January 2010 Missionary Update
On January 2nd, Ptr. Will was invited to speak at a pastoral gathering in Pinamalyan to share the vision for Mindoro. After we spoke, the host Pastora was so excited she asked us to come again the next week to share more in depth.
On January 3rd, Ptr. Will spoke at another Four Square Gospel church near Roxas. He preached about the Powerful Name of Jesus and prayed for anyone who was sick/hurting. He had the church members pray for those who were sick. An elderly couple, who received healing, had been first time attendees of the church. After receiving their healing, they gave their lives to Christ! This pastor was the regional director of the Four Square Gospel churches in the area and he asked us to attend their Christmas party on Jan. 6th to share our vision for Mindoro. After sharing our vision and what God has given to us do, we had several pastors approach us for future training in their areas. We know that God is going to do awesome things in Mindoro and we will continue His plan and enjoy co-operating with God! We then traveled to Pinamalyan and taught on evangelism, passion for the lost and the miraculous to around 100 people. There were so many there who needed healing that we had to break for lunch before going to the marketplace and house to house to evangelize. It was wonderful to see the church members so excited about God using them and they said even in one afternoon they learned so much! They are so excited for our schedule coming up in April 2010!
We traveled then to another town called Calapan and ministered there on the 8th. It was a gathering of around 11 churches and 170 people in attendance. This was the biggest training session to date. We found out the word had spread about healing miracles and when we gave an altar call for salvation a large majority of the crowd came. Then many were sick and in pain so we continued our training and had the ministers and believers attending to pray for those who needed prayer. There is no adequate explanation for the joy and the atmosphere that was present. We are so excited to return and continue the work in April!
From there, we traveled by boat to the Northern Island of Luzon to the city of Batangas. We met with Ptr. Charl who is the regional director of Jesus Is Lord churches (JIL). We arrived and Ptr. Charl said that as he began to listen to us talk and he thought he was in a revival meeting! Lol Yes, we are the same whether sitting in our house or in front of a crowd! We will always continue to stir up the vision in ourselves and everyone around us! After the meeting, he asked if it was possible to come back because God had given him a plan to plant JIL churches in every Brgy. (County) in his region.
We then traveled to Manila 3 hours driving our truck. It is very interesting to drive in this country. It is not as structured as the US and that is not even describing it! We needed some minor repairs on the truck so we took advantage of the time and visited the service center there. It takes much time to drive in Manila! You can spend several hours in traffic!
A few days later, we traveled back 8 hours to Roxas, Mindoro. We then got on a late night ferryboat to Caticlan; which took 5 hours. We arrived there around 6 am or so. Then we took a bus 4 hours to Iloilo. We then rested there for the night. The next morning, we took a flight from Iloilo to Cebu (they did not have any direct flights to Tagbilaran, Bohol). Then we took another ferryboat 2 hours to reach Tagbilaran, Bohol.
That is where we met with Ptr. Ruel and Divina Vitor. They invited us to speak at many of their outreach churches (some are house churches). We held a meeting that night to share our vision for church planting with the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit. They were excited to start. The next day was Sunday and we traveled to one of their outreach churches in a town called Carmen. It was a 2- hour ride in a van. After we arrived, Ptr. Will spoke on the powerful name of Jesus and we prayed for the sick. The Pastors wife had just become born again one week before we arrived. For many years, she had been a devoted Catholic and (I believe as a sign and wonder) on the day of their town fiesta she was at church giving a testimony of becoming a new creation in Christ! See, in this country, and specifically in this town of Carmen, when there is a town fiesta it is usually centered on an idol or saint. They come and prepare food and have music and it is in the name of a saint (literally idol worship). I was very surprised when we came to the Philippines and idol worship was not just theory but literally we were seeing idols all over the country and in houses, stores, roadways, etc. When the bible talks about eating food prepared for idols, I didnt quite understand it until I came here! Anyways, she said she would always be there; eating and preparing the food. That day, God used her to pray for someone who had a magraine and it left immediately! Praise God! There is no way to glory in what man is apart from God, but with God nothing is impossible!
