From hinves@world.net Sat Oct 19 21:37:48 1996 Received: from world.net (sydney2.world.net [198.142.12.2]) by shellx.best.com (8.6.12/8.6.5) with ESMTP id VAA11521 for ; Sat, 19 Oct 1996 21:37:33 -0700 Received: from hinves (sydney63.world.net [192.190.215.63]) by world.net (8.7.4/8.6.6) with SMTP id OAA25044 for ; Sun, 20 Oct 1996 14:38:58 +1000 (EST) Message-Id: <1.5.4.32.19961020044236.0068ff80@world.net> X-Sender: hinves@world.net X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (32) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Sun, 20 Oct 1996 14:42:36 +1000 To: ariel@best.com From: Martin Hinves Subject: An ICC article Status: RO Subject: A fax from Kip McKean An anonymous poster sent the following letter to me, and asked that I re-post it on this newsgroup. The letter is from Kip McKean, the undisputed leader of the International Churches of Christ, and is directed to all the lead evangelists of the Movement. Here's the text: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ I N T E R N A T I O N A L M I S S I O N S M E M O R A N D U M -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Date: November 8, 1995 To: All Lead Evangelists and All of God's Churches Via Cecil Wooten From: Kip McKean Re: Kingdom Message CC: World Sector Leaders, World Sector Administrators File: 11.17, 11.041, 11.1141 GREETINGS FROM LOS ANGELES! Our God and Father continues to move powerfully all around the world! This past weekend the Los Angeles Church of Christ hosted two Kingdom changing events. GREAT PHYSICIANS SEMINAR First of all, the Great Physicians Seminar, dynamically directed by Bruce Williams, assembled over 350 doctors, nurses and medical support people from all around the world. From Los Angeles alone we had over 100 participants because of our own Great Physicians ministry. At the event, two of Elena's and my dearest friends, Bob & Pat Gempel, World Sector Leaders for H.O.P.E. worldwide, introduced the concept of the GHL - Geographic H.O.P.E. Leader. The Geographic H.O.P.E. Leaders are couples who will be in each of the World Sector Leaders' discipleship groups. They will assist the Gempels in directing the H.O.P.E. projects in their particular World Sectors. The prospective Geographic H.O.P.E. Leaders are as follows: o ACES Bud & Kitty Chiles o British Commonwealth Mohan & Helen Nanjundan o Central & South America Javier & Kelly Amaya o China Dan & Eiexa Liu o Middle East Dr. Moe & Amani Bishara o New England/Europe Wyndham & Jeannie Shaw o Northern Federation Shawn and Lena Wooten o Pacific Rim Mark & Patsy Remijan Since Los Angeles is not part of a specific World Sector and because it is the flagship church of the Kingdom with 10,000 for Sunday attendance, there will be a GHL couple for Los Angeles. The Spirit has selected Dr. Doug and Joanne Webber from Boston as the Geographic H.O.P.E. Leaders for Los Angeles. Doug is an Evangelist and has his M.D. degree from Yale. Joanne is a Women's Ministry Leader and has an MBA from Columbia. The Webbers will move to South Central L.A. in December. At that time, Doug will become the National Directory of H.O.P.E. for Kids, thus making L.A. the flagship ministry for not only the Kingdom but, also, for our American H.O.P.E. efforts. Bud and Kitty Chiles, who have done an outstanding job initiating and directing H.O.P.E. for Kids will become the GHL for ACES. Part of their new responsibility will include corporate fund raising for H.O.P.E for Kids. In addition, Doug will become the new Directory for the Great Physicians Seminar. The next Great Physicians Seminar will be held the first weekend in October of 1996, once again in Los Angeles. The physicians, nurses, and medical support people will begin with a couple of days of Bible study at the Seminar and then spend the next week in the field in South Central working with the poor. The following year, in 1997, Doug will continue to direct the Seminar as we move the site to a third world location, perhaps Manila, Jakarta, or Bombay. Again, the doctors and nurses will join in a two-day Seminar and then work in the field for a week or two using all of our medical support people from around the world in the local H.O.P.E. work. Thus, the Great Physicians Seminar will become H.O.P.E. worldwide's annual conference. GOD WILL DO INCREDIBLE THINGS THROUGH THIS EFFORT! ATTORNEYS FORUM Secondly, the Los Angeles church hosted the Kingdom-changing Attorneys Forum directed by John Bringardner, General Counsel for the International Churches of Christ. Of course, Al & Gloria Baird, World Sector Leaders for Media/Law, were also instrumental in pulling together so many of the attorneys in the United States and nine other countries for this meeting. In the future, the Attorneys Forum will become the Attorneys and Administrators Forum because the administrators for our churches must be on the legal cutting edge to adequately address the challenges that we are facing. The Attorneys and Administrators Forum will be held in Los Angeles mid-October, 1996. The date was selected so the World Sector Administrators could attend after finalizing the 1997 World Financial Plan. Both Seminars were very challenging and inspirational because they gave the attendees a dream to use their talents and their secular training to forcefully advance the Kingdom around the world. KINGDOM VISION & PRAYERS As you well know, next week each church around the world will celebrate a day of prayer and fasting. Also, at that time, we will collect our Special Missions Contribution to advance God's modern-day movement in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and China. Great things are already happening! We now have a church in Baghdad, Iraq, and, come December, we will also have churches in Casabianca, Morocco, as well as Istanbul, Turkey. Prayerfully, in February, we will have disciples in Jerusalem. I am personally very encouraged how God has raised up the Blackwells in