Not Sitting Idle

With thanksgiving just around the corner we want to make sure we say what we feel so deeply in our heart: we could not be doing what we are doing without the emotional, spiritual and physical help we receive from you…sometimes it is just a little note, email or phone call, other times it is the prayers that we feel being lifted up on our behalf and it also comes in the form of a gift or check.  Thank you so much for all you do, so that we can do all that God wants to accomplish here in the city!

 

This month we wanted to share a couple quick stories about how our church is learning and growing in what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ…it means loving Him, but also loving others – sharing our faith and making disciples as He commanded.  We did not leave our lifestyle and profession to sit idle and ‘hope’ that God will do something….nor are we raising-up people to sit around, but to be active in their faith and move because they have hope. 

Updates…

Sharing Their Faith

It has been encouraging this last month how several people in the church have taken initiative to share their faith.  One young man has been talking to his friends every chance he gets at school.  He even led an “Evangelism Training” for his peers during youth group last week.  Another youth tries to always bring a friend every time he comes to our music academy classes.  It was encouraging hearing their prayers for their friends at a recent Bible study.  They aren’t sitting by passively, but pressing into God to see lives changed. 

One the single mothers from our church asked if we could help her gather a group of people together to go share sandwiches she made with the homeless in the park.  She doesn’t have a lot herself, but knows that it is more blessed to give than receive and made as many sandwiches as she could.  A group then went and shared their faith and prayed with people that needed that word of encouragement and little bit of food. 

Workshops

Recently we have begun to launch a new series of workshops.  We aren’t running these workshops, but empowering our church to share something they like to do….from teaching how to change oil in a car, to a variety of crafts and gift ideas, to special recipes and dishes.  This serves as a new way to foster relationships, empower people to share the gifts, interests and abilities that they have and a place to share their faith with other people.  These groups are providing a great, relaxed social setting where relationships can grow.  Pray with us, as we continue to encourage more of these groups, that disciples would be made and released to do more in and for their community bringing in a greater harvest of people for the Lord. 

Christmas Gifts

This Christmas season we want to give you an opportunity to help this ministry by giving a gift (a donation towards these items or used items in good condition would also be greatly appreciated).

 

·         Craft supplies for our children’s ministry

·         Bass amplifier

·         Christian music for children (Spanish and English)

·         iPOD (or any MP3 player) to load with music for Kid’s Church services

·         DVDs (appropriate for children or toddlers)

·         DVD player

·         Video games for XBOX 360 (Kinect ok) or Wii

·         Scholarship for youth winter camp ($95/person)

·         Large pull down screen (for projector)

·         Piano tuning

·         Books.  In our intern program we have the leaders in training read lots of books. We would like to create a scholarship to help them purchase these books and a library with at least one copy of each book that could be checked out. 

 

Let us know if you would like to give a special gift or send any of the items listed above to help in a practical way as we continue to reach out to the lost and hurting, train-up leaders and plant churches.  We so thank you for making this a team effort – it wouldn’t be possible otherwise. 

Also, we love to receive pictures and news from our friends.  If you are sending out Christmas cards please add us to your mailing list.  Our mailing address is:  The Wolyns / 2001 S. Vermont Ave. / Los Angeles, CA 90007

 

 

Please Pray with Us…

 

ü Thanksgiving

Sunday, November 24 – Thanksgiving dinner for the community.  We are inviting people who live in the park in front of the church as well as many other people that have physical, spiritual and emotional needs to come enjoy a great meal.  This is a time for our church to serve and reach out to others.  We have received so much from God and want to serve others and share our story of coming to know the love and forgiveness of Jesus with others.

 

Wednesday, November 27 – We will gather again for our annual Thanksgiving potluck.  This time is a more intimate time of fellowship and praise for our church body.   

 

ü Christmas Banquet

Sunday, December 15 – We will be dressing up nice and having a special Christmas banquet to celebrate Christmas together.  We hope to have many people from the community join us as well.  All of our tutoring families will be invited…and we are planning some special treats for everyone too!

 

ü Family

Fabiola feels a lot better.  We are excited to have found out that we will be having a baby boy!!!

