Our name |
We are grateful to the Lord for the opportunities and honor to learn and do ministry in the name “Sunrise” from 2000 to 2023. However, after examining the Scripture’s teaching on the true meaning of discipleship, the church, and the Great Commission, and reflecting on our 20+ years of pastoral ministry, the COVID pandemic's impact on the world, and 5 years of experience in the front-line of cross-cultural missions, we sensed that God wanted to renew our vision so that our lives and ministries would align more with God’s kingdom and plan for His people and for the world. Therefore, after a time of prayer our leadership decided to officially change the name of our ministry to “To The Nations.”
We believe that the name “To The Nations” accurately conveys the missional identity and calling of the church as the continuation of Jesus’ mission from the Father to the world, and as the community of disciples obeying the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. |
our story |
In 2000, Abraham (Jimmy) and his wife were part of the pastoral team of a new church plant in Los Angeles, California, utilizing the traditional church growth mindset of attracting people to church meetings. For about 15 years, they saw some growth among church members but minimal impact in the community and had almost no engagement in cross-cultural ministry or global missions.
In 2001, Abraham received his Master of Divinity from Talbot School of Theology of Biola University in California. In 2003, Abraham became the Lead/Senior Pastor of the church for the next 20 years. In 2005, Abraham and his wife received prophetic words from a pastor that one day their ministry will send out many missionaries but, at the same time, there will also be a time of turmoil and testing. Even though they did not know if, how, and when these prophetic words would come true, they kept these words in their hearts. In 2011, our ministry started a House of Prayer in Los Angeles with the vision of united prayer among churches and city-wide revival. In 2015, our church transitioned from the traditional way of attracting people to church meetings to equipping and sending their members to make disciples and start simple churches/DBS groups in the community and on online platforms. They saw amazing missional breakthroughs with more people coming to the Lord. Simple churches/DBS groups were started by ordinary disciples who were eager to learn disciple making outside of the four walls of the church building. In 2016, our local church was transformed into a mission center with a house of prayer, a training base, and a multi-cultural disciple making network. In 2017, our ministry sent out a pastoral staff to start a house of prayer in a major city in China. In 2018, Abraham and his family moved to the Middle East to catalyze disciple making movements among Muslim background refugees while continuing to provide missional and pastoral leadership to the houses of prayer and the disciple making networks in Los Angeles and China. In 2019, Abraham received his Doctor of Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary in California. In 2020, our leadership sensed that the COVID pandemic and the global lockdown were a wakeup call and a divine confirmation for the church to restore her mission to be sent to the lost world to witness the hope of the gospel in the face of fear and death and to be prepared for the End Times. Instead of waiting for the pandemic to pass so that the church can "open" again, we believed that for several years brothers and sisters in the disciple making network have been prepared by God for "such a time as this." Therefore, in the midst of the pandemic lockdown, we empowered every believer to be a disciple maker by being an example and coaching others in utilizing creative ways to make disciples and start simple churches/DBS groups locally and overseas while the churches and the nations were still in lockdown. In 2021, when Abraham and his wife realized that the prophetic words received 16 years ago seemed starting to come true regarding both missions and testing, the same prophetic pastor gave Jimmy a prophetic new name: Abraham. In 2023, our Middle East mission team participated in earthquake relief efforts in another country in the Middle East and started catalyzing disciple making movements among earthquake survivors. In 2023, our leadership sensed that the Lord wanted to renew our vision and decided to officially change the ministry's name to “To The Nations.” |