The Biography of Kip McKean

Preacher – Missionary – Reformer – Theologian

By Ron Harding*

Thomas Wayne McKean II (May 31, 1954 – present) was named after his ancestor Thomas McKean, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. (His mother nicknamed him “Kip.”) In 2003, McKean became the evangelist for the Portland International Church of Christ. Then after McKean’s valiant three-year effort to bring reform to the shattered International Churches of Christ, the Holy Spirit used him to begin the new Portland / SoldOut Discipling Movement in October 2006. In May 2007, Kip & Elena McKean along with 40 other disciples from Portland planted the City of Angels International Christian Church, where he now serves as the “World Missions Evangelist” for this new movement of churches.

McKean and his wife, Elena, first came to prominence in 1979. McKean was invited to lead the Lexington Church of Christ (later renamed the Boston Church of Christ) in June of that year. From these “30 would-be-disciples,” the Spirit initiated a movement of churches known as the Boston Movement and in 1994 renamed the International Churches of Christ. From a historical perspective, no other preacher in the past century has been directly responsible for the planting of so many congregations around the world. McKean’s radical dream “to evangelize the nations in a generation,” his bold theological reforms, his personal warmth coupled with his charismatic and uncompromising Bible preaching, allowed the Spirit to take the gospel from one small dying church in Boston to become almost 400 churches in 171 nations by the year 2000! Now, in a little more than three years in the new SoldOut Movment, there are almost 40 churches in 18 nations… and counting!

Early Life And Family

“Kip” McKean was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on May 31, 1954. Like many young men of the 1960’s, he was inspired by those who refused to compromise and were willing to sacrifice everything for a worthy cause. This temperament is also deep in the McKean family heritage, as they are called higher by the courage of one of their ancestors, Thomas McKean. As with all of “the signers,” death threats were common. Interestingly, Thomas McKean not only signed the Declaration of Independence for Delaware, but also was the President of the Congress of Confederation – the highest office in the new United States of America – when news arrived from General Washington that the British had surrendered.

McKean’s father, serving as an admiral in the U.S. Navy, became a strong influence and an early role model for leadership and excellence. In high school, McKean was selected to be a member of the National Honor Society, was active in athletics, and also obtained the rank of Eagle in the Boy Scouts. During these formative years, McKean’s heroes became John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In time, McKean’s greatest hero became Jesus.

Marriage And Children

McKean married Elena Garcia-Bengochea on December 11, 1976. Elena was born in Havana, Cuba on September 2, 1955 and fled with her family to the United States in a boat in 1959. Growing up in Gainesville, Florida, Elena was an honor student, a ranked tennis player, varsity cheerleader, and Homecoming Queen at her high school. She was baptized into Christ the summer before her freshman year at the University of Florida. Kip and Elena met at the Crossroads Church of Christ and were married there. In 1981 their first child Olivia was born. Then in 1983 and 1984 respectively, Sean and Eric were born. Elena presently is a Women’s Ministry Leader in the City of Angels International Christian Church. There has been undue and sharp criticism towards the McKeans’ incredible children. However, their strong characters and godly upbringing are illustrated by the fact that two of their children graduated from Harvard and their youngest, though accepted at Harvard, chose to attend and then graduated from Stanford. (Their education was funded through the combination of the McKeans’ small savings, Kip’s parents, close friends of the McKeans, and scholarships – both academic and athletic, as well as financial aid.) . Through the years, through all their individual trials, the McKeans remain an extremely tight knit family.

High School And College Years

Prior to high school, McKean was not religious. However, at the end of McKean’s sophomore year in high school, he became very involved in a dynamic fundamental Methodist Church in Maitland, Florida. Here he came to a deep personal faith in Christ and in the inspiration of the Bible.

At the end of McKean’s freshman year at the University of Florida, he was invited to a devotional sponsored by the 14th Street Church of Christ. (A year later, this congregation was renamed the Crossroads Church of Christ.) This congregation in Gainesville had begun a pilot program for the campus ministry for the Mainline Churches of Christ just five years earlier. Some of the more progressive Mainline Churches of Christ desired to impact the secular college campus and initially modeled their efforts after Campus Crusade. They called this new program – led by Chuck Lucas – Campus Advance. Here McKean was taught to give up everything for Christ and be baptized for the remission of sins to become a Christian. As a 17 year old freshman, McKean made this commitment and was baptized at 1:30AM on April 11, 1972.

For summer vacation in 1972, McKean returned home to Chicago. He became very sick; boils covered the entire upper part of his body. Bandages were wrapped around his body for the next three months. McKean believes that at this time God was testing and humbling him, particularly through the scarring on his face. Of note, the members of the Mainline Church of Christ that he attended in the Chicago area never came to visit McKean while he was sick. This incident in McKean’s life sensitized him to meeting people’s needs, particularly visiting the sick. Later that summer, even though the doctors strongly advised McKean otherwise because of his weakened health, he returned to Gainesville so he could once more participate in a strong fellowship of college Christians.

During his sophomore year in college, though involved in the High Honors Chemistry Pre-med Program at the University of Florida, McKean began to dream about becoming a campus minister. God reinforced this dream when his younger brother Randy was diagnosed with cancer in the spring of 1973. McKean baptized his brother six months later. His Christianity also led to conflict where he lived in the Sigma Chi Fraternity House. That year, his stand for purity almost led to his dismissal from the fraternity. However, many of his fellow fraternity brothers rallied around him electing him “Tribune.” Also, during McKean’s three years of living in the fraternity house, he hosted a weekly Bible Study in his room, through which eight of his fraternity brothers were baptized into Christ. These events solidified McKean’s sense that God was calling him into the full-time ministry, thus sacrificing the much more lucrative lifestyle of a doctor.

During his college years while attending the Crossroads Church of Christ, the vision of dynamic campus ministries throughout America was put on McKean’s heart. He was inspired by the powerful preaching of Chuck Lucas and his associate, Sam Laing, as well as in their innovations derived from Bible principles: “Prayer Partners” – based on the “one another” Scriptures, “counting the cost” with each individual before baptism from Luke 14:25-33, and evangelistic small group Bible studies called “Soul Talks.” At this point, the seeds of discipling were placed in his life as he personally saw how one man could affect another’s daily lifestyle and eternal destiny for God. During these early years of the “Crossroads Movement” – also known as the “Total Commitment Movement” – the Crossroads Church and the young ministers they sent out became more and more controversial within the Mainline Churches of Christ, because of these innovations.

God’s Preparation And Education

In 1975, shortly after graduating from the University of Florida as a Phi Beta Kappa, McKean was hired as the campus minister for Northeastern Christian College (NCC), a Mainline Church of Christ school near Philadelphia. Here he saw first-hand how uncommitted many of the so called “Christian” students were: drugs, drunkenness, prejudice and immorality were prevalent. He came to a deep conviction that being religious is not the same as being a true follower of Jesus.

While McKean was serving as the Campus Minister at NCC, the King of Prussia Church of Christ gave him a scholarship to attend Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. There he was challenged by one of his professors, the Dean of Academics, that the Bible is not the “only” inspired Word of God. Shocked, yet sure in his faith, McKean strongly responded to the Dean’s challenge, “If there are any other holy writings beside the Bible, then Christianity is reduced to simply another philosophy like Confucianism, Islam, Buddhism, or Hinduism. To me, Christ and His Word are the only way, the only truth and the only life.” This core conviction has guided McKean during his 35 years of full-time ministry. As with Jesus, the Apostles and all of God’s prophets, McKean has been persecuted with several death threats, as well as publically chastised in TV shows, magazines and newspapers for his “narrow view” of the Bible and salvation. (Matthew 7:13-14, Acts 4:12) Yet, he has never wavered in his convictions.

