Luzon youth enjoy empowering messages

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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!

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Northern Mindanao Youth take on the fight of faith

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By Maria Niña Bañares

“This fast-paced life requires much of our time to do the things that are required from us and as a result, we don’t have ample time for ourselves. We tend to be more focused on the things that help us to be a better student or employee, but we forget to develop our relationship with the Almighty. I believe that if we, the next generation, spend our summers in retreats like this, we would be better prepared for later decisions in life and for every spiritual battle that we will encounter,” said one of the delegates Cinderella Bañares, a secondary education teacher, when asked about her expectations of the retreat.

She echoed the sentiments of the enthusiastic115 delegates in the first Northern Mindanao Regional Youth Conference last April 15-17, 2014 at the Coconut Bay Resort, Tablon, Cagayan de Oro City.group_picture

The said conference which was focused on the JECPP theme, “Empowering the Next Generation” was participated by the delegates from Evangel Family Church Cagayan de Oro and all its outstation churches namely EFC Lala, EFC Naawan, EFC Manticao, EFC Balingasag and EFC Malaybalay. It was facilitated by Pastor Rowena Kwong, and administered by Pastor Andrew Kwong, Pastor Roberto Padinit, and Pastor Vic Louie Pacaña.

The Holy Spirit did a great job in empowering the spiritual lives of the young people throughout the two- day camp. Pastor Andrew set the mode of the retreat on the first night by stressing Joel 2: 25 on his preaching, “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten – the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm – my great army that I sent among you”. He started off by defining locust as a type of insect that caused farm infestations that devastate crops and cause major agricultural damage and human misery through famine and starvation. He then metaphorically compared the swarm of locusts to the cruel infestation that Satan brought to the believers causing spiritual devastations, misery, coldness and dryness of the present generation. Such devastations weaken the hearts of this generation and hinder the passing on of the great commission of faith, but there is hope in the future with Jesus. God has promised to restore this hope in us by repaying the years of havoc in our lives. And true enough, as the song in the praise and worship went, “these dry bones will live again, we’re nothing without You, nothing without You…”, young people in the Northern Mindanao region responded to God’s message in a desperate cry of restoration. Indeed, God’s outpouring is overflowing; it was a night of healing from pain and disappointment, pure surrender and deliverance from selfish and worldly desires that corrupted the minds and hearts of the young generation.  The night ended with a promotional video from Evangel Center for Missions and Evangelism (ECME). One delegate from CDO Section, Milyn Mayake took the challenge to step out and accept the greater call to join the mission field and study in the Bible School.

After all cares were cast to the Almighty on the first night, the young people were once again set on fire for a greater encounter with God on the second day. Pastor Vic Louie Pacaña of EFC-CDO dared the young people to experience or re- experience the infilling of the Holy Spirit on his short message delivered during the early morning devotion. After which, cries of hunger and thirst from the empty vessels echoed throughout the hall. Among those filled was a young boy who is the son of one outstation pastor.

The morning service was led by the energetic praise and worship team from the Naawan section. Pastor Andrew commended the worship team and even expressed his great joy upon witnessing them lead Bisaya songs in fragrant worship to the Lord. Because of this, he proposed for Battle of the Bands for next year’s retreat and all outstation pastors to take turns as Speakers. “This is so good because we are all one body. Through this, we will grow together, challenge one another, help one another and polish one another,” he said.

In the morning service which was entitled “The Generation that Seeks God”, Pastor Roberto Padinit shared a very relevant message out of his experiences of faith. He led the young people into an awareness that there is a spiritual warfare or battle (immorality, idolatry, media, education, music, pornography, drugs, and civil initiative promoting same sex marriage) going on around us, and that they are obliged to bring about this awareness into each of their circle of influence. “We are enjoying right now because of the generation before us that picked up the good news and suffered and sacrificed for us to receive the freedom of worshipping the Lord. Now is the time for us to take up the battle. We are the next generation! If we don’t take up the battle, then we are doomed! It’s time for us to see the cause and pass it on to the next generation,” Pastor Robert said on his sermon. He added that in order to be empowered to fight a good fight of faith and to pass on the battle to the next generation, Christians need to declare the mighty and awesome acts of God’s greatness and majesty. To do this, we need to understand that we are created by God; we need to know that God cares for us; we need to trust on the cross of Christ; we need to follow Christ and be sold out to Him; we need to live the correct way of living – having wisdom and integrity, and we need the Holy Spirit in our daily undertakings. He wrapped up his sermon by saying that Christians need to arise because we have been called to be the light and salt of the world.

