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NPL LA

2020 Wrapped

Just like you, our 2020 shaped up completely differently than we expected in nearly every way. So much of the ministry we thought we would get to do didn’t happen, and yet we got to see God move on powerful ways throughout the year.

We saw our churches and groups across LA double this year. We celebrated around 30 baptisms through our teams and networks. We have our first new church start in Riverside, CA which is #12 on our list of 55 largest metro areas in North America we are targeting.

Our family welcomed baby Phoebe in October and we are all filled with joy at her arrival! She is well loved here! This year was rife with challenges but by God’s grace we have been able to weather them and thrive. He has powerfully moved and it is an honor to be a part of his work here in Los Angeles and beyond.

Categories
Baptism My Life NPL LA

The Best Birthday Present

Yesterday I celebrated my 35th birthday! If you know me, you’ll know I am fairly low key about birthdays. This one was excellent. It was a packed day. I went on a long run with one of my teammates, then took Emily with me to the Valley to watch a baptism, and then our family gathered with our church in Long Beach.

This baptism was beautiful. It was the second one in this network and it was absolutely clear that the young woman being baptized was been transformed and is deeply in love with Jesus! On top of that, I was reflecting on how this unfolded in some surprising ways. Two months ago I baptized someone and modeled it for this family. A month later, I assisted this family in baptizing a new disciple. Yesterday, I got to watch them baptize a new disciple, while also modeling it for that other new disciple. Next week, I am launching them to reproduce it on their own as they will assist their first new disciple as he baptizes a friend of his who decides to follow Jesus while watching his baptism a month ago. We call that process M.A.W.L. (Model / Assist / Watch / Launch). Jesus is really moving and we are just trying to keep up!

We ended the day gathering with our church family. We are so loved by Jesus and our church.

Categories
Baptism Gospel NPL LA

Repost: 60+ Baptisms in OC Last Night!

The Lord has been moving like crazy in Southern California over the past couple of months. There were 60+ baptisms at Huntington Beach just last night!

See Troy’s post for more details!

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Support Raising

E3 Partners Giving Day 2020!

I know from talking with many friends, family, and ministry partners in recent weeks and months that 2020 has not been what any of us expected. None of us could have guessed how it would go, either. Has anyone else gotten tired of the phrase “in these uncertain times?” Me too!

One thing I have not gotten tired of is watching God work in beautiful ways. In the last 2 months alone, we have seen 12 baptisms in LA, including a 3rd generation baptism! We have seen many discovery Bible studies start with non-believing friends and family, multiple new churches start, and leaders mobilized to global cities and to the nations! Jesus is moving powerfully in 2020!

It’s Tomorrow – Thursday, September 10 is e3 Giving Day! Every donation that is given to our personal support will be enhanced by a $100,000 pool of bonus funds. This means that tomorrow your dollar is worth more than $1.

Won’t you consider making a special donation to invest in our family and the work the Lord has entrusted to us in Los Angeles and North America? Every gift helps fuel our family to give our lives for the work the Lord has called us to!

To give, simply copy our case-sensitive account code below, then click the give button to make your donation. Thank you for your prayerful consideration and your desire to partner with us to spread the gospel. It is such a joy to be a part of what God is doing and to do it together!

PcktsOnAMsn.MKP

Donate to the Puckett’s Ministry
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My Life NPL LA

Rest and Work

Last week our family flew to Northern Michigan for a family vacation. There aren’t a lot of places in the US so markedly different from Los Angeles than this rural area outside a town of ~500. Just off a long and isolated county highway is one of a handful of dirt roads. And just off one of those dirt roads was an enormous house on the shore of Lake Michigan.

We celebrated some mile marker dates in our extended family as the reason for gathering, but mostly the 8 kids ages 7 and under played together and with aunts and uncles and grand parents. It was a joy to be together, especially since we came together from 4 cities in 4 different states. These days it is a real challenge to get everyone together, so these few and far between moments are precious.

