A driver
crashed into a South Los Angeles home after being fatally shot. The shooter is still at
large. This happened behind the church Fuente para las Naciones (our
church) on 50th & S. San Pedro St. at 2:55 p.m. September 3. We’ve
heard a lot of gun shots here in South Central Los Angeles, but these were by
far the loudest – and there were at least 10 shots that rang out. The SUV drove
about a block further after being shot at and then crashed on the opposite
corner from our church, slamming into the building and causing the vehicle to
immediately erupt into flames. Within minutes
police, firemen and the media were swarming the area and had it blocked off
until evening. The victim was rescued from the car and rushed to the hospital, but
was pronounced dead soon afterwards. Police
said the shooting was likely gang-related, and they are still looking
for the shooter. This crime is the 39th killing in
South L.A in the last month, the highest murder rate in eight years.
(Sources: Our eyewitness account, ABC news and Univision
websites)
Please be in prayer for our
community. We held a prayer meeting from 6am-11am this
morning to intercede for the community and ask God to lead us into what we are
to do help bring peace and wholeness into South L.A..
We
had a dinner for the community (sorry no
pictures) last week and got to meet and reconnect with some neat people.
One guy was a gang member who brought his kids over to eat. He shared a lot
about the crazy life he has had growing up in this community. He shared about
things he has seen and done that sound like a movie script. He has been out of
prison for a couple years and is trying to do what’s right, but it hasn’t been
easy. After listening some I shared how he and his kids need Jesus.
A Look Back at Summer
We have not sent out an update
since May – we are sorry. We spent most of the summer working on getting our financial
support levels up to cover our family’s needs as we continue to minister in Los
Angeles this coming year. With a third
child, increasing costs of school and other daily needs we needed to have some
focused effort in communicating our need and vision for future ministry to move
us forward. There are a lot of great opportunities both in church planting and
coaching/ mentoring other church planters and leaders lying ahead….so we’re
excited, but we do need to eat.
In this update we will highlight parts
of the summer months – before, during and after our trip. We’ll share what we did as well as share about
all the great things happening in Los Angeles while we were gone through the
disciples that we have trained-up.
In June…
Music
Workshop
Free Music Classes!
We continue to partner with musicians from LA and Orange Counties that
give us some of their time and expertise so we can give more experiences and
classes to children, youth and adults in our church and community.
Tutoring
Graduation
We finished off our 3rd year of tutoring and 1st
year of English classes (ESL for adults) with a celebration. We spoke to
everyone about God being our ultimate hero. Both the children and the parents
were honored and affirmed.
We opened up a craft room for the
children to create cards where they could express their thanks to their
parents. We then opened another room
where parents worked on creating a special card for their children where they
could speak affirmation and life over them. They took family pictures, had a
meal and left filled up (with lots of love).
The Send Off
It took 3-4 months to
really prepare everyone and hand off responsibilites so that we could be away
from the church we pastor for 8 Sundays. We were sent off with love and prayers
and left the church in the hands of God and the emerging leadership.
In July & August…
Our Support Raising Travels
- We drove a lot - over 7,000 miles.
- We were in 4 different states.
- We had car troubles and had to do an impromptu visit to the mechanic.
- Thanks to many generous contributions all our expenses were met for the trip!
- We were rear-ended in Portland on the way to a lunch meeting.
- We slept on 15 different beds, couches, floors.
- Our kids thought they were on vacation and made some new friends. (We didn’t want them feeling like they were being dragged around or forced to do ministry so this is a big praise!)
- We got to worship and fellowship at some really cool churches.
- Our health was great the whole trip.
- God used us to speak to others.
- God used others to speak to us: encourage us, challenge us, and remind us how loved we are.
- We got to see so many super special friends and family!
- Unfortunately we were unable to see everyone….though 8 weeks seems like plenty of time – the longest we stayed in one place was one week and that just isn’t enough time to see everyone.
- We left with the goal to raise $1,500/month in new support. (In order to reach 100% of our needed monthly support for our family of five.)
- We were able to solidify $1,000 in new monthly pledges!
- We still need $500/month. If you would like to help us with any part of that please let us know.
Pastor’s Conference
The
last two weeks of our time away was in Mexico.
We were in Puebla visiting family and friends and the church down
there. We then went to Morelos where we attended
a pastor’s conference.
Great fellowship and teaching with
pastors from all over different parts of Mexico.
Ministry in Los Angeles while we were gone
A
common question we heard as we were traveling was “Who is taking care of the
church while you are gone?” We are
blessed to have been able to raise-up leaders from within the church to be able
to take care of all the different aspects of the ministry while we are
gone.
The
preaching, small groups, worship, ushers, hospitality, garden and facilities,
camps, youth, children’s ministry, admin., etc. were all taken care of very
well. When we returned several parts of
the building were painted and fixed up. What
previously people would tell us was “ours” (our property, our responsibility,
our job, etc.) is now clearly “theirs”…it is great to see how the church is
taking ownership of the ministry and facilities.
The
church celebrated birthdays together, went fishing and other things that as one
man put it, “fill that longing and desire I’ve had for friendship and
fellowship in a Christian context.” The
amount of fellowship and impromptu Bible studies seemed to increase while we
were away. Honestly, a lot of things
were done better than when we were leading everything. We are so encouraged by that!
One
of our leaders, Yuri, took 8 of our youth to summer camp. Others helped her
with the driving. It was good for us to
be away so that the church could learn to do things on their own more and
realized that they depend on God and not on their missionary, church-planting
pastors for their growth and health.
Back in L.A. – A Grand Reception
Please
Pray with Us…
- Pray for our family to be full of life and hope and have a fresh deposit of God’s presence for every day’s ministry and life challenges.
- Pray for the violence in our neighborhood and other South LA neighborhoods to stop (see the “Breaking News” at the introduction for more information).
- Pray for our church to grow in their passion for the lost and in our effectiveness to reach more people with the Gospel.
- Pray for Rebecca as she starts 5th grade, Justice as he begins 3rd and Fabiola as she continues to be with Beniah all day.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
- Beginning of this year’s FLIP (internship) program. September 6
- Day of Prayer and Fasting September 14
- Church Multiplication Conference September 22-25
- Chad’s birthday – “40” September 28
- Music Workshop October 3
Thank
you for your prayer, love and support!!!
Chad, Fabiola,
Rebecca, Justice and Beniah
