Philippine Update 1

Mabuhay! This common Philippine greeting is a polite term of affection which means “have a wonderful and meaningful life.” That’s a great description of how the pastors in Mindinao responded to the ministry shared with them yesterday.

Greetings from Seaside Bible Camp on the northwestern shore of the Mindinao Island. Mindinao is the largest of the southern islands in this nation of over 7,000 islands, stretching more than 1,500 miles from north to south. I was invited here to speak to a pastors conference on the subject of Hermeneutics. CLICK ABOVE FOR THE REST OF THE BLOG

Seaside Bible camp is a beautiful, quiet and peaceful place. The pace of life is slow and restive. The names of the cabins reflect the grace and beauty of this spiritual oasis. Each cabin bears the title of one of the Fruit of the Spirit. I’ve been sleeping in “Gentleness.” Yesterday I woke early to watch the clouds over the ocean break into dawn. The visual beauty of grey and pink was enhanced by the sound of tiny waves rippling ashore in calming methodological rhythm. The camp is a much smaller than Word of Life’s Laguna camp and Bible Institute. But much like the Laguna camp, this facility has been thoughtfully built with a great economy of resource. Over 10,000 campers attended the Seaside camp last year. From this outpost, missionaries from Word of Life spread out into Mindinao to train struggling church leaders in evangelism and discipleship. Many local churches are pastored by men who graduated from the Bible Institute in Calauan, Laguna.

The Hermeneutics Conference began at 1:30 PM on Thursday and continued until 9:00 PM. Pastors began to arrive in the morning by Jeepney and car. Some came with their families who enjoyed a day at the beach while daddy enjoyed a day in the Word. Several of the pastors brought young men whom are being trained for ministry. About 40 pastors attended representing over 15 churches from the surrounding area. The atmosphere of the day instantly reminded me of the Pastors Briefings we have held at Faith Bible Church for local pastors.

Mike Foster is the Executive Director of Word of Life. He and his wife Marti were in the same class with me and Kim at the Bible institute in 1979-80. The pastors laughed when I told them that I was 5 years old at the time! Yoshito and Isako Kato were also in the same class with us.

Mike selected the theme of Hermeneutics because many churches in the Philippines are falling away from the Truth of Scripture to follow new theological fads, most of which come from the U.S. Hermeneutics is defined as “the principles and practices of interpreting the Bible.” We covered this subject in about 5 hours of teaching. The relevancy of the material became evident during our final Q and A session. The pastors asked specific questions about the theological orthodoxy of various teachers and ministries. Without many resources or academically trained leaders, the churches in Mindinao are subject to whatever comes their way through television ministries or what they find on the internet. About 1/3 of the pastors in attendance have internet access.

The pastors were very grateful for the copies of “Living By the Book” provided by the members of Faith Bible Church. The book teaches the Inductive Bible Study and is one of the most valuable books a pastor can have in his library. Unfortunately, storms held up the shipment of the books and they did not arrive in time. But the camp director Larry has the names of all of the pastors and will deliver the books as soon as they arrive. Many of the pastors paid the 200 pesos in advance, eager to receive their copy. This contribution covers about $3 of the cost of each book, with FBC members subsidizing the remaining cost of $12 per book through contributions made to the FBC Cheerful Fund.

It’s now 5 AM and I’m about to leave for the airport in Cagayan De Oro (a city of 5 million people). I was reminded of the need of the mission field when I awoke at 4:30 this morning to hear the Muslim prayer calls from the minarets not far from Seaside camp. Pray for the missionaries here who have frequent opportunity to share the gospel with Muslims. Muslim students in high school and college attend some of the camping events at Seaside, and are ofetn encountered in the evangelistic outreaches sponsored by WOL and local churches. The entire staff and Bible Institute student body will be coming to Mindinao in February for “Eternity Week,” a 7 day evangelistic outreach that is the highlight of the Bible Institute year. Pray the safety of the missionaries here. Pray that the gospel work will not be hindered by the political tactics and threats from the Muslim community. Pray also for the plans now being made for ministries in local schools and universities during Eternity Week.

We will fly back to Manila where I will teach a Dicsipleship Conference for the small group leaders of Grace Ministries. Thank you for your continued prayers. The Lord is providing strength and blessing through your labor of love before the Father’s Throne.

From Seaside Bible Camp,
Pastor Paul