Alvin Jamisola

Pastor Jamisola’s Testimony

After my conversion, I became active in church ministries.  I had the desire in my heart to work in full-time ministry. So, after I graduated high school, I continued my studies at the Evangelical Theological College of the Philippines in Cebu. But sad to say, I was not able to graduate during that time. I was very immature, and my life was controlled by feelings and emotions that led me to get married at an early age.  I went back to my hometown in Surigao and stayed there with my family. But I continued to have a burden in my heart for full-time ministry. So, my wife and I decided to go back to Cebu and continue my studies. I worked as a full-time worker in a secular job to support the needs of my family as I continued my studies in His word. I get so much joy in studying God’s word. During our church plant class at ETCP and even right after I finished the course, I said to myself and expressed to God,  “Lord! Many people can do my current job as a salesperson, but only a few can commit to church planting work.” Also, God’s word says in Matthew 9:37, “Then He said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” So it is my heart’s desire to be a church planter, and this is my commitment to our Sovereign God.

Recent Ministry:

Roliemar, once a broken-hearted man from the province, found himself living on the streets of Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu. Struggling without a stable income or permanent job, he faced tremendous hardship. His live-in partner left him, abandoning their two children, which deepened his heartache. Yet, God hears the cries of the broken-hearted.

During one of our outreach programs offering food and sharing the Gospel, Roliemar attended and became eager to learn about God and His Word. After a series of Bible studies, he made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, following Christ in water baptism. He is now a dedicated participant in our Tuesday evening Bible study group, and this month, he is learning to lead Bible study sessions as part of his leadership training.

I’ve even invited him to share short meditations during our prayer meetings, and it fills me with joy to witness his growth and transformation. Truly, only God can heal our brokenness, change the direction of our lives, and restore us to live for His glory.

• Pray for Roliemar spiritual maturity, guidance, and protection.

With God, nothing is impossible. Aeron was once a traffic enforcer who enjoyed a comfortable life, but in an instant, everything fell apart. Wearing a white T-shirt and standing beside Roliemar, Aeron shares his story of once living in abundance but eventually becoming an ex-convict after getting involved with illegal drugs. His once-comfortable life turned dark as he faced the harsh reality of prison.

Yet, even in the depths of jail, God reached out to him. Through the ministry of servants from Gateway EFCP—the church where I now serve as interim pastor—Aeron encountered Jesus Christ and was reconciled to God. Upon his release, he eagerly embraced a new life dedicated to God’s service.

I now guide him in our life group Bible study every Tuesday evening. We are deeply grateful for his passion for studying God’s Word, and it’s a blessing to witness his transformation as he grows in faith. Aeron’s journey reminds us all that God’s power to redeem is limitless.

• Please help us pray for his spiritual growth and his eagerness to share with his family the salvation and hope he has experienced and enjoyed with the Lord.

Carlito, a husband and father of four, spent many years working in Malaysia to support his family back in the Philippines. However, his life took a painful turn when he discovered that his wife had betrayed him with a close friend, leading to the end of their marriage. Yet, even in these dark and difficult times, God’s grace turned his trials into triumph.

While in Malaysia, Carlito attended an event featuring Dolphy Jr., not realizing it was an evangelistic night. Drawn by the chance to see Dolphy in person, he went—and it was there that he had a life-changing encounter, surrendering his life to God. Now back in Cebu, Carlito is an active member of our church and participates in my Tuesday evening life group Bible study. He is fully committed to the ministry, and I praise God for the opportunity to guide him in his spiritual journey toward maturity.

• Please help me pray for heavenly wisdom and knowledge as I am planning to deal with his marital struggle, praying to be released from this bondage and struggle.

This month, my church-planting team, along with Pastor Lito and his team, had the privilege of holding a groundbreaking ceremony to dedicate this new area to Christ, the Head of the Church. We are deeply grateful to be part of the global church, expanding our facilities and vision to bear witness to our faith within this community. Our goal is to provide a spiritual home for everyone who enters, honoring our loving, caring Father.

We praise the Lord for the opportunity to share people, resources, and prayers in building up this body of believers. We dedicate ourselves to developing meaningful programs and spiritual growth opportunities for worshipers. This ground is already Yours, O God, and we know that only by Your favor are we able to use it and bring forth the structure we envision. Thank You for the hopes and goals we hold as we prepare to build this place of worship for Your glory.

