Home Assignment: God is at Work

As busy as furlough has been, I have been feeling really blessed and refreshed. I admit I feel a lot of pressure as the clock ticks away, (we return to the Philippines July 8). It's kind of funny when people ask me if we are enjoying our time of rest. I am enjoying my time, but rest? I am busy trying to raise support, recruit more team members, speak at churches, visit friends and supports, take care of administrative responsibilities for the Master's Academy, write curriculum for upcoming classes in the Philippines, read a few thousand pages and write over a dozen papers for my doctrinal program at Talbot.

Let me update you on what has been happening in our lives and ministry. Our partners in the Philippines have been keeping the ministry humming along. Our friends at the Manalo Bridge are doing reasonably well. Pastor Richard has continued teaching Bible studies there and is keeping us posted on the progress of our disciples and of special needs. He also managed our Christmas outreach at the bridge. Lord willing, Chariel will have his first heart surgery next month. Obet has been faithful in going to the studies and Sunday Worship services. Pastor Mark has faithfully been teaching classes on how to study the Bible and Bible Survey classes for our training center.

The family and I have been sharing at churches, missions conferences, and small gathering of people who are interested in our ministry. Earlier this month I enjoyed going to the Shepherd's Conference. During that same week I made a presentation before the board of the Master's Academy. The board formally voted and accepted our training ministry in the Philippines as a TMAI school. As a result of that we were given many great resources for the school and doors have opened to us for more partnerships and support.

Kian, Christian, and Grace have all entered public school for the first time and our learning some good lessons outside of the missionary kid bubble of Faith Academy in the Philippines. Kian said that he didn't feel like a missionary in the Philippines being surrounded by hundreds of missionary kids, but he feels like a missionary here. He has already had the chance to lead to class mates to Christ and has been a consistent biblical counselor. I'm a little word about Christian who has been pretty quite about school and usually takes some coaxing to hear how things are going. He seems to be doing well grade wise, but I'm sure he looks forward to getting back to his friends in Manila. Grace likes her teacher and seems to be singing a new song every week. Tyler and Isabella have been enjoying the extra time with Grandma and Grandpa when they are in town. We recently had some time as a family to go to Disneyland.Pray for us as we continue to minister and labor to complete all the tasks that we have in our last 3 months here. Also ask God to move the hearts of those He has called to work with us and those He has called to come along side of us and support us and our ministry. Remember our friends at the bridge before the Lord and our students at the school. Finally, pray that I will do well in my continued education; that God will continue to grow and sharpen me so that i will be a better tool in His hand and a greater blessing to the ministers that I have the privilege to train in the Philippines.

Prayer Requests while in the States

We are starting up our prayer blog again. CLICK HERE for the most recent post.

The Master's Academy International in the Philippines

My wife and I keep laughing as God continually drops opportunities in our laps, opening doors for ministry, granting us favor in the eyes of others, and bringing great people to us to work with. I know that all of these things are from Him because they certainly are not because of any skills or credentials that we have. Churches and minister are giving me respect I haven’t earned. More experienced Pastors and elders call me to get my opinion on ministry issues. Other Churches are opening their doors for us to use as venues for training others and holding conferences. One businessman even offered us a building to start a training center in.

So why are churches and people in the Philippines so willing to work with us in this ministry? It started with a man who wanted to meet when he heard a graduate from the Master’s Seminary (TMS) was coming to the Philippines. Because he came to Christ through the ministry John MacArthur and Grace to you, he was eager partner in the ministry of training Filipinos in expository teaching and preaching. In November of 2006 I accepted his invitation to teach a group of about 15 ministers that he oversees. These 15 men each minister to separate groups of 700 to 1,000 people living in the surrounding poor communities. I began teaching these men on discipleship, hermeneutics and Bible.

Then in August of 2007, after a friend of mine who started a bible college in his church shared with me his frustration in finding qualified teachers, I agreed to help train his students. At this time Mark Macatangay, another graduate from TMS joined me. He is a Filipino national and an associate pastor from Green Hills Christian Fellowship (GCF). Mark and I accepted an invitation to train some ministers from a group called “Joshua”. This group specializes in discipling people from the police and armed forces of the Philippines. The class stared with just over 30 students and soon grew to over 40. After they completed Hermeneutics they asked if we would be willing to train more of their people. We started another class of 30 plus students who are currently taking Hermeneutics in the evenings (including some of the pastor’s wives). GCF provided for the copying of the syllabus for each student and copies of the book “How to Read the Bible for all it’s Worth.” Supporters of our ministry from the U.S. provided copies of the MacArthur Study Bible.

