Matthew 17:20: Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Reaching the Cities with the Gospel.  Our heart’s desire is to partner with churches in evangelism and discipleship to reach the city with the gospel.  Recently Cru sent a videographer to Los Angeles to film Joseph on how the Lord is using him as a Partnering Church Planter and they created a couple videos to share at our Cru staff conferences. One video is about our partnership with Pastor Marco. Joseph connected with Pastor Marco from Christ First Espanol in Covina and they began to work together to share the love of Jesus with the Covina area. They began hosting Night With God outreaches together and over the years have done evenings focused on   substance abuse, trafficking, religions, depression/suicide, physical abuse and many more topics. Over 20 people came to Christ through the Suicide Night With God and since then 3 support groups have been formed focusing on anxiety and depression.  Another life changed is the life of Martha. Martha shared her testimony at our most recent Night With God and we praise God for her story and how the Lord is moving in her and her families life.  Martha was involved in a very    abusive relationship where she feared for her life. After escaping a near death experience, a friend recommended Pastor Marco’s church to her. She needed community service hours and went to the church for help.  Pastor Marco offered to help and asked her if she had a relationship with the Lord.  She began to cry and asked if she could begin a relationship with the Lord. Her and her whole family came to Christ and were baptized and their lives are changed dramatically. 

Please watch the story Cru created on our partnership and Martha’s life changed here:

We rejoice in seeing lives truly change with the love of Jesus!  Seeing deep healing happen in hearts and families transformed.  Thank you for praying and please continue to pray for Martha and her husband and children as they grow in their relationship with Jesus.

Partnering Together—Business as Mission

By God’s grace we have been able to help establish the first self-sustaining sewing center in Bardia, Nepal through our partnership with Pastor Krishna here in LA! About 5,000-6,000 women and children every year are trafficked from Nepal to India.  These sewing centers are allowing women to start their own business and rise above poverty to avoid being trafficked.

At this Bardia Sewing Center 18 people have come to Christ and 7 women became entrepreneurs and began their own garment making businesses and 20 additional women were fully trained and are able to be employed by a tailoring company to earn income. When they graduate the program they are either given a sewing machine to start their own business or immediately employed at a tailoring company.

Our next desire is to establish another sewing center in Chitwan, Nepal.  Our prayer is that we are able to help establish a new sewing center every year within various cities of Nepal.  We recently partnered with a good friend, Mindy, to make this a reality.  Mindy was a former student when we were serving in campus ministry at USC. She now works as a business consultant and has a huge heart for missions and using Business as a mission.  She has been using her expertise and passion to help another non-profit empower women in Ghana and we were thankful she desired to partner with us as well to serve the women of Nepal.  

· Please Pray for the women of Nepal. Pray for the trainers within these training centers as they train new    women.

· Pray for the sewing centers to gain traction in the communities as a business and to become self-sustaining.

· Pray for many people to come to Christ as they become part of the sewing center.

· Pray the Lord would use this business to prevent traffickers from luring victims because of poverty.

· Please pray for Covid in this area.  Pastor Krishna had to cancel his trip in May to Nepal and many people are sick and dying within Nepal.

Here is the other video Cru created highlighting our partnership in Claremont as well.

Thank you for your prayers, support & encouragement to us!  We hope you are having a wonderful summer thus far.                                             

Cru 21 Staff Conference—Partnering to Build Spiritual Movements Everywhere so that Everyone Knows Someone who Truly Follows Jesus