The day was concluded with the campers’ encounter and tracing back of the seven stations of the Cross where the pastors explicated Christ’s sufferings and battle per station. Pastor Andrew gave emphasis to the value of the soul by asking the question: “What is a price of the soul?” He further stated “The cost of the soul is the life of the Son of God – that is how precious and valuable our soul is. God gave His life for our souls. He conquered the greatest battle of mankind which is death. Jesus’s earthly life ended, yet He remains forever. He continues to live with us as we continue to pass on this life to another generation.” Knowing the price that Jesus paid on the cross empowered the young people to really take up the spiritual battle of this generation.

“The stations of the cross activity helped me to contemplate how great the battle he faced just to give us a chance to live a second life that will be of great use to His kingdom. As a response, I am now willing to give my life and will back to Him”, one high school camper said.

During the camp, strong camaraderie was also built among the young people from the various outstation churches through various activities such as group cheer competition and outdoor pool swimming. Special song numbers were also given by nine-year old Hannah Padinit, Pastor Robert Padinit’s daughter, on the first night and Sheen Cabañeros from EFC-CDO on the second night.

When asked about her insights and realizations after the camp, this is what Mariecris Michelle Uy, stage 2 cancer survivor from EFC Manticao said, “I had so much fun during the retreat. I made new friends and I enjoyed the food, the place and the fellowship. Everything was just so smooth, relaxing and no pressure at all. I felt like I already had a vacation, I am truly blessed by how God touched my heart. He made me realize that I am loved, that I am of such worth because He gave His only Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for me, for all of us. Isn’t that the sweetest thing that could ever happen in the history of mankind? It made me appreciate myself more, and it made me love God even more. I just felt so amazingly happy, loved and blessed. Thanks EFC for the wonderful experience”.

It was indeed a very successful retreat. The campers went to their respective places and homes filled, revived, and empowered by the presence of the Almighty to arise to the spiritual battle and become the light and salt of this earth.

Capping off the whole retreat were few words from Karl Angelo Almueda, lone delegate from Metro Manila who flew in to experience church youth retreat for the first time. “This retreat is undeniably a great and fulfilling experience in the sense that it gave me a taste of real spiritual encounter with God. The Conference taught me how to individually reflect and relate my present lifestyle to the standards God has set for me to live by. It made me realize that there is a great spiritual battle around and ahead of me as I go back to Luzon on Monday. God helped me to really take up this battle and rise as one of Christ’s servants. It is so awesome to know that this vacation is definitely one of my best and will always be cherished as I go back home EMPOWERED!”

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrate Love Sunday

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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.

 

THE GENERATION DESTINED TO CHANGE THE WORLD

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by Djoanna Crystie Anne Gocotano, RMT

“Asia is the future of the world. Youth is the future of Asia. Hence, youth is the future of the world.”central_&_eastern_visayas

                Last April 16, there were 209 young people from Central and Eastern Visayas who gathered for the long-awaited “Empowering the Nex Gen” conference to enlighten our young minds with what God has in store for the next generation. In between the morning and evening sessions, there were four workshops to attend. The Music Ministry Workshop led by Brother Govi had 67 registered attendees, Youth Ministry Workshop led by Pastor Jay had 70, Children Ministry Workshop led by Pastor Em had 41 and lastly, there was the Family Life-Raising Teenagers Workshop led by Pastors Allan and Constant with Pastors Chuck and Jocelyn. These workshops, with their Spirit-filled mentors helped many teenagers, young adults and even those young at heart. It was designed to develop Jesus-centered gifts, talents and skills for the service and honor of our Savior King.               

              pastor_allan_litOur guest speaker, Pastor Allan Lit, shared his life and experiences with us—how he had been called to minister as an assistant prison chaplain in his early years in Singapore and how he became a missionary in Hong Kong to train workers for church planting among the teeming millions in mainland China. He taught and fed not just our minds but our hearts and souls with empowering truths as well. It was a very refreshing experience that stirred our hearts to hunger for more. Personally, I learned that we behold a God of UNLIMITED CHANCES. This conference was indeed God’s marvelous plan to grab hold of us for the empowerment we have been prepared for. These are highlights of the lessons we learned at the conference through God’s humble servants:

 

DAY ONE:

 VISION

A vision begins as one encounters the Almighty One. The word “vision” is usually associated with something that is ahead of us like a goal. This is the mission statement of our lives. It is initiated by the King of kings Himself. We then experience Him like we had never experienced Him before. We begin to see things around us as opportunities, not just problems. We seize every chance for the completion of the vision entrusted in our minds and hearts by God.