• Please help us pray for God’s provision as we build a church in this area.
• Pray for God’s ministering power as we gather the kids weekly for the feeding program so that we can connect with the parents for Bible Study.

Children and Families

One of the ways to motivate the children to join the Sunday school class is to give them points, especially for the age group level we handle. We reward them for their jobs well done when the children bring a Bible to class, memorize Bible verses, participate in class, and practice hygiene.  My wife and I created the point system to let the kids get more excited and look forward to joining the class. Children receive a ticket for the points earned, and they can use the tickets to buy school supplies, toys, and food at the Center Fair at the upcoming center fair in December. We aim to make this fair an evangelistic event, especially for the parents. We are praying that through this event, many will experience the love of Christ and begin their journey of faith. We ask the Lord to use these children as vessels of His love to reach their parents and families.

Uplift the weary and burdened.

We bring dinner to a family’s home every Friday to share in fellowship and prayer and rely on referrals from friends, relatives, or contacts to visit a different family each week. This initiative helps us foster strong relationships within our community and reach out to those who do not yet have a personal relationship with God.

This month, we visited Alma’s home, where she welcomed us into her garage as her grandchildren battled coughs and fevers. Alma, a recent widow, was referred to us by a neighbor who attends our church. We were able to share God’s Word and practically demonstrate His love.

Support and Prayers for Pastor Caspe

The District Four Pastors of EFCP offer our heartfelt support and encouragement to our fellow minister, Pastor Caspe. In his grief, Pastor Caspe has shared that he needs to step away from his pastoral duties temporarily. He is uncertain when he will return to his role, as only God knows the timeline for his healing. Even during simple conversations, Pastor Caspe finds it difficult to contain his emotions, as memories of his late beloved wife bring him to tears. Pastors need to gather for prayer and support. Pray for our team that we will strengthen one another in the work of the ministry.

Church planting assessment, training, and coaching session

We are grateful to the Lord for the opportunity and privilege to participate in a three-day church planting assessment, training, and coaching session. It was an enriching experience for my wife and me, expanding our vision and understanding of church planting. Through this program, we gained insights into the necessary personal preparation, evaluated our marital and family relationships, and developed critical competencies for church planting, such as casting a clear and compelling vision of the future church.

We recognized the importance of essential skills like gathering and starting a congregation, effective communication, evangelism, discipleship, equipping others, and building a solid team. We learned the value of multiplying leaders and groups and the emotional resilience required to thrive in a fast-changing environment. Flexibility, adaptability, and perseverance are crucial, but staying motivated by the Spirit’s call helps us overcome the toughest challenges.

This church planting assessment and coaching strongly encourages participants to involve their spouses, emphasizing the importance of strong marital support in church planting work. Despite our conflicting schedules, my wife’s job and my classes— we are grateful to the Lord for allowing us to attend this training at no cost. Traveling from Calero, Liloan, to Banawa, Cebu, took nearly an hour by motorcycle, and we thanked God for His protection and provision during the travel and praised God for expanding our understanding of the ministry through the three-day event. Hearing the experiences and challenges shared by fellow church planters from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao renewed and broadened our perspective on church planting work.

Pray for the thirty participants in the church planting assessment and coaching. Some are already engaged in church planting, and some want to start church planting work.

Pastor’s Fellowship

What a great time together with the courageous men of God! This month, we hosted our pastor’s fellowship for the north portion of Cebu EFCP pastors to encourage and pray for one another. It was a time of reigniting the passion for evangelism and outreach. We prayed for the desire to have Bayanihan helping each other in every church.

As part of our desire to help each other, we will do a rotation visit for pastors and workers, empowering and encouraging them with open-air evangelism through a feeding program every time we visit a church in our cluster. We plan to organize our men, women, and youth groups again to have regular gatherings for prayer and fellowship as one of the backbones of the ministry. Three of these churches are planted through White Fields.

Praise God for all his guidance and provision in technical and financial assistance through these different groups of people for the expansion of his kingdom and for helping and encouraging one another in the ministry.

Youth Fellowship:

As our young people resume classes and get busy with schoolwork and school activities, our youth leaders from Cluster 4 churches held a youth fellowship this month with the theme, Behind the Scenes.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

Forty-one young people from Cluster 4 churches could come, and our church was able to send thirteen young people. We praise the Lord for the bond and the closeness of their relationships built during camp. Kate is a shy and introverted girl who, when we first met her, preferred to be alone, but since attending the WCA youth camp, she is now slowly getting out of her comfort zone and is eager to join fellowships.

