Vacation Bible School 2009
Last summer, a total of 120 children from Barangay 21, Dumantay, Gulod Itaas and Pallocan West in were taught in our 5 day class for two consecutive weeks. Our Church, Christ’s Stewards Fellowship sponsored these students to enroll in our VBS. Let me share to you that for every Church to host 5 day class for 120 students will need the offerings of an average church a month to cover the expenses of the materials and snacks of these children plus transportation allowances of the teachers going to and from the location of VBS. We spent thousands of pesos for this event alone.
We do believe that these precious little ones will someday be like us. We were taught the Bible at an early age through 5 Day class. Eventually we passed on the grace of God to these children who most of them came from old religion background. The seed that was planted to their hearts will spring up at the right time. They will someday be the future workers of the church and missionaries as well.
Please continue to pray for our Children ministry. Also include in your prayers our faithful worker, Sis. Dorothy Anzaldo, and my wife, Hanny as they lead our young people to volunteer themselves for this work. To God be the glory!
Youth Camp
The first ever youth camp of our mission entitled “Transformers” was a success. Although there were so many obstacles which we had encountered when we were planning it to make it happen like for example, where it will be held? Since camp site’ fees are no joke today. In addition to that, a day before the camp, typhoon came as a surprised. Furthermore, one member of the worship team backed out because his mother was sick. Our 3 pastors called me the night before the camp asked me if we will pursue the event as planned since the parents of some of our young people cancelled the permission of their children for safety reason.
I momentarily paused for a moment, seeking God for the answer. Suddenly the news came that the typhoon will no longer passed through our province and changed the direction, so I am pretty sure the Lord wanted this camp to go on as scheduled and planned a month ago. So I said, let us pray for the good weather tomorrow. The following morning, it was raining but just rain showers and the sun was about to shine that day. After lunch there was no more rain and our youth were so excited to have games outside. But because the ground was still wet, we did indoor games instead which was fun to watch too. The messages of the pastors were so challenging drew from the difficulties we have had overcome going up to the camp. It went like the Lord intended the circumstances to happen to be able to see Him as Sovereign and our Deliverer. The following day it was sunny that we had two rounds of outdoor games plus the message. I shared something about our theme that is based on Phil. 4:8 and 2 Corinthians 5:17. After the message, the crowd went down the isle. I was so touched that I have not seen that scenario for a very long time. It was the Holy Spirit who moved these young people to surrender their lives to Christ.
CSF 4th Anniversary Celebration
Amazing things happen this day. The Church has limited budget for this event but the Lord provided everything. We have only 5 thousand pesos or 100 US dollars in our budget for this event, but the Lord used several people in our church including a friend to finance our 4th anniversary. Since most of our members have just a meager income, they sacrificed a lot to make this possible. We had 2 worship services last March 8, 2009. The morning worship attended mainly by our Church members followed by the afternoon worship with our fellowship Churches with no less than 200 people attended our services. It was indeed great things that transpired because the Lord is good.
During the celebration my wife and I remembered how God was faithful to us. Looking back the church started holding different events and activities under the bridge in Pallocan West. We grab the opportunity of using the place because it is for free! He has given us the wisdom on how to handle the resources on our hand. We started reaching the community through teaching children and feeding them. The children had no chairs to sit on. It moved us to pray and ask God that we may be able to buy chairs. God answered! He touched people to donate chairs for our fellowship. Then we see the need and had a desire that we may be able to rent a place to gather people and have formal worship service together and indeed God answered. We were able to rent a room that can accommodate ten to fifteen persons. He has provided the necessary finances needed each month to pay the monthly rental and utilities. Months have passed and God had used us to reach a lot more people and shared the Gospel to them. We see that we have no more room to accommodate them in the current place that we are staying. Again, we kneeled in prayer ask God to lead us in a new larger place that we can have our place of worship. Amazingly God moved. We were able to see a bigger place of worship. The place can accommodate 40-50 persons. The space was very old and needs a lot of renovation. We do not have extra cash in our pockets to rent and renovate the place. We believe that it is God who owns everything and what we have in our hands are from him-we are just his stewards. God once again touched hearts of people who will help and support us. Some of the members volunteered in the renovation of the place, some have supported financially that we were able to buy some appliances, furniture and the equipment needed.
In every situation God is really faithful and his solutions are there in every problems and difficulties that we face. There will be times that our finances are limited and he provides. Sometimes we get discouraged of what people say or the circumstances around us seem unfavorable. But what we are able to see is that in those difficult situations God teaches us to trust him more not to depend on what people can do for us. Presently we are encountering problems in the place that we are renting. We believe that it is God’s way for us to not to be complacent on where we are. It is His way for us to pray more and for us to have a desire to look for a place of worship we can call our own. Now our Church is looking for a property so the members can invite more people to come into the fellowship. We are in faith trying to raise 1 million pesos to have down payment for the property the church is praying to be granted by God.
The present church building where we worship can only accommodate 50 persons. That’s why last anniversary we opted to celebrate it in a rented venue to invite friends and love ones of our members. The theme was “Expect great things from God and attempt great things for God.” This is our desire for our Church. Since we know that this is not ours but God’s, we wanted His house of worship to be for everyone. We know by His perfect time He will use each of us to accomplish His plan of providing Christ’s Stewards Fellowship a house of prayers for every member of the family of God and to have a sanctuary to worship Him.