 A PERSON NOT DEFINED BY THE PAST

                 Where we come from does not determine where we are headed. In other words, our past does not define our future. Dwelling on past failures, mistakes and “should-haves” are useless. When we live in the past, we cannot move toward the goal of being the empowered change agents in this world. We cannot be the person He wants us to be when we keep looking back. He is asking us not to regard the past but to focus on the work and the blessings He has for us today. Deuteronomy 28 records a long list of God’s wonderful blessings in place for His people. We must live our lives with His blessings that chase us. As one of the “Nex Gen”, it is inspiring to know that we can be a man and a woman of influence, great reputation and success. Our Lord desires nothing less than the ultimate good for His people.

DAY TWO:

REACHING THE NEXT GENERATION by Pastor Chuck Chua

                 Our church is only one generation away from extinction if none from the new generation will rise up. There are two keys in effectively reaching the next generation. One is to renounce selfishness. King Hezekiah in the Old Testament sadly represents one who was selfish and failed to reach his next generation. 2 Kings 20:19 relates what this king was like. He was shortsighted and self-preserving. Consequently, a few generations away from his reign, his descendants were held captive and taken to Babylon just as God’s prophet had declared. What if those whom we consider as spiritual parents and older brothers and sisters were like that? Would we be able to determine right from wrong in the near future? This must be our plea and our cry: Fight for our children and the hope of the world! The second key to reaching the next generation is to receive spiritual power. Only the anointing and the power of God can break the bondage. Without our most powerful, ever-constant loving God, we are indeed nothing. Only God can convict hearts and touch lives. Our present generation must receive spiritual power to release spiritual power to the next generation.cebu4

WATER BAPTISM

                 Water baptism is not just a ritualistic deed; it is an act of faith and obedience to God’s Word. Before we started our night session, five of our brothers and sisters in Christ obeyed the command to be water baptized. Listening to their testimonies, you could really sense the Holy Spirit’s evident working in their lives. Truly, God has lifted these five Christ’s followers to a higher plane of commitment, and thus inspired others to do likewise.water_baptism

STARTING, STAYING AND SUPERSEDING

                 When we exalt God, we are exalted together with Him. It is important for all of us to have that spiritual ambition for God’s glory. We must be eager to do great things for God. Then we begin to work  that desire into action. The anointing of the Holy Spirit comes through our doing something for His honor. He then sees us as a good deposit, and He will dwell powerfully inside us. As we continue to trust His promises and faithfulness to us, the staying power for spiritual ambition will be all the more evident. When life throws at us defeat, discouragement and disillusionment, we do not stop. Instead, we march on towards Him more and in fact, supersede with the work He has done in and through us. Deep inside, there remains a holy dissatisfaction but yet filled with clear destination and sheer determination. Then, we know we are gaining breakthrough.

DAY THREE:

A LOVER, NOT A WORKER

                 Loving is never easy. Why must we love God then? Several Scriptures in the Bible tell us that the One who first loved us commands, compels, convinces and consolidates us to love Him. Loving is a task, and we must impart that love to the people around us. When we give God our whole hearts, we should not worry; He’ll give us plenty more and more and more back to give to someone else. We begin to show our love for Him through serving Him and people too. Service becomes our will, our commitment and our character. We become more of a lover than a worker. Hence, we do things out of marvelous love. In return, the Great Lover Himself is mindful to reward us with divine creativity, comprehension and confidence.cebu6

                   All these truths and principles are so essential to becoming the generation that can change our world. Messages in the conference from the servants of God were truly timely and heart-piercing. The amount paid for attending the event was far outweighed by what we received spiritually. From the first day until the last, we were eating, grasping and confronting truths we could hold on to for life. We were taught to heed God’s calling for our generation. Some might have and some might not have realized yet their calling. However, the important thing is that we are all willing to obey God totally and wholly.

                  On April 19, 2014, all the city church and outstation delegates returned to our different churches and homes more fulfilled and ready to take on the challenges. We’re ready for God to reveal His vision and calling for us. By this, I celebrate that God exists and truly cares for the young. He is at work in us. I say, ‘AMEN’ to that!

                  We are deeply thankful to God for leading the Spiritual Leaders of JECPP to hatch the plan of hosting the “Empowering The NEX GEN” youth conferences in the different regions. Great appreciation is also extended to the leadership of JECPP Central and Eastern Visayas for organizing and raising the resources to empower our emerging generation for Christ.­­­­­­­­

 

 

 

 

 

       

 

An Overcoming Year (7th Graduation Exercises of Evangel Futurekids Academy)

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by Nilo Bautista

The education component of the Robert and Marion Lim PEACE Foundation embodied by Evangel Futurekids Academy (EFA) marked its 7th year of existence. It has continued to provide premium basic education at an affordable cost in M.J. Cuenco community despite the overwhelming challenges faced by the school management headed by Rev. Jocelyn Chua. School year 2013-2014 saw a giant step taken in opening up a class for grade 4 pupils. Total student enrollment was 140, an increase of 20 pupils from the previous year.

