August 31, 2007
In my study over the years of the Apostle Paul's writings, I have been struck by his continually requesting his readers to be vitally involved with his life and ministry through prayer, giving and companionship. He realized, and Mary Ann and I are realizing more and more deeply, that the effectiveness of our ministries rests upon the prayers and fellowship of others who know the Lord. Read Ephesians 6:19, Colossians 4:3 and 1 Thesselonians 3:1-2 to see Paul's heart toward his dear friends. *Thank you* for being *our dear praying friends*. The following are reports and prayer requests for your involvement.
1. Flood Relief: Tuesday of this week our team distributed 180 large bags of relief goods to families in 2 locations severely affected by recent heavy monsoon rain in Calumpit, Bulacan. We partnered with 3 churches there with whom we do regular ministry to street children in their area. I preached at both locations from John 14:6 and we distributed the Gospel tract "Are you a good person?" with several indicating trusting Christ as Savior. They are now under the influence of these churches so they will be able to have regular ministry if they desire.
Wednesday next week members of our team will go to Candaba, Pampanga to distribute relief goods to 100 families also affected by monsoon rain. One of our partner ministries to street children, the Open Heart Foundation, has regular ministry in Candaba and they will do the follow up after the relief giving.
Whenever we do relief work, we always do it in the name of Christ and present the message of salvation through Him along with our tangible acts demonstrating His love.
2. Restoring Children of the Streets Manual: As Mary Ann and I have time, we are redoing this manual so it will be reduced in size and easier to use. The chapters will be more concise. While I'm speaking about training material, we have lined up 2 training sessions for partner churches using Dr. Dan Brewster's resource book called Child, Church and Mission. Dr. Brewster is a good friend of ACTION and a long-time member of Compassion International residing in Malaysia. Our first training session will be September 14. This is an excellent resource book for anyone interested in ministry to children at risk and it is very affordable.
3. Christian Growth Ministries 46th Anniversary: Yesterday I had the joy of attending CGM's 46th anniversary celebration of God's faithfulness to them over the years. ACTION International was birthed out of CGM in 1974. We continue to partner with them to this day through conferences for pastors, the Home of Joy Orphanage, Camp Jabez where we have our camps for street children, prison ministry, Evangelistic Christmas Parties, and publishing resource materials for pastors and Christian workers. Mary Ann and I have been directly involved with CGM since 1985 so they are dear friends and colleagues. Refer to the ACTION's website if you are interested in learning more about ACTION's history click here.
I would like to give you a special prayer request for Mrs. Leah Buenacosa who is a former CGM staff woman who has a brain tumor. I know her husband Mayeight very well and have served with him from the beginning. ACTION is raising funds for Leah's medical needs. Next week she starts 30 plus days of radio-therapy so pray for Leah, Mayeight and their kids. If you'd like to contribute to their financial needs, send your gift to the ACTION office nearest you. Addresses below.
Continue to pray also for Pastor Jun Magalong, the husband of our office worker Ann, as he continues to battle a nasal tumor.
4. Manila Bible Seminary: Last Thursday Dave and Becky Majam and I taught for 3 hours at the Manila Bible Seminary on ministry to street children. We had their graduating class of about 40 men and women and they were very receptive to our teaching and challenge to minister to the poor who will surround their future churches. Several approached us at the end of the day saying "you opened our eyes because we thought church ministry was only inside the church." Their comments were not reflecting negatively on the seminary but that they realized they now need to minister to their surrounding communities, especially to the many poor of this country. There are 2 former street boys in this graduating class and they testified to the reality of our teaching and challenges.
1. Flood Relief: Tuesday of this week our team distributed 180 large bags of relief goods to families in 2 locations severely affected by recent heavy monsoon rain in Calumpit, Bulacan. We partnered with 3 churches there with whom we do regular ministry to street children in their area. I preached at both locations from John 14:6 and we distributed the Gospel tract "Are you a good person?" with several indicating trusting Christ as Savior. They are now under the influence of these churches so they will be able to have regular ministry if they desire.
Wednesday next week members of our team will go to Candaba, Pampanga to distribute relief goods to 100 families also affected by monsoon rain. One of our partner ministries to street children, the Open Heart Foundation, has regular ministry in Candaba and they will do the follow up after the relief giving.
Whenever we do relief work, we always do it in the name of Christ and present the message of salvation through Him along with our tangible acts demonstrating His love.
2. Restoring Children of the Streets Manual: As Mary Ann and I have time, we are redoing this manual so it will be reduced in size and easier to use. The chapters will be more concise. While I'm speaking about training material, we have lined up 2 training sessions for partner churches using Dr. Dan Brewster's resource book called Child, Church and Mission. Dr. Brewster is a good friend of ACTION and a long-time member of Compassion International residing in Malaysia. Our first training session will be September 14. This is an excellent resource book for anyone interested in ministry to children at risk and it is very affordable.
3. Christian Growth Ministries 46th Anniversary: Yesterday I had the joy of attending CGM's 46th anniversary celebration of God's faithfulness to them over the years. ACTION International was birthed out of CGM in 1974. We continue to partner with them to this day through conferences for pastors, the Home of Joy Orphanage, Camp Jabez where we have our camps for street children, prison ministry, Evangelistic Christmas Parties, and publishing resource materials for pastors and Christian workers. Mary Ann and I have been directly involved with CGM since 1985 so they are dear friends and colleagues. Refer to the ACTION's website if you are interested in learning more about ACTION's history click here.
