Cru Fellowship

Cru Fellowship for Church Multiplication is our national church planting residency that equips church planters and their core leadership team. It is a year-long commitment.  

Cru Fellowship is for apostolic leaders, missionary leaders, church planters or mission team leaders who are called to plant churches who will plant other churches.  Our desire is for sustainable, healthy, vital churches with ongoing care and   leadership development in church planting cohorts for years 2 and 3.  Joseph has been integral in the development and design of the residency.  He is also part of the teaching team and leads the design and development of the cohorts in years 2 and 3 for ongoing care, ministry development, soul care, and coaching.

Because we are a national church planting residency that mainly meets online we have planned 3 intentional in person gatherings: In Santa Ana, Ca, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Kansas City, Missouri.  During these gatherings we equip in person and build our relational connections and networks.  This past month we held our second in person gathering in Fort Lauderdale.  We continued our equipping focus on evangelism and creating a strategic plan so church planters can have holistic and healthy steps towards accomplishing their church vision. 

One day of our time together in Ft. Lauderdale is going out into the community to share the gospel to others. By God’s grace we initiated conversations with 86 people in the community and had the opportunity to share the gospel with 32 of them.  A huge highlight was seeing 4 of these people accept Christ into their hearts and begin new lives!

 Thank you for your continual prayers and please pray for the 4 new believers in Ft. Lauderdale.  Please also pray for our next in person gathering together as Cru Fellowship in Kansas City this June.

Family Update:

At the end of February we celebrated our son’s wedding!  It was such a blessed day with no rain and full of the Lord’s presence.  It was very God honoring and fun!  Thank you for your prayers ! We are very thankful for our new daughter-in-law.  We are definitely in a new transition with our family and are thankful for each and every day that seems to fly by!
 

Thank you for your continual prayers and support to us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are so very thankful.
 

October 2024

A Dream Come True!

On Saturday, October 5, we hosted our first ever, in-person alumni gathering for 15 of our clients. There were many hugs, smiles, and (happy) tears as our clients met our staff and each other in person for the first time. There is a survivor sisterhood bond that is STRONG and cannot be broken. Our clients need each other, and this event provided a space for continued empowerment for each of them through sharing and encouragement.  The clients were provided goodie bags that contained donations from so many through our Amazon Wish List. We also provided coffee and pastries for breakfast and a lovely lunch of delicious Mexican food.

One client arrived and stated to our team,

“I was in hell for 22 years. I dreamed about a day like this and now my dream is coming true.”

As Michelle continues serving as a case manager, her heart is to not only see trafficked and sexually exploited women find the resources they need to begin new lives, but to also see them find new life in Jesus and healing and hope in the pain they have experienced. 

Thank you for all your prayers and support for this event!  Thank you for continuing to pray for these survivors to continue to find hope and healing in Christ as the begin their new lives of freedom.♥

Cru Fellowship for Church Multiplication

This past month was the second gathering of our Cru Fellowship for pastors, denominational leaders, and church planters around the nation who are desiring to plant multiplying churches.  This fellowship equips them to:

1. Reach the lost in a wise, clear, authentic and relevant way.

2. Establish new believers in their walk with Jesus and develop them into faithful disciples.

3. Equip faithful disciples to become fruitful workers in the harvest.

4. Entrust fruitful church planters, their team and gospel workers to multiply vital churches for everyone, everywhere.

Joseph spoke on “Planting in Context.” How to help your church create a process to understand how to best reach your community with the gospel.  Looking into Explore, Love, Partner and Plant— a process to help churches engage their community with the love of Christ.

Participants are also a part of an ongoing peer-coaching learning community of leaders who are committed to see the church multiply.           

http://www.churchmovements.com/fellowship   

Please continue to pray for the 42 people taking part of the year-long Cru Fellowship Residency.  That they would be trained and encouraged as they begin to plant churches throughout the United States.

FAMILY UPDATE: October has been full!  Our oldest, Luke, had his ACL surgery and is in full recovery mode now—please pray for his complete healing, it is a long road. Daniel recently passed his final financial advisor certification exams (Series 6) and was welcomed in our local Chamber of Commerce! Jessica is thriving at CBU and Aleeya is about to turn 13! Teenage years are upon us!!  Thank you for loving and praying for our family.
 

