Unstoppable in Bulacan

February 24, 2012 by

Unstoppable 3

Last January, I was invited to be the guest speaker at a big youth event in  Pulilan, Bulacan. The theme of the event was Unstoppable.

I shared about unstoppable people in history and lead into the unstoppable love of Jesus who died on the cross for them. I also did a human video about the crucifixion for them which really touched their hearts.

Unstoppable 2

120 youth came to the event and all 120 youth responded to the salvation altar call. They have a huge youth group for such a small town. It is remarkable to see what God is doing there. What is happening is nothing short of a revival.

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I Went to Jail in the Philippines

February 24, 2012 by

This month, God opened an awesome door of ministry to me. My friend, Pastor Andy, invited me to speak to the leaders of a church in the local Davao City Jail. I was honored to be able to enter the facility and walk through the jail full of men in orange T-shirts.

I spoke to the leaders on faith. The pastor of the church has been in the jail for four years awaiting his robbery trial. Two of his main leaders are serving six years for drug abuse and are still awaiting their trial. The youngest inmate there, Mark, told me he regularly borrows a radio to listen to Edge Radio.

There are three religious places of worship there: a Catholic Church, a mosque, and the born-again Christian church. Until recently, the Christian church had no roof. Thankfully, they just finished the roof the week before I arrived. They were so happy to have a foreigner visit them and were respectful and attentive as I spoke through an interpreter. They invited me to come back as soon as I can.

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The Refuge Goes On

February 20, 2012 by

During the past few months, despite going through a paralyzing time, the Refuge is still running. The Bible and Missions training there graduated their first class of students and Edge Radio is still holding public events there. We are also having evangelistic film viewings.

One of the biggest challenges we have at the Refuge is a lack of equipment. Every time we hold an event, we have to borrow two or three guitar amplifiers, instruments, a LCD projector, drum cymbals, etc. We also have no furniture for our huge downstairs fellowship area. We are hoping to convert the downstairs into a coffee house where youth can come at all hours to study, have fellowship, and receive counseling. We are also hoping to remodel the upstairs with some acoustic foam to help with the deafening reverb during the concerts.

James 4:2 says, “You have not because you ask not.” Well, I’m asking now for help. We immediately need a LCD projector, amplifiers, guitars, and a new drum kit. We also need to furnish our downstairs so we can have a place for the youth to hang out. I envision having a coffee bar with lots of furniture, games, and for it to be a fun place.
With your help, we can transform this place into a greater soul-winning machine with ongoing discipleship and change happening in the hearts of the youth of this city.

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Merry Christmas Everyone from Baby Elijah!

December 23, 2011 by

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The Refuge is Winning Souls

September 29, 2011 by

Giving a message at the Refuge.

 

The Refuge is only two months old, up and running, and winning souls in a big way. We have had several soul-winning events with great results.

We most recently had a Rap and Hip Hop Concert where over 100 young people filled the Refuge venue to capacity. They responded so well to my preaching that all of them prayed the prayer of salvation with me. They were so impacted that 16 of them are asking me for a way to be discipled. Please understand, I did not follow them up. They followed me up and are asking for help to continue to change and grow before I even had a chance to follow them up.

Our recent rock concert was also a great success where about 80 young rock fans came to hear three rock bands and were also given a chance to receive Jesus as their savior. They also all responded well to the preaching and want to come for more.

We are also having praise and worship events where young people are worshipping God and soaking in His Presence for over two hours at a time. This place is only two months old and is glorifying God! We anticipate that the Refuge will be too small for the events soon, and before the end of the year we will need to do multiple events per week to hold the crowds.

The Refuge Full

The Refuge Youth Center full of people.

 

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Our Website Was Hacked, but it’s OK Now.

September 28, 2011 by

Five days after our youth center was burglarized, our website was temporarily down during a cyber attack.

Our website hosting company was hacked and taken down for a few hours on Saturday night and Sunday morning by a cyber terrorist hacker known as Tiger M@te.

If you visited our site during that time, I want to apologize for any inconvenience you experienced.

Our site remained intact and it was only the server company that was damaged. The website was restored within a few hours.

Please rest assured that it is still safe to donate here.

If you still have concerns, you can always donate through the mail to:

Extreme Mercy International
P.O. Box 72266
Phoenix, Arizona 85050
USA

Thank you for your prayers and support. It was a rough week.

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The Refuge Was Burglarized!

