GCI Philippines and Northeast Asia Region

Dear Pastors and Brethren,

I pray that you all had a very exciting week. Life is a journey and each moment is full of exciting opportunities to know the Lord and experience His love. This past weekend, September 2-4, we had a wonderful chance to be with about 80 pastoral team leaders during the Pastoral Team Conference.  Almost all the churches in Mindanao have been represented.  We praise God  because He has given us the opportunity through different means, to continue to equip our leaders nationwide and to affirm them for their wonderful participation in the Lord’s ministry to our brethren and the community. We thank Mindanao Area Superintendent Pastor Jerome Manriquez  for organizing the first Mindanao-wide conference in many years.  The atmosphere was one of excitement that expresses love, desire for learning  and harmony.

With me at the conference were Pastor Rex dela Pena and Pastor and Mrs. Audie Santibanez. They were  my equipping team who helped me cover vital subjects on High Impact Teams, Personal Formation, how do we embody our Christ-centered theology in our lives and ministries, working relationships in our local churches and in our denomination.  We praise God for the very positive feedback from our leaders on the modules covered.  Our desire is to follow this up with other training events early next year. We plan to extend this benefit to other areas. Please pray for God’s provision for the upcoming Visayas Conference as well, which is scheduled  this coming October 8-9.

“Beloved”

Last Sunday, September 4,  I also got to join around 400 brethren for the “Beloved” Concert 2 organized by Glory to the Lord Fellowship in celebration of their 7^th anniversary.  This was held in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.   This family concert was a tribute to God in worship, using the different gifts of our local churches, primarily at GCI Quezon City.  The praise songs and dances were interpreted by singers from our local churches.  The songs were original compositions of brethren locally and from as far as Australia. Thank you to our brethren - Nitz Malaga, Andy Calope, Elma Manseguiao, Carlos Castro and Noel Almera - for those original compositions.  I encourage them and those who have a passion for music to keep writing songs for the Lord! Thanks also to Bidz dela Cruz for his support in directing this family concert. I understand how much time and labor of love went into this project and I praise God for the commitment and enthusiasm of our leaders in Glory to the Lord Fellowship led by Pastor Andrew Teng, and of course, our artists coming from the nearby churches for their involvement. With the fun and the encouragement that resulted, the concert was indeed a pre-festival celebration.

Festival 2011

Entering into the “ber” months, our festival celebrations all over the country are now coming up. In Luzon, it takes place on September 21-25, 2011 in Baguio City. In other areas like Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro, the brethren are also busy preparing for these special celebrations, which will take place the end of October.  To avoid the typhoon season during October, the brethren in Bicol are preparing for their celebration to take place in December.

Wherever these celebrations may take place, your presence will be most welcome! Our theme for this year is “Growing Together in His Love”. God has progressively expressed His goodness and grace to love to us. As we reflect on almost 50 years of our journey, we relish with awe every bit of our journey with Him. Our growth in understanding  prompts us to grow in responding, and  in living according to that love. There are many reasons to celebrate!  The leaders are busily preparing for these special events that will make the brethren and the community feel God’s love in bigger ways, as we gather as a family of churches. Your presence is already an expression of that love.

We hope that all of you could attend. Let us pray for good weather, the logistical preparations involved, the messages, and the financial provisions.  We pray that the brethren will find favor from their respective work places and schools so that they can have a time off for our special gatherings!

I am sure that in your circumstances this week, miracles took place too.  Some may be big and life-changing; others not as obvious, but still significant and praise-worthy.  Share them with us.  I would like us to be able to pray together for our circumstances. Let us grow together as we witness the hand of the Lord at work in our lives.

I commend all of you to a life of faith in our God.  Let Him be the strength of all our days.  The apostle Peter said that with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and thousand years are like a day.  His grace and His patience abound. He wants all to experience His goodness, and every day is an opportunity to respond to God.  We reckon that our days are numbered with every passing hour,  but let us take heart, knowing that the God who is beyond time, but who stepped into time, is the God of every season of our lives.  Let us make our limited time as humans count much in God.  He is the Lord of our lifetimes and He is faithful.  He can use and expand our limited energies and lives – individually and as a church to impact many and for a long time.

God’s best!