Among our students are a navy admiral, a military colonel, businessmen, engineers, bankers, and an attorney. All of them are now teachers or preachers hungry for training. After taking our course in Hermeneutics one student wrote, “Through this course I am truly encouraged to spend more time to read, study and meditate on the Word of God and consequently to trust and obey Him in all areas of my life and share the meaning and the truths to others as He reveals them to me.” Another said to me that he went to a Bible College in the Philippines, but he was never taught the basic principles that we taught him in our Hermeneutics class. I heard the same thing from another pastor who received a Masters of Divinity from a seminary in Manila. Comments like these serve to fuel my passion for bring solid training to ministers of God and to send them out through the Philippines and the nations.

Many other groups have expressed interest in us training them and we haven’t even advertised.One of those groups is White Fields. They are a missionary organization that focuses on training national church planters using experienced missionaries and ministers to help train and equip them for ministry. They asked us if we could help them in the area of Expository preaching. You can read about their ministry in the Philippines at the following website: www.whitefields.org/currentevents/2007/StepConference.pdf. This partnership will happen through modular training, the first of which will took place in January in the city of Batangas. Steve Wheeler from White Fields will taught a one week module in Hermeneutics to a group of about 100 ministers for one week in the evenings. Classes were held at night because the students work day jobs to survive while ministering during the evenings and weekends. We are lining up other modules in the near future for other ministers who live outside of Manila and on other islands.

The greatest challenges that we face right now are first, we have more potential students than we can teach on our own so we need help. We need more teachers who are willing to leave the comforts of the U.S. and move to Manila. We also need trained men who can come and help teach 1 to 2 week modules in various subjects including Old and New Testament, Theology, Church Planting, Leadership, Counseling, Pastoral ministry and Preaching. Second, we need prayer and financial support for both Mark and I, and for resources for the training center itself. You can contact us (sean@ransomreport.com) or the Masters Academy International (http://www.tmainternational.org/site/questionnaire.asp?q_id=29&sec_id=1) if you are interested in partnering with us.

Back in the States

We recently arrived back in the States for our first furlough. We will be here till July 8th to report to our supports, raise some support that we are lacking, get some training, attend a few conferences, promote the Master's Academy International, recruit more workers, and visit with friends and family. We just spent Christmas with our family for the first time in four years. In addition to bringing our two new kids, we also got to see 3 new nephew/nieces. We are a growing family! I was also quickly reminded of how painful Christmas can be to the wallet. I'm writing from Kansas where our families came together to reunite. We went from this:

To this:

One reality that made things interesting is the fact that we no longer own any winter clothes. We were able to borrow from relatives to get by. Kian basically came here with all shorts and no pants. Thank God for central heat. I no longer have a good winter jacket, but the thin jacket that I still have coupled with a few layers of other clothes is getting me by. It is a real treat for our little one to have snow. Grace, Tyler, and Isabella have either never seen snow, or have no recollection of it. I was asked if it ever snows in the Philippines. Not even close. I think that the coldest it gets is somewhere around 60 degrees.

We will be back in California on January 3. Then it will be back to work speaking in churches, making phone calls and visits, working on my doctorate, and writing curriculum for the Master's Academy (the training center that we started in the Philippines. I am in the process of writing a blog about that and will post it soon).

Some of the challenges that we are facing right now are what schools to place our three school aged kids in. One kindergartner, one middle-schooler, and one High Schooler. We are also finding the cost of living in California today to be tough on a missionary budget. We are staying with family right now, (I am blessed with great parents in-law and I love them both) and most likely will stay with them till we return to the Philippines, but it is possible to stay in the valley with the help of our home church. Pray for us as week seek the Lord's directing in these decisions.

I have mixed emotions about being here. It is great to see friends and family. The need to raise more support and continued work on a doctorate in preaching are other good reasons to be here. Yet, at the same time the training center is just getting off the ground. My partner Mark Macatangay is keeping things going in the Philippines while continue to expand and support our work from here. I also worry about our friends living under the bridge. We prepared some people to minister to them in our absence so I believe that we left them in good hands, but there are many unfinished situations going on. Chariel needs to get heart surgery (as soon as possible), many of the people there are dealing with various illnesses, and they are all scheduled to have their homes demolished in August so they need to help build their relation homes or face living on the streets. Like the apostle Paul, I will entrust them to the care of God who loves them infinitely more than I ever could.