In the fall of 1976, McKean began to serve the Heritage Chapel Church of Christ in Charleston, Illinois in order to initiate a campus ministry at Eastern Illinois University, then a small college of 9,300 students. During his three years there, God blessed his ministry with 300 campus baptisms.

Interestingly, Illinois was considered a “mission field” of the Churches of Christ which are largely concentrated in the Southern Bible Belt. McKean was supported “as a missionary” by the Memorial Church of Christ in Houston, Texas. After nine months, some of the elders of the Memorial Church visited the Heritage Chapel Church. Instead of rejoicing at the large number of converts, they were appalled by the clapping during the singing of devotional songs, women praying in mixed groups, and the overall fervor of the worship service. Accused of “Pentecostalism” and “brain-washing,” McKean was fired by the Memorial Church two weeks later. Yet inside of the Heritage Chapel Church, the members were very appreciative and loyal. God blessed the church’s Biblical convictions from McKean’s preaching as financial support was quickly found from the Union Avenue Church of Christ in Memphis, Tennessee. The Union Avenue Church offered not only support, but also a full scholarship to Harding Graduate School of Religion that specialized in graduate level courses in Bible, counseling and ministry.

Revolutionary Theology

McKean attended Harding Graduate School for two summers pursuing a Masters in Theology. He concluded that though helpful in scholastic pursuits, seminary was not the way to train evangelists. Rather, it is one minster walking with another like Jesus with His Twelve, or Paul training Timothy and Titus.

Well documented at this time was that an “average” Mainline Church of Christ congregation had 150 members and only eight baptisms per year. Six were children of the members and the others were baptized from the world. More than half of the member’s children left the church, and over 90% of the other baptisms fell away. When the average annual death rate was subtracted, that left the Mainline Church of Christ net annual growth rate to be less than 1%. This stagnation remains in the Mainline Churches to this day.

Flavil Yeakley, in his book Why Churches Grow, reported that Mac Lynn’s first accurate survey of the Mainline Churches of Christ revealed only 965,439 actual members as opposed to the 2.5 million that had been claimed. He discovered that instead of an estimated 15,000 congregations, there were actually only 10,165 Mainline Churches of Christ in America. Lynn recorded, “The Churches of Christ have only 24 churches with a membership of 1,000 or more, only four with a membership of 2,000 or more, and only one with a membership of more than 3,000.” The largest Mainline Church of Christ outside the borders of the United States was and is only 500 in attendance. Yeakley also wrote, “In 1980, the Church of Christ in the United States did stop increasing and started decreasing in total membership. It is clear that if the 1965-1980 trend were to continue unchanged, the Church of Christ would cease to exist in this nation in just a few years.”

During his time in Charleston, McKean realized that no matter how dynamic a campus ministry was, unless a whole church is “totally committed,” the campus ministries impact will be limited. From McKean’s experience and travels, he concluded that many Churches of Christ with campus ministries from Crossroads split and many young campus ministers in turn quit the ministry. In time he would preach, “No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.” (Luke 5:37-38) Thus, McKean decided through prayer and Bible study that the best way to build churches where every member is “totally committed” is to start new churches – for “new wine [zealous young ministers] must be poured into new wineskins [new churches].”

In his years at Charleston and Memphis, McKean devoted himself to studying the Old Testament. This became a major turning point in his theology. McKean came to a deep conviction that unlike the Mainline Church of Christ whose plea was to be a “New Testament Church” a better understanding of God’s eternal plan and His Word would create a “Bible Church.” McKean fully realized that the Law – “the written code, with its regulations” from the Old Testament, were “nailed to the cross” thus nullifying it. (Colossians 2:14-15) However, McKean taught from 2 Timothy 3:16 that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” The word “Scripture” in the context of this passage refers only to the Old Testament; therefore, the intent by Paul was to call Timothy – and all disciples – to use the Old Testament “Scriptures” in their preaching, in their discipling, and in their lives.

Along with this, McKean came to differ with the Mainline Church of Christ on Bible interpretation. In the early 1800’s, Thomas Campbell – one of the founders of the Restoration Movement, which is the heritage of the Church of Christ – gave the Church of Christ the following creed: “Speak where the Bible speaks, and be silent where the Bible is silent.” This creed dictated that one must have specific authorization by command, example or necessary inference only from the New Testament in order to implement a teaching or practice. However, McKean – believing that both the New Testament and Old Testament should be the foundation of the church – coined a phrase in sharp contrast to the Mainline’s approach to interpretation. McKean taught churches should be: “Silent where the Bible speaks, and speak where the Bible is silent.” In other words, a Christian should simply obey where the Bible speaks, and speak (have opinions) where the Bible is silent. Theologically, Christians are free to implement any practice or apply any name that is not prohibited in the Bible.

These two revolutionary views of the Scriptures were the fundamental reasons that many Mainline Churches of Christ opposed McKean. Ironically, in the early 2000’s after the International Churches of Christ had returned to a more Mainline theological stance, these same convictions would cause the International Churches of Christ to vehemently oppose McKean and the new SoldOut Discipling Movement.

The Boston Movement Begins

In 1979, during McKean’s last year in Charleston, the elders of the Lexington Church of Christ in Massachusetts contacted him to be both their pulpit and campus minister. At that time, this Mainline Church of Christ was desperate as they were considering closing their doors, because their number had shrunk to about 60 members. When he interviewed for the position, McKean expressed to the leaders in the Lexington congregation that in order for him and his wife to come, they would need to support him in calling “every member” to be “totally committed.” In this small, dying church, history was made on June 1, 1979, as “30 would-be disciples” gathered on Friday night in the living-room of members Bob and Pat Gempel. At this point, the Lexington Church was simply viewed as another congregation of the “Crossroads” or “Total Commitment Movement.” The difference would soon become apparent as McKean’s call from the Bible was for every member of the church to be “totally committed,” not just the campus students.

In 1980, to help his congregation to grow spiritually and numerically, McKean developed a Bible Study Series called “First Principles.” (Hebrews 5:12; 6:1-3 WEV) The members of the church were asked to memorize these studies and then use the “First Principles Studies” to teach non-Christians the original standards that God has for individuals to become disciples of Christ. Perhaps the most radical and impacting study of the series was called “Discipleship.” In this study, McKean taught that in Acts 11:26: SAVED = CHRISTIAN = DISCIPLE. Simply meaning that you cannot be saved and one is not a true Christian without being a baptized disciple. McKean developed the Discipleship Study not only to convert non-Christians, but to draw a sharp Biblical distinction between the Lexington (later renamed Boston) Church of Christ, and all other “churches,” including the Crossroads Churches.

As a result of the call to “total commitment” to God and the practice of the Biblical concept of discipleship, the Boston Church of Christ multiplied disciples. Another of McKean’s radical innovations was the role of an evangelist. McKean believed that the evangelist’s charge was not simply to shepherd his congregation, but to evangelize that church’s region of influence. (2 Corinthians 10:13-16) Thus in Boston, McKean divided the city into four geographical “regions.” An evangelist was placed over the disciples that lived in this “territory” for the purpose of evangelizing the entire “field.” In each region, there were a number of “house churches” and in each house church, there were a number of Bible Talks. This “pyramidal structure” was McKean’s inventive application of Exodus 18:13-26.

To have the church appreciate the incredible training and sacrifice to becoming an Evangelist or Women’s Ministry Leader, Kip and Elena began to appoint qualified individuals in front of the congregation with a small ceremony where they shared personally about the deserving disciple and was closed out with a charge and the presentation of a Bible. These practices were imitated “everywhere in every church” in the Boston Movement, thus further unifying the churches. (1 Corinthians 4:14-17) Every church in the Boston Movement “recognized” the appointed Evangelists and Womens Ministry Leaders throughout the other churches in the movement.

