This summer Michelle and I celebrated 19 years on staff with Cru! 

We recently returned from our biennial U.S Staff Conference in    Colorado.  There were 4,819 staff (and 2,082 kids!) representing 49 countries present! It was a time that broadened our world vision, equipped us more in ministry and encouraged our souls through the various speakers and seminars. The theme of the conference was “With” and there was an emphasis on oneness and unity within Cru as well as the importance of partnerships with other organizations and  churches to help fulfill the Great Commission.

Jimmy McGee III (director of Impact Movement) shared about lamenting in light of recent social justice issues.

Cru President, Steve Douglass and Judy Douglass sharing with Cru staff

Andy Crouch sharing his heart

Experiencing Encouraging, Powerful Worship times together!

Pastor Eugene Cho talks about partnership and collaboration in the Luke 5:17-20 text.

Thank you so much for your continual prayers, encouragement and support to us. We are very thankful for our time in Colorado growing in our relationships with the Lord and becoming more equipped in ministry. We thank the Lord for you.

This summer Michelle and I will be celebrating 19 years on staff with Cru! There is nothing that brings us greater joy than seeing the Lord work in people’s lives and to see people fall in love with Jesus!  This past year we have been so blessed to celebrate many people coming to faith in Christ! 

One of the churches Joseph has been working with recently celebrated 6 new decisions for Christ on Easter Sunday and 12 baptisms!  Through equipping churches in leadership development, prayer and evangelism within Los Angeles we have been blessed to see these churches reaching the communities around them with the gospel of Jesus and lives are being transformed!

As Joseph helps lead a network of 82 churches, God has helped us to reach out into the many ethnic communities within LA.  These churches are reaching people groups from around the world living right here in Los Angeles: Iranians, Mexicans, Nepalese, Filipinos, Armenians, Koreans, Cambodians and Afghans. We have been blessed to see over 120 people come to Christ through these churches this past year, including 15 High School students from Northview High School—where Pastor Marco (Pastor of a Spanish church in Covina) had spoken at and we had the opportunity to do a sex trafficking  prevention presentation at!

It is hard to imagine that we have been serving with Cru for 19 years this summer!  God has so blessed us throughout these years and we truly believe that our best years of ministry are before us!  That’s one reason why we are so excited about our US Staff Conference in Fort Collins, Colorado this summer.

In addition to some of our ongoing ministry responsibilities we will be attending our required biennial U.S. Staff   Conference this summer, July 14-21, in Fort Collins, Colorado. As we gather with over 5,000 fellow U.S. staff and hear from our leadership, we anticipate that God will broaden our perspective for the world, equip us to be more effective in our ministry roles, and enable us to go forth to bear even more fruit.

We appreciate you prayers for our time traveling to and from Colorado, as well as our time there.  Thank you so very much for your continued prayers, encouragement and support to us as we minister to the communities of Los Angeles!

We pray you will have a wonderful summer as well!

Every day 35,000 children live without a stable family in LA County

Former Foster Youth sharing about their foster home experiences

58% of youth in foster care that will graduate from high school.

60-80% of sex-trafficking victims who have a history of foster care

“What made a Difference in Your Life?”   

– Someone took the time to care (former foster youth)

10 Christian foster care ministries have come together to form a coalition to equip churches to reach the foster care system! Joseph is part of an advisory council giving input to the coalition. This month we were part of the “Ambassador” training equipping 50 people from over 20 churches. To date there are a total of 50 churches that have been through the Ambassador Training.

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Reaching the City…by equipping churches to share the gospel

Of 10 Million people in LA County, roughly 8% are involved in an evangelical church.  That means that up to 9.2 million people are not involved in a gospel preaching church.

  Joseph is on the leadership team of  “LA Reaching LA” (LARLA).  LA Reaching LA is a collaboration of of 82 churches reaching out to 88 cities of Los Angeles County.  Many of the churches are reaching ethnic communities including: Iranians, Mexicans, Nepalese, Filipinos, Armenians, Koreans, Cambodians and Afghans.  God has blessed LARLA as well in helping to start 10 churches in Nepal and the 8 churches in the Philippines.

