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In 1984 preparations were underway for the national revival promotion called “Gospel Alive ‘85” where evangelistic groups and pastors would come for a week of special meetings all over the Islands in independent Baptist Churches. This was to be followed by a week of special meeetings in the Philippine International Convention Center. It was the first time any meeting of this size was attempted. On August 30 the Church building with the school downstairs burned to the ground. They met for over 1 year in another location, much smaller than before. The school was confined to the damaged Sunday School building. But God was working. Although terribly hindered, the plans went forward for “Gospel Alive ‘85” program. The end of June and first of July was the target dates. Over 40 pastors and their workers came. Two Singing outreach teams, from Liberty University and Baptist Bible College, Springfield, MO also came. And so did the rains. A tropical storm raged across the Islands. Yet, the preachers went out. Over 5,000 professions of faith were registered in the local churches. Almost 1,000 pastors and workers attended the daily meetings in the Convention Center. From this one meeting several missionaries came, many young people surrendered to the ministry and today there is a harvest of souls going on in the Philippines.
FAMILY MATTERS In 1988 a much needed furlough was taken and the two eldest children, Philip and Paula, were introduced back into life in America. They had graduated from high school in the Philippines and now were heading for college. Paula enrolled at Liberty University and Philip began a two year oddesy with Life Action Singers, running media, singing and later driving one of the big rigs needed. Paula soon became a part of the Light Team and traveled to South America twice. We thank the Lord for the impact that these two ministries had on their lives. Later, Philip also worked with Wings of Morning, where he met KayAnn, and they both traveled for 9 months with Truth just after they got married in February, 1998. Paula met a young man from Minnesota and they were married in October, 1997. When Perry returned to the Philippines in 1990, he was going home to Cavite City to be with his friends with whom he had grown up. You can imagine his frustration when, after only a few months, we felt the call of the Lord to another location. The pastorate of the Church in Cavite City had been given to a national pastor, Rev. Arnold Arellano. We knew that God was leading us away to the southern part of the growing Metrolpolitan Manila area known as Alabang. There a young work was turned over to us by Rev. & Mrs. Rick Shimwell. It was not yet one year old. But the people were committed and willing to be taught the Word of God.
OUR PRESENT WORK The ministry at Faith Baptist Church has been profitable with a cross societal mixture of people who are desirous of reaching their area of the City, the whole nation and also the entire world. God brought us a young couple that had met in Cavite City and Bro. & Sister Roel Granaderos have determined to be all that God wants them to be. National works are supported on the island of Palawan, where many ethnic peoples still live. In addition, we now support missionaries in Indonesia, Haiti, Thailand and Cambodia. Realizing that Perry needed to finish his high school, and also needing a model school for the ACE program, the Philippine Christian School of Tomorrow was started in 1991. Although it still meets in rented facilities, the school has produced some outstanding graduates. We spend a lot of our time working with parents and young people who desire to have the principles of the Word of God have its effect on their lives.
OUR VISION OF THE FUTURE We are praying for the Lord to continue to bless Faith Baptist Church, now in our own building. We envision outreaches into needy areas where God will affect His will in people’s lives. This is done with educational and spiritual life classes. We also see the effect of Christian education growing with added workers coming from the hundreds of students on the ACE program. Our prayers is that God will call these young people to the fields of Asia and the whole world as His ambassadors. Our vision is to penetrate Asia with educational missionaries, medical missionaries or church planters who will bring the Glorious Gospel to those who have never heard! |