Unprecedented Growth And Impact

During the ten years that the McKeans served the Boston Church of Christ, unprecedented growth occurred. The original Lexington Church of Christ had witnessed only two baptisms in the previous three years before June 1979. By the restoration of the radical practice that every member of the congregation is “totally committed,” the Boston Church of Christ had 103 baptisms the first year. The most dynamic Mainline Church of Christ for decades had only baptized 200 to 300 each year. Under McKean’s leadership the Boston Church of Christ saw 200 baptisms their second year; 256 their third; 368 in the forth; 457 in the fifth; 679 in the sixth; 735 in the seventh; 947 in the eighth; 1424 in the ninth; and in the churches tenth year 1621 were baptized into Christ. By this time also, the Sunday attendance in Boston was approaching 4,000 as the church met in the famed Boston Garden, home of the Boston Celtics. Not only was this the largest single congregation in the history of New England, but it also became the largest “Church of Christ” in the entire world.

Perhaps unappreciated by the casual observer was the challenge to meet the needs and keep faithful the unprecedented number of new Christians – over 2,000 in the first six years in Boston. In the 60’s and 70’s in the denominational world, there had been much discussion and writing on the “body life” of the church and “shepherding” one another. Thus, in the Crossroads Movement, one another Christianity was expressed in a buddy system called “prayer partners,” where each person chose their own “buddy” or “buddies.” They could even be of the opposite sex.

With so many new Christians in the Boston Church of Christ, McKean felt that the “buddy system” approach was not effective. Building upon the concepts of “shepherding” and “Prayer Partners,” McKean came up with “Discipleship Partners.” In these relationships, the evangelists, elders, and women’s ministry leaders – after discussion and prayer – arranged for an older or stronger Christian of the same sex to give direction to each of the younger or weaker ones. (This principle of mentoring is clearly seen in Titus 2:3-5, where the older women are commanded to train the younger women.) Each pair was expected to meet weekly and have daily contact. This “one-over-one” discipling paradigm was also applied to marriages; thus came the innovation of “marriage discipling” – a mature married couple discipling a younger married couple. Also honoring marriage, another of McKean’s innovations was to replace “Bachelor Parties” (often accompanied with worldly overtones) with “Groom Honoring Parties.”

The Boston Movement Plantings

In 1981, the Lord put a vision on McKean’s heart: “The evangelization of the nations in a generation.” This passion ignited as McKean was influenced by former missionaries and the mission efforts especially of the Sunset School of Preaching – a Mainline Church of Christ school to train preachers – located in Lubbock, Texas. McKean’s plan was a simple one: if the Boston Church of Christ could place a small group of disciples (mission team) in each of the key metropolitan centers of the world, they in turn – by the multiplication of leaders and disciples – could send church plantings to each of the capital cities of the surrounding nations that were under their influence. Then these capital city churches could send out church plantings to all the other cities of that nation and then that nation would be evangelized in one generation just as in the first century. (Acts 19:8-10, Colossians 1:23) The key churches planted in the major metropolitan centers were called “pillar churches” – for a world brotherhood was envisioned to be built on their foundation. Dr. Donald McGavran, the “Father of Modern Church Growth” (in the broadest definition of Christianity), saw the Boston Movement as unique in that it had a plan to evangelize the entire world from one rapidly growing church.

McKean zealously pursued this vision, as he trained ministers in Boston and sent them to the “pillar” cities. In 1982, Chicago, Illinois and London, England, were the first two plantings of the Boston Movement. By 2000, the Chicago Church attendance was 5,000 and the London Church attendance was 3,000.

In 1983, the New York City Church of Christ was planted. Though this city had a population of 18 million, only 18 disciples were sent from Boston. McKean believed that only one church of disciples – no matter how small – would be necessary to evangelize an entire metropolitan area. At its zenith in 2000, the New York City Church had 7,000 in attendance.

In 1985, Toronto, Canada became the Boston Movement’s second foreign planting.

In 1986, Johannesburg, South Africa was planted. This planting was special as the black and white disciples did not merely coexist, but for the first time hugged one another in the midst of apartheid and under the threat of extremists. Paris and Stockholm were also planted in 1986, which proved language as an inconsequential barrier for the mission work of the Boston Movement.

In 1987, were the plantings of Mexico City, Mexico; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Hong Kong, China.

In 1988, Bombay, India; Tokyo, Japan; and Cairo, Egypt were planted.

In 1989, there were seven plantings composed of 120 Bible Talk Leaders sent out from Boston: Miami, Florida; Seattle, Washington; Honolulu, Hawaii; Los Angeles, California; Washington DC; Manila, Philippines; and Bangkok, Thailand.

In 1990, the McKeans moved from Boston to Los Angeles. It was from Los Angeles in 1991, that Moscow, Russia was planted. Valiantly, the McKeans personally led the mission teams to Manila, Bangkok and Moscow. In the first year in Moscow, 850 were baptized into Christ. Of note, in the summer of 1989 after planting Manila, McKean moved his family to Cairo, Egypt after seven of the original eight mission team members were deported by the government. This was a daring move for McKean, his wife and his three young children. He felt that if he was to call others to preach in such dangerous places as the Middle East, he himself must set an example to demonstrate this radical level of faith and sacrifice.

Unique to the Boston Movement, not only did disciples make disciples, but churches planted churches. The Boston Church planted each of the “pillar churches,” which planted other churches, which planted still others. By 2001, at the time of his sabbatical, there were almost 400 churches in 171 nations and a combined Sunday morning attendance of about 200,000. 42 churches had more than 1,000 in attendance and 15 churches had more than 3,000 in attendance. The largest international congregation was the Manila Church at 6,000 in attendance. These numbers were staggering when compared with the Mainline Churches of Christ or any denominational group. Never in history has any church growth movement ever spread as quickly and to so many nations.

From 1981 on through the 80’s, many people especially leaders from the various elements from the Mainline Church of Christ, moved to Boston or to one of the Boston Church of Christ plantings to be disciples and to train to build churches. These people were in awe of God and the unprecedented growth that the Holy Spirit produced in Boston and its daughter churches. They were often referred to as “remnant disciples.” (Isaiah 10:20-22) McKean documents this exciting phenomenon in both Revolution Through Restoration Part 1 and Part 2.

The amazing thing is that many of these people had several philosophical and doctrinal conflicts with each other. However, McKean made every effort to forge a bond of unity between all of these leaders from the Scriptures by working side-by-side for one purpose. On a sad note, in 1987, when the Atlanta Church of the Boston Movement was planted through a split in a Crossroads Ministry, the Crossroads Church of Christ cut their ties to the Boston Church of Christ and its affiliated plantings. This made a clear distinction between the Boston Movement and the Crossroads Movement, which was in sharp decline after the departure from the full-time ministry “for personal reasons” of their leader, Chuck Lucas, in 1985.

Central Leadership – The World Sector Leaders

In 1988, because of the rapid expanse of the churches, several brothers encouraged McKean to focus on “a few good men.” (Exodus 18:13-26) After six months of prayerful consideration and several discussions, Kip and Elena chose nine couples: Doug and Joyce Arthur, Steve and Lisa Johnson, Randy and Kay McKean, Phil and Donna Lamb, Frank and Erica Kim, Scott and Lynne Green, Tom and Kelly Brown, Al and Gloria Baird, and Bob and Pat Gempel. These leaders – whom the McKeans had personally trained for the ministry – became known as the “World Sector Leaders.” This was extremely significant, because the Mainline Church of Christ believes in autonomy – the independence of each congregation. Yet McKean, because of his vision and his conviction from the Scriptures, forged a “leadership family” where each couple would oversee the evangelization of their region of the world. (Of note, in the first few years, the Bairds and the Gempels – as shepherding couples – would, with the McKeans, make the major decisions for the movement. Later, the Arthurs and Johnsons became the most influential of the World Sector Leaders.)

