of certain individuals whose hearts have been prepared and that it will be a light to lead them from the dark-ness of the kingdom of Satan into the bright shining kingdom of God’s dear son.

We will fill these pages with the truth of God’s kingdom and stories of individuals like you who have experienced its transforming power as they submitted themselves to its truth. We will address practical and pertinent day-to-day issues facing the residents of an urban city like ours with a kingdom perspective. We will provide and direct you to helpful resources for progress in your spiri-tual quest, relationships, career and day-to-day living.

This first issue is a commemorative edition celebrating God’s unfailing grace over the years as CityLight cel-ebrates its 5th anniversary. In the following pages, we will celebrate God’s faithfulness, share some of the les-sons we’ve learned and how far we’ve come in this mis-sion. You will also be reading the personal stories of some individuals whose lives have been radically trans-formed by God’s grace flowing through CityLight.

I want to appreciate my co-laborers and team members at The CityLight Church for their faithfulness to God over the years in this mission. To you our reader, I ask you to read with an open heart and apply the truth that God may bring to your heart and when you are through, help spread the light by passing this on to someone else. Thank you!

Gregory Lan Ijiwola Lead Pastor, The CityLight Church, Chicago.

CREDITS...

Publisher: Gregory Lan Ijiwola, Editor: Debo Ijiwola, Editorial Staff: Adeola Olusanya & Ranti Ihimoyan, Graphics Design & Production: GodKulture, LLC

The CityLight is published quarterly by The CityLight International Assembly Inc, a nonprofit corporation. P.O Box 15478, Chicago, IL 60615 | Phone: 847-379-8822 | Fax 888-544-4821 | Email: info@thecitylight.org

The CityLight has no subscription or newsstand price and is supported through contributions from readers, partners and members of the church. All donations to this ministry are tax-deductible in the United States.

Visit our website at www.thecitylight.org

©2010 The CityLight International Assembly. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced without written permission from the Publisher.

You hold in your hands the very first issue of The CityLight, a publication with the purpose of spread-ing Light, the life-transforming truth of the Kingdom of God, to the residents of our city. If you’re like me, you probably receive many letters, publications and other printed materials in the mail on a daily basis, many of which you only skim through or are unable to read at all because of the sheer volume of printed materials you receive from day to day. In a world already inundated with so much information, why then another publication?

The answer to this question is simple; it is part of our God-given mission. This publication shares the mission of The CityLight Church, which is to advance the cause of the kingdom of God in our city by spreading the news of its saving, liberating and life-giving truth to all who would care to hear. It is one of our means of being obe-dient to the Great Commission from our Lord Jesus of preaching the gospel to and discipling the nations.

We do not claim to have any special revelation or truth that has never been proclaimed before, but the same old truth of the death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ and the complete freedom and abun-dant life, it has made available to all men who accept, believe and act on its truth.

We do not expect that every copy of this publication or every truth in it will fall upon good ground to produce fruits. Just as in the parable Jesus told of the sower in the fourth chapter of the gospel of Mark, our prayer is that some copies of and some truth in this publication and subsequent editions, will come into the possession

Light For The City

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In the late nineties, while Pastor Lan and I, were both in college, pastor-ing a young college church, we sensed a call to the United States but had no clue how it was all going to play out. In 1997, God’s word came strongly that he was sending us for a work that he would have us to do. I traveled to the States to complete my college degree while Pastor Lan stayed in Nigeria, in college, pastoring.

During and after my college days, God al-lowed me to serve in various capacities with several ministries in music, finance and lead-ership. I believe now that this was preparation for the work he had for us in the future. God showed me that I had to be faithful in that which was another man’s before he could move me forward in His plans. Faithfulness required me to be disciplined, committed and consistent whether the journey felt good or bad while not losing sight of the future.

Every adventure in God’s kingdom begins by acting on an instruction from God and grows exponentially by faithfully obeying series

of instructions. We must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and cultivate a habit of listen-ing to Him for what is next in our walk with Him. As I tried to be faithful where I was, God showed me patterns and models of ministry through exposure to excellent ministries and a craving for excellence began to be a part of my life. I also began to learn how to be di-rected by his Spirit and how to be sold out to God’s promises, following him and Pastor Lan as my leaders.

The CityLightA couple of years after Pastor Lan joined me in Chicago, following our wedding, we took a step of faith in 2005 and started evening services at the Ramada Hotel on South Lake Shore Drive. It was indeed a humble begin-ning. We had more chairs than people for the first couple of years. Was God or the dev-il holding the people back? One thing was sure. We knew without a shadow of a doubt that we were doing what God wanted us to be doing. Through this, I learned not to be focused on numbers. That was a lesson we needed to learn. Now, though we are not yet a church of multitudes, we have learned that God can do big things through a few yielded and faithful people. We have also learned that the strength of a church is not in its sit-ting capacity but in its sending capacity.

Pastor Lan taught a message on Proverbs 30 about the ant, conies and locusts which were neither much in number, nor strong, and were without strong leadership but still did amazing things. Our focus turned from looking around to who was sitting in church on Sunday, to loving the hurting in our com-munity and meeting the needs of people outside our church building.

