Victorious Inaugural Service! Orlando International Christian Church
Acts 4:33 “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.”
The Lord has awed the Orlando International Christian Church with a series of victories over the last couple weeks. The Lord poured his grace upon our church the Sunday before our inaugural service, with adding to our number once again.
We started the morning with Gigi French, the business owner of “My Last Dime Gourmet,” being baptized into Christ. She is truly an answered prayer! We had prayed that God would give us a friend to study with who was humble and open to the word like the Ethiopian eunich in Acts 8, and God blessed us with Gigi, a native Ethiopian, who was invited to church by Lisa Robillard. As her two boys, husband, and the disciples gathered around the pool, we rejoiced as Gigi had 1 Peter 2:24 read: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds we are healed.” Gigi’s heart of gratitude toward Jesus bearing her sins on the cross inspired us all to continue to testify to the resurrection with great power through the spirit.
Following her baptism, we heard an inspiring message on overcoming as God’s unified movement from Andrew Smellie, the leader of the new DC International Christian Church. Brother Lance Underhill, a native Floridian and member of the City of Angels International Christian Church, drove from Tampa to fellowship with us and share our contribution message. Rob Deckard wept as he shared our communion message. He spoke about formerly leaving God, and how God’s mercy and the love of the disciples of the Orlando ICC had embraced him. He shared about the disciples’ grace and the hope of clinging to the cross. Everyone was crying as he bore his heart of gratitude to Jesus and the Church. After we concluded our worship service, the disciples ate together and went out to spread the gospel.
Following a busy week of sharing our faith and Bible studies with the neighbors, we had the privilege of meeting Friday night with Chris and Theresa Broom, the Evangelist and Women’s Ministry Leader of the Chicago International Christian Church. Chris and Theresa have multiplied a hand full of disciples into a church of nearly 100 in just a little over a year. The Eckels asked the Brooms to disciple them due to their deep passion and humility toward God and their dauntless spirit to evangelize the world as a movement of sold out disciples. The church in Orlando is very grateful for their discipling and kinship in the new movement. Chris spurred us on as he shared Hebrews 3:12-14 and spoke about the daily commitment of the disciples in the movement and holding firmly to God and one another.
On Sunday, June 29th God gave us a triumphant victory for our Inaugural Service at the outdoor amphitheater in East Orlando near the University of Central Florida. Being that we are the first and only church in the Southeast in the new movement thus far, we had disciples who traveled all over the United States to join us. Disciples and many desiring to be restored to Christ gathered from Florida’s panhandle, Gainesville, South Florida, and Ft. Myers; in addition to Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, and Arizona to rejoice in God’s victory. We had the honor to introduce Chris and Theresa Broom, who are doing remarkable things in Chicago, as well as discipling several other churches in the new movement. Following, we introduced Jim and Deana Blowe, who drove over forty hours from Phoenix, to not only be at the Inaugural service, but also to join us in our mission to evangelize Orlando. They were deacons in the Phoenix International Christian Church, and gave up everything to move here with their two children, Eleanor (10) and Michaela (7) to join the mission team in Orlando and strengthen our families and children’s ministries.
Then, Anthony Eckels poured out his heart as he preached a powerful message about rekindling the dream for God in Orlando and beyond. He shared about loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). He shared the sadness he feels that so many of our brothers and sisters have lost their first love, no longer dreaming to do great things in God’s Kingdom, but are making their families and careers their idols. He pleaded with the church to rekindle their first love with God, to rekindle the fellowship of believers, and to rekindle their love for the lost. He read Revelations 2:4-5, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” Anthony shared about returning to New Orleans after hurricane Katrina, seeing the letters “D” and “A” sprayed painted on the doors of the houses, “D” marking that a dead body was found in the house, “A” marking that someone alive was found in that house. He asked us if we saw our neighbors’ salvation as black and white as that. They are either alive in Christ or dead spiritually and heading for hell. He asked, “Does every person on your block know you are a disciple?” We were all inspired to forge ahead as we call all disciples to be sold out and to once again dare to dream about evangelizing this world in our generation!
Following this powerful message, Chris and Theresa lead our hearts in Communion, encouraging us to make Jesus our motivation for everything that we do. Most excitingly, the congregation rejoiced together as Ray Cholod, from Ft. Myers, and Rob Decker, from Gainesville, were restored to Christ and placed membership at the Orlando ICC.
Following the service, we had lunch together with our brothers and sisters and shared the word with our neighbors and friends. It reminded us of Acts 2:42-47 as we enjoyed the favor of all the people and rejoiced as God added to our number that day.
The Lord gave us a victory of having 54 in attendance for our Inaugural Service with only five sold-out members in the Orlando International Christian Church. We are in awe at what a small group of committed disciples can do with God. Our membership of committed disciples has doubled in the last 2 weeks. As we forge ahead in the months to come, pray for the Lord’s grace to be upon us as we continue to testify about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and to God be the glory!
Isaiah 60: 22 Message Bible “The runt will become a great tribe, the weakling become a strong nation. I am God. At the right time I’ll make it happen.”
By Elizabeth Eckels
