Overflow With Thankfulness

Our hearts are filled with gratitude and frankly we do not express it enough. We are serving a God beyond comprehension or description in an organization that supports and guides us and is an amazing community of believers and on top of that we have friends and family praying and supporting us financially which is literally impacting hundreds of people. We often ask, “why us?” Why do we have the privilege to be in front row seats for such an amazing work God is doing in the hearts and lives of so many people in South Central Los Angeles and soon spreading throughout the world? He has called us for such a time and place as this and all we can do is thank God for using us and connecting us to World Impact and give you a big “thank you” for partnering and helping make this all possible. Colossians 2:6-7 reminds us that we shouldn’t just receive Christ Jesus into our lives as Lord, but be rooted in Him and continue to be built up – getting stronger in Him…and as we do that we should overflow with thankfulness. We are overflowing with thankfulness as we look upon our Lord and as we reflect on what He is accomplishing here in this hardened city through our people in this very new church, Fuente para las Naciones. We are seeing Bere and Blanca and Abraham and others step-up and serve in various capacities according to their abilities and interests to serve the church as a whole.
Recently we taught on how to share our faith, helping us all get deeper roots of understanding and grow stronger in our faith. What excitement to hear about how Maricela took this commission and went to see her mother that same week to share the Gospel. Her mother, because of the change she has seen in her daughter, is very open to hearing more and coming out to church. José shared with a co-worker about what he has been learning about himself and his Maker by studying the Bible and not just following some religion. Juanita shared with her neighbors about our church and has invited them to come and meet us to continue some deeper conversation. Dora invited Erika and now Erika wants to get more involved. Maricela, José, Juanita and Dora are all people who have come to know the Lord just recently (within the last couple of months) and we overflow with thankfulness that they are growing, getting rooted deeper in the community of believers, serving one another in very loving and practical ways and now seeking to expand this great fellowship by sharing this amazing news of a God that loves us so much that He sent His only son to live and die for us – that we might have ever lasting life!
We are also so thankful for Alicia, Evelia and Ruby all women that we have gotten to know through three different outreaches over the last year that have recently begun to come to the women’s Bible study every week. There are so many needs represented in all of these people in whom we have spoken. Deep, dark pasts that are still being unraveled and healed by God’s grace and love – they need our prayers, but we must include not only prayers of petition and intersession, but prayers of gratitude for what God has already accomplished.

Thank you for being by our side and for being by their side,
Chad & Fabiola Wolyn

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

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

The Spider Web and the Frog

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Committed to Follow-up & Church Needs

It all started on a warm spring day at an outreach event that we planned at the park for the whole family. It was there that we got to know Natalia, Noah, Sergio, Leonardo, Freddi, and Hoaracio. What delightful children! They had so much fun playing games, doing crafts and learning about Jesus. But then they went home and everything went back to how it was before.

At a spaghetti dinner we had at our house about a month ago Jorge, Maria and their children were able to meet everyone else that is part of our church for the first time. We planned this event as a follow-up to meeting so many new people at the WOW Jam (mentioned in the last post). We wanted to bring our church together and invite others that might be interested in getting to know us better. It was exciting that a few of the family members that don’t normally join us in our weekly meetings came out as did a couple other families we recently connected with. We were prepared for over 100 people, but realized it was a blessing that only about 50 people came out because it gave us the much needed time to connect with each person and allow the group to not feel overwhelmingly large. As a church we are constantly looking to grow in, out and up. This dinner had a little of each: inward we were able to get to know one another better (it was especially exciting to see people that don’t meet on the same days sharing a meal and talking with one another), outward, we had some new guests, and upward we were able to have a powerful time studying God’s word together. We had a class for youth, for elementary aged children, for toddlers and for adults.

Jorge shared that one of his sons, Leonardo, said on the way home while jumping up and down, “I liked that party a lot!”

“It’s not a party, but a church meeting,” responded Jorge.

“Well I like these church meetings better then. When you go to parties everyone just looks at you weird and there are always problems. At this ‘party’ everyone got along and actually really cared for me.”

When Jorge shared this with me he was glowing with contentment and excitement because he realized then what he had been looking for - for himself and for his family - is found only in Jesus Christ and the Church. He knows the best place for him and his family is with the community of believers in his neighborhood, Fuente para las Naciones, a group of families and individuals that are continually growing together in their knowledge and love for God and one another. God is very active here touching entire families and reconciling them to Himself. As Jorge retold me about his conversation with his son he also shared that Maria has really benefited and changed in her times meeting with us adding to the reasons to be grateful to be part of a church like Fuente. What a privilege to be here and be able to watch these lives open up and be transformed.

We love what we are doing and need your prayers! This month along with asking for prayer and our personal financial support that enables us to continue doing this work we have additional needs for the church plant that we would like to make you aware of. Please see the list below and let us know if there is any way that you can help.

Fuente para las Naciones
Church Plant Needs

· Projector
· Projector screen
· Laptop
· Sound equipment

(speakers, mixer, cables, microphones, etc.)
· 100 Chairs
· 3 Tables
· Guitar
· Keyboard
· Large coffee maker
· Minivan
· Children’s Sunday school curriculum and supplies.

If you have any of these items (new or used) please let us know.

To give financially towards one of these needs please indicate “ATR 8329 Fuente” on your gift made out to World Impact.

Thank you for praying for us as a family and for the families, like Jorge, Maria and their children that we are reaching! Thank you also for contributing in any way towards our financial and physical needs.

May God abundantly bless you!
Chad and Fabiola