We spent Thanksgiving with the Crespi, Santillan, Viana, and the Sanchez families. It was a big party. It was so awesome. All these families were families that my parents had brought to Christ, discipled, and were members of the church that they started in Orange County. So most of them only knew me as a kid. Half of the people there had kept in touch with us throughout the years and half of them hadn’t seen me since I was twelve years old.
We had a great time giving thanks to God, worshipping God, and reminiscing past times. It was so awesome to see where everyone was now in their lives, to see the fruit that they were bearing, and to see that they are still solid in their walk with God. What an amazing testimony and joy!
We had great Argentinean food for dinner and really good Mexican desserts. Almost everyone cried throughout the night, many hearts were healed, and past hurts forgiven. It was so beautiful to see brothers and sisters in Christ who had not seen each other for years because of the spirit of religion now come back together as family once again.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Meeting With Eddie Brown and Company
A week after The Call Daniella Lopez invited everyone who was at the reception the day after The Call and who lived in Southern California to have dinner and a time of worship and prayer at her house. The meeting was on November 15 and Brooke was working that day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. , so we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to go or not. We knew we needed to go and we really wanted to go, but the meeting started at 2 p.m. and Daniella’s house is a two hour drive from where we live. But something deep within me told me that I had to go. I had to go. Even if it ended right when we got there God was going to do something and I had to be there.
So we ended up leaving at 5 p.m. in faith that something was going to happen. We got stuck in heavy traffic and ended up arriving there a little past 7p.m. To our surprise there were still about twenty people there, people were fellowshipping, eating, and watching the local fires on TV (the fire was only a few miles from their house). We talked with several people there and met several people for the first time.
Then I met Eddie Brown. Eddie is the leader of JHOP San Diego and he is absolutely insane for God. He was the very last person to speak and pray at the end of The Call. He prayed and called forth itinerant preachers to arise and for martyrs to arise in this generation. Eddie leads a house of prayer right in the heart of the University of California in San Diego (UCSD). In the middle of the campus the main pathway is a huge serpent and the head of the serpent ends at the very entrance of the library. It is supposed to symbolize the serpent in the garden of Eden and the library is supposed to symbolize the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is basically what it really is. So anyways, every day Eddie and his prayer team pray and worship with all of their hearts and as loud as they can right on the head of the serpent. He told me for the first two years they only prayed and worshipped, but eventually God spoke to them to begin open air preaching and now they open air preach every day right in the heart of the campus. He told me about several ways that both the students and the administrators have persecuted them for praying and preaching the Gospel. It was amazing. Then he told me about how JHOP San Francisco was just severely persecuted right in the heart of The Castro. Around 500 violently angry homosexuals began rioting against them and beating them up just because they were singing worship songs on a street corner. The video is on You Tube: .
Furthermore, I told Eddie all about my mission trip across America and our entire vision for Global Gospel Movement. He was in complete agreement with the vision and our hearts connected in a very real way. He told me that he would love to come and teach at our training school whenever it begins and of course it would be my honor to have him with us. He invited us to UCSD whenever we could make it and we exchanged contact info.
Many people have told me that I had to meet Eddie Brown and I always felt like I needed to also. Now that we’ve met I realize why: God destined for the two of us to work together for the establishment of His Kingdom.
So we ended up leaving at 5 p.m. in faith that something was going to happen. We got stuck in heavy traffic and ended up arriving there a little past 7p.m. To our surprise there were still about twenty people there, people were fellowshipping, eating, and watching the local fires on TV (the fire was only a few miles from their house). We talked with several people there and met several people for the first time.
Then I met Eddie Brown. Eddie is the leader of JHOP San Diego and he is absolutely insane for God. He was the very last person to speak and pray at the end of The Call. He prayed and called forth itinerant preachers to arise and for martyrs to arise in this generation. Eddie leads a house of prayer right in the heart of the University of California in San Diego (UCSD). In the middle of the campus the main pathway is a huge serpent and the head of the serpent ends at the very entrance of the library. It is supposed to symbolize the serpent in the garden of Eden and the library is supposed to symbolize the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is basically what it really is. So anyways, every day Eddie and his prayer team pray and worship with all of their hearts and as loud as they can right on the head of the serpent. He told me for the first two years they only prayed and worshipped, but eventually God spoke to them to begin open air preaching and now they open air preach every day right in the heart of the campus. He told me about several ways that both the students and the administrators have persecuted them for praying and preaching the Gospel. It was amazing. Then he told me about how JHOP San Francisco was just severely persecuted right in the heart of The Castro. Around 500 violently angry homosexuals began rioting against them and beating them up just because they were singing worship songs on a street corner. The video is on You Tube: .
Furthermore, I told Eddie all about my mission trip across America and our entire vision for Global Gospel Movement. He was in complete agreement with the vision and our hearts connected in a very real way. He told me that he would love to come and teach at our training school whenever it begins and of course it would be my honor to have him with us. He invited us to UCSD whenever we could make it and we exchanged contact info.
Many people have told me that I had to meet Eddie Brown and I always felt like I needed to also. Now that we’ve met I realize why: God destined for the two of us to work together for the establishment of His Kingdom.
LAND!!!!
We visited Michelle Padilla and her family recently. Michelle is a mighty intercessor and a great family friend. She called us and invited us over to her ranch.
She owns a 2,000 acre ranch in Santa Paula which is about an hour and fifteen minutes from Downtown L.A.
We had a great time spending the day together and Brooke really connected with Movement and when we did she offered us her land. She said, “Josh, many prophets have come to this property and prophesied that ministries are going to be birthed from this land that would touch the nations, but until today that has not been fulfilled. So maybe it’s your organization that God is going to do it with. Pray about having your headquarters or training center here. Just pray about it. If the Lord leads you to it then you could use our land. “
I was blown away! Do you know how much land costs in California, only an hour from Downtown L.A. and with beautiful views of mountains and fields surrounding it. Millions of dollars! Several million.
I asked her, “Michelle, so when you say we could have our headquarters here what do you have in mind?
“You tell me,” she exclaimed back, “because obviously space is not an issue.”
She even told us about a ministry that she tried to start there years before, but it never worked out.
She has 50 horses there, several heads of cattle, and some goats, but she still has plenty of space left over that we could use.
So we are still asking the Lord about it and until now we haven’t heard anything yet. But if it is His will He will speak to us clearly just like He has with everything else.
She owns a 2,000 acre ranch in Santa Paula which is about an hour and fifteen minutes from Downtown L.A.
We had a great time spending the day together and Brooke really connected with Movement and when we did she offered us her land. She said, “Josh, many prophets have come to this property and prophesied that ministries are going to be birthed from this land that would touch the nations, but until today that has not been fulfilled. So maybe it’s your organization that God is going to do it with. Pray about having your headquarters or training center here. Just pray about it. If the Lord leads you to it then you could use our land. “
I was blown away! Do you know how much land costs in California, only an hour from Downtown L.A. and with beautiful views of mountains and fields surrounding it. Millions of dollars! Several million.
I asked her, “Michelle, so when you say we could have our headquarters here what do you have in mind?
“You tell me,” she exclaimed back, “because obviously space is not an issue.”
She even told us about a ministry that she tried to start there years before, but it never worked out.
She has 50 horses there, several heads of cattle, and some goats, but she still has plenty of space left over that we could use.
So we are still asking the Lord about it and until now we haven’t heard anything yet. But if it is His will He will speak to us clearly just like He has with everything else.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
The Offering and God's Faithfulness
We need to share a testimony of God’s faithfulness. We are so utterly amazed by his total faithfulness.
On Sunday October 26 Cindy Jacobs came and spoke at Harvest Rock at the night service. Brooke and I were there and the message was somewhat powerful, but nothing in it really impacted me.
However, at the very end of the service she made an appeal to the congregation to give an offering for Harvest Rock to be able to purchase the land around them. Immediately, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit very, very strongly upon me. I prayed and asked God how much He wanted me to give as I always do. Immediately, I clearly heard Him say, “Give $1,000.” I knew it was the Lord, so I just said “Yes Lord. Whatever you will. You are our provider.” But then I thought in my mind that the confirmation that this is truly from the Lord is that Brooke will feel total peace about it too. If she does not feel total peace about it I will not give the offering. I looked over at Brooke and told her that the Lord told me that we need to give $1000. Suddenly, her jaw began violently chattering, she began speaking in tongues, and the presence of the Holy Spirit fell all over her. I asked her if she felt total peace about the offering and she said that she did.
Now just for you to understand how huge of a sacrifice and leap of faith this was for us let me explain to you our financial situation. We came to California completely living by faith and relying on God. I felt the Lord telling me not to work and to only live by faith, so that’s what we did. I told God that I would do that, but if He didn’t provide us with a place of our own to live after one month then we would start working. After one month God provided for us in many ways, but not with a house of our own. However, we were hired full time to work with The Call, but we were not paid for this job. WE only received free room and board. So our bank account was slowly dwindling away until we only had $1200. This is when God spoke to us to give the $1000, which would be everything we had, because we still had to pay our bills for the end of the month.
So we gave that offering from the depths of our hearts knowing that it was God who was telling us to do it. We prayed, "God we have absolutely nothing now. We only have You. You are the One we depend upon. We don't depend on our bank account, a job, our friends, our family, the government, or anything in this world. We depend upon You. You are our Provider." I then went into a time of deep, deep prayer crying out to God for more of Him and for Him to come through with faithfulness.
We left that meeting in total peace. We were not scared at all. We were not worried about how we would pay for our next meal or fill up our gas tank because we just knew that God would be faithful to provide for us. He never failed on us before. He's definitely not gonna fail on us now. I know my Jesus and I know that He is faithful.
Sure enough, that same week my parents felt led from the Lord to send us a check of $300, which they never have done before since we moved to California. Then our friend Julie McGuire spontaneously gave us a donation of $100 for gas money to go to The Call.
Then on Nov. 3 I received a phone call from Jubilee saying that someone dropped off a check for us at the Jubilee office and we needed to come pick it up. We were still in San Diego when I received the phone call, so the next day we stopped by the church to pick up the check. We were expecting the check to maybe be $50 or $100 because already once or twice people had given us money in this way and that's about how much they gave. However, when we opened the envelope the check said $2,000 on it!!!!! What?!!! That's my God! He is faithful! We gave $1,000 and he gave us $2,400 in one week! More than double!
Not only that. For more than a month I had been looking for a job and this same week that we received the check Brooke and I got part time jobs working for a coffee business that's starting me at $10 an hour. Currently, I have a part time job with Crissy's Coffee and I have a part time job with Mrs. Fields. Brooke has three part time jobs now!!! She's working at Liz Claiborne, Crissy's Coffee, Mrs. Fields. All of the jobs are totally awesome, lots of fun, and we have the greatest bosses ever. The owners of Crissy's Coffee and Mrs. Fields are all life long friends that I have known very well since my childhood. So it's lots of fun to work with them and they are very flexible with our schedules. Brooke's manager at Liz is a devoted Japanese Christian, so they have tons of fun together too.
We are currently renting a room from a friend for the next two months for only $275 a month.
Furthermore, last week we needed to buy milk and cheese and we had practically no food in the house we had just moved into. So we went to the supermarket to buy milk and cheese, but we ended up buying quite a bit of food. The next day we went to Jubilee Church where they were donating food to the community and we received four huge Trader Joe's brown bags full of food. Then the day after that after a long day of work for the L.A. Auto Show Crissy Coffee had 14 gallons of milk left over. They were going to throw them all away because they had nowhere to refrigerate them. So we took them and gave them to several families and the church's community house. Also, there was a catering company there who served excellent gourmet food. I'm talking salmon, chicken with pruschetta, fine chocolates, amazing rice, etc. and they were going to throw it all away right when Brooke and I were leaving. The manager told us that by law they could not eat any of the food or take it home, but we could since we are not in their company. So they bagged up all the food for us and since then we have been eating like kings. Now we have a problem! We have too much food and we don't know how we're gonna eat it all before it spoils! GOD IS FAITHFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And on top of all of that gas is dirt cheap now. Hallelujah!
On Sunday October 26 Cindy Jacobs came and spoke at Harvest Rock at the night service. Brooke and I were there and the message was somewhat powerful, but nothing in it really impacted me.
However, at the very end of the service she made an appeal to the congregation to give an offering for Harvest Rock to be able to purchase the land around them. Immediately, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit very, very strongly upon me. I prayed and asked God how much He wanted me to give as I always do. Immediately, I clearly heard Him say, “Give $1,000.” I knew it was the Lord, so I just said “Yes Lord. Whatever you will. You are our provider.” But then I thought in my mind that the confirmation that this is truly from the Lord is that Brooke will feel total peace about it too. If she does not feel total peace about it I will not give the offering. I looked over at Brooke and told her that the Lord told me that we need to give $1000. Suddenly, her jaw began violently chattering, she began speaking in tongues, and the presence of the Holy Spirit fell all over her. I asked her if she felt total peace about the offering and she said that she did.
Now just for you to understand how huge of a sacrifice and leap of faith this was for us let me explain to you our financial situation. We came to California completely living by faith and relying on God. I felt the Lord telling me not to work and to only live by faith, so that’s what we did. I told God that I would do that, but if He didn’t provide us with a place of our own to live after one month then we would start working. After one month God provided for us in many ways, but not with a house of our own. However, we were hired full time to work with The Call, but we were not paid for this job. WE only received free room and board. So our bank account was slowly dwindling away until we only had $1200. This is when God spoke to us to give the $1000, which would be everything we had, because we still had to pay our bills for the end of the month.
So we gave that offering from the depths of our hearts knowing that it was God who was telling us to do it. We prayed, "God we have absolutely nothing now. We only have You. You are the One we depend upon. We don't depend on our bank account, a job, our friends, our family, the government, or anything in this world. We depend upon You. You are our Provider." I then went into a time of deep, deep prayer crying out to God for more of Him and for Him to come through with faithfulness.
We left that meeting in total peace. We were not scared at all. We were not worried about how we would pay for our next meal or fill up our gas tank because we just knew that God would be faithful to provide for us. He never failed on us before. He's definitely not gonna fail on us now. I know my Jesus and I know that He is faithful.
