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. 

Helping Survivors Across the Nation

While partnering with EveryONE Free as a case manager for sex trafficked survivors Michelle has been blessed to form friendships and partnerships with others around the nation who have a heart to see women living in freedom and purpose.  One way we were blessed to see the Lord work was through a fellow co-worker on staff with Cru.  Pamela serves with Cru in Florida and has a heart for working with survivors as well. During our last Cru conference Michelle and Pamela were able to connect with one another.                          

Fast forward to this year and Michelle met *Anne.  Anne joined the online 24-week Pathways to Freedom class Michelle is a part of. Anne began sharing her story of being trafficked in the past and how she found freedom about 2 years ago.  The home she was in was closing down and she began to share about her daily struggle of depression and hopelessness in her future.  Her abuser had tracked her down in the past and she was struggling with deep fear for where she could go next.  Michelle connected with her as her case manager and began to reach out to various partnerships to find help for Anne.  A blessing appeared as Michelle remembered Pamela in Florida and reached out to her about the safe housing she helps with in Florida.  Just at that time a room had opened up and Anne was able to have an interview and receive a safe place to live!  We could see the Lord’s hand in it all with the timing and a perfect location for Anne to move to.  Soon after moving Anne texted Michelle:

I just wanted to tell you I was thinking about you this morning and I wanted to tell you how grateful I am for you. You have helped me in so many ways and I don’t know where I’d be without you.  I wanted you to know that I’m doing well here and I LOVE it here at the house. It is absolutely beautiful. I’m getting to know one of my roommates better and it’s nice to have social contact. Thank you so much for pointing me here. I’m Truly grateful.

Anne is continuing to thrive and currently taking college classes in Psychology at a local college.  She has big dreams and a beautiful future ahead of her.                                  

Thank you for praying for survivors such as Anne and so many others who are starting new lives and taking big steps for their futures and healing. Please pray they would see the love of Jesus through our words and actions and find His deep healing and peace.

According to Barna research—as of March 2022 :

42% of pastors have considered quitting full-time ministry within the past year.

Two in Five pastors (43%) say “I feel lonely and isolated.”

56% say “the immense stress of the job” has factored into their thoughts on leaving. 

Pastors Should Not Lead Alone

Last year Pastor Hunter from Solid Rock Church approached Joseph and asked if he would be willing to meet with him once a month.  He desired to meet for accountability and connection.  He wanted to grow in his leadership and emotional well-being as a leader. It has been such a blessing for Joseph to meet once a month with him and feels honored that Hunter would open up his life in this way with him.

Family Update…

Happy October! Thank you for your continual prayers for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles. We are thankful for each and every day and treasuring our times together as a family.  It is definitely a hard transition at times with 3 out of 4 kiddos being young adults and we miss those young years of childhood—but we are thankful for the friendships we now have with these amazing humans. 🙂   Thank you for continuing to pray for Joseph and his radiation treatments.  He has 10 treatments left to go and we eagerly look forward to hearing him ring the bell at City of Hope to close this difficult chapter of radiation. God has been so good to us in this season, and we have all grown closer to one another and to Him in so many ways that we would never change.   

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrew 4:16

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. 

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3)

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  (Romans 10:9)

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you    always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Joseph and Pastor Marco from Christ First Espanol have been partnering together for over 7 years.  It has been such a wonderful partnership praying with one another and hosting evangelistic events together that many people have come to know the Lord through.  We praise God for these new believers that were recently baptized within Pastor Marco’s church!

Celebrating 8 new believers being baptized recently!

Picture 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.

The National Leadership team for our ministry, Cru Church Movements, recently met for prayer and planning as they lead together for this next year.  Because of Joseph’s health at this time he could not be in person in Colorado, but he was able to be zoomed in to the meetings when he was not doing his treatment.  The vision for the ministry is summed up in 5 distinct areas we seek to see lived out.

· Connect People to Jesus

· Develop Missional Leaders

· Multiply the Church

· Partner to Serve

· Encourage Extraordinary Prayer

In Partnerships with Others we are Trusting God to reach 160,000,000 unreached people in the U.S, plant 160,000 churches/faith communities and mobilize 1,000,000 leaders.

Family Update…

Fall has begun and our kiddos are all in big transitions!  Luke is officially working for a Christian finance company, Daniel has begun his Senior year in college, Jessica is a freshman in college and Aleeya is a 6th grader! It is bittersweet seeing Daniel enter his Senior year and Jessica moving away from home for her freshman year—but we are definitely in a season of change and change is hard sometimes.  Thank you for your continual prayers for Joseph as well.  He is in the midst of the radiation and hormone treatment and doing pretty well overall, some days are better than others. Continuing to rest in God’s peace and strength through this season.

