disciples and visitors – take care of our heart more than anything else. We praise the Lord as 80 attended the service! The greatest good news is the restoration of an awesome couple: Jean-Claude & Henriette, who decided to come back to the Lord and serve Him with their whole heart! (Joshua 14:8) Keep us in your prayers!

 

Luke Speckman: Greetings from Phoenix, where temperatures got up to 80 degrees on this sunny winter day! Today, Vic Jr. of Santiago preached a powerful and convicting lesson to 200 people! So many people came up to him afterward and were very grateful, because it was just what they needed to hear! Our giving was great today, as we came in about $500 over budget, and we also collected about $3,000 for our Special Missions Contribution! It was great to have Vic & Aurora in town so that the church could meet them and see what we are giving our Special Missions to!

I am very excited about our Campus Ministry! We had 45 in attendance at our Campus Devotional on Friday, which is especially exciting considering we started last semester with only nine campus students! We had our first ASU student of the semester baptized today! Dale, a dynamic RA at the ASU Polytechnic Campus, had six of his residents witness his baptism at church today! They are all currently studying the Bible, and prayerfully, one or two of them will be baptized this next week! We are fired-up to bring in the harvest in Phoenix!

 

Blaise Feumba of London – the overseeing Evangelist for French-speaking Africa: Great news from Abidjan, Ivory Coast! The Abidjan Church had  a baptism yesterday under an outpouring of rain from heaven! Our sister Adele was added to the Lord’s church and our Father blessed them with 145 in attendance! Pray for the speedy recovery of our brother Amadou, the preacher, who is presently sick.

 

Evan Bartholomew of San Diego: Sunday was all the more incredible as Liz, an awesome single woman, was baptized at the end of our service! There’s lots more to come here in San Diego!

 

Jeremiah Clark: Greetings from the Mighty Eugene Church! It has been a faith building couple of weeks for the Eugene Church. Last week, we were greatly inspired by Cory Blackwell at our annual Bible Talk Leaders Workshop, and this past Friday and Saturday, we had a much needed Leaders Retreat where we “laughed, cried and got unified”. On Sunday, we had an encouraging place membership with Jessie Owens from Portland, and, best of all, we also had an amazing teen baptism last week! We love you all and thank-you for your prayers!

 

Jay Hernandez of Hilo: Greetings from your brothers and sisters on the Big Island of Hawaii! God’s mercy and grace continue to shine here in Hawaii. This last week was an incredible week for the church here as we continue to pick-up momentum. On Friday and Saturday, we had our first 24 hour prayer chain for the church, begging God to mold us into workers and bring us fruit! In response, God has graciously given us more Bible studies and more visitors to church than ever, as we build toward our Bring Your Neighbor Day on Super Bowl Sunday. Two particular people stand out in our Bible studies. First there is Ken. He is from Thailand, and was met by Stefano and Marley. The first thing he came to was our New Year’s Workshop with Kip & Elena! He sat in the front row and he felt that Kip preached right to him! To say the least, he was blown away, and now is eagerly studying the Bible!

The second person is a single mom named Carolina. Stefano also met Carolina, but truly it was God reaching out to her. Stefano was sharing his faith in the mall when he got a phone number of a guy who said he wanted to study the Bible. A couple of days later, Stefano called the guy to set up the study, however, a woman answered the call. Stefano asked for the guy, but the woman on the other end of the phone told him he had the wrong number. He explained he was supposed to study the Bible with the guy, so he asked the woman if she would want to study the Bible. She said yes, as she actually had been wanting to go to church and to get closer to God! Stefano asked her if he could have one of the sisters call her and she said yes again. What makes this even cooler, is that Carolina was on the Island of Maui at the time, but was coming to live here on the Big Island! Now, Carolina is eagerly studying the Bible and should be baptized this week! God does “determine the times and places,” and people are wide open as our brother Chris Broom preached this last week! We love you with all of our hearts, pray for our BYND as we pray for God’s blessings in your lives!

Dear All,

Greetings from the Hawaiian Islands! Elena’s & my visit to our sister congregations in Hilo and Honolulu was incredible! On Tuesday evening, a great group of disciples met us at the Hilo airport singing, We Love You With The Love Of The Lord! It was so encouraging to spend the next day with Jay & Angie Hernandez, such dear friends from the Portland days. On Wednesday evening, the title of the lesson for the Bible Talk Leaders was, Preaching The Kingdom. Then we met in men and women’s d-groups and had an awesome time of sharing. The following evening, Elena & I so enjoyed our time with the entire Hilo congregation, especially their singing! So inspiring are their congregational goals. Presently, the Hilo International Christian Church numbers 42 disciples and has a goal to become 61 by the end of the year, so as to be larger than the zenith of our former fellowship which was 60 disciples. Prayerfully, this will make a statement to the “watching remnant” that as awesome as our “glory days” were, God will make these days even greater!

Then on Friday, we landed in Honolulu for their three day Winter Workshop. In Honolulu, the Lord is moving powerfully! They started 2011 with 62 disciples. During this past year, the Spirit added 46 baptisms and 3 restorations! Kyle & Joan Bartholomew – the father and mother of faith for all the Hawaiian Islands – are doing a tremendous job for the Lord! Also, Jake & Jen Ramsier – Jen is Joan’s “little sister” – have really grown spiritually, and I am confident that they will continue to lead Honolulu to even greater victories when Kyle & Joan come to LA to finish their training to plant the Manila Crown of Thorns Church prayerfully as soon as 2014! Then from Sunday night through Wednesday, Elena & I celebrated our 35^th Wedding Anniversary!