Sure enough, that same week my parents felt led from the Lord to send us a check of $300, which they never have done before since we moved to California. Then our friend Julie McGuire spontaneously gave us a donation of $100 for gas money to go to The Call.
Then on Nov. 3 I received a phone call from Jubilee saying that someone dropped off a check for us at the Jubilee office and we needed to come pick it up. We were still in San Diego when I received the phone call, so the next day we stopped by the church to pick up the check. We were expecting the check to maybe be $50 or $100 because already once or twice people had given us money in this way and that's about how much they gave. However, when we opened the envelope the check said $2,000 on it!!!!! What?!!! That's my God! He is faithful! We gave $1,000 and he gave us $2,400 in one week! More than double!
Not only that. For more than a month I had been looking for a job and this same week that we received the check Brooke and I got part time jobs working for a coffee business that's starting me at $10 an hour. Currently, I have a part time job with Crissy's Coffee and I have a part time job with Mrs. Fields. Brooke has three part time jobs now!!! She's working at Liz Claiborne, Crissy's Coffee, Mrs. Fields. All of the jobs are totally awesome, lots of fun, and we have the greatest bosses ever. The owners of Crissy's Coffee and Mrs. Fields are all life long friends that I have known very well since my childhood. So it's lots of fun to work with them and they are very flexible with our schedules. Brooke's manager at Liz is a devoted Japanese Christian, so they have tons of fun together too.
We are currently renting a room from a friend for the next two months for only $275 a month.
Furthermore, last week we needed to buy milk and cheese and we had practically no food in the house we had just moved into. So we went to the supermarket to buy milk and cheese, but we ended up buying quite a bit of food. The next day we went to Jubilee Church where they were donating food to the community and we received four huge Trader Joe's brown bags full of food. Then the day after that after a long day of work for the L.A. Auto Show Crissy Coffee had 14 gallons of milk left over. They were going to throw them all away because they had nowhere to refrigerate them. So we took them and gave them to several families and the church's community house. Also, there was a catering company there who served excellent gourmet food. I'm talking salmon, chicken with pruschetta, fine chocolates, amazing rice, etc. and they were going to throw it all away right when Brooke and I were leaving. The manager told us that by law they could not eat any of the food or take it home, but we could since we are not in their company. So they bagged up all the food for us and since then we have been eating like kings. Now we have a problem! We have too much food and we don't know how we're gonna eat it all before it spoils! GOD IS FAITHFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And on top of all of that gas is dirt cheap now. Hallelujah!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Yale Kim and the Community House
We met up with Yale Kim Friday night November 6. He invited us to an absolutely amazing Korean BBQ Buffet. It was one of the greatest restaurants I've ever been to in my life.
He told us all about his life and all that God doing through him and we told him all about our lives and all that God is doing through us. It was so, so exciting.
He is Korean and he is from a very business-oriented family. He is a realtor and a worship leader. He is also a Southern Baptist who is totally on fire for God. This week he is acutually leading worship at the Southern Baptist Convention Conference for California. He wants to start a school of worship where they recruit worship leaders from youth groups across America who are mainly from Evangelical churches. He wants to train them in worhsip and teach them how to dwell in the presence of God, worship God with all their heart, and be madly in love with Jesus. Then he wants them to go back to their youth groups and usher in the presence of God into their youth groups and churches.
When we told him about Global Gospel Movement he got super excited and told us he wanted us to hook up with his friend Jeff who used to be in Todd Bentley's ministry.
And when he found out that Brooke was going to go to Biola he got really excited. He told us that he owns a townhouse one mile away from Biola. The house has 3 bedrooms, two and a half baths, is two stories, a living room, a den, large kitchen, dining room, storage space, walk-in closet, backyard with a patio, washer and dryer, and a two car garage. Sound pretty sweet right? It is. We actually have already seen the place and it's perfect.
He told us that he doesn't live there and right now he has three guys living there paying him rent, but all of them are moving out at the end of the year. He said he's been praying for God to bring radical, on-fire people to rent it out because his heart is for the house to become a house of prayer and a place from which people reach out to the community doing ministry.
We immediately felt like that might possibly be the place where God wants us to live. That night we saw some more puzzle pieces coming together. We had been feeling very strongly from the Lord that eventually Andy and Serge would come down and live here with us and help us start Global Gospel Movement and also go forward in what God has called them to do, but since we never got that big house in Altadena we didn't see how it could ever happen. But now we saw that Andy and Serge could come and rent rooms here and we could all live together and our dream could come true. I told Andy and Serge about it and they both were ecstatic with joy. They totally felt the peace of God about it, but will continue to pray and ask God for confirmations that it's really from Him. Serge even said that when I told him he felt the fire of the Holy Spirit rise up inside of him. So we are still not totally sure about the community house. We are still praying about it, but let's just say we're 99.9% sure.
Then just a few days ago something awesome happened. When we saw all of this coming together Brooke got so excited she said, "This is like a dream come true. That we could live together with Andy and Serge." And I said, "Yeah totally. You know what would be awesome too? If Alex could come and live with us too."
So three days ago Alex called me and we talked. He told me that he was going on a mission trip to Mexico to work with an orphanage for a month, but when he came back he had no idea where he was going to live and what he was going to do with his life. He was really frustrated with his life because he wanted to do full time ministry, but saw no way to do it. So I told him about the community house and he was really excited about it too. He said he would pray about it.
So imagine one house with Joshua, Brooke, Andy, Serge, and Alex all under the same roof working for the Kingdom. What a powerhouse!!!!!!!WOOO-HOOO!!!!!
He told us all about his life and all that God doing through him and we told him all about our lives and all that God is doing through us. It was so, so exciting.
He is Korean and he is from a very business-oriented family. He is a realtor and a worship leader. He is also a Southern Baptist who is totally on fire for God. This week he is acutually leading worship at the Southern Baptist Convention Conference for California. He wants to start a school of worship where they recruit worship leaders from youth groups across America who are mainly from Evangelical churches. He wants to train them in worhsip and teach them how to dwell in the presence of God, worship God with all their heart, and be madly in love with Jesus. Then he wants them to go back to their youth groups and usher in the presence of God into their youth groups and churches.
When we told him about Global Gospel Movement he got super excited and told us he wanted us to hook up with his friend Jeff who used to be in Todd Bentley's ministry.
And when he found out that Brooke was going to go to Biola he got really excited. He told us that he owns a townhouse one mile away from Biola. The house has 3 bedrooms, two and a half baths, is two stories, a living room, a den, large kitchen, dining room, storage space, walk-in closet, backyard with a patio, washer and dryer, and a two car garage. Sound pretty sweet right? It is. We actually have already seen the place and it's perfect.
He told us that he doesn't live there and right now he has three guys living there paying him rent, but all of them are moving out at the end of the year. He said he's been praying for God to bring radical, on-fire people to rent it out because his heart is for the house to become a house of prayer and a place from which people reach out to the community doing ministry.
We immediately felt like that might possibly be the place where God wants us to live. That night we saw some more puzzle pieces coming together. We had been feeling very strongly from the Lord that eventually Andy and Serge would come down and live here with us and help us start Global Gospel Movement and also go forward in what God has called them to do, but since we never got that big house in Altadena we didn't see how it could ever happen. But now we saw that Andy and Serge could come and rent rooms here and we could all live together and our dream could come true. I told Andy and Serge about it and they both were ecstatic with joy. They totally felt the peace of God about it, but will continue to pray and ask God for confirmations that it's really from Him. Serge even said that when I told him he felt the fire of the Holy Spirit rise up inside of him. So we are still not totally sure about the community house. We are still praying about it, but let's just say we're 99.9% sure.
Then just a few days ago something awesome happened. When we saw all of this coming together Brooke got so excited she said, "This is like a dream come true. That we could live together with Andy and Serge." And I said, "Yeah totally. You know what would be awesome too? If Alex could come and live with us too."
So three days ago Alex called me and we talked. He told me that he was going on a mission trip to Mexico to work with an orphanage for a month, but when he came back he had no idea where he was going to live and what he was going to do with his life. He was really frustrated with his life because he wanted to do full time ministry, but saw no way to do it. So I told him about the community house and he was really excited about it too. He said he would pray about it.
So imagine one house with Joshua, Brooke, Andy, Serge, and Alex all under the same roof working for the Kingdom. What a powerhouse!!!!!!!WOOO-HOOO!!!!!
Meeting with Jay Koopman
Jay is a great friend of mine from the G12 days. He came and stayed over our house years four years ago because he was sent by his pastor to "check out" G12 and see if was what their church needed. Jay was the youth pastor of a church in Watts that grew to have three or four hundred radical, on fire youth. Jay is one of the top three most radical Christians I've ever personally met in my life. Being around him just causes my heart to burn for God and for souls.
He had left G12 a couple years ago and gone to New York to work with Bill Wilson and Pastor Randy Goudeau. He helped establish a church with Randy Goudeau right in the heart of Manhattan. He started and led a school of evangelism for over a year where youth groups would come to Manhattan from all over America and be trained for one or two weeks in radical street evangelism.
I knew about all of the above because I had heard about it through the grapevine, but I hadn't talked to Jay in over two years. But I always had a burning desire to team up with him and Pastor Randy Goudeau.
When I moved to California out of nowhere Jay finds me on Myspace and requests to be my friend. I check out his profile and see a bunch of pictures of him in California. I couldn't believe it...Jay was back in L.A.! Could it be? So I messaged him several times. He responded once and said he would call me, but he never did. For two months I tried to contact him, but to no avail. Finally, I get a message from him saying "Sorry, I never contacted you. I've been in Malaysia all this time." And he gave me his phone number in the message.
So I called him and at last I talked to him, but we never met up until November 4th.
When we met up he told Brooke and I all about why he left G12 and what he did afterwards with Bill Wilson and Randy Goudeau. Then he told us all about what he is currently doing.
Jay is currently under the ministry of Dr. Chan. I've never heard of Dr. Chan, but Jay told us that he is one of the biggest Asian church leaders in the world. He has 300 Bible colleges all across the world and he has a ministry called Agape Ministries that empowers people to start new ministries. Jay told us that Dr. Chan's main anointing is to find people who are nobody's, but have a vision and a heart for God and help establish their vision by funding, discipleship, and spiritual covering. Also, Dr. Chan is close friends with Brother Yun, Che Ahn, and many other great leaders.
Anyways, so Jay is now the Youth Pastor of all the 300 Bible colleges. He travels around the world to these Bible colleges and teaches them youth ministry. He is currently getting key youth leaders from all over Asia and discipling them to go back to their youth groups and radically lead their youth groups for God.
Jay had already read all of my blogs from my mission trip and told us about how inspiring they were to him. He said that he looked up to me and was inspired by me, but I told him that I looked way more up to him and was inspired by him.
Brooke and I told him all about Global Gospel Movement and he was absolutely ecstatic. He wanted to help us in every way he can. He wants us to personally meet with Dr. Chan and tell him about our vision. He said that it is very possible that Dr. Chan would help teach us, disciple us, spiritually cover us, and fund our vision so that it could take off. He was blown away by the fact that God had told us to go to Harvest Rock Church because Dr. Chan and Che Ahn are great friends and they wouldn't have a problem at all with Brooke and I being under both of their coverings at the same time.
We talked on and on for three or four hours. I asked Jay if he could disciple me and help me start this vision and he said the he would love to.
I have no idea what doors God is going to open through all of this, but I know deep, deep in mu spirit that what it is, it's really really big.
He had left G12 a couple years ago and gone to New York to work with Bill Wilson and Pastor Randy Goudeau. He helped establish a church with Randy Goudeau right in the heart of Manhattan. He started and led a school of evangelism for over a year where youth groups would come to Manhattan from all over America and be trained for one or two weeks in radical street evangelism.
I knew about all of the above because I had heard about it through the grapevine, but I hadn't talked to Jay in over two years. But I always had a burning desire to team up with him and Pastor Randy Goudeau.
When I moved to California out of nowhere Jay finds me on Myspace and requests to be my friend. I check out his profile and see a bunch of pictures of him in California. I couldn't believe it...Jay was back in L.A.! Could it be? So I messaged him several times. He responded once and said he would call me, but he never did. For two months I tried to contact him, but to no avail. Finally, I get a message from him saying "Sorry, I never contacted you. I've been in Malaysia all this time." And he gave me his phone number in the message.
So I called him and at last I talked to him, but we never met up until November 4th.
When we met up he told Brooke and I all about why he left G12 and what he did afterwards with Bill Wilson and Randy Goudeau. Then he told us all about what he is currently doing.
Jay is currently under the ministry of Dr. Chan. I've never heard of Dr. Chan, but Jay told us that he is one of the biggest Asian church leaders in the world. He has 300 Bible colleges all across the world and he has a ministry called Agape Ministries that empowers people to start new ministries. Jay told us that Dr. Chan's main anointing is to find people who are nobody's, but have a vision and a heart for God and help establish their vision by funding, discipleship, and spiritual covering. Also, Dr. Chan is close friends with Brother Yun, Che Ahn, and many other great leaders.
Anyways, so Jay is now the Youth Pastor of all the 300 Bible colleges. He travels around the world to these Bible colleges and teaches them youth ministry. He is currently getting key youth leaders from all over Asia and discipling them to go back to their youth groups and radically lead their youth groups for God.
Jay had already read all of my blogs from my mission trip and told us about how inspiring they were to him. He said that he looked up to me and was inspired by me, but I told him that I looked way more up to him and was inspired by him.
Brooke and I told him all about Global Gospel Movement and he was absolutely ecstatic. He wanted to help us in every way he can. He wants us to personally meet with Dr. Chan and tell him about our vision. He said that it is very possible that Dr. Chan would help teach us, disciple us, spiritually cover us, and fund our vision so that it could take off. He was blown away by the fact that God had told us to go to Harvest Rock Church because Dr. Chan and Che Ahn are great friends and they wouldn't have a problem at all with Brooke and I being under both of their coverings at the same time.
We talked on and on for three or four hours. I asked Jay if he could disciple me and help me start this vision and he said the he would love to.
