March 10, 2013
Special Guest Editorial: by Kip McKean
Proverbs 15:30 A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones.
Proverbs 25:25 Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.
Each week Kip McKean compiles all the good news reports from church leaders and evangelist around the world. With a passion to encourage the movement and those who are watching us- he sends this “report” out each Monday afternoon. If you have not yet signed up for the Good News Email- go to www.caicc.net, look for the link and sign up! Enjoy just SOME of the report listed here!
Greetings from Los Angeles! Since the Lord has raised-up so many dynamic, gifted and mature Women’s Ministry Leaders in the City of Angels Church, Elena and the sisters decided to have four separate Women’s Days in 2013! All four of these momentous events shared the same heartfelt theme of Priceless from Psalm 36:7, “How priceless is your unfailing love!”
On Saturday, February 23rd, the OC and IE Regions – led by Theresa Broom – saw God move, as the combined 80 women disciples witnessed 240 in attendance! Then this past weekend, on Saturday, March 2nd, Sonja Chloupek led the AMS, North and Ventura Regions to a great victory, as their 68 disciples had exactly 200 in attendance! Then, the next day on Sunday, March 3rd at the Downtown LA Sheraton Hotel, the Central, East, South, South Central and West sisters were inspired by Kacie Comisford, as the 172 sisters gathered had 420 in attendance with four baptisms! So with the Spanish-speaking Women’s Day yet to come on Saturday, March 16th, already 322 sisters have glorified God with a collective attendance of 860! Elena spoke at the Downtown LA Sheraton on the incredible theme – Priceless! In my opinion, this lesson was one of Elena’s very best! It can be heard in its entirety at CAICC.net! Also, this week, the Lord added a total of eight to our number – seven baptisms and one restoration! And to God be the glory!
David Jefferson – South Region Intern: Today we celebrated as Kierra was added to our number at our Annual Women’s Day! Kierra is a very soft-hearted, young woman who from her first study was determined “to seek God with all her heart.” Also, it was great the week before to see our dear sister Miriah come back and get restored to the Lord and His church. I’m so grateful to be in the South Region, as they are such an amazing group of disciples, who are working tirelessly to not only raise money for Special Missions, but at the same time forcefully advance the gospel – even during this time of great transition! This will enable Jason & Sarah to focus completely on the Las Vegas Mission Team, which will be sent-out from LA on April 14th! Please keep the Las Vegas Team in your prayers, as the weekend of March 14-17 will be our “spying out the land” weekend, appropriately titled, Oasis Not Mirage! Much love to all!
The Las Vegas Church logo was creatively designed reminding all of the famous “Welcome to Las Vegas Sign!”
Alvin Panlilio and Gina Dela Peña of Manila: God is so awesome, as Melvin De Leon & Rose Sobrino were baptized in the Lord and added to His awesome advancing movement here on Earth! Melvin was our very first visitor when we began our Bible Talk, and he is one of Jason’s employees. Rose is one of Kim’s friends! Rose was very active in her Baptist Church, and in fact, she was leading the youth ministry in her former church! She was in tears when she shared how grateful she is to have finally found the true church! Her stated dream is to be a part of a mission team someday!
We are in awe of how GOD has been bringing people to HIS KINGDOM! Right now with 12 sold-out members of the Metro Manila International Christian Church, we have 34 people studying the Bible and four of these want to get restored as soon as possible! Truly, “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few!” (Matthew 9:37)
Raul Moreno of Sao Paulo:“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.” (1 Timothy 4:12) The good news this week is our “Kingdom Kid teenager” Lucas Cruz. Lucas was baptized about a year ago and this week God used him to baptize his high school friend Flavia! Also, his mother, who fell away, has been coming out for weeks after seeing him change so much, and now she has made the decision to be restored to Christ! Teens can do so much in God’s Kingdom!
Lola Lof of Kinshasa: Warm greetings from your dear brothers and sisters in the Democratic Republic of Congo! Our Sunday worship was exceptionally phenomenal even though “it rained dogs and cats” all the day long! The transportation was “inferno,” and brothers and sisters had to walk in deep mud to come to church! Despite the obstacles, the Congolese disciples of Jesus overcame it as 230 attended the service! We opened the service with the inspirational song of the Kingdom, I AM THE LORD’S SOLDIER – in French version: JE SUIS UN SOLDAT DU SOLDAT DU SEIGNEUR! The rest of the songs were even more enthusiastically sung! And at the end of service, the waters of baptism were stirred as two more were added by God to our group: Prospère and Guelor! To God be all the glory!
Mike Patterson’s secret weapon for getting people to Bible Talk!
Matt Sullivan of Orlando: “Paul took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the Word of the Lord.” (Acts 19:9-10) The Lord continues to blow it out in our amazing Campus Ministry led by Mike & Chenelle Patterson! Almost daily, we have Bible Talks on campus at UCF, and just a few weeks ago, we began a new Bible Talk at the Valencia East Campus led by Johnny Cortez! Excitingly, this past week, they had 15 in attendance! On Thursday, we were fired-up to see Clayton – another UCF student – baptized into Christ! God has given us our own “halls of Tyrannus,” right here in Florida on two incredible campuses. God is awesome!