Thanks goes to Chris Broom in leading the City of Angels Church in my absence. Last week, praise God, the Spirit added three baptisms and one place membership from our former fellowship!

 

Now more good news from around the world…

 

Andrew Smellie of New York City: “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47) After an incredible workshop last weekend in Syracuse where five souls were added to the NYC membership (three baptisms, one restoration and one place membership), God blessed us this week with three more miracles: Anthony, a single executive who works for the NYC Litigation Office, and Chenelle, a campus student at City College in Brooklyn, were baptized, and Ashley Dunn, a single executive assistant, was restored!  With eight additions in the past week, the Lord has “added to (our) number [more than] daily” those being saved! To God be all the glory!

Our service today was electric as several visitors were inspired about the sermon, The Pursuit Of Greatness. We focused on bringing God glory in the church! The communion message brought many to tears as Jibreil Graham & Jasmine Miller, a dating couple and students at the Brooklyn College, shared vulnerably about their decision to love in the face of emotional abuse from their family. The contribution message by Rafael & Melissa Jerez called us to greater generosity and faith in our contribution as we examined the leadership of King Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 31:2-12. God blessed us as our 91 disciples responded with our highest contribution for the year – $4,851! This is well above our weekly financial goal of $4559. This is significant, because the NYC Church has lost almost $800 in contribution in the last four months from NYC disciples moving to other mission teams and to other congregations for strengthening.

After service, the comments from several visitors reminded us of the amazement of the crowd in Mark 2:12, as they stated, “We have never seen anything like this!”  There was an abundance of studies after the end of service, and Patrique & I had lunch with the potential NYC members of the “Boston Mission Team” as they were inspired to dream for the impact they will make for God in the original birthplace of our former fellowship! Prayerfully, 2012 will be a “year of greatness” as we keep our eyes on glorifying the Lord! BTW… the New York Giants are officially the NFC Champions! (American football) SUPER BOWL, HERE WE COME!

 

Mike Underhill: Greetings from Chicago! In the second century, Tertullian – one of the early church fathers – wrote, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church,” implying that the Christians’ willing sacrifice of even their own lives leads to the conversion of others! I’m glad to have a couple like that here in Chicago with the same heart for sacrificing their lives. In many talks with Roger & Kama Parlour, it has been incredible to see their sacrifice for God’s Kingdom and the salvation it has brought to many. They have both been disciples for 31 years, helping build God’s Kingdom in five cities and moving 11 times! Now, “vigorous” and in their 50s, they’ve made the decision to be a part of the Boston Mission Team going out this August! (Joshua 14:11) The proposition of selling their possessions and moving to a new city is an even larger sacrifice. It means starting all over again, selling their house, applying for a new nursing license in Boston, finding new jobs, separating themselves from their children (physical and spiritual), and joining a team of disciples, whom they haven’t yet built deep relationships with, to bring salvation to an unfamiliar city. But, like Tertullian said, this is the heart of sacrifice that God’s Kingdom is built on.

What’s driven Roger and Kama to make this sacrifice? They clearly see “the need” within God’s movement, so they became willing volunteers to meet that need! Obviously they’ve “understood the times.” (1 Chronicles 12:32) In Chicago, we know that the church would really only be a shadow of what it has grown to be without the Parlours’ heart of sacrifice – so this isn’t just a sacrifice for the Parlours, but for ALL the disciples here in Chicago! But it’s a victory to send them to such an important city as Boston! Chicago is inspired by how many will be moving this summer to plant churches and build up other churches. The Parlours are not the only ones with this heart for the Kingdom. Hopefully, with examples like them, many other people will see “the need” and make the decision, just like the Parlours have, to sell their possessions, move to other cities, and see God’s salvation take place throughout the world! We’re so grateful for this great couple here in Chicago!

 

Luke Speckman: Greetings from Phoenix! What an amazing week! We had a married man baptized on Wednesday at Men’s Midweek! Please be praying as we have several campus students studying and close to baptism as well! We had our annual Leaders Retreat this weekend entitled, Deep Calls To Deep. (Psalm 42:7) Twenty-five of us, all Bible Talk and House Church Leaders, went north of Phoenix to a remote facility where we could get away and get spiritually charged for two nights. We had the House Church Leaders and Shepherds come up a day early so that we could spend three days and nights together! The lessons, openness, tears, d-groups, prayers, and unity were amazing! Of special note to me, we spent one hour and forty-five minutes on our knees in prayer on the opening night of the retreat! Each Bible Talk Leader prayed for each person in his Bible Talk by name! Our prayer went past midnight, spilling into the next day!

We closed out the weekend today with an awesome worship service and our Annual Chili Cook-Off, spending some great time together eating as a church and having awesome fellowship as well! (Acts 2:42-47) I am looking forward to the weeks to come, as I believe we are all ready and prepared to “go [out] and bear fruit, fruit that will last.” (John 15:16)

 

Ron Harding of Portland: Greetings from the City of Roses and the birthplace of the SoldOut Movement! Today was the closeout of our 2012 Winter Workshop entitled, I Will Be With You, as well as our Third Year Anniversary Service! We were so honored and grateful to have my long time (Church Basketball League Nemesis – See Facebook for the video) friend and “partner in the gospel” Cory Blackwell as our guest speaker! It was a record breaking weekend in Portland, as the “Portland and Eugene Team” had a “triple-double:” 1) The largest Bible Talk Leaders Meeting we’ve ever had on Friday with 107 in attendance; 2) The most powerful Men/Women Workshops we’ve ever had on Saturday; and 3) “Hands down” the greatest service in our three years here in Portland on Sunday!

