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.
Friday, November 21, 2008
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.
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