The next day, we traveled back to Tagbilaran and officially started our much-awaited vacation! We have been traveling so much and had such a busy schedule that the vacation was just spent relaxing! Lol Maybe some would be bored but we just needed to relax and not have to go anywhere. We didnt even make it to the beach (because of the weather) but it was great!
After that week, we traveled to an area of Tagbilaran called Baclayon. We stayed in the house of a Christian woman named Esmir. She lived within walking distance of the church. She was a great blessing to us and I believe we helped her in ways as well. We began to have nightly discipleship meetings. During the day, either morning or afternoon, we would evangelize in the market, house to house and the hospital. One night, there was a Pastor and a man from Singapore who came to the night meeting because they had heard of the miracles happening. They were greatly blessed and were a blessing to us. They are very excited to hear about God moving in great ways. The Pastor is a Doctor who was born again several years ago. He has a house church on an island called Panglao; which is connected by bridge to Tagbilaran. He invited us to speak at his church at the end of the week. Philip, the man from Singapore, was a great blessing because he has the same spirit and fire as Ptr. Will! Believe it or not! It is awesome to meet a new Christian who is on fire and doing the gospel! He was touched greatly by God at the Pastors bible study and gave his life to Christ. He then quickly began to go into the hospital and pray for the children. He was so surprised to see that the children were getting healed! So, when they heard of what was going on in Baclayon, they came to hear. The next day, we traveled with the church members to the hospital. We evangelized outside and then entered the hospital to pray for the sick. We had such a large group, that they were not going to allow us to enter but the Doctor sent a letter for permission from the head of the hospital and we were allowed to enter. God is good! Many were healed and born again! The last nightly meeting was very amazing. We started the night with the regular attendees but 2 different times we had to start the meeting over again because a large number of people came into the meeting! Then, we traveled to the Pastors church in Panglao and Ptr. Will spoke at the late Friday night meeting. People were so encouraged and hungry for the Word of God! We will be returning there in two weeks. The evangelism and healing that week resulted in around 10 churches being started in the new believers home or business! We are going to continue to follow up with those who have accepted Christ and disciple them. We are really excited for the great things to be done in Bohol!
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Melissa teaching personal evangelism in Bohol with an interpreter Mrs. Lynn
Feburary 2010 Missionary Update
Greetings to everyone to friends and family! We are so glad to share the awesome things going on here in the nation of the Philippines.
We started the month of February in a town directly in the middle of Bohol called Carmen. It is famous throughout the Philippines and worldwide for their chocolate hills and the tiniest monkey called the Tarsier. If you would search on the Internet for chocolate hills in Bohol, Philippines, Im sure you could see what they look like. They are very rounded hills, which are brown in summer and green in the rainy season. But, ironically we did not visit the chocolate hills or see the Tarsier. We went for one reason: souls!