On Sunday, the fellowship was deep and meaningful as people discussed all they had learned, and everyone kept commenting on how the singing sounded exactly like we were in LA! The special music performed by Bishop from Eugene (from his album Official Bishop), the Portland/Eugene Men’s acapela group, and my wife’s group performing Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now was amazing! Our contribution was also the largest we’ve ever collected at $3,901! Before a record crowd of 239, Cory Blackwell went down the lane, took his sermon to the hoop, and dunked it on all of our collective heads with one of the best sermons I’ve ever heard entitled, I Am With You Always! It was masterfully delivered, strengthening the baby-Christians, challenging the older Christians to the core, and inspiring all of us to rise up and be the priests that God called us to be. We closed out the service with an awesome baptism! We are so grateful to be a part of the SoldOut Movement. We are with all of you heart, mind and soul until we see the nations evangelized in THIS generation! And to God be all the glory!

 

Kyle Bartholomew of Honolulu: Greeting from Oahu! This past weekend, we were blessed to have Kip & Elena in town to do our Winter Workshop Seek First His Kingdom! As always, they did an incredible job of admonishing and inspiring us as a fellowship to do “even greater things” this coming year. (John 12:14) Especially encouraging was the many responses from both young and older disciples who expressed the desire to go into the ministry or be on a mission teams! Acts 2:17 is being fulfilled as ”Our young men are seeing visions, and our old men are dreaming dreams!” To cap off an incredible week, God added to our number three by baptism following our midweek service! Cary and Anna, (who are the parents of Sarah a campus student who was baptized this past year) were baptized into Christ! Just prior to being baptized, Anna shared how she and her husband had always dreamed of being missionaries and they are so happy to now get her chance! Then Lauren, a young women from the University of Hawaii, was baptized into Christ! Pray for the Islands as many more are close to getting baptized! Aloha!

 

Jay Hernandez of Hilo: Greetings from the Big Island of Hawaii! God continues to bless us here in Hilo with terrific weather, and His great mercy and love. This last week, we had the great privilege of having Kip & Elena join us for our New Year’s Workshop. I am particularly grateful for the great discipling that I have been getting this year. In Los Angeles at their Winter Workshop, Chris Broom, Raul Moreno, and Anthony Eckels in particular all helped my heart, and this week Kip & Elena were able to help Angela & me to really refocus ourselves on God’s mercy and calling. Acts 3:19-20 teaches, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” We are definitely beginning to see those “times of refreshing” with many new Bible studies and renewed zeal to see God multiply the church here in Hilo. You are all in our prayers!

 

Lola Lof of Kinshasa: Blessed be the Lord for His daily and weekly miracles in Kinshasa Church. We decided to make the theme of 2012 as a Year Of Production as our Lord Jesus recommended that we produce talents, and in Luc 10:1-2, He declared that the harvest is vast and therefore He needs a lot of workers! At the beginning of the year, all the church met for a retreat of three days to pray and ask God help in all we do. Just after that our last service was awesome as 69 attended, and our friend Moise, a student in the school of the law, was baptized! To God be the glory!

 

Raul Moreno: Greetings from Sao Paulo! We are fired-up about the Lord here and there are some close to baptism! As you may already be aware, our dear fellow missionaries, Tyler & Shay Sears, had to return to LA for a few months to ensure their missionary visas. In late August, newly married, they left everything to preach the Word of God in the dangerous country of Brazil with a different culture and language. They were here a little over four months and in that time, the Scripture in Matthew 6:33 which says, “But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these will be given to you as well” came true for them. Both Shay’s sister and brother-in-law became disciples of Jesus Christ! None of Shay’s family members had become disciples when they all lived in the same city! Disciples all around the world, don’t be afraid to “seek God and His Kingdom first” to the point of risking your life and leaving your family for a foreign country, because that is precisely when God bestows His blessings!

 

Anthony Eckels of Orlando: Greetings! We had our Third Annual Winter Workshop with Matt & Helen Sullivan as our keynote speakers! The church is fired-up about the Sullivans coming in August! We had several out of town friends come to our workshop from Charlotte and South Florida. The Kinders, who have been visiting from South Florida since the church was planted, were here as well. They have watched the church grow from the beginning and were very encouraged. Now that the campus ministry is flourishing, and that the Sullivans have teen daughters, I think they will move here. Please pray that Dana gets a job here. Also, we had an attendance of 81 Sunday, with standing room only! The service was incredible, as Matt did an awesome, challenging message, and the band blew it out! Following, Joan Robillard was baptized! She is the cousin of our sister Lisa, and attended our very first service in Orlando in 2008! The church is so excited and is catching the dream to not only evangelize the Orlando, but also the Southeast United States!

 

Carlos Mejia of Washington DC: Greetings from our Nation’s Capital! Today was an awesome Sunday service as we witnessed a very special sister, Cheryl Grady, place membership with the church. Cheryl was converted in the early 90′s in the DC Regional ICOC and had been wrestling with the decision to join the SoldOut Movement since her first visit with us back in 2008. The miracle that was undeniable to her – and I believed prompted her more than anything – was the restoration of her very own daughter, Cheryl Holmes just two Sundays ago! Cheryl Holmes (daughter) was converted as a teen and fell away while attending NYU, after the demise of our former fellowship. After college “young Cheryl” went to the Dominican Republic with the Peace Corp where she met and married her now husband, Winston. Now Winston is studying the Bible and by faith will be our brother in Christ very soon. God is restoring families as He is gathering His remnant!