Even as we ate well, played hard, and laughed a lot, I received updates about things that were happening in the work back home in LA and elsewhere. Troy and Rick were off in Utah leading a Midlevel Retreat. A new believer in Orange County who was baptized just a few weeks ago baptized her mom. One of our leaders I have been walking closely with confirmed their first baptism. A person I just trained in the last week reached out to initiate the next step in training for the sake of bringing others along with him. I received introductions to 3 or 4 new leaders who want to connect to start multiplying disciples and churches.

I love it when I see the Lord moving when we are out of town and on vacation. That means the work isn’t dependent on us – we get to participate with Him as He works!

Categories
Baptism NPL LA

First Baptism in the Valley!

Just over a month ago, I baptized Rian (left) and Ricky (center) came down from the Valley with our local leaders who live there. At that time, Ricky was interested in Jesus but he wasn’t sure following Jesus was for him. In the last couple of weeks Yann (our leader in the valley) led Ricky to Jesus!

Yesterday Rian and I drove an hour and a half from Long Beach to Malibu to celebrate Ricky’s baptism. Ricky wanted to have his baptism at Zuma Beach, so that’s where we met!

We gathered to eat lunch, worship together, share the gospel, hear Ricky’s testimony and baptize him, and take the Lord’s Supper.

Yann and Mike served the Lord’s Supper to Ricky for the first time and then to the rest of us. Shortly after the baptism, Ricky’s friend he brought with him decided she also wanted to follow Jesus! She also wants to be baptized in the ocean soon! Ricky was the first person to be baptized in the Valley network and now there are at least 2 others to be baptized in the coming weeks!

Categories
Leadership Development NPL LA

4 Fields Intensive in the Valley

In early 2019 I had the joy of training this family and helping them start a church in their home. Since then, they have led a number of people to Jesus, trained other leaders, and connected deeply with our local group of network leaders. Jesus is moving in the Valley!

At the beginning of this month we facilitated a 4 Fields Intensive training with our team in the San Fernando Valley. These Intensive trainings are anywhere from 2-4 days long. They can be really disruptive. The reason for this disruptive effect has everything to do with the posture of the training. We spend a significant amount of time digging deep into the Bible discovering principles for multiplying disciples, churches, and leaders. We get back to the Word and build everything we do from it.

Yann & Janet are our local leaders in the San Fernando Valley. They embody the heart and mission of Jesus and leverage their professional lives for Him.

As we dig deeper and deeper into the word for our motivations and our methods, we come away challenged to reevaluate the things we do based on the Bible itself. It is beautiful to see our hearts, minds, and practices shift in response to the Bible itself. I have been a part of quite a few Intensives and every time I come away with new insights.

Where some of our Intensives are large events gathering anywhere fork 30-100 people, since Covid we have been doing smaller events of 8-15 people in homes where we can still socially distance as needed.

In this particular training we gathered 12-15 people for 2 full days focusing on the patterns of Jesus & Paul and looking closely at church identity, function, and health in pioneering settings.

Much of our intensive training revolves around small groups of highly participatory discussion.

Some of the trainings we do are focused on helping believers begin to make disciples with simple tools. As intensive is much more focused on biblical principles for multiplication. It is common in this setting to see new leaders emerge and existing leader grow in vision and calling.

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Media NPL LA

Movements Podcast – No Place Left LA

I’m thankful for the opportunity to be on Movements Podcast with Steve Addison to share about how God is moving here in Los Angeles and what we are learning along the way.

via Movements.net

Categories
Baptism Discipleship NPL LA

Our First Baptism!

Two Sundays ago our church and two other NPL churches gathered on the beach to celebrate our first baptism! Our new brother has walked through broken family, prison, addiction, and more. Jesus has set him free and is transforming his life!

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Entry

Prayer Template

I shared my NPL Los Angeles Prayer slides and it struck a chord with a number of people. My hope in sharing that post and the slide deck was twofold:

  1. I want to mobilize more prayer in my city and for my city.
  2. I hope to mobilize others to do the same in their own cities.

I took that initial slide deck for Los Angeles and turned it into a template anyone can use. You can view the slides below and click the link to open the document for your own use. Take it and make it your own. The only rule is that you have to gather a group of people and pray through it together.

No Place Left Prayer Template