We were scheduled for one week of training at Jesus Light of the World Global Outreach Church in Carmen. We arrived there and found out their Pastor had left for Manila to arrange his paperwork to work overseas. They had some financial problems. So, of course, there were lots of adjustments with the church and leadership. The pastors wife, sister Nena, was recently born again and hungry for God. But, of course, needed some help, so, the founder of the Jesus Light of the World Global Outreach (JLWGO) organization was helping out. Every morning we would go evangelize in the market or house to house and every evening we would have discipleship/leadership training. We invited all the local churches to be involved and some Baptist pastors and members came on evangelism and attended some of the night meetings. It was amazing to go with sister Nena because she was well known for being a very strong Catholic (she was the president of the womens organization in the Catholic church and attended daily mass at 6 am and regular mass on Sunday). People would be very amazed that she would be evangelizing! They would text her and call her and ask her to come back to the church or just shocked that she would be so changed! She was woken up in the middle of the night and God gave her 2 different scriptures and the phrase, time is gold. Through the process of events she gave her heart and her life to Christ. During the first day of evangelism, we went to the public market and a woman with a severe asthma problem was healed. She had been to the hospital so many times for this problem and still not better. There was also a member of JLWGO, sister Faye, who had back pain for 5 yrs and she had spent 10,000 pesos or more for tests and visits and they could not find the problem. She attended most of the nightly meetings and Ptr. Will had sister Nena pray for her and she was instantly healed! Sister Nenas brother was also not born again but because of the healings and miracles, especially of sister Faye and the change in sister Nena, he accepted Christ! There were many who received Christ and we started several bible studies right there in the market and some in the new believers homes. By the end of the week, we felt God was leading us to stay for another month to help the church to be confident and strong. They had received some teaching but never began to evangelize, pray for the sick or start bible studies. We asked for those who would like to be leaders and lead the bible studies and evangelism and we had 10 leaders who were willing. The leaders consisted of 3 adults and 7 young people. They were very excited to be used by God and do the works of Jesus. I spoke to them about the seriousness of this commitment and they said they are ready for the challenge. I prepared 12 foundational lessons for the bible studies for the leaders to teach. One of the young people, Menchu, translated the bible lessons into Visyan (their native language). They were instructed to study and prepare for each lesson and committed to grow spiritually. At the end of that week, Pastor Will flew to Mindoro and visited 5 cities to prepare for our move there in March.
I stayed in Carmen to continue the work. That Sunday night, we held our first new bible study. I would attend but only to observe or assist the leader. We had already modeled how to evangelize, pray for the sick, lead a bible study and now we began On the Job training. All the leaders were excited at what God was doing and how God was using them. The Pastor had returned to await his paperwork and was joyful at what was happening at his church and with his members. We continued the next week with nightly training. The Holy Spirit prompted us to invite Menchu to come with us to Mindoro for more training. She is a very hungry person for God and was very instrumental in the events in Bohol. She said she had peace from the Lord to go and she began to come to the place we were staying every day to be discipled. One of the first days she came for discipleship, Ptr. Will, Menchu and I went to the hospital to pray for the sick. We saw many healed and born again that day. Also, her aunt was in one of the last rooms we visited and was suffering from a lung problem. Menchu was able to pray for her aunt and her aunt was surprised that she felt better. Menchus aunt and her cousin accepted Christ after she was healed. This healing led to her whole family hearing about the miracles of God! Menchu was the first family member to be born again. From then on, every day before coming to discipleship, Menchu would visit the hospital and pray for the sick. Sometimes, other young people would join her. On her way back to her house each day she would visit again the people who were prayed for and many times the people prayed for had already left the hospital! Praise God! God is good!
The next Sunday, we had a baptism service. We traveled to the beach and held a service under the huts by the beach and then baptized believers in the ocean. There were 12 people in all baptized. The pastors did not baptize them but we had the leaders baptize them! It was so exciting for us but also for the leaders because this was fruit of their labor. Sister Nena said that she wanted to have a baptism every month because she saw the necessity if they continue reaching this many new people!
We did one last week of training. We asked how many of the members had not been baptized in the Holy Spirit and most of them raised their hands. We taught on the scriptural foundation and 75% of them got baptized that night! We spoke to them about continuing the fire of God and compassion for souls, and the importance of your personal relationship as the fuel for your work in the ministry. The last night we were there, they had a farewell party for us. We had a meal and they shared with us what they had learned during our visit. From young to old the main thing people caught a hold of was confidence. Confidence that God will use them confidence that God will speak through them, heal through them that they are qualified because they are believers! While we were worshipping that night, the presence of God was so strong and we continued past our scheduled worship service and began to sing in unknown tongues and sing melodies to the Lord. It continued quite awhile! During that time, one young person who was unable to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit received! Another young person was so overwhelmed by Gods presence that he could no longer continue his leadership role in the service! One thing they did ask was for continued training and discipleship. We agreed to stay in contact over Skype and email and recently we have discussed about traveling there for another week of training.