 

Tamru Belihu of Addis Ababa: Greetings from Ethiopian Christian Church! God moved us powerfully and every disciple is working very hard to be fruitful! God blessed us at the beginning of this year with one baptism and three studying. God gave us a great family whom one of the members baptized recently. He came with his whole family and the very next day he was baptized as a disciple! Two other family members are studying the Word of God. So prayerfully, we will have another good news very soon. Our registration process is also going well and hopefully we will finish in a month time. Praise the Lord!

 

Michael Williamson of London: Greetings from the capital city of England! Four weeks into January, regarded by many as the most depressing part of the year, the London Church had an inspirational close to our Winter Workshop entitled, The Harvest Is Plentiful. We had our largest regular service on record, as our mighty God brought out 100 for the Lord! The entire weekend was exceptional beginning Friday night with London’s imitation of the Comisfords’ How To Crank A Bible Talk, which DJ & Kacie presented so effectively at the LA Workshop. Coltin Rohn narrated as Juri Zykov led the hilarious discussion full of all the “party fouls” and “faux pas” one can make at Bible Talk! The church was buzzing! Next Blaise Feumba preached one of the most gripping, challenging, inspirational speeches of the workshop, Ask The Lord Of The Harvest. One person commented “Oh my goodness… I was not expecting that tonight… Wooow!” The fellowship ended somewhere after midnight!

Saturday morning the Spirit continued to move. Every brother showed up not on time but.. ahem .. (short pause) EARLY! The first speech was Coltin Rohn’s hilarious message entitled, The Workers Are Few. Coltin literally brought the “wild, wild West” to London, beginning his sermon with whimsical reveries of his Midwest “cowboy days!” (Yes, cowboy hat and all) and taking the occasional pause to preach in his best southern draw! He commented that Jesus was a true cowboy (Revelation 19:14) and as a cowboy when you get knocked off your horse you need to “COWBOY UP!” Of course, that is the new slogan adopted in the church when something doesn’t go your way, “Bro.. Sis… Cowboy up!” Saturday’s session for the men ended with one of the most exceptional teens in the church “Jerome Bible-Man Haughton” inspiring us to Harvest The Youth. We then headed off for the brothers’ football tournament, while the sisters closed out the afternoon, with an incredible set of speeches urging the sisters to remember the harvest in London is “plentiful!”

Sunday, Richard Lewis of LA once again tickled the congregation as he welcomed us all and prepared our hearts for the message, Harvest The Earth. All my points spelled FRUIT which was quite appropriate, as the Lord blessed us with our third campus baptism this year – Nathan, a radical 20 year-old South African student, who was baptized in front of his entire family! Nathan is a friend of Genesis who was baptized only a few weeks ago. We closed the service with several brothers praying for all of the cities in the United Kingdom and the congregation singing at the top of their voices, Go Make Disciples! Glory to God!

 

So great to be back home in LA! Please be praying about the City of Angels Church’s Bring Your Neighbor Day this Sunday. Our goal is, “1,000 for the Lord!” And to our God be all the glory, all the honor and all the praise! Forever and ever! Amen!

Much love,

Kip

Dear All,

Greetings from Los Angeles! After our incredible 2012 Winter Workshop, all nine of the City of Angels Church’s regions are “gearing-up” for our Bring Your Neighbor Day on January 29, 2012! Our goal is “1,000 For The Lord!” This week, the Lord blessed us with two more baptisms, and an amazing contribution of $49,999.51 as a South Central disciple gave an “extra” $27,000 after being blessed by the Lord!

Of special note, Shay (Vloet) Sears’ sister Lori was able to witness her husband Gerey be baptized yesterday through the efforts of the OC Region! This is so exciting as Tyler & Shay return to LA from Sao Paulo on Wednesday to secure their missionary visa. They will be with us for two to four months during this process, so we’ve asked them to lead the Cal State Northridge (CSUN) Campus Ministry. They will be a part of the AMS Region in the short term, and if their stay turns out to be longer, we will begin our tenth region – the North Region! The Sears will be discipled by the Comisfords, our couple in charge of the City of Angels Church Campus Ministry.

Another leadership addition is Megan Matthews who is becoming the Women’s Region Leader for the South Central Region. As many of you are aware, these past two months have been a very difficult pregnancy for Melina Hairston, who has done a very commendable job leading the South Central Women for the past half year. Similar to Paul sending the gallant – but very ill – preacher Epaphroditus back home to the Ephesian disciples to be taken care of, Devon & Melina will be going to the Central Region to once again be with the Sullivans, who are their “dad & mom” in the faith. (Philippians 2:25-28) The Sullivans are praying that the Hairstons will join them on the Orlando Mission Team! Let’s “honor men [and women like Devon & Melina]” who sacrifice so much for the Lord and His Kingdom. (Philippians 2:29-30)

 

And now more good news from across the movement…

 

Michael Williamson of London: Greetings from Great Britain! After spending a spectacular week at the City Of Angels Church Winter Workshop, our campus ministry, largely through the mighty efforts of Coltin & Mandee Rohn, “forcefully advanced [God’s] Kingdom”here in London, as we witnessed two young women make Jesus their Lord and then be baptized over the past two weeks! Genesis, a beautiful English-Peruvian 17 year old who started studying after Jen Watkins reached out to her mom in Camden, brought seven visitors to her baptism! Her friends were so impacted; one of the young men cried during her sharing, and another one of her best friends has already studied up through Persecution! Please be praying as we also continue studying with her mom, Irene.