I would like to give you a special prayer request for Mrs. Leah Buenacosa who is a former CGM staff woman who has a brain tumor. I know her husband Mayeight very well and have served with him from the beginning. ACTION is raising funds for Leah's medical needs. Next week she starts 30 plus days of radio-therapy so pray for Leah, Mayeight and their kids. If you'd like to contribute to their financial needs, send your gift to the ACTION office nearest you. Addresses below.
Continue to pray also for Pastor Jun Magalong, the husband of our office worker Ann, as he continues to battle a nasal tumor.
4. Manila Bible Seminary: Last Thursday Dave and Becky Majam and I taught for 3 hours at the Manila Bible Seminary on ministry to street children. We had their graduating class of about 40 men and women and they were very receptive to our teaching and challenge to minister to the poor who will surround their future churches. Several approached us at the end of the day saying "you opened our eyes because we thought church ministry was only inside the church." Their comments were not reflecting negatively on the seminary but that they realized they now need to minister to their surrounding communities, especially to the many poor of this country. There are 2 former street boys in this graduating class and they testified to the reality of our teaching and challenges.
5. Preaching: Last Sunday Mary Ann and I attended the worship service of a new church plant in the Novotas City fish port which was started as a direct result of our camping, evangelistic Christmas party and fire relief ministries in the area. The service was attended by about 100 folks, little kids to adults, who are now members of this church. The church is under the leadership of Pastor Mamaril who is a long-time partner in our ministries. Refer to our blog for the story of this church.
September 9 I will be preaching at another partner church, Jabez Baptist, which is led by my good friend Pastor Lem Capili. September is their missions month and they are asking me to preach about missions, give our testimony about being called to missions as well as give a ministry presentation.
We praise God for our faithful brethren who love and serve the Lord with all their hearts. Mary Ann and I are who we are today by God's grace and the fellowship we have with these saints.
6. Greenhills Christian Fellowship Ladies' Project: As mentioned in a previous "Yes, Lord!" email letter, GCF's ladies launched a fund raising project a few months ago for our Alternative Learning System (ALS) ministry for street people. Yesterday Mrs. Mina Tanchi, who led this project, gave me a check for about $4,000 for which we thank God for but more importantly we thank God for the compassionate hearts of our church-mates. Mina said there may be more coming.
7. Street Children Camp: Next week Tuesday - Friday we will be having an evangelistic camp for 60 street kids from Antipolo City to be held at Camp Jabez. Pray for the recruitment of the campers and the preparedness of the several churches who will be participating. Honest Hands, our discipleship home for former street boys, will also be sending 5 guys to serve as junior staff. The camp will be directed by Pastor Buddy Gallo who was saved at an ACTION / CGM camp in 1981, graduated from our Working Hands program in '84 and has gone on to start his own construction company, graduate from seminary, plant and pastor a church and is now the leader of Children's Garden, a wonderful Discipleship/Vocational Training ministry for street kids. Please pray that our gracious God will call many kids to Himself and encourage the churches in their ministries to the poor in their vicinities.
8. Human Resources Department: Mary Ann continues to handle many applications to either receive or send personnel through our office. Whether we are ready or not, the "face" of ACTION is changing for which we praise God. This is requiring several adjustments as to how ACTION administrates personnel but this is how the Lord of the Harvest is deploying workers around the world today. Pray for her as well as the HR departments of ACTION Canada, UK and the USA. Nelson Reed, our International Director, is recruiting an HR Coordinator who will work with each of our sending and receiving offices around the world.
9. Update on Amos and Micah: Amos continues to plod along in his studies and we have been praying that he will soon have a breakthrough and see the "light at the end of the tunnel". As you can imagine, working on a PhD is a long, grinding process so pray for perseverance and encouragement for Amos.
Micah just finished 2 weeks of National Guard training and is learning what it means to be a sergeant. She is also enjoying her internship at a sports facility near our place. She is just about half way done with her internship requirements which she hopes to complete some time in October. She told me this morning that November is when her National Guard Unit really starts gearing up for their upcoming deployment to Iraq. We look forward to her being with us in the Philippines for the month of December.
This week I started studying the book of Mark and I just finished chapter 1. I praise God that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was a miracle worker, a healer of devastating diseases and delivered many from demonic possession. He not only demonstrated the compassion of God but primarily He came to teach and preach God's power to forgive and cleanse us from our greatest malady--sin -- and give us salvation in the fullest sense of the word. Mark 10:45 is the key verse of the book which says "for even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many (NASB)." Praise God that Jesus paid the ransom price so that we can be redeemed from the slave market of sin and be made right with God by trusting in Christ. Though our methods of delivering this Good News may change, the Message never does and it is *always* the Glad Tidings that we want to proclaim to the world and those next door.
ACTION USA * PO Box 398, Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043-0398 * Tel. 425.775.4800 * info@actionusa.org
ACTION Canada * 3015A 21 Street NE, Calgary, Alberta T2E 7T1 * Tel. 403.204.1421 * info@actioncanada.net
ACTION New Zealand * PO Box 8928, Riccarton, Christchurch * Tel. 011.643.341.0933 * rob@brighthopeworld.com
ACTION Philippines * PO Box 110, Greenhills Post Office, 1502 Metro Manila * Tel: 632.531.3709 * take.action@actionintl.org
ACTION United Kingdom * PO Box 144, Wallasey, Wirral CH44 5WE * Tel. 011.151.630.2451 * actionuk@btinternet.com * Registered Charity 1058661
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