I have no idea what doors God is going to open through all of this, but I know deep, deep in mu spirit that what it is, it's really really big.
Fabian and Leah
On the night of The Call we spent the night at Fabian and Elaine's house in San Diego. They were so amazing and fun to stay with. They are both so radical for God. Both of them are web designers and they promised to us that they would build our website for us for free. So we are really excited about that. Fabian does flash also.
Fabian said something to me that encouraged me so, so much. He said, "Joshua, you know last year when you came here you changed my life. When you would go out every day and just preach the Gospel that inspired me so much. Ever since that day that you took me to PB (Pacific Beach, the party town of San Diego) I have gone there every single Saturday night to preach the Gospel without fail. No matter what every Saturday for a whole year now I go and preach the Gospel there. Most of the time I take a group of people with me, but even if no one goes with me I still go by myself and preach. Even today...even though I knew about The Call I went and preached the Gospel in the afternoon at PB and at night I went to The Call because it is a commitment I have with God.
"It is so amazing! I am at a level with God now that I have never ever been before. Where I am with God now cannot even compare with any other time in my life. I'm just praying now that God would send me some radical people with the same heart to do this together with me."
I was blown away that God used one night of evangelism with Fabian a year ago to raise up a radical preacher of the Gospel who has now faithfully preached the Gospel in the most godless past of San Diego County every weekend for the past year. And he's not planning on stopping. It is amazing what one small seed could produce when planted in good soil and when God gives it growth.
Brooke and I were both on our last day of the 40 day fast and Fabian kept going on and on about how he has never felt a need to fast and he barely ever has. Elaine and I both joked that probably God sent Brooke and I this year to change his life again. This time with fasting.
Fabian said something to me that encouraged me so, so much. He said, "Joshua, you know last year when you came here you changed my life. When you would go out every day and just preach the Gospel that inspired me so much. Ever since that day that you took me to PB (Pacific Beach, the party town of San Diego) I have gone there every single Saturday night to preach the Gospel without fail. No matter what every Saturday for a whole year now I go and preach the Gospel there. Most of the time I take a group of people with me, but even if no one goes with me I still go by myself and preach. Even today...even though I knew about The Call I went and preached the Gospel in the afternoon at PB and at night I went to The Call because it is a commitment I have with God.
"It is so amazing! I am at a level with God now that I have never ever been before. Where I am with God now cannot even compare with any other time in my life. I'm just praying now that God would send me some radical people with the same heart to do this together with me."
I was blown away that God used one night of evangelism with Fabian a year ago to raise up a radical preacher of the Gospel who has now faithfully preached the Gospel in the most godless past of San Diego County every weekend for the past year. And he's not planning on stopping. It is amazing what one small seed could produce when planted in good soil and when God gives it growth.
Brooke and I were both on our last day of the 40 day fast and Fabian kept going on and on about how he has never felt a need to fast and he barely ever has. Elaine and I both joked that probably God sent Brooke and I this year to change his life again. This time with fasting.
The Day After The Call
Lou Engle had a reception for all the main people who worked full time for The Call. The reception was held on Nov. 2 in an amazing mansion owned by a church member of Skyline Church.
When Brooke and I first arrived there we felt a little out of place because we didn't know anyone and we were just aimlessly walking around eating the appetizers. The people though were extremely friendly and would introduce themselves as soon as you were anywhere near them. This is how we met Tomas. Tomas is the head coordinator for The Call California and I was really looking forward to meeting him because I had talked to him several times over the phone in order to mobilize Ventura County. When we met I told him about Global Gospel Movement and he was very interested. Immediately, he asked us, "Do you need any help?"
I said, "Of Course!"
"Do you need help with fundraising," he asked.
"Of course," I exclaimed, "That would be awesome!"
"Alright then," he answered, "I'll help you fund raise."
He told me that he has lots of experience in helping non-profits fund raise and recently he has been working a lot with fundraising for campaigns.
Praise the Lord!!! I was amazed. I mean, who ever wants to help someone fund raise. That's the job that no one likes to do.
Then I bumped into Pastor Davis of Gateway Church in Brea. Our family had gone to his church for a few months in 1999. Immediately, we recognized each other and began talking. He laid down the church in February of this year and is starting Fire House of Prayer. He did a forty day and night water fast for The Call. Amazing!
So finally we all sat down in the living room to have a meeting. It was only about 40 to 45 people there, only the main people of The Call. We all got situated and the room got silent waiting to hear what Lou Engle was going to say and the first thing he says is, "Joshua, I am so glad to see you! Were they able to contact to pray at The Call?"
"They did," I replied, "They contacted me the day before and told me to just come up to the stage on the day of The Call. So I went up to the stage several times throughout the day, but the security wouldn't let me through because I didn't have a badge."
"Ahhh," Lou and everyone sighed, "that's the part I don't like about those things."
"Joshua," he went on, "God put you on my heart for 10 days before The Call. I was constantly asking people 'Does anyone know how to get in contact with Joshua Carvalho?' I wanted you to be praying on the stage with me throughout the whole day. It was an all day thing I wanted you for.
"Joshua is a young man on fire for God," he began telling everyone, "He went on a forty day fast when he was young. How old were you Joshua?"
"I was twelve," I responded.
"Wow," everyone exclaimed.
"Just like Jesse," he proclaimed, "are you and Jesse around the same age?"
"Yeah," I said,"he's only a few months older than me. In fact, I was there on his thirteenth birthday when you took him to a prayer meeting in Bakersfield for his birthday. I was the only other kid there."
Lou began explaining, "God has been speaking to us that He is going to begin raising up an army of warriors at 12 instead of 21. The Spartans would get young boys at the ages of 11 and 12 and take them through the most strenuous training so that by the time they were 18 years old they would be the most fearsome warriors. God is saying that He wants to raise up a radical breed of warriors for Him at 12 instead of 21 and I believe you and Jesse are going to lead that army."
Brooke and I were shocked, humbled, and impacted by everything Lou said. We were so humbled by the fact that out of everyone there God chose to exalt us. Everyone there had been working full time with The Call anywhere from 3 months to a year or more and we had only worked with The Call for one month. Why did this happen to us? We humbly accepted that God's favor was upon us and He is now choosing to exalt us as leaders.
Afterwards, Lou walked up to Brooke and I while Tomas was talking to us. He said, "I was so saddened that you weren't able to pray with us on the stage. Joshua, God has been burning in my heart for me to run with you."
In my mind I was thinking, "What!? I want to run with you Lou!", but for some reason my mouth said, "Lou, I know your leaving tomorrow to Kansas City, but I would love to sit down with you one of these days and share with you the vision God has put on my heart to raise up itinerant preachers."
"You got to get them praying and fasting Joshua," he replied, "It won't work unless you get them praying and fasting. Bill Bright said that evangelism does not work without praying and fasting."
We talked a little more, but then Lou had to leave. But what he said stayed burning in my heart. We have to get this army of itinerant preachers praying and fasting or else it won't work.
Tomas was blown away by what he had just witnessed and he exclaimed, "I am definitely going to help you guys!"
As a result of what Lou Engle said about me, many people wanted to meet us. I briefly talked with Jesse Engle about Global Gospel Movement and he gave me his email and told me to email him more information about it.
We talked more with Pastor Davis and he really wanted to get connected with us more whenever we moved to La Mirada.
We talked to the new head adminstrator for future calls and he promised me that what happened at this Call would happen again. He promised that next time I will be on the stage praying with Lou.
We talked with Daniella Lopez who lives 5 minutes from Biola University. She really wanted to connect with us and told us about a radical group of young people who are part of a group called JRev and that also live right next to Biola. She told us she wants to connect us with them.
We met Doug Davis who mobilized Long Beach and was one of the main mobilizers for L.A. County for The Call. He wants to hold quarterly solemn assemblies throughout the year for Southern California and then have one statewide assembly each year. We told him we would help him in any way he can and got all his contact info.
We met Yale Kim who is a young businessman and a worship leader in the Southern Baptist Convention. God also opened the doors through him for us to have a house next to Biola in January.
We met and talked to several other people and got the contact information of all of them. They all wanted to help us and we always wanted to help them. There was such a spirit of excitement and anticipation in the air because we knew that God had brought us all there in the same place for a purpose...to build and establish His Kingdom in America.
We left that night in absolute awe. We were in utter amazement of God's sovereignty and plan over our lives. Were blown away.
When Brooke and I first arrived there we felt a little out of place because we didn't know anyone and we were just aimlessly walking around eating the appetizers. The people though were extremely friendly and would introduce themselves as soon as you were anywhere near them. This is how we met Tomas. Tomas is the head coordinator for The Call California and I was really looking forward to meeting him because I had talked to him several times over the phone in order to mobilize Ventura County. When we met I told him about Global Gospel Movement and he was very interested. Immediately, he asked us, "Do you need any help?"
I said, "Of Course!"
"Do you need help with fundraising," he asked.
"Of course," I exclaimed, "That would be awesome!"
"Alright then," he answered, "I'll help you fund raise."
He told me that he has lots of experience in helping non-profits fund raise and recently he has been working a lot with fundraising for campaigns.
Praise the Lord!!! I was amazed. I mean, who ever wants to help someone fund raise. That's the job that no one likes to do.
Then I bumped into Pastor Davis of Gateway Church in Brea. Our family had gone to his church for a few months in 1999. Immediately, we recognized each other and began talking. He laid down the church in February of this year and is starting Fire House of Prayer. He did a forty day and night water fast for The Call. Amazing!
So finally we all sat down in the living room to have a meeting. It was only about 40 to 45 people there, only the main people of The Call. We all got situated and the room got silent waiting to hear what Lou Engle was going to say and the first thing he says is, "Joshua, I am so glad to see you! Were they able to contact to pray at The Call?"
"They did," I replied, "They contacted me the day before and told me to just come up to the stage on the day of The Call. So I went up to the stage several times throughout the day, but the security wouldn't let me through because I didn't have a badge."
"Ahhh," Lou and everyone sighed, "that's the part I don't like about those things."
"Joshua," he went on, "God put you on my heart for 10 days before The Call. I was constantly asking people 'Does anyone know how to get in contact with Joshua Carvalho?' I wanted you to be praying on the stage with me throughout the whole day. It was an all day thing I wanted you for.
"Joshua is a young man on fire for God," he began telling everyone, "He went on a forty day fast when he was young. How old were you Joshua?"
"I was twelve," I responded.
"Wow," everyone exclaimed.
"Just like Jesse," he proclaimed, "are you and Jesse around the same age?"
"Yeah," I said,"he's only a few months older than me. In fact, I was there on his thirteenth birthday when you took him to a prayer meeting in Bakersfield for his birthday. I was the only other kid there."
Lou began explaining, "God has been speaking to us that He is going to begin raising up an army of warriors at 12 instead of 21. The Spartans would get young boys at the ages of 11 and 12 and take them through the most strenuous training so that by the time they were 18 years old they would be the most fearsome warriors. God is saying that He wants to raise up a radical breed of warriors for Him at 12 instead of 21 and I believe you and Jesse are going to lead that army."
Brooke and I were shocked, humbled, and impacted by everything Lou said. We were so humbled by the fact that out of everyone there God chose to exalt us. Everyone there had been working full time with The Call anywhere from 3 months to a year or more and we had only worked with The Call for one month. Why did this happen to us? We humbly accepted that God's favor was upon us and He is now choosing to exalt us as leaders.
Afterwards, Lou walked up to Brooke and I while Tomas was talking to us. He said, "I was so saddened that you weren't able to pray with us on the stage. Joshua, God has been burning in my heart for me to run with you."
In my mind I was thinking, "What!? I want to run with you Lou!", but for some reason my mouth said, "Lou, I know your leaving tomorrow to Kansas City, but I would love to sit down with you one of these days and share with you the vision God has put on my heart to raise up itinerant preachers."
"You got to get them praying and fasting Joshua," he replied, "It won't work unless you get them praying and fasting. Bill Bright said that evangelism does not work without praying and fasting."
We talked a little more, but then Lou had to leave. But what he said stayed burning in my heart. We have to get this army of itinerant preachers praying and fasting or else it won't work.
Tomas was blown away by what he had just witnessed and he exclaimed, "I am definitely going to help you guys!"
As a result of what Lou Engle said about me, many people wanted to meet us. I briefly talked with Jesse Engle about Global Gospel Movement and he gave me his email and told me to email him more information about it.
We talked more with Pastor Davis and he really wanted to get connected with us more whenever we moved to La Mirada.
We talked to the new head adminstrator for future calls and he promised me that what happened at this Call would happen again. He promised that next time I will be on the stage praying with Lou.
We talked with Daniella Lopez who lives 5 minutes from Biola University. She really wanted to connect with us and told us about a radical group of young people who are part of a group called JRev and that also live right next to Biola. She told us she wants to connect us with them.
We met Doug Davis who mobilized Long Beach and was one of the main mobilizers for L.A. County for The Call. He wants to hold quarterly solemn assemblies throughout the year for Southern California and then have one statewide assembly each year. We told him we would help him in any way he can and got all his contact info.
We met Yale Kim who is a young businessman and a worship leader in the Southern Baptist Convention. God also opened the doors through him for us to have a house next to Biola in January.
We met and talked to several other people and got the contact information of all of them. They all wanted to help us and we always wanted to help them. There was such a spirit of excitement and anticipation in the air because we knew that God had brought us all there in the same place for a purpose...to build and establish His Kingdom in America.
We left that night in absolute awe. We were in utter amazement of God's sovereignty and plan over our lives. Were blown away.
The Call California
The Call was absolutely amazing! About 35 to 40 people from Jubilee went and several old friends were there too including Brad and Leyla, Kelvin, and Gerri Morris.
God was truly there 100% of the time. To me the most awesome thing in The Call this year was the unity it bought in the Body of Christ. I am seeing that because of the agressive advancement of the Gay Movement, the current economic crisis, and the increasing decadence of American society the church is becoming more desperate for God and, as a result, we are uniting. We realize that whatever the church is doing it is not good enough to transform America. As the new President of the Southern Baptist Convention stated, "WE NEED THE HOLY SPIRIT!"