Yesterday, another talented student was baptized into the campus ministry, Cassandra! She is an exceptional Chinese Law student finishing her Masters Degree at London’s world renown University College of London! It was heart-warming to see her embrace each and every sister as she shared vulnerably how they had all radically impacted her life closing with the words, “I no longer look at how big my problems are, but how big my God is!” After her good confession that Jesus is Lord, contrary to our meeting facilities policy, we were allowed to baptize Cassandra in a pre-heated kiddie-pool in the back of the Arlington House Conference Center! It was encouraging to hear the front desk reception worker say, “Far be it for us to deny the work of God!”

Another highlight was Richard Lewis’ (visiting from Los Angeles) witty and eloquent communion and contribution speeches, which had every Englishman tickled by his very British sense of “humour” and everyone else inspired by his love and maturity! Can’t wait for Richard & Rotasha Lewis to officially place membership here in London in June! Thank you so much Los Angeles for your sacrifice and faith! To God be all the glory!

 

Carlos & Lucy Mejia of Washington DC: Greetings from our nation’s capital! Our 2012 Winter Workshop was an amazing time, as we hosted disciples from Charlotte, NC and Manchester, NH. Our guest speakers were our dear friends Ron & Tracy Harding, leaders of the awesome Portland ICC! The church was very encouraged to have them preach and share their hearts and convictions about the Kingdom of God, as they will be taking the leadership of the DC Church when we move to Santiago de Chile this summer! Most encouraging to me was the unity and love between all the church leaders present at the workshop as this was so evident in the teaching, in the preaching and in the fellowship.

At our Sunday Service, Ron’s cousin came out to hear Ron preach, and Tracy had a visitor she met and studied with just the day before! They are not even here yet and already making an impact! Last but not least, we witnessed the engagement of two beloved disciples, Jared McGee & Rachel Bond! It was truly heart-moving for all in attendance as Jared got down on one knee and proposed to Rachel giving her a family heirloom ring which has been in his family for four generations! We are so grateful and proud in the Lord to be part of God’s SoldOut Discipling Movement!

 

Amanda Miller of Portland: Greetings from the City of Roses and the birthplace of the SoldOut Movement! It is has been an incredible beginning to 2012 here in Portland, Oregon! We began the year on January 1, 2012 with three additions to the campus ministry! Maiya Eubank from NYC placed membership to come serve the campus ministry in Portland. Mason – a freshman at PSU who is majoring in Criminology, plays lacrosse and lives in the dorms – made the life-long decision to become a disciple, be baptized and serve God wholeheartedly. Then very dear to my heart was the restoration of Whitney DiLoreto! She shared so humbly about leaving God and causing others so much pain and apologized first to God and then to the church!

This last Sunday, my awesome husband Dustin Miller preached a very convicting message titled, Send Me! He preached about how there are 156,000 people a day who die, and then challenged us on what we are doing to reach these people. Super encouraging were all the people at church visiting who had previously been disciples and then walked away from God. Despite our incredible church leaders – the Hardings – being out of town for the last two weeks, the Portland Church has continued to grow! Last but certainly not least, the service today was concluded by a powerful baptism in the Latin Ministry! Juan, a teen and the son of Roberto and Clara Avalos who are disciples, was baptized! Juan’s parents shared tears of joy as his father described how proud he was of Juan for making such a wise decision. It was incredible to see the fulfillment of Malachi 4:6 which says, “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers!” We are so grateful to be part of God’s amazing Kingdom and love you all!

 

Anthony Eckels: God has impressed on the Orlando ICC our need to spend more time together praying to our God. We have seen God open up the floodgates, answering several of our prayers this past month! An old friend, whom I met and baptized in 1995, called me a few weeks ago. John Lawrence, having seen the devastation of a lukewarm fellowship, came to Bible Talk and got with the brothers to make some decisions about his life. Then, he placed membership with us with so much excitement and joy, and is fired-up about his recently regained purpose! Roberta, a legal studies major at UCF, wandered away from the Kingdom when hard times hit her life. When the women started a discipleship group at UCF, she began to come every week. The angels are rejoicing as she was restored to Christ and His church! She has already been reaching out to another fall-away friend, and has been bringing her to church! Also, history was made in December, as Chris Jones asked Yanna to be his girlfriend! This is our first steady couple in Orlando, giving our other singles vision!  

The most exciting news of all is that Marie Graeff, one of the most humble servants in the church, is rejoicing over her 83 year old father being baptized into Christ! Marie radically repented of some character sins last year. She lost 60lbs, repented of laziness, and started reaching out to her dad. She moved him into her home, sharing that since she had repented of selfishness, she felt like she had it in her heart to love him now. At his baptism, he preached Matthew 28 as tears of joys ran down his cheeks. One important detail, he is a retired minister! Now Joseph’s coming out of retirement to be a “full-time volunteer” for the Lord preaching the Word as a true disciple!

Being in LA last week was very inspiring. Thank you City of Angels Church for all the hard work you put into the workshop! Upon returning, the Orlando Church began a new campaign! The campus is sharing with 20 people a day, the singles 10 a day, and the marrieds five a day! We are excited about God multiplying the church in 2012!

