End of Chapter

After a prayerful consideration, I’m moving on to another church – Praise Christian Fellowship (they jokingly say that they’re part of Philadelphia because of the same initials). They have been praying for me for quite some time, and with the turn of events with the church planting in Sampaloc, God has provided a graceful exit and a convincing entry.

(Photo: TRUE LOVE WAITS Seminar. It was the last activity we had in our house connected with Sampaloc church planting. We taught some youth about the importance of staying sexually pure until marriage.)

We failed to plant a church as scheduled - although some wouldn’t call it a failure. As Ptr. Manric, my mentor, would say, “God has has His reasons, and God has His own timing.” Rest assured, we have offered our best. The journey was rough, but it was very meaningful, not just to me but to the rest of my team. One of my teammates said, “The Lord has enlarged my territory through this ministry.” In so many ways, God has stretched our faith and our skills to the point of breaking. In His grace we didn’t break, and we are now stronger to occupy new territories.

In one of my quiet times, the Lord stirred my heart with this thought: “Save as many as possible, as soon as possible.” And I told Him, “Lord, if this is the case, then the best opportunity now is the call of Praise to lead a new church in Novaliches.” And in God’s perfect time, the transition was not tumultous, but was given with a peaceful blessing. As I move on to Praise, I also turnover the Sampaloc church planting ministry to Philadelphia as their board decided to own it.

This may be my last newsletter to you as a church planter of Philadephia. Thank you for all your prayers, and for those who promised to stick with me for another year. You are one of the many reasons that proved to me that the Lord was very good to me in my first journey as a church planter.

An old call with a new twist

Last week, the leaders of Praise Christian Fellowship gave me and my family a very warm surprise welcome complete with balloons and cakes. I felt very honored – the Lord was very kind to me.
(Photo: Part of a new church! I blew the candles while Ptr. Loi (rightmost) and my children were watching. Yanel, my youngest actually helped me. He’s the expert in blowing candles.)

Praise is a fast-growing church in Tondo, with at least 300 attenders in weekend services in less than 5 years. They have planted 2 churches already, and the one in Novaliches is coming soon. Right now, they have families in Novaliches that are currently members of the Tondo church, and new believers in a new community in Damong Maliit. By God’s grace, they are looking at occupying a 750-seat theater inside Nova Mall, and they are considering me to lead the new church there. The senior pastor, Ptr. Loi Gatchalian, is a very good friend of mine way back in ISOT.

With Praise, I will still be doing church planting while pastoring a church at the same time. This is actually my life mission – to lead a church to plant new churches in the urban areas. God deemed it right for me to cut a long journey with the plan for a new church by Praise. My experience in Sampaloc has made me tougher to face maybe a rougher road ahead. My “failure” there simply tells me, if the Nova Mall church grows to be healthy and strong, it happens all by the grace of Jesus.

In the period of my transition, 1Cor. 15:58 has guided me well: “Therefore, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” I go with William Borden when he said, “No reservation, no retreat, no regret.”

Tougher times

Every Sunday was a battlefield for an already wounded team. We felt we needed a break from it all. The team went up a prayer mountain last weekend to quiet our hearts, refresh our commitments, and seek God.

Yes we have good stories to tell, but the numbers tell otherwise. The Wednesday seeker service continue to average at 10 contacts, and most of them are not our strong contacts. Our Bible study attendees are down to 12, most of them youth. There was one Saturday I invited 9 of our strong contacts for evaluation purposes, only 2 were there. Bottomline is, today, after more than a year’s ministry, the numbers are not yet enough to form a local church.

This may be our wilderness experience before getting to the land of promise. Maybe we need some hard lessons before we get there. Maybe last month we did so many things at the same time. Maybe we need to change strategy, or target area, or maybe this is not the right time. Amidst all these speculations, the difficult fact is… we’re losing steam. At this point, we covet your prayers so much.

Yesterday, I talked to an urban church planter based also in Sampaloc and gave me a question I could not forget. What if success is just around the corner and you stopped? He also said that Manila, particularly Sampaloc is a big challenge for church planting. It is like rocky soil, and all I’m doing now is to merely remove those rocks and tend the soil. One year is short for this kind of place plagued by animism and materialism. We need to do some more cultivating.

Brothers and sisters, I know I’ve only asked a year for your prayer support, but I can only go as far as you are willing to partner with me. Can you walk with me for another year?