“These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house.”  (Acts 17:6-7)

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.  I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”  (Acts 9:16-17)

When Paul visited Thessalonica an upheaval was aroused by jealous Jews who formed a mob and started a riot in that city.  Paul and his companions were known for starting churches and helping people all over the world become Christians.  Clearly Paul is a hero in the faith but he did not receive a hero’s welcome in that city at that time.

We are delighted to welcome Kip and Elena McKean to Chicago on May 31st to teach and inspire our church as Paul would.  This couple is dear to us and we consider them to be heroes in the faith.

The Lord chooses his leaders and appoints their tasks.  God chose Moses to lead his people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.  He chose Joshua to lead after Moses.  He chose David from the sheep pen to lead his people Israel.  In the New Testament he chose Peter as the leader of the Twelve.  He later chose Paul for the purpose of testifying to the gospel of grace.  In our lifetime God has clearly chosen Kip and Elena to lead a Christian revival.  They have been chosen to lead a movement or network of churches whose collaborative efforts will do nothing less than fulfill the task of world evangelism.

The Central Leadership of the SoldOut Discipling Movement

We have been a part of this fellowship of churches for 48 years collectively!  We owe our marriage, family and our very souls to the discipling ministries that we’ve been a part of by God’s grace.

Theresa:  In 1980, God answered my prayer to “send me to the college of His choice”.  Within a week I received an acceptance letter to Boston University with a full academic scholarship.  I met Sue (Lee) Anderson on my second day of college and have never stopped coming to church since.  When I attended the Boston church in 1980 the “movement” consisted of one church in one city.  By 1983 I moved to NYC with Steve and Lisa Johnson to be a part of the 18 member team that God would use to evangelize that city and beyond.  In 1987, I was part of an historic Boston World Missions Conference where three mission teams were sent out: Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Hong Kong.

Kip & Elena and Alya & Fred Muratov in front of the Kremlin!

Chris:  In 1990 Tom Hughes reached out to me on a “Path” train on my way to New York City where I worked as an actor.  Within a week I was baptized into the NYC Daytime Performing Arts Ministry and one year later I began serving in the full-time ministry.  In 1991 my roommate went on the mission team that Kip and Elena courageously led to Moscow.  During the first year of that work they saw 850 baptized into Christ and three other mission teams sent out to other Russian cities.  A few years later, I was able to stand in a crowd of over 100,000 people as Kip addressed a crowd in Manila, Philippines during a HOPE rally.  (HOPE is an acronym for Helping Other People Everywhere and was the benevolent arm of our fellowship of churches at that time.)  For ten years Kip provided leadership for all HOPE activities as President of the Board.  We will never forget being able to go to Johannesburg, South Africa for a Leadership Conference after our first year of marriage.  We can still remember the electric keynote lesson:  “The Ten Commandments of Preaching.”  During this conference Kip personally went to the South African “White House” with Bob and Pat Gempel to present President Mandela with an award.  Truly, kings were being preached to!  In 1999, we stood in the Los Angeles Rose Bowl where 17,000 met to worship God.

The London disciples with Kip and Elena!

The one church in Boston became 392 churches in 171 countries within 25 years!  This is only a shadow of our history.  The chronicle of these historic, unprecedented Christian events testify to the deliberateness of God and His design in choosing capable and skillful men to lead his people.  This principal is consistent in both old and new testament Scriptures.  (Exodus 18:21, Psalm 78:72, Ephesians 4:11-13, Philippians 3:3-6)  Kip’s skill in training men, organization, preaching, vision and faith are obvious gifts from God; however, what impresses us even more about Kip and Elena is how they strive for purity of heart.  David prayed, “I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.”  (1 Chronicles 29:17)  Kip and Elena have set an example of confessing sin to one another and praying together everyday since we‘ve known them.  Elena’s presence has always exuded a power and confidence because of her purity of heart and quiet and gentle spirit.  Kip’s sermons like “Purity Supreme” and “The Humble Shall be Exhausted” along with stories of him having breakfast with God (setting out two bowls of cereal instead of just one) and prayer walks begging God for humility are all lessons and examples of great faith which God has been able to use to breathe life into lost and hurting souls all over the world.

The leadership and direction of God’s people is not predicated on personality but rather on God’s own sovereign will.  God’s purpose and activity must be carried out by faithful – not perfect men.  We do not believe once a leader always a leader or once saved always saved.  We would be naïve and foolish to think that just because many of us began a journey together that we will end up together “happily ever after.”  God has always sifted and tested his people to separate the humble from the self-reliant and the faithful from the unbelieving.  (Deut 8:2, Numbers 14, Hebrews 3:12, Jude 5)  Great losses occurred under the leaderships of Moses (I Corinthians 10:5), Gideon (Judges 7), Jesus (John 6:66), Peter and the apostles (Mt 24: 12, II Peter 2) and Paul (Acts 20:24).  Ultimately, God only needs a faithful few to fulfill His dream of making disciples of all nations.

Let us pray to walk humbly before our God (Micah 6:8) and remember that repentance is not only the first word of the gospel (Mark 1:15, Acts 2:38) and necessary to enter His eternal kingdom – it is also God’s will for us all until we reach His glorious throne.

Join us as we welcome Kip and Elena.  They are truly heroes in the faith and treasures in God’s kingdom.  As a result of their visit our faith will be stronger and many more souls will be won.

Chris & Theresa Broom

Categories: Announcements
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