So at The Call there was amazing unity. What was most notable was the presence of Dr. James Dobson, one of the greatest leaders in the Evangelical Movement in the world. Him and his wife spoke, led prayer, and fasted with us the entire day. Dr. Dobson said that for the first time in 15 years he had real hope that abortion could be overturned again in America. It was so amazing to see James Dobson, one of the most conservative leaders in America, hugging and praying with Mike Bickle and Lou Engle, two of the most Charismatic leaders in America. Also, Tony Perkins, another major evangelical spoke and led prayer. Furthermore, the Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Diego spoke and led prayer at The Call and there was a large representation of Catholics at the event. The Bishop publicly repented to God for "the idolatry that has so crippled us". Moreover, respected Asian leaders, Hispanic leaders, Native American leaders, and African American leaders led prayer. It was absolutely amazing!
We had really powerful times of worship. Almost all the worship was led by IHOP people. But actually the best worship was at the end and was led by our youth pastor Gabe Ahn and Kevin Peavey.
One of my favorite, if not my most favorite, part of The Call was the las 10 minutes of it. Lou Engle had Eddie Brown come and speak about radically preaching the Gospel and laying down our lives for God. The very last prayer prayed was for God to raise up martyrs for Him and to raise up itinerant preachers to preach the Gospel all over America and especially on the college campuses of our nation.
Lou Engle is now saying that the next Call they want to have would be in Sacramento. He feels like God is really honing in on California and for the next year he wants to battle for the salvation of California. I'm there baby! I'm there!
God was truly there 100% of the time. To me the most awesome thing in The Call this year was the unity it bought in the Body of Christ. I am seeing that because of the agressive advancement of the Gay Movement, the current economic crisis, and the increasing decadence of American society the church is becoming more desperate for God and, as a result, we are uniting. We realize that whatever the church is doing it is not good enough to transform America. As the new President of the Southern Baptist Convention stated, "WE NEED THE HOLY SPIRIT!"
So at The Call there was amazing unity. What was most notable was the presence of Dr. James Dobson, one of the greatest leaders in the Evangelical Movement in the world. Him and his wife spoke, led prayer, and fasted with us the entire day. Dr. Dobson said that for the first time in 15 years he had real hope that abortion could be overturned again in America. It was so amazing to see James Dobson, one of the most conservative leaders in America, hugging and praying with Mike Bickle and Lou Engle, two of the most Charismatic leaders in America. Also, Tony Perkins, another major evangelical spoke and led prayer. Furthermore, the Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Diego spoke and led prayer at The Call and there was a large representation of Catholics at the event. The Bishop publicly repented to God for "the idolatry that has so crippled us". Moreover, respected Asian leaders, Hispanic leaders, Native American leaders, and African American leaders led prayer. It was absolutely amazing!
We had really powerful times of worship. Almost all the worship was led by IHOP people. But actually the best worship was at the end and was led by our youth pastor Gabe Ahn and Kevin Peavey.
One of my favorite, if not my most favorite, part of The Call was the las 10 minutes of it. Lou Engle had Eddie Brown come and speak about radically preaching the Gospel and laying down our lives for God. The very last prayer prayed was for God to raise up martyrs for Him and to raise up itinerant preachers to preach the Gospel all over America and especially on the college campuses of our nation.
Lou Engle is now saying that the next Call they want to have would be in Sacramento. He feels like God is really honing in on California and for the next year he wants to battle for the salvation of California. I'm there baby! I'm there!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Alfredo Adum: My First Disciple in Miami
Something totally crazy amazing happened a few days ago. Out of nowhere I received a call from Alfredo Adum straight from Ecuador. You have no idea how crazy awesome this is.
Alfredo was the very first person who came to my cell group in Miami. He faithfully attended my cell group every week even though for the first five or six months he was usually the only person there. I discipled him for a year and then his father in Ecuador asked him to go live there with him for a few years. Alfredo agreed and moved to Ecuador. It was somewhat abrupt, so I wasn't able to get his email or new phone. His mom gave me his email on a scrap of paper, but a few days later I lost it. I had no way to contact his mom because she had moved and had a new phone number. I was so, so bummed.
I never forgot about him and constantly prayed for him every month or so, but I had no way of contacting him. At that time Myspace and Facebook had not yet been created, so that wasn't an option either.
So all of a sudden, out of the blue, I receive a call from a really long, strange number. I answer the phone and it's Alfredo. I couldn't believe my ears. How did he find me?
He told me that he was cleaning his room and he found the letter I wrote to him after his first encounter and a picture of him and I was attached to it. He really felt the need to contact me, so he searched for my brother and I on Facebook. He found us in five minutes and sent messages to the both of us. My brother gave him my cell phone and email and that's how he contacted me.
He told me that when he moved to Ecuador he didn't go to church for over four years because his family didn't go and he couldn't find a good church. However, all along he mantained his relationship with God. And four months ago he found an awesome G12 church. He told me that he's totally back on track with God and He's diving in head first! Hallelujah!!!! He is in a cell group, he's going to an encounter in December, and he's going to get baptized!!! Thank you Jesus!!! You are faithful to complete the work that you have begun!
He is currently majoring in Computer Engineering right now and him and his friend have started their own web design company. So he might create our website for Global Gospel Movement. Praise the Lord!
Alfredo was the very first person who came to my cell group in Miami. He faithfully attended my cell group every week even though for the first five or six months he was usually the only person there. I discipled him for a year and then his father in Ecuador asked him to go live there with him for a few years. Alfredo agreed and moved to Ecuador. It was somewhat abrupt, so I wasn't able to get his email or new phone. His mom gave me his email on a scrap of paper, but a few days later I lost it. I had no way to contact his mom because she had moved and had a new phone number. I was so, so bummed.
I never forgot about him and constantly prayed for him every month or so, but I had no way of contacting him. At that time Myspace and Facebook had not yet been created, so that wasn't an option either.
So all of a sudden, out of the blue, I receive a call from a really long, strange number. I answer the phone and it's Alfredo. I couldn't believe my ears. How did he find me?
He told me that he was cleaning his room and he found the letter I wrote to him after his first encounter and a picture of him and I was attached to it. He really felt the need to contact me, so he searched for my brother and I on Facebook. He found us in five minutes and sent messages to the both of us. My brother gave him my cell phone and email and that's how he contacted me.
He told me that when he moved to Ecuador he didn't go to church for over four years because his family didn't go and he couldn't find a good church. However, all along he mantained his relationship with God. And four months ago he found an awesome G12 church. He told me that he's totally back on track with God and He's diving in head first! Hallelujah!!!! He is in a cell group, he's going to an encounter in December, and he's going to get baptized!!! Thank you Jesus!!! You are faithful to complete the work that you have begun!
He is currently majoring in Computer Engineering right now and him and his friend have started their own web design company. So he might create our website for Global Gospel Movement. Praise the Lord!
Global Gospel Movement Update
GGM has been going great. It's moving along slowly, but surely.
We are officially a non-profit organization!!!! We are now officially registered in the State of California, with the Federal Government, and with the IRS. If anyone want to give us a donation it will now be tax-deductible. Praise The Lord!!!! This is the biggest breakthrough that has happened lately.
Gabe Ahn, our youth pastor, really fell in love with the vision and wants to support us in every way possible. He told us that Harvest Rock Church would definitely support GGM and be a spiritual covering over it. He said that he really thought that his dad, Che Ahn, should mentor and help me, which is so awesome because that is exactly what I've been praying for.
Furthermore, Jay Koopman, who is one of the craziest Christians I've ever met in my life found me through Myspace (Thank you myspace). I messaged him back and he ended up being in Malaysia. When he came back to L.A. he called me up and we talked for quite a bit. He is totally psyched about GGM and wants to help us in every way possible. He is currently the youth pastor over 300 Bible colleges around the world. He told me that he is sure that the Dean of the schools could help me start GGM. So we're gonna meet up sometime this week and really talk about it.
Currently, we are praying for God to send us a professional web designer to create our website, which probably has been solved. (See "Alfredo Adum: My first Disciple in Miami")
Our other project is making flyers and brochures for GGM. Through working with The Call I've realized how crucial it is to have flyers. A few times we spoke with pastors about The Call, but we didn't have the flyers yet and they basically said "oh, well, get back to us when you get the flyers." So Brooke and I are going to make the flyers.
Also, we are going to hold a house concert in Camarillo probably on January 1 ro 2 in order to raise funds for GGM. I am praying for other creative ideas to raise funds for GGM.
We are officially a non-profit organization!!!! We are now officially registered in the State of California, with the Federal Government, and with the IRS. If anyone want to give us a donation it will now be tax-deductible. Praise The Lord!!!! This is the biggest breakthrough that has happened lately.
Gabe Ahn, our youth pastor, really fell in love with the vision and wants to support us in every way possible. He told us that Harvest Rock Church would definitely support GGM and be a spiritual covering over it. He said that he really thought that his dad, Che Ahn, should mentor and help me, which is so awesome because that is exactly what I've been praying for.
Furthermore, Jay Koopman, who is one of the craziest Christians I've ever met in my life found me through Myspace (Thank you myspace). I messaged him back and he ended up being in Malaysia. When he came back to L.A. he called me up and we talked for quite a bit. He is totally psyched about GGM and wants to help us in every way possible. He is currently the youth pastor over 300 Bible colleges around the world. He told me that he is sure that the Dean of the schools could help me start GGM. So we're gonna meet up sometime this week and really talk about it.
Currently, we are praying for God to send us a professional web designer to create our website, which probably has been solved. (See "Alfredo Adum: My first Disciple in Miami")
Our other project is making flyers and brochures for GGM. Through working with The Call I've realized how crucial it is to have flyers. A few times we spoke with pastors about The Call, but we didn't have the flyers yet and they basically said "oh, well, get back to us when you get the flyers." So Brooke and I are going to make the flyers.
Also, we are going to hold a house concert in Camarillo probably on January 1 ro 2 in order to raise funds for GGM. I am praying for other creative ideas to raise funds for GGM.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Working for The Call California
We have been working full time for The Call California. Our official titles is "Assistant Director in Ventura County". However, the director, who is Marilyn Noorda, has delegated to us the full responsibility of mobilizing Ventura County to go to The Call. So in reality we have been the directors and I must say that we are honored to work with The Call and it has been a great experience.
We realize that this position was given to us by God and we are humbled and honored to be given such a responsibility. So Brooke and I have been working hard. We have been calling countless churches and handing out flyers to individuals and to churches who are responsive.
We got to preach in the Rio Mesa Bible Club of which I was the President of in 2003. When I was the President it was about forty people and now it is more than 100. Praise God!!! It was such a joy to be able to speak there. I invited them all to The Call and they all took tons of flyers and passed them out in their youth groups and churches. Also, we met an intern from South Coast Fellowship at the club. South Coast is doing some amazing things. They have four full time interns who go to all the Bible clubs in Ventura and Oxnard every week and help support the club financially, preaching there, buying them pizza every week, and training the leaders. It is amazing. So once Julia heard about The Call she told her church and all four of the interns started announcing it to all the Bible Clubs in Ventura and Oxnard! Amazing! And you know what's awesome. South Coast is under the covering of Larry Stockstill and they do D12 (i.e. G12). Praise God! They're rocking their city for Jesus. Pr. Pauline, the youth pastor, also just invited me to speak at their youth group once I finish working for The Call.
Another divine appointment was meeting with Pastor Danny Miller. Pastor Danny personally knows more pastors in Ventura County than any other person in the world really. God has used him to unite the churches of the county. God has also recently told him to run for Ventura County School Board. So Brooke and I have been helping him campaign and he helped us by giving us his entire email list of over 300 pastors in Ventura County. We emailed all of them about The Call and some of them have responded. We also talked with Pastor Danny about Global Gospel Movement and asked him to be one of our Advisors and an elder over us. He completely loved the vision and commited to advising us and helping us in every way he possibly can. He told us that he would do everything he can for us to have open doors to preach in the churches of Ventura County. WOW!
I also preached at the youth group in Jubilee twice, which was totally glorious. The youth were really impacted and it seemed like Andy, the youth pastor, has even been inspired to be more radical with the youth group.
Then it all culminated at the Camarillo Pre-Call Rally. Only about 90 people showed up, but it was so, so powerful that we didn't really care. We had several leaders come from all over the county. We had one strong hour of worship and then a powerful time of intercession for an hour and a half. Brooke helped lead worship and she sang a new song of hers. It was the most powerful song of the night and I'm not being bias. I had the privilege of leading the whole meeting by opening in prayer, leading the intercession, leading the offering, introducing the guest speaker, and closing the meeting. The speaker, Carlos Sarmientos, was totally awesome. I'll write more about him in another blog.
Now we are figuring out all of the carpool arrangements for people in Ventura County who are going to The Call. Brooke and I received an invitation to attend a reception with Lou and Therese Engle the day after The Call. They are inviting all the head mobilizers from around California to thank them for their efforts. That will be awesome. We're really looking forward to that.
We realize that this position was given to us by God and we are humbled and honored to be given such a responsibility. So Brooke and I have been working hard. We have been calling countless churches and handing out flyers to individuals and to churches who are responsive.
We got to preach in the Rio Mesa Bible Club of which I was the President of in 2003. When I was the President it was about forty people and now it is more than 100. Praise God!!! It was such a joy to be able to speak there. I invited them all to The Call and they all took tons of flyers and passed them out in their youth groups and churches. Also, we met an intern from South Coast Fellowship at the club. South Coast is doing some amazing things. They have four full time interns who go to all the Bible clubs in Ventura and Oxnard every week and help support the club financially, preaching there, buying them pizza every week, and training the leaders. It is amazing. So once Julia heard about The Call she told her church and all four of the interns started announcing it to all the Bible Clubs in Ventura and Oxnard! Amazing! And you know what's awesome. South Coast is under the covering of Larry Stockstill and they do D12 (i.e. G12). Praise God! They're rocking their city for Jesus. Pr. Pauline, the youth pastor, also just invited me to speak at their youth group once I finish working for The Call.