 

Luke Speckman: Greetings from Phoenix! After being inspired by the Winter Workshop in LA last weekend, Brandyn & I were excited to host our Winter Workshop here in Phoenix! We were very grateful to have Chris & Sonja Chloupek as our guest speakers! They absolutely blew it out from the Leaders Meeting on Friday to the Saturday Sessions, and today for the sermon and communion! We had a tremendous service today, as there was a teen who was restored! The congregation was inspired and encouraged by our 2012 Goals and our slide show of 2011 events and baptisms. Yesterday and today, I called the church to increase our giving from $4,000 to $5,000 per week, and the response was incredible! Over $5,300 was given in today’s contribution!

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., whose “day” we celebrate tomorrow, we closed out the service by having Tony Stanley recite from memory the second half of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have A Dream Speech. The delivery was so powerful and moving that there was not a dry eye in the building! I am grateful to be in the battle with all my brothers and sisters around the world, not only the battle for racial equality and physical liberties, but for spiritual freedom for the lost and broken-hearted! ”The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.” (Isaiah 61:1-2)

 

Evan Bartholomew of San Diego: This week we had our Winter Workshop entitled, Even Greater Things.  DJ & Kacie Comisford, Rob & Burgundy Onekea, and Jeremy & Amy Ciaramella came down from LA to preach and inspire the church. It was awesome, as I believe the church stretched their vision and is now ready for the new year. A huge thanks to the City of Angels Church for lending us your “prophets” for the weekend! Stay tuned for more good news, as there will be some great news soon!

 

Tamru Belihu of Addis Ababa: Greetings from East Africa in the great nation of Ethiopia! We had an awesome day on Sunday. Almost all disciples are working hard to be fruitful. A brother who was recently baptized brought his family to church and two of his brothers started studying the Word of God. All glory to God!

 

Mike Underhill of Chicago: God really blessed us here in Chicago with an incredible workshop! As 15 of us returned from LA, the speakers and special performances for Chicago really brought “the feel” of LA’s Winter Workshop here to the Midwest… I almost expected it to be 75 degrees outside too! We closed our workshop by getting down on our knees and praying for the 196 cities of the Chicagoland area. It brought clarity to the amount of work needed to be done here to evangelize what’s immediately around us.

The most encouraging news is that we’ve had three baptisms since the year has started! The first woman, Marie, is from Sierra Leone and has been studying and striving to have a soft heart before God for the last seven months. During her studies, she shared her faith with another young woman, Brittany, who after studying for just three weeks, was ready to get baptized the same night! Marie was baptized and then turned around and baptized Brittany and they ended the night together as our sisters in the Lord!

 

Andrew & Patrique Smellie of New York City: Greetings from God’s Kingdom in the state of New York! This weekend was jam-packed with good news! On Friday, the disciples from New York City (along with several visitors) traveled five hours in cars, buses and a 15-passenger van to the “winter wonderland” of Syracuse, New York for our 2012 Winter Workshop: Seek First His Kingdom! Steve & Kithy Ranga and all the Syracuse Church Leaders did an incredible job hosting this life-changing event at the beautiful Holiday Inn in Liverpool, New York! From the Bible Talk Leaders Meeting on Friday, to the Men’s & Women’s Classes on Saturday and the Worship Service on Sunday, the fellowship was electric, the classes were convicting, and the Spirit was moving powerfully! Both the visitors and disciples alike were “in awe” of the love and unity of the two churches! On Friday night, the skits on Leaders Who Don’t Lead were hilarious, as we examined the heart that a Bible Talk Leader SHOULD NOT have! I preached the same lesson that Kip inspired the Central Leadership Council with during the LA Workshops entitled, Preaching the Kingdom. Afterwards, we all got on our knees to pray for the Upstate and Downstate regions of New York, as well as the present and future Crown of Thorns Church Plantings around the world!

On Saturday for the Men’s Program, Steve Ranga preached powerfully about the Secrets of the Kingdom, helping us to understand that we are either “all in” to the Kingdom or we are outside “looking in!” He shared his gratitude to go back into the full-time ministry in Syracuse with his wife Kithy and three kids. (The last, Daniel, was born weighing only 1.5 pounds!) Steve shared vulnerably about his decision to sacrifice his business (a $30,000 investment) a month after he had started it for the opportunity to serve the Kingdom! His example reminded us that either Jesus is Lord of all or He is not Lord at all! Bob Thomas and Jonathan Pedican left the brothers “bleeding” spiritually as they challenged us to keep materialism, worldliness and competitiveness out of the Kingdom! In the Women’s Program, Patrique, Cheryl Chin and Kithy Ranga preached the Word boldly! Women who were struggling now want to repent and seek the Lord with all their hearts! Patrique challenged the women to get open about past hurts and sins that had been mastering them and to stop refusing to get help! Almost 80 women paired-up and discipled each other during the fellowship! It was incredible! Josh Koralek, Cassel Spence, Tia Taylor and Erica also taught passionately about effective Bible Talks.

