EFC Padre Garcia extends relief to “Glenda” victims

/in , /by

By Pastor Doming Galagata

 

batangas_reliefIt was July 14, 2014 when PAGASA announced that there is a super typhoon named “Glenda” coming to the southern part of Luzon. On the next day, PAGASA announced that Super Typhoon Glenda hit the the CALABARZON region, where Batangas belongs. Because of the strong winds and heavy rains, many houses were destroyed and thousands of families were affected. Even the Evangel Family Church Padre Garcia was damaged.

On July 17, I immediately informed the disheartening condition of the EFC Padre Garcia to the Regional Director of Luzon Region, Rev. Jessie B. Yu. After a couple of hours, Rev. Jessie called to tell me that Dr. Robert Lim, Founding Chairman of JECCP,wants to extend help to 200 affected families in the community where Evangel Family Church Padre Garcia is located. Pastor Jessie scheduled the date of relief operations on July 26.

On July 26, many lives were touched and embraced by the love of the Lord through this activity. One of them was a lady who cried upon receiving the pack of rice and groceries. After she received her relief goods, she came back and through tears, repeatedly gave thanks to the church.

Because of what the Lord did through JECPP, many hearts opened to receive the Gospel. Some people became willing to open Bible studies in their houses. Thanks be to God! On the next day after the relief operations, which was Sunday, new ones came to the church and attended the worship service.

After few days of relief operations, the barangay officials appreciated the effort of EFC in the community. Also, the municipal mayor, together with the councilors of Padre Garcia gave us a plaque of appreciation for what we did in the community. It was the first time that a church extends help to the people affected by the calamity in the area. We believe that through this event, we could easily spread the Gospel in this area to fulfill the mission of Christ of bringing unbelievers back to God.

Luzon youth enjoy empowering messages

/in , /by

by Katherine Apuyan

“I only wish this conference won’t end”. Such was the remark of one delegate who attended last month’s 1st Luzon Youth Conference. 97 delegates gathered for this awaited summer event for young people.

On the first day, we started with an orientation in the morning and the afternoon featured a music video presentation participated by the sections of La Union, Palawan-Mindoro, Batangas and Quezon City. It was fun to see the showcase of musical talents. On the first evening service, we were encouraged as the word of God confronted our personal issues in the message “Restoring the Original You” by Pastor Greta Tamayor.

The following day, Pastor Jethro Novero took the first session with his message entitled “Empowered by God’s Love”. On the second session, Pastor Jessie Yu delivered “Empowering Our Understanding on the Signs of our Times” which gave us the knowledge how to live wise and God-centered lives in our  generation. In the afternoon, there was a “Bandfest” from all the sections, and we were thrilled to hear the original song composition of the young people. The evening session was with Pastor Doming Galagata on “Serving the Lord with Success”.

On the final day, Pastor Eddie Falla challenged the young people to be involved in missions through his sermon entitled “Empowering the Mission”. Three young people boldly stood up and took the challenge. Some young people confessed later that they also wanted to stand up to God’s call, but they felt shy to publicly do so. After the morning session, there were a Bible Mastery Contest from the Book of Acts and an Extemporaneous Speech Competition on contemporary issues. Exciting tensions drilled the bones of every contestant as questions were thrown to them. A water baptism soon followed with six young people taking the step to follow Christ. That afternoon, we had an Open Forum with the Luzon Core Leaders together with our regional director, and we were glad to freely ask anything from the Bible or any issues, and they were all answered. Pastor Jessie Yu capped the conference on his last night’s sermon entitled “Empowering the Nex Gen: Raising Leaders”.

All the sermons really pierced our hearts. Even at the altar call, we saw young people and even adult delegates humbling themselves and crying before God. We could feel the mighty presence of the Holy Spirit lingering on that place with 11 young people baptized in the Holy Spirit. I never expected little kids aged 5 and 6 cried and bowed down at the altar as well.

We give our congratulation to Quezon City for winning as the overall champion in the different categories of competition, but more importantly, we thank all the speakers for giving their best in their messages with God’s anointing. Above all, we want to thank God for His signature of approval He engraved in the hearts of the young people. It is not about us; it is all about Jesus! We, the next generation, are now empowered and ready to take the lead in carrying the eternal message of salvation. All glory and praises be unto Him alone!

Group Picture

Celebrate Love Sunday

/in , /by

By Katherine Apuyan

Last Valentine’s month, our church relived a lesson on love. We remembered what Jesus said that if someone hits you on the cheek, you must offer the other cheek too. We learned that this action can only be truly possible if you have love.

Let me tell you how our love story with our community began. It did not start right. We felt cheated by our neighbors who seemed always annoyed with our Sunday gatherings. One particular cold evening while our pastors and ECME students were sleeping, a thief broke through the church and stole the church petty cash funds and an i3 laptop we used for Sunday services.  

Our pastors reported the incident at the office of the barangay captain. Several meetings followed after that, and that’s where we got to know our neighbors more personally. Our pastors did not hold grudge, but were even thankful that the theft incident forced us to mingle with them.  As a result, they became more open and friendlier to us.

This was how the church came up with an idea of organizing the “Celebrate Love Sunday” last February 16, 2014 held for the first time at Fairview Barangay Hall. The officer of that Barangay together with her children, were among those who attended. Our speaker, Pastor Jessie Yu, explored the deeper meaning of love by explaining how our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ poured out His unconditional love on us.

After the short sermon, an altar call was called and many came to the front in tears. Our neighbors surrendered their families to God, and committed to love their families and neighbours as well. The message was soon followed by enjoyable presentations of the cell churches such as song, skit, rap and dance numbers. The climax of the presentation was an original MTV entitled “Love will be our Home” which showed the need for love to our family and to our community.

The goodness of the Lord flowed for the entire day. At 3pm in that afternoon, we carried on with our Youth on Fire feeding program where more than 200 children were fed with the delicious food prepared by our church.  The youth also prepared some entertainment for the children. Our tiredness was paid by the sweet smiles of our little neighbors.

Evangel Family Church Quezon City was very happy to extend love to the community, doing the works that will not glorify us but glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. This was how our young but growing Evangel Family Church Quezon City performed the two-way traffic of love. We received love from God, and we impart that love to the community.

God blessed us back by opening two Bible studies in the homes of our once-upon-a-time indignant neighbors. Not only that, they started to regularly attend our Sunday services. Indeed, the greatest is love! Glory be to God.