The year was filled with tough challenges. On October 15, 2013 a strong earthquake hit Cebu City and Bohol, which resulted in the cancellation of few school activities. The EFA school building came under thorough inspection for safety by authorized structural engineers. Thankfully, Cebu Liberty Lumber building where EFA is located was declared safe for occupancy. Thus, we were able to move on with the school operations to this day.

The following month, ‘Yolanda’ made history as the strongest typhoon (international codename ‘Haiyan’) the world had ever experienced hit our region. Hence, classes had to be cancelled, and the children had to attend make up classes on Saturdays. God is good in enabling them to work hard and focus on their studies despite the different calamities striking the Visayas. The children’s parents rose to help the victims by giving relief goods through EFA, especially for the victims in Tacloban City.

The graduation and recognition ceremony was truly one of the most anticipated events of the year considering all the ‘hardships’ our little kids had to face. However, it was rescheduled one week later as 30 pupils and their families were the unfortunate victims of the biggest fire that hit MJ Cuenco community. The fire destroyed hundreds of houses in Brgy. Lorega. Thankfully, no life was lost. Thus, Rev. Jocelyn Chua and the Board of Trustees decided to reach out to the victims and postponed the graduation and recognition.

Tough challenges indeed – EFA went through the fire, earthquake and typhoon! Thanks to God’s faithfulness; a total of 24 Kinder II pupils got to graduate. The ceremony was well attended by the parents, friends and relatives of the graduates and honor students. Kinder 1 pupil Keziah Joy Miego opened the entire program with a very moving prayer. Her family was among the victims of the fire incident in Brgy. Lorega.

The Spirit of God moved in the entire program, and many could testify that God indeed did a good work in the lives of the little ones and their parents. The graduating class first honors, Isaiah Florida, gave an impressive speech that cheered the audience.

The selected honor students from different levels presented the song ‘Yesterday’s Dream’ which lifted the spirits of the parents and guests. The program was also graced with special numbers from Grade 3 pupils with their beautiful Flute Rendition and Grade 4 pupils with their patriotic Speech Choir. The highlight of the day went to the students of the Graduating Class with their outstanding song number “I Am A Promise”, who received thunderous applause from the audience.

 

rev_chuck_chua_giving_an_inspirational_messageRev. Chuck Chua gave the inspirational message with a powerful quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. to both parents and teachers that says: INTELLIGENCE PLUS CHARACTER – THAT IS THE GOAL OF TRUE EDUCATION. The core of the message was taken from the life story of Daniel and the three Hebrew boys. He then closed the message by pointing out the 3 Pillars of Education using the acronym of the school, EFA which speaks of Ecclesia=Church, Family=Home and Academy=School.

 

Most of the EFA Board of Trustees and the Robert and Marion Lim PEACE Foundation Trustees attended the graduation rites as well. By God’s grace, it had been a year of overcoming challenges, remarkable growth and continuing pursuit to better educate the children in every aspect necessary.

We look forward to seeing the many plans of God unfold this coming school year 2014-2015. We want to acknowledge the different groups and individuals who supported the ministry, especially Pastors Robert and Marion Lim together with Evangel Family Church Singapore headed by Pastors Dale and Chui Lim for their constant prayer and support. May the good Lord continue to open doors for the ministry to expand this year for His glory!

 

Delegates gave thumbs up to the Western Visayas Regional Youth Conference

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By Pastor Bernardo Jr. de Jesus

The converging point for this year’s ‘Empowering the Next Generation Youth Conference’ last April 14-16, 2014 was Villa Adelina Resort in Ajuy Iloilo. It was the perfect venue for our youth conference as the owner of the resort was a christian herself.

Tropical depression ‘Domeng’ had caused intermittent rain to fall for these three days, making travel difficult for most of the planters and delegates, who arrived soaking wet on the first day. But though we had rain showers for these three days, it turned out to be a blessing from God. If it were not for the rain, we would have suffered the excruciating heat of summer during the services.