In 1990, McKean went to fortify the church in Los Angeles. The Browns, the planters of Los Angeles, were sent back to Boston for strengthening, and Marty and Chris Fuqua replaced them as World Sector Leaders. In January of 1990, the Los Angeles Church had only 154 members. At the beginning of his sabbatical in 2001, there were 10,000 members with about 15,000 in attendance every Sunday morning.

In 1991, McKean asked Bob and Pat Gempel as their charge as World Sector Leaders to become the Directors of HOPEworldwide. HOPEworldwide was the benevolent arm of the Boston Movement Churches. Its uniqueness was that the World Sector Leaders could mobilize every member of every church in every country for a focused volunteer effort to help the poor and needy around the world.

In 1994, the World Sector Leaders of the Boston Movement officially adopted the name International Church of Christ (ICOC). This name was first given to them by John Vaughn, a denominational church growth expert. He surmised that since the Mainline Church was located for the most part in the “Bible belt” of America, the Boston Movement, to him with a similar plan of salvation, had an equal number of congregations internationally as they did nationally. Thus the name “International” Church of Christ. In 1994, McKean wrote and laid out his most visionary project to date – The Evangelization Proclamation. Signed by Kip and Elena and all the World Sector Leaders, they vowed before God to plant a discipling church in every nation of the world that had a city with at least a population of 100,000 by the year 2000. It became more commonly known as The Six Year Plan. This, through the power of God, they accomplished by July 2000. Unprecedented in the modern history of Christianity, in just 21 years, God had multiplied the “30 would be disciples” in the Boston Church to almost 400 churches, 135,000 disciples in 171 nations with a combined Sunday attendance of 200,000.

Of special note are the following leadership appointments. In the late 80’s, McKean asked Cecil Wooten – a two time recipient of the Purple Heart in World War II – to become the Administrator of the Boston Movement Churches. Each World Sector Leader had a World Sector Administrator. Cecil oversaw and coordinated this group. In 1993, McKean asked Al and Gloria Baird to oversee a new world sector called the Media and Law World Sector. Also at that time, the McKeans trained Cory Blackwell – a former NBA basketball player – and his wife Megan for the ministry, while building the Cross and Switchblade Ministry in South Central LA. Since Cory was from a Muslim family, the Blackwells were asked by the McKeans to become the World Sector Leaders for the Middle East. Another replacement among the World Sector Leaders was made when the Lambs, because of “family issues,” were asked to step aside in order to receive strengthening. (Sadly, the Lambs later divorce; Phil falls away, yet Donna remains faithful till her death by cancer in December 2007.) To replace the Lambs, who oversaw the Central and South America World Sector, Peter and Laura Garcia – the brother and sister-in-law of Elena – were asked by the McKeans to serve in this role. In 1999 Cecil was in his 70′s and wanted to take a step back from the rigorous demands of administration.  Consequently, Andy and Tammy Flemming were selected to assume his role as the leaders of all the administrators throughout the ICOC.  McKean made this in to the “Administration” World Sector. The last World Sector Leaders selected were Russ and Gail Ewell. They led the NET World Sector – New media, Exceptional children, and Technology.

The leadership structure of the International Churches of Christ was as simple as it was creative and unique. Of the original World Sector Leaders – except the Gempels and the Bairds, whose role was to shepherd the group – each was given a geographic charge. There evolved eight geographic World Sectors: British Commonwealth – Great Britain, India, Singapore, Indonesia, and Australia (Arthurs), ACES – Africa, Carribean, Eastern States (Johnsons), Europe (the Randy McKeans), Pac Rim (Kims), Central and South America (Lambs), Northern Federation – former Soviet Union nations, Scandinavia, Canada and the Western US (Fuquas), China (Greens), and later the Middle East (Blackwells). Each world sector discipling group was composed of 10-12 couples: a World Sector Administrator, a World Sector Elder, a World Sector Teacher, and Geographic Sector Leaders (Evangelists). Also, in most world sectors, there was a World Sector Media and Law couple. The World Sector Elders were collectively called the “Kingdom Elders.” They were overseen by the Bairds. The World Sector Teachers were collectively known as the “Kingdom Teachers,” and eventually led by Andy Fleming. The Geographic Sector Leaders (GSL) oversaw the evangelism of a region of that World Sector. For example, in the ACES, Mike Taliaferro was the “GSL” for Africa, and in the Northern Federation, Sasha Kostenko was the “GSL” for the 15 nations in the former Soviet Union – the Commonwealth of Independent States. In time, each GSL built their own discipleship group, which was composed of essentially an evangelist for each nation or group of nations, which was in their geographic field.

World Missions Evangelist- Sabbatical

At the beginning of 2001 as a college student in Boston, the oldest of the McKeans’ children began to question her faith. Unjustly and heavily criticized – because of the high profile of her parents – and feeling unloved by many in the congregation, she stopped attending church. This single event caused uncertainty in McKeans’ leadership among many of the World Sector Leaders, as well as among the Kingdom Elders and Kingdom Teachers. In September of 2001, the World Sector Leaders “forced” the McKeans to go on sabbatical – though later, some deeply regretted this decision. Applied to McKean were the qualifications of an elder, not an evangelist. The reasoning was that to “oversee” a church, one had to “manage his own family [well or] how can he take care of God’s church.” (1 Timothy 3:4-5) Also cited incorrectly was Proverbs 22:6, “Train a child in the way he should go, and… he will not turn from it.” Left out from this quote is the phrase, “when he is old.” Disregarding what is obviously implied in the phrase “when he is old,” is that during their younger years children may not be faithful to God, but will return to the kingdom because of their good training when they are “old.” (This has now been seen in the SoldOut Movement and the ICOC over and over again.) Even sadder is the lack of grace and appreciation by almost all of the World Sector Leaders, Kingdom Elders and Kingdom Teachers. In the Scriptures, some of God’s and Israel’s greatest leaders had unfaithful children – Aaron, Samuel, and even the Old Testament’s Messiah, David – yet they continued to victoriously lead “all Israel.”

The Destruction Of A Global Movement

At the onset of the sabbatical – shocking to many – most of the World Sector Leaders failed to support the McKeans in their time of crisis. At the time, some World Sector Leaders agreed that because of the unfaithfulness of McKeans’ child, they were now unfit to lead. Some individuals were bitter and in their words, “The McKeans have too high of expectations for us and our churches.” Others, while silent for years, now openly wanted to be autonomous as well as doubting whether the world could be evangelized in a generation. Still others were simply too cowardly to oppose McKeans’ vociferous detractors. Clearly in retrospect, a “domino effect” was beginning to occur: as the World Sector Leaders had drawn back from the McKeans, so now many of World Sector Leaders were being likewise undermined by those under their leadership for similar issues: marriage dynamic, children’s behavior, and leadership style.

This created a leadership vacuum. It was at this point that the Kingdom Elders and Kingdom Teachers chose to elevate themselves. Of note, these two groups were composed entirely of people with their roots in the Mainline Church of Christ. They were fueled by their feelings of under-appreciation and entitlement. Very sadly, this bitter “Absalomic spirit” bonded the Kingdom Elders and Kingdom Teachers. Like Absalom, they initiated a very calculated campaign to “steal the hearts of the men of Israel.” (2 Samuel 15:6) They furthered their influence citing the “great numbers” of those who agreed (2 Timothy 4:3-4), as well as using the concept of “majority opinion” to validate their claims. They heightened the issue of “unbelieving children disqualifying men from leadership” through a series of articles appearing on the Los Angeles ICOC website. Here, they also introduced their “Mainline doctrines” of “consensus leadership” and elders having authority over the very evangelists that appointed them. In the Kingdom Elders’ and Kingdom Teachers’ lessons and local meetings, they viciously attacked the “hierarchical structure of the ICOC,” in which they were subordinated to McKean and the World Sector Leaders. As stated before, this leadership pyramid was McKean’s practical application of Exodus 18:13-26, and was the vehicle that the Spirit used to spread the gospel to 171 nations. They assailed McKean further on his “forceful approach of leadership and preaching” labeling this: “McKean’s militaristic style as a son of an admiral.”