This is Cru’s vision. It’s what we are trusting God to do by the   power of His Holy Spirit as we make Jesus known, multiply the Church, and serve the city. Recently Cru sent a videographer to Los Angeles to film Joseph for a highlight video at our Cru 21 Staff Conference to share how the Lord has been moving here in LA!  One   video that was created was on our partnership with Solid Rock Church in Claremont.  Our heart has always been to create movements of evangelism and discipleship within churches to reach the city with the Gospel.  Pastor Ruben, of Solid Rock, and  Joseph have been working together the past few years to develop leaders within Solid Rock. Not only seeing people come to know the Lord—but to also be discipled and trained to become leaders!  One woman, Candice, learned about Solid Rock from social   media.  She was curious and decided to try Solid Rock to see what it was about.  The Lord was moving in her heart and she put her trust in the Lord, was soon baptized on Easter… then after Easter her husband began coming and soon her children as well.  A year later her husband, Peter, was baptized and they both went through the leadership development program Joseph and Pastor Ruben had created.  “Why did God choose me? I want to help people, I want to be a leader one day…but I don’t have the skills… then I took the class and learned…. He has  given me a deep, deep love for others to help them.” (Candice)  Candice now has her business as a vendor which is a      ministry as well for others.  She created a pop-up vendor business that comes to the church campus twice a month as a  ministry to the community!    Candice loves to share the love of Jesus with everyone she comes in contact with.

We are so grateful and humbled to be a small part of how the Lord is moving in lives here within Los Angeles.  Please check out the 3 minute video that was created that shares more!

Here is also our Cru Church Movement website: https://www.churchmovements.com/

The Justice Center

The past few years we have partnered with EveryOne Free (a ministry out of Purpose Church in Pomona) that is dedicated to eliminating human trafficking through awareness, prevention and serving survivors.       https://www.everyonefree.org EveryOne Free has been reaching out to survivors through their Diversion Program this past year and have seen women go through their online program “Ending the Game” this past year.  They then offer the women a financial scholarship to attend college or a trade school.  There is also a Street Outreach team that goes out on “The Track” here in Pomona to talk to and build relationships with the women they see on the streets.  They give each person a gift which includes a pepper spray and chapstick with the EveryOne Free hotline number on it. 

These past couple months we have been serving weekly with Tamiko (who oversees the ministry) to remodel an area that will become a Justice Center.  The Justice Center will be a place for women to be helped through resources, counseling, mentoring, and a place for them to come the feel safe and learn about the Lord’s great love for them. Please pray for this Justice Center. 

Family Update!

Summer is approaching! Everyone has or is finishing up classes and we are looking forward to the change of pace. Luke’s foot is continuing to heal and he will begin physical therapy in the next couple weeks.  There is still very little motion he can do with it, but we are hopefully for his recovery (being 20 years old is a great advantage to healing!) Daniel completed his Freshman year of college and received recognition for being on the President’s List for his academics. He is looking forward to being in person in the Fall and living in the dorms! Jessica is in the midst of  finals for her sophomore year and it is so hard to believe she will be a Junior next year in High School. And we completed 3rd grade for Aleeya—are so proud of her perseverance this year with online therapies and hearing struggles with talking to others wearing masks. With so much loss this year we are trying to treasure the days, family times and friendships around us and we are so thankful to look back upon this school year and see how the Lord provided in so many ways for our family emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Thank you for your prayers, support &  encouragement to us! 

SUMMER INTERNSHIPS!

Connecting church plants with college students!  This year we have been partnering with college campuses within Los Angeles and the church plants that we currently work with to begin a summer internship program! Our desire is to help churches reach the communities around them with the Gospel and to do this they need people who know how to share their faith and how to disciple others. Our heart is also for these college students to grow and learn how to reach beyond the college campuses into the communities around them—so that when they graduate they will be involved in the local church and be leaders sharing their faith and discipling others in their communities. 

“While 69% say they were attending at age 17, that fell to 58% at age 18 and 40% at age 19. Once they reach their 20s, around 1 in 3 say they are attending church regularly.” (Lifeway Research)

Joseph has been sharing at various Cru colleges via zoom about this opportunity for the summer.  He recently spoke on the Image of God and invited students to join this summer internship program.  Please pray for this new internship.  That students would desire to serve this summer, grow in their leadership and learn how to reach the communities around them through the church.  Pray that it would be a blessing to the church plants as well, as they accept students who will help them reach their communities, provide outreaches to the neighborhoods, and disciple others.

EASTER!