In addition, while we’re still at a foundation building stage of this mission, depending on the spoken Word of God has produced whatever there is today. At different sea-sons, we would write out specific things that God has shown us in a very detailed format based on his word and we would pray God’s

Word daily, calling those things that were not as though they were.

A Changed Concept of Church

As God began to change our concept of church, he connected us to various individu-als like Pastor Sam Adeyemi and Pastor Sun-day Adelaja who taught us about the con-cept of a church that advances the kingdom of God, not an individual’s agenda, a church that loves its community, not retreating into a fortress but unleashed in every segment of society. We were also connected with a new circle of friends who were moving in this same direction.

We would spend time with Pastor Sam, ask-ing him questions. Pastor Lan and I also took a couple of trips to Kiev, Ukraine to see a work-ing prototype of a Kingdom-focused church. God used those trips to plant new pictures in our minds and birth compassion in our hearts of loving the outcasts, believing God for an army raised from the “least of these”. We saw hurting people and met people we would never have met following our normal course of life in the past, and through this, God is still teaching us compassion.

The wonderful members of CityLight also be-gan to catch this vision and they went to work loving our community in ways they could. We became an outward-focused church.

As CityLight turns five, we are very grateful to God for how far, he’s brought us. We’ve made it our culture at CityLight to celebrate at all times, in little and in much, in expectancy or delivery. Many of the things God spoke and is speaking are yet to come to pass but we know that we are not where we used to be. We know we’ve been recipients of God’s un-deserved grace and that everything we see now is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes!

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Before the Lord began to bring it to our hearts that he wanted us to step out and start a new church, Debo and I had been serving as as-sociate pastors at the KingsWord Church for about 10 years, first in Nigeria and then in Chicago as part of a new church plant. When the impression first began to come to us, we resisted for several months and continued as we were, thinking that it was just a passing impression that would fade with time. As the impression persisted, we moved to a point where we simply resisted even the thought of such a thing.

Looking back, I see that there were several reasons why we resisted. First, we were afraid to leave the comfort zone of our church. We had been serving at KingsWord for a decade then. We had great pastors, wonderful friends and family members within the ministry. Our lives were totally entwined with the vi-sion of the ministry since we had been part of it since its beginning days. We thought that was where God wanted us to serve for the rest of our lives. Second, we were fearful of journeying into the unknown territory of starting a new church. Third, we felt totally unqualified for such a tasking endeavor as planting a new church. But then God began to speak to our hearts that it was his plan for us. He said he wanted us to cover twice as much territory with His word; that it wasn’t re-ally a separation from our current church but a multiplication of God’s kingdom. He wanted us to be willing and to get prepared. Yet we resisted and rationalized. We began instead to fulfill a part of the calling he was putting in our hearts, launching a teaching ministry, leading an interdenominational Bible study on Fridays at the DePaul University campus in Chicago. I wrote a book and had an itinerant teaching ministry. Thanks to our understand-ing pastors then who kept on trying to help us sort out our feelings of confusion despite all we were doing. All these did not stop our lack of a sense fulfillment.

In 2004, Debo & I attended a conference in Detroit, Michigan. On one of the days, we went forward for prayer and I felt in my spirit that God was going to round up our days at our current church and that because of his mercy; he was going to judge certain areas of my life so that we could be free to proceed with his plans for us. I surrendered to him at

that meeting and immediately after we re-turned to Chicago, a series of events began to take place in our lives by God’s hands. God was chirping away hindrances, exposing ar-eas that needed repentance and restitution. Then he began to bring visions of what he wanted us to do next and how we were to proceed.

I began to understand he wanted us to start a church but we were to do it according to his pattern. First, we were not to cause a church split at our current church. Second, we were to plant the new church at another side of the city far away from our current church which was then in the suburbs. Third, we were to start the church with new people, none from the membership of our current church. We informed our pastors, a few individuals, men-tors and friends about the plan and had con-firmations coming from them that we were on the right path. God began to move to gather resources and to impart boldness to us to do what he was bidding us to do.

The CityLight Church, Chicago was born on February 20th, 2005, and it’s been lessons af-ter lesson since then.

Learning humility, faith and depen-dence

Debo and I are the least qualified couple to pioneer a church in a city like Chicago and our lack of natural qualifications shone through immediately. After the inaugural service of the church in which we had a sufficiently large number of people to support us, the next Sun-day and the ones after, our number dwindled to about 5 consistent people apart from Debo and I, of whom two were family members. Many of the Sundays in that first year, I would cry while driving to church. Omo, a faithful co-laborer that God sent to the ministry from the beginning, and I would evangelize faith-fully every Saturday but none would show up in church. This brought us to our knees and we began to cry out to God daily. My mother, an intercessor began to lead us to cry out to God. God began to teach me a new lesson about putting him first before all things. I was to make him my only ministry. Every other minis-try to any other person would be an overflow of my ministry to him. During this season, John 15:1-8 became real to me.

God must be my love, my gold and my life. He must be first. Ministry to others must be sec-ondary. When I began to try to live by this, we began to see fruits in the work of the church and a team began to emerge.

We also began to learn how to cast our cares on God and trust him to bring about his plans in his seasons. Rather than worrying and fret-ting, we are to be anxious for nothing (Phil 4:7) but to rest in him through faith as He fulfills His will by His own power. I’m still learning to fully grasp this lesson.