Thank you also so much for your continual prayers and financial support for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are truly grateful for each of you and are blessed. 
 

Cru Fellowship for Church Multiplication

In the past year Joseph has been heavily involved in the planning and
designing of Cru Fellowship for Church Multiplication. This is a
yearlong national church planting residency (internship). We were
excited to launch is this September with 42 participants from
multiple churches, denominations and networks around the U.S!
The participants were either Cru staff that desired to work with
church planters or church planters who desired to plant within the
next year.

Joseph was on the speaking team and
spoke for 2 sessions on Encouraging
Believers to Share their Faith & The
Calling and Vision of a Church Planter.

We partnered with 3 Hispanic churches for two of the three churches were church plants. For the day we had 117 spiritual conversations, 69 gospel conversations and 21 people came to know Jesus!

Joseph and a participant, Jason, shared Christ with a young man named Jessy. Jessy was a 8 year high functioning heroine addict. He had a job that made $3k a month, but would use all his income for heroine. The turning point in his life came when he went to a drive through and begged for a bag of fries because he was hungry and had spent all his money on drugs. He then decided to enter a program and rehab for help. As Joseph and Jason shared the gospel with him, he had a much better understanding of the gospel and desired to follow Jesus who spared his life and gave him a second chance.
Please pray for Cross of Grace Church as they follow-up Jessy and help him to continue to follow Jesus.

Manny (3rd person from the
left) led these 5 teenage boys
to Christ on our day of
outreach!

Gratitude….
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever.” Psalm 107:1

Gratitude is our theme for our First ever in-person alumni event for trafficked & sexually exploited women! In a couple weeks Michelle is helping to host an event to bring these women together in person for encouragement and support!

The women are so excited (2 are flying in from other states) and we are praying it will be a time of blessing them with encouragement, support and love—that they would feel treasured and know their worth. These women have endured unspeakable evil in their lives, not lost hope, sought deep healing and persevered to begin new lives. We want to bless them and love on them deeply. If you are able to help with our wish list we would be SOOO thankful! The wish list has needs such as: Uber gift cards (Most of these ladies do not have transportation and we are in need of uber gift cards to transport them to our event), small gifts to bless them with, and Panera gift cards for coffee and pastries in the morning. Thank you so much for your generosity to love on these survivors!

Please pray for October 5th. Michelle is so excited to see the women she has been
working with for years virtually—give them big hugs and spend this time with them in
person. Pray they would feel cherished and drawn to the love of Jesus. Pray this time
would open up even more spiritual conversations as Michelle mentors and serves them
as a case manager.

Please pray for our oldest, Luke, as he undergoes
ACL surgery on October 1st. Pray for quick healing
and care for him. Thank you!

Thank you also so much for your continual prayers and
financial support for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.
We are truly grateful for each of you and are blessed.

He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you? But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

Sylvia: “You helped save my life and put me back on track.” 

Nancy: “I appreciate all that you have done through this class and for not giving up on me.”  

Serving as a case manager Michelle’s heart is to not only see trafficked and sexually exploited women find the resources they need to begin new lives, but to also see them find new life in Jesus and healing and hope in the pain they have experienced.  One survivor she has been working with for over a year, recently shared how she is now in her own apartment for the first time, doing so well in work and her healing.  Her arms were recently covered in scars from mutilation from her trafficker and herself and she created a beautiful tattoo of flowers and words that she now has replaced in her mind for herself.  Instead of despair she feels hopeful for the future.

Beautiful
                          Enough
   Overcome
                             Dream
  Grateful
 

We have 33 clients who are currently enrolled in our program, along with 42 alumni who Michelle regularly connects with for case management services and to encourage and share the love of Jesus with.

Please pray for these women.  Pray for them to continue to open up and trust—to have hope for the future and be open to trusting in the love of Jesus.  Pray also for our first in-person alumni event Michelle is a part of in October—it will be wonderful to give hugs to these women that Michelle has invested in over the years. Pray many would come and experience God’s love through their interactions with us.

