Reaching the City…through praying together as churches

If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble   themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  2 Chronicles 7:14

 Our hearts rejoice when we see people and churches coming together to pray with one another for the well-being of their city.  One church can do a lot of good for a community but churches that have come together can make a true lasting impression and impact on others with the love of  Jesus.  The city of Claremont       continues to show this unity.  The unity among the  different churches is called LOVE CLAREMONT and they join together to do community service events together in the city, prayer and worship nights together quarterly and encourage one another and pray with one another every Friday as pastors and leaders of various churches/ministries within Claremont.  Please continue to pray these pastors/leaders would be united in prayer and the Lord would move  powerfully in the city of Claremont!  Please pray we would see this happening in other cities as well, that churches would come together to pray for the well-being of their city and communities would be changed by the love of Jesus.

Reaching the City…Through Providing Safe Houses for Sex Trafficking Victims

Please Pray for our partnership with Redeeming Love Ministry here in Los Angeles.  Redeeming Love is raising the funds needed to open their first Safe House for sex trafficking survivors. Their  program is designed to provide approximately 12-18 months of transitional housing and wrap-around care for survivors of sex trafficking who are in need of  a safe place to recover once they have been  rescued and stabilized.  With trauma-informed therapy as a core foundation of their program, they also offer life-skills  development, job readiness training, spiritual direction, education and career           mentoring, and help with job placement. 

PLEASE Pray for their BBQ/Cornhole Fundraiser this month—we are helping as much as we can and praying the Lord would bring in the remaining monthly donors they need to open their first home here in Los Angeles.

Reaching the City…through baptisms of new believers!

New Believers coming to know the Lord!  Pastor Ruben from Solid Rock Church in Claremont recently had the blessing of baptizing 2 new believers (Andrea and Andy) during one of their services!  Joseph has been meeting with Pastor Ruben weekly to encourage and mentor him.  They have been doing leadership development within Ruben’s church to raise up leaders who will reach their communities.  It has been such a privilege to see the Lord blessing Ruben’s church and new people being drawn to the love of Jesus!  Please pray for  Solid Rock Church and the other churches Joseph works with as there is such a need for encouragement, mentorship and leadership development within the churches. 

Family Update!

11th, 9th, 6th  and Preschool!  The children are all growing up so fast!  Luke now has his drivers permit and is driving us all over to get those practice hours in!  Daniel has joined the High School Worship Band at Church as well as beginning to help out with the Large Church Worship Team.  Jessica has become a beautiful young lady and continues to love to sing and dance and Aleeya has blossomed in our family and continues to grow by leaps and bounds in her speech and assimilation to American life.  She loves her school we love hearing “WOW” throughout the day when she experiences or sees something new!  Luke, Daniel and Jessica are wonderful siblings to her and she        definitely is spoiled in Love!  Please pray for  us in wisdom from the Lord as we raise these blessings.  Pray for strength and guidance as the boys are in the teen years and we start the        parenting road again with a 4 year old!

Reaching the City…

Through bringing the gospel to foster care children

As school has begun here in Los Angeles we had the blessing as a family to partner with a local agency that serves foster children in group homes within the San Gabriel Valley.  We helped unpack donations, count, organize, and recruit others to distribute school supplies to over 300 children from 8 local group homes.  These homes are for older children who have come from very traumatic, drug and alcohol situations and are now in the safety of a group home. As we packed up school supplies we had specific lists for each home as some homes had to have more caution (such as no sharp objects allowed) It was heartbreaking to think about what so many of these kids have been through.  But we are so thankful they are in a safe place now and pray they will experience the love of Jesus through others caring for them. We were thankful our whole family could serve together. 

 Please pray for these children.  Pray they would come to know the love of  Jesus through all the pain they have been through.  Please pray we would  continue to have opportunities to partner with others to reach the foster children here in Los Angeles with the Gospel. 

Reaching the City…

Through new churches reaching their communities!   

“What is this?” Kevin asked. “I have never seen a church out here before.” This past month we helped Epiphany Fellowship Los Angeles host a block party to reach out to their community!  Leading up to the weekend Joseph and Epiphany handed out 1200 water bottles in the  community inviting people to come. We reached out to the community known as “the jungles” where there is a large amount of gang activity and poverty. We saw about 100  people come out for the block party at the park in The Jungles and had many great conversations sharing about the Lord and inviting them to be a part the church. One man, Kevin, shared with Joseph how he was so surprised to see a church out there in the park instead of having the block party in a church location. It was a   wonderful day of showing God’s love to this community and welcoming them to the church. One praise is that Epiphany has recently added 7 new people to their core leadership team!  Please pray that the Lord would continue to grow this church plant reaching out to South Central Los Angeles!