So it's good to be here, but I am anxious to get back. While we are here we hope to see all of you. Just email if you would like to arrange a time to get together. We don't have cell phones yet, but we should soon so leave your number with us too. I hope you all had a great time celebrating God's gift to the world, His Son Jesus Christ. We also hope that you have a happy New Year and give God the glory for the one he just gave you. Be blessed and enjoy knowing and serving Him.

Peace at the Bridge

The sign said that all of their homes would be demolished and that they must all move out by Nov. 22. I got a text message on my phone from one of our friends from the bridge on the night of Nov. 22 that said, "Pastor, we have peace." Our friends at the bridge are rejoicing! In response to the threat of their homes being demolished and having no where to go they prayed and God listened. I learned that at their meeting with the Department of Urban Poor, they were told that there homes (100 plus families including our friends from the bridge and also those living along the sides of the river) will be demolished, but that they extended the deadline to August of 08. That's good news, but the better news is that they will be the first group in their city that will be relocated into new apartment type homes that they will own. They said many other groups were not given this opportunity, even others who lived near by. It appears that God is showing favor to these people. I pray that they will see His hand in this and that they will praise Him for it. My fellow workers and I will surely point this out to them.These new homes will have luxuries in them that our friends from the bridge don't currently have. These luxuries are pre-wired electricity, running water, and a toilet. Kuya Edwin shared with me earlier in the month how he was concerned about a relocation plan that required every family to pay a down payment on the home and a monthly payments of just over $20 a month (which is tough when you only make about a dollar a day and have a family to cloth and feed). This problem has been solved by a program that has all the families who receive the homes work 1000 hours each at helping to build their homes. In exchange, there will be no down payment and the month payment will instead be about $10 a month. This will be tough for some, but should be do able.My friend Obet is a little concerned about this because his handicap will probably prevent him from being able to work. I am hoping that short term construction teams from the U.S. and our local church here can assist by working for Obet and helping our friends from the bridge in the construction to speed up the time for families to move in. I will check into the details to see if this is possible, but if anyone has interest in helping or sending a team between next January and August, please let men know. Continue to pray for our friends at the bridge and in the surrounding area. Pray that they will recognize God's mercy and kindness to them, not only in their temporary needs, but in their eternal needs through the sacrifice of His Son so that their sins can be forgiven.

Banished from the Bridge?

Through my car windows I could see people on the sides of the road huddling together where ever they could find a dry spot. It was raining hard on my way to the meeting. Just a few days earlier I received a text message on my cell phone that said, "Kuya Sean, the MMDA (Metropolitan Manila Development Authority) posted a sign that said all of us at Manalo Bridge must move out by Nov. 21 and that they would be demolishing our homes." A meeting was set for today, Nov. 20 to discuss the possibility for relocation to government housing. After Kuya Edwin shared the news of possible government housing I thought, great! that means they could actually own their own homes. Even if they were small, these potential homes would be theirs and they would have running water and electricity. Then Kuya Edwin told me that they would have to pay about P1000 pesos a month (about $24 a month) which means that the deal was not as good as it sounded at first because most of them can not afford that.

When I got to the meeting at about 9am, the rain had stopped and I was greeted by many people from Manalo Bridge and the surrounding community. I learned that not only were the people from the bridge threatened with being kicked out (about 25 families), but also the people living along side of the river banks (about 75 more families). Since the meeting started later than expected I was not able to stay till the end of it. I will find out what happened later and relay what I learn.
I understand that squatting on some else's property is illegal and I can sympathize with both the property owner and the poor person who is squatting because they have nowhere else to go. However, these people are squatting on government land. Land that is not really used by the government or the general public. As you can see in the picture above, they are living on the side of the river where no strip mall or housing track will ever be built. Their homes are built against the back of some businesses or other squatter houses.

Some of my friends had been waiting there since 7am and the meeting didn't even start till about 10am. I could see the concern in the faces of the people who already had so much to worry about. Many of them were unemployed and didn't know how they were going to pay for food, water, medicine, school supplies for their children, etc. Now they have to worry about weather they will have a roof over their heads. Most people I know are worrying about what they are going to buy for their kids, friends, and family for Christmas not where will they sleep.
One neat result of this trial is that our friends from Manalo Bridge are praying like they have never prayed before. We just got a text from them that they are organizing their first prayer meeting. Please pray for our friends that the government will give them an extension so that the children will at least be able to finish the semester at their schools. Also pray that affordable housing will be found for them to relocate to. Personally, I pray that if they are relocated they will be near enough for us to continue to minister to them. I will keep you posted on what God is doing with our friends at the bridge.