Leadership Development

Joseph began working with Solid Rock Church over 9 years ago.  He helped them plant and begin their church. One process he has done with them is teaching them a process to develop leaders. There are now 3 churches in their Solid Rock church planting network and another church plant about to launch in 2025!  Now that there are many leaders, all the staff along with Joseph, met to redesign the leadership pipeline that would continue to develop more leaders, see many more people come to Christ, and plant more churches. It was fun to dream, make tactical plans on large Post It notes, and implement agreed upon goals and strategies. God’s favor has been upon us and the church leaders to see close to 200 people come to Christ and be baptized over the years. What’s even more amazing is the friendships among all the staff and Joseph that has extended to our family. We are grateful that this summer Jessica was even able to intern at the church and help them with their children’s ministry after going on her summer mission trip to North Africa with CBU. 

 Thank you also so much for your continual prayers and       financial support for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are truly grateful for each of you and are blessed. 
 

The school year is beginning!  Aleeya has entered Junior High years and has begun 7th grade! Jessica is preparing to return to CBU for her sophomore year at college.  Luke recently tore his ACL playing basketball and is awaiting surgery and Daniel is in full swing wedding planning.  Life is full but so very good.
 

As part of Cru Church Movements Joseph wears many hats!  Although he is on the National Leadership team as the National Field Director, overseeing all the regional directors throughout the United States, he is also a regional director himself for our region.  He is the regional director for the West region, which includes the states of California, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah and Colorado. One of his roles is to visit every staff in West region within 2 years to see their ministry on the field, hear about what the Lord is   doing specifically in their ministries and their partnerships and to give them encouragement in ministry.

Joseph recently met with one of the staff, Pauline, for a field visit.  Pauline and another staff member, Steve, lead the West region monthly times where all the staff gather for encouragement, training and prayer.  It was encouraging for Joseph to meet with Pauline and hear her heart for city-wide prayer, unity of the body of Christ and her heart for reaching Muslims with the love of Jesus. Pauline introduced Joseph to one of her church partners, Pastor Ian, from Trellis Ministry in Costa Mesa. Pastor Ian originally planted the Crossing Church in Costa Mesa and then felt God leading him to start Trellis Ministry—a ministry that brings pastors together for prayer and collaboration to reach their city. Pauline is currently part of their prayer group in Costa Mesa desiring to pray for the needs and the people of Costa Mesa.

Please pray for Joseph as he oversees the west region.  Please pray for Pauline, Steve and the rest of the West regional staff as we continue to partner with churches and organizations to see people come to Christ, see people equipped in how to share their faith and churches planted.

For the past couple years Michelle has been plugging away at a 42-hour, 3-part program to receive her Mental Health Coach Certification and this week she completed it!  Serving as a case manager for sex trafficked survivors she desired to continue to learn and grow in her understanding and abilities to serve women who have been through so much pain and abuse in their lives. 

We recently graduated 11 more ladies from the Pathways to Freedom Program—it is such a joy to see lives changed as these survivors begin new lives of freedom.  Here are some words of encouragement one of our graduates recently wrote to us…

“My story is the story of God turning a grave into a well-watered garden.  I’m so grateful to be part of Everyone Free. This class has been a beautiful healing journey, and the staff has been available to help me through so many obstacles.  I am truly thankful that I am a survivor of human trafficking because of the community and support and life changes that have taken place as a result of surviving.  

I haven’t seen my children in 7 years and last month I had the opportunity to visit them and attend my daughter’s graduation. They were able to experience me free and redeemed.  I was present and able to meet them where they are at emotionally. I have the skills to be a healthy mother practicing boundaries and communication. I learned on that trip that sometimes communication as a mom is listening and creating a safe space for my children to share their hearts with me.

I am now sober and living “the life” I always dreamed of and never thought was possible.”

We celebrated the engagement of our son to an amazing young woman this month as well!  Please pray for them as they save, plan and prepare for a lifetime together. We are so proud and happy for them both!
 

Thank you also so much for your continual prayers and financial support for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are truly grateful for each of you and are blessed. 
 