Jirah, the one I mentioned in my previous ministry update, is from Mindanao and transferred here to Visayas to take care of her auntie, who has cancer. She shared with my wife that her transfer here to Cebu and meeting us is a blessing from the Lord because when she was in Mindanao, she was not active in the church and slowly began to distance herself from the church. Still, the Lord has renewed her, and she is being restored through the camp and the fellowships and is now cultivating her relationship with Jesus and her fellow young people.

• Pray for the spiritual growth of these young people.
• Pray for wisdom and provision as their classes start this month.
• Pray for our upcoming youth fellowship.

Praise the Lord for sustaining our children’s ministry

The kids look forward to the weekly ministry and are excited to learn new Bible stories, games, and activities. This month, my wife made the curriculum of lessons for the whole year to materialize the objectives that will target the four aspects: spiritual, socio-emotional, cognitive, and physical. We praise the Lord for sustaining our youth volunteer teacher, Cristy, and her passion and love for the kids. She is intentional in her approach; she encourages the children to open their Bibles and read them independently in every Bible story. This year will be her third year in the Bible school. My youngest daughter Ashly, the one who was diagnosed with epilepsy just this year, is also helping in teaching the kids. Despite Ashly’s health condition, we praise the Lord because she is passionate and loves teaching children. This month is the start of her formal school classes, and we praised God that despite her health condition, she is still excited and eager to study.

Leonora Caspe’s Memorial

In my previous ministry update, I mentioned that teacher Leonora, our former librarian at our Bible school, was battling cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. This month, she was scheduled for her sixth chemo session, but at the beginning of the month, she was rushed to the hospital due to difficulty breathing and was diagnosed with pneumonia due to her weakened immune system. She spent three days in the hospital, but sadly, she passed away. I took the lead in offering words of comfort and encouragement to Nora’s bereaved family during the first night of her funeral service as we paid tribute to her.

Pray for comfort and strength for her husband, Pastor Agapito Caspe, age 79.

Weekly Feeding Update: Children’s Ministry and Blessings

We previously requested prayers for our planned reading tutorial. We adjusted our plan and decided to hold the tutorials every Saturday this last month. We also prayed for tables and kiddie chairs for our feeding program, allowing the kids to have proper spaces for activities and meals. Praise the Lord for the answered prayer! Our mother church has given us seven tables and chairs; the children are delighted to have them. This month, in celebration of Father’s Day, the children learned about the love of the father and the importance of obeying parents. They also made Father’s Day cards to give to their fathers. We are also grateful for the new kids from the neighborhood who have joined us. Please continue to pray for provision as the school year begins. Pray that these children can attend school and that their parents will be able to support their education.

Mother’s Day card making.

As one way of celebrating Mother’s Day and appreciating their hard work and love for the family, the children made a card during our feeding program. We saw their excitement in preparing the card with a letter of appreciation to give to their mothers. In June and July, Cristy, our volunteer teacher, and my wife will focus on the topic of family, teaching the kids to love their family and their responsibility in the family to obey their parents. We are amazed at how the Lord works in these little children’s lives. Every Sunday, they look forward to learning in Sunday school, and we pray that the Lord may use them in their families so that through these precious little children, more families will come to know the Lord.

Reading Tutorial Ministry

As the school year ends this month and some students struggle with reading and comprehension, we plan to provide a one-week reading tutorial with volunteer teachers or youth with the heart to teach the kids.

Road Map to Partnership

As previously mentioned, I plan to utilize two churches, Lapu-Lapu and Light of Life Community Center, as a supporting vehicle for the growth of the Calero ministry. We aim to establish a partnership that will enable us to strengthen each other through mutual support and practice unity in Christ. This month, the core leaders are in ministry meetings and fellowships. We will conduct evangelism and mission training with our different teams and volunteers. In the practicum, or applying this learning, we will be doing a rotation visit in our various areas to enhance each other’s leaders and volunteers, as well as for our teams to see and be open to the different problems and obstacles to be faced with the various groups of people or mission field. Our training ground will be here in Calero, where we have a friendly field due to the target person, the parents of the kids we minister weekly.

