The Kingdom Glorifies and Multiplies!
By Elizabeth Eckels | August 27, 2008
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Recently, I led “The Kingdom Study” with four women who were studying to become disciples. My heart was moved as I looked around the room and saw the eagerness of these women to have this pearl, the priceless Kingdom, God’s Church. The minor prophet, Micah prophesies about a major, life changing event in history, the establishment of God’s Kingdom and it’s incredible growth. Micah 4:1 says, “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it.” That exact prophesy is also recorded in Isaiah 2:2. God’s desire and expectation has always been for his Kingdom to gather, worship in spirit and truth, and multiply for his glory! The result of the church glorifying God and proclaiming his name is many “peoples will stream to it.” As we strive to glorify God, disciples from all over the southeast United States are streaming to the Orlando International Christian Church, finding the hope, dream, and vision for God’s Kingdom that they had when they were first baptized. God has added to our number every week since our inaugural service just six weeks ago! Paula Harpole, (on the left) from our former fellowship
placed membership after attending our Inaugural Service. She had read our website about the great victories God is performing in the Orlando ICC, and came to see for herself. When she saw the zeal and passion the church has for glorifying God and saving the lost, she spent several hours praying at the beach. Paula read Revelation chapters 2 and 3, seeing for herself how important it is to God that we are wholehearted and souled out to Him individually and collectively as a church. She examined the height from which she had fallen in her love and commitment to God. Revelation 3:2 says, “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die,”. Paula repented of her lukewarmness, compromise, and bitterness. She placed membership and has already baptized her best friend into Christ. Paula and our awesome brother Rob Deckard are now spearheading our new Singles Ministry.
Another great victory is the baptism of Joan Robillard, a campus student at Herzing College. Lisa Robillard, Joan’s aunt, brought her to our very first church service in February, but she was not ready to be a disciple. She stopped coming to church, but after her friend was killed in a motorcycle accident, she realized how fragile life is. She came back to church with an urgency to be right with God. After radically repenting, she was baptized into Christ a week later. Joan is very excited to share with all of her campus friends!
Mark 4:30-32 compares the Kingdom to a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you can plant in the ground, but when it grows, it becomes the largest of all garden plants. 
Jesus says birds flock to it’s large branches to perch in its shade. People are so drawn to the Kingdom and God provides the increase. A great example of this is Charlene Fleischmann’s conversion story. (pic 3rd on the left and above baptism pic) Anthony invited Charlene to our Inaugural Service, but she did not make it. A week later, we were having church in the park. When Charlene brought her nieces to the park to play, she sat down at a nearby table. While sitting there, she heard the Word being preached, joined us for lunch, and began studying the Bible. She was baptized into Christ 2 weeks ago and is fired up about God’s Kingdom. Now her mother is coming to church and wants to begin studying the Bible!
Another inspiring victory was the baptism of Matthew Vargus, a recent graduate of UCF. Ray Cholod, who was restored into Christ only 6 weeks ago, reached out to Matthew and brought him to Bible Talk. Anthony and I had shared with Matthew and his wife a couple of months ago, as well, so it was exciting to see Matthew study the Bible and get baptized in a week! Now, his wife Natalia is studying the Bible. Matthew was so urgent to be right with God that he was baptized at 3:30 am on Friday morning.
Sunday was truly a faith-building, inspiring day! Linda and Perry Tipton (on the left) drove 8 hours from Athens, GA through the night to join us for church on sunday morning. They were encouraged by the challenging message Anthony preached on Running the Race to win the prize. After we all ate lunch together, the church went to the beach (which is only 35 minutes away), where we sang songs, shared, and baptized Marie Graeff in the Atlantic Ocean. ( pic below) We celebrated our awesome new sister’s baptism, enjoyed time in the fellowship, and studied that day with Marie’s teenage daughter, who wants to be a disciple! We also had a leader’s meeting on the beach, discussing our future plans for the church. Linda and Perry were so inspired by the faith and discipling in the church, as well as our vision for them, they have decided to move to Orlando next month to rekindle their dream to lead in God’s Kingdom. Linda will be our first spanish-speaking sister, and Perry has the heart of a Deacon by his unyielding servitude. We are so excited about their future in the Orlando ICC.
