Category LA Story

LA Story celebrated its fifth birthday in January. I just spent the last hour leafing through all of the past issues. It felt good to relive those five years because God has tremendously blessed them. During that time, I wrote about 50 editorials covering many subjects. As I re-scanned them, I was surprised to realize that I had not written a single one of them about persecution. Why not? Because we have faced very little overt persecution in the United States during the past five years. In one sense, persecution is relative – what may be called persecution in one part of  he world might be considered as nothing in another. Today, brothers are beaten and imprisoned for their faith in several different countries around the globe. But not in the USA. Never let us take for granted the protection that our basic right of religious freedom gives us. People insulting us and “falsely saying all kinds of evil” against us is about as bad as it gets. While I am thankful that our persecution is minor, we had better be careful that we do not try to avoid it. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:12, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Someone has asked the question, “If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

The last month has been a third-world whirlwind. I am sitting in the crowded airport in Johannesburg, South Africa waiting to board a plane for home. A few hours ago I was walking down the main street of Harare, Zimbabwe listening to Christmas music coming from the many stores. There was even a Santa Claus with a tattered red outfit and a lopsided white cotton beard. Just  three weeks before, Gloria and I were among the sick, the poor and the wounded in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Dreams come in many forms in the third world. Right now I am dreaming of getting home to Gloria, since these last nine days are our longest time apart in 37 years of marriage. I am dreaming of having our kids and grandkids home for Christmas. While very important to me, this is insignificant compared to the desperate dreams of so many in Cambodia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Unemployment is rampant – over 40% in Harare. Real starvation faces 25% of Zimbabwe’s population. The AIDS epidemic is exploding in all three nations. Cambodia is the hardest hit in all of Asia. Thirty-two percent of Zimbabwe is HIV-positive. South Africa may lose a million people to the epidemic. I dream of a family reunited. Millions dream of a job, a full stomach and living to see another Christmas

LA Story Volume 5 Index

The men of the Los Angeles International Church of Christ were increasingly filled “with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction” in the month of September. It began with the decision to host Men’s Forums in each of the 10 Regions of the church on the weekend of October 2-4. Inspired by our women hosting their Women’s Days and by the tremendously successful Men’s Day recently held in Mexico City, we decided to mobilize our men. Earlier this year, under the leadership of World Sector Leader Peter Garcia-Bengochea, the 1,037 men of the Mexico City Church had an attendance of 5,000 at a hard-hitting spiritually-oriented men’s event. Following their lead, we designed our Men’s Forum to be much more than an evangelistic service. We wanted it to be both a revival for our men and an opportunity to share our faith with our friends.

The LA miracle is almost nine years old and is growing stronger. From July of 1989, a small group of 56 disciples has multiplied to 7,155 members today – a 100-times growth! Gloria and I knew most of the original team members, since many of them came from Boston and included our daughter Keri. They were great people, but there was not a single miracle-worker among
them. So how did they do what they did, become the first church in the history of the International Churches of Christ to grow beyond 4,000 members, and 5,000, 6,000, 7,000 and beyond? Like the author of Psalm 34, King David, we can only boast in the Lord. Sure, having Kip and Elena McKean lead the LA Church since 1990 has helped; but the success of the church is not because of one powerful couple. It is all God. The above verses describe well what has happened. This issue of LA Story, entitled “LA Confidential,” is about the Los Angeles International Church of Christ. Yes, we are doing some boasting, but it is boasting in the Lord. All of the glory and honor go to him.

“. . . on his way he [Philip] met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians . . . reading the book of Isaiah the prophet . . . Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?’ And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.”
Acts 8:27-39

This Ethiopian man, whose name we do not even know, went off alone as a baby Christian to evangelize the “Dark Continent.” He must have been successful, because church historians tell of strong churches existing there in the second century. How could one inexperienced person accomplish this? He didn’t. God did. When will we ever learn that all God needs to accomplish the goal of making disciples of all nations is a few sold-out vessels of flesh through whom he can work?

In 1986, a multi-racial group of 16 brave disciples once again ventured into Africa to claim it for God, starting in South Africa, the land of apartheid. Now less than 12 years later, over 9,300 disciples meet in 37 nations on the continent. Amazing growth? Yes, but it was God. God’s miracles in Africa are inspiring and challenging disciples everywhere.

