A Look Down The Line

This month we’ve gathered a couple new team members (year-long interns) which has made for a strategic time to climb the mountain and dream with God and get some new perspective on what’s down the line for our church plant. Quite literally a group from our church went to the mountains, climbed up a pole and zipped down the zip line screaming the whole way. While we can’t see everything that is ‘down the line’ from here (in the picture above there are people at the end of the line, but you can’t make them out in this photo), we are excited where God is leading us. A couple things that are in the works are starting Sunday morning services and a new focus on youth ministry.

Family Camp
Thank you for praying for our first Family Camp. We were able to take eight other families totaling 35 people. The only disappointing thing was many of the men in the families were not able to come along (some legitamitly due to work, others just because they didn’t want to come). The pool was a big hit, but so were the crafts and the adventure sports. We all shared one cabin where each family got there own hotel-like room. For many of our families this provided them with more bed space than they have in their own homes. There was tons of food to enjoy and we had some great times of worship and a beautiful Sunday service. Spending the long bus ride and three days and two nights together really helped us to get to know one another better and we all bonded in a way that could not be accomplished probably in a year of normal life in the city.

Above: Blanca atop the zip line pole before launch.

Below: Maricela and Fabiola.

Above: Fuente para las Naciones church. Not everyone is pictures and not everyone was able to come to camp. We hope to take four times as many people next year.
Below: Two of our teens take the High Ropes Obstacle Course challenge.

Above: Abraham and his son Angel take a dip to cool off and have some fun.

Below: Sophia dries off after a swim with her mom.

Above: A couple of our families enjoy carnival games on our last day.

Below: Families got to build wooden toy houses and bird houses and paint them.

Above: Blanca and her son Carlos painting pottery together.

Below: Tina and her two girls head off on a small train ride around the camp ground.

Above: Tabitha, Angel and Abraham get their face painted together.
Below: Fabiola and Flor get to spend some quality time together while Flor’s mom gets some needed rest and relaxation.

Family pictures in homemade frames made at Family Camp. Above is Leonor and her three children Dana, Brenda and Jean Carlo. Below is Juanita and her two children Flor and Martin.

School Supplies Give Away
For the last three weeks while we have been out and about visiting various homes and out at the park doing outreach we have been able to invite families to come to our house and pick out a wide assortment of school supplies.

Each family that stopped by got to pick out a backpack and go through the supplies and choose what they needed for each child and then hear about the different Bible studies and ministry events we have during the week to help families. Before we said good-bye we also were able to pray for families – for their needs and for the upcoming school year. Several of the ladies came back to join our women’s Bible study. Please pray for the families that came out - that they will return, get connected to the church and come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Pray especially for Evelyn whose husband recently left her and her four kids to make money selling drugs.

Video & Bulletin
World Impact, the missions agency with which we serve, has recently put together a video promo on You Tube that has me (Chad) at the park praying with a group I have church with at the park every Sunday afternoon. It is just under 2 minutes. Check it out! (Follow the link below.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOz76bkgJzU

We were also featured in a recent Bulletin (World Impact’s monthly newsletter). If you did not see it already you can check it out at the address below.
http://www.worldimpact.org/winews/bulletin/2010/july2010-churchplanting.pdf


Happy Independence Day!

September 15th if you’re Guatemalan

September 16th if you’re Mexican

The majority of our church is from one of these two countries.
Other countries represented are: El Salvador, Honduras and the USA.

Other Prayer Requests:

Starting Sunday Services
Starting October 10th and continuing for the next few months we plan on starting a once-a-month Sunday worship service in the morning. This will bring all our different cell groups together for a corporate time of fellowship, worship and study as well as be a great opportunity to invite more people to come and join us.

Discipleship, Community and Youth
Our focus for the next few months will be on:
(1.) developing and deepening our discipleship relationships with those that have recently made commitments to Jesus,
(2.) widening and stabilizing our community (working on helping different members – so many who are family and neighbors to one another – love one another and resolve conflicts that arise) and
(3.) reaching out to and bringing in more youth (especially utilizing the gifts and passions of the interns).

Well, that is a peek at what we have been up to this month and a quick look down the line.

Thank you again for praying and reading and being part of this journey to see as many brought out of darkness and into the light for Jesus as possible.

Grateful for you,
Chad, Fabiola, Rebecca and Justice

Restoring Our Broken Land

In a recent theology class I (Chad) took as part of my continuing education I studied both evangelism and spiritual warfare – both very relevant topics here in South Central Los Angeles. Our community is riddled with violence, neglect, drug and alcohol problems and relational problems of every type. While we have seen some very positive and dramatic changes to our community we still see the overwhelming need for our Savior and Healer to sweep through and restore His beloved, staggering, lost children.

The beauty of our predicament here is the victory promised to us by the Lord. Promises like, “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers…” (Malachi 4:6a).

Please pray for Misael (pictured above), who has recently been estranged from his family for, in part, his own poor decisions. He badly wants to walk in all that God has for him and has been pressing in and seeking Him with his whole heart, but is heartbroken that his 14 year son has run away from home and is caught up in drugs and life on the street. Misael also suffers from a degenerative medical condition limiting what he can do. Abraham (pictured below) and Blanca, another couple we have gotten to know better in the last few months, are faithfully participating and serving at Fuente para las Naciones, but both only after choosing to live a life on the streets first. This past life has left a lot of scars and many issues to work through and to break free from. Between the two of them they have four children and are learning to be godly parents as well as going through marriage counseling with us to put Christ-based roots into their relationship.

We have been consistently seeing more people come out on a weekly basis to corporately worship and study the Word of God. There are potential leaders emerging and a growing sense of trust and community along with people stepping up to serve in various capacities. We have been blessed that a greater interest and talent in music for worship has also begun to surface.

In understanding this battle that we are in it makes sense that the spiritual climate here has been increasingly heavier and more challenging. The victories of late have been sweeter and more profound, but we ask that you stand strong with us and believe for complete restoration, complete healing and complete freedom of those still held captive by the lies and bondages of Satan here in this war-torn area of Los Angeles.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

Chad & Fabiola