During the whole time we were in Carmen, and up until this very moment, they are continuing the bible studies and evangelism. More people were added to the church but more importantly the people were hearing the good news right where they were in their homes, workplace and neighborhoods. Last week, news spread about the miracles happening through the members of this church and a whole Barangay (county over 100 people) wanted to attend their Sunday service! Most of their bible studies have 15 or more members! They have more than 20 bible studies right now. 3 bible studies are in Menchus hometown right where her family lives! If you calculate that it is over 300 people being affected with only 10 leaders! This is the gospel! There is much more that can be done because we are encouraging them to raise up leaders within the bible studies to lead the bible studies so they can continue to raise up new bible studies and leaders.
Why must we do this? People are dying every day. We MUST reach them before it is too late. Menchus uncle had a stroke several years ago. While we were in her hometown, we had made a schedule for the leaders to return and pray for him again we had prayed for him and he had miraculous changes and movement he had not had and most importantly he had accepted Jesus as his Savior. Just this month was his birthday, and some of the leaders attended his party. Later that day, her uncle went to heaven - unexplained. He was healthy overall, besides the stroke, and he was in his 40s. This is how close we all are to eternity. Think about if you were a scientist. And in your work you discovered the cure for AIDS. Wouldnt it just be normal to share that information with someone you know who had AIDS? If a blind man was walking near the edge of a cliff and you saw the danger and you did not call out to him however the manner or method, wouldnt you be responsible for that mans death because of non response? Dont we have a commission from the Lord to love our neighbors and share the reality of heaven and hell? Knowing the truth and not sharing it is condemning them to a life of mere living and one day if they never learn about Christ then more than a lifetime of torment in hell? (John 20:23, Mark 16:15-20, Matt 28:18-20) We need to awaken to the compassion of Christ within us and stir it up to repentance and ask God for forgiveness for the many people we have walked by everyday that might now be in hell because of our disobedience to the Word of God. We must truly be honest with God and ourselves and one another to not push this reality aside but maybe for the first time truly be humble. Remember, to be humble is to agree with Gods Word. No matter what I think, or what I feel or what I believe what does the bible say? Jesus lived every day for us. Every decision he made he decided to fight temptation because he had you on his mind. But, remember, it doesnt just end with you. He thought of you because of the multitude of people you are to reach in your lifetime. You dont have to be a pastor, teacher, prophet, evangelist or apostle to share the love of God. The only qualification mentioned by Jesus Christ is that you are a BELIEVER. It is a doctrine of devils to believe only clergy are responsible to share the gospel. If you are a doctor you are first and foremost a BELIEVER who practices medicine. If you are a bank manager you are first and foremost a BELIEVER who manages a bank and if you are a pastor or clergy you are first and foremost a BELIEVER who is functioning as a pastor. Do not mistake the leaders as SOLE RESPONDERS to the commission of Jesus Christ! This might seem a little strong to you but start reading the epistles of Christ and you will see this as very easily compared to the writings of Apostle Paul. He called the Galatians fools! Now, I didnt go that far!