Moving Beyond the Bridge

For almost two years now I have been building friendships at the bridge, helping to start bible studies for all, for women, children, and youth. Those helping me include my wife Jessica, our friends Meriam and Sheryl, pastor Rick, and now pastor Richard and Ate Cecil. Last Friday and Saturday nights we moved beyond the bridge to reach out to the community. The city where the bridge is located is called Manggahan. We had our first out reach event to that community so that we could share the gospel with them and invite them to be a part of existing bible studies or to start new ones in their homes.We showed movies, gave testimonies, performed special music, and shared the gospel message. It all took place in the basketball court of the town center. Our supporters provided the equipment which included a P.A. system and a projector to show the movie. We showed the movie "The Cross and the Switch Blade" in Tagalog. This is a film about Nickie Cruz a former gang leader turned evangelist. The evening started with a focus on the family cartoon for the kids and ended with snacks. It was such a joy to see many of our friends from the bridge serving the community for Christ. A few years ago there only concern was getting by in life. Now they are serving others and taking part in sharing real life - eternal life. Someone donated 200 pieces of sweet bread, Jess and I provided juice (which our friends from the bridge prepared and served), and 6 other men volunteered to help with music, testimonies, and teaching. Over a fifteen people/families signed up to join bible studies and many bowed the knee to pray after hearing the good news that Jesus forgives the sins of those who trust in Him alone. It was truly a privilege to help prepare and empower my Filipino friends and co-workers to do the work of the ministry. I was intentionally not a speaker at the event and I keep deferring decisions to those I entrusted to lead. They kept asking me to help make decisions on things like, "What movie do you think we should show?" "What should the order of the service be?" "What type of training should we provide the workers?" My answer was almost always the same. It may have even puzzled some, but I would say
something like, "It's up to you" or "What do you think?" However, I think that they are starting to get that I trust them, their abilities and judgment and that I want them to lead rather than be dependent on me.
We learned a lot this first time and look forward to our next opportunity to reach out beyond the bridge and into the community of Manggahan Pasig.

Updates

The Masters Academy International:

The ground work for the Master's Academy International has began in the Philippines. I am currently teaching three groups of pastors, ministers, and bible college students hermeneutics (how to interpret the bible) and Old Testament survey. My wife Jessica is teaching some of them how to improve their English speaking ability. I am also partnering with fellow TMS graduate Mark Macatangay who is one of the pastors at Green Hills Christian Fellowship.

The first group that I started to teach are 15 men who are involved with ministering to the provincial poor. They reach the poor in their community teaching and connecting them with established local churches or helping to plant new ones among them.

The second group that I am teaching are bible students and a few local pastors. Many of them came to Christ while in prison and are now focusing on reaching the urban poor. All of them are involved in local ministry and several of them are traveling evangelist who love to share how Christ has changed their lives.

Mark and I co teach a third group of men who minister to the Filipine Army and national police. Students include a navy admiral, military colonel, businessmen, engineers, and bankers who are now pastors and ministers hungering for training. This particular class started with about 30 students and through word of mouth has increased to just over 40.

Partnership with White Fields:

This month I spoke at a conference sponsored by a missions organization called White Fields. The executive director, Stephen Lonetti is a friend and former teacher of mine from the Master's Seminary. Stephen, Leo Ordialles (the Philippines field director for White Fields) and I are looking forward to working together and increasing our involvement in training men in expository preaching and church planting.

Home assignment
The Ransom family will be going back to California from mid-December until July of 2008. We are returning to share what God has been doing in and through us as well as working on raising support that we are lacking, recruiting co workers, and attending a class at Talbot Theological seminary. We hope to see all of you while we are there. Contact us if you would like to arrange a time to get together.

Held for Ransom in the Hospital

In the past I wrote about a 3 year old little boy named Chariel who has a heart defect. At the Philippine heart center we learned that he has to has to have two corrective surgeries, but before this can happen we had to get dental work done. This little boys teeth were so rotten that they posed a potential danger to his heart. The doctors were worried that an infection in his mouth could cause problems with his future heart surgeries. Apparently, since Chariel has trouble eating and basically lives off of powdered milk all that was left of his brittle teeth were broken stumps.

