“By faith Abel was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks even though he is dead.” Hebrews 11:4

Dear and beloved friends of the City of Angels Church, our brother and sister in Christ, Big Lou & Lani Martinez!

On Saturday July 12, 2008 was the Celebration-Memorial for the inspirational life of “Big Lou” Martinez! Over 400 family, friends and fellow disciples – from the Los Angeles International Church of Christ and the City of Angels International Christian Church – crammed into a sanctuary with seating for 300! Here we celebrated Big Lou, because he had done something no one in the entire room had done: our dear brother had made it gloriously to the other side!

Big Lou had several favorite expressions. One of them was, “Se acabó todo,” which – to use Big Lou’s phraseology – meant, “That’s all she wrote” or “That’s it!” In English this translates, “It is finished.” In one sense, he had persevered and had “finished the race” of the Christian life. Yet, like Abel, his blood “still speaks.” Big Lou was born in Kingman, Arizona on January 14, 1938. In this small town, he was raised by immigrant parents from Mexico. After high school, he enlisted in the Army and, in time, was stationed in San Francisco – destined to meet a beautiful, Polynesian woman soldier, Leilani Matautia. She was on leave in San Francisco from her base on the East Coast during the Thanksgiving holidays. San Francisco was as close as the Army could get her to her beloved Hawaii....

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.” 2 Corinthians 2:14

Dear and beloved friends of the City of Angels Church, our brother and sister in Christ, Big Lou & Lani Martinez!

Through constant hardships, persecutions and difficulties, Paul’s “take” on his life and the first Christian movement was a “triumphal procession in Christ!” Likewise in recent weeks, we in the City of Angels Church are experiencing hardships in a deepening, nationwide recession of escalating gas prices and decreasing home values; in vicious, slanderous attacks from our critics; and in family woes, such as the passing of the fathers of Lu Jack Martinez and Ken Zindler. Yet, this past weekend as “always,” we continued to be led in triumph by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Sunday June 29th was our Missions Contribution for the New York City planting (to be sent off in less than a month at the Jubilee) and for the support of Matt and Helen Sullivan in Santiago, Chile. Even in the midst of all the difficulties our church family is facing, our visionary leadership group set before the City of Angels Church a goal of $120,000, which is approximately 15X our weekly contribution. Well, our God blessed us with over $125,000! Also amazing to see – especially after sending out the Honolulu Mission Team earlier this month – our attendance on Sunday was 333! Moreover, the Lord again graciously added to our number three more souls through the waters of baptism – Alan Austin, Daniel Berg and Le’Mons Johnson! Witnessing all these miracles, we echo Paul’s words of joy, “Thanks be to God!”

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“You are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:14

“Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” Mark 16:15

“All mankind will see God’s salvation.” Luke 3:6

“A new command I give you: Love one another… By this all men will know you are my disciples…” John 13: 34-35

Each “gospel evangelist” – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – recount the global vision of Jesus. For Matthew, the dream to evangelize the world in a generation is accomplished through “the light” of the disciples’ lives, both in word and deed. For Mark, Jesus’ command “to go into all the world” is to be obeyed through preaching the good news! For Luke, the ancient prophecy of Isaiah for “all mankind will see God’s salvation” is fulfilled through Jesus’ plan of discipling. For John, the love between disciples is the irrefutable sign of Jesus’ church, providing the pathway to a lost world’s heart. Paul shares that Jesus’ dream became reality – “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing… [and] has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.” (Colossians 1:6, 23)...