Please continue to pray for the baby’s (and Fabiola’s) health…some tests have come back indicating that there may be some health concerns with the baby.   

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

With a heart of gratitude we wish you a special Thanksgiving and again say thanks for your love!

 

Chad, Fabiola, Rebecca and Justice

We are thankful for...

Every Thanksgiving we have a tradition at our church to gather for a potluck meal and share testimonies and words of thanks to God and one another.  It is a beautiful time of fellowship and a powerful moment to count our blessings. What God has done and is doing is truly awe inspiring – from the smallest to largest detail. 

In that spirit, this month we wanted to list out some of the things we are thankful for:

-A unified family that loves one another and is committed to serve and minister together.

-A church we got to start that is growing in its understanding and application of what it means to give their lives fully over to Jesus.

-The hundreds of people (like you) that are praying and supporting us financially and cheering us on from the sidelines all over the world. 

-Eight salvations and six baptisms this year so far.

-Our house that gives us space to be a family and recharge our battery to be able to minister more effectively.

-Our health and safety, especially because where we minister there are so many health and safety concerns.

-New life! One of our personal biggest thanks to God is for our third child (yes, Fabiola is pregnant!), whom we expect to join us in March.  J

-Great volunteers that come and help us throughout the year. Some help regularly with things like our tutoring ministry and others come and visit and lend a helping hand just once.  We are grateful for every single person that has linked arms with us to expand God’s Kingdom here in Los Angeles. 

-Our days of prayer and fasting that we hold at the church semi-regularly that press us in closer to God.

-A healthy transition as the other missionaries who were helping us earlier moved on to help in other ministries.

-Nancy and Erika whom we have empowered as leaders from within our church to take greater responsibility in working with the youth and serve in other areas of the church.

-Angel, who was saved and baptized last year and now is going through our leadership program and growing as a worship leader.

-For being located in a strategic location at the center of our community in front of a large park where we are able to interact with, serve and share Jesus with so many people with deep needs. 

-Violent crime is down in the neighborhood where we are ministering.

-Favor with key community, business and government leaders.

-Our financial support base which has been growing up to where it needs to be for us to be fully provided for as missionaries.  We have almost doubled since the start of the year when we were only at 45% (currently we are at 88%).  Please pray for us to reach that 100% goal before the end of the year.

 

We are excited about our church hosting a large community outreach the Sunday before Thanksgiving where we will be inviting the community to hear about Jesus and eat lots of food in celebration of all that God is and all that He has done for us. 

Thank you for your love and partnership in empowering people to be all that they can be in Christ!

Chad & Fabiola Wolyn

Climbing to New Heights

As a forestry major years ago at Oregon State I remember being impressed by a story I read about John Muir climbing a tall tree during a severe storm.  He was able to gain a more profound appreciation of nature and its power from that vantage point within the storm.   

 

We too continue to climb higher – going wherever God leads us. Our perspective and vantage point greatly affect how we respond to what life dishes out. We serve a mighty God, the creator of all things, and He continues to take us to these new heights with Him.  Yes, many times the tree is swaying and the rain is pummeling us, but there is a security in being close to God.  We see, not with natural eyes, but with faith the many mountains and valleys that lie ahead – where many more people will come to Christ and second, third and fourth generations will be serving this awe-inspiring God.

 

Updates...

Men’s Retreat

Our group hit a few interpersonal bumps on our drive up.  The men come from different backgrounds and yet through these differences and hurts that surfaced we were brought closer together and had to press into God more.  There was a lot more talking, heart searching, crying and reconciliation than past men’s retreats have had (some tree climbing too as the picture above indicates).  This retreat helped solidify a base for our church and showed me (Chad) where the guys really are at in their relationship with God.   Thank you for your prayers!

Planned Absences

Over the last month Chad has missed two Sunday services and a Wednesday night community group for various other ministry events that were planned.  Part of moving our church towards greater maturity is allowing them opportunities to minister and to grow into new areas of responsibility. 

