I will never be a Christian!

“I will never be a Christian! And I will definitely never go to your church.”  These are the words of Martin.  Maybe more accurately stated these were the words of Martin.  This was all said before Martin’s wife started praying for him a couple years ago. 

We have spent a lot of time investing into Martin and his family.  We met them when Velma, their neighbor, invited them to church.  Martin refused to come, but his wife came and rekindled a heart for God that had grown cold over time.  It has been fun watching God do the work – turning a hardened heart into one that is tender and in love with Jesus. Today Martin has committed his life fully to God and we got to celebrate that change when we baptized him.  He is a regular part of our church.  More accurately, he is an integral part of our church.  He is serving humbly and gratefully and learning so much.  He enjoys reading his Bible and asking questions. If you were to come to our church next Sunday, Martin would greet you as you come up the walkway and help you feel welcomed.  He probably would then invite you to be a part of his community group that his wife and he are helping with during the week as assistant leaders. 

It has been an answer to much of our prayers to see Martin and other men and women – and youth too – begin to develop more and more into their God-given gifts.  After starting this year with a focus on training and preparing a group of emerging leaders for ministry we have sent teams out into the neighborhood to minister in small groups to help bring in the lost and mature them in their own faith.  These small teams are learning to lean hard on the Holy Spirit and growing in their passion for their neighbors, who are struggling in so many areas of their lives, yet do not yet have the answers.  Martin and others are boldly sharing that Jesus is the answer.

Our focus as missionaries and pastors is to equip and train and empower.  We meet with each one of these leaders, assistants and hosts during the week to continue to coach, encourage, challenge and pray for them and their groups.  When we meet somebody like Velma (Martin’s neighbor) we get excited!  She invited Martin’s family to church and is now hosting the group that they are helping to lead.  Not only that, but now, together, they are inviting other people to know Jesus through their group. 

Please be in prayer for Martin’s family, Velma’s family, their group and the other groups around our neighborhood that are helping mature believers and reach the lost.

Chad, Fabiola, Rebecca, Justice and Beniah Wolyn

'Came to My Rescue' (The Power of a Phone Call)

We recently came back from our youth winter camp. God is in hot pursuit of the youth, but it is really in the context of the church and people reaching out – even in simple ways – that they are being brought in and feeling that needed Father’s embrace.  Here are two testimonies that our youth recently shared with us:

I would never have imagined that she would call me.  I was ready to kill myself.  I had a plan and had locked myself in the bathroom.  As I looked into the mirror the hurt and pain that was looking back at me surprised even me.  I was going through a very dark time.  A knock at the door startled me.  My mom was yelling at me that there was a lady on the phone.  “Who?”  I yelled through the door annoyed in some way at the interruption.  ‘Oh, the youth leader from the church.  Why would she be calling me?’ I thought.  I mumbled some things into the phone and later that afternoon she picked me up and took me to youth group.  It was that night while the worship song ‘Came to my Rescue’ was playing that I gave my life to Jesus.  What a difference; from death to life.  I will never forget that day. 

Another student who gave her life to Jesus for the first time at camp shared the following.  Some people showed me how to put an app on my phone so I could get Bible verses every day.  I did not even want to go to church, but then I saw it was fun.  The verses were not important to me.  But then while I was at the camp and had some quiet time the verse in John 11:25 popped up on the screen.  “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.’”  All of a sudden it all totally made sense.  It was like a light bulb went on and I could see and understand it all. This is what it is all about.  Jesus is life.  I had so much fun at camp and came back to Los Angeles changed.  My life is His!

Thank you so much for praying and giving financially so we can reach out to more youth, children and adults in this community. Together we get to share Jesus with them, train them up and empower them to in turn do the same for many more!

Please pray for us this month as we reach out to the community and prepare for Easter week. 

·         Vacation Bible School (VBS) at the park the week leading up to Easter,

·         Visits and prayer at a new apartment complex that just opened up down the street,

·         Starting new home groups that we hope to fill up quickly with all the new people that we meet and introduce to Jesus Christ as Savior, Lord and Friend. 

May God bless you and give you strength to do something as simple as make a phone call or help somebody download an app….because the Spirit of God is moving and wants to use us in many ways for His glory so that more may be saved.

Chad & Fabiola

Just One Coal Will Start A Fire

“I have never finished reading a book before,” shared Francisco, “and now I’m starting my fifth book in five months!” His mouth was cracked into a small grin and his eyes wide and twinkling showed the awe of this new accomplishment. Francisco, a man in his 50’s, has finally taken some steps towards the calling God has on his life.  He just led his first conference too – another big first.  He taught three sessions. We were there every step of the way to guide him, watch him be stretched and cheer him on. 

