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!
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