Creating a Team for Church Planting

What a great joy to work with people with a heart for reaching out to the lost. Pastor Agapito and Nora are two of my core leaders in Lapu-Lapu who have a vision for church planting. Pastor Agapito was our former dean of student affairs, and his wife Nora was the former librarian in our Bible school. They were once our professors and are now my ministry partners. We are now in the ministry of creating a team for missions. They are now my adviser and coach since they are already seniors and retired from work. Nora is having chemotherapy on June 20, 2024, which is her 5th chemo. Our vision with Pastor Agapito is to strengthen the Calero and Lapu-Lapu to be a sending church for church planting since I am the one taking the office of pastor in these two churches.

Praying to Push through in Bible School

It’s been a while since our youth discipleship was unable to meet due to a conflict of schedules. Some are busy with their studies because of the demand for paperwork as graduating students, and some are now working for a company to help their family’s needs financially. We praise the Lord that my wife will meet for discipleship with Cony and Genevieve. We are grateful that the Lord has sustained them even in their workplace. Cony shared that the Lord sustained her despite her unfavorable situation as a service crew. We are also grateful that her desire to enroll at the Bible school and take Christian education studies is still in her heart because she wants to know more about the Lord and be used in the ministry. Cony is now resigning from a service crew in a food company and praying to continue her study in college in Bible school, taking Christian education. Please bear with us in prayer for this desire in Cony’s heart.

Please pray for our kids’ good health and healing, as some of them are now having coughs, colds, and fevers due to the scorching weather we are currently having here in the Philippines. Pray for wisdom, patience, and strength for our volunteer teachers, Cristy and my wife, as they teach the kids and prepare the reading lessons and materials for the reading tutorial program. Pray for financial provision as we plan to buy tables for the kids to use for their activities and during mealtimes. Pray for dedicated youth volunteers who will volunteer to help teach the kids.

Nurturing Children’s Spiritual Growth

Through our children’s feeding ministry, we are preparing future leaders in the church. We are blessed and thankful to God for the lives of these children, whom God entrusted to us to be trained and nurtured to make a significant impact in our community in the future. We are grateful for the lives of these children, who are very eager to read and study God’s word. In our Sunday school, as we teach them Bible stories, we let them find the story and book of the Bible themselves so that they can learn to open the Bible and be trained and equipped to search and study the Bible. Thus, as they grow physically, they also know and understand God and his word.

We rejoice in our children’s development and marvel at their enthusiasm for exploring and understanding God’s word. During Bible story sessions, they eagerly vie to locate the scriptures being taught. We’ve observed their growth in stature, spiritually, and socially. Despite varying reading abilities, their eagerness to engage with the Bible is genuinely inspiring, as it holds transformative power.

We praise God for His continuous provision and support, particularly for financially sustaining our weekly children’s feeding program. Over the past year and two months, we’ve witnessed remarkable spiritual growth among the children we minister to, a testament to the Lord’s unwavering care. Initially, parents hesitated to allow their children to join Sunday school, but now they eagerly encourage them to attend children’s worship each week. Despite sweltering temperatures reaching 40 to 42 degrees due to El Niño, we’re grateful for the Lord’s healing touch, alleviating coughs and colds among our children. Special appreciation goes to our volunteer teacher, Cristy, whose dedication to teaching God’s word shines through despite her demanding school schedule. Her selflessness in nurturing the children’s faith is truly commendable.

Celebrating Growth: Stories of Transformation in Youth Ministry

We rejoice in the remarkable growth witnessed among our young teens, exemplified by Mary, a vibrant participant in our junior youth activities. Mary exemplifies dedication as she actively engages in our feeding ministry alongside her two younger brothers. Remarkably attentive during Bible storytelling sessions, she eagerly responds to questions and exhibits leadership potential among her peers. Demonstrating initiative, Mary willingly assumes leadership roles, mentors younger children, and assists our volunteer, Cristy, in organizing activities. In a poignant moment, Cristy shared the profound message of Jesus’s love and sacrifice, prompting Mary to embrace Jesus as her personal Savior, marking a pivotal moment in her spiritual journey.