September 23, 2011 by
Police Station

Police Station in the Philippines

The phone rang and woke me up at 3am Tuesday morning.

I asked “What is going on?”

The owner called and said the Refuge is open right now!

I quickly dressed myself and rushed out the door. I optimistically thought, “it must be one of our faithful volunteers setting up early for the morning Bible school.” I stepped on the gas in my little car and sped down the wet, rain-soaked road.  Racing across the city, I hit a particularly slippery intersection and drifted the car around the corner.  I made good time as there was no traffic on this quiet and rainy night.

As I sped into the parking lot, my optimism changed to tension as I looked at the smashed in roll-up steel door. The owner of the building and caretaker stood cautiously looking at the dark hole in the roll-up door. I recklessly grabbed my flashlight and pepper spray and darted into the hole, hoping to find the intruders. As I swept the building, my bravery faded to disappointment as I saw the loss and damage. The thieves not only bashed in the gate, they destroyed the door and lock on the sound booth, and took several valuable things. In my disappointment, I realized they had stolen a nice laptop, my Mp3 player, the drum symbols, and most of my tools. They also urinated and defecated on the floor as to send me some sort of message.

Police Car

Police Cruiser in the Philippines.

Two nights before, we had held our first ever Hip Hop and Rap concert at The Refuge, where 100 young people prayed the prayer of repentance and salvation with me. We were going after the gangs and hip hoppers that night. Probably one of the people who came that event spied out the place that night and brought back his gang to ransack us later. We are still hoping to apprehend the ones who did this, but the police procedures are very different here.

No matter what influenced those people to attack the place God has given us, we will not stop going after the lost souls of this nation. We will only increase our boldness and do more to stop this darkness by shedding more light. Please pray for us to continue to preach boldly and for us to recover from this loss.

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The Refuge Youth Center’s First Event

August 1, 2011 by
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.

 

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The Terrible Davao Flood and What You Can Do About It.

June 30, 2011 by

On Tuesday night at 11 pm, a powerful thunderstorm hit Davao City.  At 1am, I was awakened by a worried phone text from a young man who volunteers at Edge Radio which read, “Please pray for my family. The flood waters are rising at my parent’s house.” When we woke up the next morning and checked the news, the devastation was terrible. The Matina Pangi river swelled to unprecedented levels and wiped out an entire community. The flood waters rose 10 to 20 meters in some areas as people climbed trees and rooftops to escape the raging flood waters. Entire homes were destroyed and families were washed away in the destruction. Sadly, 25 people died, most of whom were children. Another 15 people are still missing, two of which are a pastor and his wife. They are estimating that 15,000 families were affected by this flood which represents about 75,000 people.

Partnering with Operation Blessing Philippines, we were already about to provide some rice to needy families. We were able to buy 100 kilos of rice for only $63 US. Operation Blessing will repack the rice in smaller bags tonight and distribute it tomorrow. If you would like to join us in giving 100 kilos of rice to needy families please click the donate button below and donate $63. I am personally buying the rice and delivering it to the distribution center, so 100% of the money will go towards the rice.

 

In short, If you want to help the flood victims, I can buy rice to distribute through local ministry partnerships for only $63 for 100 kilos. That’s 220 pounds of rice to give at 29 cents per pound of rice. If you want to donate 100 kilos of rice to needy families, please click the blue button and donate $63. Thank you and God bless you.

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The Future Refuge Youth Center

June 17, 2011 by

For years, we have had a vision to start a youth evangelism center. In our vision, this center will gather youth from the city where we can preach salvation to hundreds and eventually thousands of youth.

While we have waited for this dream to be fulfilled, we have been helping and serving other local ministries helping others accomplish their dreams. During this waiting period, we have been looking for the place and time to implement this vision. We believe we have finally found it.

A two story commercial space just opened up in a highly visible prime location on MacArthur Highway inside the same building as Edge radio. It was formerly occupied by a church that defaulted and left all of its equipment including the sound system, air conditioning, chairs, and even the drum set. We spoke to the owner and he is willing to rent us the space for a fair price and will also let us use all of the left behind equipment without any additional cost.

After consulting with our board of directors, we have decided to go forward with our dream. We really feel in our spirit now is the time for this new vision to spring forth.

We are planning to start renting the new space in July. We are in immediate need of an additional $1,000 within two weeks to move in, and we will need additional monthly support to make this happen. Please pray for us and please help us financially to achieve this dream.

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