USC Paper Targets ICOC

The Daily Trojan covered a cult-awareness event on campus during parents weekend at USC. The next day the story made it on the front page entitled "Professor warns that cults may target students.” The writer discusses 2 groups that students should be particularly wary of: the LaRouche Movement and the LA Church of Christ. The article goes on to describe crude cult tactics and implies that the LA Church group at USC employs them.



The group of 6 disciples at USC decided to respond. We contacted the Dean of Religious Life and teamed up to discuss how best to answer the Daily Trojan's erroneous claims. Not only did the Office respond with their own Letter to the Editor defending the integrity of our group but Dean Rabbi Susan Laemmle and I met with the paper's Editor in person. It was a great relief to find the Editor humble and apologetic for the article's sloppiness and potential slander. She also promised to write a clarification on the article and a personal apology to the church.

While I believe some level of criticism and persecution will always accompany the actions of God's people (2 Timothy 3:12), I also think Paul had it right when he voiced & exercised his right as a Roman citizen so that he could continue to spread the gospel w/ less opposition. Acts 22:25-29.

I read the following scripture to the editor as I shared with her our goal as disciples of Christ to do everything in our power to honor God's name on the earth and share the truth of His son with all the world: "For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men." 2 Corinthians 8:21

Read the article & clarification by pasting the url below into your browser:
http://media.www.dailytrojan.com/media/storage/paper679/news/2007/10/12/News/Professor.Warns.That.Cults.May.Target.Students-3029528.shtml

Read the Office of Religious Life's response by pasting the url below into your browser:
http://media.www.dailytrojan.com/media/storage/paper679/news/2007/10/18/Opinion/Letters-3039898.shtml

400 Thirsty Souls Quenched at Campus Retreat

Fires scorched the southland and threatened to cancel our all-LA Campus Fall Retreat titled "THIRST." Not only did the fires clear out of Del Mar San Diego where we were destined, prayers for rain ascended to the Heavens during the week and the Lord responded and sent rain streaming down on Saturday after our first session of the retreat.



Boston's Kevin & Melissa Miller were outstanding!! God used them as mouthpieces to move hearts to make momumental spiritual decisions including several that responded to Sunday's message with the desire for baptism. LA's Brian Craig led our hearts and minds in musical worship, putting new songs in our souls. DJ John Reid was his usual fantastic at the Costume Party Saturday night. Matt Stone single-handedly worked our audio-visual needs to perfection.

We have 275 campus disciples in LA. Along with the 15 from San Diego there were close to 400 in attendance at the retreat! We had to rent another room in the hotel because we couldn't fit in the room we were given. Also, a young man from Cal Poly Pomona was baptized on Saturday. We praise God for multiplying our number and giving us great hope for the fall harvest.

The prophet Isaiah says that, like the rain, God's word comes down to the earth and never returns to him empty. We have witnessed this truth in effect as the rain & God's word both descended on Thirsty Soul's this past weekend and quenched our every spiritual desire.

and Troy rejoiced!

marie was baptized the 2nd week of the semester at USC. she is a theater major and is an incredibly talented actress & singer. her roomate invited her to church and, after a time of testing, decided she was ready to seal the deal. just 2 weeks after her baptism she saw her long time friend and fellow trojan Adam converted to Christ. it is obvious that God has special plans for His new daughter.

stealing 1 from satan

alex is an athelete, an actor, a producer, a mime, a writer, a juggler, a comedian...and the list goes on. marcel and i were lifting in the USC gym and looked to see who was the biggest guy in there; and we saw alex. we ended up next to eachother & after introductions, i asked if he read the bible much to which he responded "not as much as I'd like." I said "let's read it together tomorrow at 11." He said yes and we met on campus the next day. 14 days later he decided he was ready to go from film major to Jesus major. he would've done so much for the 'industry' but now he'll be using his many talents to serve the King & His Kingdom!

spiritual twins: a tri-ministry victory

adrian & adam were baptized SEP19 in the Pacific. adrian came to church in the teen ministry after alex had been reaching out to him for 4 yrs. adam knew marie when he was at USC and he had witnessed her baptism on SEP2 at the same location. adrian is starting college at PCC and adam will be in the singles ministry.

kiev 2 california

9 students and i went on a life-changing missionary journey to kiev, ukraine this past summer. we stayed w/ disciples in our sister church there of over 2000 members. we preached, shared, fellowshiped, explored, and spent time everyday at a local orphanage serving. while at our first church service on a sunday, an older, refined brother brought me to the back of the church to meet his nephew narek. i expected another ukrainian local, but after he started speaking w/ perfect english i had to ask where he was from. turns out he's from glendale, california and had worked only a few blocks away from where we go to church. a few weeks later we met up in glendale for church. j.r. and kevin studied with him and after 2 months in the word he decided to make Jesus his Lord. He was baptized OCT 7 at the service in Anaheim in front of 7000 people.

hundreds drawn to campus sportsday

for the 3rd year in a row, Cal Poly played host to the all-l.a. campus sportsday. joel landi preached and left us with a great analagy about the nature of a pendulum and its relation to our faith. included in the fun: tug-o-war, eating contest, obstacle course, volleyball, basketball, dancing, and El Pollo Loco! we gathered around the pool for 2 great baptisms as well!

Campus Mission Trip to Kiev, Ukraine