JECPP Core Leaders Meet For A National Gathering
By: Genevieve Rosal
Pastors and Ministers are God’s precious servants called to shepherd His flocks. They hold such a high calling to proclaim the Gospel and spread the love of Christ to whomever and wherever God has placed them. Their task is not easy and many a times they also get tired and weary just like anyone. They need encouragement and a good support system. Ultimately they need the power and strength coming from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To give our dear pastors a time of fellowship and encouragement, JECPP held its Core Leaders’ Gathering last October 15-16, 2019 in Marco Polo Hotel, Cebu City. Gathered together are 50 pastors and church planters from Luzon, Central and Eastern Visayas, Western Visayas, Northern Mindanao and Southern Mindanao regions headed by their respective region leaders. JECPP Founding Chairman, Rev. Dr. Robert Lim together with Rev. Dr. Marion Lim also flew in as guest speakers for this special event.
The two-day gathering kicked off with workshops during the afternoon of the first day. Rev. Ammabelle Bautista talked about Children Feeding Ministry. She shared on the importance of reaching the kids, seeing them as how God sees them, and sowing the word of God in their young hearts because they are the next generation of believers and leaders. She also shared her personal experiences in reaching the kids in the community of how tiring it can be as a lot of hard work and patience are required, but it is also very rewarding to see the kids growing as teenagers and continue coming to church. Another topic was on Self Sustainability and Rev. Peter Wee shared a powerful message entitled The Paralysis of Dependency wherein he encouraged the pastors to have a shift of their mindset from depending on resources to looking to Jesus who is the only source. He stressed out that if people depend on others more than they depend on God, they will never see the fullness of what God has purposed for their lives. He challenged everyone to stand up and believe that the season of dependency in the ministry is over and with God’s help every outstation church can rise up and do what has never been done before. The last topic was about Church Governance by Rev. Andrew Kwong. He shared that as servants of God, accountability, loyalty and stewardship are very important. Pastors should live as man of God and not as man of the world or man of the flesh. As men of God they need to flee from certain things in their lives such as conceit, combativeness and covetousness. They need also to follow righteousness, faithfulness and godliness and also fight with vision, passion and willingness to suffer for others.
During the first evening session Rev. Dr. Marion Lim shared a very powerful and encouraging message about the Staying Power. She said that in order for JECPP to move forward in unity, misnisters must have the staying power because the Christian race is not about how well they have started but how well they end. She cited examples of three great men of God who were extraordinarily gifted in preaching for the purpose of multiplying churches and how tragic that in ten years’ time only one of them is still on track for Christ. She emphasized that the staying power of every pastor to stay on in the ministry must come not from the position or status they are holding or for the reason that they don’t want to stumble anyone, but it must be derived from the very fact that God has placed a call on them. Each one must fear God and cherish the call of God upon their lives.
On the following morning, Pastor Marion shared a heart-searching message on forgiveness which is one of the world’s greatest virtue. She shared honestly from her heart her own personal experiences of being hurt and harboring hatred, but she chose to release forgiveness. We must continue to forgive people especially those who genuinely repent. If a man has not put things right with his fellow man he cannot put things right with God. Forgiveness must be part of our lifestyle and when we forgive it must be complete forgiveness.
In the afternoon an informal talk took place. The men had a separate session with Rev. Dr. Robert Lim. They had a serious talk about the ministry and church planting. Pastor Lim shared that personal agenda that can destroy the organization must be avoided. On the other hand, the ladies had a wonderful time hearing advices from Pastor Marion and learned practical tips about family, marriage and raising children.
During the final night Rev. Dr. Robert Lim shared a very inspiring message on the book of Nehemiah which talks about the burden and the call God has placed upon Nehemiah and how he obeyed, depended on God and took action on rebuilding the wall amidst all the oppositions and all the threats they faced. Pastor Lim inspired all the pastors and at the same time challenged everyone that they should not get used to the pains and the problems that their city is facing because if we lose the burden, they will never be able to bring salvation to the people. They must not get so comfortable that their churches are doing well but their surroundings are suffering. When the church is growing they must not lose the burden. They must stay focused on the call of God and not compromise.
1 Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my dear brothers, 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.”
We believe that this gathering has blessed the pastors with a time of fellowship seeing their fellow workers in the harvest field and most especially with inspiring messages from all the speakers which help reignite their passion in the ministry once again. May God’s grace and anointing continue to flow in their lives and in their ministries as everyone keeps on advancing God’s cause wherever God has placed them knowing that nothing they do for the Lord will ever be in vain. To God be all the glory!