This past month Joseph was part of a training time for the pastors of many of these churches—leading them in evangelism training and how to lead their churches to share the gospel.

Los Angeles has 400 distinct people groups   residing within it’s borders. Over 100 languages spoken – making Los Angeles a strategic city to reach to fulfill the Great Commission. 

FAMILY UPDATE~

We now have a Senior in High School, a Sophmore, a 7th Grader and a Kindergartener!  From Senior to Kindergarten—our lives are full, but so wonderful.  The kids are excited to be in summer mode and relaxing more.  Luke is working throughout the summer and loves his job.  This past month we also had Aleeya  dedicated at church and were so blessed to have her former foster mom(Tori) and her fiancée join us for the dedication!  This summer Aleeya will be the flower girl in their  wedding!!

Thank you for your continual prayers and support to us.  We are so very thankful!

We praise God for the 6 new baptisms through Solid Rock Church in Claremont this Easter!  Joseph has been working with Pastor Ruben at Solid Rock for almost 2 years and it is such a praise to see this church not only growing but reaching their community around them with the gospel of Jesus!  The mission statement of Solid Rock is: We Make Disciples, Train Leaders and Plant Churches in the  Pomona Valley.  When Joseph first began meeting with Ruben to help him do leadership  development in his church there were 4 leaders and 30 members of the church.  Now  there are 40 leaders and about 150 members!  It is exciting to see the Lord moving in and through Solid Rock Church!  This Easter Sunday Pastor Ruben had the privilege of baptizing 6 new believers and saw 16 people who shared they were interested in learning more about  Jesus or rededicating their lives to the Lord!

Los Angeles has one of the highest rates of human trafficking of any city in the US. Churches across LA are coming together to do something about it!

Joseph is part of the leadership of an organization called FIAT.  Faith Initiative to Abolish Trafficking (FIAT) is a gathering of churches who have been called to fight human trafficking in LA. FIAT meets quarterly with members of the Southern CA faith community to host workshops for training, outreach and awareness.  Recently FIAT became part of the Los Angeles Human Trafficking Task Force. The LA Task Force now consists law enforcement, CAST (provides service providers for survivors of trafficking) and FIAT (training/outreach).

Just this past February a sting was done with 474 arrested and 28 sexually exploited children rescued during a statewide human trafficking operation done by the LA Human Trafficking task force.  Please pray for us as Joseph is part of the leadership of FIAT and FIAT is now under the LA Human Trafficking Task Force.  Pray the faith community would come together to serve and share the love of Jesus with those who are being trafficked.

Lead Sheriff for the LA Trafficking Task Force Sharing

Joseph on a panel at our recent FIAT gathering

FAMILY UPDATE~

We just celebrated One Year with Aleeya in our family!  It has gone by so fast and we praise God for the ways she has become a part of us and grown in knowing she is loved deeply by her family and Jesus!

Joseph and I also celebrated our 18 year Anniversary!  We are thankful for the years God has blessed us with and this amazing adventure He has called us to as we serve Him together!

Reaching the City…through bringing the Gospel to Foster Children

 “Every day 21,000 children live without a stable family in LA County.  Their desperation and God’s clear call to care for them, is our motivation.  These precious children and youth need mentors.  They need friends.  They need advocates.  They need prayer warriors.  They need parents.  They need hope.  They need Jesus.”  (Coalition of Christian Foster Care Ministries) We are very thankful to be a part of a coalition of foster care ministries focused on reaching out and caring for the thousands of children in the foster care system here in Los Angeles.  The goal is to engage and equip pastors/church leaders (ambassadors) to help them start a foster care/adoption ministry at their church.  The coalition then equips these ambassadors to empower the congregation to participate in foster care ministry, connects them with opportunities through Info Fairs to serve the foster youth of LA and offers ongoing support to ambassadors and churches as needed.   Joseph is part of the Advisory Counsel for the coalition advising the various ministries in strategy, how to work together, effectiveness and problem solving.  As of now there are 30 churches and 65 people within LA County who have been trained as ambassadors!