Celebrating with Solid Rock Church Baptisms for Easter! It was encouraging to hear of the baptisms Solid Rock had this past Easter during their service.  We are continuing to partner with Solid Rock to build leaders and reach the communities of Pomona Valley with the gospel!

Family Update

Spring has begun!  We recently celebrated our 22nd year Anniversary! Friends graciously gave us the gift of their cabin near Lake Arrowhead and it was wonderful to get away and      reflect on all the Lord has done in our marriage these past 22 years.

We also celebrated Easter all together and it was wonderful being back in church this Easter and then enjoying family games and dinner at home. 

Please pray for the kids as they wrap up school.  Daniel finishes in about a week and everyone else the end of May/beginning of June.  Time does go by fast and we are traying to treasure these days and moments.  We will be celebrating Aleeya’s 5 year Forever Family Day this coming week—celebrating Gods goodness to our family. 

Thank you for your prayers, support and continual encouragement to us! 

Joseph has been partnering and serving with Pastor Marco for the past 3-4 years.  They meet regularly to pray, talk, and connect and we have been so encouraged to watch the Lord use him and his church to reach the city of Covina through his outreaches, such as Night With God (which we have shared about over the years). Recently Pastor Marco and his church have begun a weekly Food Drive with Tacos for his community. We have had such the blessing of serving alongside him to bring the love of Jesus to the community through providing food to those in need, having spiritual conversations, praying for each    person that comes and inviting them to church.

Please pray for these times every Thursday in the community.  Pray for those who come—that they would feel cared for by the love of Jesus and for conversations about the Lord and prayers. Pray many would come to the Easter service this week as well.  Pray for Joseph and Pastor Marco as they are also planning and praying about their next Night With God Outreach in April on the topic of Life After Death. 

“I prayed that prayer for the first time tonight. Now what?”

Our vision is that every man, woman and child know the gospel and experience the love of Jesus! Given the current missional reality in the U.S., that means the gospel must be shared and demonstrated to 160 million people who identify as non-Christian. We must partner with other leaders to reach this scope. Last month, the national team Joseph serves on with Cru Church movements partnered with the Jesus Film Project and a Cru Campus ministry to host Story of the Soul — a virtual coffeehouse where we discover stories the soul is telling through art, film, poetry, music and classic literature. Together we  explored this theme: I think I matter. Sometimes I’m not sure. I’m here, do you see me? Can you take me as I am, whoever I am? 

 80 students and staff attended from 12 campuses and six cities. 4 students indicated that they placed their trust in Christ, and another 12 want to talk further about Jesus and their spiritual journey!

Here is what some of the students said immediately after the event:

· “I have never experienced an event that moved me as much as this one in a time of need.”

· “I am trying to get god.”

· “This was a comfortable, safe space to be vulnerable in community.”

·  “It really made me think about my feelings & relationship with God.”

·  “Sometime, I’d like to share about my spiritual journey., I’m curious about Jesus. I’d be open to talking about this more.”

· “This was not at all what I was expecting to do tonight but I really enjoyed the conversation!” 

· “I prayed that prayer for the first time tonight. Now what?”

Family Update:

Happy Resurrection Day!  We pray each one of you are experiencing the presence of the Lord in 2021 and especially as we reflect and rejoice in how He has carried us through 2020 and we now celebrate Easter. 

Thank you for all your prayers, encouragement and support to us over the years!

Joseph has been meeting regularly with the staff of a local church to discuss how to help the church grow, increase the quality and quantity of leaders within the church and to see more people reached with the gospel.

Joseph has been helping the staff create a discipleship and leadership development process over the past year. Last month the church kicked off a sermon series called “ReImagining Church.” This shared the vision of decentralizing the leadership of the church and multiplying leaders and disciples within the church.  This will develop leaders who will    direct multiple locations of the church (micro-sites) that will foster the components of Worship, Mission and Community.  This will be done in 3 phases: Discernment, Development and Deployment.

We are now finishing up the first phase and are starting the development of the micro-sites and the leadership teams, who will direct each location.  This is a super exciting process and post-Covid we envision sending out more teams into locations that need the Gospel.  We would appreciate your prayers for wisdom and God’s continued leading in phase 2.