As part of Cru Church Movement National Leadership team Joseph is the national field director.  He has been overseeing all the regional directors throughout the United States.  This has been a challenging and encouraging role as he enjoys training and mentoring others and helping leaders flourish.  With each regional director Joseph oversees their goals for the year personally and for their region, as well as their personal development plans.  Joseph meets with each one of them virtually three times a year, as well as travels to see them and their ministry in person.

One of these regional directors is Bryan—who serves in the Northeast region. Bryan leads the Northeast region and co-leads the RUII ministry of Church Movements.  RUII reaches out to cities nationally with the focus on refugees, urban ministry, immigrants and indigenous peoples.  One ministry Bryan has formed a partnership with is World Relief.

“I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Matthew 25:35

World Relief shares that over 110 million people forced to flee their homes, desperately seeking refuge. Many of those include the tens of thousands of refugees resettled by the United States every year, and the historic number of immigrants seeking a new American life. Through this, God is at work through local churches providing a direct response by meeting tangible and spiritual needs—showing and sharing the love of Jesus. ( Churches of Welcome – World Relief )

Bryan and the Church Movements RUII team has been partnering with World Relief Churches of Welcome by encouraging and partnering with churches to become involved serving, caring, and reaching out to refugees with the gospel.  

This July Joseph will be traveling to Pennsylvania to meet in person with Bryan and the other Church Movements staff in the Northeast region for a retreat as they evaluate the year and do strategic planning for the upcoming year.   Please pray for his travel safeties and for the Lord to continue to work throughout this region!

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 1:4

We celebrated the graduation of Daniel this month!  Daniel graduated Summa Cum Laude in Business Administration   Management, Leadership Studies, and a Minor in ASL.  We are so incredibly proud of all his hard work and more importantly the young man he has become.  We love his heart for others and His passion and commitment to Jesus.  We are so thankful. It is bittersweet to have our oldest 2 boys now adults and working full-time—how did the time go so quickly? Thankfully they are both living at home for now as they work and save money for their own apartments in the future. 🙂 Thank you for your prayers for Daniel all these years, as so many of you have watched him grow up and prayed often.  The Lord hears our prayers and we have felt and continue to experience the blessing of so many prayers for our family. Thank you.  Thank you for your continual prayers for our children as they enter adulthood. 

Please pray for Jessica as well as she leaves in a couple weeks for a mission trip to North Africa with her university.  We are praying for her safety and for her to experience the presence of the Lord throughout her time and that He would work in and through her in mighty ways.  Thank you! 

Thank you also so much for your continual prayers and financial support for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are truly grateful for each of you and are blessed. 

MERCY NEPAL— It has been a blessing to continue to partner with Krishna in the ministry of Mercy Nepal. Krishna and Joseph met years ago at a church planting connection and formed a great friendship and partnership.  As many of you know Joseph and Krishna continue to plan, design and pursue next steps to fight sex trafficking and help to plant churches in Nepal.  In the past we were focused on providing jobs for women and girls so that they would not be enticed into sex trafficking from Kathmandu, Nepal to New Delhi, India.  We desired to address the poverty in Nepal and the need for women to earn income in order that traffickers could not lure them into a job in India that in reality was a life of sex trafficking, which is a very common tactic in Nepal.  We trained many women in sewing centers that were partnered with Nepali church plants.  Women from the community would be trained in sewing skills to either start their own micro business or be hired by another company and be able to earn an income for themselves and their children.  As the relationships were formed, our trainers would invite the women to the church plants and share the faith with them. 

 As Joseph and Krishna discussed what the local Mercy Nepal workers were envisioning, it seemed that another direction needed to be taken.  The local Mercy Nepal team wanted us to raise a very large amount of money to establish sewing and garment factories.  They believed we could train more women and even hire more women to work the factory and train others.  But after much discussion and prayer, Krishna and Joseph decided to go another direction because it would cost thousands to establish one garment factory. The sewing centers are continuing in operation, but we felt a factory would be a very difficult task to pursue.

 In the meantime, Krishna told Joseph that in Nepal the banks would pay high interest for any money that was deposited.  With over 100 villages in Nepal, Krishna and Joseph began to dream about how to start a foundation and utilize the interest gained (leaving the initial capital untouched) to help under-resourced students and families.  Even with a $2000 deposit/village, there would be enough interest gained that we could help students that needed shoes, school supplies, clothes, etc. 

