Give Me Five! (for May 2006)

I hope it’s not a bother, but could you kindly spare at least 5 minutes right now in earnest prayer about the following:

[Picture shows care group of Vic (rightmost), one of my core leaders. Some of these youth may be a bit wild, but I trust that the Spirit will continue to transform them.]

1. Join me in thanking God for His provisions – a borrowed property, 200 new chairs (from a donor), a sound system, an electric guitar and a drum set (hand-me-downs from PCF-Tondo).
2. Please pray for security also as our place has a history of petty theft (iron grills, copper wires, etc.) because it used to be abandoned. Next week, we will start to move in equipment.
3. Every Saturday starting this month, 6 youth are undergoing training with Ruth. They will be the rookie Bible teachers of kids 12 years old and below. Please pray for them for commitment to the job, wisdom in handling children, and perseverance when they encounter the difficulties. Our target is that they start teaching in June.
4. We need a worship team and this is quite tricky – we need to balance skills and godliness. For a church with young converts, this is difficult. Please pray for wisdom in choosing.
5. We’re used to hand-me-downs and we live simply. We’re committed to raise the funds needed through our tithes and offerings to improve the worship center (dignified comfort room, cover for windows to prevent rain from getting in, wall paint, etc.) and to buy more equipment (electric fans, organ, bass guitar, etc.). But if you could help us to do things quickly so we can do God’s job in reaching out faster in our target area, we won’t refuse your financial support :o).

Good news and bad news for starters

Bad news - the Nova Mall that was originally planned to house the new church plant in Novaliches didn't take off. The management's offer was too expensive for us to begin with. The good news is - it doesn't matter.

A couple of Praise Christian Fellowship-Tondo has allowed us to use their idle property located about 1 km from Nova Mall. It has a structure already, and it suits us for a start. We just finished cleaning up the place, removing one wall division inside and replaced the entire roof. We're waiting for the installation of wirings and Meralco service before we start our first worship service. Nice part of this fixes is that, some core leaders in Novaliches were the ones managing the entire work. I was left to focus on executing my discipleship plan. With people such as them, the church plant is off to a good start.

God deemed it wise to delay the worship center. For the last 4 months, I had the time to build my core of 7 couples, establish growing relationships with them, teaching them how to evangelize and lead care groups, and building the youth group. When we start the worship service, I believe I have a working group that I can count on.

Following Jesus can be comforting

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. As Jesus started with a group of disciples, I'm also starting off with mine. It gives me comfort to know that Jesus started with mere mortals, and where He succeeded, so will I in the power of the Holy Spirit. It has been almost 5 months now when I started a new church planting in Novaliches under Praise Christian Fellowship. But unlike my previous one, I have the privilege to work with mostly new but dedicated Christians as my starting group. I hope to live and die with them. I know it is going to be hard work in dealing with them as they grow spiritually and as I adjust with them, but no complaints. I have just been with them for a few months; Jesus labored with His group for 3 years.