Please Help Us Win Souls in Trento

Next week, we are doing what potentially will be the largest soul-winning event in the history of our ministry. We have four bands lined up for a city-wide free concert in Trento, Agusan del Sur, Philippines.

Jesus said in Mark 4:19, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” We are using the bait of music to draw people into this indoor gymnasium to preach the Gospel to them. We are expecting a huge crowd as we have promoted this concert in every high school and college campus in the town and have been announcing it on the radio.

Hanging a poster right in front of the biggest store in Trento.

Hanging a poster right in front of the biggest store in Trento.

We have over twenty pastors from multiple denominations praying for us and helping us with this event. They said they have been praying for something like this and no one has held an evangelistic concert like this in Trento since the 1990’s.

Inside the Trnto Gymnasium with Mayor John Mark Billanes.

Inside the Trento Gymnasium with Mayor Billanes.

We have experienced tremendous favor over this event including meeting the mayor through a divine appointment.  We went to gymnasium check out the concert venue and the mayor “just happened” to be there. He personally asked us to announce the event on all the radio stations in the town.

Promoting the Christian concert on "Secular Radio" 91.7FM

Promoting the Christian concert on “secular” radio 91.7 Life FM in Trento.

The one thing we are missing is full financial support. This is going to be a very expensive endeavor for us. We need help covering this event including renting the gym, prizes for the games, transportation, food and lodging for our ministry team. We estimate that this event will cost us about $950 including purchasing our own stage lights (about $450).

Would you please consider financially supporting us as we reach lost souls in Trento through this concert?

We just got to hang posters right outside the gym.

Upcoming Outreach in Trento

The Trento Indoor Gymnasium

We are so excited to let you know that we are launching a new stage of our ministry called “The Refuge OUT.” We are doing a series of road show concerts with the full purpose of spreading the Gospel throughout Mindanao.

We are starting our concert tour in Trento, Agusan del Sur.  Trento is a tiny town that was severely damaged during Typhoon Pablo and mostly passed over and forgotten by aid agencies. Edge Radio Trento is partnering with us to promote and host this concert. We are renting the town’s brand new indoor gymnasium with the potential of reaching multiple hundreds of people with the Gospel.

Trento Gym

Thankfully, we have already found someone who will let us borrow their sound system, but we have immediate financial needs for this concert to go forward.  First, we need to purchase or rent lighting. A minimal lighting setup will cost about $500 while renting a professional lighting setup will cost about $250 per event. If we can buy our own equipment it will be a much better investment than renting it as we are going forward with multiple concerts throughout Mindanao. We also need to cover transportation expenses for our ministry team and sound equipment, and we need to purchase prizes for the free games to keep the crowd engaged.

 

The Refuge Youth Center’s First Event

The Refuge Youth Center Philippines from the Highway

This is the view of The Refuge Youth Center from the MacArthur Highway.

 

The Refuge Youth Center opened for its first event on July 28, 2011. We hosted the Edge Connect which is a meeting for Edge radio listeners to meet the radio deejays and staff of the radio station. Many unsaved young people attended this event.

We had the Christian band Whitefield play a mini-concert for this event. They requested that I give a salvation altar call during their last song which I gladly obliged. I gave a short salvation message to which everyone responded by praying the prayer of salvation and repentance with me.

Youth responding to the First altar call at the Refuge Youth Center

The strong response to the first altar call at the Refuge.

 

I’m so thankful to have such a powerful God who provided us a place to preach the Gospel to young people here in Davao City. This is only the start of what God is about to do in The Refuge.