multiplying churches through out [sic] the Middle East. Of special consideration, in my opinion, are prayers for Israel. The assassination of Prime Minister Rabin may cause a great deal of turmoil because he has been one of the primary movers with Arrafat in forging peace in the Middle East. I pray that his assassination will not be a determent to the peace process, but an inspiration to other people. World peace cost Rabin his life. Of course, as disciples, we have even a greater cause to live and to die for. Let us continue to pray for world evangelism and, particularly, for peace in the Middle East so that the Kingdom can be forcefully advanced. WORLD MISSION LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE This past year, in August, over 1,500 leaders from around the world gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa for the World Mission Leadership Conference. While at this historic conference, we presented Nelson Mandela with the first annual H.O.P.E. Unity Award. In November 1996, the World Mission Leadership Conference will be held in Jerusalem, Israel. To allow Elena and I to focus on a smaller group, only the World Sector Leaders, World Sector Administrators, Geographic Sector Leaders, and Geographic H.O.P.E. Leaders will attend in 1996. Since God will have a true church in the Holy Land for the first time in hundreds of years, this location will be an inspiration for the Kingdom leaders. Also, the conference will be an awesome encouragement to the newly planted disciples in Jerusalem. SHEPHERDING As you well know, I was deeply convicted by the Word as Al Baird preached in Johannesburg on shepherding. We have worked very hard in Los Angeles to implement several ideas that, prayerfully, are helping shepherd the Los Angeles church. Shepherding couples have been appointed in each one of our Sectors. While remaining evangelistic, the shepherding couples assist the Evangelists in taking care of the weak. We have also implemented two other ideas that you might consider in your congregation. First of all, we have reinstituted offering an invitation at the end of each of the Sunday sermons in all of our sectors. This decision has made an awesome impact on our church, producing more openness and helping the brothers and sisters know what is going on in each others [sic] lives before Satan can get them into real trouble. Not only has this produced openness, but it has heightened the church's sensitivity toward shepherding. Those of us who are doing well in the Lord can meet the needs immediately after the service. Consequently, there is a buzz in the fellowship right after the invitation because the family is meeting needs. In the mid-1980s, in Boston, the reason the Elders and I stopped having the invitation was not because we thought it was too traditional. We stopped it because the church's one service had become so large that too many people came forward for us to adequately handle. Sharing the names and prayer requests became almost meaningless. But now, the smaller Sectors and Regions make the invitation very impactful and meaningful. I think that the invitation is something we need to reinstitute in all the churches because it promises a genuine spirit of openness and shepherding. This coming Sunday we are having what we call "Homecoming Sunday." The disciples know that this is "Prodigal Son Sunday." We are inviting people who have fallen away from God's church in Los Angeles to come back to church this Sunday. Our preachers will preach along the lines of Luke 15, "The Prodigal Son." Prayerfully, we will restore many people to their relationship with God at that time. Also, I have challenged the leaders to see this as a form of personal fruitfulness when they personally contact these people, bring them back to church, study with them to strengthen them and, then, restore them. This has inspired many of our brothers and sisters to reach out to the ones who have left God's Kingdom. GOOD NEWS Another blessing has come to the McKean family through our involvement in tennis. One year ago, the children's tennis coach, Danny Saltz, formerly ranked number 88 in the world, was baptized. Since that time two more tennis pros have been baptized. Since Olivia, Sean, and Eric are ranked tennis players in America, Danny arranged for them to play some of the top players in South Africa when we went to Johannesburg, South Africa for the World Mission Leadership Conference. One young man, number 20 in his division, was invited to church by Danny and the children. He came with his parents to Soweto for the finale of the World Mission Leadership COnference. They immediately started studying the Bible. Mike Taliafierro called me just a few days ago and informed me that the young man and his parents were baptized. His father is a candidate in the national elections. Pray for his victory! Finally, Elena wanted me to encourage everyone to plan their Women's Days now to make sure that they are focused on producing baptisms. She encourages all the Women's Ministry Leaders to make sure that they are making arrangements for awesome speakers and facilities. This will really make these Women's Days our most powerful and effective to date. That's about all from Los Angeles right now. Keep praying for us, as well as the 225 churches in over 75 nations around the world. My prayer for every disciples is to grow closer to God, to each other, and that we all bear much fruit to the glory of God! Your Servant, Kip McKean KM/co ************************************************************************** ******************** Note: this concludes the fax dated Nov. 8 from ICC leader Kip McKean to "All lead evangelists and all of God's churches." Paranoia is useful when they are out to get you..... It keeps you alive longer... The problem with paranoia is that it makes you think you are important enough to worth the trouble to persecute in the first place.