ICOC HotNews

On July 8th, before an audience of seventeen thousand disciples at the World Discipleship Summit, the Texas International Churches of Christ had the privilege of sending out their first mission team in over a decade. A few month's later, in early October, ICOC HotNews traveled out to the city of Bryan-College Station to witness the inaugural service of that mission team.

For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise.

God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.

 From October 26^th to the 28^th roughly 1500 brothers and sisters gathered from across Indonesia for the Nusantara Conference, or the “Indonesian Islands” conference.

When the waves of Hurricane Sandy subsided, a flood of HOPE worldwide Chapter volunteers poured into the ravaged communities. A total of 1,325 HOPE worldwide volunteers provided 10,600 hours of service to disaster victims in New York and New Jersey. Many worked in tandem with the American Red Cross distributing supplies and food or training and managing volunteers.

   At "ICOC HotNews Sharing," the official HotNews Facebook group, we invite brothers and sisters from around the world to come and share short stories or testimonies about how God has worked in your life. A brother named Damon Brog from Illinois (USA) shared an encouraging story:

In Matthew 5:4, Jesus said, “Blessed are the mourners, for they shall be comforted.”

Jesus' words ring true in this story of how one disciple's decision to focus on comforting those who mourn resulted in five hundred lunches for Staten Island victims of Hurricane Sandy.

As people emerge from their homes and lights and power flicker back to life, the disciples in the New York / New Jersey area are rolling up their sleeves to help. Staten Island, one of the five boroughs in New York City,was hammered by what appears to be the largest Atlantic hurricane on record.

   The Rochester International Church of Christ is was started earlier this year by small group of just three disciples. While they may be small in number, their faith is still shining to many. They decided to hold a special church service on November 4^th and prayed that 35 people would come to service that day.

Monday, November 12, 2012 - The response by the New York and New Jersey churches and the disciples, together with the HOPE worldwide Chapters, to the victims of Hurricane Sandy has been incredible.

 Six weeks ago ICOC HotNews flew out to Tucson, Arizona to witness an inaugural church service, which had a whopping 470 people in attendance (see orginal article here: http://www.icochotnews.com/?q=node/2006).

   2012 has certainly shown many great changes for the International Church of Christ in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After celebrating their 20th anniversary in late October, evangelist Arlee Butterfield was excited to share with HotNews how 2012 may become a turning point for the church after it endured a decade of trials.

A hero to us all passed on last night...

“It's something that you would think goes on in some far off place, not New York City.”

HOPE worldwide is Recruiting 120 Disaster Responders for Deployment to New York and New Jersey in the Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Hurricane Sandy was the most devastating storm to hit the Northeast in recent history. Local HOPE worldwide volunteers are on the ground helping neighbors regain hope during a desperate time A total of 587 HOPE worldwide volunteers have stepped up to help communities in need in New Jersey and New York.