At the forefront of this rebellion was Andy Fleming, the leader of the Kingdom Teachers, and Scott Green, who were both World Sector Leaders with a Mainline background. Fleming and Green, alongside Gordon Ferguson, Doug Jacoby and Sam Laing – Kingdom Teachers – as well as Wyndham Shaw and Bruce Williams – Kingdom Elders – began a focused effort to teach against the Biblical concept of a central leadership with a central leader for God’s people, thus returning the ICOC to the “Mainline theology of autonomy.”

Spear-heading the plan in the LA ICOC was Bruce Williams. He opted to circulate the slander about the McKeans and the “new teachings” through “Family Talks,” each consisting of about 20 Christians. Williams – heightened in his influence by the support of his fellow elder in the LA ICOC Al Baird, who had been a World Sector Leader – travelled throughout the six county area of metropolitan LA, teaching the people that it was McKean’s personality, his “militaristic style of leadership,” and his inability to lead his own family that was the demise of our churches. Ron Harding and three deacons from Williams’ own region openly challenged Williams, calling him to stop the slander. Later that evening, Williams and Baird called Harding on a conference call where they insisted their claims were well-known amongst the leadership and they had McKean’s full approval to talk about the situation with his kids. Harding put into practice Proverbs 18:17 and contacted McKean that night. In his conversation with McKean, Harding was heartbroken when he learned the real truth that the McKeans had never given such approval.

Later Williams and Baird, alongside former World Sector Leaders Marty Fuqua and Peter Garcia of LA, would perpetuate an unprecedented move. These men swayed those who held positions on the Board of Directors to use the authority given to them by the “laws of the United States” to supersede the “laws of the Scriptures” and force out the leader that even they for years had wholeheartedly agreed was “God’s man” – placed in authority by God to lead His movement and maintain unity. Interestingly, there are many movements recorded in the Scriptures. Noah, Moses, Joshua, Nehemiah, David, John the Baptist, and of course Jesus were all raised-up by God to lead remnants of God’s people to become great movements. Near the end of their lives, both Gideon and David personally chose to step away from their positions. However, only one time in all of Scripture is the leader of one of God’s movements ever forced out of his leadership position by the people he led. This occurred in Absalom’s rebellion against David with Absalom suffering the consequence of death. (2 Samuel 15-18) In time, God raised-up David to lead again – just as He has done with McKean! In the Bible, God always “raised-up” and “took out” His leader in “His” timing. God expected His people to trust Him and to wait on His timing instead of rebelling against Him and His leader.

Although the McKeans were fired in April 2003, this date was never announced to the International Churches of Christ. Immediately following the firing of the McKeans, another series of articles about “unbelieving children” was circulated, which essentially began, “We have continued to study the topic of unbelieving children…” Here, these same teachers completely reversed their stance on “unbelieving children” the very principle that was used to force out God’s leader. As of today, not one of the former World Sector Leaders, Kingdom Teachers or Kingdom Elders would say that an unfaithful child disqualifies an evangelist, because many of them have unfaithful children and presently serve as “Lead Evangelists.” The harsh and ungodly treatment of the McKeans in firing them from the ministry, as well as this “double standard” about “unfaithful children,” would have led most couples to become bitter and quit the “fish bowl life” of the ministry. Though wounded, what set the McKeans apart from most couples was their deep conviction that God had called them into the ministry, as well as their constant encouragement to each other to stay righteous before God and loving to their critics, not giving into Satan’s temptations of bitterness and self-pity.

Of special note, only one World Sector Leader Pat Gempel has publically apologized to the McKeans. This she did at the at the 2005 World Missions Jubilee. It’s also important to state that McKean has said, “I’ll never condone in the new movement anyone speaking out naming the men and women in leadership in the ICOC, whose children are unfaithful and especially which of their children have become unfaithful and left God. I have personally felt the devastation it causes in the lives of a family and especially in the lives of the children. I still love all of these families very much. Therefore, I would never intentionally hurt any of these children, as I pray that each of them will return to God and once more be a faithful disciple.” Public character assassination of the McKeans using the condition of their children continues to this day. Yet, the sharp decline of members in the ICOC since McKean’s sabbatical in 2001, testifies to God’s hand being against this ungodly “conspiracy.” (2 Samuel 15 – 18) The rapid increase of disciples and churches in God’s new movement, which God has elevated McKean to oversee, testifies to His approval.

The two most prominent aspects of the Mainline theology adopted by most preachers in the ICOC were: 1) Only a New Testament Church – the Old Testament Scriptures had no authority, especially in the area of leadership. 2) The interpretation of Scripture – “Speak where the Bible speaks, and be silent where the Bible is silent.” Since the New Testament does not explicitly have the term World Sector Leaders, the Kingdom Elders and Kingdom Teachers swayed the rest of the leaders of the ICOC at the Long Beach Unity Meeting in November 2002, to completely dissolve the structured, central leadership. In shame, McKean and the World Sector Leaders who had not yet stepped down were forced to resign their roles at the Long Beach Unity Meeting. (However, the McKeans were still to be paid full-time.)

This upheaval embraced a reactionary “new vision” of congregations that were “so mature” that they no longer needed overseeing evangelists. Most also embraced consensus leadership in the local congregation with no “Lead Evangelist” – as the term “lead evangelist” is not found in the New Testament. At this time, a movement to eliminate a structured outreach (Bible Talks) and structure discipling (Discipleship Partners) arose. McKean’s motivating vision “of the evangelization of the nations in a generation” was called “a good idea” yet “impossible.” Some began to label him as a “false teacher” for this dream, believing that the pressure on the churches to evangelize the world in a generation was the primary source of bitterness in many leaders and in many churches.

The ultimate demise of what was then known and revered as the International Church of Christ came in February 2003, when Henry Kriete, an extremely bitter evangelist in London, released his letter entitled, “Honest to God.” In his letter, Kriete advocated “a time for anger and the overthrowing of temples: I believe the time is now.” The rebellion of some of the World Sector Leaders and all of the Kingdom Elders and Kingdom Teachers was consequently passed on to all the members. Thousands left God confused and angry. Other disciples quietly “walked away” to try to find “the same church elsewhere,” which proved to be in vain. Further confusing the membership was the decision by the Kingdom Elders and Kingdom Teachers in April 2003 to “reopen the door to the Mainline Church of Christ.” McKean – as a loving and concerned “father in the faith” – reminded and warned the LA leadership as well as what was left of the ICOC leadership that most members in the Mainline Church of Christ were not totally committed disciples. (1 Corinthians 4:14-17) He conveyed that trying to merge the “two fellowships” – ICOC and Mainline – would produce more confusion. Not heeding the words of their prophet, as of today, the ICOC has lost its distinctiveness and identity. In fact, almost all ICOC congregations no longer called themselves the International Church of Christ, but simply the Church of Christ. For example, the Chicago International Church of Christ changed their name to the Chicago Church of Christ.