Krishna and the local Mercy Nepal workers have approached different schools, and the principals of the schools are very open to having Mercy Nepal partner with them in this way.  This has opened up the gospel for the students and their families because they are so thankful. The Nepali church plants are continuing to share the gospel as well. This has also opened up the gospel for the teachers and principals of the schools as they ask why we are willing to help in this way. Please pray as Joseph and Krishna continue to meet and strategize.  Pray for Krishna as he travels to Nepal in April and visits the work that Mercy Nepal does with sewing centers and ministry to the schools. 

Partnerships – Joseph has been partnering with Vineyard Church of Glendora for the past several years.  The VCG staff have been meeting with Joseph to “reimagine” the church of the future.  They have talked through evangelism, discipleship, disciple making, and leadership development.  As a result of their conversations over the years, a Co/Gather building was rented and developed.  This was a building they found to rent that could be utilized for Sunday service, ministry outreaches, and a safe space for the community.  They are still in the process of developing micro gatherings in addition to a Sunday service.  These micro gatherings consist of groups of church members forming connections with one another and the community around them.  It is a wonderful way to build relationships with their neighbors and their spheres of influence as they gather together to learn about the Lord. These micro gatherings would eventually become micro churches within the VCG network. Please pray for them as they continue to plan, partner, and “reimagine” what church could look like in the future—reaching every segment of society with the Gospel and love of Jesus!

Michelle just celebrated the graduation of 5 amazing ladies from their Pathways to Freedom Program!  Through Michelle’s partnership with EveryOne Free as a case manager she is involved in each one of these ladies’ lives. It is a rigorous 24-week class that empower survivors of sexual exploitation to gain financial and emotional independence through education and self-discovery. These ladies have worked hard participating, turning in homework, making changes, seeking help and pursuing healing and freedom in their lives. It is such a joy to see lives changed, hope renewed and a new passion for the future as they graduate from our program.  They will continue on in our alumni support group and work closely with Michelle for encouragement and support as well as finding other         resources they may need (housing, education, job skills) to begin new lives.  To God be the glory as He continues to heal and renew lives hurt by injustice.

Thank you also so much for your continual prayers and financial support for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are truly grateful for each of you and are blessed. 

Developing and discipling leaders brings passion and focus to Joseph in his ministry! Seeing leaders built up in their giftings and helping them excel as leaders with integrity is vital to reach others with the love of Jesus.  One of the joys Joseph has recently had is being able to continue to partner with Pastor Chad in Los Angeles.  He has been working with him as he develops and designs a discipleship pathway series to develop leaders in his church Fuente para las Naciones. Joseph and Pastor Chad have been meeting regularly to discuss multiple topics related to evangelism, discipleship, developing leaders, outreaches and planting more churches in Hispanic communities.  His desire is to build a Hispanic bilingual church planting network! 

Pastor Chad and his church recently went to the Dominican Republic for a mission trip.  This trip really helped inspire and invigorate potential leaders for the new church he desires to plant soon. Pastor Chad trained them in how to share their faith and give a testimony.

Please pray for future partnerships!  Joseph and Pastor Chad are continuing to discuss how to develop more leaders and utilizing Easter and Christmas outreaches to develop people within his church—to prepare them to share their faith during these natural church rhythms.

Joseph sharing via video, Dave Robinson (our director) teaching at the conference and a group picture of all the Church Movement staff together!

Recently our ministry, Cru Church Movements, had a national staff conference in San Antonio, Texas. It has been a blessing for Joseph to serve on the National Leadership Team within our ministry and as a National Field Director overseeing all the regional directors.  Because Joseph was recovering from his radiation treatments, we were unable to attend the conference, so he was asked to speak a couple times through video! 

He began the conference on video giving vision for the conference.  Our mission of:

 Picturing transformative, multiplying churches in every segment of the city that communicate and demonstrate the gospel to every person, so that every man, woman and child would know the gospel and experience the love of Jesus Christ. 

We desire to do this through connecting people to Jesus, Developing Missional Leaders, Multiplying the Church and Partnering to Serve Others.