The preparation behind-the-scenes has been constant: weekly mentoring meetings, Bible memorization, fasting several times a week and much more.  At the end of the year not only will he have read 12 books, but all 66 books of the Bible too. It took us a month and a half to work on those 3 sessions he taught, but next time he will need less guidance. Now we are working on his first sermon. Francisco is so thankful for this push, this opportunity to pursue and be guided in something that a year ago seemed like only a dream. Please lift him up in prayer. Pray that God would continue to work on his character through this process. 

Last month we also had our first-ever men’s meeting.  Since we began ministering in South Central Los Angeles over 5 years ago we have been praying for the men to rise-up in this community and in our church.  This is a huge prayer need.  There are a lot of strongholds, yet we know God has great plans. We saw a great glimmer of these plans as we came together in prayer, the Word and fellowship. It takes just a small, hot coal to start a large fire – we desire to be that coal for our community and families.

We are positioned to train-up numerous leaders in the city so that more people can hear the gospel.  So that more disciples can be trained and matured.  And so that more churches can be planted throughout the city and world.  Please pray with us this month as we continue to work with Francisco and look for others that God has been calling.  Others that nobody has yet taken the time and effort to come alongside of and encourage and shape and release.  This is our passion. 

As it is the month of love and friendship we will have a special teaching time on marriage and family.  We have also been working with some couples through the pre-marital or tune-up phases of marriage.  Please continue to keep these times of teaching, counseling, and life-on-life mentoring in your prayers. 

Your prayers and financial support make every bit of difference in enabling us to do what we are doing.  Thank you!

May God bless you and keep you strong and close to Him this month and always,

Chad, Fabiola, Rebecca, Justice and Beniah

Giving to Others

Happy New Year!

 

Isn’t it amazing how we are able to give to others what we, apart from God, have no ability to impart?  We get to bust out of our comfort zones and share this truly free gift of God’s love with others.  Salvation comes from God.  Salvation comes through living, speaking and sharing the Truth with others.  What a cool mission we’ve been given! New Year’s Outreach ·  We started the year off with a park outreach. ·  We had a drama presenting the gospel.  We talked about forgiveness. ·  We preached the gospel.  ·  But more than that we shared the gospel individually with people and showed them we cared by praying for their needs and giving them a great time with their family and neighbors.  ·  In our planning meeting leading up to this event we continued to equip and prepare our church to be the one that would share the gospel – so it was fun to be able to present it from up front, but also hear the Good News proclaimed before and after the upfront stuff by our own church members.  ·  We had games, bounce houses, food, prizes, face painting, crafts, nail polish galore…and lots of smiles! ·  We also gave away over 100 thermal mugs with our church information written on it…as a gift and reminder of how they can stay connected with us and God.

Work/Building Projects

This month we removed the carpet from our youth room (which is also our reception area for the tutoring program).  This allows us the option to expand our Sunday church meeting further back - adding more chairs.  

You can see the before picture (above), stripping nails and sanding phase (below), 

 ...staining (above), and then the glossy sealant (below).  

 
 We also put up new white boards in our classrooms (below) and did a little work outside (above) making a pathway and barrier to solve some of the problems the rain had caused. 

Please Pray with Us…

SMALL GROUPS.  We are training our church right now how to do small groups so that they can grow in their faith through this process and so that we can expand and reach more people for Christ in the community.  Please be in prayer over the next couple months as we focus on training, equipping and releasing groups into the community.

PRAYER  MINISTRY.  Prayer is what moves the mountains and opens the doors.  We know that ministry cannot function without prayer.  The couple that we raised-up and released in our prayer ministry at church is moving to San Diego this week.  They have grown so much and are excited to start some new ministries down in their new city, but obviously this is a big loss for our Los Angeles church family.  Pray with us that our church would step-up and continue to grow in and press into prayer. 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

·         Finance Conference – January 17

·         Winter Youth Camp – January 17-19

·         Tutoring/ESL  (Start of Winter Quarter) – January 18

·         Filming for World Impact (Fuente church plant focus) – January 22

·         Men’s Night (Bible & Billiards) – January 23

·         Church Ministry Planning Meeting – January 25

·         Pastor Felipe & Judy (special guest preacher) – February 1

·         Membership Class – February 7

We thank you for being a part of this mission.  A mission to hand over what God has given us to others – especially the gospel message of Christ’s redeeming love.  May your 2015 be full of God, full of love and full of giving to others!

Chad, Fabiola, Rebecca, Justice and Beniah

Beniah, 9 months, enjoying a swing at the park.