During the first day of the conference, the EFC-Silay City band conducted a music seminar that was lead by Bro. Emerson Haresco and Bro. Vince Haresco. In this first session of the day, the Silay band led us in a wonderful time of praise and worship through songs that fit the taste of today’s youth. After this, Bro. Emerson taught the young people important spiritual principles aspiring song leaders must uphold, if they are to lead God’s people in worship. Then Bro. Vince taught how a worship team should prepare itself spiritually before they lead God’s people in worship. After these initial talks, the young people were divided into different groups based on their music interests, be it base guitar; electric guitar; keyboard; drums; and song leading. Then the members of EFC-Silay band imparted their music skills to the young people, using the music instruments at hand. Pastor Benjie Chavez had envisioned this music seminar for our conference in order to help aspiring musicians and singers under the various churches in Western Visayas.

The second session for the first day was under Pastor Benjie Chavez who shared the topic: “Mindset for Ministry.” Before delivering his message, Pastor Benjie showed us a short film clip that featured ECME, our mission’s school in Manila. It was a good time to present our Bible school to the young people as some of them may have sensed the call of God in their lives. Pastor Benjie stressed in his message that every member in the body of Christ has a part to play in the propagation of the gospel, and that being a mere spectator in the church is not God’s will for every Christian. It was a very convicting message for those young people who are so engaged in worldly pursuits while neglecting their responsibilities in the church. Pastor Benjie also stressed to the young people that they should base their identity on serving Christ, for if they do, they would discover the meaning and the purpose of their lives.

By the second day, the first session was under Pastor Bernard de Jesus Jr. who shared a message titled ‘Cutback.’ Pastor Bernard first showed the young people a short film clip on the sport of surfing, wherein surfers perform a maneuver called a cutback. According to Pastor Bernard, a cutback is a maneuver that enables the surfer to ride the power of the wave. It will enable the surfer to go along with the momentum of wave and not against it. The emphasis of this message was about accepting God’s plan for your life, and to choose not to fight against it. Pastor Bernard emphasized that the Christian life is just like surfing. The surfer symbolizes the Christian, and the waves symbolize the plan of God for his life. As a surfer does not go against the momentum of the wave but goes along with it, so the Christian must not fight against God’s plan for his life, but choose to go along with it. Pastor Bernard further stressed that according to Jeremiah 29:11, God has it all figured out about our lives and that He has a plan for our lives, and if there are areas that are not aligned with those plans, then a spiritual cutback would be necessary to change the wrong course taken. At the closing of the message, Pastor Bernard showed the young people a music video of the movie ‘Grace Unplugged,’ a movie about changing the course of one’s life in pursuit of God’s direction.

During the evening service of the second day, Pastor Virgilio Fabales shared on the message titled: ‘Who is this Man that turns this City upside down?’ The emphasis of the message is about the kind of men that God uses to make an impact in the world. Pastor Virgilio stressed from several Old Testament characters like Abraham and Jacob that the men God used to make an impact in the world were imperfect and weak, yet in their weaknesses, God’s power was manifested. Pastor Virgilio challenged the young people to be available for God’s service even though they may have weaknesses, because God’s power is made perfect in weaknesses.

On the first session of the third day, Pastor Bernard was again the speaker. This time his message was titled: ‘Do Not Invest your Life on the Temporal.’ Pastor Bernard stressed that we invest on what we believe is the real deal and not the raw deal. But the sad thing is that we have a tendency to invest our life on temporal things because we think they are the real deal, and that eternal things are the raw deal. Pastor Bernard stressed that Jesus taught us not to waste our lives on this fleeting world, and think that there is no far better world beyond this physical world we see now. We also must not think that life consists only of acquiring more things before our short life on earth comes to an end. In closing, Pastor Bernard emphasized that there are only two things that are eternal: The Word of God and People, so the young people better invest their youth on these two things.

After the first session, we had our open forum with the young people wherein we handed out a 2-page questionnaire titled: ‘Ungodly beliefs about Myself and Ungodly beliefs about Others’. At the start, Pastor Benjie felt that the young people needed an open forum to resolve several issues of the heart that are suppressed inside of them. The purpose of the open forum was to draw out these heart issues, so that we could counsel them using God’s Word with regards to these issues. We were surprised that such an open forum could effectively draw out these heart issues and move many of the young people to tears while the pastors counseled them to the best of their abilities. We thank the Lord for speaking to Pastor Benjie to include this in our conference.