Building Bridges: Uniting Churches for Ministry Growth

We are profoundly grateful for the divine gift of fellowship, a bond forged through our shared faith in Christ. As the interim pastor of Lapu-Lapu Church and a member of the Light of Life Community Center, I am compelled to leverage this unity to catalyze the growth of our ministry in Calero. This month, we initiated a pivotal step by convening leaders and volunteers from both churches for a fellowship dinner, laying the groundwork for a collaborative partnership aimed at mutual support and solidarity in Christ. Our vision encompasses a series of evangelism and mission training sessions, empowering diverse teams and volunteers for effective ministry. Through hands-on experience and rotation visits to various locales, we seek to fortify our leaders and volunteers, fostering a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities inherent in our mission fields.

Faith Amidst Adversity: Ashly Mae’s Journey with Epilepsy

We are immensely grateful for the life of our youngest daughter, Ashly Mae, whose unwavering dedication to ministry shines brightly despite her health challenges. Recently, she received the results of her EEG, revealing a diagnosis of epilepsy stemming from abnormal brain activity in her frontal lobe. We offer heartfelt thanks to God as she has been spared from seizures this month and is now under daily maintenance medication. We humbly ask for prayers for her continued well-being, particularly regarding potential kidney complications from her medication regimen of 1,650 mg per day, which is crucial for seizure prevention.

Pray for the vision of partnership in the ministry with these churches, where I have access to their teams. Pray for the unity of our hearts, minds, and finances in this ministry. Continue praying for our kids’ good health and healing, as some of them are now having coughs, colds, and fevers due to the scorching weather we are currently having here in the Philippines. Continue praying for financial provision to buy tables for the kids to use during activities and mealtimes.

A Joyous Celebration: Water Baptism and Faith Declaration

Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we may also live a new way of life. Romans 6:4

As we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we also celebrate the public declaration of faith of our beloved brethren who obey the Lord through water baptism. Two of them are my children, Carlos and Eunice. What a great joy for me as a minister to officiate the water baptism of my two children! Before the ceremony, I taught and explained to them baptism’s significance, meaning, and purpose. I was overjoyed by their decision to declare their faith in Jesus publicly. As a father, it is my joy to see them grow in the Lord. Pray they continue to grow in wisdom, knowledge, faith, obedience, and experience with Him.

Blessed by Life: A Journey of Faith and Healing for Ashly Mae

We are so grateful to the Lord for the gift of life to our youngest daughter, Ashly Mae. Despite the health challenges she faces right now, we are so blessed to celebrate her life. As of now, she is in the process of taking medication. The doctor gave her anti-epileptic medicines to control her seizure episodes and vitamins for her brain nerves. We took her to a private hospital for the doctor to perform a CT scan to check the condition of her brain. Praise the Lord, there is no evidence of brain damage, but we are still waiting for her EEG (electroencephalogram) result. She still has mild seizure episodes that last for a minute but, thankfully, are not as bad as last month. My wife and I are so grateful to the Lord for the sustaining grace, strength, and wisdom He has poured into our family through this journey. We are also thankful for everyone who prays for us.

Please continue to pray for the complete healing of my daughter, Ashly. Pray that her body will respond to the medicines she is taking. She is currently taking eight medicines per day, including her two vitamins. Pray for wisdom and strength for my wife and me as we care for her.

Grace Amidst Trials: Resuming Bible Study and Family Ministry

We thank God for his sustaining grace and mercy. After the loaded schedule of going back and forth to the hospital for the check-ups and laboratory tests of our child this month, we can resume our Bible study with the Diaz family. Praise God for their lives and eagerness to study His word. I also thank the Lord for the life of my daughter Eunice and for her being my partner in Bible study. As a father, it is my great joy to train and equip my child to do the ministry. Since my wife has a job and cannot accompany me to Bible study, my son Carlos stays with our youngest as she is on medication. We praised the privilege and great opportunity to serve him by feeding spiritual food to the Diaz family.

Weekly Children Feeding Ministry

We praise God for his sustaining grace; from the time we launched the feeding program until now, God has sustained us and the kids. The kids are excited to join our weekly feeding program, and we praise the Lord for the growth we have witnessed. We are grateful that what they have learned in Sunday school they are applying at home and school. They are now learning to pray, and some will volunteer to lead in prayer and sing and dance to worship Jesus. Our volunteer teacher, Cristy, and my wife made a series of lessons and Bible stories about character foundation. The children are also taught memory verses, and we are amazed that most boys are eager to memorize. Our goal and vision for the kids and youth we minister to is that they will grow in faith and total dependence on the Lord in every aspect of their lives. Our great joy is that these kids will grow in the Lord and become church leaders. Praise the Lord for sustaining this ministry for a year now.