Fired By Men – Approved By God

In April 2003, the McKeans courageously confronted the LA ICOC leadership in the presence of Bob and Pat Gempel, who McKean asked to come as witnesses. Kip and Elena challenged Al Baird, Marty Fuqua, Andy Fleming and Bruce Williams on these issues: 1) Abandoning of discipling; 2) Return to mainline theology, especially autonomy; 3) The silence – the deceit – about this decision with the LA membership; 4) The silence – the deceit – to the LA membership about the incredible numbers leaving the ICOC around the world in every congregation – falling away or walking away; 5) Calling the dream of the evangelization of the nations in a generation, ”Impossible.” McKean reiterated at the meeting, “The dream of an evangelized world is not only possible, but it was accomplished in the first century and is the command of God.” The McKeans were fired for these convictions. Now with little support from any disciples anywhere, heroically McKean takes his stand and writes Revolution through Restoration Part 3: From Babylon to Zion. In this treatise of faith, despite all the opposition and abandonment of many once faithful brothers, McKean has been able to realize all the more the sovereignty of God and how He uses seemingly down and disastrous times as a means to propel the gospel of Jesus around the globe. He also humbly assesses his leadership, as well as what was godly and right in the Boston Movement, which became the ICOC. He documents where his and others’ sins and short-comings were addressed with little or no mercy and forgiveness. McKean concludes that this lack of love was ultimately responsible for the demise of what was once God’s movement.

The Spirit Moves The McKeans To Portland, Oregon

In early July of 2003, at the invitation of the leadership of the Portland International Church of Christ, Kip and Elena moved to Portland, Oregon to lead a hurting and devastated church. At one time, the Portland Church had almost 300 members. At the McKeans’ first midweek, they set up only 25 chairs. Over the next three years, the Portland Church experienced unprecedented growth to over 500 in attendance on Sunday (with almost 400 in the membership) when they handed over the leadership of the church as they left on the “LA Mission Team” in early 2007. During the years following the Kriete Letter, the Portland International Church of Christ – under McKean’s gutsy leadership – was the fastest growing congregation of the ICOC churches in the world!

The revival of the Portland Church centered in McKean’s dynamic preaching of the Word and his call for every member’s heart to obey it. Bible Talks, Discipleship Partners and a College/Teen Devotional were quickly reinstated. The turning point came early on when McKean, though weakened but faithful and wiser after over two years of intense suffering, called for an “Evening of Atonement.” On Wednesday evening, August 13, 2003, over 100 people gathered to share their repentance to God and to each other publically. Tony Untalan and Jeremy Ciaramella were the first to share, apologizing by tears and mentioning specific people in the crowd that they had sinned against. It moved everyone to tears. The sharing lasted almost three hours. Through this effort, about 50 disciples returned to be members of the Portland Church. By January 2004, the Portland Church numbered 120 disciples and word began to spread across America and in fact around the globe that “things were happening in Portland!” Over the next three years, individuals from 26 different states moved to Portland where many exclaimed upon their arrival, “This is the church I was baptized in!” It was such a powerful time that DJ and Kacie Comisford – who moved from Ohio to be a part of the growing revival in the perpetually rainy city of Portland – wrote about their experience in a song:

The Portland Song:

Wasted—away here

When it was suddenly revealed

That we couldn’t make it here without rain!

What a shame!

Patiently waiting, begging God constantly praying

Please lead us to greener pastures!

God is there anywhere to go?

Is there any hope to grow again?

Where are the people that still dream?

Please bring us times of refreshin’.

Then He sent hope from the West Coast!

There’s plenty of rain on the West Coast!

Welcome to Portland, Oregon

Where the rain is pourin’

Hope your soul feels at home.

All the people criticizin’

But we are just baptizin’

Got plenty of H20!

And you say hey-o welcome home!

And you say hey-o welcome home!

Came here with nothing

But with the faith

God could do something great!

Now this was more than we asked for

That’s for sure!

You shared your faith

You shared your dreams

Gave us love

Helped us to believe

You were the answer to our prayer!

God provided a place to go

He gave us hope to grow again!

And here are the people that still dream

Now are the times of refreshin’.

And we found hope on the West Coast!

There’s plenty of rain on the West Coast!

Welcome to Portland, Oregon

Where the rain is pourin’

Hope your soul feels at home.

All the people criticizin’

But we are just baptizin’

Got plenty of H2O!

And you say hey-o welcome home!

And you say hey-o welcome home!

The Global Internet Ministry Begins

To propel the message that God put on his heart, McKean relied heavily on Jeremy Ciaramella to build a website, not just simply for the Portland Church, but a website that would appeal to the faithful remnant around the world. The name Upsidedown21 was selected since the first century church “turned the world upsidedown.” (Acts 17:6 RSV) The “21” represented that this call would be echoed in the twenty-first century. The weekly bulletin article of the Portland Church was displayed on the USD21 website. Quite creatively, this article was translated into seven other languages also displayed on the website. Feedback from the website was tremendous. Most of the people that ended up moving to Portland first got interested through the articles and McKean’s sermons online. McKean realized there was an entirely new frontier for unifying the people of God and evangelizing the world in a generation. This led him to yet another innovative and creative move, the appointing of Jeremy Ciaramella as the first CyberEvanglist at the 2004 Jubilee! (As of 2009, Ron Harding became the Lead CyberEvangelist for the SoldOut Movement’s Global Internet Ministries, with Jeremy Ciaramella and Rob Onekea assisting him.)

The Portland Controversy

In the summer of 2004, just one year after coming to Portland, McKean and the Portland Church hosted the first World Missions Jubilee entitled, The Lord of the Fellowship. Many leaders of the ICOC attended – some genuinely interested in the incredible growth in the Portland Church. Others came skeptical and scornful. Trying desperately to bring reform, repentance and unity to what remained of the ICOC, McKean asked several of the more influential leaders in what remained of the ICOC to speak on the program. Most accepted this invitation. However, controversy followed as McKean delivered one of the most impassioned pleas for world evangelism through discipleship in his message, A Great Light Has Dawned. In 2005, the World Missions Jubilee was entitled UpsideDown21. It was at this time that McKean decided that the only way to salvage the ICOC was by “calling out the remnant.” Tremendous controversy followed. In September, in reaction to McKean’s calling out the remnant, he was “uninvited” by Scott Green from speaking at the ICOC leadership gathering in Seattle.

In Phoenix, adding fuel to the fire, Chris and Sonja Chloupek – former high-profile ministry leaders in the LA ICOC – after visiting the Portland Church, decided to confront Gordon Ferguson , one of the Kingdom Teachers and preacher for the Phoenix Valley Church of Christ (formerly the Phoenix International Church of Christ). They challenged him on the lukewarmness in the Phoenix congregation, as well as the hundreds of disciples that were falling and walking away. They appealed to Ferguson to ask McKean for help. In anger, Ferguson refused to seek help. Seeing his hardness of heart, the Chloupeks asked McKean if he would back them in starting what came to be known as the first “remnant group.” Now, all around the world, the term “Portland Movement” began to be whispered.

In October 2005, 65 evangelists and elders from some of the remaining congregations of the International Church of Christ wrote a letter criticizing McKean. They confronted him on being “divisive” not realizing that Jesus came to bring division (Luke 12:51) and not realizing that divisiveness can be of God when someone preaches the Word. There were four charges against him: 1) His words were unwholesome, as he called the ICOC churches lukewarm; 2) The charge of divisiveness continued as the move-ins to Portland were called “sheep stealing” instead of the Spirit moving them to a place of revival; 3) McKean was called divisive because he accepted the invitation of evangelists in other places – such as Raul Moreno in Santiago, Chile – for the discipling of their lives and churches; 4) McKean supported any group of disciples that gathered from what was left of the ICOC to start a new church of “sold-out disciples.” A forceful yet humble response letter entitled, A Concern For All The Churches was written by McKean and the leaders of the Portland International Church of Christ. A second letter was written in response to Portland’s A Concern For All The Churches. This letter, signed by 85 leaders in the ICOC, officially marked McKean as divisive and not to be associated with. However, many members around the world saw that envy, jealousy and insecurity were at the root of these attacks. (Psalm 106:16) Inspired by McKean’s stand that autumn and his series in the Portland Bulletin: God’s Mandate For World Evangelism, the Kiev (Ukraine) Remnant Group of 25 disciples was formed in December 2005 by Maxim Potapov.