Another divine appointment was meeting with Pastor Danny Miller. Pastor Danny personally knows more pastors in Ventura County than any other person in the world really. God has used him to unite the churches of the county. God has also recently told him to run for Ventura County School Board. So Brooke and I have been helping him campaign and he helped us by giving us his entire email list of over 300 pastors in Ventura County. We emailed all of them about The Call and some of them have responded. We also talked with Pastor Danny about Global Gospel Movement and asked him to be one of our Advisors and an elder over us. He completely loved the vision and commited to advising us and helping us in every way he possibly can. He told us that he would do everything he can for us to have open doors to preach in the churches of Ventura County. WOW!
I also preached at the youth group in Jubilee twice, which was totally glorious. The youth were really impacted and it seemed like Andy, the youth pastor, has even been inspired to be more radical with the youth group.
Then it all culminated at the Camarillo Pre-Call Rally. Only about 90 people showed up, but it was so, so powerful that we didn't really care. We had several leaders come from all over the county. We had one strong hour of worship and then a powerful time of intercession for an hour and a half. Brooke helped lead worship and she sang a new song of hers. It was the most powerful song of the night and I'm not being bias. I had the privilege of leading the whole meeting by opening in prayer, leading the intercession, leading the offering, introducing the guest speaker, and closing the meeting. The speaker, Carlos Sarmientos, was totally awesome. I'll write more about him in another blog.
Now we are figuring out all of the carpool arrangements for people in Ventura County who are going to The Call. Brooke and I received an invitation to attend a reception with Lou and Therese Engle the day after The Call. They are inviting all the head mobilizers from around California to thank them for their efforts. That will be awesome. We're really looking forward to that.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Progress, Testing, and Grief
First I'll start with the progress.
The first couple weeks in CA I mainly focused on writing my book and I made quite a bit of progress. However, Kent soon sat me own and explained to me the necessity of having a business plan to present to pastors and leaders whenever I share the vision of the organization. Thus, I put the book aside and began focusing solely on the business plan. After three long weeks we fininshed it. It felt like I was writing a thesis, but we thoroughly enjoyed it.
If you want to read the 27 page business plan just tell me and I'll send it to you.
Furthermore, I talked with the youth pastor of Harvest Rock Church, Pastor Gabe, about the vision and he loved it and said that they would definitely bless it and cover it in prayer. We also met with Pastor Steve in Jubilee Church and he gave us great advice. He gave us his full support, happily agreed to be a spiritual father for us, and was officially the first pastor to commit to register his church with our organization. Praise God! I am still trying to meet with the Senior Pastor of Harvest Rock, but his secretary told me that it is impossible to have a personal meeting with him. Pr. Che Ahn is constantly traveling the world preaching and is one of the most influential leaders in the church in America right now.
Moreover, I had a meeting with Pr. Carlos Quintero in order to register the organization as a 501c3. So we have been going through the first steps of registering it all.
The Testing we have been going through is believing God for a house. God spoke to us that He would provide for us and that He wanted me to focus 100% on GGM. I told God that we would do that, but if after one month He hasn't provided we would both get jobs and just get an apartment to live in. Well, we stayed with various different people for that one month and at the end of it we still didn't have our own place. But this is where a crazy story comes in to the picture.
God had spoken to Brooke way back in Atlanta that He was going to give us a house (not an apt. or condo) of our own free of mortgage payments. That really stretched my faith, but I just agreed with her faith and jumped in. So we have been faithfully praying for a house and keeping our eyes and ears open to God's direction for this house. Eventually, God gave me several words about Him establishing a house for us, etc. Then on the Tuesday of the fourth week we were in CA God awoke Brooke with a really wierd word: "Sotheby's". He kept repeating the word to Brooke all day long. It just wouldn't leave her head. We went out to preach the Gospel that day, so we thought that maybe it was a restaraunt that God wanted us to preach at. But we never found anything with the name Sotheby's. Then at the cell group that night Brooke asked one of the girls if she knew what Sotheby's was. The girl said that it was a real estate company around that area and that their was actually a house for sale under Sotheby's a couple streets down from the cell group, which was Pr. Che Ahn's house. This blew us away because we had fervently been praying for a house and never in our wildest dreams would we have ever thought that Sotheby's was a real estate company. We looked around the neighborhood for a while and then we found the house. It was three houses down from Pr. Che's house on the same street. What was crazy was that the spelling and even the font was exactly how God had shown it to Brooke. We knew and we still know that God is going to give us that house. The craziest part of this story is that this house is $1,300,000 and is five bedrooms. We had prayed earlier that if God gave us a small place then we wold know that it was just for the two of us, but if he gave us a big place then we would know that it was for us to start the organization in. It may take a year or two to actually get a full blown training center, so we would start it in our house.
We met with the realtor and told her our story and she was actually quite impressed. She said that this is actually the only house under Sotheby's in the entire area, which confirmed to us even more that this is really the house he wants for us. Also, Heather, whose parents own a real estate company, told us that Sotheby's is a real estate company that only sells huge estates.
So that's our story and we're sticking to it. We don't know when God is going to give us the house, we just know He will because He's the one who said. We didn't say it. We don't know if it will be in a month or in a year, but we know He will do the miracle. Until then, we'll work and get an apartment.
So we began looking for jobs and while we were looking one day we just ran out of places to stay. I just didn't have any more friends who could host us. So we cried out to God for help. The next day we had our meeting with Pr. Steve. He asked us about our financial situation, so we told him. Later on that day he checked his messages and Marilyn Noorda had called him hours before our meeting saying the following:
"Pr. Steve, I just had a great idea. Tell me what you think of it. I've been appointed to be the director for the The CALL Mobilization Team in Ventura County, but I'm really swamped with so many things to do. I think it would be a great idea if we hired Joshua and Brooke full time to be my assistant directors for The CALL Mobilization. We would pay them by giving them free room and board and some gas money. They'll only work for us until The Call and that way they'll have time to assess their lives, get a job, and a place, and they'll be a huge help to us at the same time. What do you think?"
Pr. Steve immediately called me and told me the news. We were stoked. We prayed about it the next few days and God confirmed it through His word that this was His will for us. So we went to Northern California for four days and last night we arrived at Marilyn and Glen Noorda's house. Today was our first official day of full time work for The Call. It is so exciting! We really got a lot done today.
The tragic thing that took place was that one of my really close friends went to be with Jesus. He was only 25 years old. He got married last year in October. One week later him and his wife went to Mexico to be full time missionaries and three weeks later he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He went back to CA and was in treatment for 10 months including chemo. A few weeks ago the doctors gave up on him because the cancer had spread to his bone marrow and lungs. Two weeks later he died. The entire time we, along with hundreds of other people, prayed for him and even fasted for his healing, but he wasn't healed. It really sucks, but at the same time it doesn't. After praying a lot about it and going to Cody's memorial I became at peace with his death and greatly matured concerning my view on death. This was the first time that someone close to me died. It's really hard for us and its hard for us to understand, but if you were to go to Heaven and ask Cody right now if he wanted to return he would definitely say "No". He's doing better then we could ever imagine. We are the one's that are left hurting and missing out, not him.
The memorial was awesome. Many people spoke about their memories with Cody. I spoke and sang a spontaneous song for Cody and Brooke sang one of her songs for him. Everyone was really touched by our songs. We met with his mom, dad, sisters, wife, and lots of his friends. It was amazing to see how many lives he had so deeply touched in just a few years. It was truly mind-blowing. At least 150 to 200 people were there and they had come from all over the place. And they only represented a fraction of Cody's friends, family, and the people he had touched. The memorial was one hour long at the church and then five hours long at Cody's house where we had a celebration of his life.
They ended up inviting us to stay in a cottage they had in the back of their property. It was so cute and there were praying mantises all over the place. We saw at least eight of them. They're so cool. Oh yeah and this entire time we were way out in the boonies in the mountains. It was so, so gorgeous. Brooke loved it too.
We went to their church on Sunday morning and drove down to San Francisco.
When we arrived in SF it just so happened that the Folsom Street Fair was taking place. This is the most depraved event in America and one of the worst in the world. It is a sado-masichist fair. We were just driving through downtown and Brooke saw three naked men and one naked woman just casually walking down the street. Fortunately, I only saw one naked man cause I was driving. It was horrible!
Anyways, I showed Brooke all the main spots of SF where Alex and I preached during our mission trip and then we went to Adam Hood's house. Adam is a great friend of mine that Alex and I met during our mission trip. Our hearts beat with the same rhythm and our minds think alike. It's crazy. So, we stayed with him on Sunday night. What was so, so crazy was that I felt the Lord telling me to look at my watch and when I did I realized that it was Sept. 28th. Sept. 28th exactly one year ago was the last day of my mission trip and the last day of my mission trip was in SF. Crazy! Immediately, I felt like God had sent us there with the purpose of sealing what he had began through us. WoW! And what's even crazier is that Adam has been wanting a house of prayer in the basement of his house for months now and Sept. 28th was the first official day of the House of Prayer and God had brought us there to inaguarate it with him. We also met his fiance Sarah Jean. She's awesome.
On Monday we drove back to Ventura County and witnessed some of the most breathtaking, glorious sites in the world as we drove down the Pacific Coast Highway.
And now I am typing here on a rocking chair on the porch of Marilyn's backhouse (It's a one bedroom, one bathroom, kitchenette, walk-in closet backhouse). Also, I am going to help Glen with the gardening. They have all the following fruit trees: fig, two orange, peach, pomegranate, plumb, passion fruit, etc. I can't wait to learn about gardening.
The first couple weeks in CA I mainly focused on writing my book and I made quite a bit of progress. However, Kent soon sat me own and explained to me the necessity of having a business plan to present to pastors and leaders whenever I share the vision of the organization. Thus, I put the book aside and began focusing solely on the business plan. After three long weeks we fininshed it. It felt like I was writing a thesis, but we thoroughly enjoyed it.
If you want to read the 27 page business plan just tell me and I'll send it to you.
Furthermore, I talked with the youth pastor of Harvest Rock Church, Pastor Gabe, about the vision and he loved it and said that they would definitely bless it and cover it in prayer. We also met with Pastor Steve in Jubilee Church and he gave us great advice. He gave us his full support, happily agreed to be a spiritual father for us, and was officially the first pastor to commit to register his church with our organization. Praise God! I am still trying to meet with the Senior Pastor of Harvest Rock, but his secretary told me that it is impossible to have a personal meeting with him. Pr. Che Ahn is constantly traveling the world preaching and is one of the most influential leaders in the church in America right now.
Moreover, I had a meeting with Pr. Carlos Quintero in order to register the organization as a 501c3. So we have been going through the first steps of registering it all.
The Testing we have been going through is believing God for a house. God spoke to us that He would provide for us and that He wanted me to focus 100% on GGM. I told God that we would do that, but if after one month He hasn't provided we would both get jobs and just get an apartment to live in. Well, we stayed with various different people for that one month and at the end of it we still didn't have our own place. But this is where a crazy story comes in to the picture.
God had spoken to Brooke way back in Atlanta that He was going to give us a house (not an apt. or condo) of our own free of mortgage payments. That really stretched my faith, but I just agreed with her faith and jumped in. So we have been faithfully praying for a house and keeping our eyes and ears open to God's direction for this house. Eventually, God gave me several words about Him establishing a house for us, etc. Then on the Tuesday of the fourth week we were in CA God awoke Brooke with a really wierd word: "Sotheby's". He kept repeating the word to Brooke all day long. It just wouldn't leave her head. We went out to preach the Gospel that day, so we thought that maybe it was a restaraunt that God wanted us to preach at. But we never found anything with the name Sotheby's. Then at the cell group that night Brooke asked one of the girls if she knew what Sotheby's was. The girl said that it was a real estate company around that area and that their was actually a house for sale under Sotheby's a couple streets down from the cell group, which was Pr. Che Ahn's house. This blew us away because we had fervently been praying for a house and never in our wildest dreams would we have ever thought that Sotheby's was a real estate company. We looked around the neighborhood for a while and then we found the house. It was three houses down from Pr. Che's house on the same street. What was crazy was that the spelling and even the font was exactly how God had shown it to Brooke. We knew and we still know that God is going to give us that house. The craziest part of this story is that this house is $1,300,000 and is five bedrooms. We had prayed earlier that if God gave us a small place then we wold know that it was just for the two of us, but if he gave us a big place then we would know that it was for us to start the organization in. It may take a year or two to actually get a full blown training center, so we would start it in our house.
We met with the realtor and told her our story and she was actually quite impressed. She said that this is actually the only house under Sotheby's in the entire area, which confirmed to us even more that this is really the house he wants for us. Also, Heather, whose parents own a real estate company, told us that Sotheby's is a real estate company that only sells huge estates.
So that's our story and we're sticking to it. We don't know when God is going to give us the house, we just know He will because He's the one who said. We didn't say it. We don't know if it will be in a month or in a year, but we know He will do the miracle. Until then, we'll work and get an apartment.
So we began looking for jobs and while we were looking one day we just ran out of places to stay. I just didn't have any more friends who could host us. So we cried out to God for help. The next day we had our meeting with Pr. Steve. He asked us about our financial situation, so we told him. Later on that day he checked his messages and Marilyn Noorda had called him hours before our meeting saying the following:
"Pr. Steve, I just had a great idea. Tell me what you think of it. I've been appointed to be the director for the The CALL Mobilization Team in Ventura County, but I'm really swamped with so many things to do. I think it would be a great idea if we hired Joshua and Brooke full time to be my assistant directors for The CALL Mobilization. We would pay them by giving them free room and board and some gas money. They'll only work for us until The Call and that way they'll have time to assess their lives, get a job, and a place, and they'll be a huge help to us at the same time. What do you think?"
Pr. Steve immediately called me and told me the news. We were stoked. We prayed about it the next few days and God confirmed it through His word that this was His will for us. So we went to Northern California for four days and last night we arrived at Marilyn and Glen Noorda's house. Today was our first official day of full time work for The Call. It is so exciting! We really got a lot done today.