Please pray for our kids’ good health and healing. Some of them are now having coughs, colds, and fevers due to the scorching weather we are currently having here in the Philippines.Pray for wisdom,  patience, and strength for our volunteer teachers, Cristy and my wife, as they teach the kids.Pray for financial provision as we plan to buy tables for the kids to be used in their activities and during mealtimes.Pray these kids will grow in love and wisdom in the Lord.

Please help us continue praying that these children we minister to weekly will grow in the love and wisdom of the Lord. Pray that more parents will come to know Jesus through the feeding ministry and the lives of these precious children.

Family Health Challenges

Trials and challenges in life and ministry are inevitable, but the Lord our God is our helper, our only Savior, a great Redeemer-King, and a Way-maker. This month of February, we were bombarded with physical and emotional challenges. My father got admitted to the hospital, and we are in a mix of emotions about his condition physically and our status financially, while my brother keeps on calling me to see how we can find a solution to the hospital bill. My wife and I also seek a diagnostic center to check our daughter. In the second week of January, my daughter had a mild seizure every night, and we expected that she was dreaming or hallucinating. But on the second Sunday of this month, while she was sitting in the church chair waiting for us to finish our monthly core group meeting, she hallucinated with a seizure that got our full attention. This is not a dream or hallucination, for she is not asleep. So, the day after that, we brought her to the neurologist to find out her condition, and the presumption of neuro is that she has schistosomiasis. The doctor requested several laboratory tests.  My daughter is eleven years old, and if it is possible that she got this kind of disease based on their study, it takes twenty years to feel the effects or experience the effects. The doctor also found an abnormality in her frontal lobe, so he suggested that we get a Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or CT scan to see the condition of her brain. As of now, we are in the process of working out her MRI, and we will do it in a private hospital to get the result fast so as not to prolong the condition of my child. 

Please be with us in prayer for strength, wisdom, and financial provision for the ongoing treatment of our child. The Lord our God is our Helper, Savior, Great Redeemer, King, and Way-maker.

Celebrating One Year: Milestones in Our Children’s Feeding Ministry

We praise the Lord for His continuous provision for our children’s feeding ministry, sustaining it week after week. Despite the challenges encountered this month, we are immensely grateful as we celebrate the first anniversary of our ministry. It all began in February last year, and over the past year, we have witnessed remarkable growth and improvement among the children we serve. Physically, we’ve seen them flourish; socially, they’ve engaged in interactive games; mentally, they’ve absorbed integrated lessons; emotionally, they’ve learned to interact; and spiritually, they’ve embraced Bible stories, prayer, and memorized verses each week. We are grateful for the dedicated service of volunteer teacher Cristy and the youth who assist in teaching these children. Many of these children come from families grappling with poverty, often deprived of nourishing meals, as their parents, primarily fishermen, prioritize selling their catch to afford necessities like rice. However, we rejoice in God’s use of this ministry to extend His love and provisions to these children, contributing to the advancement of His kingdom.

Building A Godly Family: Highlights from our Couple’s Night Event

Amid packed schedules and facing various physical and emotional trials, we extend heartfelt gratitude to the Lord for the invaluable contributions of Dr. Jennifer Paño and Pastor Cris Paño as our dynamic speakers during this month’s couple’s dinner date. This gathering has drawn twenty-two couples from diverse areas of our Bible study groups, including some parents of regular church attendees.

Pastor Cris imparted wisdom on cultivating a joyful home environment, while Dr. Jennifer provided insights on effective child discipline techniques. Their expertise and guidance enriched the evening, offering couples practical tools to strengthen their relationships and family dynamics. We are grateful for the message to reach out to every couple present at the event. 

Praying to God for this event, we connected with the fathers, for the majority is only the wife attending the Bible study.

Continue to pray that these children we minister to weekly will grow in the love and wisdom of the Lord. Pray that more parents will come to know Jesus through the feeding ministry and the lives of these precious children. Pray for wisdom and strength for my wife and our volunteer teacher, Cristy, our Bible student and a weekender, as they teach these precious kids. Pray for knowledge, wisdom, strength, and God’s provision to sustain our weekly feeding program financially. Please help us pray for strength, guidance, and protection for me and my family as we do the ministry together with our job and study. Pray for complete healing for my daughter, Ashly. 

