Involved - Volunteer

We have come to South Central Los Angeles to share God’s love with as many people as possible believing that communities will be transformed by His grace and forgiveness and individuals set free from chains of darkness. We are committed to planting churches and raising-up leaders. This month we would like to share some of the exciting things that we are seeing as some of our congregation is beginning to get more involved in the ministry – taking ownership and making themselves available to learn and do more. We are continually casting the vision and looking for more participation and volunteers in every aspect of ministry. Having various church groups get involved in special projects throughout the course of the year helps model that the Body of Christ must get up and serve one another and share the truth and love of Christ to the world. We hope that one day not too far off we will be sending groups throughout the US and into other nations to serve and minister as well.

Highlights of the Last Month

Christmas Party
Families came out together – some bringing husbands or older children that we do not typically see during the week. We sang carols, played fun “Minute-to-Win-it” style games and Pictionary, made lots of crafts (beaded candy canes, ice cream cone ornaments, Rudolf from hand and foot prints), Valerie (third row of pictures) won the prize for most festively dressed with her hair done up almost as if she were a Christmas tree. We did a “White Elephant” gift exchange (which nobody had ever done before) and had a great time enjoying desserts, fellowship and quality family-centered, Christ-glorifying fun.

Christmas Gifts
Getting into every household and being able to spend some time visiting and blessing families was one of the highlights of this last month. A group from New Song Community Church in La Grande, Oregon had it on their heart to bless all the children in our church with Christmas gifts and we got to go and deliver them. Everyone was so grateful and many parents shared with us that they were not going to be able to buy anything for their children and so these gifts extra special for them.
Thankfulness abounded as parents and children alike were taken aback by the generosity of their brothers and sisters in Christ. We wish we could share the smiles, shrieks of joy, laughter and tears that were shared with us and that filled our hearts as we celebrated Christ’s birth with the families of Fuente para las Naciones in this special way.

New Year’s Carnival
On New Year’s Day we had a great time at the park with some 150+ people. For us it wasn’t the great fun everyone had, the food we gave out or even the gospel message that was shared through the drama and teaching that was the highlight, but the fact that five of our core families came out and helped put it on. They mingled and shared information about our church and about the purpose of our being in the park: building community and sharing the Good News of Jesus. One of our youth, Sol (pictured in second row below), brought along a few of her friends.

Day of Prayer and Fasting
Our first day dedicated solely to praying and fasting for one another, the needs in the church, and our community was amazing. We were able to pray with several of our neighbors, pray though a house, lift up many prayers of thanksgiving, praise and make faith-filled declarations over our church and community. We look forward to starting a weekly prayer meeting now as there is not only a need, but also an interest in the church for pressing in more to the things of God.

Community Outreach
The following weekend we partnered with a score of other ministries and churches to put on another community outreach. This one was targeted more towards the gang bangers, drug and alcohol addicts, homeless and prostitutes, while the New Year’s Carnival the week before was more of a family outreach. I translated as one of our men shared his testimony powerfully declaring the transformation in his life since giving his all to Jesus and leaving behind his heavy drug use and drug dealing. People were moved and it was powerful to see people who ‘just happened’ to be walking by on the street come over, sit down for a while and then give their life to Jesus. Later he moved around the crowed and talked and prayed with different people. We had three families come out to help and minister to people and we handed out about 75 hygiene packets (baggies with information about our church, soap, toothpaste, shampoo, razors, etc.). Some of the other groups shared the Good News through testimonies, dance and rap.

Winter Youth Retreat
We took four girls and four boys up to The OAKS camp for the Winter Teen Retreat. Two of our youth accepted Christ for the first time and another recommitted his life to Jesus – finding the assurance of salvation. The first night most of us were in tears after hearing the amazing speaker and watching a powerful drama. There were also lots of times for fun and team building. I (Chad) was able be there for two of the three days and was impressed and how sweetly and powerfully God was moving in the lives of each one of our youth. Jessica and Norma and two volunteers, Sheila and Gus, did a great job leading and mentoring the youth.

Please Pray With Us For:

· Travel to Mexico
We are leaving for Mexico this week to spend some time with Fabiola’s family and visit her home church. Pray for our travels and divine connections both with family and in ministry.

· Growing Leadership
While we are in Mexico our team will keep all the meetings, evangelism and follow-up running smoothly. Merced and Abraham will be working together and stepping up in their responsibilities during the Wednesday night church time. Pray for them as Abraham leads worship and Merced teaches.

· Valentine’s Outreach
We are excited about showing Fireproof on Friday, February 11 as an outreach and fun Christ-centered Valentine’s date activity. Pray that we would have a lot of new guests and that marriages would be strengthened.

· Raising Funds for Fuente para las Naciones
Lately the church has really taken more ownership and responsibility to help bring funds into the church. So, the plan is the Saturday before our monthly Sunday worship service various members of the church will come together to put on a yard sale of items the church has donated or collected to make some extra money. Several of the ladies have also begun bringing various food and drink items to sell. Pray that our income (through tithes, offerings, donations, fund raising, etc.) would continue to grow and be fruitful and that the people would continue to ‘birth’ these ideas and take ownership that would benefit the church as a whole.

· Figuring out Sundays
Please continue to pray for our Sunday Service (2nd Sunday of the Month). Our mid-week service remains the most attended even though this Celebration Service is meant to bring all the different groups together for praise & worship and fellowship. Pray that we would have the wisdom to know how to grow on Sundays.

· Marriage Retreat
We are planning an all day in-house marriage conference. We still are working out the details of the volunteers and activities needed for all the kid’s of the parents for this daylong event to work. Please pray for the details as we prepare the teaching, activities and continue looking for volunteers.

Thank you for being involved in our lives and ministry!

God Bless,
Chad & Fabiola

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