This set Jessica on a search for a dentist who do the work pro-bono or at least at a discounted rate. The Lord was gracious in providing a dentist who specialized in children and who was willing to do the work free. However, due to his condition, she said that he needed to have his heart monitored during the procedure and due to his age she recommended that he be anesthetized so that he can sleep the the long and painful procedure.

This started our second search. This time we needed to find a hospital room with heart monitoring equipment and an anesthesiologist so that the dentist could do her work. Jessica arranged a room at the Philippine heart center. They told us that they were comping the room to us and that the anesthesiologist would wave her professional fees and perform her services for free. We thanked the Lord and set a date. After a cancellation or two due Chariel being sick the big day came. At first we were worried that we would not be able to go through with it because Chariel's blood platelets were low. They gave him a blood transfusion and retested his blood. As you can imagine, non of this went well for our little 3 year old who found the whole ordeal quite traumatic. Jessica played with him a bit, which seemed to at least temporarily get his mind off of all the poking and prodding.

Just before Jessica and I left the hospital we decided to get an estimate on our share of the costs so that we would know how much money to bring on the following day when we checked them out of the hospital. We were told that although the doctors services were free, we would need to cover the costs of the medicine and the over night stay for Chariel. Initially, they told us that we would have to pay around 5,000 pesos (about $100 US). We agreed to that since we had the funds in our budget. A nurse called billing for our estimate and told us that it would cost about 10,000 pesos. We were surprised and the cost doubling and were considering stopping the procedure yet again. First, we went to talk to the billing department in person. They told us that since we Chariel was put in a semi private room (at about $16 a day) that put him in a new category with new prices. After we shared his story and ours, they realized that he was a charity case and that we don't have a limitless supply of money. They assured us that except for the room cost, they would bill us the rates for a charity patient and that our cost would only be about 5,000 pesos. After much struggling, we were again joyful and gave the go ahead for Chariel. Latter that evening he passed all the test and was finally ready. The dental work went smoothly and the dentist pulled all 20 of his teeth.

This is where things began to get interesting. We showed up the next day to pay the bill and bring Chariel and his parents Charita and Ariel home. Looking at the last line of the bill we didn't see the word TOTAL followed by the number P5,000 like we expected. Instead we saw
the number P43,000 and change. Really shocked, we began to investigate. We learned several things. First, a complimentary operating room and use of equipment doesn't mean free. It means that they are allowing outsiders or non-staff members the privilege of renting their stuff. We also learned that this was not a bait and switch. It is just different here, they use different terminology and certain things are understood here that are not in the US. No one was trying to deceive us, in fact they were going out of their way to help Chariel and us, but the misunderstanding was a costly one.

We began the process of appeal in the hopes that the hospital would at least give us a substantial discount. However, the doctor in charge was not there so we could not settle the bill that day. Since the bill was not settled they would not let Chariel and his family go home, they had to stay another night and we had to pay for it. The doctor in charge gave a few thousand pesos off, but the price was still almost 8 times what they originally told us. Their advice was to return the next day to see if social services could help us. They said they would help for the heart surgery, but that they could not help with the dental work. The two day dental procedure end up being a almost a week stay in the hospital. Each day we tried to negotiate the bill cost us another 800 pesos. The resolution ended up being that the doctor said he would help us to recuperate some of our cost by discounting the heart surgeries. Lord willing this may end up working in our favor as a percentage discount of the much more expensive heart surgery could be a larger overall saving. We finally paid the ransom and brought Chariel and his family home. The Lord in His kindness has already provided the money for the dental work. We are hoping that we can get the first of his two heart surgeries done before the end of this year. Pray for God's will and timing in this situation.

To Jessica on our 18th Wedding Anniversary

Drawn to her...

Maybe its her smile that lights up places,
maybe its her laugh that brings joy to many faces.
Perhaps its her tireless giving of her heart,
perhaps its the emptiness I feel when we're apart.
Could it be from time together watching our children grow?
Could it be from the love we share and the way she lets it show?
Am I drawn to her because of the devotion she shows to me?
Am I drawn to her because of the commitment she has for our family?

