Dear Dr. Reed and IGM Family,

 

Warmest greetings from the beautiful islands of the Philippines.

It truly is becoming warm and is going to be a very hot summer as we approach the second quarter of this year.

January started swiftly with meetings and planning sessions to finally map out our final preparations and strategies for ministry in 2023. We started with a series of messages about new beginnings emphasizing that God is gracious to give us the opportunity to begin again and our need to grab the opportunity to do so in every aspect of our life and ministry.

We launched our AWANA Discipleship program for children and youth targeting ages 6-18. For the children, we have 30-40 average attendance in the last two months with 7 group leaders discipling 7 small groups. For the youth, we started our Tough Guys ministry (mixed martial arts) and we have 20-30 attending every Saturday. We also have 7 group leaders discipling the small groups. We recently  participated in a karate tournament and placed third in individual rankings.

For our adult group, we launched the Life Partners with God (LPG) which aims to disciple the 19-year-old and above age group. This group has started to reopen the outreach in another municipality that was halted during the pandemic. We are praying that we can pursue this outreach and become a church through the help and assistance of our LPG.

Another breakthrough for this year is the start of a class for those undergoing disciplinary action. The members of this class agreed to undergo counseling, teaching, and caring to be restored in fellowship and active ministry in the church. We call this BOBS class, Band of Brothers and Sisters. We are praying that we will be able to fully restore the brethren in this class to active service for the Lord.

We are looking forward to launching our chaplaincy program this second quarter. This is going to be an intensive evangelistic program targeting government schools, offices, and institutions. I was tapped to lead in the National Training Program of Chaplains that will conduct Values programs throughout the Philippines. In our church, I am training assistant chaplain that will be deployed in jails, barangays, schools, and offices. We hope to carry out this program until the end of the year.

Regarding our family, we were all stricken with a very extreme flu in the last two weeks of this month. We thought it was Corona virus again, but our doctor assured us it is not. We thank God for His healing. My wife has resumed her graduate studies and will hopefully finish this year. She has been suffering with her knee problems but the Lord has been merciful. Timothy Ezra, our eldest, is busy preparing for his wedding. Our daughter, Esther Sarah, had a checkup with her neurologist due to seizures experienced when she had a panic attack. She has been struggling with her mental health in the last two months. Elijah’s schooling has been extended due to some courses not taken during the pandemic. He hopes to have his practicum this summer and be able to take all remaining subjects and graduate by the end of this year, if God permits. Our youngest, Samuel Joseph, is enjoying school while being trained also by Elijah in multimedia as his ministry in the church. After my eye surgery last November, I had a follow- up surgery February 8 to drain the remaining blood in my eye and on March 1, my left eye was injected again. To God be the glory, I had my vision back in my left eye. Praise God also for a better vision in my right eye which had undergone an injection and three laser treatments. Hoping to renew my driver’s license ASAP and also resume my doctoral studies.

 

PRAYER REQUESTS:

  1. Salvation of new attenders in our AWANA children’s ministry and youth Tough guys ministry
  2. Empowerment of small group leaders and success in their discipleship ministry
  3. Positive response & salvation of 50 invited high school students to attend Tough Guys camp
  4. That many will come to know the Lord through our chaplaincy program
  5. Training and equipping of our assistant chaplains in our church and throughout the Philippines
  6. Success of our BOBS class
  7. Our family needs and ministry