Before our second session in the afternoon, we had our ‘Battle of the Bands’ wherein four groups competed against each other. With each group performing by using their own styles, we were amazed to see how talented these young people are. There were young people who were encouraged to join the contest beforehand, but since they were nervous about the idea of being on stage, they declined. But after they saw the four bands having fun on stage, they became envious and vowed to join the battle of the bands next year. The battle of the bands was not just a competition. It was Pastor Benjie’s intention to use this program in order to arouse interest in music among the young people, and truly it served its purpose. After the competition, due to insistent demand from the young people, the pastors gave a sample of their own talent in music. A band was hastily formed with Pastor Benjie Bachoco as the lead guitarist, Pastor Jon Jon as the bass guitarist, Pastor Regie as the drummer, Pastor James as the keyboardist, and Pastor Bernard as the lead vocal. The Pastors jammed to the tune of ‘One Way’ to the delight of the young people who were jumping up and down including our judges Bro. Emerson and Bro. Vince. The young people were so fired up that even during the praise and worship of the second session, they were jumping up and down for joy on the altar.

On the second session of the third day, Pastor Benjie’s message was about ‘Making Christ no.1 in our lives.’ Pastor Benjie began his message with an illustration about a dog that was chasing a rabbit. The dog was barking loud as it made the chase, attracting other dogs to go along with the chase. Halfway into the chase the other dogs broke off the chase, but this dog kept going. Pastor Benjie explained that the reason this dog kept on going was because it saw the rabbit, but the others did not. The other dogs were only drawn into the chase because of its barking. Pastor Benjie stressed that this is similar to the Christian life. There are those who tenaciously follow Jesus Christ regardless of the circumstances of life, because they have caught a vision of who Jesus is, while others falter halfway because they have not caught this vision. In closing, Pastor Benjie said, “A life without following Jesus is a life of cheap grace.”

The most memorable part of the conference was when Pastor Jocelyn Bachoco was brought to the altar during the last day to be prayed for by all church planters. Since the first day of the camp, she was suffering from severe body pains due to her condition. She could hardly walk to the pavilion without someone giving her assistance. But after being prayed for, she testified to Pastor Lina that all her body pains were gone, and that she could move her arms and legs without any pain whatsoever. The owner of Villa Adelina resort was surprised to see her walking the next day without assistance.  She told Pastor Benjie that nothing like this has ever happened in the resort. She even asked if she could print out this article from our website so that she could pin it somewhere in the resort, as a testimony that a miracle had happened in Villa Adelina Resort. Praise God!

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to our Regional Director Pastor Benjie Chavez and Pastor Lina Chavez, including their church members for their labor of love in making this youth conference a success. Special thanks also to Pastor Franklin Margoma and Pastor Jerome Gimenez along with their team in the kitchen, for cooking for all the delegates for these three days. All of you are highly appreciated! Thanks to all the WV planters and all the youth delegates for their sincere cooperation. Thanks to the EFC-Silay City band for imparting their talents to our young people. Above all, thanks to our Founding Chairman Rev. Dr. Robert Lim and all the spiritual leaders who have envisioned this youth conference which had such a profound impact on our youth that they are again ready to go for NEX GEN 2015!wv8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Southern Mindanao convened for the 1ST Regional Youth Conference

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By: Jeanelle Grace Lorilla

The year 2014 is a special year devoted by JECPP to empower the next generation. With this theme, all the five JECPP regions conducted last April 14-16, 2014 its 1st Regional Youth Conference simultaneously held in Davao City, Cebu City, Cagayan de Oro City, Iloilo City and Quezon City.

For the Southern Mindanao Region, a total of 213 participants gathered at Evangel Family Church, Davao City for the three-day much awaited summer gathering of young people. Delegates came from Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Davao del Sur, SOCCSKSARGEN, Marahan and Davao City.

The theme “Empowering the Next Generation” aimed to equip each of us for the greater things God has for us individually and to the entire JECPP ministry. With our guest speakers, who boldly delivered the word of God, each one of us was fired up to serve the Lord with all of our hearts, minds, strength and souls.

Southern Mindanao was so blessed to have Rev. Dr. Robert Lim – JECPP’s founding chairman who shared God’s messages to us for three nights. The message for the first and second night was titled, “Unplugging Your Wells”. The scripture taken from Genesis 26: 12-33 talks about Isaac and his servants who re-dug the wells of his father Abraham. The first well that they dug, Isaac named it “Esek” which means strife, injustice and contention because the herdsman of Gerar quarreled with them for this well. They didn’t settle on this well. The next well they dug was named “Sitnah” which means hatred because they also fought over it. These two wells became areas of demonic activity. These wells represent our own lives where the enemy can throw in dispute, anger, and opposition until our spiritual and emotional channels get clogged. Isaac and his servants never stayed on these wells. They moved on to dig another well. This time, they never fought for the third well. So he called it “Rehoboth” which means that the Lord has made a room for them. They stayed there and also named the place as “Shebah” which means the Well of Oath. The wells embody our spiritual lives. If we allow the enemy to mark us with negativity such as “no hope” or “no future”, our wells will never flow.

