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

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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

Ruined for the Ordinary

Missions work is so amazing; it really ruins you for the ordinary. Once you’ve tasted of the rich transformation that can take place in an individual’s life and then see an entire family be molded by Jesus and still later you see the beginnings of an entire community being transformed it’s pretty hard to go back to anything that you knew before.

On July 1st we completed one year of ministry here in South Central Los Angeles. A lot has happened in a short amount of time! Just this last month almost seemed like a year. Thank you for praying! Here are some pictures and quick updates on some of the major events of the month:

Sports Club

The day we sent off our last update letter we were starting up a sports club (a vacation Bible school with sports, crafts, and great Bible stories & lessons) for the children in our neighborhood. We had 58 children show up, which was less than we had planned for, but has led to some great follow-up visits with a few of the families that are interested in pursuing God further.

WOW Jam

What a day! There were over 4,000 people that came out from 4:00-9:00 pm on Monday, June 21st for WOW Jam. Our church was the sponsoring church for this event, but it would have been impossible without the team of volunteers that came in from many other area churches. We translated the event into Spanish and throughout this evangelistic outreach we were given various opportunities to share with everyone about our church so they can continue learning more about Jesus and His message of reconciliation with us.

Over 4,000 in attendance
200 Volunteers
104 Faces painted
50 Family photos taken
75 Haircuts given
70 Manicures given
400 Potted plants given away
2,970 Hot meals served
630 Snow cones
and most important….


..... 276 came forward for salvation!

Santa Fe Dam
A couple, Jacobo and Maribel, that we met as a result of a past outreach has been meeting with us regularly. Recently we spent a day with them at a lake just outside of Los Angeles and were able to really get to know them better. Jacobo also had a really bad tooth ache that was affecting his work and sleep, and we were able to arrange for him to get the tooth extracted for free by a dentist that volunteers at one of the World Impact clinics. Having never been to the dentist before this was a scary experience, but driving out there with him and waiting in the waiting room gave us a lot more time to build relationship and go deeper into the things of God.

Baptisms
A few days later we went out to Long Beach to baptize some of the people from WOW Jam that had made decisions to follow Jesus. It was a powerful experience and one onlooker heard the worship, preaching and instructions before we actually started to baptize and decided that he too must be saved and got baptized right then and there. It was fun being out in God’s creation with the power of the waves and the vastness of the sea. God is doing wonderful things here and it was such a privilege to get to meet and baptize these wonderful people.

Summer Camp at THE OAKS
We sent Angel (in black), Jennifer (in the middle with stripes) and Araceli (on the right) to the 1st – 3rd grade camp at THE OAKS for the week along with Norma. Our family was able to catch up with them on the last two days after finishing up with all our weekly Bible study groups and discipleship meetings. It was a proud moment for us all when Jennifer won the Acorn award, given to the camper with the most growth and potential during the week out of all the 100+ campers. All of our kids learned so much about God. Silvia, Angel’s mom, shared with us at the 4th of July BBQ that her son came back saying, “I feel different Mom, I can’t really explain it, but I feel different inside.” Silvia asked, “But how? What do you mean you feel different? Are you okay?” “I don’t know how to explain it,” responded Angel, “but I just do, I feel better inside, all clean and new…I can’t explain it, but it feels great.” What an opportunity camp gave to Angel and Silvia to experience the love of God and to open doors even wider for us to share with the whole family who Jesus Christ is on a personal and day to day level.

Some highlights of the week include making new friends, getting very wet (see Fabiola and Jennifer above) by the firemen that hosed everyone down during the carnival complete with games, cotton candy, snow cones, mini-train rides (see below), a petting zoo and lots of prizes.

The camp fire songs and skits were a lot of fun (see below), as was cabin time and the great food during meals. Overall it was a wonderful time to experience and know Jesus more through wonderful teaching time during Bible class times and probably more so, through the love shared by their counselors.

BBQ (4th of July)

We are always looking for excuses to get together and invite more people out and the Fourth of July was a perfect reason to bring everyone from the church together for a BBQ, some games (volleyball, soccer) and fellowship. We had a turnout of about 50 people not counting the many families and homeless that we were able to feed while we were there in the park.

World Cup 2010

June 11 – July 11
Isn’t great what a sporting event will do to bring people together? During several of the games over the last month Chad has been able to connect in a fun, but also really meaningful way with some of the key men in the church.

Please join us in prayer for:

“Go the Distance” Sports Camp

August 2-6
·A high-quality Christ-centered sports camp offering classes in basketball, soccer & cheerleading.
·BBQ on Friday (we still need a sponsor for this event; if you are interested in financing or live in the area and can come out around noon on Friday, August 6th please let us know A.S.A.P.)

Movie Night

August 3rd
Outreach and fun time together as a church…movie is currently still being selected.

Creative Solutions
With everyone that is coming to Fuente para las Naciones arriving without a background in what it means to follow Christ and be part of the Church….we have to depend on God for a lot of wisdom, direction and patience as each person grows in their faith and understanding. We spend a lot of time in the Bible and praying with each person. We also believe that living life together is the best way to be a church. We know that God’s timing and God’s way are perfect, but as we wait and listen we would greatly appreciate that you join us as we pray for what to do about:

·Children’s Bible classes (“Sunday School”) (we need teachers – would love them to come from within the church, curriculum, materials)

·Youth group (we need youth workers)

·Music (Worship) ministry (we need instruments and talented individuals/people with a desire to learn)

·English service (we have many that are interested in becoming more a part of Fountain for the Nations (Fuente) but not enough people to teach in English or enough days to split the services and we feel it isn’t time for bilingual services just yet.

Family Camp

September 4-6 (Labor Day Weekend)
This is a ways out yet, but potentially such a life-giving event for families in our church and us as a church as a whole (it’s like the summer camp we wrote about above, but for the entire family and church).


Thank you for your continued support!

Never to be the same,
Chad & Fabiola