Please pray for our Special Missions Contribution on October 5th. Our goal is to raise $7,000, to support the mission in the Orlando ICC. Pray that God continues to exceed all our expectations and multiplies our efforts for His glory.
-Elizabeth Eckels
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Victorious Inaugural Service! Orlando International Christian Church
By Elizabeth Eckels | July 12, 2008
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Acts 4:33 “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.”
The Lord has awed the Orlando International Christian Church with a series of victories over the last couple weeks. The Lord poured his grace upon our church the Sunday before our inaugural service, with adding to our number once again.
We started the morning with Gigi French, the business owner of “My Last Dime Gourmet,” being baptized into Christ. She is truly an answered prayer! We had prayed that God would give us a friend to study with who was humble and open to the word like the Ethiopian eunich in Acts 8, and God blessed us with Gigi, a native Ethiopian, who was invited to church by Lisa Robillard. As her two boys, husband, and the disciples gathered around the pool, we rejoiced as Gigi had 1 Peter 2:24 read: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds we are healed.” Gigi’s heart of gratitude toward Jesus bearing her sins on the cross inspired us all to continue to testify to the resurrection with great power through the spirit.
Following her baptism, we heard an inspiring message on overcoming as God’s unified movement from Andrew Smellie, the leader of the new DC International Christian Church. Brother Lance Underhill, a native Floridian and member of the City of Angels International Christian Church, drove from Tampa to fellowship with us and share our contribution message. Rob Deckard wept as he shared our communion message. He spoke about formerly leaving God, and how God’s mercy and the love of the disciples of the Orlando ICC had embraced him. He shared about the disciples’ grace and the hope of clinging to the cross. Everyone was crying as he bore his heart of gratitude to Jesus and the Church. After we concluded our worship service, the disciples ate together and went out to spread the gospel.
Following a busy week of sharing our faith and Bible studies with the neighbors, we had the privilege of meeting Friday night with Chris and Theresa Broom, the Evangelist and Women’s Ministry Leader of the Chicago International Christian Church. Chris and Theresa have multiplied a hand full of disciples into a church of nearly 100 in just a little over a year. The Eckels asked the Brooms to disciple them due to their deep passion and humility toward God and their dauntless spirit to evangelize the world as a movement of sold out disciples. The church in Orlando is very grateful for their discipling and kinship in the new movement. Chris spurred us on as he shared Hebrews 3:12-14 and spoke about the daily commitment of the disciples in the movement and holding firmly to God and one another.
On Sunday, June 29th God gave us a triumphant victory for our Inaugural Service at the outdoor amphitheater in East Orlando near the University of Central Florida. Being that we are the first and only church in the Southeast in the new movement thus far, we had disciples who traveled all over the United States to join us. Disciples and many desiring to be restored to Christ gathered from Florida’s panhandle, Gainesville, South Florida, and Ft. Myers; in addition to Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, and Arizona to rejoice in God’s victory. We had the honor to introduce Chris and Theresa Broom, who are doing remarkable things in Chicago, as well as discipling several other churches in the new movement. Following, we introduced Jim and Deana Blowe, who drove over forty hours from Phoenix, to not only be at the Inaugural service, but also to join us in our mission to evangelize Orlando. They were deacons in the Phoenix International Christian Church, and gave up everything to move here with their two children, Eleanor (10) and Michaela (7) to join the mission team in Orlando and strengthen our families and children’s ministries.
Then, Anthony Eckels poured out his heart as he preached a powerful message about rekindling the dream for God in Orlando and beyond. He shared about loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). He shared the sadness he feels that so many of our brothers and sisters have lost their first love, no longer dreaming to do great things in God’s Kingdom, but are making their families and careers their idols. He pleaded with the church to rekindle their first love with God, to rekindle the fellowship of believers, and to rekindle their love for the lost. He read Revelations 2:4-5, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” Anthony shared about returning to New Orleans after hurricane Katrina, seeing the letters “D” and “A” sprayed painted on the doors of the houses, “D” marking that a dead body was found in the house, “A” marking that someone alive was found in that house. He asked us if we saw our neighbors’ salvation as black and white as that. They are either alive in Christ or dead spiritually and heading for hell. He asked, “Does every person on your block know you are a disciple?” We were all inspired to forge ahead as we call all disciples to be sold out and to once again dare to dream about evangelizing this world in our generation!