New Year Party and Weekly Children’s Feeding Ministry

We praise the Lord for the overflowing provision with which our feeding ministry continues every week and for His sustaining grace in the lives of these children. We are grateful for the people God uses to bless the children so they can be fed physically with nutritious foods and spiritually through God’s word. We celebrated our New Year’s party with the children, one way of thanking the Lord for His sustaining grace in this feeding ministry. We gave the children fruit and delicious meals, played group games, worshiped God by singing and dancing, and heard God’s word. Some children brought their parents to the celebration program, and we are glad the parents enjoyed themselves with their children. God uses this feeding ministry to be how we can access parents and minister to them.

Bible Study

We praise the Lord for sustaining our church last year and for another year to celebrate and be thankful for God’s faithfulness in the lives of our brothers and sisters here in Calero. During the traditional and cultural celebration of the Sinulog festival here in Cebu, we were affected; our neighbors played loud music and songs about worshiping their idol god. Through this, we are grateful to be still able to continue our Bible study every Sunday afternoon. On our first meeting this year, we thanked the Lord and looked back on His faithfulness and goodness for the past year and how the Lord has sustained each of us and our families.

We are so grateful to the Lord that one of our youth and a volunteer in our children’s feeding ministry, Cony, expressed her desire to study at Bible college. Cony and her sister, Genevev listened to the weekly Bible study I had at their parent’s home. Since then, the girls went to our first Whitefield youth camp, have been active in the church, and are now volunteers teaching the children. Cony asks for prayer for her desire to study in Bible school to become a Christian educator. She and her sister Genevev graduated from grade twelve last school year, but instead of going to college, both needed to get jobs to help with family finances to support their eight younger siblings; Cony is the third. Their father is a laborer in construction work and does not have a permanent income. We are praying as a church about how we can help her in her studies.

Bible Month Celebration

January is National Bible Month here in the Philippines, and as part of celebrating, we had a culmination activity during our children’s Sunday school and feeding. My wife shared the importance of Bible study with the kids, as in 2 Timothy 3:16–17. The children are taught about the authors of the Bible, its books, and how the Bible is used in daily life. It is our prayer to rejoice that these precious little children will know the Lord Jesus Christ, have a personal relationship with Him, and become the leaders and educators of God’s Word in the church. We pray that the Lord will use them mightily to become channels of blessings to their parents and families.

Prayer requests:

Pray that these more than 50 children we minister to weekly will grow in the love and wisdom of the Lord. Pray that parents will come to know Jesus through the feeding ministry and the lives of these precious children. Pray for my wife and for Cristy, a Bible student and weekend volunteer teacher, as they prepare and make curriculum lessons for this year. Pray for knowledge, wisdom, strength, and God’s provision to sustain our weekly feeding program financially. Pray for the spiritual growth and maturity of these young people. Please pray for the celebration of our upcoming third church anniversary this month of February. Pray for provision, wisdom in planning the program, our speaker, and good weather.

We extend our gratitude to God, our Savior and Lord, for abundantly providing for the Calero Church planting work despite our limited resources, recognizing Him as the ultimate source of everything. We joyfully celebrated Children’s Month with 58 active participants in our weekly feeding program. Although we delayed the culmination due to time and budget constraints, we praise God that, despite the challenges, we could still host a delightful celebration for these children. We emphasize their value and preciousness as children by serving their favorite spaghetti and providing fruits. Many of them have faced verbal abuse, child labor, rejection, abandonment, and broken families, depriving them of their rights. Yet, through the Calero Church planting work, we are grateful to God for allowing us to tangibly demonstrate care and love, offering hope and assurance of His love, care, and protection. In doing so, we aim to convey the message of how valuable and precious they are in the eyes of God.

Elevating Worship: Empowering the Next Generation in the Exalting Ministry

In our commitment to train and equip the next generation for active participation in the uplifting ministry, we conducted a Praise and Worship Workshop Seminar at Gateway EFCP in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, this month. This seminar is a prerequisite for those aspiring to engage in the exalting ministry. As the interim pastor of the replanting churches in Lapu-Lapu since September 2023 and officially taking over leadership from January 2024 due to the retiring 80-year-old pastor, my wife and I aspire to organize the praise and worship team. We included ten young individuals from Calero Church Planting in the workshop to prepare our team for Calero. We are grateful for everyone’s enthusiasm, availability, and eagerness to participate in the praise and worship seminar. During the workshop, attendees are instructed on leading praise and worship with proper etiquette, selecting appropriate song line-ups, understanding the distinct roles within the team, including instrumentalists, and recognizing the significance of prayer and devotion in this ministry. We pray that the Lord instills a burden in the hearts of these young individuals to engage actively in the exalting ministry this year and equips them with the necessary skills. Despite interruptions in our training schedule last year due to the busy lives of our youth and many graduating students, we anticipate resuming training this year.

