The year ended with a grand entrance to the next level of destiny, for Pastor Ray - now Bishop-elect Johnson. On August 4, 2006 Bishop-elect Johnson was formally consecrated into his office, during this year's annual Kingdom Conference, convening at the UKB World Headquarters church - Open Arms Cathedral - in Toledo, Ohio.
God then began to lay the ground work for the launch of Destiny Fellowship - China, by introducing him to Peter Leon, whom he would succeed in Ministry in Nanchang.
Peter had worked in China for JMC for three years, and during that time established a fellowship in his home. In time he made the acquaintance of Brother Immanuel and Sister Sara, who were instrumental in helping him to grow the Ministry in Nanchang.
During the 2005 Christmas Holiday, Bishop-elect Johnson and a small delegation met Peter and Terese Leon for dinner in Michigan, where Peter gave him information on how to contact Brother Immanuel.
After he returned to China from his Christmas vacation, he made an appointment to meet Immanuel and Sara. To his surprise, Bishop-elect Johnson was told that nanchang had already been systematically divided into 27 Ministry Zones --- corresponding to the 27 colleges and universities in the city -- and that there were pastors serving in 16 of those Ministry Zones.
Destiny Fellowship started on a chilly Saturday night with eleven Saints from Nanchang and even Shanghai. In the first four months, Destiny:
- Was blessed to grow to a membership of more than fifty members;
- Merged with the Chinese-language church formerly pastored by Brother Peter, and gave the Church the name "City Conquest"
- Launched the web site for Destiny China and City Conquest, borrowing the URL formerly belonging to Abyssinian Church of the Living Word: http://acolw.org;
- Launched a second web site - still under construction - at the URL http://destinychina.org;
- Began laying the groundwork for "Nanchang Language Institute" - a Ministry Center for training Chinese-speakers to improve their English, and English-speakers to improve their Chinese;
- Baptized eleven new Saints in Jesus' Name in the bathtub in Bishop-elect Johnson's apartment;
- Held a massive pre-Easter rally and service for students from the 27 colleges located in Nanchang;
- Published its own songbook, entitled Songs of Destiny: Volume I. The first printing had 50 English-language songs and an MP3 playlist. It was not very long out, before its size doubled with the addition of another 50 Chinese-language songs;
- Established Nanchang Ministers' Institute for the training of men and women for Ministry throughout all of China;
- Launched a third web site - still under construction - at http://ncministers.org;
- Anointed twenty NMI students, on May 6: the Inaugural Day of the Institute.
Our Ministry theme in 2006 was "Turning China Upside Down for Jesus Christ," based on the segment of Acts 17:6 which says, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too ... !"
Who can say how far God will take the Ministry in Nanchang? It is our goal to reach a thousand new souls within the next two years for each fellowship -- Chinese and English. Beyond that both Pastors have agreed that our goal is to infect China like a virus with the good news of the Gospel. Bishop Johnson sees the day when the world will look and marvel at how powerful the Church in China has become. We are standing with him in prayer for that day.
The day after NMI was launched; Pastor Ray and Pastor Immanuel were walking along together, when the Spirit of the Lord simultaneously dropped the word "HARVEST!" into their spirits. God made it clear that 2007 would be a year that would see a great harvest of souls come to Christ in China. He also put a great burden in the heart of Bishop Johnson to " ... Pray ... the Lord of the harvest, that he ... send forth labourers into his harvest." Matthew 9:37-38 And so we began to assemble the architecture for the Macedonia Movement Campaign.
We ask you to prayerfully consider your role in helping us to Prepare for the Ingathering that God has promised us in 2007.
That day before it was all over the two pastors found themselves reflecting on the fact that
Destiny China already had members from India, Africa, China, and America, making it a truly international Ministry. Pastor Immanuel believed that God had a better name for the "City Conquest" Chinese fellowship; and indeed He did. Before their walk was over - the Lord had settled on the new name:
HARVEST CHINA INTERNATIONAL CHURCH!!!
We are blessing God in advance for the prophetic outcome embodied in this wonderful new name!
And we solicit your prayers that God will give us the workers we will need to get our house ready for the Ingathering in 2007.
Prayerfully and Respectfully Submitted
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY of
THE CHURCHES OF THE LIVING WORD
U. S. A.
© 1993, 1999 - 2007
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