Joseph also spoke and shared with the staff how to partner with churches, pastors and leaders.  How different churches land on the spectrum of partnerships and how to approach leaders.  He shared a tool he recently developed to use nationally as Cru partners with churches as we live out our vision in ministry.

This summer our daughter, Jessica, has the opportunity to go to North Africa with her school on a mission trip!  She will experience a new culture and create authentic connections with the local communities—share life stories, testimonies, connect with locals, and explore the city. Her heart is to learn about the culture and form relationships to share the love of Jesus to a country that has very few believers. Please be in prayer for her!

Thank you also so much for your continual prayers and financial support for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are truly grateful for each of you and are blessed. 

Happy New Year!  We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. 2023 definitely was a challenging year for us but we are thankful for all the ways the Lord held us close, provided all we needed and continued to move in our lives and in the healing of Joseph. Thank you for all your continual prayers and support to us.

One recent praise was being a part of seeing a family come to Christ through an outreach we had in partnership with Pastor Marco at Christ First Espanol! A woman in the community, Pilar, saw a video Pastor Marco had created, which advertised an outreach Joseph and him had designed and planned. Pilar and her entire family came to the outreach, heard the gospel and all of them accepted Christ! The whole family was recently baptized and now Pilar and her family are actively involved at Christ First Church.  She and her husband are going through marriage counseling with Pastor Marco and Pilar is serving faithfully every Sunday on the hospitality team serving coffee to those coming to church. She is involved in a woman’s small group and her family is eager to grow in Christ together.  Lives forever changed are the lives of Pilar and her family!  Pilar also served at our most recent Christmas outreach at Christ First, participating in the drama skit. 

Pastor Marco and Joseph planned a Christmas play outreach where they adapted the Scrooge Christmas story. In this play the main character is an unbeliever.  He is visited each night by 2 different ghosts, who encourage him to be selfish, greedy and mean-hearted to his family and employees.  One the third night he is visited by an angel, who brings him face to face with God. In this conversation God asks him to repent and believe in His Son, Jesus.  The main character wakes up from his dream with a chance to repent and ask for forgiveness.

We had a full house of people from the church and community.  We know of three new families who were there and heard the gospel through the play for the first time.  Please pray for them to continue to learn about Jesus and to give their lives to him like Pilar and her family recently have! Please also pray for the upcoming Valentines outreach Joseph and Pastor Marco have begun to plan for the Spanish community surrounding the church.

January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

Human trafficking is the exploitation of human beings through force, fraud, or coercion for the purposes of commercial sex or forced labor for the benefit of their traffickers. Within the United States, California ranks 1st in reported sex trafficking cases, with Los Angeles County being one of, if not the largest, area of this reality occurring sadly. 

As we partner with EveryOne Free here in Pomona, Michelle serves as a case manager reaching out to numerous trafficked women continually and managing 20-30 women’s cases.  The numbers are so great and the need for help is so high.  It has been such a gift to be able to walk alongside survivors, help them see their true worth in Jesus and find resources they need to take next steps towards healing, safety and growth.  Serving survivors can take an emotional toll as well for the pain is so deep and it is an uphill battle at times—but the Lord has been so good to give us glimpses of hope and recovery as we see lives changed. Here is one email Michelle recently received from a young woman she served the past couple years who is now thriving.

 Hi Michelle!  I would like to say that EveryOne Free staff are some of the best ladies I have ever met in my life. The affirmation sheet you gave me I keep up on my wall and it is super useful. In that alone, I was helped in finding self-value. The classes were super informational, the facilitators were understanding, sympathetic, and compassionate. I learned a lot from each class and each person, and I will remember this experience forever. 

Besides that, you ladies provided value and continuous healing when I moved across the country and was searching for help.  I was going to have to go back home but my case manager, Michelle, helped me find resources to ground and land safely beyond my expectations. I can’t thank her enough and I’m happy that there is a program out there such as this.  I felt valued, I felt heard, I felt helped.  Thank you again! 

*Leslie is now working in management at Target after completing her GED and starting college classes for business!

Thank you also so much for your continual prayers and financial support for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are truly grateful for each of you and are blessed.