Learning the true purpose of the church and our identity as a Local

churchThe second lesson we’ve been learning over the past five years of CityLight is that the Church of Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God on the earth and that he has a particular purpose and pattern for its existence that goes beyond what I had known in my past years of serving in the church. Through a divinely or-chestrated connection and relationship with Pastor Sunday Adelaja of the Embassy of God church in Kiev, Ukraine, we were brought to a greater understanding of the glorious church God wants to build on the earth. First, it is to be a balanced church not lopsided in its focus on a pet area of passion. Second, it is to be Christ-centered and not man centered. Then it is to be outward focused in its approach, a church that is a gift to its community, work-ing for the peace of its community. It is to be unleashed, not a fortress. Its members are not to be in the prison walls erected by dead structures and insecure turf defending lead-ers. Instead they are to be kingdom carriers unleashed upon every aspect of the society. Rather than being homogeneous, it is to be a unity of various cultures, statuses and nation-alities within its location. It is to give a glimpse to the world of how heaven will look. It is to be a supernatural army extending the influence of the King of Kings into every domain of the earth with compassion, power and signs and wonders.

Learning compassionWe are also learning that the church is to be a beacon of hope to the hopeless within the borders of its location. It is God’s hand for

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gathering the outcasts, the dejected and the rejected. The poor should feel love in its arms, the hungry should be fed, the sick should be healed, the orphans and widows should be visited. The ones which society has discarded should find a family within the church.

The church should have its hands dirtied by the things that dirtied Jesus’ hands during his first advent and live as he lived: associat-ing with the weak and the outcast of his days, elevating women to significance when they were the appendages of society, the lower class without much significance, touching lepers, bringing healing, comforting widows, raising their dead, making friends with sin-ners, allowing the children to pull his beard, chastising those who tried to forbid them, speaking forgiveness to adulterers and hope to prostitutes including a five-times married woman.

The church is to be all these to its community, a gift that keeps on giving, and an institution whose relocation from a community should be mourned not celebrated.

Learning the importance of reach-ing the next generation

A couple of years ago, I attended a pastor’s conference in Atlanta, Georgia, in which two of the invited speakers spoke on the urgency of reaching the next generation, calling the neglected - the Great Omission of the church. They spoke so powerfully and convincingly that my heart was irreversibly stirred up. I was reminded that I myself had met the Lord at the age of 15 and that most of the conse-quential decisions leading to where I was now were made in my younger years. I remember getting back to CityLight the next Sunday and preaching a fiery message on allowing the little children to come to Him. It was at that meeting that our outreach to kids and teenagers in our community was born. This became one of the top goals of the church and it still is.

Learning the cityAs a foreign-born individual who migrated to the United States in my adult years, I knew little about the culture and customs of Ameri-cans. I especially did not comprehend the vast city of Chicago, which we were laboring in. This handicap showed glaringly as we be-gan to pastor. During this period, I read the book of Daniel and saw how he took his time to learn the language and culture of Babylon in order to be effective in his ministry there. I immediately knew that I had to embark on a lesson that would expose me to facts about the city and my new environment. I studied on my own, learning all I could about the his-tory, laws and customs of the land. I talked to people, visited places, and drove around the city with certain church members who were born here. Eventually, I enrolled at the Moody

Bible Institute. Here, apart from the theologi-cal training I am receiving, I am being exposed to pertinent knowledge about this interna-tional city, Chicago. This knowledge of the city has been of great help as we pursue the mis-sion of the church.

Learning collaborationIt seems to me that God gives us bigger vi-sions than our current means can handle so that we can cry out to him in dependence and reach out to others in collaboration. This has been the case as we pursue the mission of the church. As a result of this, we are learn-ing to work with other individuals and orga-nizations. I have come to see that just as the people perish without a vision, the vision also perishes without a people. Psalm 68: 11 talks about the Lord giving a word and a great com-pany publishing it. One is too small a number to achieve significance.

I have learned that it is better to be a leader among equals in our team at CityLight and to value my team members and seek to serve their God –given purpose than to seek my end. I am learning that I am not to use people to accomplish my goals but to help people accomplish their God-given goals and then God’s goals for my life would be accomplished.

In the few years of CityLight, we have collabo-rated with several organizations within the city like Fox TV for our Kids’ Toy Drive, Chicago Park District, Moody Bible Institute in the an-nual “Service in the City” event, community or-ganizations like the Kenwood -Oakland Orga-nization, shelters, government entities, other churches and non-profits.

Learning character Character is the foundation of leadership, the rock on which all else stands. If anything is to be built to last, it must have character and in-tegrity as its foundation or it is just a passing

fad that would be blown away by the winds of life. In the past five years, we’ve been learning that the fruit of the Spirit are the essentials for success in any ministry. Virtues like faithful-ness, persistence, fidelity, financial, sexual and relational integrity, self-control, compassion and the walk of love with all are the most im-portant in life and ministry. Absent them and life and ministry are hollow, sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. Character is easier kept that regained.