Thank you for praying and supporting our daughter on her mission trip this summer!  We wanted her to share all the Lord did in and through her!

Bula (Hello in Fijian)!

I want to say thank you with genuine gratitude. I wouldn’t have experienced this amazing mission trip without the help of your support and prayers. I truly felt the power of prayer and the presence of God due to your endless prayers and God’s faithfulness to me.

              On July 1st I arrived in Suva, Fiji. My team and I then met the Cru Fijian Student-Life who helped us immensely during our time in Fiji. I was able to connect with many of them and learn so much about their culture. The schedule throughout my two weeks in Fiji consisted of visiting Gospel High School each day to lead classroom periods throughout the day while sharing the gospel. Our classroom schedule consisted of an introduction, a game, a gospel presentation, a testimony, and small groups where we had many spiritual conversations. I had the opportunity to share the gospel 20+ times in different class periods. The start of sharing the gospel was scary for me but the Lord gave me so much strength and courage that I was able to share with such confidence. My team helped me so much by encouraging me and giving me several tips to improve. Words can’t describe the feeling I felt in front of each class, there would be times I would forget what to say yet God would speak through me. I felt His peace so consistent as I shared and was able to add my style to the gospel presentation with human visuals and explaining more in-depth. My favorite part of sharing the gospel was leading the salvation prayer out loud and hearing voices repeat after me as students prayed to receive Christ right in front of me. It was an unreal and truly beautiful moment to experience. 

Another opportunity I was given was to lead many small groups in the classrooms where we played Soularium (a card game with photos and questions). Examples of the questions I would ask are: “Pick a card to describe your life right now”, “Pick a card to describe your relationship with God”, and “Pick a card to describe your view of God”. This was a casual way to arise spiritual conversations. I was able to connect with many students and learn so much about their lifestyles and culture. Although some answers I received broke my heart, such as the one girl who shared in tears how she recently lost her brother. Others shared how they wished they had a “picture-perfect” family. As I listened to these hardships, I shared the love of Jesus and shared the importance of putting God on the throne of their lives. 

  One last encounter I had with a student I will never forget is meeting a boy who was blind. I co-led a small group with a blind student and deaf students and an interpreter. I started asking the questions but felt called to focus on the blind student and let my friend lead the rest of the small group. I described each card to the boy as he chose a card that best answered the question for him. As the spiritual conversation started I asked him about his faith and relationship with God. He shared his strong faith in God and gratitude for his life. I was so humbled to connect with this sweet boy speaking with such kindness and happiness even when describing how he could barely see me. He shared about his culture and asked questions about America, such as if there were blind people where I live. My heart sank imagining how he felt wondering if he was alone and wishing to see a bit clearer. I then shared how he isn’t alone and connected with him. 

The whole two weeks of sharing the gospel many times in classrooms were exhausting and we had packed schedules. Yet I wouldn’t trade the experience for the world, my connections made with students made it so worth it. On the days I felt “off” or with no motivation I cried out to God and He gave me so much strength. I experienced so many fruits of the Spirit on the mission.

One last experience my team and I had in Fiji was visiting a village to distribute water filters. We visited the village of Verata and distributed water filters to homes in need and shared the gospel with the filters. 16 people prayed to receive Christ during our visit to the village!  I was able to visit 2 homes with my small team and share the gospel at both homes. I shared how God is like the water filter that purifies and cleans us from our sins. I also shared the prayer to receive Christ and led 2 people to Christ! It was a very humbling experience to walk into these homes in the village that are in need of clean water. Looking into the eyes of those in need and hearing why these Americans are here to give them clean water was truly a beautiful experience. Many got teary eyed, and you could see their attitude of true gratitude. I felt very privileged to give some houses the gift of clean water and a relationship with God.

On July 14th, our team then flew to Auckland, New Zealand. During our time in New Zealand, we visited a school at the beginning and end of the week. During our visits one day, I led a small group of girls where we went over a devotional and soularium cards to get into spiritual conversations. I then connected with the girls learning about their culture, comparing foods from the US to NZ, popular sports, and fun random questions. On another visit to the school, I was able to help lead worship for students before we started our gospel presentation. It was a beautiful experience to worship with my team and hear the voices of students sing out. Our team also had the privilege to hang out with students during their lunch. I was able to play volleyball and soccer with students. I also shared God’s love by chatting with random students and getting to know them. It was a special time visiting a school of students eager to know about God and welcoming us Americans so well.