Why Church Movements?

Similar to when we were in Campus Ministry and our heart’s desire was to start movements where college students would regularly share their faith; our desire now is to help churches create movements where  members would regularly share their faith. This is why we are now part of Cru Church Movements in the U.S.

Joseph is part of the Cru Church Movements National Leadership Team  and they meet regularly to help give vision, direction and shepherd the 90 staff within 35 cities around the United States. Last month the leadership team met again for an extended time together.

In their hearts humans plan their course,
    but the Lord establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9

Unlike in August when the leadership team met to set goals for the year, these meetings were more about praying, reflecting and evaluating. As humans we can plan and make goals but sometimes a mid-course  correction is helpful to align ourselves to God and allow Him to establish our steps. Please continue to pray for God’s leading and wisdom for this leadership team as they lead the staff nationally and work with national partners to see more missional movements within churches reach people with the Gospel.

Family Update:

As February comes to a close we continue to marvel how time moves by so quickly.  The beginning of 2021 has brought us many ups and downs.    Jessica recently joined the worship team at our local church and is loving being able to use her passions to help others enter into worship.  Daniel continues to amaze us with his hard work as a Freshman in college (persevering virtually) and working almost full-time at Chick-fil-A as he takes classes.  Luke continue to heal—the diagnosis so far is at least 6 weeks of no pressure on his foot and 3-4 months before he can try to turn his ankle. He is becoming very mobile on his crutches and knee scooter.  And Aleeya continue to grow by leaps and bounds in her schooling, speech and height!

Thank you for all your prayers, encouragement and support to us over the years.  We know all the praises we have are because of the prayers of so many!

This past Christmas we partnered with Fuente para las Naciones, a church in South LA that Joseph has been helping develop processes and training to plant 10 bilingual Spanish speaking churches.  We joined with them to help provide a Christmas toy drive for their community.

The church desired to pass out gifts as a way to not only care for the families within the church, but also as an outreach.  Each child received a gift for themselves and also a gift for a friend as an opportunity to share the love of Jesus with them as well.  We were able to help Pastor Chad and his wife raise the funds, through our local church, to provide these gifts.

It went wonderful as the leaders of Fuente para las Naciones were also able to talk with the children within their church and their families about sharing their faith and the meaning of Christmas with others in need.  They were able to bless and talk with several families after the service that were walking down the street in front of the church. 

New Staff Training for Cru Church Movements!

We recently welcomed 15 new people into the Church Movements ministry and Joseph was able to be a part of their initial training.  Joseph is on the national team of Church Movements with 10 other men/women who set the direction of the ministry.  They also oversee 85 staff—in their development and care.

For the New Staff Training they talked about the mission and vision of church movements, understanding the roles and the teams they are a part of, the tools and processes of church movements and the structure.  The 4 main objectives are: Connecting to Jesus, Developing Missional Leaders, Multiplying the Church, and Partnering to Serve. Joseph led the time on multiplying the church.

Please pray for them as they partner with local churches in one of the 35 cities nationally we have ministry in.  Pray for them as they develop community and gain connections with their teams so they feel supported as they do ministry.  And please pray they would be effective as they partner with churches to help churches share the Gospel and see many more come to believe in Christ.

Family Update:

As we reflected on 2020 and began 2021 we are thankful for so much the Lord has been doing.  Even though 2020 was hard in so many ways the Lord has always been faithful to draw us closer to Him and we saw  many blessings throughout 2020 within our family.  Slowing down, having all 4 kids home again, family games & laughter, talking with our neighbors more, appreciating the little things, our health, deeper friendships, and processing life in 2020 as a family have been highlights. 2021 has now begun and Luke has moved back into his college apartment finishing up his Junior year.  Daniel is home for virtual college and we are continuing to be virtual in most of our life (schooling, small groups at church, meetings, therapies, etc..) but we are hopeful for change!