The tragic thing that took place was that one of my really close friends went to be with Jesus. He was only 25 years old. He got married last year in October. One week later him and his wife went to Mexico to be full time missionaries and three weeks later he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He went back to CA and was in treatment for 10 months including chemo. A few weeks ago the doctors gave up on him because the cancer had spread to his bone marrow and lungs. Two weeks later he died. The entire time we, along with hundreds of other people, prayed for him and even fasted for his healing, but he wasn't healed. It really sucks, but at the same time it doesn't. After praying a lot about it and going to Cody's memorial I became at peace with his death and greatly matured concerning my view on death. This was the first time that someone close to me died. It's really hard for us and its hard for us to understand, but if you were to go to Heaven and ask Cody right now if he wanted to return he would definitely say "No". He's doing better then we could ever imagine. We are the one's that are left hurting and missing out, not him.
The memorial was awesome. Many people spoke about their memories with Cody. I spoke and sang a spontaneous song for Cody and Brooke sang one of her songs for him. Everyone was really touched by our songs. We met with his mom, dad, sisters, wife, and lots of his friends. It was amazing to see how many lives he had so deeply touched in just a few years. It was truly mind-blowing. At least 150 to 200 people were there and they had come from all over the place. And they only represented a fraction of Cody's friends, family, and the people he had touched. The memorial was one hour long at the church and then five hours long at Cody's house where we had a celebration of his life.
They ended up inviting us to stay in a cottage they had in the back of their property. It was so cute and there were praying mantises all over the place. We saw at least eight of them. They're so cool. Oh yeah and this entire time we were way out in the boonies in the mountains. It was so, so gorgeous. Brooke loved it too.
We went to their church on Sunday morning and drove down to San Francisco.
When we arrived in SF it just so happened that the Folsom Street Fair was taking place. This is the most depraved event in America and one of the worst in the world. It is a sado-masichist fair. We were just driving through downtown and Brooke saw three naked men and one naked woman just casually walking down the street. Fortunately, I only saw one naked man cause I was driving. It was horrible!
Anyways, I showed Brooke all the main spots of SF where Alex and I preached during our mission trip and then we went to Adam Hood's house. Adam is a great friend of mine that Alex and I met during our mission trip. Our hearts beat with the same rhythm and our minds think alike. It's crazy. So, we stayed with him on Sunday night. What was so, so crazy was that I felt the Lord telling me to look at my watch and when I did I realized that it was Sept. 28th. Sept. 28th exactly one year ago was the last day of my mission trip and the last day of my mission trip was in SF. Crazy! Immediately, I felt like God had sent us there with the purpose of sealing what he had began through us. WoW! And what's even crazier is that Adam has been wanting a house of prayer in the basement of his house for months now and Sept. 28th was the first official day of the House of Prayer and God had brought us there to inaguarate it with him. We also met his fiance Sarah Jean. She's awesome.
On Monday we drove back to Ventura County and witnessed some of the most breathtaking, glorious sites in the world as we drove down the Pacific Coast Highway.
And now I am typing here on a rocking chair on the porch of Marilyn's backhouse (It's a one bedroom, one bathroom, kitchenette, walk-in closet backhouse). Also, I am going to help Glen with the gardening. They have all the following fruit trees: fig, two orange, peach, pomegranate, plumb, passion fruit, etc. I can't wait to learn about gardening.
Monday, August 25, 2008
We're Here Baby!!!
We are in California! It is official.
We arrived on the night of August 14th and it is now August 25. In these ten days lots of great things have happened.
First of all, we are currently staying in Meire and Kent's house in Anaheim (Meire is my mom's best friend). It has been really fun being with them. They are family to me and now to Brooke also. Their son Rafael is coming from Philadelphia to visit for one week, so that will be awesome.
The first day we were here I called Tim Fish, my former youth pastor, to see if they were going to join in prayer with The Call DC via God TV and it so happened that they were. Also, Tim just so happened to be doing business near Orange County, so he came by and picked us up. We spent the whole weekend with them.
Saturday was The Call, so Brooke, Tim, Bev Fish, and I joined in for the full 12 hours of prayer and fasting. IT was GLORIOUS!!! From 7 am to 7 pm we were completely united in fervent prayer together with The Call. God truly moved.
Furthermore, upon arriving we began hearing about several different prophecies that have been declared over California in the past couple months, by several major prophets. All of the prophecies have been of judgement on the whole state of CA, but especially San Francisco and the Bay Area. IN fact, just before we had arrived in CA 7 CALL solemn assemblies were held all throughout the state crying out for mercy and revival in CA. The moment we crossed the border of CA and drove in we felt that the Heavens were open over this place and this is exaclty where God wants us to be at this time. And now after hearing these prophecies we are even more certain.
We went to Jubilee Church that Sunday and it was totally awesome. The message given by Pastor Steve was so powerful and mature. I was truly blown away. As a youth I hadn't appreciated his sermons so much, but now as an adult I can see why. His sermons are so mature that it takes several years of following Jesus in order to be able to relate to them.
We hung out with several of my old friends from my youth group in CA and had some good time catching up with each other.
I felt like Jubilee could be the church God wanted us to be with even though I wasn't 100% sure, but Brooke didn't feel like this was the church. We felt like many people in Jubilee were our family, but that it wasn't necessarily the church God wanted us to work with for IPO
Which brings me to another point. Brooke and I have been praying and we have decided to change the name of the organization to Global Gospel Movement. We feel like Itinerant Preacher Organization is too boring and sounds to much like an organization. We don't want this to be an organization. We want this to be a Movement and thus the name change. Please give us feed back about what you think.
Moreover, I have been writing like crazy trying to complete this book, but the more I write the more I realize that this is gonna take a lot longer than I thought. I'm pretty much rewriting everything again.
Brooke has been learning a bunch of graphic design stuff, making beats on reason, and helping me with the organization's website. She's loving California.
Also, on Tuesday we went to a church called Expression 58 who's pastor is Shawn Bolz. The name comes from Isaiah 58 (read it) . The church was absolutely AMAZING!!! Brooke said that AMy would love it. The worship was amazing, the preaching was absolutely glorious, the people were super cool, and they had a woman painting during the worship who painted the most beautiful painting I've ever seen in my life right before my very eyes. I am not exaggerating. She even has a website where she sells prints of her paintings. They're amazing. Check them out at: http://www.janethyun.com/
The church is only one year old and it already has more than 200 people. It's supernatural. We were able to talk with Shawn Bolz and another church leader named Jesse. It was great.
Again, we loved the church, but this time both of didn't feel like this was the church for us. However, we are certain that we will be working together with them.
On Thursday night Meire was having a graduation for a 10 month counseling class she took at Saddleback Church and she invited us. We went and it was amazing. The graduation was more awesome and powerful than any college or high school graduation that I've ever been too. Even though this was not a regular service we again felt that this was not the church God wanted us to be at.
Saturday was our Six Month Anniversary, so we celebrated all day long. I took Brooke to Laguna Beach, which is the prettiest beach in Orange County and then we went to an spectacular Art Festival in Laguna Beach. What's really cool is that all the artists are local artists from the Laguna Beach area, but what's not so cool is that everything is so, so expensive.
In the evening, we went to the movies at The Block, the coolest mall in Orange County. But before we watched a movie Brooke had to have her shopping spree at Old Navy and then checked out Forever 21 too.
Then came Sunday (i.e. yesterday). We went to Pasadena to visit Harvest Rock Church. The moment we stepped into the Lobby of the church we immediately felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and we felt an immediate connection. Immediately, we knew that this was our church, our family. Within one minute we were already plugged into a cell group of newlywed couples and met several on fire young people. The church is definitely the most diverse church I've ever seen in my life. The Senior Pastor is Korean, the next pastor is American, the Worship leader is black, the second worship leader is Latina, the back up vocalist is Asian, and the musicians were all white. The church is a fairly even mix of whites, Asians, blacks, and hispanics. The worship was off the chain. We danced like crazy. The guest speaker was Bulgarian and he was totally awesome. If you were new they gave you a free CD of a preaching and they would pray over you and prophesy over you. It was awesome.
Harvest Rock Church is the church that Lou Engle was a pastor at and the church that helped him birth The Call. They were founded in 1994 and now have established 5,000 churches in 35 nations. They are totally on fire. The Pastor Che Ahn just recently began having a tv show on GODTV. The church has at least 1,000 members and has 400 cell groups. It's bumpin' man.
So after the service we prayed and sought God by a brook next to the church and then we went to the night service at 5:30. There we danced even crazier. Brooke and I are really sore today as a result.
So we are overjoyed that God has shown us which church to be a part of and now we are praying for God open the doors to give us a great place to live near the church. And Pasadena is a gorgeous area, so we really need a miracle to move there. Please pray for us concerning this. We know that this is the next big miracle God is going to do in our lives. So we are excited.
Please pray for God to bring around us a team of wise men and women of God to help us establish the Global Gospel Movement.
We love all of you guys very much
Your Friends,
Joshua and Brooke Carvalho
We arrived on the night of August 14th and it is now August 25. In these ten days lots of great things have happened.
First of all, we are currently staying in Meire and Kent's house in Anaheim (Meire is my mom's best friend). It has been really fun being with them. They are family to me and now to Brooke also. Their son Rafael is coming from Philadelphia to visit for one week, so that will be awesome.
The first day we were here I called Tim Fish, my former youth pastor, to see if they were going to join in prayer with The Call DC via God TV and it so happened that they were. Also, Tim just so happened to be doing business near Orange County, so he came by and picked us up. We spent the whole weekend with them.
Saturday was The Call, so Brooke, Tim, Bev Fish, and I joined in for the full 12 hours of prayer and fasting. IT was GLORIOUS!!! From 7 am to 7 pm we were completely united in fervent prayer together with The Call. God truly moved.
Furthermore, upon arriving we began hearing about several different prophecies that have been declared over California in the past couple months, by several major prophets. All of the prophecies have been of judgement on the whole state of CA, but especially San Francisco and the Bay Area. IN fact, just before we had arrived in CA 7 CALL solemn assemblies were held all throughout the state crying out for mercy and revival in CA. The moment we crossed the border of CA and drove in we felt that the Heavens were open over this place and this is exaclty where God wants us to be at this time. And now after hearing these prophecies we are even more certain.
We went to Jubilee Church that Sunday and it was totally awesome. The message given by Pastor Steve was so powerful and mature. I was truly blown away. As a youth I hadn't appreciated his sermons so much, but now as an adult I can see why. His sermons are so mature that it takes several years of following Jesus in order to be able to relate to them.
We hung out with several of my old friends from my youth group in CA and had some good time catching up with each other.
I felt like Jubilee could be the church God wanted us to be with even though I wasn't 100% sure, but Brooke didn't feel like this was the church. We felt like many people in Jubilee were our family, but that it wasn't necessarily the church God wanted us to work with for IPO
Which brings me to another point. Brooke and I have been praying and we have decided to change the name of the organization to Global Gospel Movement. We feel like Itinerant Preacher Organization is too boring and sounds to much like an organization. We don't want this to be an organization. We want this to be a Movement and thus the name change. Please give us feed back about what you think.
Moreover, I have been writing like crazy trying to complete this book, but the more I write the more I realize that this is gonna take a lot longer than I thought. I'm pretty much rewriting everything again.
Brooke has been learning a bunch of graphic design stuff, making beats on reason, and helping me with the organization's website. She's loving California.
Also, on Tuesday we went to a church called Expression 58 who's pastor is Shawn Bolz. The name comes from Isaiah 58 (read it) . The church was absolutely AMAZING!!! Brooke said that AMy would love it. The worship was amazing, the preaching was absolutely glorious, the people were super cool, and they had a woman painting during the worship who painted the most beautiful painting I've ever seen in my life right before my very eyes. I am not exaggerating. She even has a website where she sells prints of her paintings. They're amazing. Check them out at: http://www.janethyun.com/
The church is only one year old and it already has more than 200 people. It's supernatural. We were able to talk with Shawn Bolz and another church leader named Jesse. It was great.
Again, we loved the church, but this time both of didn't feel like this was the church for us. However, we are certain that we will be working together with them.
On Thursday night Meire was having a graduation for a 10 month counseling class she took at Saddleback Church and she invited us. We went and it was amazing. The graduation was more awesome and powerful than any college or high school graduation that I've ever been too. Even though this was not a regular service we again felt that this was not the church God wanted us to be at.
Saturday was our Six Month Anniversary, so we celebrated all day long. I took Brooke to Laguna Beach, which is the prettiest beach in Orange County and then we went to an spectacular Art Festival in Laguna Beach. What's really cool is that all the artists are local artists from the Laguna Beach area, but what's not so cool is that everything is so, so expensive.
In the evening, we went to the movies at The Block, the coolest mall in Orange County. But before we watched a movie Brooke had to have her shopping spree at Old Navy and then checked out Forever 21 too.
Then came Sunday (i.e. yesterday). We went to Pasadena to visit Harvest Rock Church. The moment we stepped into the Lobby of the church we immediately felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and we felt an immediate connection. Immediately, we knew that this was our church, our family. Within one minute we were already plugged into a cell group of newlywed couples and met several on fire young people. The church is definitely the most diverse church I've ever seen in my life. The Senior Pastor is Korean, the next pastor is American, the Worship leader is black, the second worship leader is Latina, the back up vocalist is Asian, and the musicians were all white. The church is a fairly even mix of whites, Asians, blacks, and hispanics. The worship was off the chain. We danced like crazy. The guest speaker was Bulgarian and he was totally awesome. If you were new they gave you a free CD of a preaching and they would pray over you and prophesy over you. It was awesome.
Harvest Rock Church is the church that Lou Engle was a pastor at and the church that helped him birth The Call. They were founded in 1994 and now have established 5,000 churches in 35 nations. They are totally on fire. The Pastor Che Ahn just recently began having a tv show on GODTV. The church has at least 1,000 members and has 400 cell groups. It's bumpin' man.
So after the service we prayed and sought God by a brook next to the church and then we went to the night service at 5:30. There we danced even crazier. Brooke and I are really sore today as a result.