Maria Franklin of Chicago: “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.” (Ecclesiastes 12:1) This week has been inspiring as the Campus has led the charge! To start off, on Thursday, Umberto from the mighty West Campus Ministry at Morton College was baptized! He persevered through intense persecution from his family, who even set up an intervention to stop him from making the decision to follow God! He shared today at service about his incredible gratitude for God and his new spiritual family!
Michael Williamson: “And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message…” (Colossians 4:3) Greetings from London, England! The Apostle Paul prized his Roman citizenship as it proved to be valuable to him several times in his missionary adventures! In a similar way, I too rejoice, because after several long months of prayers, God has moved the British Government to approve my application for “Indefinite Leave to Remain,” which is equivalent to “Permanent Residency” in England!
Also, this Friday night’s Open Mic Night was spectacular attracting many talented young artists from all over London. One gentleman whose music is on iTunes, wrote a song entitled “OMV” – “Open Mic Veteran” dedicated to this Kingdom inspired event!
We closed out Sunday with the baptism of CJ, an incredibly humble University of East London Campus student! Before he was baptized, he powerfully shared that he would not have become a disciple if it wasn’t for the church’s love! Additionally, we’ve secured a Five Star Hotel for the 2013 European Missions Conference! The Marriott is offering us discounted rates of £125 ($188) including breakfast and tax, or £115 ($173) room and tax alone! Save the dates: Thursday evening, November 7 for the Speaker’s Dinner; Friday morning, November 8 for the Church Builder’s Workshop; and November 8-10, 2013 for the actual European Missions Conference!
Coltin Rohn: Greetings from Boston known as “the spirit of America!” “There will be a highway for the remnant of His people that is left from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from Egypt.” (Isaiah 11:16) I believe that our God is building that “highway” in Boston! Today was an electric service as we are now “packing into” the room we meet for church and will have to soon find a new venue! To God be the glory!
One of the reasons the room was so “packed” today was because of all our faithful brothers and sisters visiting us from our former fellowship! In fact, we counted six out of the fifty two people that gathered to worship our Heavenly Father were faithful remnant (veteran) disciples! One of the remnant visitors said to me, “I loved service! I felt like a kid again listening to the Word of God!” Another shared, “Service was great! I want to study this week to become a member!” And still another said, “I may be 65, but I want to do something for God!” All were encouraged by the “angelic singing” and of course the “spirited” fellowship. Pray as many are on their way to the waters of baptism, as we strive to put the “Spirit” back into the great city of Boston! To God be all our praise and glory!
Carlos Mejia: Greetings from the saints in Santiago! Today was an awesome day as a young man by the name of Marcos was baptized into Christ! Marcos was met just three weeks ago and has studied the Bible vigorously since that time! It was so encouraging to see his convictions, as he left a promising job, and also the false teachings of his religious past, to seek the Kingdom and the righteousness of God first!
We were also privileged this week to share sweet fellowship with our brother and sister George & Maru Schweizer, disciples from the Mighty Ventura Region of the LA Church! Having already been married in the United States, the Schweizers held a ceremony here in Chile for both families, with Maru’s side traveling from our neighboring country of Argentina! I was so honored to be asked to perform the wedding!
The ceremony, which took place in the foothills of the Andes Mountains, was very inspiring! As George & Maru exchanged vows, a fiery orange-reddish sun was setting over all of the seven million lost souls of Santiago! We were reminded of what the Scriptures declare as “[God’s] name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets!” (Malachi 1:11) God’s name is truly being glorified here in Chile! We are also so excited about the Fall Semester which kicks-off this week! Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to “forcefully advance” the Kingdom of Light in Latin America!!!
Ron Harding: Greetings from the Mighty DC Church! “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.” (Acts 4:33-34) Imitating our first century brothers and sisters, we continue to see the forceful advancement of God’s Kingdom here in the Capital City of the United States! On Sunday, Jeremiah Clark delivered a “conference level lesson” entitled, Titanic. He charged everyone to pursue the incredible victories that come from simply allowing the Scriptures to be our standard, as he explained the “Titanic” perils of living life by worldly and religious theories (Sinner’s prayer, Being a good person, etc.) Most were moved to make life-changing decisions.
In the answer to so many prayers for the DC Church to have “100 for the Lord,” two were baptized earlier this week and Craig placed membership on Sunday, thus allowing us to power past our prayer goal as we reached 102 disciples! So inspiring was the baptism of Jose on Wednesday after midweek service. He was met by our incredible Singles Intern Jason Reali. Shortly after his own baptism, Jason began reaching out to Jose in 2009 and has stayed faithful to their friendship and committed to be there when Jose’s heart became open. A few weeks ago, Jose’s heart was softened… And on Wednesday night – after over three years since he was met – Jose proclaimed “Jesus is Lord” and was baptized!
Dearest Brothers and Sisters, Let us continue to “focus our eyes on Jesus” as for most SoldOut Movement Congregations, April is our 15X Missions Contribution! Though LA’s 20X Missions Contribution is in June, this month is LA’s “Pledge Drive” to increase our weekly pledge from $28,300/week to $32,000/week. Therefore, let us all collectively pray to “bring to completion” this sacrifice for missions that will allow our international efforts in London, Paris, Chennai, Manila, Mexico City, Santiago and Sao Paulo to be financially sustained, as well as for Las Vegas (April), Denver (August), Dallas (December) and Sydney (December) to be planted! (2 Corinthians 8:1-9) “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14)
Much love,
Kip
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