Celebrate!...The Family

As we mentioned last month for the next four months we will be having a monthly Sunday celebration service bringing all of our church together for a time of corporate worship, fellowship and teaching (during the week we meet in different groups). We had our first Sunday service October 10th and it was amazing. The adults met on our driveway and the children took over the inside of the house. Though some key people were not able to make it out this month we still had 46 people at our first service.

The most exciting part was having everyone participate to make it such a powerful and positive day. Abraham (pictured above), who not too long ago was living at a mission on Skid Row in downtown LA after coming out of drug related health problems, helped set up the sound equipment that we were able to borrow from a neighbor. He also helped lead worship choosing the songs and really setting the tone for our worship to be heartfelt and our praises full of joy. Maricela (pictured below) share a powerful testimony of how God has saved her and delivered her from her Meth addiction, her crazy life and being estranged from her mom – bringing not only freedom and restoration to her mind, body and soul but also peace, love and joy to her family. She thanked God and Fabiola for such an amazing transformation in her life. Blanca (pictured below) read the Scriptures. Graciela, Tina, Juanita and José all brought refreshments for the adults and children for afterward.

Graciela also invited two new people to come out and then really challenged all of us to do the same for the next month’s celebration service. Primo and Mona came early to set up the chairs and Nacha helped pass out the bulletins and pass around offering basket. Italia, one of our youth, came not to receive, but to serve in the nursery working hard the whole time and doing a great job. There were so many people helping that really the whole service went smoothly and it was great to see leaders and servants emerging from within our growing family.

After just about every meeting we have been getting together with different couples to do marriage relationship intervention and counseling. Families have lived in dysfunction for so long and the need for Biblical relational skills is very high. We see that disciplining children is typically yelling at best so for the health of the family and the health of our church as we grow as a family and community we are walking alongside and helping everyone grow in these areas. Because healthy families are one of our core church values and the need is so high in this broken place we have launched a two month teaching series on the family to complement what we’re doing with individual families.

Along with Bible studies and some other resources we will be going through this book "Answers for the Family: Practical Solutions to Difficult Questions"

Other Highlights

DODGER GAME We had some Dodger tickets donated to us and were able to take a family out to the game. We all had a great time getting to know one another better and talking about just about everything. Though the husband hardly has come out before the game he has come out two times since this game and has been very much a part. Pictured below from left to right: Florentino, Flor, Norma, Juanita, Fabiola, Justice and then in front Martin, Rebecca and Chad.

CHAD’S BIRTHDAY I can’t remember too many surprise birthday parties in my life, but this year our Wednesday night group completely surprised us (Fabiola didn’t even know). The whole group showed up an hour and a half early and we had a full on party. We had birria (a Mexican beef stew meat) with all the tortillas, rice, beans, salsa and fixings you could want, a huge cake, tamales, a homemade fruit punch and much more. Our fellowship and our study were very rich that night. Two different people took off work early to make this possible. Sacrificial giving, teamwork (they had to coordinate this all on their own, exchanging numbers and all contributing), and real service. We had people cleaning our house past 10pm that night and there were visitors that came out that night too who have continued to come – seeing such a community of new believers would attract me to stay too! This may have been the greatest honor and compliment I have had since moving to South Central Los Angeles….a community of new believers that Fabiola and I have raised up and have been pouring into gave back and showered love on me. What a blessings!The night before my surprise birthday (on my actual Birthday) I had two other cakes delivered to my house. There was a lot of good impromptu fellowship and way too much sugar.

JUSTICE’S BIRTHDAY There was another really special day (October 4th) this month….Justice turned 3 years old. We did not have any big public parties, but did enjoy some special time with our big boy as a family. What a blessing it is to have the privilege to raise such a precious young child to love and know God. We’ve been enjoying more one and one time with him now that Rebecca is in Kindergarten. He no longer just speaks sentences – he shares entire paragraphs of exciting news with us.