Ka Eugene

Thank you for your prayers for our MD meetings and the opportunity for us to visit churches in Canada and California.  As I write, we are already on our trip home.  We had  a wonderful time in Ottawa for meetings with Dr. Tkach and the Mission Developers from other regions around the world.  Meetings like these give us perspective of the greater work that the Lord is doing in our church, and a feeling being interconnected as a denomination. It is inspiring to hear of, and pray for the many things that the Lord is doing in the different areas. The session with John McLaine (ND – Australia) on Appreciative Inquiry and MD Charles Fleming of the Carribean and parts of South America) on Community of Practice were likewise profitable. These tools are additional templates which we can use in helping our pastors equip their churches towards the  direction that God is leading them to be and to do.

We also joined the Canadian pastors for their three-day conference from August 9-12.   Dr. Elmer Colyer was guest speaker.  He discussed how we can embody the Trinitarian Christ- Centered Theology in our daily lives and ministries.  Dr. Elmer Colyer gave us helpful insights and challenged the group in living a life of prayer, always seeking to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit, and  promoting environments that will deepen relationships through small groups, etc.  Dr. Joseph Tkach gave us updates about our denomination.

On Saturday, August 13, we visited the Toronto East Church which is comprised of a significant number of Filipinos. We appreciate Pastor Alvaro Palacio for allowing us to speak at their service. Toronto East Church has been our partner for Philippine church development programs including disaster and relief, youth camps, and Ambassador School.  Aside from my message and updates about God’s work in the Philippines and the North East Asian region,  I also got to thank the brethren there on behalf of the Philippine churches for their continuing support to us.  We enjoyed  the barbeque get-togethers and the small group meetings of fellowship and prayer with brethren during that week.  Community life experiences like these affirm the role of small groups as a source of encouragement, strengthening our faith and deepening our love for each other. We pray that more of us will take advantage of life-on-life events in our local churches and communities so we can benefit from an enriching community life.

On the following Sunday, August 21, I was privileged to visit and speak at GCI Toronto West, now called Cornerstone Christian Fellowship.  We appreciate their warm welcome and prayers for us in the Philippines and North East Asia-Dubai. This is the first time I was able to visit this church and they were very encouraged about the work of the Lord in our part of the world.  We also appreciated them praying for us after the service.

On our way to Los Angeles, we had a few days stop over at Calgary to meet with our pastor and brethren there. Mr. Patrick Mella, who used to be the pastoral team leader  in Batangas City, Philippines now serves as one of their  elders.  One thing that inspired us was meeting with almost two dozen Filipino overseas workers who have been attending regular Bible Studies in Patrick’s home.  Because of their work schedules, not many can attend regular church service, and Bible Study sessions provide the much-needed discipleship and fellowship to them.  These are mostly office mates of Patrick’s at the Canadian Tire Company.  These OFWs were drawn to the authenticity, warmth and encouragement they are experiencing in their BS group, having found a home away from home in the company of people of like minds.  To see our brethren reaching out to fellow Filipinos in a foreign land is an inspiring testimony, a ministry model that can be replicated in areas around the world where millions of Filipinos are deployed either temporarily as foreign workers or permanently as immigrants.  Please pray for Patrick and his family, that these initiatives of extending God’s love to other people will lead to new churches planted across Canada.

We spent our last weekend in Los Angeles where I spoke at New Life Church. The venue for service was the lovely Legg Lake, where we had a picnic and extended fellowship after service.  It was good to have visited with the brethren there, reminiscing on our journey together and catching up on each other, several of whom we have not seen in many years.  Such life-on-life experiences are truly great blessings to us in church. We also got to follow up on the progress of our Destiny USA mission project.

Among the things we enjoyed were opportunities to behold God’s awesome greatness in His creation.  The beautiful lakes, majestic mountains, even the variety and exquisite beauty of the flowers and stately trees.  The amusing behaviors of animals and birds of varying colors were awesome, reminding us and assuring us about God’s generosity and tenderness, and His loving provision for all.  He takes care of His creation and not one perishes without His knowledge.  Luke 12:6-7 says:  “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.  Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Wherever we may be and in whatever circumstance we may be going through, we can claim God’s promise that because He takes care of even tiny birds, how much more mindful will He be in caring for us. He provides for our needs and sustains us in the different seasons of life.  We do not need to be afraid!

On the day before we left, we had the chance to visit the headquarters office to meet with some of our leaders there. It is very likely that Dr. Tkach will be joining us for the 50^th year celebration of the church in the Philippines early in 2012.  More on this as information become available.

Thank you, brethren, for your love, prayers and faithful ministry in the Lord.  Lulu and I look forward to seeing you soon.  May we all experience grace, peace and growth in increasing measure, the kind that only comes from our Lord Jesus,  as we continue to  abide in Him.

God bless,

Ka Eugene

Ephesians 3:14-18

14 “When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong.”

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