Learning the importance of leader-ship multiplication

We are learning that everything rises and falls on leadership and that leadership can be de-veloped by anyone who has a heart to learn it. The potential of any organization is limited by the effectiveness of its leadership. God works through leadership, hence the many stories of leaders in the Bible and how God used them to effect his purposes in their generations. God is still raising and using leaders. When Jesus went about the city in Matthew 9 and saw the people scattered, he saw a lack of leadership and instructed his disciples to pray to God to raise up and thrust out leaders. A church must invest in developing and empowering lead-ers. We are learning to do this.

In conclusion, though we are still grasping these lessons and more are still ahead of us, I am grateful to God for teaching us these so far through precepts and practice. If you are one just embarking on a vision God has placed in your heart, I hope these lessons are of benefit to you. May God bless your work as you fol-low him closely. To you I say, Enjoy the journey and to The CityLight, Happy 5th!

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1 Corinthians 15:10 (NIV)10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

Simply put, Grace is divine enablement or empowerment. When grace is made available to a person, first, he becomes someone he could never have become on his own. He begins to do things he could never have done on his own. I learned several years ago that grace does not just change your circumstances, but it first changes you. For you to do something you have never done before, you must become someone you have never been before.

In John 3, Nicodemus met Jesus and asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born, can he?” Nicodemus was confused, not understanding what Jesus was implying. He was interested in the miracles. He wanted to know how to produce these unusual results. Jesus pointed him to the source. He separated being from doing.

When I look at those two verses, I see a difference in Jesus’ empha-sis and Nicodemus’. Jesus was focused on nature while Nicodemus was focused on activities. “Except a man be...”

Being Vs. DoingThere is a difference between “doing” and “being”. “Being” points to the nature of a thing or person and nature determines capacity. “Being” is your nature which puts a limit on your capacity for ac-tions. For example, a dog cannot be taught to speak English and neither can my car fly. Jesus wanted Nicodemus to know that his human nature was a limitation and that he needed a new nature born of God. Nicodemus, thinking naturally could not fathom how a human can be born twice. He expressed his dismay but Jesus ex-plained to him that the spiritual person in man can be reborn of the Spirit of God. He meant that however long we might have lived; it is still possible to start all over again and have a new beginning as we receive the nature of God in our spirits.

We take on the nature of whoever gave birth to us. In the new birth, we are born of God so we take on the nature of God. I John 5:4 explains that because we are born of God, we have overcome the world. The moment we accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, our nature and status changes. We become the righteousness of God. We have the same rights that Jesus has before the Father. This change of nature and access to the Father was produced by a re-lease of grace in your direction according to Ephesians 2: 8,

“8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

My Story of GraceGod’s grace gave us the nature of God, therefore grace first changes your nature and then your circumstances. For instance, 1 Corinthi-ans 8:9 talks about the grace of our Lord Jesus and how he became poor so that we might be rich. We are rich spiritually, mentally, phys-ically, socially and materially. This is not based on how much you have in your bank account or wallet but on God’s word. The grace of God is appropriated by faith in God’s promises. We’ve got to learn to accept and enjoy grace and all that comes with it.

I learned to accept it. I was raised in a middle class family but my father’s business failed and then we became poor. After I became a believer, I stumbled upon this verse of scripture and accepted it. Soon my circumstances began to change. Contrary to what I could see physically around me, I accepted the truth that I was rich and no longer poor. God’s grace began to work on my mind and circum-stances. I began to think differently than I used to think. I discovered that when I prayed, I would see pictures of myself preaching before crowds of people. That was totally against my natural tendencies. I was shy and introverted. It was difficult for me to carry on conversa-tions with people. But as God’s grace began working on my mind, it gave me the capacity to think and do big things. I realize that this is God’s grace working through me enabling me to think that way.

God’s grace gives you the capacity to do things you could not do on your own. God’s nature gives you the power to think the way God thinks. In our world, where there is so much sadness, sorrow and pain, the natural tendency of the mind is to worry and fret but when the Spirit of God comes upon your life, He changes your outlook. He gives the oil of joy for mourning and the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness. His grace eliminates worries and concerns (Philippians 4:7). Through God’s grace, your story will turn around. God will totally transform your life that people who knew you be-fore will say its only God that can do what is taking place in your life. The peace of God will guard your mind. The things that rattled you before will cease.

Just as you wouldn’t be anxious during a replay of a baseball game because you watched it before, God is not worried about you be-cause He’s seen the end of your life and the outcome of your cir-cumstances. He knows how everything is going to turn out so relax in grace and faith because you know that God has declared your end as glorious.

I pray that you learn to appropriate the grace of God in your life for the fulfillment of his divine purpose for your life.

- Sam Adeyemi is the Senior Pastor of Daystar Christian Center, Lagos, Nigeria.

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the passion will go to waste. I remember when Pastor Lan showed me the CityLight Blueprint, which is based on the view that every church should perform at least 5 of these functions namely; Wor-ship, Evangelism, Ministry, Discipleship and Fellowship. I saw how these functions connected together and how to build structures and systems around them. He said, “every functioning entity must have a structure or a system by which it operates.”

This was a very difficult thing for me to implement because I had always done things “by the Spirit” if you know what I mean. I have learnt over these years the benefit of having a structure and the re-percussions of not having one. One of the results of putting some structure in the worship team is that we began to see new leaders emerge in the worship group. God is helping us to grow in this area and I am grateful for how far we have come.