On Saturday night, DJ Will Hicks from the Syracuse Church hosted an inspiring semi-formal Singles/Campus Mixer that got the disciples hyped-up for the Lord! At the party was announced the engagement of Cassel Spence & Erica Felder!!! To God be the glory! On Sunday morning, 165 disciples and visitors gathered to worship the Lord! Good news from across New York State was shared, and the disciples were inspired to see a 10 minute video presentation of how God has blown Syracuse disciples around the world to the churches in Chicago, Washington DC, Los Angeles, New York City, and London! Syracuse has truly been the “Portland” of the East Coast! We dreamed about where the churches in Syracuse and New York City will be in the years to come – the Carrier Dome and Madison Square Garden, respectively! After the Chins and O’Donnells moved our hearts for communion and contribution, I preached the convicting lesson that our brother Kip preached last Sunday entitled, Seek First His Kingdom! Then the saints rejoiced as we saw God add six to our number – four baptisms (three NYC, one Syracuse), one restoration (NYC) and one place membership, LA’s Megan Bard!

One baptism that was especially encouraging for me was the baptism of Rebecca, the former girlfriend of Matthew Evins, a Wall Street Financial Advisor that I baptized back in November. Matthew broke-up with Rebecca because of his faithful conviction “to date disciples only.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-16) Despite the emotional challenges of the last few months, Rebecca has transformed through the power of the Spirit and the guidance of the sisters to become an incredible sister for the Lord! As for the New York City Church, despite the challenges of the holiday season, the Lord has blessed us with nine additions in the last four weeks – seven baptisms, one restoration and one place membership! God willing, we will see another baptism this Wednesday, and two more next Sunday! Pray for us to continue to know God and make Him known!

 

So much inspiring news from all the workshops around the movement! Please be praying for Elena & me as we take-off tomorrow afternoon to preach for the workshops in Hilo and Honolulu. And to our God be all the glory, all the honor and all the praise! Amen!

Much love,

Kip

Dear All,

Happy New Year from Los Angeles! 2011 was an amazing year throughout the movement, particularly with the planting of Sao Paulo, the establishment of the Madrid Remnant Group, Blaise & Patricia Feumba’s joining us, and seeing 51 baptized in Santiago! In the States in 2011, so many of our congregations experienced tremendous growth! In Los Angeles the Lord blessed the City of Angels Church with more than “daily additions,” as He added 366 “to our number” – 260 baptisms, 49 restorations, and 57 place memberships of whom many came from our former fellowship seeking revival!

Though 2011 was an incredible year, we have been praying for “even greater things” in 2012! (John 14:12) Our 2012 Winter Workshop entitled Seek First His Kingdom was “beyond anything we could ask or imagine!” (Ephesians 3:20) Adding a very special element to this occasion were all of our movement’s leaders, who sacrificed greatly to share in this momentous event. On Thursday morning January 5, 2012, the Central Leadership Council gathered at the Sullivans’ home to pray and to prepare ourselves spiritually for the coming year. In the afternoon, we discussed and refined our movement’s and MERCY’s plans for 2012. Thursday evening was our first Crown of Thorns Dinner! Present were: Carlos & Lucy Mejia, who are moving to Santiago this summer; Vic & Aurora Gonzalez, who are presently leading the Santiago Church and are preparing to plant the Mexico City Church; Victor & Sonia Gonzalez, who are in charge of gathering the Mexico City Mission Team; Raul & Lynda Moreno, the leaders of the Sao Paulo Church; Michael & Michele Williamson, the leaders of the London Church; Tim & Lianne Kernan, the Paris Mission Team Leaders; and Elena & me. Also joining us for the dinner was a dear remnant brother from Paris, Philippe Scheidecker, and the assistant leader for the Paris Mission Team, George Grima.

On Friday morning was the Church Builders Workshop aptly entitled, Everywhere In Every Church. Then that afternoon, Elena led the Sisters Special Training Session, for the sisters who are leading churches but have yet to be appointed Women’s Ministry Leaders. On Friday evening, the Bible Talk Leaders Workshop began sharply at 7:30PM. The highlight for me was the Good News Sharing About Great Bible Talks in 2011. Of particular encouragement from LA were the Bible Talks of Ricky & Coleen Challinor, Javier Ochoa, Mason Fetelika, Michael & Sharon Kirchner, and Matt & Helen Sullivan.

Saturday morning was the meeting of the City of Angels Church Men. Cory in his message The Secrets Of The Kingdom moved all of our hearts and called us to refocus our lives on Jesus. In the afternoon, the sisters of the congregation gathered for a very similar program, which included a Bible Talk Skit. Kacie Comisford oversaw this for the women and DJ did the same for the men. On Saturday evening, over 50 disciples gathered at the Sullivans’ house for the Samaritan Project Dinner. These 50 were just some of the individuals that are being considered for the mission teams in the United States (The Samaritan Project) – Boston, to be led by Coltin & Mandee Rohn; Orlando, led by Mat & Helen Sullivan; and San Francisco, led by Mike & Brittany Underhill.

Sunday Church was the “grand finale!” The singing was incredible! I so enjoyed having Andrew Smellie back in town leading us in the hymn, Jerusalem! After the opening prayer, we heard Good News Sharing From Around The World from: Anu Arneson (Stockholm), Kyle Bartholomew (Honolulu), Vic Gonzalez Jr. (Santiago), Ron Harding (Portland), Lucy Mejia (Washington DC), Lynda Moreno (Sao Paulo), Oleg Sirotkin (Kiev), Andrew Smellie (New York City), Luke Speckman (Phoenix), and Michele Williamson (London). Then to conclude this first section of the program, our “Sisters of Encouragement” welcomed three very special disciples who placed membership on Sunday: Deunte Ford and Lucy Mejia’s uncle and aunt Abelardo & Elida Flores! The second section of our worship centered on an unforgettable communion from Raul Moreno, and a powerful contribution plea from Michael Williamson.

