Kapalong Campus Ministry

November 12, 2014 by

We were recently given the wonderful opportunity to minister at the Kapalong College of Technology, a two hour drive from Davao City.

The crowd reacting to Emily’s hilarious games.

“The Wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” -Romans 6:23

“The Wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
-Romans 6:23

When I preached, they were very attentive and when I gave the altar call, EVERY single person came forward to get saved, many with tears streaming down their faces. It was WONDERFUL!

EVERYONE came forward for the Altar Call, many with tears streaming down their faces.

EVERYONE came forward for the Altar Call, many with tears streaming down their faces.

The youth were so excited and testified afterwards how God touched them tremendously. We love what God is doing among the youth in the Philippines.

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UP Next: Nabunturan

September 4, 2014 by

 

Pastor Jerry’s beautiful church location before Typhoon Pablo destroyed it.

Pastor Jerry’s beautiful church location before Typhoon Pablo destroyed it.

 

The “Refuge Out” evangelistic concerts are targeting Nabunturan next. We are hoping to reach a lot more people than we did with the Trento Concert. We learned a lot in our past concert and we intend to reach as many lost souls as we can. I am hoping to do a preliminary scouting trip very soon to work out the logistics. Right now we are hoping to have the concert in September depending on the decision of the key pastors that we are working with like Pastor Jerry Casidsid.

Pastor Jerry

Pastor Jerry Casidsid and his wife at our 2010 Pastor’s Conference.

Like many places in Mindanao, Nabunturan was heavily damaged by Typhoon Pablo in December 2012. Many years before that, we preached at Pastor Jerry’s large church in a big building filled with young people. Unfortunately, that building was totally destroyed during the typhoon and now the church has been meeting in a small house for almost two years.

Pastor Jerry’s small church today.

Pastor Jerry’s small church today.

 

We are praying and believing for God to bring restoration to these faithful churches and pastors who quietly go unnoticed by the rest of the world despite overwhelming circumstances. We are praying for our concert to add scores of newly saved young people to the local churches and bring new life and excitement to the pastors for the Glory of God.

 

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Over 1,000 People Came

September 4, 2014 by

Over 1,000 Came

The Concert in Trento was amazing. We did something never before done in Trento. When we interviewed the concert goers, it was the first concert that they remember EVER being held there. We registered 997 people for the free raffle, and that was not including our ministry team and the four bands that came which means over one thousand people came to the concert.

People bowing their heads at the altar call and praying to receive Jesus.

People bowing their heads at the altar call and praying to receive Jesus.

It was also broadcast live to all of Trento on 97.3 FM so we may have reached thousands more. When I preached the gospel, it seemed like about one third of the crowd came forward to the altar call to receive Jesus. We are breaking new ground with these concerts. We are bringing the message of salvation to the lost and bringing unity to the churches. The Filipino pastors and the people were so thankful that we came. Thank you so much for helping us with these big events. We made a big impact in Trento because of your prayers and donations.

Trento Concert Crowd

 

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Please Help Us Win Souls in Trento

July 30, 2014 by

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.

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The Refuge: Home to Two Churches

July 8, 2014 by
Hope SG Church Davao

Hope Davao Church regularly meets at the Refuge Youth Center.

One of the ministries of the Refuge Youth Center is helping churches with a nice, air-conditioned, affordable place to hold their services. Rent in Davao City is expensive and that is many times crippling to new churches. We offer the Refuge as a place for these churches to meet for just a little more than the cost of the electricity for the day.

 

Hope SG Church Davao City

One of those churches is Hope Davao Church which meets regularly on Sunday afternoons at the Refuge. Hope Davao is a church plant from Singapore, and I make a point of joining them in all of their services.

Pastor Joshua Hernandez preaching at Redeemed Covenant Church which meets at the Refuge.

Pastor Joshua Hernandez preaching at Redeemed Covenant Church which meets at the Refuge.

Also, Redeemed Covenant Church meets here every Sunday morning led by my good friends Pastors Joshua and Emi Hernandez. They have lately been just overflowing with children in their services.

Please continue to pray for and financially support the Refuge so we can continue to help these churches.

 

 

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Upcoming Outreach in Trento

July 8, 2014 by

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.

 

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Helping the Fire Refugees

July 8, 2014 by

Visiting the Badjao Refugees

In our last newsletter, I wrote about the terrible fire that made hundreds of poverty-stricken families homeless. Sadly, this fire became much more of a tragedy than I previously reported.

Badgao Isle Verde Fire Refugee Camp in Davao CIty

In the place they were evacuated, measles and other diseases broke out. Twenty-two people died in this refugee camp from the heat, disease, malnourishment, and unclean water. Many of the ones who died were babies and children.

Badgao Little Boy

I went with our church back to help these precious people rice to help them survive. Although it seems almost like we barely made a dent in the overwhelming need, at least we did what we could for them.