The Birth Of The SoldOut Movement

Despite all of the criticisms from within the ICOC, the Portland Church continued to multiply disciples through not only baptisms but more and more “remnant disciples” moving to Portland to find spiritual revival and refreshment. Also, Chris & Theresa Broom, leaders of the Central New York Church of Christ, made a courageous decision in early 2006 to call their congregation to “fully join” with McKean. In the early summer of 2006, the Brooms led a mission team composed of Syracuse and Portland disciples, joined with a small remnant group in Chicago, and planted the first “new church” of what was clearly becoming a new movement. In August 2006, the third World Missions Jubilee was held. It was aptly entitled, Follow The Fire. In attendance was the new full-time minister from the Hilo International Church of Christ, Kyle Bartholomew. Kyle was converted in 2001 from the University of Hawaii – Hilo. He was the star and captain of their basketball team. Confident and charismatic, he realized that he was untrained for the work of the ministry. After participating in the Jubilee, he asked Kip & Elena to disciple him and his wife, Joan. Upon being asked to disciple Kyle, McKean asked Kyle, “You do realize how controversial the Portland Church is? If I disciple you, you will become equally as controversial.” Without any hesitation, Kyle responded, “I see no other possible alternative for my wife & me, and no hope for Hilo if you do not come.”

In May 2008, Kyle wrote an article for the City of Angels Church bulletin entitled,Hope for the Islands! He recapped the history of discipling ministries in the Hawaiian Islands including his conversion: “When I was baptized as a disciple on July 29, 2001 through the efforts of the Hilo International Church of Christ, I was blown away by the commitment, passion and love that I saw in each and every disciple. What inspired me most was the dream that each disciple shared to evangelize the Islands, the Pacific Rim and ultimately the world in their generation. In 2001, there were about 60 disciples in Hilo, 75 in Maui and around 1,000 in Oahu – every disciple believed this dream was possible, and so did I!

Sadly, in November 2002 after the ICOC leadership’s decision to return to a more mainline Church of Christ theology, as well as the advent of the “Kriete Letter” in early 2003, so many beloved aspects of ‘my church’ began to change. Gone was a fellowship where every member was a practicing disciple of Jesus. Gone was the deep love for one another through discipling relationships. And gone was the dream to evangelize the Islands and the world. By 2006, membership was declining at an alarming rate! Oahu dropped from 1,000 disciples to 200; Hilo went from almost 60 disciples to 38; and Maui was reduced from 75 disciples to 25. Oahu went from six full-time couples to two, and both Hilo and Maui went from a full-time couple leading each congregation to untrained volunteers, as vision and then contribution plummeted. Baptisms became extremely rare, restorations were almost non-existent and there had not been a single church planted from the Islands for over six long years. It was obvious to me that something needed to change!

In late 2006, I was asked by the “leadership group” of the Hilo ICOC to be the minister. They were indeed desperate as the Hilo Church had not had a baptism for over a year! Since I was untrained, I was convinced we needed additional help. Therefore, in considering which church to ask for help, I decided to attend the Portland World Missions Jubilee. I was so in awe of God so obviously working through the Portland Church, as the fastest growing church in the ICOC at that time, that I asked Kip and Elena to disciple Joan and me. Thankfully, they agreed. One month later, the McKeans came to help us rebuild the Hilo Church’s foundation to be composed of only disciples (1 Corinthians 3:10-11). After an eventful weekend of Kip and Elena’s preaching, God left us with a “Gideon-like” twelve disciples, whose dream was to once again evangelize the world in our generation! The other 26 members, many of whom were lukewarm, started a new congregation with the help of evangelists from both the LA ICOC and the Oahu Church of Christ. Not having a baptism for over a year in Hilo, yet starting with twelve sold-out disciples, God blessed us with 20 baptisms that next year! Sadly, yet to the point, the congregation that was started in opposition to Kip’s and my vision of world evangelism through God’s plan of discipling, still has not seen a baptism to this day.”

Upon the McKeans’ return to Portland, the Portland leaders, as well as others who believed in Jesus’ dream for the evangelization of the nations in one generation, pleaded with McKean to realize that the Spirit was initiating a “new movement” by calling him to start again. On October 15, 2006, McKean published in the Portland Church Bulletin the first of a three-part series entitled, Partners In The Gospel. Though the names “Portland Movement” and “SoldOut Movement” had been used by detractors for over a year, this first article was the formal announcement of a new family of churches, a new movement of God!

The Spirit Takes The McKeans To Los Angeles

Inspired by divine wisdom, Jesus centered the first century movement of disciples not in the small towns of Galilee where He for the most part ministered, but in the largest of Jewish cities – Jerusalem. Later the center for the church would move to the most influential city in the whole world – Rome. Realizing that the size and accessibility of the city of Portland was limiting for a worldwide movement, the McKeans laid a fleece before God about where to move. The Lord put upon their heart to move to either New York City or Los Angeles. The fleece was simply: wherever the remnant group came out first, this would be the place from which to build again. In late October, God answered the prayer with a small remnant group – gathered by the Spirit working through Ron & Tracy Harding and Sal & Patricia Velasco. Though composed of only 20 disciples, the persecution was quite vicious. A formal letter was sent out by the LA ICOC leadership wrongly disfellowshipping these few valiant disciples. Without question, the LA ICOC leadership – now overseeing a congregation of less than 5,000 – felt threatened as they had witnessed over 5,000 of their members walk away or fall away since the Kriete Letter and the unjust firing of the McKeans.

In the meantime, Kip & Elena – seeing the hand of God leading them – came to Los Angeles to minister to the remnant group and to climb their beloved “Mt. Shalom” (aka Mt. Hollywood) to vow to God that they would be faithful to His vision to the end. By January 2007, plans had been made to raise $150,000 to send a 40 disciple mission team from Portland to Los Angeles. The leadership of the Portland Church was given to Steve & Lisa Johnson (who later led many in the Portland Church astray with their hidden convictions on autonomy). The Inaugural Service of the City of Angels International Christian Church was May 6, 2007. They had an attendance of 324. The 2007 World Missions Jubilee was held in Portland because McKean felt that the young church planting should not be distracted with all of the necessary preparations for a Jubilee. Also to encourage the Portland Church, the McKeans wanted to return with many of the newly baptized disciples from the mission team’s efforts. This would demonstrate that the Portland Church’s sacrifice of disciples and finances was more than worth it. The Jubilee was entitled, King of Kings.

By the end of the first year of the City of Angels Church, 103 were baptized into Christ. McKean’s gifted ability to raise-up evangelists was once again witnessed as early on in the second year and unparalleled in the history of discipling churches in America, two mission teams were sent out: Honolulu, Hawaii – led by Kyle & Joan Bartholomew, and New York City – led by DJ & Kacie Comisford. In August 2008, the fourth World Missions Jubilee was held in Los Angeles and entitled, Declare His Glory Among The Nations. At this historic event, not only was the New York City Mission Team sent out, but the Washington DC Mission Team, led by Andrew and Patrique Smellie and composed of disciples from Syracuse, was sent out as well. The highlight of the Jubilee was McKean’s announcement of the forming of the Central Leadership Council (CLC) of the SoldOut Movement. The McKeans – after many hours of prayer and counsel – selected evangelist couples: Chris & Theresa Broom, DJ & Kacie Comisford, Andrew & Patrique Smellie, and Matt & Helen Sullivan, as well as shepherding couples: Nick & Denise Bordieri and Tony & Therese Untalan. McKean made it very clear that their permanent appointment as World Sector Leaders would be based on their “walk with God and their future impact.” (A year later, Michael and Sharon Kirchner were added to the CLC as the administrative couple for the movement.)

