“Without Delay!”

“As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.” (Mark 1:16-20)

Welcome to the City Of Angels International Christian Church Winter Workshop! This workshop has been an incredible weekend full of excellent and convicting preaching! This has been a reviving and refreshing experience that has, in a good way, called the church to action after a restful holiday! 

Just as the Scripture above teaches us, disciples follow Jesus “without delay,” which is still true today! Without delay, we follow Jesus and get about his business, and that is exactly what we are doing! Excitingly, in 2022 our bold Movement Leaders and our father and mother in the faith here in LA, Kip and Elena McKean, have laid out a plan for 17 church plantings! Internationally we are praying for strong mission teams to go out to Sucre (Bolivia), Casablanca (Morocco), Blue Camel #3 (location in the Middle East withheld to protect the missionaries from unnecessary persecution), Kampala (Uganda), Dublin (Ireland), Berlin (Germany), Stockholm (Sweden), Crouching Tiger #3 (location in China withheld to protect the missionaries from unnecessary persecution), Bicol (Philippines), and Cochabamba (Bolivia)! Domestically we are planning 7 OPERATION EAGLE plantings to Portland (Maine), Oklahoma City (Oklahoma), Louisville (Kentucky), Kansas City (Kansas), Baton Rouge, (Louisiana), Auburn (Alabama) and Iowa City (Iowa) to be planted by our very own Caleb and Lizbeth Cohen! 

In June, the Spirit will send Cory and Jee Blackwell from San Diego to New York City to lead the Northeastern USA! Luke and Brandyn Speckman are heading to India to lead the charge there, and Raja and Debs Rajan are heading to Miami for further training under Matt and Helen Sullivan. God is moving in love to strengthen and build up His Kingdom!

Here in LA, the Spirit of God is moving as well, and we are praying about some exciting upcoming transitions! We believe in June, God will be sending Stacy and Lynette Ybarra from the Ventura Region to lead the San Diego ICC;  John and Melissa Lastra will be sent out from the West Region to lead the Ventura Region; Rico and Janelle Jones will be sent out from Southland to lead the South Region; as mentioned above Caleb and Lizbeth Cohen will be sent out from the South Region with a team of 8 other awesome disciples to lead an incredible Mission Team to Iowa; Ashton Hughes and Kara Rose (the future Hughes) will be sent out from the West Region to plant a new Region in Santa Barbara; finally, R.D. Baker will be appointed as the Overseeing Evangelist of the Southwest USA Geographic Sector as part of the Tribe World Sector! Please pray for each of these powerful transitions and two plantings! 

With so much exciting news and forceful advancement before us, we must take “on board” the message of the Bible to follow Jesus and have an impact here in LA “without delay!” Over the past six months, we have learned to follow Jesus in so many ways. Let us take a moment to recap the last six months and then firmly establish our new primary focus. 

Discipling Without Delay

“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

In June of 2021, many of our Regions underwent transitions, and all Regions reviewed their family structure, order, and protocols. In short, we made sure that everyone “joined the tribe!” That time of change was a time to remember that every disciple has the Spirit of God, and therefore we must have a vision for every disciple and work with who God has given us. In a discipling relationship, we must have daily communication and spiritual goals we are fighting to achieve together. We learn to train and equip one another with great Bible studies (like Dodeka and Dokime) to ensure we are ready for the roles that God has called us to fulfill. We all need accountability on our weekly schedules to ensure we can be fruitful and effective, not just busy. We remembered that even leaders need help, so we have asked the shepherds to have a marriage counseling time with leaders at their level. 

As an important improvement, in 2022, we are now also asking shepherds to take personal responsibility for weak disciples and fallaways, including inconsistent givers, along with the ministry leader. This will allow our ministry leaders to focus on baptisms and restorations and create more of a partnership with their shepherds, who are better equipped to keep the “back door” shut. 

Another improvement we would like to implement to continue to build family, is to call every Region to plan a fun camping trip or retreat in June or August of 2022 that will fire every member up and bond everyone together! Discipleship is fun and encouraging! 

Also, a discipling relationship is not just one-on-one. It includes a whole Bible Talk team around us. We want to turn the “trial” (James 1:2-8)  of COVID 19 into a blessing and use this opportunity to strengthen the Bible Talks of our church. Therefore, if a Region cannot meet together for “meetings of the body” (Hebrews 10:24-25) because of a COVID outbreak, we will meet by Bible Talk for worship services for a short while instead of zoom. We will then get back to Regional Services as soon as possible. Only those positive for COVID or who have been exposed to COVID can zoom in if they cannot meet by Bible Talk for worship. Someone in their Bible Talk should bring them communion so we continue to be an in person church. We call these small services Microns! Do not retreat to zoom, but stand firm and grow with Micron! 