Freedom fighters capture our attention and spark our imagination. Braveheart, the theme for this issue of LA Story, was the title of an Academy-Award-winning movie about a 13th century Scottish rebel warrior who fought to overthrow a tyrant English king. Jesus Christ is the ultimate freedom fighter. He issued his declaration of independence at the beginning of his ministry in Luke 4. Freedom fighters come and go, but Jesus, through his Holy Spirit, has been leading the fight for freedom against Satan for 2,000 years. Through the centuries many have fought
valiantly and died under the spiritual banner of Lord Jesus. We, his modern-day disciples, have also answered his call to battle (Matthew 28:18-20). Because the present chapter of this fight is only a few years old, starting in Boston in June 1979, our honor role of men and women who have died in battle as heroes is still small. Today, I want to add a name to that distinctive list, the name of Bob Ricker. 

Bob Ricker was a bravehearted, freedom fighter from the day I first met him in Boston in the early part of the 1980’s. He was a college student with a single-minded purpose: make disciples. He really believed that the whole world could be evangelized in just one generation. He wanted to do his part and he did. For instance, Bob met a young nurse, Carol Best, and invited her to church. She came and brought her boy friend, John McGuirk. Both Carol and John became disciples, married, and became missionaries in Paris and Brussels. John converted his sister, Sue. Sue married Steve Shoff, and they went into the full-time ministry. At UCLA, Sue met and converted Candice Figueras. Candice now leads the women of the church in Istanbul, Turkey.

I have a T-shirt that I like to wear; it is a T-shirt for disciples. On the back are these words: “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much room!” Jesus lived his 33 years as far out on the edge as it is possible to get. And he calls each of us to follow him out there. “Normal” people do not want to get close to the edge. It is not safe there, and it certainly is not comfortable. But “normal” people don’t change things. They stay in the middle of the crowd, and they get pushed in whatever direction the crowd happens to be moving. They don’t have much impact on the world. Jesus had impact wherever he went, and his disciples do, too. That is what happens out on the edge. Jesus always has an incredible effect on the crowd when it stops long enough to listen to him. In Mark 4:1, Jesus drew the people to the edge of the water to hear him and be changed by him.

Aren’t you thankful to be out of the crowd and out on the edge? Aren’t you thankful to be in the Kingdom of God? Aren’t you glad that you are not “normal” by the world’s standards any
more? A few weeks ago Gloria and I, together with Bob and Pat Gempel, leaders of HOPE worldwide, were in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We were there to celebrate the first anniversary of the King
Sihanouk HOPE Hospital and to preach to the incredible Phnom Penh Church of Christ. It probably had the most personal impact of any trip we have ever taken. Cambodia is a beautiful country with beautiful people. But every citizen there has lived through unfathomable suffering. Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge army tortured, starved and killed nearly three million people, one third of the population, in the late 1970s.

The world spotlight has shined on the lives of women – two in particular – with the tragic, untimely death of Princess Diana and a short time later, the passing of Mother Teresa. The obvious impact these women had on the world was poignantly displayed as huge crowds came with flowers, notes and tears to express their grief and admiration. Each in her own way, they exemplified what one woman can do for the poor and hurting people in the world.

We all need role models – heroes to call us higher. This issue of LA Story gives many real-life examples of courageous women in God’s Kingdom whose lives will inspire you to use the talents, situations and circumstances of your life to fulfill God’s purpose. What one woman with God can do is evidenced in the individual accounts and comments from sisters around the world. For me personally, the women World Sector Leaders have long been some of the most influential in shaping my life and ministry. In the first few years of the Movement, God used Elena Garcia-McKean and Pat Gempel as a powerful team to train these women and to lay the foundation for an ever-growing women’s ministry. Elena’s leadership of the women in the Kingdom is characterized by her strong compassion and depth of conviction for the women to be their best for God. God has used Pat’s “make it happen” mindset and her heart for people to help the poor and care for the sick and orphans through HOPE worldwide. I am inspired by Lynne Green learning Cantonese and giving her heart so completely to the women of China. I am encouraged to overcome as I see Donna Lamb and Erica Kim rising above health problems and hardships. Space limits my mentioning each of these special women, but read their comments in this issue and be called higher. No matter the occupation or role – one woman makes a difference! 

Even before Gloria and I became disciples, we had a dream for our three daughters Staci, Kristi and Keri. In the different churches where we had been members, about half of the teens fell away who had parents that were members. So many of the parents lived in fear that their kids would not remain faithful. It seemed they breathed a sigh of relief if they could just get them into a religious college somewhere, feeling that was about as good as they could hope for. Many of the teens were bored, uninspired and unchallenged by their teen groups and by the churches in general. That was not the dream we had for our girls. We wanted more for our children than just barely getting by. We wanted them to use our faith as a starting point and to grow from there.