Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Several years ago Kip McKean was removed from the leadership of the LA Church after a call to repent from various sins. Since then, commended elders and evangelists from around the world have had numerous discussions with Kip to plead with him to repent and \produce fruit in keeping with repentance.\ (Matthew 3:8) These many efforts (1st Letter, 2nd Letter and Phoenix Letter) led 84 church leaders to obey Jesus\' direction given in Matthew 18:15 with a public call to repentance and ultimately a withdrawal of fellowship. Some of the closing words in their second letter were:

\From our deep concern for your soul and to protect the flock, we must continue to oppose you as long as you try to divide disciples from one another. Out of reverence for God and love for you and all of his people, we commit to obeying these Scriptures which tell us to have no further fellowship with you until you repent...\

Regretfully, Kip has not responded to this call. Instead, despite recent assertions to the contrary, he has chosen to sinfully attack and condemn both the members and leaders of the LA Church and is leading an effort to divide God\'s Church and reassert his leadership over disciples in Los Angeles.

On October 7th, we wrote the following letter to be distributed to the small group leaders of the LA Church informing them of recent divisive actions that had been taken toward God\'s family here in LA.

(See October 7 Letter)

Because of these unrepentant deceitful and divisive actions, and after careful consideration, we are publicly marking Kip McKean, the force behind these efforts, Sal Valasco, the local leader of this faction, and whoever else promotes this action with them. We are all commanded by God\'s Word to \to keep away from them\ (Romans 16:17) and \have nothing to do with them.\ (Titus 3:10)

To communicate clearly, this means:

1. Do not attend any of their meetings.
2. Do not engage in any conversations with them about their group or the LA Church.
3. Do not allow anyone to deceive you or cause you to rationalize or minimize the sinfulness of these actions.
4. This applies not only to your contact with Kip McKean, Sal Valasco, and Ron Harding, but also with anyone associated with this splinter group.
5. It is important to understand that anyone who joins this faction will no longer be considered in fellowship with the LA Church.

As stated in our October 7th letter, we recognize that obedience to this command may be emotionally difficult for those having past relationships with some of these brothers and sisters; however, God commands this boundary to protect the unity of his family, the church for which Christ died. If at some time in the future, any of these divisive brothers and sisters notifies the LA Church leadership of their genuine desire to repent, we will welcome them with open arms and notify the church of their repentance.

In closing, we encourage everyone to work for the same unity for which Jesus prayed within hours of going to the cross (John 17). There is no biblical authority or spiritual justification for dividing the family of God. There is also no place in scripture where an evangelist is called by God to go anywhere to divide God\'s church. In actual fact, evangelists, elders and teachers are put in God\'s church \so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith....\ (Eph 4:12-13) These actions are the antithesis of the powerfully positive command for all Christians to \make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit...\ (Eph 4:3-4)

We are so very thankful that the Lord has blessed the LA Church family with incredible unity, growth, and progress during 2006; we rejoice that God has already worked to bring almost 400 souls to be baptized or restored in the first nine months of this year! In 2006, God moved in your hearts to give over $1.4 million in special contribution, primarily for world missions, and over $176,000 in benevolence for the poor in support of Hope LA and Hope Worldwide. This past summer, we were able to see the Lord give faith and vision to many campus ministries so that now there is revival here and around the world.

Let\'s all pray that God will move powerfully to protect our congregation from this sinful threat and that we will continually strive to be on a path of humility before God and one another and have faith that He will do more than we are able to ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20)