Daniel Svedas—division chief of LA County Dept of Children and Family Service (DCFS) sharing with the Coalition of his desires for the gov’t and churches to work together.  How the city needs community partners to help the foster care youth of Los Angeles.

Coalition Partners!

Covenant for Kids (helping foster youth be a part of local churches)
Finally Home (equipping foster care families)
Fostering Hope LA (equipping foster youth aging out of the system)
Home Forever (supports children and families in the foster care system)
Impacting Hearts (youth clubs for the foster youth)
KidBridge (equipping foster care families)
1 Life 1 Child (providing basic necessities for children and families)
Royal Family Kids (provides camps and mentors for children from abuse situations)
Teen Leadership Foundation (mobilizing the church to mentor/help teens in foster care)
Olive Crest (foster care agency)

Reaching the City…by empowering teens to be advocates to fight sex trafficking!

This month Joseph had the opportunity to continue to do sex trafficking prevention in the public junior high and high schools of high risk areas throughout Los Angeles County! Joseph and EveryOne Free ministry have been sharing at numerous schools these past few months and teachers and principals are eager to have them come and share.  California accounts for nearly 20% of all sex trafficking cases being reported in the United States.  Sex Trafficking cases have increased 300% since 2012.  The average age of a girl to be trafficked is 12-14 and a boy is 11-13 years old.  Prevention is so important!  This month they were able to share at Pasadena High School and Dale Junior High in Anaheim!  It continues to humble and amaze us to see students and teachers desire to be a part of fighting trafficking as the teacher in Anaheim came up to us after the presentation and was so eager to share how she is going to begin an Anti-Trafficking Club at the Junior High to make sure all kids are aware of trafficking and will not be lured into it.  We also had the privilege of having the leader of a survivor outreach team, Kelly, share with the students her powerful testimony and a group of APU students from the “Free the Captives” club perform a skit “You’re Beautiful” on trafficking and how kids are lured into it.  https://youtu.be/ZqPQDB9uX3Y

SUsan (history teacher) who now is starting a anti-trafficking club at the junior high and the students of the Junior High we were able to share with!

Family Update…

Some new milestones in the Family!

We recently celebrated Jessica’s 12th birthday!!  Luke is now driving—it is a whole new world for him. Aleeya continues to grow in her speech and keeps us laughing all the time!  Daniel has been  enjoying more time with his music now that basketball is over—we love hearing him play and compose!  

Reaching the City…Through L.A Reaching L.A

 Joseph is on the leadership team of  “LA Reaching LA” (LARLA). In a little over a year LARLA has a network of 55 churches reaching out to 88 cities of Los Angeles County.  These are multi-ethnic churches reaching the inner city, Muslims, young professionals, hipsters and the  wealthy areas of LA.  The churches are also reaching people groups from around the world living right here in Los Angeles:  including: Iranians, Mexicans, Nepalese, Filipinos, Armenians, Koreans, Cambodians and Afghans.  God has blessed LARLA as well in helping to start churches internationally in Mexico, Guatemala, Nepal and the Philippines! Over 100 people have made decisions for Jesus this past year through the churches!   We  recently were a part of the one year celebration of “LA Reaching LA” and it was so encouraging to see the many churches celebrating how the Lord has been using them in their communities, as well as hearing testimonies of many who left the life of drugs and crime to come to Jesus! Please pray for many more to be reached as we provide training, resources and help to pastors reaching their community..  Here is a great video of one church worshipping the Lord  during the celebration dinner!     https://youtu.be/PdPkHYO71Nk

Reaching the City… Through Helping Churches Reach Their Community

ThriveLA is a new church in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. Joseph has been meeting with Pastor Andrew to encourage, pray over different neighborhoods with him, engage in spiritual conversations with people in the neighborhoods, and discuss leadership development, training in starting a church, church structure, evangelism and discipleship.  Silver Lake is an area with many unreached young professionals and millennials.  ThriveLA has been intentionally reaching out to the community and recently began a book club in a Café that has over 30 people attending that they are building  relationships with!  They also began a bible study on marriage and dating that is drawing many from the community.  Please pray for the many young professionals and millennials that do not have a desire for church—that they would come to know the Lord!

