Merry Christmas!

What a year. While this year was nothing like what we anticipated, there is no doubt God is able to use bad situations and hard times and turn them into good and beautiful things.

We continue to be as busy as ever, but like most of the world we are learning to connect with people in different ways. We’d like to share just 5 highlights of this season and ask for you to prayerfully give to this ministry.

1.      Empowering the local church and reaching the nations through Trauma Healing Groups

God wants to heal people’s hurts. In the city we see some deep and dark pains. Some are self-inflicted, many are not. Regardless of the source we know the church has the answer. We have been training facilitators to lead groups all over the US and world. We’ve all been through a lot this year; facilitators learn how to guide groups to Biblically address these hurts.

If you would like to know more or be trained with a group from your church reach out to us. We’ve trained people in a handful of countries and dozens of different well-known ministries, missions agencies and churches.

 

2.      Sharing our passion for church planting and empowering pastors

There is no denying the burning in our hearts to walk with and encourage other pastors and ministry leaders. We love seeing new churches birthed and struggling churches get the wind in their sails to become all that they can be. We just helped two churches, one in the San Diego area and one in the Portland area, relaunch. This year we have trained and coached and encouraged (lifting up weary arms) dozens of other pastors and look forward to launching several more schools in 2021. 

 

3.     A voice and advocate for Spanish ministry

We’ve been working tirelessly to get the same quality materials that we have in English into the hands of those ministering in Spanish. While the amount and quality of resources available in Spanish is increasing it is not even half of what is made available in English. We have a heart and have been working hard to give the same quality of materials, trainings and resources into the under-resourced Spanish churches and ministries.

  

4.     Celebrating 10 years as an inner-city church and mission

While we had to cancel nearly all our typical outreaches, we have worked hard like many ministries to ‘go to the people’ digitally. This meant raising funds for technology to give out to our people who had no or limited access online. This also has meant partnering with different organizations to hand out 1,000s of pounds of food to hundreds of individuals.

We had a powerful Trauma Healing Group with a dozen women that we hosted at our church and have two ladies now trained as facilitators to continue this ministry. After meeting only online for many months we were able to celebrate our 10-year anniversary and continue to meet outdoors every week following all the safety protocols.

While we decided not to host our annual Christmas Banquet and Toy Store because of COVID-19, we are empowering and blessing the children of our church this Sunday as we hand out toys to each one of them along with an additional toy that they will be given (along with a Gospel book and some other goodies) to give to a friend of theirs that does not attend a church.

One of the most beautiful stories that has emerged during the pandemic at our church is how when 60-70% of our church lost their jobs at the outset of the quarantine families literally sacrificed their own bread and food to share with other families in need. They also willingly invited those without jobs to come work alongside them at their job so that they could share their own paycheck and have something to bring home each week. The sacrificial giving and love in action has really humbled our hearts and given us a desire to give even more to this community.

 

5.     Family

Each one of the kids is doing amazing in school, but it hasn’t been easy being stuck at home, especially for our more social kids. Having our church meet on Sundays has helped some and each one of the kids help with some aspect of the set-up and ministry.

Rebecca hopes to be able to get back to softball in early February – she is doing great in school and especially loves her art class.

Angela started high school this year and has yet to be on campus but is doing wonderfully and started a Hip Hop class (online).

Justice is working on High School applications and scholarships and doing great in 8^th grade and continues to produce very creative stop motion Lego videos.

Beniah is in 1^st grade and has proven to be really good at watching the clock and making sure we all get to our different Zoom classes and meetings at the right time.

Fabiola continues to do way more than is humanly possible as she provides support in all the different ministries and somehow keep the kids and house flourishing.

 

Opportunity to give

Would you consider partnering with us monthly or sending a special gift for Christmas/end of the year as we continue working towards a healthy church for every community of poverty? We could really use your support!

Please send financial support to: World Impact / 2001 S. Vermont Ave. / Los Angeles, CA 90007  (Please make check payable to “World Impact” and designate “WOLYN SUPPORT” on the memo)  OR  

You may also GIVE ONLINE HERE.

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

From our family to yours, we wish you a very merry, healthy and blessed Christmas,

Chad, Fabiola, Rebecca, Angela, Justice and Beniah

Blessings in Disguise

What are some of the highlights for you during this COVID season? Oh, we know there are plenty of challenges and bad things happening, but as we come out of Thanksgiving and move into Christmas, we wanted to take a few moments to share some of the good things happening:

 

Expansion of our reach.

