Back To School

Updates

School Supplies Outreach

Gabriela has a burden for her community. We met her a year ago at a sport’s outreach at the park and soon after she became an active part of our church. She has a lot of great ideas and has been really stirred up to pray and fast for the community lately.

During our school supply outreach this year Gabriela was outside of our home when a neighbor passed by. Gabriela invited our neighbor and her three kids to come in and get some school supplies. Before this family left – not only were their hands full of school supplies – but their mother who has been battling some serious (potentially life threatening) health conditions had been prayed for and ministered to in a way that deeply touched her. That is the reason we do these outreaches, to give our congregation the opportunity to reach out to their own community and meet the many very real physical and spiritual needs.

Family Camp
God is so good! What an amazing time we had this year at family camp. Families came away strengthened and our church has been united as a family deeper than before.

Flying through the air on the zip line.

Families enjoying fellowship and family devotional times outside of the dining hall.

Father and son time. We had 5 times together as a church to study the Bible, worship, pray and share testimonies of what God is doing in our lives. Everyone woke up early before breakfast to seek God and we had communion together on Sunday morning. Chad taught on forgiveness, judging, sowing & reaping along with some other powerful topics leading to some good prayer ministry time.

Worship time was so much fun! The children were up front dancing. Family camp is a great time to deepen friendships for the children and for the adults. These girls all got their faces painted at the big carnival on the last day.
We brought a lot of kids! Fabiola and Norma and some of the youth helped teach the children’s class while the adults were in the sessions with Chad. Crafts are always a big hit for families (along with the pool, crafts are the most popular activities during free time). Here two families sit and enjoy some time painting pottery – making memories. Two more families work with their children to build and paint some wood toys.

The men and boys take a break after an exciting game of soccer.

Mara shares with the group during our testimony time on the last night. There were many powerful testimonies during this time about how God had used the message on forgiveness to help them release unforgiveness that had been bottled up in their hearts for years. Mara is a single mother; her husband is in jail. She never knew anything about God before, but publically thanked God and us for “that day you came and spoke to me at the park”. Mara also shared how she is now living the life that “she always wanted for her and her kids, but didn’t know really existed.” Mara and her children take a family picture.Valentino gets ready to go for a train ride with his two youngest sons. Valentino use to be a drug addict and alcoholic that carried a weapon. His addiction nearly destroyed him and his entire family. Instead of spending money on taking care of his family he would buy drugs. He regrets the lost time and the scars he left, but is now focused on seeking God and rebuilding. This family camp was an important time for him and his family. He not only is seeing his relationship with his wife and two older boys grow, but now he is starting fresh with his baby son.

Maricela and her baby also prepare for the train ride.

Filipino Missionaries Stir Up Our FaithDerek & Rose Cardwell poured out their lives during a week-long visit ministering three times to the church. Derek taught on the Holy Spirit and the Church. There was a deepening and maturing of what God is doing in our midst. God used these visiting ministers to impart deeper faith and a hunger to fulfill the vision God has given us as a “Fountain to the Nations” – to allow Jesus to fill us up so much that we are overflowing and a powerful witness and blessing to our community and the entire world. Derek, Rose and their two children will soon be moving to Thailand to minister there. It was great practice for Chad to translate the different messages into Spanish as well as great heart-to-heart fellowship time for both of our families.

Teacher Training Meeting
Our rotation of volunteer Sunday school teachers is going well. We had a special meeting to share appreciation, stir up vision and equip the new volunteers. We challenged everyone to look out 10 years and imagine the transformation in the children and the church. With strong Biblical training and time living in a strong community of believers we will have built strong foundations for the next generation. This time served to equip them for the work in the church, but also provided practical tools to be better shepherds for their children in the home.


Family Stuff: Back to School, For the First Time

Our son, Justice, insisted on taking his Bible to the first day of preschool. Rebecca came back the second day of school interceding for her friends and a lady that doesn’t have a house. She wants to raise money to help this lady. She has been interceding for the salvation of her friend, Bianca, a good friend from the school she attended last year. Would you continue lifting up our children, our marriage and even join Rebecca in her burden to see Bianca come to know Jesus personally?

Thank you to everyone who also prayed for our vacation time – it was what we needed to come back strong for another season.


Please Pray With Us

Congregational Leader’s Meeting – September, 18th
Pray for good communication and focus. One of our primary purposes for being here is to train up others for the ministry. We hope these times will be filled with practical training along with an opportunity for our church to grow in ownership and responsibility of this ministry.

Money Seminar – Mid-October
We are planning an all day seminar on finances for our church plant. Unlike my experience growing up, most of these youth and adults have never been taught on how to use or manage money. We will be looking at what the Bible teaches us so that we can be better stewards of what we have. We are considering opening the meeting up to other area churches. We will need some extra hands to help provide childcare and a meal for the event.

“…do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” Deuteronomy 4:9

Thank you for partnering with us in prayer as we share God’s wonder with those in Los Angeles and continue to preach and teach so that these relationships with Jesus will grow and multiple for generations yet to come.

Chad & Fabiola

First time on TV

What a summer!  Our summer months were filled with deeper prayer and worship times as a congregation, more indigenously lead Bible studies, as well as children and youth giving their lives to Jesus and enjoying amazing times at summer camp.  We also taught music lessons, held a sport’s camp and had several other outreaches at the park.  We had our first bilingual Sunday service and began an English service once a week.  During one of the outreaches I, Chad, baptized 48 people!  We took a couple of our emerging leaders to an inspiring leadership conference that has led to great discussions and more fruit.  I was the guest of a television program for the first time ever and then interviewed for another TV channel a few days later.  Fabiola and I also celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary.   Justice, our youngest, starts preschool this week and Rebecca will be going to a new school as a big 1^st grader.  Like I said, what a summer!

Pouring our lives into this community of South Central Los Angeles is a joy, but also as our hearts are poured out we can feel the drain.  We have invested in a young woman and her two children for just under a year now and due to circumstances in her life she may have to return to her homeland of Mexico.  So much has happened in her life – she has learned the ways of the Lord and has begun walking in them, but she has so much yet to learn.  You never know how long you will have to know somebody.  We pour and give as much as possible to every person, but do hope for enough time to really lay strong foundations.  Pray for Ronda.  If she does leave she will need to find a strong community of believers so that she can continue growing in her new found faith. 

One of our highlights this summer was reading what Leila – Ronda’s daughter - wrote about her time at summer camp, “I learned that God loves me and that Jesus died on the cross to take away my sins.”  That was not a religious answer, but a profound and emotional answer about the Good News that she heard for the first time in a way that she was able to grasp and make her own!  Leila prayed to give her life to the Lord during cabin time on the last night of camp!

Prayer Needs

1.      Family Camp –September 3-5 (Labor Day Weekend)

2.      Freedom to Live and Serve – We have been walking the men and women of our church through many deep hurts and wounds.  Pray for complete freedom for God’s dearly beloved so they can experience life and give life through ministry as God originally planned.

3.      Our Family! Continue to lift the four of us up as we minister in Jesus’ name, restoring marriages and family relationships to many who have years – if not generations – of hurt and brokenness.

Thank you for your prayers for us and for those who have yet to come to the place Leila came this summer – of full surrender. 

Chad and Fabiola