At the final night of the conference, Pastor Lim shared the powerful message titled “It is Finished at the Cross”. He emphasized that the cross is the final answer to our slavery to sin and the curses that come with it. Furthermore, the cross is the fullness of judgment and the completion of our salvation. He encouraged everyone to claim God’s promises of victory, triumph and conquest over the enemy of our soul because of what Jesus did at the cross. Hallelujah! Jesus won us back on the Cross!

The morning sessions also featured very timely messages from Rev. Peter Wee, the Regional Director for Southern Mindanao and Rev. Gregorio Simpas Jr., Davao del Norte Core Leader.

Rev. Wee made us realize through his message “If You Want to Truly Live, Some Things Must Die”, that we should kill the giants of our lives when we still have the opportunity, or else, the giants will multiply and overpower us. Rev. Simpas, on the other hand, revealed to us the “Missing Ingredient” of our service to God which is momentum. He warned us the irony of being idle in the Lord and yet busy in worldly things. He gave specific warning on computer game addiction that corrupts so many young people today.

Each service was started by Praise and Worship that made us all jumped, dance and sang the Lord’s awesome wonders. Thanks to the Music Team of Davao City, Tagum and Kidapawan in leading the congregation. We were also entertained by special song numbers given to us by Davao City and Kidapawan.

Aside from lighting our spiritual vigor, we also enjoyed our trip to Crocodile Park where we saw many wildlife animals. Some trained animals showed off their intelligence by performing tricks. We were also engaged in workshops so we could learn new skills for our local churches. We had Song Leaders session, Musicians session, Creative Balloon Design, PowerPoint Designs and E-mail lessons. Not just the Young People learned from this workshops, so did the Pastors.

Another highlight of the conference was the courageous response of the eight young people to go to Bible School for more workers in the harvest field. God’s calling to some young people to become pastors aroused as we watched a special video presentation of Evangel Center for Missions and Evangelism (ECME).

The conference ended with testimonies from each delegate who was revived, delivered and blessed. On the last night, as we were asking for more of God’s presence, the Holy Spirit touched the young people in a way that made us respond with joyful cries.DSC_0355

1st JECPP SYNCHRONIZED PRAYER WALK 2014

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SINGAPORE – 1

LUZON – 177

WESTERN VISAYAS – 339

CENTRAL & EASTERN VISAYAS – 273

NORTHERN MINDANAO – 192

SOUTHERN MINDANAO – 630

 

 

TOTAL – 1,612

“Glory to God for a victorious 1st JECPP Synchronized Prayer Walk”

 

Northern Mindanao sections prepare for harvest

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By Pastor Vic Louie Pacaña

northern_mindanao1The Holy Spirit taught me a very valuable lesson during my trip last December to Tacloban City via Ormoc City. Amidst the sorrowful landscape of wrecked houses and snapped coconut trees caused by Super Typhoon Yolanda, I saw a farmer plowing his fields. The houses nearby were all in shambles, yet this farmer would not allow the situation around him to hinder what needs to get done for the season. It was the right time actually to prepare the fields for planting, and this wise and diligent farmer arose from the heartbreaking moment to prepare his fields.

The church goes through many storms, and sometimes we can get stuck in the heartbreaking moments and neglect what needs to be done for that season.

C.S. Lewis says, “The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose.”

“The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed…” so echoes Hudson Taylor.

Missions is not just about planting churches or spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. It means giving birth to another church that has this same mission to spread a passion for God. So instead of merely saying that we aim to plant a church, we say that we aim of “Planting a Passion for God” at a certain locality.

The aim is not just to plant a church, but to plant a strong, God-centered seedbed for spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

Since our exposure to the Church Planting Movement Concept last 3-6 August 2010 at Marco Polo Hotel, Cebu City, we experienced a surge in our church planting endeavors for a year or two, but the zeal began to wane.  As the essence of the Church planting movement rests primarily on the mobilizing of volunteer church members to plant churches, we revive our efforts on the training of new volunteers for church planting.

We began with reorganizing the evangelism program of our city church. Believing for the harvest must first begin with preparing for the planting. So we went back to the basics of evangelism. We gathered all willing members and enlisted them to our modified Evangelism Explosion Program. This program will take around 12-15 weeks, depending on the diligence of the trainee.  With much excitement, the first batch of 29 volunteers has already grown to 40. We are expecting this number to double when the trainees reach midway of the program where they are expected to each enlist a trainee.