My heart breaks for the Badgao people. I am fighting back tears thinking that perhaps we could have done more for these people and save more of their lives.

These people are squatters, not just because of poverty, but also exclusion and discrimination. They are given no opportunity to succeed. It’s almost unbearable to visit the refugee camps and see their living conditions. Please pray for their salvation, healing, wholeness, and restoration.

Badgao Refugees from the Isla Verde Fire Davao City

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Don’t Give Up

July 8, 2014 by

Let’s face it— Everyone wants to give up sometimes. Whether it giving up on a job, a family member, a relationship, a ministry, or whatever it is, we’ve all been there.

We have been going through some trying times and maybe so have you. Here are some principles and scriptures that are helping us through and hopefully will help you too.

1. When you feel like quitting, pray, pray, and pray some more!

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” -Romans 12:12

2. When you feel like quitting, give your burdens to the Lord.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
-Matthew 11:28-29

3. When you feel like quitting, remember there is a harvest coming.

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. “ –Galatians 6:9

4. When you feel like quitting, remember God is at work in your life.

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” -Philippians 1:6

We know that God is at work in our lives here in the Philippines. Honestly, We are quite under funded to operate our ministry at the moment. I’ve also been fighting to overcome some physical problems. The doctors and symptoms are telling me that I tore cartilage in both my knees or worse. I have been fighting through the agonizing pain to continue our ministry here. Although I am receiving physical therapy at the moment, I’m standing and believing for supernatural healing in the Name of Jesus. We certainly covet your prayers and need your financial support.

We are not giving up!

Please also pray for us to be able to visit the USA in October 2014.

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Our House Almost Caught on FIRE!

May 17, 2014 by
The flames can been seen rising above our townhouse building.

The flames can been seen rising above our townhouse building.

Just two days after helping the victims of the Isla Verde fire, we almost became fire victims ourselves. We were suddenly disturbed to hear our neighbors pounding on our door. There was a big fire raging just ten feet behind our house! The fire had completed consumed the two houses behind us and was quickly approaching our rented townhouse.  I stayed behind to rescue some electronics, and see if we could do anything to stop the fire. I rebuked the fire and prayed, “Fire, you cannot touch our house in the Name of JESUS.” Our unsaved neighbor later told me the fire was raging right for our townhouse and the wind suddenly changed.

This was the view from our back window after the Fire Department got the fire under control.

This was the view from our back window after the Fire Department finally got the fire under control.

The fire was so close that Elijah’s bedroom windows and my office windows were too hot to touch. During the commotion, one of our brilliant friends broke the main water pipe behind our house and sprayed it towards the fire which held it at bay until eleven fire trucks responded and put out the fire. It was an absolute miracle our house didn’t catch on fire!

Elijah was so happy to see 11 fire trucks respond to our neighborhood. I was excited too!

Elijah was so excited to see eleven fire trucks respond to the fire. I was excited too!

When Elijah finally came back, he was so excited that the fire trucks came to visit our house. He exclaimed, “Fire Truck, Daddy, Fire Truck!” I suppose I was excited to see the fire trucks too, but in a different way. Thank God for his protection, miracles, friends, and fire trucks!

A fireman extinguishing the fire on top of our neighbor's house that was sadly gutted by the fire.

A fireman extinguishing the fire on top of our neighbor’s house that was sadly gutted by the fire. The tall roof in the background is our townhouse building.

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The Isla Verde Fire

May 17, 2014 by
The wasteland once known as "Isla Verde."

The wasteland once known as “Isla Verde.”

There was a huge tragic fire that ravaged Isla Verde, a squatter area here in Davao City. It destroyed hundreds of homes and was a horrible blow to the local Badjao tribe. The fire forced them out of their homes and now hundreds of families are living in a local park in a tent city of tarpaulins.

People working to recover what they can from the smoldering ruins that once were their homes.

People working to recover what they can from the smoldering ruins that once were their homes.

Our church went to help these people the afternoon after the fire and gave food, water, and hygiene kits until supplies ran out. We also went back later to distribute over one ton (1,000 kilograms) of rice during a thunderstorm. We went from tent to tent slogging through the mud and water to get the rice to these precious people.

This precious little girl fell after losing her home and is now living in the park under a tarpaulin.

This precious little girl fell after losing her home and is now living in the park under a tarpaulin.

I got to drive nine volunteers to the site and drove home with 14 volunteers in my overloaded vehicle. I want to give credit to my local church that provided the supplies as we did not have the financial resources to help. Thanks to our church, I was able to pray for people in the soot and rubble, and give out rice in the mud and rain.

Elderly people homeless from the fire living under a tarpaulin.

Elderly people homeless from the fire living under a tarpaulin.

 

 

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