Panning for Gold

It is a lot of work, but the payoff is amazing.  Like the miners of past we moved from our home in pursuit of treasure – treasure that is often buried deep in the dirt, muck and mire of life.  God sees each one of us as precious, more precious than gold, and we constantly ask for His eyes and His heart to see that gold.  Amongst a flurry of ministry this month we have seen some of the precious lives come out of the water….some quite literally.  In this last month we have had four first-time salvation commitments and three baptisms (well actually more like 64 baptisms, but you’ll have to read below for more on that). 

UPDATES

Summer Activities in the City

 

Throughout the week the children and their mothers, aunts and grandparents are building community and having a great time throughout the city.  Above they are panning for gold at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles.  Another day they all got together and got their hands dirty making cookies while the adults were able to sit back and get to know one another better.  One mother in particular has caught the vision of inviting her unchurched neighbors out to enjoy in these activities and introduce them more to the church.  The youth have also been out and about – going on bike rides, going hiking, stopping at historical donut shops and great times of talking through the Bible and other relevant conversations. 

Beach Day Fellowship 

Enjoying the majesty of God’s creation – worshipping together on the beach – spending time as families who are growing together and learning more about how to love one another. We had lots of food, fun games and good down time.

No real agenda—just time to relax and grow together. There were about 50 of us and God was at the center the whole time.

Baptism

One of our youth had planned on getting baptized in the ocean, but decided the waves were too strong and the water too cold so she was baptized the following day at church. 

It was a great celebration and she shared a powerful testimony of how God’s been working in her life.  She is currently in a leadership/discipleship program.  She is pictured to the right with the youth leaders and some of the younger youth that we hope will make a decision to get baptized soon.

 

 
 

4^th of July – Declaring our Dependence on God

With bombs bursting in air (if you’ve never been in the inner-city during the 4^th of July you may not understand how ‘war like’ it really is with guns and bombs really bursting in the air) we gathered for a time of worship around the bonfire.  We also re-dedicated ourselves to depend fully on God and thank Him for this great country.  The food was amazing and families from our church really reached out to two new families that came out.

Training-up Leaders who love to Worship

This month we finished up a second 8-week guitar class.  One of the music students then played in the worship band.  We are rotating the responsibility to lead worship a little more frequently as well getting more people exposed to all that entails.  We also just had a really successful half-day music workshop where nine people from our church came out to learn more about playing different instruments.  Our church is worshipping more and more and still is yearning for more.  When we first started nobody would sing or clap or anything, now they are begging for more!

WOW Jam Outreach Crusade

We were the host church for WOW Jam for the third year. Thank you for praying – we are seeing more fruit that appears to be ‘lasting’ than the last two years. We took over the park – there were over 5,000 people in attendance! This year we set up right in front of our house. As we were on the stage all we had to do is point and say, “that is where our church meets”. The Good Year blimp was even flying overhead (though the blimp was probably there for the X-Games a few miles away J).

Here are some of the numbers:

10 babies rocked

90 bikes repaired

161 faces painted

89 family photos taken

285 bags of groceries given

66 haircuts given

100 kids crafts made

84 makeovers given

2,465 meals given

77 nails painted (well, actually 770)

202 plants given away

630 snow cones passed out

998 water given

239 volunteers helped out

373 salvation cards filled out

63 baptized

 It was powerful talking with some of the people that came out to just have fun or get some ‘free stuff’ and ended up walking away with new life in Jesus.  You could see people’s countenance change – they couldn’t stop smiling and talking about how life was so different now.  Amongst the 63 people we baptized were two girls from our church who recently have connected with God thanks to their grandmother who has been bringing them out. 

Summer Camps

We’ve sent off eight of our children to camp so far, including our own daughter.  It was amazing seeing how much our daughter and the other campers loved camp and grew in God.  The theme was “Upside Down” (see picture with upside down buildings, roads, etc. in the cafeteria) focusing on the book of Acts and how the disciples turned the world upside down and how things with Jesus aren’t the same as they are ‘in the world.’  One of our campers won the prestigious “Acorn Award” for demonstrating his faith in action and godly character throughout the week.  One of the mothers stepped-up in taking on the ministry role of counselor from our church and she did a great job!  One of our newer girls got saved and the counselor said they had amazing conversations about God at night before going to bed!

LITs at Camp (Leaders In Training)

While we can’t be at camp every minute (we have a few other things we’re doing in the inner-city) we have been able to go up towards the end of every week and check in with our campers, counselors and LITs.  Alex (pictured abpve in the hat) is in his second year and Italia (pictured below with the water gun) is in her first year.  It is a three-year program where we are mentoring and training them in ministry.  For their summers they get further practical training at the camp (and they get paid too!).  They are both learning a lot about the Bible and deepening their relationship with God.  We are impressed with how well these High Schoolers are doing at leading worship and camp songs, leading games and activities and counseling the younger children.  They will be coming back to Los Angeles this weekend to teach Sunday school and then return to finish up their summer at camp.