March 2010 Missionary Update
So, back to March. We flew with Menchu from Bohol to Manila and then the next day to San Jose, Mindoro. Then we traveled by bus through the mountains to Roxas, Mindoro. Ptr. Will and I became godparents to Paul Edren Faderon Ptr. Faderons sixth son! That night, Ptr. Faderons father was celebrating his 60th birthday party and we attended that as well. They invited all of their workers and people from the church and friends and family. There were probably more than 100 people there! After a few days of rest, we hired a driver to drive us and our new truck and pregnant Momma dog back through the mountains to San Jose, Mindoro. We met with some pastors, we had met previously, and we searched for a house for us to rent. The day we found our house was the same day that Momma dog delivered 5 healthy puppies; 4 boys and 1 girl. Their names are Chuckie, Bear, Girlie, Barkley, and Snickers. They are beautiful and we love every minute with them! So, we moved into the house and it was nice but needed a lot of work done. So, from March 19 till now we are continuing to improve the house and structure. It is good that we have created favor with the owner who is also a Christian so he is paying for a majority of the work being done. On March 26th, we were invited to a prayer vigil for the upcoming presidential campaign as well as prayer for God moving in this area. Ptr. Will spoke and presented Gods vision for the San Jose region. There were several pastors who were very excited to start working very soon. On March 28th, Ptr. Will spoke at Lord Jesus Our Redeemer Church and there was great response to our message. More than 30 people from the church agreed to be trained and the pastor of that church has been stressing to his members for every member to be a leader. Also, one of the leaders of Philippine Challenge attended the service and will also be working with LJOR church. Philippine challenge does a survey of different cities to see how many churches are needed and their goal is one church for every Barangay. God has already prepared the ground here and we are excited in the near future to be working with Ptr. Jun and his church. On the 31st of April we started a 3-day training at the Jesus Camp church Ptr. Mar Tupas. Just with 2 hours of evangelism over 3 days, we started 24 bible studies! People are hungry for God and they are excited to continue and now know it is very necessary to obey the Lord. We will be continuing to work with them throughout our time here.
We are planning to stay here in San Jose for at least 6 months if not longer. We have a goal set for us by the Lord to help start 1,000 fellowships in this area; so we must stay here until that mandate has been fulfilled. Thank you everyone who has been praying for us. Please continue to lift us up in your prayers. There are obstacles and problems and trials but God is faithful and his grace is more than enough. He is always leading and guiding us into ALL truth. Thank you to the church in Port St. Lucie for your support in prayer and financial need. We know that God is blessing you in every way as you follow His plan for your life and acknowledge God working in ours. Bless all of you and we love you.
Ptr. Will and Melissa Sweeney
Ptr. Will assisting believers to pray for the sick in Ptr. Jun's church - LJOR
May - July 2010
We were blessed to have my brother (Eric) and sister in law (Erin) visit us in San Jose in May 2010. This would be the first time I would meet Aeon (their first baby girl) who was already a year old. I travelled up to Manila to meet them at the airport and bring them back to San Jose, Mindoro. They arrived very tired and a little stressed because of having to travel with a young child for close to 24 hrs. I’m sure they will tell you many stories and lessons they learned! They came to stay with us for just over a week. Unfortunately, it was very hot and uncomfortable in our house because of only having one room with air-conditioning so they ended up staying at a nice hotel for most of their trip. We took them by boat to an island of the southern coast of Mindoro and they were able to experience a little of what we are doing here in the Philippines. They were able to see and participate in praying for the sick, and door to door evangelism. We even had a Christian festival in San Jose when they were here called Pistang Kristiano. All the different churches from the area came together and celebrated together in the town plaza. There were many different churches who shared a song or dance. Ptr. Faderon was the speaker on that Saturday morning.
We started working with Ptr. Jun to reach this area for Christ. He really has a lot of the same mentality for outreach into the community. He gathered his young people and leaders and we had a week long session of morning evangelism and praying for the sick and evening meetings. One of the pastors was so excited because he prayed for a young person with a broken leg and they were healed! They happened to be going to Iglesia ni Christo (which is a cult that denies the deity of Christ) and he became born again. There were so many testimonies of God’s healing and miraculous power!
We attended a church planting seminar on training coaches with an organization called Philippine Challenge. Their goal is that one church be planted in every barangay in the Philippines. The seminar was about helping and discipling those who would plant churches. This was really in the focus of what God has been speaking to us about.
Will was asked to preaching in another part of Mindoro so Menchu and I spent a week at Ptr. Noli’s church. Every morning we came together and went into the neighborhood and evangelized and at night I spoke at the church. By the end of the week, we had 6 people willing to be water baptized and 3 people baptized in the Holy Spirit! We did the baptism in water service the next Sunday afternoon.
Again, Will had to travel to Najuan (a different town in Mindoro) so I preached for a week at Ptr. Abe’s church. In the morning, we went into the neighborhood around the church and evangelized and at night we would teach. We also went into the public market and visited the hospital.