We would like to ask for prayer also for our oldest, Luke.  About 2 weeks ago we were hiking in the   Malibu area as a family and he jumped off a rock and landed in a random position on his foot that caused tremendous damage.  He tore ligaments badly, bruised bones deeply, and a small bone with ligaments attached to it broke off.  He is unable to move anything at all and is in a lot of pain.  After x-rays, MRIs, CT-Scans and talking to a specialist and surgeon it was decided he will have surgery in a week to reattach the bone.  He has a long road of recovery ahead of him.  Please pray for him as he loves his sports and is so active with working out and hiking and sports. Pray for his healing and his spirits during this time.  We know God has him and has a plan through all of this.  Thank you for praying and loving our family. 

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. We are so thankful for all your prayers, encouragement and support to us this year. We know 2020 has been a hard year for so many people and we pray that Christ may be near to you during this time.

Merry Christmas!

Love, Joseph, Michelle, Luke, Daniel, Jessica and Aleeya Butlig

This month we wanted to share an update and praise from our partnership with Mercy Nepal! We have been working closely with Pastor Krishna here in America for the past 2 years to    develop sewing centers throughout Nepal.  Pastor Krishna has a ministry within Nepal called “Mercy Nepal” and Joseph has been helping him plan, resource, pray and form sewing centers. 5000-6000 Women and Children are trafficked every year from the Nepal border into New Delhi, India.  Because of extreme poverty in these areas women and children are very  vulnerable to traffickers promising them a better life in India –which in reality is bondage into the sex trafficking industry. 

These sewing centers empower the local women to begin micro-enterprises to support their families and prevent the women and children from being trafficked from Nepal into India.  This past month a new  sewing center was established to be self-sustaining in the city of Bardiya. We rejoice in this sewing center that is teaching women valuable sewing skills to begin their own businesses and provide for themselves and their children. And we rejoice that through this sewing center 18 people have come to know the Lord recently and were baptized! Please continue to pray for this center, the new believers, the women learning a new skill, and for our desire and plans to establish 1 new center every year throughout the country of Nepal.

Joseph was recently a part of a virtual GACX (Global Alliance for Church Multiplication) conference consisting of 3800 people from 130 different countries, with translations in 8 different languages! GACX is a global coalition of 91 church networks and mission agencies working to saturate the world with multiplying disciples, leaders, and churches.  Area leaders from each country came together for multiple days to have conversations on disciple making, digital evangelism, city collaboration and to be a part of 14 different types of workshops.  Since Cru Church Movements is the U.S expression of  Cru Global Church Movements, Joseph is one of the area leaders for the U.S.  It was such an encouragement to share, pray and encourage one another from all around the world. 

To read more about it check it out here: https://gacx.io/news/online-gacx-forum-connects-co-laborers-from-130-countries

Announcing a new President for Cru—leadership recently transitioned within Cru. Steve Douglass followed Bill Bright as Cru’s president many years ago.  Unfortunately within the past 2 years Dr. Douglass’ health has declined.  In light of this Cru, recently celebrated the transition of appointing Steve Sellers as the new Cru President. Please pray for this transition of leadership.

Thank you for continuing to pray for our family and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are continuing to do virtual school and adjust to this new normal of living.  We are looking forward to Daniel returning home from college for the holidays and having a full house again! Thank you for your constant prayers, support and encouragement to us.  Please email or call us and let us know if we can be praying for you in anyway as well. 

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Matthew 19:14             

Even when things may feel hopeless, chaotic, confusing—God is ALWAYS moving!  This has been a month of joy as we celebrated new baptisms in the Epiphany Church family!  One of the   churches Joseph works closely with (Epiphany Church in South LA) recently took to the beach to celebrate 5 children who have given their hearts to Jesus and wanted to be baptized. After going through a process within the church of hearing and understanding the gospel of Jesus, these children wanted to publicly declare their love for Jesus.

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:3) The faith of a child is so  powerful and we rejoice with these 5 children who have decided to follow Jesus and be baptized!!

