The Beginning (What's in a Year?)

The Greek philosopher Plato once said, “The beginning is the most important part of the work.” As this year begins please pray that God will grow His church and continue to allow us to meet more people and teach them about who He is so that the amazing stories of transformed lives may not just continue but snowball.  This month we would also like to take the time to reflect back on some of the amazing beginnings that took place in 2010. 

January 11, 2010 – With a team assembled we sat down and made some plans allowing our hearts to dream with God for the transformation He wants in Los Angeles and beyond – we were challenged to write down goals that we knew we could never accomplish on our own. 

  Six months into the process we had made a lot of relationships and had Bible studies meeting in various homes.  As we continued to grow – more women and children came out, but the men for the most part stayed in the shadows.  We asked for prayer in this area because we knew we were just barely scratching the surface of the full potential of reaching our neighborhood for Christ.  In the last few months there has been a wave of men taking the initiative to get involved and help in the various aspects of church life.  I (Chad) have been able to meet with and mentor more men during the week – the beginning stages of raising-up some of the future male leaders of this church.  Please pray for: Primo, Abraham, José, Saul, Merced, Victor, Alexis, Tino, Christopher, Florintino, Adelso, Luz Ángel, Carlos, Alejandro and Roberto. 

 

In October, we launched our first once-a-month Sunday service with just over 40 people in attendance.  The following month we more than doubled in size and continued to see excitement grow.  The holiday season gave us reason to celebrate with our church and grow again in numbers and also in relationship with one another.  Nearly everybody that is now part of our church, Fuente para las Naciones, has recently come to know Jesus Christ or is in the process of making Him their Lord and Savior.  Many are leaving deep, dark pasts with lots of hurts, so these times of fellowship, worship and teaching in the Word in different contexts have helped us all grow closer to God and one another.   

We are now believing that the 120 people that God gave us as our goal for this January will be realized as we meet again for our Sunday celebration service this coming January 9. We have not yet been able to find a meeting place that we can afford.  So, we are meeting outside on our driveway and using our house for the children’s classes.  This is putting a lot of strain on our home, but we are glad to use what we have been given for His Kingdom.  This space, however, is not an ideal long term solution and does not have much more room for growth.  We would like to begin meeting weekly in February and ask that you join us in prayer for a location that will suit all the needs of our growing church. God is causing the growth and we trust He will provide, but know we must continue to ask in order to see a way made out of what right now seems like no possible way. 

 

Here’s to praying God’s will as we believe even more lives will be impacted and transformed by Jesus this year.  Thanks again for praying for us and with us!

Chad & Fabiola