In these absences the church has done such a great job rising to this challenge and stepping-up to take on more responsibility.  One of our youth lead worship for the first time – first at the community group and then on Sunday for the whole church.  One of the men preached a message about the Church being the Body of Christ – this was his first time preaching, yet he spoke well and challenged the church with the Word of God.  The church came together as a body and were spurring one another on to press into God.  Last Sunday when our whole family was away at a World Impact retreat at least 12 different people had major roles in preparing, teaching or ministering in some way during the Sunday service. 

HELP WANTED: passionate, sold-out, like-minded, followers of Christ to team-up with…

Does your heart break for broken people wandering in the shadows of society without any hope?

Are you interested in being a part of a team of people doing something and bringing light and hope to the world?

 Do you love the idea of new churches being planted and young believers being equipped and activated in their faith?

 

 

Here is what we want….we would like you to consider if God might be calling you to partner with us and move to minister alongside our family.  We would like a core group of people with the same heart and vision to reach the lost and minister to the broken that can help our team train-up leaders and plant more churches.  We are looking for just about any skill and gift sets; experience in the inner city or in church planting is not required.  Spanish is a plus, but not necessary either.   Shoot us an email or give us a call – we’d love to talk more about this potential opportunity with you if God is tugging at your heart. 

 If moving to the city is not an option for you, consider how you could pray with and for us so that we can see an increase in salvations, baptisms, people set free from drug, alcohol and sexual addictions, leader’s identified, trained-up and released, and ultimately more churches planted that will continue to reproduce. 

 Another very practical way to participate from afar is to give financially.  Our family is able to minister in the community where we live full-time because of the sacrificial giving of so many individuals.  Our church plant has also been able to make significant advances and reach out to the community because of key partnerships and donations enabling us to go beyond what would be possible alone as a young church. 

 

Please Pray with Us…

 

Family: Fabiola continues to struggle with feeling sick every day due to the pregnancy. 

                   Pray for   relief and a healthy baby/pregnancy. 

                 Rebecca’s birthday is November 5^th.  (She will be turning 8!)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Finances: This month we went made it to 89% (we are so close to 100%).  Though stretching at times, it is so encouraging seeing how God continues to provide for our family and this ministry through the generous gifts of so many people.  Thank you for your prayers and gifts!

 

To new heights being reached in our homes, churches and communities in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Chad, Fabiola, Rebecca and Justice

Be His Witness...of what you've seen and heard

By the Spirit…While most of the adults we work with have not finished high school we equip and empower them to make huge Kingdom impacts.  God is moving here.  We recently shared what Acts 22:15 says, “You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.” As a result there has been an increase in prayer for the lost and visitors to our church.  They have seen and heard great things and now want to share this joy with their family and friends. 

I (Chad) was recently meeting with one of our youth and he began to share how he wasn’t sure how to hear God’s voice.  I shared my experience and some promises from the Bible and then we dove into a powerful time of worship and prayer.  God met him there and began to speak to him.  It was powerful to see him moved to compassion for his classmates - and one classmate in particular that is really struggling right now.  Because of this encounter with Jesus he has a new sense of vision and purpose and is excited to share with his classmates about his faith and relationship with Jesus.

“It is important to disciple a life, not teach a lesson,” says leadership expert P. Drucker. Part of empowering and releasing someone into ministry is discerning where they are and where they are suppose to go and giving them what they need to get there.  What a privilege we have to be able to come alongside so many people – young and old and from all sorts of backgrounds – and love them and nurture them so that they can realize a potential that neither they nor those around them thought was possible.  Thank you for helping make this all possible with your prayers and financial support. 

As we disciple people in the city there is an advancement and deepening of faith moving them from believing in God enough to benefit from His great blessings to a place of contributing and serving.  Now we ask that you would pray with us that we would see an even greater commitment – one of being given completely and sacrificially to Jesus and His Good News.  We ask for your prayers as we continually dream with God where and when the next church plant will be launched.  We are dedicating this year to equip and empower leaders that can take greater responsibility in the church and to help lead with this endeavor to plant new churches.

Excited we are on the same team serving the same mighty God!

Chad, Fabiola, Rebecca and Justice