Please pray for these children to grow closer to  Jesus.  Pray for wisdom for their parents as they seek to continue to teach their children how to love and follow Jesus all of their lives.

PARTNERING TO MAKE JESUS KNOWN, MULTIPLY THE CHURCH AND SERVE THE CITY

Joseph is part of the national leadership with Cru Church Movements.  As well as serving locally here in Los Angeles, he helps lead the National Church Movements division of Cru with these other 11 men and women.  They oversee the 83 staff in 37 different cities through the U.S.  This September this leadership team met (virtually) for multiple days and hours to plan for the coming year. http://www.churchmovements.com How can we best 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? In the United States there are:

160,000,000 people are unchurched

2,500,000 leave the church every year

360 unreached people groups reside in the U.S

Please pray for Joseph and the National Team as they encourage, train, lead, and oversee the staff around the country to reach those who do not know Jesus.  It has been tricky and tiring to plan and meet all virtually these past 6 months—but please pray that the Lord would continue to lead and guide them with wisdom. 

Our Prayers and Vision for 2020-2021 is to:

Train 3,750 people in

1,250 people in Disciple Making

Partner to help start 500 new Churches or Missional Communities

Thank you for continuing to pray for our family and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  This has definitely been a strange 2020—but we are so thankful God is always working and with us now matter what we are facing.  Please pray for the wildfires that continue to burn here—the air has been quite smoky and ash is everywhere, but recently we have been seeing more blue skies once again.  Thank you for your constant prayers, support an encouragement.  Please email or call us and let us know if we can be praying for you in anyway as well. 

EXCITING NEW PARTNERSHIPS

Planning, praying and partnering together to help end sex trafficking. Joseph has been friends with these 2 for years and it is such a blessing to now bring them together in partnership to fight against sex trafficking.

Jason and Joseph have been friends for over 2 decades. Jason was a student at Moorpark College when we began ministry and Joseph helped him start ministries at Moorpark College and Cal-State Northridge. Jason is now the community engagement director for SoCal with Thrivent Financial.  Thrivent is a Christian financial organization that provides financial advice, investments, insurance and generosity programs for others. https://www.thrivent.com/                                                 

Joseph has known Katelyn for the last 5 years serving together on the leadership for FIAT (Faith Initiative to Abolish Trafficking) in Los Angeles. She is now the national director for church mobilization for IJM (International Justice Mission).

Joseph, Jason and Katelyn are partnering together to help churches be involved in ending sex trafficking. Thrivent members are given $250 twice a year to form a team of friends (Action Teams) to reach out and live generously. We are partnering together to help these action teams start Freedom    Sunday campaigns through IJM.  https://www.ijm.org/freedom-sunday  A Freedom Sunday campaign is a a Sunday committed to providing an opportunity for a church to deepen it’s understanding of God’s heart for justice, discover the realities of modern slavery and join the fight to end it.

This summer Joseph finished his 11th seminary class required for Institute of Biblical Studies as a Cru staff and to be a licensed minister with Cru. 

Joseph absolutely loved his class this summer. It was focused on the Doctrine of Humanity, Doctrine of Sin, Doctrine of Christ, Doctrine of the Work of Christ and the Doctrine of Salvation.  These truths have continued to humble him, bring him such joy and peace, convict him, cause him to repent, treat humanity with more dignity and led him to worship the Lord even greater! In the midst of Covid, it was an online class taught by a professor from Western Seminary in Oregon.

Praying over our Children Daily…

Joshua 1:9 – Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

Philippians 1:6 – For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Matthew 22:37-39 – And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Micah 6:8 – 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?

Welcome to the Fall…

We never would have imagined life looking the way it does right now, but God is faithful. We have  begun online college at Cal Poly Pomona for Luke, online high school for Jessica, homeschooling 3rd grade for Aleeya and moved Daniel  into the dorms for his Freshman year of College at CBU.  Change is so hard but we know the Lord has us in the palms of His hands. In the midst of so much change we are committing to cling to His promises and truths and pray for our children daily—because the greatest thing in this life is to know God, love Him deeply and follow Him daily.