No matter how great your structure or system is, without the right relationships, it is just what it is, a “structure.” Every functioning system is made up of units that function symbiotically with one another. The Bible says: “Though we are many, we are one body.” God has helped us to navigate through the complicated arena of relationship building. I thank God for all the relationships estab-lished over the years. I can say that we have grown in our worship as a church as our relationship with one another improved. I have to say though that our corporate worship can never rise above the lid of our personal relationship with God. I thank God because I have experienced tremendous growth in this area and we are moving ahead.

Finally, over the past five years we have seen changes, ups and downs, seasons and times of seed and harvest. Many times we were challenged as a group to quit. I personally came to points where I said enough is enough. However through it all, I have seen the hand of God navigate us through the storms of life. One of the biggest hindrances to worship is a life stifled with disappoint-ments. When you get too busy or depressed to worship, you can never be productive.

I thank God for all the relationships that have been built over the years, I want to thank Pastor Lan for being obedient to the call. If he did not answer this call, I would not have had the opportu-nity to serve. CityLight has helped me develop my gifts, talents and ministry. I pray that God continues to bless our work. I am so glad that the vision of God for our church is coming to fruition. Yet there is still much more in store for us.

Looking back over the last five years of The CityLight, I couldn’t help but notice how far God has brought us as a church and as in-dividuals. First of all, I would like to thank God for the opportunity to serve in this mission. I have been a member of CityLight since its inception and when I joined the church I was a single man that was steep in debt, jobless, heavily depressed and literally living a purposeless life. Now, I am a happily married man, blessed with 3 beautiful children, debt free and living a life of purpose. Only God can do such a thing. Only He could use a church and the leader-ship of a church to point people in the right directions for life.

In those early days, it was so easy to be discouraged especially in the area of worship. I remember our equipment comprised of an 8-channel mixer, two old speakers and a few faulty microphones. We recorded the services with an old recording set and I had to manually transfer the taped messages to CDs, which of course, no-body listened to because we were only 5. We did not even have a complete set of musical equipment until much later and our wor-ship sessions lacked the flair of a well-coordinated symphony.

It was during those times that the Lord began to teach me what faithfulness was all about. I learnt that we grow through seasons in life and one of the ingredients for promotion is faithfulness to the mission no matter what. Somehow, through all the imperfec-tions musically and otherwise, God kept us moving. We were de-termined to connect to God in worship no matter what. We dug our heels in and kept rehearsing and praying. We kept coming back every Sunday (don’t ask me why) and in time, God began to increase us numerically and spiritually. You see, God requires the same level of commitment even though you are “small.” God will not bless you with more until you are faithful with less.

One thing that that really resonated with me earlier on as God was forming the foundation of our church and worship is the fact that we should always do things with the right motive. I remem-ber some time after I had been serving at Citylight; I began to feel burned out. I was doing a lot of things at the same time and it felt like no one was taking notice. I remember driving all the way from Zion to Chicago (over 50 miles) to set up for service and after all the sweating only a few people showed up for service. I asked God “what’s all this? There has to be more to this thing?”

The interesting thing about this is that as a church we were cry-ing for significance as well. It was around that time Pastor Lan preached about making God and His kingdom our goal. I could hear God ask me what my motive was for serving him. That really changed things for me and carried me on in times of weariness. God taught me that He is more interested in our hearts than in our service.

In leading the worship team, I soon realized that no matter how passionate we were, if systems and structures were not in place all

by: Omo Imoukhuede

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Freshman year at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT ) was a year filled with lots of decisions especially with re-gards to my relationship with God. One of those turning points was when my friend Mark invited me to the IMPACT bible study at DePaul University on a Fri-day night. The two big things that kept me coming back were the laughter and simplicity. The laughter because before then I had cried after almost every bible study because of guilt and a feeling that I couldn’t measure up to the “so holy” God. The simplicity, because God’s Word made absolute sense that He wanted to invade every aspect of my life not just with a disciplinary rod but with His loving grace.

In 2004, Pastor Lan asked me to prayerfully consider being a part of starting The CityLight Church. I did and sensed that it was the right thing for me to do. CityLight started out with a bang! IIT students could tell there was a new church in town with posters everywhere. But then, the next Sunday service, barely a handful showed up with more people singing in the choir than those in the congregation but I was encouraged by Pastor Lan who would say he was going to preach with as much passion when only one person was in the congregation as he would a thousand.

Around that period, Pastor Lan got connected with Pastor Sunday Adelaja and we became more outreach focused than ever before. Every consciousness of our size was diminished. We started reaching out to kids in the community, homeless shelters and the like. Many IIT students were added to the church and there was a lot of youthful enthusiasm about the church.

As I look back on the past 5 years of the church, I can see the growth that has taken place in my life and in the lives of so many others. God has multiplied our efforts and there’s been an outpouring of grace at every level. God has more in store for us and as Pastor Lan says – the true test of a God-given work is one that is beyond what human beings can accom-plish in their own strength, one where they will need to cry out for God’s help and grace. This I know for sure, that He’s done in the last 5 years – He’s faithful to provide help when we need it the rest of the way!

One of the things that excite me about CityLight is its continual invest-ment in the younger generation. Prior to my move to Chicago from Seattle, I had been involved in children’s min-istry in my previous church and was eagerly looking forward to getting plugged into that aspect of CityLight.