Through a series of events we came to realize that God was trying to get our attention. God began to bring the teaching and understanding of planting churches from a biblical point of view. There are many methods and ways that the church is operating in but they are not in line with what the bible says. We began to see from the Word of God about the usefulness of house churches. In this country, the cry of every pastor is that he has no money. So, this is perfect! There is no need for extra money for buildings, water, electric bills etc. Without these burdens more of the finances can go to outreach and to minister to the needs of others. That is what the early Christians did in Acts. They fellowshipped daily, breaking bread from house to house and distributed to those who had needs (Acts 2:42-47). Also, we learned of a great discipleship tool which leads to planting new house churches called Discovery Bible Study. It actually starts with those who do not know God but are spiritually hungry to know Him and through the course of study they learn about God and come to Jesus (John 6:44-45). It incorporates all the elements of church; prayer, worship, scripture, obedience, accountability, evangelism, and ministry.
From June, July and part of August we focused on learning and studying these different tools as well as focused greatly on learning Tagalog (the national language).
Ptr. Noli (man on very left with blue shirt) and 6 members who were baptized in the summer of 2010
August - Novemeber 2010
At the end of August, Will and I were invited to teach at a school of ministry for six weeks on church planting in a town called Pola, Oriental Mindoro. So, we packed up our house and loaded it into the truck and drove all the way up the coast of Occidental Mindoro (San Jose is at the very bottom and we needed to take the ferry at the top) to Abra where we would ferry over to Batangas in Luzon and back to the other side of Mindoro. This was extra travel and very uncomfortable because it was now the rainy season and we could not pass through the mountains. 75% of the roads in Occidental Mindoro are not paved and have many potholes. It was a very bumpy ride!
We ended up staying in a town near Pola called Pinamalayan. It is one of the biggest towns in Oriental Mindoro and we were blessed to rent a room from an English couple who have moved here as missionaries as well. Their names are Mike and Teresa Mallory. They are working extensively with a local orphanage as well as with a local church in outreach to the community and bible studies. They were very encouraged to hear about the Discovery Bible Study and excited to learn more.
Every Saturday morning and afternoon, we would travel to Pola to teach 30 pastors/leaders about church planting. During the week, we would arrange to work directly with the local pastors in the neighborhoods surrounding their churches. We would go house to house evangelizing and praying for the sick. Then we would ask if we could start a bible study in the person’s home. If the people would continue the bible study it would be organized as a house church. It would not be connected with any denomination but it would be led by the people in the church. After several weeks of training and demonstration there were many churches already started. One of the pastors attending, Ptr. Benedict, was so on fire and excited about being on the “right track” that he had almost 30 churches started already! He had disciples from his family and church excited about planting churches. Ptr. Benedict showed his commitment to the Lord by walking away from his only source of income; his rice field. He and his wife Jane, have really touched our heart at how willing they are to follow the Word of God and believe that God will provide all their needs! By the end of the training, we had more than 100 churches started! We are so excited to how God has really been using those who are willing! Ptr. Benedict just recently baptized 30 new believers and now they are training them to be leaders of the churches.
At the beginning of Nov. we were invited to go to Baler (north of Manila in Luzon) to teach at the ministry school about church planting. We arrived on a Friday evening and they had gathered many people for a healing meeting. We prayed for many people that night. The pastora’s daughter had a breast cyst for several years and during the service she was instructed to check it by Ptr. Will and she realized it was gone! Many were healed and excited to see God move in their lives. After several days of sharing we headed back to Pinamalayan.
We have now realized the need to strengthen the churches that have been planted in the area surrounding Pola. We have contacted pastors in different areas to continue to encourage, strengthen and continue training the new leaders of the new churches.
God bless!
Ptr. Benedict and his wife Jane with their son Emmanuel
"This [making
disciples, planting
churches] is my life
now. I used to be
stagnant. I know we
are on the right track!"
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