The excitement doesn’t just stop here at our city church, but it has also reached our barangay outstation churches. Our present volunteers who handle outstation churches have also implemented the same program on their barangay churches. Our full time church planters are also preparing their fields.  Currently, Balingasag Section has 9 volunteers, and they are training 4 more workers to plant 2 churches this June. Malaybalay Section has 9 volunteer workers, and they are now training 3 additional workers to plant churches by July. Manticao Section has 10 volunteer workers, and now they are training 2 more volunteers to plant 2 churches by July. Lala Section has 10 volunteers, and they are training 5 volunteers to plant churches by June this year. Naawan Section has 12 volunteers, and they are training 3 more volunteers to plant church by June this year. The overall number of volunteers under Northern Mindanao Region is 113, and we are presently training 34 volunteers for our projected 10 churches to be planted this year.

Truly, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  We need to mobilize our people to be involved in the harvest.  It starts by preparing them. David Livingstone says “Sympathy is no substitute for action”. There is so much to be done for evangelism, but it can only be done if God’s people are available and willing to do it.

EFC-Carmen commemorates 10 years

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by: Pastor Mabel Miraflor

 

After graduating at ECME Bible School in Jaro, Iloilo City in 2008, I was assigned to shepherd EFC-Carmen, Davao del Norte. Five years later, I could look back and marvel on God’s leading up to this day and the promising years ahead.

EFC-Carmen, now 10 years old, is headed by my team-up with Pastor Evelyn Calamba. Looking back, this assignment seemed daunting for two young ladies. When asked to pastor EFC Carmen, we were afraid, nervous and hesitant. There were people who put us down because they think we can do nothing as single ladies who are frail and weak. There are also very physical tasks such as doing repairs or church construction that we find difficult.

But God’s command to be strong and courageous keeps us steadfast in the mission field. In fact, one of EFC-Carmen’s goals this year is to prepare for the construction of our own permanent church building in a 180 sq meter lot donated by one of the members. This has been an answered prayer, as the church, presently located at Purok 17, Brgy. Ising, Carmen has kept transferring from one rented building to another for the past 10 years. Looking for a bigger place to accommodate the growing church or avoiding conflicts with neighbors due to noise problems during church services prompted us to find a suitable and permanent place of worship.  We are now raising money for our own church building. This is one thing we have learned here in the mission field that we haven’t experienced while we were in ECME. We have to actually teach the members to be good stewards of their time, talent and treasure that God has entrusted them with.

Last November 3, 2013, we celebrated EFC-Carmen’s 10th year anniversary. Rev. Gregorio Simpas, who was our guest speaker, inspired our faith. His message challenged us to work on our church theme this year which is “Conquering the Giants.” Our giants in life are the obstacles that we meet along the way- our struggles, weaknesses, fears, doubts, discouragements and temptations. We dare to believe that we can attain victory by taking God at His word and trusting Him completely. God will meet all our needs and destroy these hindering giants.

In line with this theme is our vision for this church. We need to have more leaders for the Church Planting Movement. To accomplish this vision, we conduct leaders training every month. Second is to build our own church building. In order to meet this need, we challenge the members to give for the building fund and commit faith pledge. Another vision is to equip the youth. We train them to practice friendly evangelism in the church neighborhood. We also want to see more children being saved and being used by God through the children ministry. To reach this vision, we train Sunday school teachers to impart the Word of God and Christ-like attitudes by being good examples to our children. As of now, we minister to 115 children in seven children outreaches on Saturdays and Sundays.  

As I look back over the years, the road has been a journey with the Lord. EFC-Carmen started in 2003 through the Church Planting Concept by conducting evangelism and house to house bible study in Carmen. Four young pastors, namely, Antonette Salem, Eddie Gutang, Chandie Tanucan and Liza Honor were the pioneering pastors of the church in a rented house in Prk.14, Brgy. Ising, Carmen, Davao del Norte. After them, Pastor Dolores Lozada was assigned to continue the work, and after a year, Pastor Fabian and Pastor Joyce Sumampong took over the church. But after two years, they transferred to Polomolok in South Cotabato.

I was a newly graduate bible school student then when I was asked to take over EFC-Carmen, together with my batch mate, Pastor Maria Dherly Galing. When Pastor Dherly got married, she joined her husband Ptr. Willian Consular in EFC-Panabo. Pastor Evelyn Calamba took over her place up to the present. As single young ladies, there are lots of pressures in the ministry from the start up to now. We can never do this on our own. It is only by God’s grace and through prayers that we can pray the price of our calling. We must not be frightened nor be dismayed for the Lord our God is with us wherever we go.