Generosity Without Delay

“Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” (1 Timothy 6:18)

With solid convictions about discipling under our belt, as a church we went ahead and raised nearly 1.7 million dollars in Missions and gave our new pledges for 2022! During this time, the leaders at every level of the church ensured that everyone had deep convictions on the spiritual principle of giving. We know many mission teams still depend on financial help, and new mission teams are going out. We are also training an incredible staff of over fifty disciples here in LA who will do amazing things worldwide. As the Bible teaches, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21) Therefore, we have called every disciple to have their heart in the Kingdom and start giving their new pledge now. Also, before the end of January, we want to challenge everyone to get started on their missions goal, even with as little as $100. Let us be generous “without delay!” 

Devotional Life Without Delay

“The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.” (Exodus 15:2)

With discipling and giving in our spiritual toolbox, we set to have the best quiet times of our life over this Christmas holiday and establish great quiet times and family devotionals as a way of life and good habit. Every disciple has decided to take ownership of their spiritual strength and worship. However, none of us can handle all the arrows Satan will throw on our own. Therefore, we must dig down deep and set ourselves up for spiritual strength. We must start our day in a powerful and inspiring way with Scripture and prayer. We have to eat right, exercise, and make sure God’s temple, which is our body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), is a place of health and spirituality. We also want to challenge every disciple to read every SoldOut Press Book that you have not already read, in your quiet times, so you stay in step with what God is teaching His Movement.

Now Introducing The New Primary Focus: 

☆☆☆☆☆ Evangelism Without Delay ☆☆☆☆☆

“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:35-38)

As we come out of the Winter Workshop, I can say that we are stronger than ever in our discipling, generosity, and devotional life. We have hit a point of “diminishing returns,” focusing on these areas. Yes, we must continue to live with our convictions under our belt; however, now we must establish ourselves as a powerful Spirit-led evangelistic church. In other words, all our other convictions are essential, but now is the time to decisively establish a powerful evangelistic lifestyle that will stay with us all year long. As our dear brother RD Baker often says, “we must be a going church for a coming Christ.” That means we must each decide to set an example for the believers in our personal evangelism. We must also individually inspire each person in our ministry to pray and fast to be the workers and make workers for the harvest field as Jesus commands above. We must strive to set up as many new studies in January as we can and open our schedule for hospitality, evangelism, studies, and group sharing times. Every Bible Talk should choose and pray over a geographic “turf” to impact this year; a mall, a main street, a neighborhood to door knock, etc. Part of why campus tends to be more evangelistic is that a campus is a place, and marrieds and singles are a social status. Therefore, every Bible Talk (even marrieds and singles) should have a geographic location that they see as their “campus.” We must use our social media to post great evangelistic photos, videos, and announcements. Each of us should aim to have a powerful Bring Your Neighbor Day on January 30th. Most important of all, each of us must simply have the faith that we can convert or restore a brand new friend into Christ as soon as possible! 

Our evangelistic goal for 2022 is simple: We pray that God dramatically blesses our 103 Bible Talks with growth this year, that God miraculously blesses our 13 regions with growth this year, and that the CAICC surges past 1000 healthy, generous, solid, and evangelistic disciples as soon as possible! It will take everyone giving their whole heart to achieve this goal. With over 1000 disciples here in LA, we will do so much more for the Lord and this lost and hurting world. 

It is not time to be distracted by other things – even good things. It is time to focus on building an incredible evangelistic culture that will please God all year. Yes, there will always be distractions, yet as General Patton once said, “A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” In LA, we make great disciples and leaders, who believe in discipling, devotional life, and generosity, but are not complete unless they are evangelistically powerful and effective. This is our greatest opportunity and area of need. So let us finish the work. 

As a church of disciples of Jesus, let us remember His words that set Christianity in motion. “Come, follow me… and I will send you out to fish for people.” This phrase has always been the definition of discipleship. Let us also recall the responsive hearts of those first disciples who obeyed “without delay.” So let us go now, inspired and full of faith, to see all the amazing miracles God has laid before us as we obey His call. Love you all very much! 

And to God be all the glory! 

Tim Kernan