Please help us pray that these more than 50 children we minister to weekly will grow in the love and wisdom of the Lord. Pray that more parents will come to know Jesus through the feeding ministry and the lives of these precious children. Pray for my wife and our volunteer teacher, Cristy, as they prepare and make curriculum lessons for this year. Pray for knowledge, wisdom, strength, and God’s provision to sustain our weekly feeding program financially. Please help us pray for God’s financial provision as I enroll for the second semester of this school year. Please pray for our music training that we will organize starting next month. Pray for the availability of our young people, as some of them are working now, and the availability and passion of the youth trainers and leaders from our mother church. Pray for the spiritual growth and maturity of these young people.

Praise the Lord for the successful women’s district fellowship last month. Thirty-six women attended the event from five evangelical churches; three of these were White Fields’ church plants. It was a wonderful time of encouraging one another to grow in faith and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and to develop closer friendship with one another.

The theme was “A Woman of Courage and Strength.” They meditated on the life of Abigail in the Old Testament. My wife was the speaker, and the host church was the Light of Life Community Center. What a joy and encouraging activity to witness these women from different areas gathering together to praise and worship God and encourage one another in unity.

Praise the Lord that we were able to give four hundred and fifty pairs of slippers (flip-flops) to the kids at three areas of White Fields’ church planning including Calero Evangelical Free Church, Light of Life Community Center, and our newly formed church planting ministry in Danao, Cebu with Pastor Lito.

We thank God for the opportunity and privilege to minister to God’s people through slippers. Bro. Dennis was a devout Roman Catholic and wealthy man who had fully rejected God and pastors, and never gave his family a chance to enter a church or invite a pastor into their house. But one day, God cut off all the sources of his income, and he ended up in poverty which led him to depression. Because of his depression and shame, it came to his mind to kill all his children, his wife, and himself. But during that time, a pastor whom he had rejected was sent by God to their home where Dennis had already locked up his family in their room, ready to kill them with a pistol. The said pastor was in their house the whole night, ministering to Dennis until God convicted him and he repented. From that moment on, he became born again and praised God. His life and family were restored by God, even his wealth.

Bro. Dennis and his family are now living abroad. They are supporting students in their studies in Cebu. Dennis visited here in Cebu for three months and one of his goals was to give slippers to children and even adults with the printed message, Jesus loves me. So that every time a person wears the slippers, they will be reminded that even in their daily walks, God loves them and takes care of them.

Our weekly children’s feeding continues, and we thank God for providing grace, wisdom, and strength to the volunteers as well as the children to whom we minister every week. According to the parents, the children are always excited and thrilled about the coming each Sunday, some even arrive hours early instead of waiting till the afternoon for the program to start. We are excited that the older children are becoming active in the program too, they are now the ones volunteering to lead the dancing and singing during worship time as well as the games. We praise the Lord for utilizing this ministry to reach the children, to help them grow in their faith, and to become future leaders in the church.

• Pray for my wife, who is in charge of the children’s ministry, as well as our teachers, to have more strength, knowledge, and patience when teaching the kids.

Our weekly Bible studies continue, and we are struggling with the weather affecting the different areas. It is very hot in the morning with sudden heavy rains in the afternoon. Despite these challenges, we are continuing. I am amazed at the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the nine employees at my wife’s workplace and how God is changing them from not caring to being excited for their God’s Word.

• Pray for wisdom and knowledge as we do our planning and evaluation for the ministry goals of next year.
• Pray for wisdom and time management for my wife and me, I am a student, pastor, husband, and parent. My wife is an employee, mother, and wife. Pray also for our children’s academic accomplishments and protection.
• Pray for the Holy Spirit’s advanced ministering power in the lives of these people to whom we minister.
• Pray for the more than fifty children to grow in the love and wisdom of the Lord.
• Pray that through our children’s ministry, more parents may come to know Jesus.