Family Update!

The summer is ending and school is beginning for the kiddos once again. Many big changes as Daniel has started at a public High School, Luke has his driver’s permit, Jessica will be beginning Junior High and Aleeya is in PreK in a wonderful classroom that specializes with kids who have cochlear implants!  We have been so very thankful to have this summer to adjust as a family of 6 and care for Aleeya’s many medical needs.  We are so thankful for all the prayers for our family, finances to help with all the medical bills and the support we have received from so many.  Thank you!   

We just finished a busy, exciting month full of outreaches preparing for Easter! Two of the churches we are partnering with had full weeks of outreaches planned within their communities!  Epiphany Fellowship in South Los Angeles partnered with Cru Inner City as well and students from Cal Poly SLO gave up their Spring Break to join us in reaching out to the neighborhoods!  We did prayer walking, sharing the gospel with people in the neighborhoods and a community car wash to serve the people in South Los Angeles.  We were able to share with them and invite them to the Vision Night for the church on Good Friday.  

We also went on the USC campus and shared with students!  The Lord gave us some great conversations.

WE SAW 2 PEOPLE PUT THEIR FAITH IN JESUS !  CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO HEAR THE STORY !

Chance and Aeva Sharing

We ended the week with a Vision Night for Epiphany LA Church for people who were interested in learning more about the church.  About 35 people came to the Vision night.  Thank you for praying!

The couple weeks before Easter were also filled with partnering with Solid Rock Church in Claremont to help them reach out to their community with the Gospel. Claremont is one of the most liberal cities within Southern California.  Over 90% are not Christian.  Because Claremont is an intellectual city that believes it does not need religion, there is a huge need for a Bible believing church in this city and one that is reaching out to the community around them.  Solid Rock’s desire is to reach the 5 cities within Pomona Valley as well as students at the Claremont Colleges and Cal Poly Pomona.  We went out into the cities talking with people, going onto campus and inviting students and prayer walking for these areas. On Easter Sunday we saw over 200 people come to the service – many who do not know the Lord, heard the gospel message, and are seeking to learn more ! About 90% of the people who came filled out contact cards to know more about the church.   There are already 5 people who have signed up to be baptized soon! 

Solid Rock Church on Easter Sunday!

Please be praying for us as we are near to traveling to pick up our daughter in India!  This journey of adoption the Lord has had us on these past 5 years is almost complete!  We are so excited to travel soon and bring her home!  Please be praying for us as we wait to hear soon of a court date and for travel safety and everything to move smoothly in-country!  Thank you so very much!

Reaching the City …

through Sex Trafficking Prevention in the Middle Schools!

A couple weeks ago we had the opportunity to present the sex trafficking prevention curriculum that EveryOne Free ( a sex trafficking ministry we have partnered with) has created to the 7th and 8th graders of a Catholic Private School in Pomona.  Joseph and EveryOne Free have been meeting, preparing and praying for the opportunities to share this curriculum with Junior High and High School students in the Pomona area.  Through videos, Powerpoint and interactive games we were able to share such about such an important topic that is crucial students become aware of to prevent trafficking from happening to them.  In the last 2 years, over 250 people have been rescued from trafficking in Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties.  This curriculum helps students understand:

• How Trafficking happens
• Identifying a Pimp, How to know what a “Spotter” is?
• what is “Grooming” and how are girls vulnerable to Groomers?
• “What is Love?”
• Places Children are targeted by Traffickers
• Staying Safe Online
• Red Flags to look out for
• Warning Signs that someone is being trafficked  

Please pray for us as we share this curriculum in a few weeks again to over 200 High School students at a Pomona School.  Please pray as well that the Lord would open up many more opportunities to share this curriculum to public schools in this area as well as group homes for foster children.

Reaching the City…

Through Developing Leaders in Churches to Reach their City!