I know that I need Him!

Happy New Year! We are excited for a new year and the fresh start that it symbolizes for so many lives as God continues to lead our family into building a mighty army and loving spiritual family that will help expand His Kingdom throughout the greater Los Angeles area and beyond.

As I walked into the living room where we were gathering for prayer I saw a lady sitting on the sofa that I had never met.  I introduced myself and found out that she was a neighbor of the family that was hosting.  She let me in how the host family had shared about our church and other ministries and let her know about God.  Then she just blurted out, “I want to find God…..I know that I need Him.”  She then shared story after story about her family and how they are wading through brokenness without any hope of escape.  We prayed.  Many of us.  Together.  And God is answering!  God says His mercies are new every morning.  So much starts with prayer.  God does the work, but wants to use you and me.  Isn’t that exciting?  We love seeing our church – people for the most part we have led to the Lord – minister to their neighbors, coworkers and classmates….sharing this new life. 

Just the other night we put on a special evening outreach service and one of our spiritual ‘grandchildren’ returned home. Tanya and her family were invited to our church about two years ago by another family in our church and she got really involved…but then things got tough at home.  Her brother went to jail, her sister got pregnant, and finally her mom decided to move them out of the neighborhood.  After being baptized, Tanya knows she wants to follow God, get involved again and really be a part of the spiritual family that our church has been for her.  We believe that this year will be a year for starting fresh and growing in Christ. 

We are also excited to share we now have double the meeting space. We have been meeting in our old home since we started the church. As the church grew, we got ‘pushed’ out and now even the first floor space we have been using has gotten to be too tight.  Thankfully we are now able to expand our classrooms, teen space, tutoring and English classes along with a prayer room – all upstairs.  This has given us more room to have our church service and have meals and outreaches downstairs.  It has also given the men in our church and community a reason to come together to work on various fix-up projects. 

As a church we are starting this year in prayer and fasting.  We know that God has great things in store.  We look back over 2014 in awe – what a mighty God we serve.  How is it that He has done so much!  We thank you for your prayers on behalf of our family as well as for each one in the spiritual family we minister to throughout the year.  Lastly, please keep our youth in prayer this month as they have their winter camp in a couple weeks where we expect God to do great things in their hearts and lives. 

To the new life we see daily in our own walk with God and in the lives of those we pursue for Christ,

Chad, Fabiola, Rebecca, Justice and Beniah

Blessed....to be a Blessing

  Wouldn’t you agree that one of the best experiences in life is being able to hand off a blessing?  Share a meal with somebody.  Hand off a new  favorite book before you are even done reading it. Giving away a new worship CD. Give away some time or share your talent so that somebody else is blessed and not charge them a penny.  This is one of the benefits of being a full-time missionary family – we get these experiences all the time.  It is also special because we get to partner with you and give you these opportunities too.  This joy that we feel in giving ourselves, giving our time, giving our money and possessions to bless others is something the disciples that we are raising-up in South Central Los Angeles are beginning to experience more and more too.  What a blessing! 

Thanksgiving Outreach

This Thanksgiving we were able to hand out over 30 food boxes brimming with needed staples and some extra goodies.  Although the families in our church have their own needs we decided it would be more powerful to have them hand the boxes off to neighbors, co-workers and other people that they have been praying for and wanting to share Jesus with.   This was a good exercise in faith for many, but did open some doors.  The great thing is we received some extra food donations soon afterwards and were able to hand out more boxes this time to bless the families that had so faithfully and sacrificially given previously.  

Our son, Beniah, helping us pack food boxes.  

We also had a special Sunday outreach where the youth lead us in worship and then a group from our church performed a powerful drama.  This drama retold Fabiola’s testimony – of the hardships in her earlier years and how her family came to know Jesus.  Nobody, even the actors, knew that this was a true story until the end when she shared with all the guests – around 100 people – the good news of salvation that came to her house through the faithful witness of a friend who cared.  It set up our conversations and celebration wonderfully as we then transitioned into a feast of many great foods.  

 

After the drama we had everyone write a note stating what they were thankful for….they then placed it in a box wrapped as a gift as an act of gratitude to God.  Here are some excerpts from these cards:  

• Having a mom.
• That God has not forgotten me.  He hears me when I cry.  For my family and everything He gives me day by day.  Thank you Father!
• My family and wonderful husband and for my pastors who You put in my path. 
• This church, this space, these people.  The pastor and his family.  My life and health.  My family, job, parents.  For the ministry and His mercies.
• The life of my husband and that he has come to know Jesus. 
• My McQueen and Planes toys.  My food and the earth and my toys. 
• My family and because God has changed me.  I’m not the same person I was when Christ rescued me.  