The last section of the service began with DJ & Kacie and “their band” singing Spiritual Rehab and The Portland Song. Following was the keynote address for the entire workshop, Seek First His Kingdom. The focus of the lesson, which overviewed the book of Revelation, was to call all of the visiting church leaders and the entire membership of the City of Angels Church to “seek first His Kingdom” by having or returning to God as our “first love.” (Revelation 2:4-7) Then, we witnessed our first baptism of the year, Marie, who will serve the Lord in our South Central Region! Closing the worship service we stood arm-in-arm and sang the “international version” of The Glory Song led by Lu Jack Martinez!

And yet, the day was not over! At 3PM, many of the disciples returned to the Downtown Sheraton Hotel to participate in the wedding of Cesar & Karla Limon! Raul did an outstanding job presiding and all of us so enjoyed the reception! Driving home, I felt so thankful to our God to be a disciple, so thankful for the City of Angels Church’s heart that comes from its sold-out foundation on Christ, and so thankful for my dear and precious wife, Elena. And yes, I was thankful for Tim Tebow (a University of Florida alum like Elena & me) beating the Steelers in the American professional football play-offs!

Here’s a good news email from our brother in India, who because of finances could not attend…

Raja Rajan of Chennai: Greetings from India! We would like to wish all of you a very Happy New Year! The Chennai disciples were on a campaign from November 15th to December 25th. Our goal was to grow by 10 disciples in 40 days. God is amazing and all praise to Him as we saw John getting baptized on the morning of December 24th at the Marina – our tenth soul! We had started the year with 21 members, and now we are 42 sold-out disciples! Our Christmas was very special with all our new brothers and sisters.

The New Delhi Remnant Group started on August 14, 2011 with just five members. In four and-a- half months the Lord has tripled their number to 15 disciples! So exciting, is that from December 28-31, 2011, we had our first Indian Jubilee! The New Delhi disciples joined us for this wonderful time of bonding! A few of the responses from the Jubilee: “I have been to many retreats, but this was like Heaven!” “I have never seen such love and sacrifice!” “I feel torn apart that it is over!” Everyone left with a passion to evangelize India and the surrounding nations! At the Jubilee, Elizabeth got engaged to Simon – our first engaged couple! In closing, we are so grateful to the Chicago Church for their love, prayers and constant support. Thank you for holding the rope! And to God be all the glory!

 

Well, a new year for the Lord has begun! Let’s be praying and planning for the 2012 Global Leadership Conference on August 5-7, 2012, where – Lord willing – the Spirit will send-out the Mexico City, Paris, Boston, Orlando and San Francisco Mission Teams! Finally, let’s all be faithful to the decisions we made at the Winter Workshop, as our “God is able to do abundantly more than all we ask (pray) and imagine (dream), through His power at work within us, and to Him be honor and glory in the church, forever and ever! Amen!

 

Much love,

Kip

Dear All,

Greetings from Los Angeles! As I shared at the end of last week’s Good News Email, there is not one for this week. Our next one will be the Monday, January 8, 2012 after the Winter Workshop. That said, the Lord so blessed us at the City of Angels Church’s Christmas Service! There was an electricity in the air even before the first song, but this was only heightened by the announcements of Joel Parlour & Courtney Irwin’s engagement and our movement’s 2012 Prayer Goals – five plantings next summer! Then Matt Sullivan preached an excellent 20 minute “sermunion” and Tim Kernan gave a heartsy appeal for the contribution. Following this, Chris Chloupek’s play, The Miracle In Prison (Acts 16) was outstanding in all respects! Many were moved to tears at the close, as the Jailor (Sal Velasco), his family and the fellow prisoner (Princeton George) of Paul (Chris) and Silas (Danny Drew) were all baptized on stage!

 

Then the Bordieris – Directors of MERCYworldwide – reported that the Lord blessed us with 900 toys for our Toy Drive! And for the day, God blessed us with one restoration, one place membership and 11 baptisms! We closed out the service arm-in-arm singing Feliz Navidad! What a day and to God be all the glory!

 

One very moving report did come from Michael Williamson, who just returned from Curacao where he was helping Michael & Maria Hart and as many other remnant disciples as possible move to London. When Michael Williamson returned to London, he shared the following account: The city of London’s attention has been quickly grabbed by the powerful words of Britain’s Prime Minister (David Cameron) who in a speech this week not only quoted an excerpt from President Barack Obama’s book, Audacity of Hope, but also said, “We are a Christian country. And we should not be afraid to say so!” As several disciples were discussing the PM’s statement at our home Saturday night, I received a call from LBC Radio (London’s Biggest Conversation 97.3) asking my thoughts on the PM’s statement. Before long, I was in a heated debate on the existence of God with a professor also invited to speak on the station. After refuting his false doctrines and then expressing our congregation’s support of Mr. Cameron, the radio station informed me that we were live and that I just invited all listening to visit the London International Christian Church! Our new motto is making the gospel “LONDON’S BIGGEST CONVERSATION”!  

 

Two more milestones for which to praise our God: After many prayers and several visits to our lawyers, Raul Moreno informed me on Friday that the Sao Paulo Church received its papers and is now a legal entity in Brazil, and Vic Jr. reported last night that the Santiago Church had two baptisms yesterday giving them 50 for the year!

My prayer for all of you is to draw close to the Lord and your families over the Christmas holidays. So from Elena & me: Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Much love,

Kip