Helping the Hurting, Reaching the Lost
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enter of Life Children’s ministry which we have freely given use of the Refuge for their home church for years just held their annual Christmas program and celebration. They had about 160 people come to celebrate. They couldn’t fit them all in the Refuge so they moved them by jeepneys to another venue. Of that crowd, 50 people dedicated their life to Jesus! Please continue to pray for Pastors Joshua and Emi Hernandez as they are doing a great job with these kids.
Worship at the Refuge during the United Prayer Gathering.
The Refuge is becoming a ministry hub. We have recently opened the doors on Thursdays and Fridays to a youth group needing a temporary home. This means that we now have three churches using the Refuge besides the monthly Youth United Prayer Gathering.
That means four ministries are now using the Refuge for services. The United Prayer Gathering is an awesome prayer movement to unite the pastors and church leaders of various denominations to pray for Davao City. They also recently invited me to serve on their leadership council. We are so thankful to have the Refuge Youth Center to facilitate the move of God here in Davao City.
Youth from different churches uniting to pray for their nation.
We are now into our third month of supporting the Center of Life feeding program at the Refuge and the kids are starting to melt my heart. One Saturday when I pulled up the kids were all waiting outside for the doors to open. When I got out of my car, they all cheered and ran up to attack me with their hugs. I cannot put into words the emotions that I experience when I look into these kids eyes before giving them a big hug. I feel joy, love, compassion, and then I feel a rush of empathetic sorrow as I imagine how difficult their lives must be. At least once a week we can put them into a safe, comfortable environment, show them the love of Jesus, and feed them what might be the best meal they eat all week.
Little guy eagerly waiting to be let in for children’s church.
Through a great new partnership with Center of Life Ministry and Pastors Joshua and Emi Hernandez, we are now feeding about eighty children who come to the Refuge Youth Center for church.
These kids live in poverty in a dangerous squatter neighborhood right behind the Refuge. Every Sunday morning the kids who come to Pastor Joshua’s church at the Refuge get to leave with a fresh, nutritious meal as they are fed both physically and spiritually.
Through your financial support, God is doing an exciting new thing here and fighting child poverty in the Philippines. Thank you for being a part of it.
We are still holding Worship Events at the Refuge Youth Center with great testimonies of people being refreshed and touched by the Lord.
We have guest worship leaders come in regularly. Our most recent event had people from five different churches and two other ministries attend. Our vision is to be a refreshing watering hole for other ministries to come, have fun, and get filled up with the Lord through worship.
The Refuge is also home to two local churches that will still operate while we are in the USA. Please continue to pray for the Refuge to operate smoothly while we are away.
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.
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.
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.
We finally were able to buy a new drum set for the Refuge for only $250.00. Also with the help of a brilliant technician, we repaired the broken power amplifiers that we have been borrowing. Repairing those amplifiers are an answer to prayer and are able to help us continue indoor events at the Refuge.
We are still believing God for a portable 4,000 watt sound system complete with speakers and amplifiers with stage lighting and instruments to use for outdoor outreaches. The drums are the foundation of our stage set up. We still are in need of a bass guitar, acoustic guitar, and an electric lead guitar to complete our stage, but we are so thankful to have a drum set!
In Matthew 4:19, Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” God has inspired us through that verse to win souls for his Kingdom. When you look at the laws of fishing, you obviously need to have good bait to catch fish.
We have studied the Philippines youth culture for years and realize that young people here LOVE music. I don’t mean they just like it, the whole culture here is obsessed and driven by music. You see and hear the influence of music everywhere from the simplest song of a child the to the unlimited amount of loud karaoke at every gathering.
We realize that the youth here need and want positive music. We recently held an Alternative Rock Concert at the Refuge to bait the youth to come and hear the Gospel. We had a great turnout with several new young people. We also fed everyone for free, and welcomed them with games and free prizes.
During the concert a young man spoke to us and said, “I am a Muslim, but I am enjoying this concert.” In the middle of the concert, I had the honor of preaching the Gospel to this crowd and every person prayed the prayer of salvation with me. These concerts are truly fishing for men.
Our regular worship nights at the Refuge are starting to gain momentum. We are having deep, heartfelt worship nights every time we gather. A typical worship night at the Refuge lasts for more than three hours with only a few minutes of preaching.
It’s really a soaking and refreshing environment. We have everyone from high school students to college students to leaders of other ministries coming to be refreshed.
Our most recent event had several new people come. They left full of the Lord and excited about the next event.
Powerful Worship at the Refuge Youth Center.
We have been continuing our worship nights at the Refuge Youth Center and they seem to get better each time we have them. At the most recent one last week, the praise and worship lasted for three hours straight and when the music stopped, no one wanted to leave. The people just sat there in the stillness of God’s presence. The tangible presence of God was just overwhelming.
Passionate Worship at the Refuge Youth Center.
I’ve had other ministry leaders thank me for having a place where they can be refreshed outside of their own ministry. Thank you for supporting the Refuge. We are changing lives together.