So we are overjoyed that God has shown us which church to be a part of and now we are praying for God open the doors to give us a great place to live near the church. And Pasadena is a gorgeous area, so we really need a miracle to move there. Please pray for us concerning this. We know that this is the next big miracle God is going to do in our lives. So we are excited.
Please pray for God to bring around us a team of wise men and women of God to help us establish the Global Gospel Movement.
We love all of you guys very much
Your Friends,
Joshua and Brooke Carvalho
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
The Rest of Our Road Trip
God is continuing to move powerfully in our lives and continues to faithfully open amazing doors during this road trip.
In Atlanta, God opened more doors than we expected. During a pastor's prayer meeting we went to we were given the opportunity to share the IPO vision with them and they all prayed for us. Two pastors prophesied over us. It was powerful. After the meeting one of the pastor's began talking with us. He told us that he did the same thing in Brazil that we are doing right now. He gave up everything and by faith went to a region of Brazil that had very little churches and began establishing churches over thirty years ago. Now they have missionaries and churches all over the world. He has a PhD and has a online Christian University that he made in order to train their missionaries abroad. He also told us that he has tons of space left in his huge server that he uses for his online university and that he would let us use his server if we ever needed it for our website. That's pretty awesome!
On Friday night we went to a prophetic meeting that Edward led. Edward is the man who prophesied over us in the pastor's meeting. ON this meeting they prophesied over us for about 30 minutes. It was so, so intense. We truly felt that God was commissioning us to establish His kingdom on this earth. We have the whole thing on tape. One thing he said was: "You have the anointing of Joshua...no John the Baptist." Then another woman confirmed it saying: "As soon as you began singing earlier God told me that you had the anointing of John the Baptist. You thought you were hiding, but I saw you as soon as you came in (we sat right behind her, but she never looked behind her once because she was leading worship looking away from the audience). When you stood behind me I saw two huge shadows appear over me and I heard the Lord tell me, 'There are two giants standing behind you.' Because you guys are giants in the Spirit." It was so crazy man.
Then we went to IHOP to eat and when we left there was a group of about twenty-five extremely raggedy teenagers smoking and cussing on the step of IHOP. Brooke felt a huge burden to speak to them, but I was so exhausted because it was already 12:30 a.m. But I told, "If you start it I'll go with you and talk too." So she did. Her and I went up to these twenty or so crazy kids and Brooke began preaching the Gospel to them. Surprisingly, they were extremely attentive and respectful.. We ended up talking to them for two hours. It was amazing. What a woman God has given me! Praise God!
On Sunday Edward took us to a church called North Gate Church. It was absolutely amazing! The worship was off the chain, the preaching was one of the most powerful sermons I have ever heard preached in a church building in my entire life, and they had amazing art everywhere. But what was the craziest part of it all is that the whole left side of the wall was full wheelchairs, crutches, neck braces, medical pills, etc. nailed to the wall. They had belonged to people who had been healed in their church services!!! Isn't that crazy! I was so blown away. I felt like I was in one of those old tent revivals from the healing movement! We connected with the pastor's son at the end (he's the one who preached that day) and we got his card and he got ours. We told him about GGM and he got really excited about it too.
The day before on Saturday we preached in Videira's youth group (the largest Brazilian church in Atlanta: about 800 people.) It was awesome. We preached about our courtship that led up to our marriage. We hung out with everyone afterwards and it made me feel like I was back in Brazil again. It felt like they were all our family.
Then on Sunday night we went to the service and it was one of the most powerful church services I've ever been to. The worship was at least an hour and a half long, people were worshipping like crazy, and during the worship goldust appeared all over our bodies! You heard me. GOLDUST!!! Don't ask me why or how all I know is that God did it. We were worshipping with all our hearts and then a young guy walked up to me and said "look" pointing to my hand. It was sparkling with tons of little gold glitter. I thought to myself, "Maybe I rubbed my hand on some glitter or maybe it's just because my hands are sweaty," but then I looked more and it was all over my body and it was all over Brooke too. Both Brooke and I had it all over our faces, necks, arms, backs, etc. It was crazy! And a bunch of other people had it too. Personally, I believe it was simply a physical sign to us that God is here.
Pastor Napoleon preached as a man absolutely desperate and broken for God. It was amazing. He is truly one of the most humble and genuine pastors I've ever seen. Five people were baptized in water during the service and at the end of the service they prayed for the sick and many people were healed right on the spot. It was extraordinary!
Pastor Napoleon asked us to pray about staying in Atlanta and starting GGM there. He said they would support us financially and he desired to be a spiritual father for us. His love towards us was so amazing. We still feel like California is the place God wants us, but I know that if God tells us to go to Atlanta that Videira is where we will be.
Next, we went off to Hammond, LA and stayed with my friend Dustin who goes to the G12 church there. We had a great time with him and his friends. We were only there for one day, but in that one day God set up a divine appointment. A friend of Dustin called him and invited him to eat lunch with him at a Mexican restaurant. Well, as we talked we found out that this guy is an amazing piano player who plays full time for Rocketown Records (label owned by Michael W. Smith), Tooth and Nail Records (Underoath, Supertones, As Cities Burn, Anberlin, etc.), and BEC Records (Jeremy Camp, Bebo Norman, etc.). We eventually told him that we recorded our first CD in Brazil and he got really excited about it and said, "Well hey man. Whenever the CD comes just mail it to me and I'll personally give it to the president of BEC and Tooth and Nail Records for you." We were blown away. God was just opening huge doors and we weren't even trying.
From there we went to Texas and had a great time visiting all of Brooke's family and friends. We stayed with Brooke's grandma in Livingstone, her best friend Cody in Montgomery, her sister (and now my sister-in-law) Chelsea in Austin, and Aunt B in Waco. We toured the whole state of Texas. We even stayed the night in a friend's house in El Paso.
From there we went to Phoenix, AZ to visit Kelvin. It was awesome. We went on an amazing hike through these gorgeous red rocks, but Brooke vomitted because she had just eaten Jack in th Box before and it was 114 degrees outside. So we went back. We had a great time with Kelvin and keeping up with the Olympics.
Finally we were off to California!!! We arrived at Meire's house around 11 p.m. and they were still watching the women's gymnastics, so we watched it with them.
As we approached the border of California we began interceeding, when we entered CA we gave a big, long shout of conquest and victory, and as we drove through CA we prayed for nearly an hour. It was glorious. This is truly where God wants us to be. We could feel it every day while we're here.
Keep praying for us please for God to guide us and provide for us.
In Atlanta, God opened more doors than we expected. During a pastor's prayer meeting we went to we were given the opportunity to share the IPO vision with them and they all prayed for us. Two pastors prophesied over us. It was powerful. After the meeting one of the pastor's began talking with us. He told us that he did the same thing in Brazil that we are doing right now. He gave up everything and by faith went to a region of Brazil that had very little churches and began establishing churches over thirty years ago. Now they have missionaries and churches all over the world. He has a PhD and has a online Christian University that he made in order to train their missionaries abroad. He also told us that he has tons of space left in his huge server that he uses for his online university and that he would let us use his server if we ever needed it for our website. That's pretty awesome!
On Friday night we went to a prophetic meeting that Edward led. Edward is the man who prophesied over us in the pastor's meeting. ON this meeting they prophesied over us for about 30 minutes. It was so, so intense. We truly felt that God was commissioning us to establish His kingdom on this earth. We have the whole thing on tape. One thing he said was: "You have the anointing of Joshua...no John the Baptist." Then another woman confirmed it saying: "As soon as you began singing earlier God told me that you had the anointing of John the Baptist. You thought you were hiding, but I saw you as soon as you came in (we sat right behind her, but she never looked behind her once because she was leading worship looking away from the audience). When you stood behind me I saw two huge shadows appear over me and I heard the Lord tell me, 'There are two giants standing behind you.' Because you guys are giants in the Spirit." It was so crazy man.
Then we went to IHOP to eat and when we left there was a group of about twenty-five extremely raggedy teenagers smoking and cussing on the step of IHOP. Brooke felt a huge burden to speak to them, but I was so exhausted because it was already 12:30 a.m. But I told, "If you start it I'll go with you and talk too." So she did. Her and I went up to these twenty or so crazy kids and Brooke began preaching the Gospel to them. Surprisingly, they were extremely attentive and respectful.. We ended up talking to them for two hours. It was amazing. What a woman God has given me! Praise God!
On Sunday Edward took us to a church called North Gate Church. It was absolutely amazing! The worship was off the chain, the preaching was one of the most powerful sermons I have ever heard preached in a church building in my entire life, and they had amazing art everywhere. But what was the craziest part of it all is that the whole left side of the wall was full wheelchairs, crutches, neck braces, medical pills, etc. nailed to the wall. They had belonged to people who had been healed in their church services!!! Isn't that crazy! I was so blown away. I felt like I was in one of those old tent revivals from the healing movement! We connected with the pastor's son at the end (he's the one who preached that day) and we got his card and he got ours. We told him about GGM and he got really excited about it too.
The day before on Saturday we preached in Videira's youth group (the largest Brazilian church in Atlanta: about 800 people.) It was awesome. We preached about our courtship that led up to our marriage. We hung out with everyone afterwards and it made me feel like I was back in Brazil again. It felt like they were all our family.
Then on Sunday night we went to the service and it was one of the most powerful church services I've ever been to. The worship was at least an hour and a half long, people were worshipping like crazy, and during the worship goldust appeared all over our bodies! You heard me. GOLDUST!!! Don't ask me why or how all I know is that God did it. We were worshipping with all our hearts and then a young guy walked up to me and said "look" pointing to my hand. It was sparkling with tons of little gold glitter. I thought to myself, "Maybe I rubbed my hand on some glitter or maybe it's just because my hands are sweaty," but then I looked more and it was all over my body and it was all over Brooke too. Both Brooke and I had it all over our faces, necks, arms, backs, etc. It was crazy! And a bunch of other people had it too. Personally, I believe it was simply a physical sign to us that God is here.
Pastor Napoleon preached as a man absolutely desperate and broken for God. It was amazing. He is truly one of the most humble and genuine pastors I've ever seen. Five people were baptized in water during the service and at the end of the service they prayed for the sick and many people were healed right on the spot. It was extraordinary!
Pastor Napoleon asked us to pray about staying in Atlanta and starting GGM there. He said they would support us financially and he desired to be a spiritual father for us. His love towards us was so amazing. We still feel like California is the place God wants us, but I know that if God tells us to go to Atlanta that Videira is where we will be.
Next, we went off to Hammond, LA and stayed with my friend Dustin who goes to the G12 church there. We had a great time with him and his friends. We were only there for one day, but in that one day God set up a divine appointment. A friend of Dustin called him and invited him to eat lunch with him at a Mexican restaurant. Well, as we talked we found out that this guy is an amazing piano player who plays full time for Rocketown Records (label owned by Michael W. Smith), Tooth and Nail Records (Underoath, Supertones, As Cities Burn, Anberlin, etc.), and BEC Records (Jeremy Camp, Bebo Norman, etc.). We eventually told him that we recorded our first CD in Brazil and he got really excited about it and said, "Well hey man. Whenever the CD comes just mail it to me and I'll personally give it to the president of BEC and Tooth and Nail Records for you." We were blown away. God was just opening huge doors and we weren't even trying.
From there we went to Texas and had a great time visiting all of Brooke's family and friends. We stayed with Brooke's grandma in Livingstone, her best friend Cody in Montgomery, her sister (and now my sister-in-law) Chelsea in Austin, and Aunt B in Waco. We toured the whole state of Texas. We even stayed the night in a friend's house in El Paso.
From there we went to Phoenix, AZ to visit Kelvin. It was awesome. We went on an amazing hike through these gorgeous red rocks, but Brooke vomitted because she had just eaten Jack in th Box before and it was 114 degrees outside. So we went back. We had a great time with Kelvin and keeping up with the Olympics.
Finally we were off to California!!! We arrived at Meire's house around 11 p.m. and they were still watching the women's gymnastics, so we watched it with them.
As we approached the border of California we began interceeding, when we entered CA we gave a big, long shout of conquest and victory, and as we drove through CA we prayed for nearly an hour. It was glorious. This is truly where God wants us to be. We could feel it every day while we're here.
Keep praying for us please for God to guide us and provide for us.
Monday, August 4, 2008
We are no longer going to Biola University
We have a huge announcement to make. We are no longer going to Biola University. You guys might be surprised, but we were more surprised than any of you were. We were set on going to Biola and very exited about it. We were attending Biola because it was the most wise and next logical step to take in our lives. We asked God to speak to us about it whether it was His will for us to go or not, but He never really spoke. In Brazil, we sought him long and hard to give us an answer and in the midst of desperation and confusion I thought that I heard God say 'Yes' to going to Biola, but earlier Brooke had felt God saying no. So we were slightly confused, but we acted out in faith believing that God had said 'Yes'. But since the answer to our question was not so clear, before I went on the road trip we said to God that if it was not His will for us to go to Biola and if we had heard wrong that He would speak so many times so clearly to us throughout this road trip that He didn't want us to go then we would not go. But otherwise we were going.
Then when we got to The Cause I felt God asking me if I was willing to surrender Biola into His hands. I said,"God, You're freaking me out. We're going to Biola, but Lord, I surrender it to You." The next day I talked to Chuck Mervin and it was amazing. We talked about many things, but one of the things we talked about was Biola. He asked me why I was going and I told him my reasons. He said may things to us, but one thing he said that stuck out was, "Joshua, you're a racehorse. Going to Biola is like going to a school for plow horses. Why would a racehorse go to a school of plow horses? You'll learn great things, but it won't have much to do with racing."
So that made me think, but I was still completely determined to go to Biola. Then we went to Atlanta and I preached in a Brazilian Assemblies of God church. It was awesome. Pastor Saulo told me how he left Brazil and his career as a professor in one of the best universities of Brazil to come to Atlanta and start a church. Then he began speaking into my life looking me straight in the eyes. He had no idea about our plans to go to Biola, but after hearing him speak to me for over an hour I was absolutely convinced that God did not want me to go to Biola. It felt like God himself was speaking through him into my life. God wanted me to focus all of my efforts to start IPO.