Justice finishes preschool

Our son ‘graduated’ from preschool this month!  Fabiola worked hard as a part of the parent’s committee.  They will both miss the school, but are looking forward to Kindergarten.  He will join his sister and us parents will have two children on the same schedule and at the same school (nice!). 

Please Pray with Us…..

ü  Strength, protection, growth for the four people that were recently SAVED.

ü  New Bible Student

Grace and focus for Merced, one of our men who is interested in leadership and possibly pastoring, while he takes a Bible class at The Urban Ministry Institute on “Practicing Christian Leadership”.

ü  Summer Camps

Still ahead we have four more camps: 

     o   7^th – 8^th Grade  July 22-27

o   High School  July 29-Aug. 3

o   Special Needs Camp 7/29-8/3

o   Sport’s Day Camp Jul.30-Aug.3

ü  Youth Group transition

We will be launching a bigger youth ministry this fall.   We have been attending a World Impact community youth group with our youth and now are moving towards replicating something similar in our own community - with our youth helping to take some of the leadership.  Pray for our ability to connect deeper into the new Maya Angelo High School just a block from our new teen center. 

ü  Tutoring Program

Part of our practical outreach into the community and connection to both the high school and the elementary school that sandwich our teen center is offering tutoring to the children and youth.  We are finishing up a pilot program and getting ready to launch more officially in the fall.  Pray for the details, volunteers and students. 

ü  Meeting space

We are still feeling crowded and limited in our home.  Pray with us for God to lead us to the right space soon. 

There is more gold to find!  Thanks for panning with us through your prayers, words of encouragement and financial support. 

Chad & Fabiola

Charged Up for Jesus

On the way to church Emily ran into a lady named Sara who was in bad shape and brought her to the service with her.  Sara, homeless and estranged from her children, came in and learned about the love of God and how the Bible is full of amazing promises for her life.  She was able to charge her phone during her stay and when she left it was evident she was charged up as well.  We do not know if we will see Sara again, she may have just been passing through, but we were able to pour into her a little and give her more of God for her journey.    

What really excites us is that Emily did such a good job of being light and reaching out to somebody that needed to know the loving embrace of the Father.  Emily is a single mother of four children (her husband is in jail) who recently lost her job.  Once Emily and Sara joined the rest of the church it was a privilege to watch how different people in the church used their various gifts to reach out to Sara. 

For every individual and family we see make good choices and step-up like Emily we see several fail and fall.  Currently we are working with several families being held together by the thinnest of strings.  In one case the ten-year-old daughter is running the family of five as the father and mother refuse to deal with their problems and hide in their vices.  It is so hard to see the dark, almost lifelessness in her eyes.  Yet there are glimmers of hope for sure.  We appreciate and need your continued prayers for our family to push onward as well as for these families to find Jesus, real healing and breakthrough in their lives.

Mady is now a single mother of four after her husband was recently killed.  We thought that we may have lost her because she did not want to deal with the pain or commit to anything at this vulnerable and confusing time.  But we are here to care for those that do not have family or even a hope and show them what an amazing purpose and community comes by being a part of God’s family.  Fabiola has been inviting women like Mady to have a cup of coffee, do laundry at the house or have a play date with the kids.  Mady is walking strong.  We have even hosted families at our house for birthday parties so they can have something special for their children without the extreme cost that so many feel the cultural pressure to put on. 

Please pray for summer camps: 1st – 3rd graders:  July 3 – July 6 4th – 6th graders: July 8 – July 13 7th – 8th graders:  July 22 – July 27 9th – 12th graders:  July 29 – August 3 Special Needs Families: July 29 – Aug 3 Sport’s Day Camp:  July 29 – August 3

Please pray for the individuals like Emily, Sara and Mady and their families and the many others like them.  This month we also have the privilege to take many children and youth – like the ten-year-old we mentioned – to one of our summer camps where they can escape from the pressures of their difficult life for a moment and really connect with God. 

We are making a difference in the city with you through Christ,

Chad & Fabiola

Broken Lives Are Made New

King Jesus is so good.  He daily amazes us.  We are living around and walking through a lot of brokenness.  People being held together by a string.  Yet, in God’s Kingdom these broken lives are being transformed.  Being renewed.  He makes us new as the song says…as the Bible declares…as we continue to see in our amazing journey with Him as we minister to the families here and preach on the streets of South Central Los Angeles.  

The enemy is persistent and relentless.  Our King is stronger and loving.  Please pray for us and with us for the many broken lives that are being made new.  We can’t share specifics about everyone or everything that is happening, but our Mighty God is doing a great work here in the city that is impacting and shaking up nations and generations.

Youth Ministry

The youth have been doing more and more activities to help build deeper community.  They hiked up to Griffith Observatory just north of downtown LA (pictured above).  The youth also spent one of their Friday night youth groups praying over their schools and praying for one another. 

The Kaleo youth event/dinner that Chad preached at went really well connecting us with other people in the community that need to be ministered to.  (Pictured above and below.)