Between Trauma Healing Trainings and Evangel: School of Church Planting Chad has led online trainings and worked with people representing some 30 people groups and nations. Previously the focus was Los Angeles metro area, but now the focus is truly global.

 

Opportunity to reset and refocus.

We have realigned our priorities better during this season, letting go of some good things that were not as fruitful to allow us to focus on more important things. This season has also been a great teacher for us in balancing self-care and looking outward towards so many big needs socially, spiritually, relationally, and emotionally. It is great to hear and be led by God on when to engage and when to be patient.

 

New ministries and new churches.

This season brought the renewal of a key partnership and the launching of a food ministry which has put us in front of a great problem: ‘How can we effectively reach out to hundreds of Spanish speakers in the community and not only meet their physical needs, but their spiritual needs as well?’ It has been so fun to be part of this ministry both on the ground (distributing the food and praying for 100s of people in their cars during the weekend) and as a coach/consultant (on strategies on how to follow-up and move those hungry for God into a Gospel-community). Please pray for a church to be birthed through this effort!

 

Seeing God’s healing and provision.

Many people around us have had COVID and thankfully the majority have gotten over it, but sadly not all. God’s grace, provision, wisdom, and comfort have been on display throughout. At our church, easily half of the people lost their jobs. It has been beautiful how church members with very little have made sacrifices to provide jobs or resources for their brothers and sisters in Christ even when that meant less food on their own tables. Our family has been taken care of both physically and financially during this time too enabling us to be on the front lines to help with spiritual, emotional, physical, and financial needs.

 

Growing as a family.

We have had more time to engage in the lives of our children in their schooling and create some fun family moments together as we spend more time together at the house.

 

Thank you for your continued support – financially and through prayer and encouragement.

 

We wish your family a wonderful and blessed Christmas celebrating the birth of our amazing King!

Ministry Through Our Kid's Eyes

We wanted to share a little bit about what ministry looks like through the eyes of our children:

Rebecca (14 years old, living on the mission field since age 3)

“Life in ministry in the city can be very busy, but we get to help lots of people. Sometimes it is hard to adapt from one culture to another and always be ready and willing to help everyone, but it has been a good experience.”

Justice (12 years old, living on the mission field since age 1)

“I feel very fortunate. Whenever I have questions about God, I can just ask my dad or mom and they can help me. I like to do things like make videos for church and earn extra money for helping with things. I feel like the church is my second home and second family.”

Beniah (6 years old, born on the mission field)

“I don’t know. I like going to the beach.”

Angela (14 years old, brought into the mission field at age 13)

“You [Chad & Fabiola] help so many people and I see you pray for them. Where I use to live it was very different, people didn’t really pray for me or for anyone. We get to help people be better people and bless them. I don’t see anything bad, just lots of good because we are helping so much.”

This month please lift our family up in prayer. We strongly believe that ministry is about relationships. We also believe that our first ministry is to God and then our family. When these relationships are strong and healthy then we will be able to truly pour out blessing and be that needed light in darkness. We are doing well but see burn out and moral failure and brokenness all around us and want to be a model family, sustained by God’s love and grace so that we can reach more for Him.

Normally in these letters we ask for prayer for leaders or pastors we are working with, some ministry event that is coming up (i.e. church plant school) or for the big issues facing people in poverty in the city. No doubt these prayers are still desperately needed, but this month we want to ask for concentrated prayer over our children, marriage, schooling, friendships, health, relationship with God and anything else that God brings to your mind for us…so that we can continue to pour out and give the very best to those that usually only get left overs and crumbs.

Thank you! Be well and know you are loved!

Expanding Vision

Eleven years ago, we quit our job, left the comfort of our home and church, and moved ourselves with two children in diapers to Los Angeles to be missionaries to the urban poor and plant churches. We celebrate all that God has done in that time!

God gave us a vision to plant 12 churches in 12 years. While we planted our first church, Fuente para las Naciones, a predominantly Spanish-speaking church called to the barrio amongst the immigrants of South LA, we learned a lot and began to build deep relationships and trust with the community, other churches, and emerging leaders. Now through Evangel (our School of Urban Church Planting) and our network of urban churches we have been able to coach and train dozens of leaders impacting many corners of this vast county (L.A. Country is the largest in the US and makes up ¼ of the population of California), which has led to the planting and strengthening of dozens of churches. Whether it is helping train and coach a church planter and his team or raising up the next generation of leaders from within our own church it is a joy to be able to empower those called by God enabling them to do what they likely never would have had the opportunity to do without an organization like World Impact.