The thrust of KidzCiti, which I now lead as an outreach ministry be-gan after a really dynamic message preached by Pastor Lan on the “Great Omission of the Church”. During the

message, Pastor Lan gave a call for volunteers. There was a yearning in my heart to become a part of this dynamic ministry to the next generation and it’s been a privilege. Our team ral-lied together and brainstormed on ways we could impact the kids and create an atmosphere where they could learn how to connect with God. We started with a few kids we met playing at the park on a Saturday and invited them to learn about God in a fun-filled environment on Saturday mornings.

Working with the kids in the community has been a marvel-ous experience. Our kids are exposed to a lot of negative influ-ences due to the vices that abound in the community and it’s a rare privilege to be able to impact them by building godly relationships and sowing God’s word into their lives. We also conduct weekly visitations to connect our kids’ families and also get to know more about their living conditions. CityLight has stepped up to provide much needed help and resources for some family members going through difficult times. The KidzCiti team also has a commitment to pray for each of the children that we are connected to and also to “adopt” them spiritually.

KidzCiti as a ministry has advanced by leaps and bounds over the years and it’s been extremely fulfilling to watch as God shapes the lives of these young children and prepares them to fulfill His purpose for their lives. Our kids are being taught how to live the maximized kingdom lifestyle and how to also impact their friends and schools and accomplish great things in life with God.

It continues to be our goal to raise the next generation of leaders who would shine as lights in their world and positively influence their community and their world at large. As City-Light celebrates her 5th anniversary, we are excited at what God has done and we are eagerly expecting what lies ahead.

by: Ranti Ihimoyan by: Mark Ihimoyan

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A couple of years after the inception of The CityLight, Pastor Lan taught on the role of the church in holistic ministry to the poor and the outcast of the city. That was when the phrase “ministering to the least of these” became a catch phrase at The CityLight. At that time, we were getting some results in three of the five purposes of the church (worship, fellowship, discipleship) but in evangelism, we were a “Come Ye” church and in ministry, most CityLight members served within the church.

During that period, Pastor Lan became connected to the ministry of Pastor Sunday Adelaja in Kiev, Ukraine and Pastor Sunday also came to The CityLight Church in 2006 to minister. Pastor Lan says the core of what he learned from Pastor Sunday regarding reaching a community was in Mark 12:37. “... the common people heard him gladly.” In other words, reaching the society should be from the bottom up. He also learnt about the church-without-walls concept; building a kingdom-focused church by unleashing the potentials of the members outside the church in various segments of society.

Therefore in 2008, at our 3rd anniversary celebration, we launched “Mission 2008: Ministering to the Least of These.” We took time to identify the kind of people Jesus would define as the” least of these” in present day Chicago. We came up with these:

The people with the least with regards to:

1. Finances and material possession, people who are in need ( in poverty, jobless, hungry, thirsty homeless, struggling families, single parents)

2. Physical strength (weak, sick, children, babies (born and un-born), elderly, disabled)

3. Mental and emotional strength (broken-hearted, mentally disabled)

4. Opportunities and clout (victims of racial discriminations, immi-grants, strangers, ex-convicts, prisoners, uneducated)

5. Hopes - the oppressed and abused (victims of substance abuse, child abuse, gangsters, troubled children)

6. Age (children, youth, teenagers, collegians )

7. Support (tragedy survivors, widows, orphans, bereaved, victims of natural disasters, wars, violence, health crisis)

After identifying them, we began praying for them by groups and de-cided we were going to use our few resources to reach out to them. We asked ourselves questions: where are these people located in Chicago? We came up with a few places: shelters, on the streets, hospitals, homes (retirement, mental etc), prisons, juvenile detention center, poor neigh-borhoods on the Chicago south side and so forth. What do these peo-ple need? What can we offer them that would make their lives better? Most importantly, everyone needed the salvation offered by Jesus and a relationship with the loving Father and instructions on how to live in the kingdom. We also saw that these needs must be met naturally and supernaturally, hence our hands must get dirty in service and our knees calloused through prayer.

The church became fired up and we have since stepped out in essence to carry out this mission. We launched our “ Adopt- a- Shelter” initiative through which we initiated contacts with homeless shelters and start-ed feeding missions to them. We preach to the homeless, transients, formerly incarcerated and addicted, and we are seeing some of them getting saved and reaching out for the abundant life Christ gives.

We also kicked off a transportation ministry, obtaining a bus and using other vehicles, bringing these individuals to church. We invite them out to lunch, hearing their stories and building relationships with them. We kicked off KidzCiti, a ministry to children and preteens using toy drives, games and fun events. We began a Bible club for children in the neighborhood.

We kicked off a yearly street event called LightFest, a block party for the community and recently we launched our “Adopt-A-Block” initia-tive by adopting a low-income apartment complex in the neighbor-hood, visiting and serving the residents each weekend. We collaborate with other organizations, for example, Moody Bible Institute, Chicago Park District and Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization to serve the community.

It’s been very exciting and sometimes draining ministering with this focus. In the past few years, we’ve been exposed to another world we never knew existed; a world of poverty, suffering, violence, hopeless-ness and bondage. We trust God to bring hope to these people and that out of dry bones, God will raise an army and from the outcasts of the city, a beloved people of God will be born.

