Greetings from Los Angeles! Today’s Christmas Service was historic and heartwarming as the mantle of leadership of the City of Angels International Christian Church was passed from Elena & me to our dear son and daughter in the faith – Tim & Lianne Kernan! Surely this gallant couple will lead the City of Angels Church to even greater heights!
Kip & Elena entrust their beloved City of
Angels Church to the gallant couple –
Tim & Lianne Kernan!
Debs Rajan of Chennai: Greetings! “Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” (Psalm 139:12) Because of heavy rains, our whole city was in darkness for a few days! We had no power for five continuous days, which means no internet connections, no cell phones, no washing machines, no water supply, and no drinking water and the shops were closed because of floods! It was back to good old candle light dinners! As the Scriptures speak about those who love God, “darkness” did not dampen the spirit of the Chennai disciples as God shone His “light” upon us!
There has been such intense persecution taking place that my husband Raja and a few brothers had to go underground! On Tuesday, December 1st during the heavy rains the brothers had to go undercover! That same night, the waters rose and the city was flooded! The next day, I really appreciate my husband making a radical decision to brave the floods and go against the advice of the lawyers, to come out of hiding and to help the disciples! At the same time, the persecutors also left the city scared of the floods! God was in total control!
The floods and the persecution have only strengthened and united the disciples! All the disciples made it to church, Leaders Meeting and we even had the test on First Principles! “Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done…” through all of this!
Last week, we had our Campus Program “UNLOCKED!” Prathap, Vandana and Christopher mightily preached the Word! 33 campus students brought 45 visitors, the best ever so far! Finally, to top it all, God encouraged us with five baptisms this week! Today, my husband preached a powerful message titled UNLEASH! All of us learned that when we do the Lord’s will, and do not get distracted, God will unleash His blessings upon us! To God be all the glory!
Eugene Sobolov: Greetings from Moscow! God keeps doing amazing things among us! We were happy to see the baptism of the teenager Dima! It’s so fantastic that in spite of such a young church – the Inaugural Service was on February 1, 2015 – Dima is a fourth generation disciple: Oleg Sirotkin baptized Dima, Dima invited Vitalik – a very famous dancer here in Russia and a participant of the Central TV Dance Show – and Vitalik baptized Dima!
Also, we are happy to report that God blessed our Campus Ministry here in Moscow! This Sunday we witnessed the baptism of Salem – a first year student at the University of Chemical Technology! Salem was invited by her friend and roommate Nicia, who was baptized just two months ago! Please pray for us as we are doing all we can to convert Eurasia! We love you with the love of the Lord!
Joe Willis: Greeting from Sydney! It has been such a special two weeks in Sydney! We had our Annual Retreat, an explosive Christmas Service, and of course our Christmas Banquet!
Erick being baptized before church on Sunday
in front of the Sydney Harbor Bridge!
The highlights have definitely included the three amazing students – Selena, Allen and Eric – baptized!
Also, another couple highlights have been the church seeing God answer our prayers for the end of the year to grow to 40 disciples and increase our contribution by $500 to $3000, both of which He has kindly answered!
Concerning the evangelization of the 1.3 billion people of China, the Bible tells us that our prayers unleash the Angels (Acts 10:2-3) and so I want to ask everybody to pray for God to do exactly that for the first service on Chinese soil, this coming Sunday December 20, 2015 at 11am! Pray for God and His angels to provide protection for the Christians and non-Christians alike! Pray for our Savior and Lord to be glorified!
Due to the increase of expected guests, we have changed the venue to a few minutes away from our hotel! Church will now be at the Compass Offices, Level 9, Central Building, 1-3 Pedder Street, Central, Hong Kong! Their website is. http://www.compassoffices.com/hong-kong-business-centres-sheung-wan-infinitus-plaza.
Maika Carbonell of Manila: The Holy Spirit continues to work powerfully as many have been coming to radically change their lives and become disciples! In the last three weeks, God has blessed us with six additions, bringing our total additions since our Inaugural Service on June 7th to 96 – 72 baptisms, 16 restorations and 8 place memberships directly from our former fellowship!
Of note, Vivian and Jocelyn – physical cousins – have helped unite their family in Christ! Jocelyn’s brother, Arnold, has been living a life of darkness his whole life, and even more so when his wife died one year ago. But after studying the Bible and making changes in his life, he was baptized to the great delight of his two preteen daughters! Belen, Vivian’s mom, saw all the miracles happening in the lives of their family and the church, and also decided to get baptized last week!
Lastly, after laying out the Crown of Thorns Project of the Pacific Rim World Sector to the church and setting the goal of raising 10X our weekly pledge, we are pleased to report that with a goal of PhP $544,500 ($11, 473 USD), we have collected PhP $672,340 ($14,167 USD)! That is 123% of our goal! The hearts of the disciples to sacrifice and go beyond their own personal goals has truly been inspiring!
Carlos Mejia: Greetings from Mexico City! As I reflect on 2015, I can only be in awe of all the miracles that God has done and grateful for the gifts He has given us by way of baptisms, restorations and place memberships! We started out the year with 18 sold-out disciples and today we are 61 sold-out disciples for the Lord!
The church has also grown spiritually! By grace we have implemented the CR Ministry, which will surely have many graduates and much fruit in the coming months. Also, the Women’s Day was a great success! Although we are not a “first world” church, God allowed us to collect a Special Missions Contribution, and if the Spirit permits, we will have the tremendous honor to send out the mission team for the planting of the Bogota, Colombia International Christian Church at the Latin American Missions Conference next year!
Nick Bordieri: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:7-8) One of MERCYWORLDWIDE‘s core services is bringing pure water to water-impoverished areas, starting with Haiti, one of the most water-impoverished countries in the world. I visited Haiti a week before Thanksgiving to assess the impact of the 71 water filters we purchased for disciples in our five churches. Before visiting, what I read and what I was told was that Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. Few homes have running water and basic sanitation is a serious issue. There is a lack of pure water for drinking, bathing and washing food and vegetables. Consequently, water-borne diseases are commonplace, as is malaria. Furthermore, lack of formal education and limited employment is cause for concern and unrest. Jean Bornard and his wife Loverlie are doing an incredible job with MERCY. He used to work for the UN and she has a degree in accounting! Both have a big heart for the less fortunate! They have opened up a school, with the approval of the local government, for poor children in the area. Most children do not go to school since public education is close to non-existent. Since the unemployment rate in Haiti is close to 70%, parents cannot afford to send their children to private schools, leaving a generation of Haitians without an education! To help to overcome this tragedy, Bonard & Loverlie have 12 kids in their school, ages 3-6, including their three younger children!
Francesca is baptized into christ by our dear sister Jazmyne Dupree!
Orlando church, let’s continue to pray that the Lord powerfully and forcefully grows our congregation as we close out 2015!
He stoops down to make us great,
Matt Sullivan
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