Brooke had been pretty convinced that she was supposed to study graphic design at an art school instead of going to Biola after our talk with Chuck and my talk with Pastor Saulo convinced her even more that that's what we were supposed to do.
So we asked God for a definite confirmation. Pastor Saulo talked to us on Saturday night and on Tuesday morning we went to a pastor's prayer meeting. They gave us the opportunity to talk about our vision for IPO adn afterwards they all gathered around us and prayed for us. It was a humbling and powerful experience to have several veteran pastors praying over us. One man who we had never met began prophesying over us. He said many things, but some of the things were really crazy. He looked at me and said, "God has given you a Joshua anointing and He will use you as a Joshua to lead this generation." What's crazy is he didn't even know my name. Then he began praying over Brooke and saying, "You think that you are only going to work in ministry, but I tell you that God has called you to the arts. And the arts that you do will not just influence the church, it will influence the world." Then a woman pastor began prophesying over us and said, "You don't need any credentials. God is your credentials. Your only credentials will be God."
So that's why we are not going to Biola. Brooke is going to study graphic design, but she is still deciding where she will study. I will focus on establishing IPO and writing my book. Also, we will be focusing on music.
Then when we got to The Cause I felt God asking me if I was willing to surrender Biola into His hands. I said,"God, You're freaking me out. We're going to Biola, but Lord, I surrender it to You." The next day I talked to Chuck Mervin and it was amazing. We talked about many things, but one of the things we talked about was Biola. He asked me why I was going and I told him my reasons. He said may things to us, but one thing he said that stuck out was, "Joshua, you're a racehorse. Going to Biola is like going to a school for plow horses. Why would a racehorse go to a school of plow horses? You'll learn great things, but it won't have much to do with racing."
So that made me think, but I was still completely determined to go to Biola. Then we went to Atlanta and I preached in a Brazilian Assemblies of God church. It was awesome. Pastor Saulo told me how he left Brazil and his career as a professor in one of the best universities of Brazil to come to Atlanta and start a church. Then he began speaking into my life looking me straight in the eyes. He had no idea about our plans to go to Biola, but after hearing him speak to me for over an hour I was absolutely convinced that God did not want me to go to Biola. It felt like God himself was speaking through him into my life. God wanted me to focus all of my efforts to start IPO.
Brooke had been pretty convinced that she was supposed to study graphic design at an art school instead of going to Biola after our talk with Chuck and my talk with Pastor Saulo convinced her even more that that's what we were supposed to do.
So we asked God for a definite confirmation. Pastor Saulo talked to us on Saturday night and on Tuesday morning we went to a pastor's prayer meeting. They gave us the opportunity to talk about our vision for IPO adn afterwards they all gathered around us and prayed for us. It was a humbling and powerful experience to have several veteran pastors praying over us. One man who we had never met began prophesying over us. He said many things, but some of the things were really crazy. He looked at me and said, "God has given you a Joshua anointing and He will use you as a Joshua to lead this generation." What's crazy is he didn't even know my name. Then he began praying over Brooke and saying, "You think that you are only going to work in ministry, but I tell you that God has called you to the arts. And the arts that you do will not just influence the church, it will influence the world." Then a woman pastor began prophesying over us and said, "You don't need any credentials. God is your credentials. Your only credentials will be God."
So that's why we are not going to Biola. Brooke is going to study graphic design, but she is still deciding where she will study. I will focus on establishing IPO and writing my book. Also, we will be focusing on music.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
California Here We Come!
Most of you probably still have not heard, but my wife, Brooke, and I are moving from Miami to California. We are moving for two reasons. Number one, to found the Itinerant Preacher Organization that the Lord has commissioned us to establish through His Holy Spirit. Number Two, to attend Biola University and study Missions. However, a huge shift in our plans has taken place ever since we set out on our road trip to California. We left Miami on July 5th. We went to Lakeland for the Revival for one day. Then we went to Orlando. Next, we went to Charlotte to visit The Cause base and now we are in Atlanta, Georgia. We have now been on this trip for seventeen days and God has completely rocked our world. Through a series of clear prophetic words, wise counsel, and personal revelation God has clearly shown us that we are not supposed to attend Biola University at all (thus, reason number is gone). God desires that we focus only on establishing the
Itinerant Preacher Organization (IPO). We feel that we are in the end times and there is a sense of urgency in the air. God is organizing His troops to strategically move forward in battle against the Kingdoom of darkness and save multitudes of lost souls through the preaching of the Gospel and the demonstration of the Kingdom of God and I honestly believe that IPO is going to play a huge role in this.
For those of you who don't know about the mission trip God sent me on or this organization He has commanded me to establish let me give you a brief summary of it all.
In 2007, I and my friend Alex Diaz went from Miami to San Francisco preaching the Gospel six days a week all day long for six months. We took no money or credit cards with us. We only had backpacks with clothes, our Bibles, and Jesus. We never asked for money, food, or shelter and God was faithful to provide. OUt of six months I only slept four nights on the street and never was there one day where we did not eat three good meals a day. Many souls were saved and God was glorified.
Now God is calling my wife and I to establish IPO. The goal of IPO is to train up an army of itinerant preachers to radically preach the Gospel throughout all the cities and streets of America and, eventually, the nations of the Earth. There will be two networks. A network of churches who the itinerant preachers will work with in order to consolidate the souls that are saved into the local church. Secondly, there will be a network of homes where people will open up their homes to host itinerant preachers in their cities. After a few years there will be such a large network of homes and churches registered that thousands of itinerant preachers will be able to freely and easily travel the nation preaching the Gospel, working with local churches, and staying in peoples homes along the way.
Furthermore, I am currently writing a book about my 6 month mission trip and I pray that it will be a tool to inspire thousands of people, young and old, to preach the Gospel and to be itinerant preachers. Also, Brooke and I just recorded our first CD while we were in Brazil. It was a miracle from God. So we will also be playing music and selling our CD's.
I wanted to explain where we are at right now in God's plan in our lives so that you guys could pray; for you to know where we are at once we actually see you; and for you guys to pray and see if there is any way that God would have you help us to establish this vision.
If you know of churches that we could preach and/or sing at. If you know of ministries or people we should hook up with. If you have a skill or talent that you feel would be relevant in assisting us. If you know of people who would love to be itinerant preachers or if you yourself would love to be an itinerant preacher. Or anything else God brings to your heart.
I am not asking for your help because I need favors or money. I am asking for your assistance because we are the Body of Christ and if we don't work together in unity and cooperation we cannot accomplish anything. I know that Brooke and I are still a young and inexperienced couple and that is why we need older, wiser men and women of God counseling us, teaching us, praying for us, and working with us. We know God's calling on our lives and we will not back down no matter what anyone says.
I love all of you so much and look so forward to seeing all of you again and living with you guys again. Please pray for God to give us guidance as to where we are supposed to live. Originally, we were going to live in La Mirada because we were going to attend Biola, but now all of Southern California is open. We are looking at L.A., Orange, or (maybe) Ventura County only because we know that we are supposed to be in a large metropolitan area.
Please be in prayer for us and this ministry that God wants to birth.
Your Friend and Brother in Christ,
Joshua Carvalho
Itinerant Preacher Organization (IPO). We feel that we are in the end times and there is a sense of urgency in the air. God is organizing His troops to strategically move forward in battle against the Kingdoom of darkness and save multitudes of lost souls through the preaching of the Gospel and the demonstration of the Kingdom of God and I honestly believe that IPO is going to play a huge role in this.
For those of you who don't know about the mission trip God sent me on or this organization He has commanded me to establish let me give you a brief summary of it all.
In 2007, I and my friend Alex Diaz went from Miami to San Francisco preaching the Gospel six days a week all day long for six months. We took no money or credit cards with us. We only had backpacks with clothes, our Bibles, and Jesus. We never asked for money, food, or shelter and God was faithful to provide. OUt of six months I only slept four nights on the street and never was there one day where we did not eat three good meals a day. Many souls were saved and God was glorified.
Now God is calling my wife and I to establish IPO. The goal of IPO is to train up an army of itinerant preachers to radically preach the Gospel throughout all the cities and streets of America and, eventually, the nations of the Earth. There will be two networks. A network of churches who the itinerant preachers will work with in order to consolidate the souls that are saved into the local church. Secondly, there will be a network of homes where people will open up their homes to host itinerant preachers in their cities. After a few years there will be such a large network of homes and churches registered that thousands of itinerant preachers will be able to freely and easily travel the nation preaching the Gospel, working with local churches, and staying in peoples homes along the way.
Furthermore, I am currently writing a book about my 6 month mission trip and I pray that it will be a tool to inspire thousands of people, young and old, to preach the Gospel and to be itinerant preachers. Also, Brooke and I just recorded our first CD while we were in Brazil. It was a miracle from God. So we will also be playing music and selling our CD's.
I wanted to explain where we are at right now in God's plan in our lives so that you guys could pray; for you to know where we are at once we actually see you; and for you guys to pray and see if there is any way that God would have you help us to establish this vision.
If you know of churches that we could preach and/or sing at. If you know of ministries or people we should hook up with. If you have a skill or talent that you feel would be relevant in assisting us. If you know of people who would love to be itinerant preachers or if you yourself would love to be an itinerant preacher. Or anything else God brings to your heart.
I am not asking for your help because I need favors or money. I am asking for your assistance because we are the Body of Christ and if we don't work together in unity and cooperation we cannot accomplish anything. I know that Brooke and I are still a young and inexperienced couple and that is why we need older, wiser men and women of God counseling us, teaching us, praying for us, and working with us. We know God's calling on our lives and we will not back down no matter what anyone says.
I love all of you so much and look so forward to seeing all of you again and living with you guys again. Please pray for God to give us guidance as to where we are supposed to live. Originally, we were going to live in La Mirada because we were going to attend Biola, but now all of Southern California is open. We are looking at L.A., Orange, or (maybe) Ventura County only because we know that we are supposed to be in a large metropolitan area.
Please be in prayer for us and this ministry that God wants to birth.
Your Friend and Brother in Christ,
Joshua Carvalho
Our Road Trip Thus Far
Currently, we are at Nilton's house in Atlanta. I preached in a Brazilian Assembleia de Deus here at their youth service on Saturday night and on Sunday night we preached at Tocha Viva, another Brazilian church. We went to a pastor's prayer meeting this morning and it was awesome. Tomorrow, Brooke is gonna sing at a woman's meeting at a big American church here and on Saturday night we're gonna preach at Videira. Also, we made a friend here named Lindsey who is very involved in the biggest church in Georgia (30 to 40,000 members). She heard our music and loved it. She said that if we ever come to Atlanta again and inform her ahead of time she will for sure have us sing there in the church and sell our CD's there. Furthermore, we met a paraplegic man here named Zen Garcia who knows how to make network website's just like myspace. He's already made three network sites and he said he is able to fully make one in only one week. He told us he would
make ours for
free. He also posted up some interviews with us and the documentary video that our friend Nora made on www.fallenangels.tv and I think that its on Current.tv also. It's been an awesome experience here and also at The Cause.
At The Cause in Fort Mill, SC we had an awesome time seeing several of our friends from The Cause Tour that we went on last year. We saw Alex too. He's doing great. Jason Upton led worship one night for free at Morning Star Church, so we went. It was awesome.
Moreover, I asked Chuck Mervin, the founder of The Cause, if he could give me advice on how to start a Non-profit Organization. So on one of the day's there he sat down with Brooke and I and gave us life-changing counsel about IPO (Itinerant Preacher Organization), our marriage, college, my book, etc. It was glorious! He told me the process I have to go through to start IPO and and he told me that I could call him every day for help if I need to. He gave me several amazing contacts. He gave me the cell phone number of the President of Morning Star Publications, Destiny Image Publications, and one other Christian publishing house I never heard of (both of these publishing companies are some of the biggest Christian publisher in America). He gave me the number of several pastors In L.A., San Diego,and San Francisco for me to hook up with. I called the President of Morning Star Publications and he is helping me now to form my book and he told me that
he would personally ask the President of Destiny Image if he would be interested in publishing my book. Also, a few people have already volunteered their homes and churches to partner with IPO and one girl already said that she wants to be an itinerant preacher. Praise God!
God has been guiding us and directing us each step up the way. It's crazy awesome. He's opening crazy huge doors so quickly and so miraculously and I don't have anything to do with any of it. It is absolutely amazing! I am so, so excited!
God is AMAZING! I love serving such an adventurous glorious God!
Your Friend and Brother in Christ,
Joshua Carvalho
make ours for
free. He also posted up some interviews with us and the documentary video that our friend Nora made on www.fallenangels.tv and I think that its on Current.tv also. It's been an awesome experience here and also at The Cause.
At The Cause in Fort Mill, SC we had an awesome time seeing several of our friends from The Cause Tour that we went on last year. We saw Alex too. He's doing great. Jason Upton led worship one night for free at Morning Star Church, so we went. It was awesome.
Moreover, I asked Chuck Mervin, the founder of The Cause, if he could give me advice on how to start a Non-profit Organization. So on one of the day's there he sat down with Brooke and I and gave us life-changing counsel about IPO (Itinerant Preacher Organization), our marriage, college, my book, etc. It was glorious! He told me the process I have to go through to start IPO and and he told me that I could call him every day for help if I need to. He gave me several amazing contacts. He gave me the cell phone number of the President of Morning Star Publications, Destiny Image Publications, and one other Christian publishing house I never heard of (both of these publishing companies are some of the biggest Christian publisher in America). He gave me the number of several pastors In L.A., San Diego,and San Francisco for me to hook up with. I called the President of Morning Star Publications and he is helping me now to form my book and he told me that
he would personally ask the President of Destiny Image if he would be interested in publishing my book. Also, a few people have already volunteered their homes and churches to partner with IPO and one girl already said that she wants to be an itinerant preacher. Praise God!
God has been guiding us and directing us each step up the way. It's crazy awesome. He's opening crazy huge doors so quickly and so miraculously and I don't have anything to do with any of it. It is absolutely amazing! I am so, so excited!
God is AMAZING! I love serving such an adventurous glorious God!
Your Friend and Brother in Christ,
Joshua Carvalho
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