World Impact empowers urban leaders and partners with local churches to reach their cities with the Gospel. Now moving beyond planting only 12 churches in 12 years we want to see a healthy church for every community of poverty – we are looking way beyond Los Angeles, even beyond the US. Over the next 3 years, we as World Impact, are positioning ourselves to empower 50,000 workers in communities of poverty. Just like we can not likely plant a new church every year on our own we understand the power of partnership and multiplication.

Coming alongside men and women that are called to ministry to train, equip, encourage, and coach them is a powerful way for us to multiply our impact. We love being able to invest into the Kingdom in this way. Thinking about all the time and effort that goes into launching a new church, while exciting and life-giving, we know we can do so much more for a city and our needy world when we multiply our efforts. Through Evangel, and other programs we are running, we are raising up those that are called to plant and minister in these dense, complex metropolitan areas of the world.

This month we ask that you pray for our upcoming Evangel schools. Due to concerns with COVID-19 we are piloting an online version of our intensive church plant school and hope for even greater participation. We will continue to offer the same rich content, coaching and group breakouts in a new platform. Pray for the teams, one of which we are sending from our own church, to connect with God and His heart for the lost. Also, pray for a strong vision of healthy church reproduction to be caught by the leaders and their teams as well as the power of the Holy Spirit to fill them up and lead the way to another community impacted by the Good News!

Thank you for your faithful support in prayer, in finances, in encouraging us and sharing what we are doing with others. May God keep you close in His will. God bless!

Challenges of Ministry during COVID

Wow! What a season this has been as we go through COVID-19. We hope you are doing well.

The churches and leaders we work with have had to become very creative and have worked tirelessly to continue advancing the mission and serve their communities. Many extra hours have been logged. Like many of us throughout the world, we have seen and been part of getting food and supplies to those who most need it, training people on how to use technology, whenever possible providing jobs, lots of phone calls and texts to encourage and connect, and implementing new trainings online.

We know it is tough everywhere, but some of the extra challenges of being poor and working in areas of poverty have been amplified during this season. Some have realized they are essential workers and must leave their children to figure out online school on their own as they go off to work. Many more have lost jobs. We work closely with pastors and leaders whose predominant ministry is in the jails, others who work with people paroled and battling addictions, others whose church is predominantly made up the homeless. Pastors have been challenged with how to council families from a distance with increased tension and even abuse in the home.

What has been the most difficult part of this situation for you? What is helping you cope with this situation? What is hindering you from coping with this situation?

In early May, Chad launched a Trauma Healing Group online to help address some of these issues and train up other leaders on ways that they can lead more people through the Biblical process of healing through past and present traumas. The questions above just begin to scratch the surface at talking through deep hurts and trauma that people are carrying. We are just about finished with our current healing group, but as one of World Impacts five programs we will continue to train and empower others to lead these groups so that we might see more people healthy not only in body, but in mind, soul and spirit too.

Thank you for your ongoing prayers and financial support as we work towards empowering and partnering with the urban poor towards the goal of a healthy church for every community of poverty.

Fanning the Flames

When we are not actively teaching one of our church planting schools to equip teams to launch new churches, we are coaching new church planters, working with a cohort of leaders and pastors to equip, empower and encourage them and recruiting new, future church planters. Our end goal is to see a healthy church for every community of poverty.

There are numerous challenges to overcome when working with people living in poverty, but it is breathtaking watching God create beauty out of brokenness and bringing hope and justice out of inequality. Nelson Mandela said, “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings”

Jesus echoed what is written in Deuteronomy: “⁷ If anyone is poor….¹⁰ Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. ¹¹ There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.” Deuteronomy 15:7-11

Part of our “being openhanded” and “giving generously” is truly believing that the Kingdom of God will advance through the Church, which will have key leaders, men and women, young and old from areas of poverty that will lead people to Christ and help the Church advance.

We have already worked with many of these leaders and are astounded at what they are doing…and often with so little. In a coaching time recently, I asked one emerging leader to draw out a life map indicating pivotal moments that have led him to be where he is today in ministry. Instead of a map or timeline he chose to draw a tree full of fruit; each fruit representing a key, life-changing experience that taught him or prepared him to love more deeply and have the skills and character needed to lead a group of people. His “map” was so unique to the life in the city that he has lived, yet there was no doubt that God’s fingerprints and guiding were all over it. While he didn’t have what might be the ‘normal’ training and preparation because he lacked resources, education, connections and opportunities, God still called and is equipping him to be a leader that not only leads and loves well, but also trains and empowers others to do the same.

Thank you for your ongoing prayers and financial support to help us empower the urban poor to change this world with the Gospel.