Great to be on the Radio Again

With the Mango Radio FM Staff after they graciously hosted the team.

As many of you know, I was a DJ on Edge Radio Davao for five years until they, unfortunately, lost their frequency. I was heartbroken to lose such a chance to reach the lost.

While the HHTN team was here, Gordon asked if he could be on the radio. Thankfully, both the Christian AM stations DXFE and Mango Radio FM agreed to interview the HHTN team and I got to be live on the air again as we ministered over the airways.

Mango radio even mentioned they will consider giving me a radio show in the future. Please pray for that as it would be a dream come true for me.

Healing Miracle in Agdao

Many newsletters ago, I wrote about a young man named Kulot who attends our Street Church in Agdao who was thankful for the garbage because when he recycles it, he has enough money to eat the next day. In May, his father, who is the breadwinner for five children suddenly collapsed and was not able to move his leg. They did not have enough money to even see a doctor.

Thankfully our missionary friend Barry went into his house and preached the Gospel to the whole family, and then had the whole family unify to pray for the father’s healing. After the family prayed for supernatural healing, he started to recover and now he is fully healed!  All Glory to God alone!

India has come Here to be Saved

God opened the door for some very unique ministry here in Davao City. After praying, the Lord prompted me to contact a long time acquaintance with a big personality and asked him if our team could help him.

He is an Asian-Indian missionary who has a ministry to the thousands of Indian nationals to come to the Philippines to study medicine. Our team ministered to two of the several Bible studies that my friend holds every night of the week in various unannounced locations to avoid persecution. 

During one of our meetings one man from another faith and several Hindus were saved. These precious people are getting saved and discipled here in the Philippines and will go back to India as doctors. Hallelujah!

Up in the Dumps

The Davao City Landfill is in the strangest of places about thirty minutes out of town. Location is everything and this particular place has a “million-dollar” view of remote jungle mountains. I’m not sure who thought such a place would be worthy of a landfill, but it is also home to many poor families who live next to the dump and make their livelihood by rummaging through the smelly garbage and recycling whatever they can find of value. Sadly, many of these people are sick.

I drove the team to minister house to house to these precious people. One young man was unable to move and coughing up blood. After the team prayed for him, he smiled and almost immediately recovered. Hallelujah!

Remote Church in the City

If you know me, you know I would rather preach in a jungle church with no walls than in the most beautiful of cathedrals. While hosting Gordon and the HHTN team, I was grounded from taking long road trips due to my recovery from surgery. To my delight, we made contact with a new pastor in Davao who invited us to his church.

We drove deep into the slums of Davao City where the road became too narrow to navigate. I parked my vehicle where we boarded tricycles and took a long, winding drive until they could go no further. We then hiked through a maze of muddy trails in the darkness. Gordon, who is 70, outperformed me on the trail and jokingly called me “grandpa” as I tried to keep up with my wobbly cane.

When we reached the church, the floor was made of dirt and it was exactly the type of church where I feel most at home. When our team ministered, the Holy Spirit came in indescribable power. The pastor and his church were overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit. Even the little children were weeping the Presence of God. It was a sovereign move of God that I have only seen a handful of times in my life. All Glory to Him alone.

Beautiful Church with a dirt floor

Gordon Hofer and his Team

In the midst of the physical storm following the spider bite, my dear friend, Gordon Hofer and his Healing the Heartache of the Nations missions team came from the USA. I hosted them even in my condition and we had an amazing time together. We ministered in the dump, jails, tribal churches, nice churches, and even to prostitutes on the street. God favored us in so many ways. One day, Gordon preached in the city dump and the next day, he prayed for the President’s daughter who is the mayor of Davao City. While I cannot even write about everything that happened, the next few posts following this one will have many highlights of that trip.

Spider Bite from the Enemy

In June, the Presbyterian Church that I preached in last December in Maragusan, Compostella Valley graciously invited me back. I preached two services there and many were physically healed and filled with the Holy Spirit.

During that trip, I somehow acquired a dangerous MRSA (Staph) infection in a wound left by a spider bite just above my knee.

To make a long story short, MRSA can be life-threatening and over the course of weeks, I needed to have several tests, tons of antibiotics and medicine, painful cleanings, and finally an IV sedated surgery to close the wound. Surgery is never fun anywhere in the world, especially in an emerging nation. I had to walk with a cane for about a month after the surgery. I’m currently walking, and stretching every day until my full mobility comes back. Overall, I’m so thankful to God to be MRSA-free and getting better every day!

Powerful Youth Camp

Summer youth camps are in full swing and I had the honor to speak at a powerful youth camp in Baganga. My first session I gave a salvation message and almost all of the youth swarmed the altar in repentance. One of the best services I have seen in a long time was that evening as the youth circled around a bonfire as I preached on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. During the ministry time, the Lord moved very powerfully as many youth were filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time.

Jail Ministry to the Perishing

Jail Ministry Team

I was invited to help my friend Pastor Luis with his Jail ministry in the Davao City Jail. I had my good friend Evangelist Barry Myers visiting from Arizona at the time, so we gave him the opportunity to preach to the inmates. About 50 or 60 men gave their lives to Jesus during that service. After the service, pastor Luis fed all the inmates who came. The sobering thing about the timing of our ministry was the Davao City Police conducted a raid on the jail just twelve hours after we exited the jail. The police were ambushed by a cell of armed inmates who had bladed weapons and a zip gun! They wounded 3 police officers! In response, the police met them deadly force and 4 inmates perished. We went into that jail with the message of eternal life and I hope we can go back inside again soon.

Isla Verde Fire (Again)

There was a devastating fire in the community of Isla Verde, Davao City that burned about 200 homes, two churches, and a missionary school in the poorest of the poor areas. Several of the Bagdao tribe lost everything they owned. The worst thing is this happened five years ago in the same place and we helped them then too!

Five years ago, many children died during the time their families were displaced in refugee camps. This time, I have been there three times bringing disaster supplies to help the people. The most striking moment was as we gave out a meager one kilogram of rice to each family, one family immediately put the rice in their pot to cook it! These people are in great need. Please pray for them to recover and for us to be able to help them recover and communicate the love of Jesus to them in the process.