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Global Warming
Guest Editorial: Kip McKean
“You are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:14
“Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” Mark 16:15
“All mankind will see God’s salvation.” Luke 3:6
“A new command I give you: Love one another… By this all men will know you are my disciples…” John 13: 34-35
Each “gospel evangelist” – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – recount the global vision of Jesus. For Matthew, the dream to evangelize the world in a generation is accomplished through “the light” of the disciples’ lives, both in word and deed. For Mark, Jesus’ command “to go into all the world” is to be obeyed through preaching the good news! For Luke, the ancient prophecy of Isaiah for “all mankind will see God’s salvation” is fulfilled through Jesus’ plan of discipling. For John, the love between disciples is the irrefutable sign of Jesus’ church, providing the pathway to a lost world’s heart. Paul shares that Jesus’ dream became reality – “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing… [and] has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.” (Colossians 1:6, 23)
Colossians, written around 61 AD, records this epic task completed, and yet ongoing! Jesus himself prophesied, “And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14) “The end” of which Jesus speaks is not His second coming, but the destruction of the temple in 70 AD by Titus, thus “ending” Judaism as the Hebrew people understood it. Jesus’ prophecy affirms Paul’s statement in Colossians of an evangelized world. Truly, the first century church embraced Jesus’ dream.
Believing this as they did, we in the twenty-first century church can and must do the same! Though our present day dilemma of global warming is a very grave concern, let us consider that “hot” “Global Preaching” will produce both baptisms and fiery persecutions, thus spiritual “Global Warming”!
Global Preaching
In the Pastoral Epistles, Paul pens an intense appeal to his sons in the faith, Timothy and Titus. Paul expected the young preachers to have a burning desire to preach world evangelism! Through the Spirit, Paul writes:
“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” (1Timothy 1:15)
“I urge… prayers… for everyone… This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1Timothy 2:1-4)
“The mystery of godliness is great: [Jesus] appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit… was preached among the nations…” (1Timothy 3:16)
“This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive) that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.” (1Timothy 4: 9-10)
“The Lord stood at my side… so that the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.” (2 Timothy 4:17)
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men… These are the things you should teach.” (Titus 2:11, 15)
Global Economy
In Matthew 24, Jesus prophesied that the gospel of the Kingdom would be testified in all nations. He prefaced this remark to the apostles with, “You… will be persecuted and put to death, and… hated by all nations because of me.” (Matthew 24:9) Jesus taught that the “heat” of persecution would follow “hot” global preaching. Though less than two years old, the Sold-out Discipling Movement has 32 churches, 15 in the States and 17 international congregations. Some have derided our efforts as “divisive” and “controlling” as well as calling “our” dream, to evangelize the world in a generation, impossible. One local LA minister has even called us, “a movement of Satan!” Yet, it is so exciting to see the Sold-out Discipling Movement “heating it up” by “pooling our resources” of disciples and money to plant and strengthen churches, thus building a “Global Economy”. For example, the Honolulu International Christian Church was planted on June 8, 2008. The City of Angels Church sacrificed for this noble endeavor eight dynamic disciples including our Orange County Regional Leaders, the Bartholomews. Also sacrificing was the Eugene Church, who sent Dave Rydstedt to be on the team. Likewise, our sister church in Hilo, Hawaii – though only twenty members and barely self-supporting – gave Honolulu $7,000 from their Missions Contribution of $17,000! No single church in our young movement could have gathered the resources necessary to plant Honolulu. By sharing the burdens, another church of only sold-out disciples was established. World evangelism can only be accomplished through a “Global Economy”.
The New York Mission Team has 14 disciples from Los Angeles, three from Portland and two from Eugene! We in the City of Angels Church are sending our very heart in DJ and Kacie as the team leaders, while raising $80,000 to initiate this planting in the Empire City. Santiago, Chile is being strengthened by the Phoenix Church sending their lead ministry couple, the Sullivans and their three children, as well as the Droblas’, who are seasoned disciples. The costs for all these flights from Phoenix to Santiago were covered by the Phoenix Church. From LA, we commended and sent-off Melina Zepeda to be a full-time intern. In addition, we are supporting the Sullivans for $3,500/month. Amazingly, the 50 member Eugene Church is also involved in helping Santiago by giving $10,000 to aid in their time of transition.
>City of Angels Church, let us remember to be grateful. We too are being blessed by the Spirit and the generosity of our sister churches. Santiago has sent Raul and Lynda Moreno, who have stepped into the Bartholomews’ role as the Orange County Regional Leaders. From Portland, Tony and Therese Untalan will strengthen our shepherding and Michael and Michele Williamson will assume the Comisford’s role as the co-leaders of the Hollywood Region alongside the Mejias. Also, seven other singles from Portland have helped to offset the impact of the 14 disciples leaving from the Hollywood Region to New York. If our family of churches were autonomous, this coordinated pooling of resources by a unified, central leadership would likely not occur as autonomous churches, by definition, are largely focused on their own members’ needs, not on those of a lost world.
Global Leadership Conference July 30, 2008
The fourth World Missions Jubilee is less than one month away! From Thursday evening July 31st through Sunday morning August 3rd, disciples will gather at the Universal City Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles for an incredible time of worship, study and fellowship. The theme of this year’s Jubilee is, “Declare His Glory Among The Nations!” Speakers and participants will be coming from all over the world. The cost is $80 for adults and $60 for students. (You may register online at www.caicc.net) On Wednesday July 30th, the day before the Jubilee, an exciting Global Leadership Conference has been planned. This event is open to all who are in church leadership, as well as those who aspire to be God’s servants in planting and building churches. It will begin with a fellowship breakfast at 8:00 AM. The speeches and classes will conclude at 12:30 PM. This conference will also be held at the Universal City Hilton Hotel. The cost is only $20 for each participant. The theme of this year’s conference is “Glory In The Church!” One of the highlights of the seminar will be the unveiling of the Sold-out Discipling Movement’s Plan to evangelize the world in this generation!
As the prophets of old prophesied, as the gospel evangelists testified, as Paul through his disciples multiplied, and for this purpose Jesus was glorified, let us continue to fervently pray for the fires of the Spirit to ignite “hot” preaching in every nation in this generation, thus bringing about spiritual “Global Warming!” And to God be the glory!
Kip McKean