Reaching the City… Rescuing One Girl at a Time!

A young girl rescued from sex trafficking!  Our hearts are overflowing with thankfulness to see a young 16 year old girl rescued from the horrible world of sex trafficking right here in our city.  This January we partnered with EveryOne Free again to host our third clinic in the city of  Pomona reaching out to girls and women caught in the sex trafficking industry and desiring help.  There were different local organizations present with recovery resources, mental health services, Christian safe houses, as well as clothing, hygiene products and food. In-n-out burgers blessed the women with free food.  We praise God that at this past clinic one young girl from our area came seeking help and returned home and was reunited with her mother!

Reaching the City…by empowering teens to be advocates to fight sex trafficking!

Another huge answer to prayers is how the Lord has opened so many doors for us to do sex trafficking prevention in the public junior high and high schools of high risk areas throughout Los Angeles County! Joseph and EveryOne Free ministry have been sharing at numerous schools this past month and teachers and principals are eager to have them come and share.  California accounts for nearly 20% of all sex trafficking cases being reported in the United States.  Sex Trafficking cases have increased 300% since 2012.  The average age of a girl to be trafficked is 12-14 and a boy is 11-13 years old.  Prevention is so important! Praise God they were able to share at Claremont High School and Northview High School this month and have more schools lined up within Pasadena and Anaheim soon!

Family Update…

Finished up another season of Freshman and JV Basketball!

A good friend is teaching Jessica how to ride and she loves it!  We also just celebrated 10 months with this precious daughter of ours!

Thank you so much for your continual prayers and support to us as we reach out to Los Angeles with the life changing message of Jesus!

Reaching the City…through training pastors to reach their city

Joseph has recently partnered with an organization, LA reaching LA—that  focuses on training and encouraging pastors to reach out to their cities.  He  recently was a part their monthly connection roundtable time where he met with 3 various pastors in this area for prayer, training and sharing with one  another about how their churches were doing.  This roundtable time is in the San Gabriel Valley and there is another one focused in the Los Angeles, East Hollywood area as well.  The picture on the left is of Pastor Jose (West Covina), Pastor Marco (Covina) and Pastor Emmanuel (Pasadena).  Pastor Jose and Pastor Marco have a huge heart to reach the Spanish speaking population in their areas and their churches have both an English and now a Spanish speaking service.  Pastor Emmanuel is from Nigeria that has come to America to begin a multi-ethnic church in the Pasadena area.  Please pray for these pastors that Joseph is helping to encourage and train as they reach out to their cities.  Please also pray for his partnership with “LA reaching LA” as he is now a part of building up a training center for pastors here in Glendora.

Reaching the City…   through helping women come out of sex trafficking

This October we were able to be a part of     partnering with EveryOne Free Ministry to host our second clinic in the Pomona area for women in the trafficking industry desiring to get help.  Survivors of trafficking went out every day in the week prior handing out hand sanitizers with the information to our clinic, engaging in conversations with women and inviting them to come seek help.  On the day of we had representatives from many organizations and ministries available to serve the women.  These included: Celebrate Recovery, mental health services, APU nursing footcare, Medical care practitioners to care for the women and offer STD testing, Christian Safe Houses; as well as clothing, hygiene products and food for the women.  We saw about 10 people come throughout the day looking for help.  We are continuing to pray and seek God for the best way to reach out to these women here in the Pomona area.  We plan to host another clinic in January in the evening time to see if we can reach more women at that time.  Thank you for continuing to pray that the Lord would bring freedom to these women and into a relationship with Him!

Family Update!

We are loving the start of Fall!  It is so fun to see Aleeya’s “Firsts” as she experiences everything with us!  We had a fun trip to a pumpkin patch and choosing Halloween costumes. Daniel had his first experience being on the worship team for the main church services and did a great job! Luke is preparing for his Homecoming Dance (aaahhh!!) and continuing to practice driving.  Jessica continues to amaze us with her care for her little sister and gentle spirit and    Aleeya is attaching to us in amazing ways and beginning to construct more 4-5 word sentences! We are so thankful for the support and prayers of so many for the ministry and for our family.    Thank you!

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!