  Joseph has recently been helping to develop leaders within Solid Rock Church in Claremont.  Claremont is one of the most liberal cities within Southern California.  About 90% of the city does not believe in Jesus.  Pastor Ruben and Joseph developed a 6 month leadership development process for identifying, equipping, and establishing leaders within the church body of Solid Rock Church.  These leadership development times have addressed:

• Servant Leadership
• Mission and Vision
• Vision Casting Exercises
• Self-feeding leaders
• Being an emotionally healthy leader
• Developing a healthy leadership culture
• Leadership evaluation and assessment
• Conflict Resolution
• Developing Discipleship Partnerships
• Develop a Process for Multiplying Disciples

They host a monthly leadership development time at Solid Rock and it has been encouraging to see about 24 leaders from within the church participate and desire to grow as leaders and in their effectiveness to reach their community around them.  Pastor Ruben has seen these leaders grow during these times and in effect they have been inviting others to church and reaching out to others around them.  Please pray for these leaders – since the next development cycle is to disciple others within the church as they themselves are growing as leaders.

Thank you for your continual prayers and support to us and the ministry here in Los Angeles reaching the city! 

Reaching the City…

Through Partnering with Churches to Reach Their City!

One aspect of our ministry has been being a part of an initiative called – LOVE CLAREMONT.   LOVE CLAREMONT is a group of pastors and ministries from within Claremont that have come together to pray for the city of Claremont and serve the city with the love of Jesus. Here is the website we have up: http://www.loveclaremont.com/about

The churches uniting together are: Solid Rock, First Baptist Church of Claremont, Baseline Community Church, Pomona Vineyard, Life as One, and Sanctuary Claremont.   Joseph has been meeting with these pastors every Friday morning for prayer and planning – to partner with them to help them reach out to the city together with the Gospel.  They meet every Friday for prayer, every quarter they come together as churches for a prayer/praise night and they have multiple community service projects throughout the year together as churches united.   It has been a blessing to see these churches praying for one another, planning together and their hearts joined to be united within the City of Claremont and reach the city with the love of Jesus.

This Saturday we have an event planned with LOVE CLAREMONT called “Serve The City.”  We will be helping the community prepare for the El Nino rains to come.  We will be joining together to fill sandbags for the public and give them out to those in need.  Please pray for the unity of these churches in Claremont and that the Lord would use them powerfully to be a witness for Jesus to those who do not know Him within Claremont.  It is exciting to be able to help these churches unite together and serve with them.

Reaching the City…

The Gospel brings freedom from slavery!

This month is sex trafficking awareness month.  Please continue to pray for us as we partner with EveryOne Free Ministry and Azusa Pacific College to help prevent sex trafficking.  EveryOne Free has developed a curriculum to be used in the schools to raise awareness to children and teens about sex trafficking here in the U.S.   We are excited to be a part of this as Joseph will help with the training of volunteers from APU this month to be able to present the curriculum at assemblies in the 13 local middle schools  and within the classrooms of the High Schools within Pomona.  

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  Luke 4:18-19

Thank you for your continual prayers and support to our ministry reaching the cities of                    Los Angeles!  We appreciate you so very much…

Why do we have a passion to partner with church planters?  We partner to see more people come to know Christ!  We have been blessed to see multiple people come to know Jesus in just these past few months through church planters we are partnering with.  We praise God for Fatima and Horacio through Epiphany Fellowship in Los Angeles  and the several people who were recently baptized at Renew Church in Fullerton! Thank you for your prayers and support to us as we partner with church planters to reach the city. Pastor Wilson and Jeremiah with Melissa, Carl and Corrine being baptized at Renew Church!

One of our church plant partnerships in Claremont had an exciting recognition this past month with the City of Claremont.  Pastor Ruben from Solid Rock Church was recognized by the Mayor and the Chamber of Commerce of Claremont in a ribbon cutting ceremony as being a valuable part of the city of Claremont.   Joseph was able to be a part of the ceremony also and we are grateful that the city of Claremont is thankful for our presence in the community!  Beginning in January Joseph will start leadership training with the various leaders of Solid Rock Church as they continue to reach out to the city around them.

Mayor Corey of Claremont and Pastor RubenChamber of Commerce, Mayor Corey, Pastor Ruben and Solid Rock staff and Joseph during the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas Celebration!

Reaching the City… through fighting sex trafficking

“About 15,000 to 17,000 men, women and children are trafficked into the U.S. every year and nearly 300,000 U.S. children are at risk of being swept into commercial sexual exploitation, according to estimates by the CIA and the U.S. Department of Justice respectively.