In the middle of the week, our team visited the University of Auckland (New Zealand’s largest University). During our visits here we launched the Student Life and Athletes in Action Clubs. We visited during “Club Rush” where we promoted learning and joining a Christian community on campus. Our role as a team was to approach strangers and to ask them to fill out a quick survey with spiritual and personal questions, in order to invite students interested in God to their clubs. This was out of my comfort zone, but with prayer and courage gained from God, I approached many students. Even with the smallest interactions I had with students I shared the love of Jesus and complimented   students to bring a smile to their faces.

Our time then ended in New Zealand where my team and I had a debrief remembering all our special moments together on the mission and preparing    ourselves for the transition back home. I grew very close to many members of my team which made the goodbyes very hard. It was a very bittersweet goodbye to my team members that lived in other states and far away from me. But I feel very thankful for technology to be able to stay in touch and connected with my team and people I’ve met overseas. The transition back home was difficult for me since I have so much love for my team members, those I’ve met overseas, two beautiful countries, and two new cultures. But God taught me after missing so much to be grateful. Rather than wishing I was back, to change my mind set to gratitude. The gratitude of the door that God opened for me to grow in so many ways. The gratitude of all the people I connected with. The gratitude of an amazing team knit together by God. SO MUCH to be grateful for. Lastly, I want to thank YOU for supporting me financially and prayerfully on my mission trip. I feel very blessed to have you in my life and all of the support you’ve given me. But in all glory to God, I couldn’t have gone on this mission trip without Him and His faithfulness to me.

God Bless!

Thank you with a heart full of gratitude!

Love, Jessica Butlig 🙂  

Church Planting in Colorado!

Meet the Westons!  One of our roles is to coach newer staff within our ministry of Church Movements.  One of the many staff Joseph coaches is Brett, and Michelle recently began coaching his wife, Erin.  They both are serving in Denver, Colorado.  Their desire is to plant a gospel-centered mission minded church in Centennial, CO near the Denver Tech Center and the University of Denver to reach the city for Christ.   

Denver is in need of hope.  Colorado has one of the highest rates of teen suicides in the nation, drug and opioid use is rampant, and most Denverites would say they are spiritual but that Christianity is  actually harmful to society and they would not seek God among Christianity.  Denver is in need of hope.  

Through Joseph’s coaching times with Brett he started with coaching him in how to train his church members in evangelism.  It was wonderful to see them use what they learned to share with their community and see people come to know the Lord on Easter Sunday!  After the evangelism training they began to talk through how to train the leaders within the church.  And then most recently, Joseph has been coaching Brett on training the elders – as they will share the responsibility with Brett in leading the church.  

Michelle has been coaching his wife, Erin, over the phone as well.  Michelle has been praying for her and encouraging her as she reaches out to the elementary school she recently began working at with the love of Jesus.  As well as being a mom of 6 !

Please pray for Brett and Erin as they share the love of Jesus to their community in Colorado—that the Lord would work through them and their church powerfully to see lives changed.

Refugee, Urban, Indigenous, Immigrants

As the National Field Director Joseph is overseeing and coaching Bryan, Northeast regional director, from Baltimore. Brian leads the RUII Reality ministry within Church Movements.  It has been exciting to be a part of and see how the Lod is moving within this population! 

RUII stands for Refugee, Urban, Indigenous, Immigrant

There are 49.8 million foreign born immigrants that reside in the U.S.A.  That is 1 in 7 Americans and 14.9% of the population are from Unreached People Groups.

361 Unreached People Groups are in the U.S—making America the nation with the 3rd largest number of Unreached People Groups in the World.

There are 10 states within America where 96% of the population are Unreached and Unchurched.

The need to share the love of Christ with the Refugees, Indigenous, Immigrants and those in the Urban cities is high.  A recent praise is a partnership we have formed with the International Missions Board (IMB) to help map people group data in order to better motivate & mobilize the Church to reach those within these demographics!

At a recent RUII training time Bryan and   others from Cru welcomed and prayed over 2 new staff members joining Cru Church Movements.  They both are from a Muslim background and desire to do full-time ministry reaching other Muslims in America with the love of Jesus.

FAMILY UPDATE…

This has been a busy exciting season for us!  We had back-to-back graduations and celebrations for Luke and Jessica!  It is hard to imagine how fast these kiddos have grown up, but we are so proud of the young men and women they are becoming.

Thank you also so much for your continual prayers for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are truly grateful for your prayers and are blessed.  We hope you are having a wonderful summer!