Taking the Gospel to the City, Reaching the Outcasts

The CitiReach

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It has always been my desire to do ministry in an urban setting. I had served in various capacities over the past decade working with chil-dren, organizing, programming and leading summer camp programs for

children aging four years old through high school. I also, taught fifth and

sixth grade outdoor education classes and worked as a seasonal host leading urban mis-

sions and service projects for youth, adult and family groups who desired to serve in the city of Chicago.

So for a while, I have been praying to find a place in Chicago where I could both worship and serve while utilizing the rela-tionship networks God has privileged me to build over the years in the city to touch lives.

Recently, I audited a graduate class at MBI and met Pastor Lan there. Our friendship was established. I joined CityLight for a couple of events and met Pastor Debo and some other City-Lights. The more that we shared our vision for the city together and prayed, the more I came to know that I have been called be part of the ministry and vision of The CityLight Church. I feel that my prayer has been answered in God’s perfect timing. I am looking forward to the plans that He has in store for us at The CityLight.

My journey to and within CityLight started nearly seven years ago at a prayer retreat in Indiana where I met Pastors Lan and Debo. Pastor Lan’s teaching so touched me that I went to meet him afterward. From then we develop a relationship and I began to attend IMPACT, a bible study he was leading then at Depaul Univer-sity. After one of the meetings, I approached Pastor Lan, and shared with him my wish to find a church, ironically, the Holy Spirit was ministering to him to start CityLight at that time. Call that perfect timing!

So the journey began. We literally combed through the city to find a location in which God wanted the church until we found our current location. I do not want to bore you with the details of the church’s beginning; it was similar to how we all develop as believers. We start little, and we grow!

God has been faithful us. I can attribute some of my greatest accomplishments in the past 5 years, directly to my associa-tion with CityLight. Through the mentorship of Pastor Lan, and my fellowship with the other Lights, I have been able to exercise and develop my leadership skills and to grow in every way. For this I am grateful! Happy 5th CityLight!

I had to relocate to the United States in order to live with my husband. It was a new beginning for us in several aspects, especially with deciding on where we would worship together in unity and be able to grow individually and as a couple. Last year, we attended a CityLight service led by Pastor Omo and the anointed way he delivered the word touched us both, convincing us this was our church home.

Apart from the message, the members of the church radiated so much love, joy, hospitality and friendship, attitudes still com-mented on by visitors today. Out of all the churches we visited, The Citylight Church was the first to follow up on us consistently with many friendly calls and an invitation to worship with them again without putting pressure on us. There was just something about the church that we couldn’t resist and we made up our minds to join. We met our great friend and mentors, Pastors Lan I j i - wola and Debo Ijiwola the following Sunday.

Since then, it has been a divine experi-ence for us and our lives have never

been the same again. CityLight has taught us to give cheerfully, pray earnestly without ceasing, and wor-ship in Spirit and in truth and above all, to love more. This is just the beginning of GREAT THINGS to come for CityLight in Chicago and beyond.

Deola Olusanya

I remember walking into CityLight the first time and being warmly welcomed by everyone. As I sat listening to Pastor Lan preach the Word of God, I sensed au-thenticity in his message. And although the room was not in a traditional church building setting, but rather a school auditorium, it did not matter at all, because the focus was so much on God.

I knew God was real, but I did not understand anything in the Bible when I would read it. Pastor Lan invited me to GQ and I remember constantly asking questions, not even understanding why Jesus died on the cross, and being so in awe when it was explained to me.

I remember on one occasion, I had a serious fever come on me. I knew I was coming down with the flu so I called Pastor Lan to cancel, but he encouraged me to go to Bible study anyway. I thought he was crazy and that he should have advised me to stay in. So I hesitantly attended. He centered it on the promises of healing in the Bible. I went home and repeated a scripture I had learned that evening over and over as I tossed in bed. When I woke up I had been healed and was well. This was the beginning of many miracles in my life. I fasted for the first time at CityLight and also got baptized and I’ve been learning intimacy with God.

Another memorable incident was during one of our outreaches. I was so touched by the way mem-bers of CityLight interacted with the youths that had come for the events. I remember one boy who was around 15 year old who had tears in his eyes, saying it was the first time he felt loved. I get tears in my eyes to this day just remembering this moment. To me, The CityLight truly represents discipleship and love. The difference we’re making will only get bigger and impact even more lives in the coming years.

Steff Van Alstyne

Nicole Kulovany 11

Boyede Sobitan

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The G.L.O.W (Great Leadership and Outstanding Witness) Award is an annual award presented by The CityLight Church to cer-tain individuals who are making a significant difference for the Kingdom of God. The award recognizes and honors individuals who are personally involved in important missionary projects in particular sectors of the society and the world or who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in carrying out the Great Commission from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The purpose of the award is to recognize, affirm, encourage, hear the testimonies of and raise support for the ministries of these individuals.

2009 recipients include Dee Grimes - missionary to Nigeria, Rob-ert Rand - Gangs to Grace Ministry, Ann Milauskas - missionary to Yemen, James Sheffield - Men’s Shelter Coordinator, Dala Al-phonso - Urban Missionary and church planter in Omaha, Mark Ihimoyan - a shinning light in the corporate world and Mamie Thomas - Program Manager for a women and children home-less shelter in Roseland, Chicago.