I'm surely drawn by her words of grace,
surely drawn by the smiles that are always on her face.
I'm drawn to her by her passion and her affections,
I'm also drawn to her by our spiritual connection.
Its been eighteen years and the sparks remains,
I'm drawn to her more now,
more than when we first began.
Happy anniversary Jess,
I will always love you,

Sean

The Weight of Poverty

Kuya Tony's familiar smile was gone. He would hardly lift his head as I looked at him through the bars of his cell. He was not in jail or under formal arrest, but he was being held in a local city detention center. I believe that the pressures of living under a bridge and caring for a wife and 7 children was taking its toll on him. Tony was working in our neighborhood driving a pedicab (a bicycle with a side car). The $5-$6 a day that he makes is not an uncommon salary here and one in which he and his family are grateful for. However, Tony's bike has been broken for almost a month and the owner of it was not taking care of the repairs. These problems and a fight between Tony and his older children proved to be more than Tony could take.
I got a text message on my phone that Tony had a break down. He was walking naked in the middle of the street before they locked him up. We I got to the lock up he was dressed and in his right mind, but I could tell that he was agitated. I was speaking fast Tagalog to me so I could n't get all that he was saying. He said, "Pastor, maraming kasalanan sa tulay" (there are a lot of sins at the bridge). He continued to tell me that some of his children did not respect him. I sat on the floor outside of the cell and tried to give him some hope. I told him that i would try to help him get his bike fixed so that he could work again. That seemed to cheer him up some. The barangay captain (a city employee) released him to us so that we could take him to the hospital.
As we were taking him to the doctor I learned that he had numerous episodes like this. He was actually on medication, but He said because he was feeling so good (physically and psychologically) and because of the expense of the medicine he decided to stop taking it. The nurse checked his records and scolded him for not coming in for regular check-ups or taking his medicine. She gave him a dose and set an appointment with the doctor for the following day. I bought him a 3 month supply of his medication and we returned him to his family at the bridge. I saw him again a few days later and he looked really good. Pastor Rick is taking him under his wing and I was really nice to see them bond through these events. Pray for Tony and that he will trust in God as he struggles to survive with his family in such hard circumstances. Handling such a hard life under our own strength is more than most of us can bare. I pray that as he trusts God more and becomes more satisfied in his circumstances that he will even be able to get off his medications. Lastly, pray that he will be able to work again as a pedicab driver and that he will have a more responsible employer.

Sharpening our ministry focus

With our ministries of teaching increasing, Jessica and I are forces to make some tough choices for some ministry transitions. Starting the first week of August I'm teaching a group of men who minister to the Philippines military on Mondays. On Tuesdays I teach a group of men who minister to the poor living south of Manila. On Thursdays Jessica and I will teach a group of bible students. I will teach them the basics of how to interpret the bible and Jessica will help them to sharpen their English. We also meet others throughout the week for bible studies, mentoring and discipleship.
In addition to the above ministries I am preparing and improve syllabuses for several classes, (how to interpret the bible, Old Testament Survey and preaching). Jessica continues to work on material for teaching English as a second language. Lastly, I have to continue working on my studies for the doctoral program in taking at Talbot.

With all these ministries and a few others not mentioned we are finding ourselves having to cut out some ministries that are not essential to the vision that God has given us. So after two and a half years we are stopping our home bible study. We had a great time taking our friends through Luke and Acts and were blessed to see them grow in the Lord. We will still see many of them as we encourage and counsel them. A few others we will try to integrate into a cell group we work with.

The other area of transition is my involvement at the bridge. I will still be involved in ministry there, but the way I have been doing it will change. I will be more involved with mentoring pastor Rick and developing leaders there. I will be less involved with the day to day ministries at the Bridge and the surrounding area. Even things like giving medicine to the sick or rides to the doctor will be done through pastor Rick whenever possible.
I met with pastor Rick yesterday to discus future plans for out reach to Manalo Bridge and the surrounding Manggahan area. We are planning to do a monthly outreach where we will show films like the Jesus Film, cartoons for the kids, testimonies, drama, and a gospel message. We hope that this will give us more opportunities to start new bible studies in the area. Pray for God's favor as we ask local businesses and land owners to let us use their property for free or a small price for these events.
Pastor Rick and I also began planning his preaching schedule. Pastor Rick has not taken any formal training for preaching and does that best he can, but I believe that I can help him a lot in this area. I gave him two books for us to study together ( "How to read the bible for all its worth" by Fee and Stuart, and "Biblical Preaching" by Haddon Robinson). In addition to these books we are outlining the Gospel of John together and writing out its main preaching ideas. I am going to help pastor Rick (for the first time) preach through a whole book of the bible. I believe that this will greatly help him and the biblically illiterate people that he is teaching. I will keep you posted on his progress. Please pray for us all.