Please Pray With Us:

· Sunday Service NOVEMBER 14th
We will be having a huge Carne Asada BBQ and family fun time after our second Service. We are encouraging everyone to invite as many friends and family members as possible. Pray that the turnout would more than double (92 or more people) from this month and that people would continue to serve and grow in their gifts. Pray that the service would continue to get people excited about God and the Church and provide momentum for more growth.

· Building Use
We have also turned in paper work to use Main Street Elementary School for our Sunday celebration services (where Rebecca attends, just 3 blocks from our house), but are praying and waiting for the answer and cost (pray: FREE).

· Sharing at Simi Valley Community Church
Chad will be sharing his heart for the city, the poor and broken-hearted on October 31st with a church in the greater Los Angeles area. Pray that those that hear would have their heart’s broken for the things that break God’s heart and moved into action.

· Rebecca’s Birthday
Pray blessings over Rebecca with us as she will be turning 5 on November 5th.


Celebrating YOU, part of our extended family,
Chad, Fabiola, Rebecca and Justice

A New Season

This last month has been one of some big changes. September has been a time of increased faith and new growth personally, as a team and as a church.

Interns Arrive

Jessica and Monica joined our church plant team as support members in our children’s ministry – a big need since over 60% of our church is currently children and youth. They are both World Impact interns for the year. They have both brought fresh energy, skills and gifts to add to our team. Jessica is focusing on the teaching, discipling and mentoring of children from 4-10 while Monica is doing the same with the older children ranging from 11 -16. Each has a wide range of ages, but has provided a huge – and much needed – relief for Fabiola who was working with 22+ kids from 0-16 on any given day. Jessica, coming to us from Indiana, is a passionate person who is sensitive and compassionate towards the needs and feelings of others – especially those under the darkness and brokenness that engulfs the city of Los Angeles. She studied Christian Ministry at her college and desires to see youth rescued from the lies that saturate their culture and help them take a stand for their faith.

Fuente para las Naciones church plant team: (Left to Right: Monica, Jessica, Chad, Fabiola and Norma.)

While focusing on children and youth both interns also are involved in other areas of the church plant process. Monica shares that “in ministry, I find myself relying on prayer and intercession as the foundation of bringing life into people and communities. I can only do so much, but when I usher in the Kingdom of God, He can do infinitely more.” Monica is from Orange County and as you can ‘hear’ has a vision to really raise-up pray-ers and worshippers amongst our little ones. We continue to work on a strategy to equip parents and others from the community to take more responsibility in raising godly children.

Please pray for both of them as they continue to adapt to the life in the city and maneuver through the extra torrents that come against us all as missionaries and church planters. Their gifts and personalities compliment our team well and we are excited to lead this team further into the dark places of this city to continue to shine brighter and stronger for Jesus. Please also lift me (Chad) up as the leader and our team as a whole as we continue look to do God’s work His way in unity and love. Please also pray for the interns' transition from the academic world to the difficulties of inner-city life and challenges of church planting.

First Day of School

Rebecca is now attending Main Street Elementary, the closest of our neighborhood schools. Having our ‘baby’ in school has been a lot to adjust to for all of us, yet immediately so many natural and wonderful opportunities have opened up for new relationships. We, like the majority of the parents, walk her to and from school. We are not only thrilled to get to know more children and parents, but also working on building strong relationships with the teachers and staff at the school. Further, as we continue to grow as a church we have been looking at this site as one of the better potential locations to host Sunday services. Rebecca seems to absolutely love and be made for the social and intellectual atmosphere that the neighborhood school has offered her so far. Please be in prayer for Rebecca’s teacher Mrs. Lopez and all of Main Street’s students and staff.

The assembly of parents and students at the first day of school.

“Our charge is to both proclaim and embody the gospel so that others can see, hear, and feel God's love in tangible ways,” wrote Richard Stearns. And that is what we need prayer for. Real change! No more quick-fix, Band-Aid solutions, but real transformation and restoration. Please pray that we might be the embodiment of God’s love to others – those that have already been gathered and are part of Fuente para las Naciones Church and those that we will continue to meet whether at Main Street School, the park in front of our home or on the street. The needs are great! Our God is bigger!!

Thank you for standing with us,
Chad & Fabiola