The 2009 event was keynoted by Rev Sam. Adeyemi, Senior Pastor, Daystar Christian Center, Lagos, Nigeria and Pastor Lan’s mentor. The recipients shared their testimonies, were presented with awards and then prayed for by the congregation. Support was also raised for some of their ministries.

Robert Rand, one of the grateful recipients writes:

“The Bible says the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. The G.L.O.W award is recognition of hard work and service to the kingdom of God. I pray my life always represent service and hard work to the least and unfortunate of the world. The G.LO.W

award globe that I received has meant encouragement to me in times of difficulty in my ministry. It is symbolic of accomplish-ment and just glancing at the globe gives me encouragement to carry on when it seems difficult. Since I received the award, I have been on two national syndicated radio shows and I am overseeing a gang outreach ministry on the west side of Chi-cago all for the glory of God. Thanks CityLight for blessing me and encouraging me during times of difficulty in ministry.”

Another recipient, Ann Milauskas writes,

“I was very encouraged to be part of the G.L.O.W Awards night. To share my story and hear the stories of the other recipients to-gether with the church was a beautiful testimony of ultimately God’s story of redemption in the world. I feel incredibly blessed to have CityLight as a partner in my ministry. Without your prayers, it would not be possible for me to carry out our task of planting churches among unreached Muslims. I want to thank you again for taking an interest in my ministry and for the many ways you have encouraged and supported me.”

The 2010 recipients are James Adams - One Heart Ministry: A Mission to Haiti, Brenda Banks -President, Angels on Wheels, Richmond Wandera - Pastor’s Discipleship Network, Africa, Di-ane Latiker - Kids off the Block, Roseland and Dana Stevens - Studio 2:11, Lawndale Community, Chicago.

This year’s awards ceremony was held on Saturday, May 1, 2010 during the 5th anniversary celebration.

To nominate someone for the 2011 G.L.O.W awards, please email glowaward@thecitylight.org or visit www.thecitylight/live/glow

G.L.O.W. Spotlight

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Spotlight

You can play a part in the mission of The CityLight of reaching the outcasts and raising an

army of lights for the nations by becoming a partner with us. As a partner you enter into a covenant relationship with this commission to pray for us and to support us financially. You will share in the grace of God on this ministry and in the rewards for every life that is transformed through our mis-sion. We will also be praying for you for the best of God in your life.

To become a partner or support us financially, please visit www.thecitylight.org/live/partnership

Or write us at: P.O Box 15478, CHICAGO, IL 60615 or call: 888-544-4821

The decision to meet Jesus

is the greatest any-one can make on the earth but it

is one of the simplest. The price for a relation-ship with God has been paid. You can change your life today by following these steps:

1. Admit that you are a sinner. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

2. Understand that you deserve death for your sins. Sin’s result is death. We all face physical death but the worse death is spiritual, eternal separation from God in hell for all eternity. Romans 6:23a “...The wages of sin is death...”

3. Receive the free gift of Salvation. Salvation is free, you can’t earn it. Ask God to forgive and save you. Romans 6:23b “...But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

4. Know that Jesus loves you and died to pay the

penalty for your sin and to give you the free gift of salvation. Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us!”

5. - Call out to God in the name of Jesus! Romans 10:13 “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved!”

6. Declare with your mouth the Lordship of Jesus over your life and renounce other lords. Romans 10:9,10 “...If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in sal-vation.”

If you’ve taken these steps, know that God has ac-cepted you and saved you. Now begin to read your Bible, and talk to God daily. Find a good church to attend. For spiritual help in your new life, call us toll free at 1-888-LIGHT-21(888-544-4821) 15

We are CityLights! We CARE about our city and its residents and serve them with CONSISTENT COMPASSION

We are INTENTIONALLY INTEGRATED, INTERCULTURAL and multi-ethnic in our approach; living, laughing, learning, serving, and worshiping with all without fear or prejudice, celebrating the diversity of our city

We are TRAINED disciples of Christ, eager learners, utilizing every opportunity to know him and be more like him

We are YOUTHFUL and upbeat in our praise and devotion, always full of exuberant passion and joy

We are growing LARGE enough in number to make an undeniable impact on our city for the kingdom

We are a strong and growing INFLUENCE for good in our city, eliminating the works of the enemy where it has ruled

We are GOERS, obeying the GREAT Commission, externally focused and using every opportunity to share the GOOD NEWS of Christ’s love

We are a HOLY people, relevant in the world but separated from its attitudes and sinful lifestyles

We are TAKING OVER our individual spheres of influence through our kingdom purpose

We are SPIRIT-FILLED, walking in the SUPERNATURAL - SIGNS and wonders to our world

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We are an Army of Lights: Connected to God,

Connected to One Another, Connected to Spiritual Growth,

Connected to our Unique Significance Within the Church

and Purpose in the World

Be a CityLight!Get Ignited @ The CityLight Church

Sunday Services @ 11.00 am 4434 S. Lake Park Avenue, Chicago, IL 60653

www.TheCityLight.org

1-888-LIGHT-21 (888-544-4821)