California is among the most vulnerable states for human trafficking, and Los Angeles is one of the top three points of entry for trafficking victims, according to CAST statistics.  Pomona “is sitting right in the middle, sandwiched between major areas of trafficking,” said Pam Neighbour, director of the SHE Community of Pomona, citing the city’s position between San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties, areas that the FBI has deemed hubs of prostitution. ” (“Hundreds Rally Against Human Trafficking in Pomona” http://www.nbclosangeles.com)

We recently had the privilege to begin partnering with a local ministry – EveryOne  Free – to help prevent sex trafficking.  EveryOne Free has developed a curriculum to be used in the schools to raise awareness to children and teens about sex trafficking here in the U.S.   Recently EveryOne Free was able to meet with the superintendent of Pomona Unified School District and share the curriculum – which the schools were eager to have EveryOne Free implement!  We are excited to be a part of this as Joseph will help them raise awareness to the children in the 13 local middle schools through assemblies on campuses and within the classrooms of the High Schools!

Us at the recent fundraiser for EveryOne Free and Tanya (below) sharing her story of being trafficked here at a young age and her journey to finding freedom.

Reaching the City… through planting churches

Joseph is partnering with a church plant in Claremont, called Solid Rock.  He has been working with Pastor Reuben on how to develop leaders within his church.  (Below on left) is a training Joseph attended at Solid Rock with the core leaders of the church.  The training was on “Why Should We Reach Cities for Jesus?”  After the training we had a dinner afterwards to talk together about how reaching the cities applies to Solid Rock Church in Claremont (picture below on right).  Multiple churches within Claremont are coming together every Friday morning to pray for the City of Claremont and they have asked Joseph to be a part of their prayer times.  It is exciting to see churches

Partnering Together to Reach the City!

Thank you for continue to partner with us through prayers and finances and encouragement as we reach the city through these various avenues!  Please continue to pray that many people would continue to come to know the Lord Jesus!

Joseph had the privilege of leading a training time for the young adults of  our partnership, Renew Church.  Renew Church was the church we helped plant the summer of 2014 and they are now about 130 people strong with 3 elders and various leadership teams.  Pastor Wilson had asked Joseph if he would be willing to share at their young adult group on how to have spiritual conversations with others.  Every month Renew Church has a Saturday outreach to the apartments around them.  They use these times (barbecues, taco bars, desserts) to create spaces for conversations with others through a meal together. It is a time to share Christ with those in the apartments near the church and invite them to church.  Joseph enjoyed sharing with the young adults and encouraging them in how to have spiritual conversations with those who come to the Saturday outreaches.

        BACKPACK DRIVE!  – A few weeks ago we had the privilege to partner with Epiphany Fellowship Church of LA to provide backpacks to the children in need within their community!  As we have been helping Pastor Tommy and his core leadership team plant a church in South Los Angeles one outreach we had been preparing for and praying for was this backpack outreach.  The Lord opened the relationship with the community center in the neighborhood and we held a joint event with them.  It was a great partnership as Epiphany Fellowship was able to give away waters and backpacks filled with school supplies to those in need—as well as share about the church we are forming there and meet many parents to invite to come learn more about Jesus.  The following week Epiphany saw 4 new adults and 12 new children join them at their weekly Bible Study that they had met at the backpack drive!  

Why Church Planting?

“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Mark 16:15

We recently returned from a National Cru Conference in Colorado that happens every 2 years.  We gathered with over 5,000 staff from around the nation and heard challenging, powerful speakers to encourage us in our faith and in the ministry the Lord has called us to. We were also able to meet some of the leadership of the new ministry we are involved in, Cru City.  Here is a glimpse of some of our personal notes we took and how the Lord spoke to us! 

Partnerships – “Our partnership should reflect our intention of making people to be Like Christ.”  “The heart of partnership starts from relationship first.”  “Two parts of great partnering: deeply value others and wholeheartedly show up with all I am.”                                                                 Greg and Charmaine Lillestrand   (Cru City Executive Director)

“The Christian life is the outliving of the inliving Christ.”  “Justice and Racism is an economic issue of oppression. It is Artificial! We have the answer! We have found what Abraham found – we are one people with one true God! He has called us to join Him in that Redemptive Reconciliation work.”  Dr. John Perkins (author and speaker)

“Faith is not a Feeling, it is a choice we make to take God at His Word!”  Ney Bailey (staff with Cru for 46 years)

“Do we have boldness to preach the Gospel? Ecstatic and in Love with the Gospel personally.”  “Movements of God are fueled with people who are deeply in love with Jesus!”  “Let’s get back to the Word and back to the authority of what it says!” Francis Chan (author and church planter)

Here is a link to many of our talks if you would like to listen and be challenged and encouraged!  Speakers

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUAL PRAYERS AND ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT TO US AND THE MINISTRY HERE IN LOS ANGELES!