Following this powerful message, Chris and Theresa lead our hearts in Communion, encouraging us to make Jesus our motivation for everything that we do. Most excitingly, the congregation rejoiced together as Ray Cholod, from Ft. Myers, and Rob Decker, from Gainesville, were restored to Christ and placed membership at the Orlando ICC.
Following the service, we had lunch together with our brothers and sisters and shared the word with our neighbors and friends. It reminded us of Acts 2:42-47 as we enjoyed the favor of all the people and rejoiced as God added to our number that day.
The Lord gave us a victory of having 54 in attendance for our Inaugural Service with only five sold-out members in the Orlando International Christian Church. We are in awe at what a small group of committed disciples can do with God. Our membership of committed disciples has doubled in the last 2 weeks. As we forge ahead in the months to come, pray for the Lord’s grace to be upon us as we continue to testify about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and to God be the glory!
Isaiah 60: 22 Message Bible “The runt will become a great tribe, the weakling become a strong nation. I am God. At the right time I’ll make it happen.”
By Elizabeth Eckels
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GOD WORKS SWIFTLY!
By Anthony Eckels | June 8, 2008
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Isaiah 60:22 “The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly.”
We have been in Orlando for thirteen weeks and have watched God’s miracles unfold. With the disciples being outnumbered by visitors on any given week, God is teaching us the true meaning of John 12:24: “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” The miracles God is able to perform are truly amazing when we allow ourselves to be used by God. We see the fruit that it is producing and how worth it is for people’s souls.
We are so encouraged by the many phone calls of those who plan to move to be a part of our mission and are so grateful for the many disciples who are joining us to be a souled out movement! One of the many exciting victories we have had recently was restoring Lisa Robillard to God’s kingdom and to the Lord. Lisa had been a zealous disciple when she was first baptized. Due to a lack of discipling and maturing, Lisa’s faith had begun to dwindle and Read the rest of this entry »
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2008 World Missions Jubilee
By Anthony Eckels | April 5, 2008
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2008 World Missions Jubilee!
Los Angeles World Missions Jubilee
Hilton Hotel – Universal City, California
July 31 – August 3, 2008
REGISTER ONLINE • RESERVE YOUR HOTEL ROOM
REGISTER FOR GLOBAL LEADERSHIP DINNER
The fourth annual World Missions Jubilee will be held at the beautiful Hilton Hotel in Universal City – Los Angeles. There will be a Global Church Leadership Conference on Wednesday, July 30 (Registration $20). Thursday evening, July 31 will be the opening session of the Jubilee. The seminar will conclude at noontime on Sunday, August 3. The registration cost is $80/adult or $60/student. The rooms at the Hilton Hotel are only $129/night for the first 100 rooms. After the first 100, the price will be $169/night. Conveniently, once at the hotel, no transportation is necessary as all Jubilee events are at the Hilton Hotel which is adjacent to both “City Walk,” with about 40 restaurants, as well as the Universal Studios Theme Park. Saturday, the Jubilee’s schedule will conclude at noon to allow all the participants to enjoy a time of fun and fellowship at Universal Studios Theme Park. (Entrance to the theme park is $64 for one day or multiple days) If you have any questions contact Ron Harding at 714-249-5051. Come and bring your whole family to this historic occasion!
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The Orlando International Christian Church
By Anthony Eckels | February 21, 2008
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| Anthony Eckels preaches the Word in Portland, Oregon! |
[Anthony and Elizabeth Eckels were baptized and married in the New York City International Church of Christ in the early 1990’s. In 1995 they moved to Orlando, Florida with the dream of the full-time ministry. Since their efforts for the Lord were effective in New York City as well as Orlando, they were asked to serve in the full-time ministry in New Orleans and later in their beloved Orlando. Due partially to the tragedy of September 11, 2001, there was a lack of funds in the congregation and the Eckels were asked to resign. Hurting, they returned to Elizabeth’s home state of North Carolina. After a year of strengthening, they were encouraged to return to New Orleans. Then in 2006, they moved to Portland, where in time the Lord raised them up to be the non-fulltime leaders of the very fruitful East Region. God has blessed the Eckels with two boys, Augustine (6) and Giovanni (1).] KM
“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 Read the rest of this entry »
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