Reflecting on the last four years of God’s modern day movement has been remarkable! It is truly exciting to see how God used the Portland disciples to plant a seed of hope and fire for God in so many of us! Inspired by Kip and Elena McKean’s leadership and the discipling of Chris and Theresa Broom, we were inspired to return to Orlando, Florida in 2008 to restore the dream to evangelize Florida and to gather the remnant of sold out disciples who believe that Jesus is calling us to evangelize all nations! (Matthew 28:18-20) Being motivated by God’s grace cannot and should not be without affect! The cross of Jesus deserves our best effort! Orlando ICC has restored first century Christianity by implementing simple Biblical principles: daily Bible studies and daily prayer (Acts 2:42-47) , daily one another relationships and discipling (Hebrews 10:23-25), daily sharing of the good news (which is not a burden but a privilege! – Philemon 6), and unity among believers everywhere in every church! (1 Corinthians 4:15-17) Through these Biblical principles, we have been able to restore many disciples’ first love to Jesus, strengthen marriages, provide direction for parenting, and inspire our youth, teens and campus students!
Orlando International Christian Church recently held it’s Winter Workshop where we recalled all that God has done during 2010 and set new prayer goals for 2011. Some of the victories of 2010 included the doubling of our congregation
through baptisms and restorations since August of 2010, hiring 2 campus interns: Paula Harpole and Chris Jones of Phoenix, AZ, and the hiring of Elizabeth Eckels on staff as our Women’s Ministry Leader! Women’s Ministry is being restored and women are dreaming of full time ministry once again! The financial sacrifices of the church resulted in growth of our UCF Ministry from 1 disciple to 12! We started our Valencia East and West Ministries in August, watching them grow from 1 to 6 disciples! Our Kingdom Kids Ministry has become one of our most fruitful ministries, drawing families to Christ! God doubled our Single Professionals Ministry, showing that true success is being a disciple! The families in the congregation built great memories this past year through Friday night family devotionals with our children! The church and community were greatly impacted by serving the homeless and the local children’s home through MERCY Worldwide, the benevolent arm of our church. After praying for a band for the church, Agape, our awesome church band was formed, spearheading our Arts, Media & Sports Ministry! During 2010, we also started our first Westside Bible Talk, which God willing will become a region in May, 2011!
We are encouraged and excited to see all that God has in store for us this year and have the following goals:
1. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the Good News that Jesus is the Christ. Acts 5:42
As in the first century church, growth was a characteristic that God’s spirit was working among them. OICC has a numeric goal to grow to 60 sold-out disciples by the end of the year with an average attendance of 125 on Sundays. With this in mind, the church is prayerfully looking for an accessible location where we can also expand our Kingdom Kids ministry.
2. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8
In order to continue spreading the gospel throughout Orlando, Lord willing we will be planting the West Orlando Region on May 15, 2011.
3. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. Acts 19:9b
As our campus ministries at UCF and Valencia continue to grow, we plan to strengthen them with two more campus interns. One of our goals this year was to convert male Bible Talk leaders for Valencia East and West. God has already answered our prayer with our two new brothers in Christ, Donovan and Devon.
4. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own body. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church-for we are members of his body. Ephesians 5:28-30
To strengthen the marriages in God’s church, we are spearheading a marriage enrichment class and discipleship group that will meet the 2nd Thursday of every month.
5. Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech and life in love and faith and in purity. 1Timothy 4:12
We will be launching our pre-teen and teen ministry this spring. Not only will we be training them in the Word on Sundays, we will also have activities scheduled with their parents, including camping and sports! Our campus disciples are fired up about our big brother/big sister program, giving these kids a vision of what they have to look forward to as disciples. We will also continue our Friday family devotionals that we have been doing once a month for all the children with their parents!
6. He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. Isaiah 40:11
In order to strengthen our young and weaker disciples, our goal is to appoint our first shepherding couple and first deacon this year. We will continue to focus on strengthening our new Christians through follow-up studies and new Christian lunches.
7. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Acts 2:45
OICC will be collecting fifteen times our regular contribution on April 17, 2011 to support the spread of the gospel in Orlando as well as to help God’s worldwide movement, including the Santiago, Chile church hire their first campus intern.
8. Let them praise His name with dancing and make music to him with tambourines and the harp. Psalm 149:3
As our music ministry continues to grow, our goal is to raise up Arts, Media, Sports ministry leaders. Our goal with this ministry is to reach out to the artists, musicians and athletes of Orlando. God desires for us to use our talents to the full for His glory.
9. ‘Everything is permissible for me’ – but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible for me’ – but I will not be mastered by anything. 1Corinthians 6:12
God’s desire for us is to worship Him wholeheartedly. In order for many to do this they must learn how to not be mastered by addiction. This specialized ministry will meet the needs of many from drug and alcohol backgrounds.
10. She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. Proverbs 31:20
During 2011 we will continue serving those in need quarterly through MERCY Worldwide. In Orlando our hearts were especially moved when we visited and reached out to the children at a local behavioral center. We plan on serving them on a continual basis throughout this year.
To God Be the Glory!
Anthony and Elizabeth Eckels
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