  

Christmas Banquet and Toy Store

As you can see from all the pictures above we had a great time at our Christmas banquet.  The photo booth is always so much fun.  We had 6 new families join us this year.  One we met at our church’s yard sale the day before.  Another was handed a flier and invitation the weekend prior by somebody from the church.  The other four families were friends or family brought by people from our church.  It was so fun to be able to pour the blessings on people and rejoice in Christ coming to be with us.

There were numerous different crafts and games for the children.  We wanted to create a place for the children to sit down with their parents and create a Christmas memory – and we succeeded in this.  

Our church is taking more and more ownership and responsibility for each outreach and event that we do.  Our church understands the vision of what we do and why we do it more and more each time.  We could not have done the Christmas or the Thanksgiving outreach without a ton of help from special donations and volunteers though – so thank you to everyone that donated toys, time, food or an offering to make these moments possible.  

 

We served hot chocolate and one of the families from our church catered the event with a great traditional meal.  Families were able to sit at tables and share life and the Christmas message with people they invited or that came for the first time.                   

Our goal was to get 200 toys donated to be sure that every one of the children from our church, tutoring program and all the people we were inviting had at least one toy.  We were blown away to see toys pour in at the last minute totaling double that – yes, 400 toys!  We were able to sell these gifts at 75% off – it was great to see so many huge smiles and hear the testimonies of what a blessing this event is for the parents.  
[The concept of our toy store is to bless parents with deep discounts so that they feel empowered in choosing and purchasing their own gifts and not just hand them a toy.  The money we do raise is then re-invested into the programs and ministries that benefit them.  In some cases we did give gifts away because even $5 for a $20 gift isn’t attainable for everyone during this time of the year.] 

 
 
 

Once gifts were selected and bought we had another room (all of this was in our new space upstairs!) where the gifts were gift wrapped and then concealed in a black bag.  

 
 

Upstairs – Before and After (painting)

Here is a before and after of one of the rooms that we painted upstairs.  It looks so much bigger and brighter with a new fresh coat of paint. 

A lot of time, love and work have gone into getting things ready – this space is designated as the game room.

 
 

Youth Christmas Outing

Our youth group took a special outing to see a Christmas presentation at a nearby church with a “Frozen” theme.

The youth group has also put on two fund-raisers this month in preparation for their winter camp in January.  

If you are interested in providing a full ($95) or partial scholarship for the youth winter camp please let us know.  We anticipate this to be one of those life-changing events for the group and want to be able to bring as many of them along as possible.

Would you also lift up our leaders Joshua and Rocio in prayer – they are working so hard to bless and train-up these youth.  They need our extra prayers for strength, vision, wisdom and endurance as they invest into this generation. 

Family News – Blessed, Rest, Crash

What abundant blessings we have in our life!  We count you as a huge blessing – thank you for your prayers and love and support.  We love being a family that ministers together.  It isn’t always easy.  This month we have definitely felt tired.  We are taking the last week of the year off to recharge and celebrate as a family.  

Pray that this time would be special family time and effective in getting us the needed rest so that we can launch back onto the mission field for 2015.

We are also thankful that nobody was hurt when we were smashed from behind on the freeway last month.  All three children were freaking out and yet thankfully nobody was seriously hurt.  The van was pretty smashed.  We were not at fault and so we were able to have some of it fixed (as much as possible, so at least now we can use the back door again), but it will never be quite the same.  Please continue to keep us covered in prayer for safety and for God’s provision.

Here is Beniah (9 months) as a tough pirate and as a cute shepherd boy.  

 

Please Pray with Us…

Pray for our upcoming events that will strengthen our church family as well as give us opportunity to reach more people for Jesus Christ:

 · Wolyn’s rest, recuperate and celebrate for Christmas – December 22-26

· Movie night – December 28

· Street evangelism – January 2

· Building projects day (refinishing hardwood floors in youth room) – January 2

· New Year’s outreach (carnival & hot dog feed at park) – January 3

· Week of prayer and fasting – January 4-11

· New small group Bible study begins – January 15

· Finance Conference – January 17

· Winter Youth Camp – January 17-19

Thank you for being a blessing to us.  This year we have been blessed beyond our ability to comprehend.  We thank you for celebrating the victories with us and for praying us through the hard times.  Jesus is King and worthy of all that we have.  It is with that attitude and heart that we serve along side of you in this ministry. 

Merry Christmas – may your celebration be Christ-centered, memorable and filled with love.

From our home to yours,

Chad, Fabiola, Rebecca, Justice and Beniah