One of our youth had to be taken into the foster system along with her 7 other siblings.  It was traumatic for the family and we weren’t allowed to see them during this 4 month period.  So we put together a surprise “Welcome Home!” dinner for her at our house and spent time praying protection and blessing over her (Pictured below).  

 

Children’s Ministry:

Fabiola and Lizzie, our lead teachers for the Children’s Ministry, have just concluded Parent Teacher Conferences for all the families of the children we minister to.  These conferences are a wonderful time to connect with parents and communicate and hear the different needs and issues in raising godly children.  Giving a place for parents to open up and be heard as well as lovingly exhorting parents to continue training their children in godliness is already producing some noticeable results.

We also continue providing a Special Training once a month to help inspire vision and provide practical help in the area of children’s ministry.  This month our friend Pastor Josh and his team (see “Outreach” below) spoke life into our teachers and parents helping them realize the value they have in Christ.   Please pray with us that more and more parents would begin volunteering and serving in the various classrooms. 

Men’s Ministry

Thank you for your prayers for the Men’s Retreat.  Everything we asked God for happened.  All the men that are committed to our church went to the retreat and we bonded and pressed into Jesus more than ever.  Over meals and during cabin time we were able to share our lives more with one another and offer camaraderie and prayer to one another. 

 Our core group from Fuente para las Naciones after a morning hike and devotional time. 

 We brought 12 men in total, some were relatives or friends not directly connected to our church. 

 In total there were 350 men in attendance from 34 different churches from Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, Bakersfield and Fresno.  It was a great time of worship and teaching. 

 On the last day they called all the pastors up front and had the rest of the guys pray for us – that was encouraging to see our men lifting up prayers of thanksgiving, blessing and help on our behalf. 

 There were some fun bonding activities too apart from the standard (soccer).  There were two types of tug-of-war that helped the men use their manly strength and bond even more.  J

Women’s Ministry: Book Study

Nancy & Erika continue to do a great job leading the women’s book club.  Fabiola is just a participant and coach and is enjoying watching the other women blossom in leadership.  So many deep needs are being addressed in this study and the ladies that still haven’t confessed Jesus as their Lord and Savior appear to be getting closer.  Please keep this group in your prayers. 

Outreach with New Song La Grande

Some Highlights:

·         Fellowship – we all got much needed connecting with mature believers that speak our same heart language. 

·         Evangelism—sharing God’s love through prayer and preaching on the street.

·         Growing Hearts—we love to inspire others to allow their hearts to break more for what breaks God’s heart in the many needy areas of inner-city ministry.  

·         Ministry times – there was an amazing amount of strengthening, encouraging and comforting coming out of this group.  The whole church was blessed and encouraged to the extent that their countenance changed.   While all the men were at the Men’s retreat the group helped teach the different classes at church on Sunday.  (Pictured below, our Wednesday night Bible Study)

·         Projects—this group was also able to help do a few projects that we have wanted to work on for some time which frees us up to do more ministry. 

·         Perspective—while you are in the trenches ministering sometimes you don’t have the perspective to see all that God is accomplishing through you.  Having this group come and comment on the huge amount of progress they see in the spiritual maturity of our congregation over the last two years helped open up our eyes and caused us to rejoice with them for what God is doing here through our ministry. 

Please Pray with Us…..

ü  Summer Activities 

Every Tuesday this summer we have planned activities for the children and ladies to connect.  We hope many new neighbors and friends will come out and get connected as well.  They will be having water days, movie nights, picnics, trips to the museums, parks and beach, bake together and all kinds of good relational fun for the women and children.  Pray for a great turnout and for women and children to open up their hearts and lives so ministry can take place during these events. 

ü  Beach Day  June 23

This is an opportunity for our church to bond more in a fun, relaxed setting.  We plan on playing and eating a lot and then having a time for worship and a bonfire at the end of the day.  We are also planning a baptism.  

ü  Worship

We have been working on training more people in leading worship and playing instruments.  One of our thirteen year olds will be playing his guitar during worship with a few others at the end of this month.  Pray that he would continue to be excited and motivated to worship God with his guitar and for others to be blessed and inspired to take steps out of their comfort zone. 

ü  WOW Jam  June 30

We are in our third year of this mega-outreach.  This year we’re moving it to the near side of the park so that everyone will be able to see our church building from the event.  We baptize immediately after the preaching and altar call.  We anticipate several thousand people to attend this event.  Pray through all the details and most importantly for FRUIT that would REMAIN.

ü  Summer Camps

o   1^st – 3^rd Grade  July 3-6

o   4^th – 6^th Grade  July 8-13

o   7^th – 8^th Grade  July 22-27

o   High School  July 29-Aug. 3

o   Special Needs Camp 7/29-8/3

o   Sport’s Day Camp Jul.30-Aug.3

Thanks for your partnership in this ministry where together we get to bring broken lives to God and watch Him make them new!

Chad & Fabiola