Another historic decision announced at the Jubilee was the creation of MERCYworldwide. In the Boston Movement, the benevolent arm of the church was called HOPEworldwide. “HOPE” was officially started in 1991 under the leadership of Bob & Pat Gempel. With the World Sector Leaders as the Board of Directors (with McKean as the Chairman of the Board), HOPE became one of the most powerful and respected religious charities in the world as all the members of every church could be mobilized as volunteers, thus having a “worldwide” impact. Eventually, HOPE had projects in almost 100 countries. HOPE’s impact declined rapidly when the ICOC churches became autonomous. No longer could disciples be mobilized for worldwide projects, but also many church leaders had no desire to continue to fund a centralized organization. Interestingly, HOPE was officially founded in 1991 in the twelfth year of the Boston Movement. McKean saw how HOPE had opened the door of evangelism to many nations, such as India and Israel. Therefore, creating a “new HOPE” was a very high priority in his desire to fulfill Jesus’ dream of the evangelization of the nations in this generation. MERCYworldwide was begun at the end of the SoldOut Movement’s second year. The Directors of “MERCY” are Nick & Denise Bordieri.

The Portland Church Is Led Astray

Also at the 2008 Jubilee, the travesty of Steve & Lisa Johnson’s abandonment (a second time) from Kip & Elena McKean and Jesus’ dream for the evangelization of the nations in a generation became apparent. In his Jubilee speech, Steve foreshadowed their eminent departure from the movement with the opening words, “This is probably the last time I will be speaking to you at the Jubilee.”

Two weeks after the Jubilee, Steve Johnson officially broke from the SoldOut Movement, when he delivered a Wednesday midweek sermon on autonomy – precipitated by not wanting to pay a price that he and Lisa deemed too high to remain in the movement – the loosing of most of their relationships in the ICOC and the Mainline Churches – their roots. Though subtly taught by the Johnsons after the Spirit had sent the McKeans to LA, now the Johnsons came out and vehemently opposed a central leadership with a central leader for a family of churches.

Largely through the efforts of Jeremy Ciaramella, the minister for the Eugene Church – planted from Portland in January 2004, a Portland Remnant Group quickly formed in reaction to Johnson’s unbiblical teachings. These heroic souls could not conceive being a part of a very mainline worship service, into which the Portland Church immediately morphed. Upon news of this incident, critics seized the opportunity to attack McKean and God’s young movement. Stepping to the forefront was Chris Broom – the Lead Evangelist of the Chicago International Christian Church. Broom composed a very profound document detailing the destructive departure of the ICOC to Mainline theology, paralleling this to the Johnsons’ deceit-filled leaving from the SoldOut Movement, which directly caused the Portland Church to crash from 400 to less than 200 in attendance. This letter was entitled, A Portland Report According To My Convictions.

With the forming of the Portland Remnant Group, it was essential in McKean’s mind to reestablish a dynamic discipling ministry in Portland, since the city was the birth place of the movement. Though not fully trained, Ron & Tracy Harding accepted the invitation to lead a mission team from LA to Portland. The Portland Remnant Group joined the Mission Team in late 2008. The Inaugural Service of the new Portland International Christian Church was held in January 11, 2009 with 262 in attendance. Incredibly, this was the third church planting from the City of Angels Church in its first year and a half of existence.

The Crown Of Thorns Project

In 2008, the Central Leadership Council decided that the World Missions Jubilee would be a bi-annual event hosted by the City of Angels Church. In the “off years,” a Global Leadership Conference would be held in various cities around the world. The theme for the 2009 Global Leadership Conference (GLC) was Go Into All The World. It was held in early August and leaders from 20 different nations traveled to Los Angeles to participate. The following is a section of McKean’s first-hand account of the GLC as recorded in the City of Angels Church Bulletin:

“At the end of the lesson, I presented The Crown of Thorns Project. Remembering that Jesus said to the faithful Eleven, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” To evangelize the world, we must begin by evangelizing “our Judea,” the United States. In less than three years of existence, the SoldOut Movement has planted dynamic discipling churches in the four most influential cities of America – New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington DC – as well as in Portland, Honolulu, Hilo, Syracuse, Eugene and Phoenix. (These churches do not include several heroic remnant churches.) The US congregations will provide the needed resources – disciples and finances – to go “to the ends of the earth.” Therefore, to build on last year’s Five Year Plan, we must plan to encircle the globe with unified discipling churches on the other five populated continents. Listed are the 12 targeted international cities that form a redemptive “crown of thorns” around the world: Santiago, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, London, Paris, Cairo, Johannesburg, Moscow, Chennai or Delhi, India, Hong Kong, Manila and Sydney. It was so exciting that during the conference Sasha and Louisa Kostenko of Moscow, Russia and Joe and Kerry Willis of Brisbane, Australia solidified plans to move to LA for strengthening and further training. Of note, Sasha and Louisa were the number three and four baptisms when Elena and I planted the original Moscow Church in 1991. (The Moscow Church saw 850 baptisms in its first year!) In time, Sasha and Louisa married, went into the ministry, and by the year 2001, they led the 11,500 disciples of the 15 nations of the former Soviet Union! As He promised, our God is gathering a remnant from “the farthest horizons.” (Nehemiah 1:8-9) It’s happening!”

From the 2009 GLC, The Crown of Thorns Project has become a rallying vision for the movement.

The New Movement Multiplies

In early 2010, God used the City of Angels Church to send a small mission team to San Diego led by Vic & Aurora Gonzalez. Their Inaugural Service was held on February 7, 2010 with over 100 in attendance. In May of 2010, the City of Angels International Christian Church celebrated their third anniversary. The service was concluded with the sending out of Oleg & Aliona Sirotkin to “officially” plant the Kiev International Christian Church, which became the fifth church planting of the City of Angels Church. The young Kiev Church averages over 100 in attendance every Sunday. The sixth church planting of the City of Angels Church, Lord willing, will be to London, England – the second “Crown of Thorns” city to be planted after Santiago. The London Mission Team will be led by Michael & Michele Williamson and will be sent out at the 2010 World Missions Jubilee – EXODUS.

The Lord has blessed the City of Angels Church with over 100 baptisms in each of its three years of existence. However, the true impact of McKean’s visionary and inventive leadership comes from not only the multiplying of disciples in Los Angeles, but the multiplying of churches planted from LA. Even now, these churches are beginning to multiply leaders as DJ & Kacie Comisford of New York City have recently sent out Steve & Kithy Ranga to lead the Syracuse Church. During these past three years, 68 disciples have been sent out from LA to Honolulu, New York City, Portland, San Diego and Kiev as mission teams, as well as for the leaderships of Santiago, Washington DC and Hilo.

When one counts the sending of Steve & Kithy Ranga, in just three years time, the original 42 members of the City of Angels Mission Team sent out from Portland have multiplied into almost 800 disciples with a Sunday attendance approaching 1,500. Overall, through church plantings and remnant groups – collectively numbering about 40 – the SoldOut Movement is in 18 countries: Australia, Chile, Curacao, Democratic Republic of Congo, England, Ethiopia, Estonia, Germany, Guam, India, Kenya, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Suriname, Sweden, Ukraine and the United States of America.

Faithful To The End

McKean’s uncompromising call from the Scriptures to all who would follow Jesus has remained the same for his 35 years in the ministry: “Go anywhere, do anything, give up everything.” For he believes that Jesus’ dream for the evangelization of the nations in this generation can only be accomplished through a movement composed of only sold-out disciples. Most mornings “while it is still dark” McKean prays that before he dies, the Lord will allow him to write as Paul did, “This gospel has been proclaimed to every creature under Heaven.”

Ron Harding
July 20, 2010
*The main sources for this biography were an earlier account on this same website written by Jeremy Ciaramella and Chuck Hess, as well as Kip’s Revolution Through Restoration I, II and III. Also, thanks goes to Kip and Elena McKean for the many conversations and emails that allowed me to have first hand information on all the contents of this entire article. My prayer is that this commentary will silence Satan’s lies about a true man of God, Kip McKean.

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