Couples’ Sunday
We celebrated Heart’s day in a simple gathering of couples last February 15, 2009. It was special time for our married adults to have dates with their partners in the church where they can hear messages from God through His servant to strengthen their relationship. We emphasized to the couples that marriage is a life time commitment between husband and wife. The topic was about finances of the couples that a lot of our fellow Filipinos were force to be separated physically from their families to find greener pastures abroad. Although it was necessary to work and support their love ones, but it should not always be the case for everyone. In addition, it should be temporary so families will be together through thick and thin. They will also experience the providence of God while being with their families. So a timely fellowship for our couples who wanted some changes with their usual set up during this kind of event.
The first ever youth camp of our mission entitled “Transformers” was a success. Although there were so many obstacles which we had encountered when we were planning it to make it happen like for example, where it will be held? Since camp site’ fees are no joke today. In addition to that, a day before the camp, typhoon came as a surprised. Furthermore, one member of the worship team backed out because his mother was sick. Our 3 pastors called me the night before the camp asked me if we will pursue the event as planned since the parents of some of our young people cancelled the permission of their children for safety reason.
I momentarily paused for a moment, seeking God for the answer. Suddenly the news came that the typhoon will no longer passed through our province and changed the direction, so I am pretty sure the Lord wanted this camp to go on as scheduled and planned a month ago. So I said, let us pray for the good weather tomorrow. The following morning, it was raining but just rain showers and the sun was about to shine that day. After lunch there was no more rain and our youth were so excited to have games outside. But because the ground was still wet, we did indoor games instead which was fun to watch too. The messages of the pastors were so challenging drew from the difficulties we have had overcome going up to the camp. It went like the Lord intended the circumstances to happen to be able to see Him as Sovereign and our Deliverer. The following day it was sunny that we had two rounds of outdoor games plus the message. I shared something about our theme that is based on Phil. 4:8 and 2 Corinthians 5:17. After the message, the crowd went down the isle. I was so touched that I have not seen that scenario for a very long time. It was the Holy Spirit who moved these young people to surrender their lives to Christ.
We were so overwhelmed that these precious young people asked for part two of our camp. It was like the movie “Transformers II” only not with the “revenge of the fallen”. We put up that title so that it will be more appealing to the youth while it has some meaning into the title. We assigned them to bring recyclable garbage to transform it to something useful. They did it, each of the four groups, with gusto! They can now relate their lives to the things that they transformed out of the garbage. As the Bible said in Philippians 4:8, “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things.” We thought this camp was a spring board of such great things for our fellowship and the Lord made these things to happen. Praise God!
CSF 4th Anniversary Celebration
Amazing things happen this day. The Church has limited budget for this event but the Lord provided everything. We have only 5 thousand pesos or 100 US dollars in our budget for this event, but the Lord used several people in our church including a friend to finance our 4th anniversary. Since most of our members have just a meager income, they sacrificed a lot to make this possible. We had 2 worship services last March 8, 2009. The morning worship attended mainly by our Church members followed by the afternoon worship with our fellowship Churches with no less than 200 people attended our services. It was indeed great things that transpired because the Lord is good.
During the celebration my wife and I remembered how God was faithful to us. Looking back the church started holding different events and activities under the bridge in Pallocan West. We grab the opportunity of using the place because it is for free! He has given us the wisdom on how to handle the resources on our hand. We started reaching the community through teaching children and feeding them. The children had no chairs to sit on. It moved us to pray and ask God that we may be able to buy chairs. God answered! He touched people to donate chairs for our fellowship. Then we see the need and had a desire that we may be able to rent a place to gather people and have formal worship service together and indeed God answered. We were able to rent a room that can accommodate ten to fifteen persons. He has provided the necessary finances needed each month to pay the monthly rental and utilities. Months have passed and God had used us to reach a lot more people and shared the Gospel to them. We see that we have no more room to accommodate them in the current place that we are staying. Again, we kneeled in prayer ask God to lead us in a new larger place that we can have our place of worship. Amazingly God moved. We were able to see a bigger place of worship. The place can accommodate 40-50 persons. The space was very old and needs a lot of renovation. We do not have extra cash in our pockets to rent and renovate the place. We believe that it is God who owns everything and what we have in our hands are from him-we are just his stewards. God once again touched hearts of people who will help and support us. Some of the members volunteered in the renovation of the place, some have supported financially that we were able to buy some appliances, furniture and the equipment needed.
In every situation God is really faithful and his solutions are there in every problems and difficulties that we face. There will be times that our finances are limited and he provides. Sometimes we get discouraged of what people say or the circumstances around us seem unfavorable. But what we are able to see is that in those difficult situations God teaches us to trust him more not to depend on what people can do for us. Presently we are encountering problems in the place that we are renting. We believe that it is God’s way for us to not to be complacent on where we are. It is His way for us to pray more and for us to have a desire to look for a place of worship we can call our own. Now our Church is looking for a property so the members can invite more people to come into the fellowship. We are in faith trying to raise 1 million pesos to have down payment for the property the church is praying to be granted by God.
The present church building where we worship can only accommodate 50 persons. That’s why last anniversary we opted to celebrate it in a rented venue to invite friends and love ones of our members. The theme was “Expect great things from God and attempt great things for God.” This is our desire for our Church. Since we know that this is not ours but God’s, we wanted His house of worship to be for everyone. We know by His perfect time He will use each of us to accomplish His plan of providing Christ’s Stewards Fellowship a house of prayers for every member of the family of God and to have a sanctuary to worship Him.
Couples’ Sunday
We celebrated Heart’s day in a simple gathering of couples last February 15, 2009. It was special time for our married adults to have dates with their partners in the church where they can hear messages from God through His servant to strengthen their relationship. We emphasized to the couples that marriage is a life time commitment between husband and wife. The topic was about finances of the couples that a lot of our fellow Filipinos were force to be separated physically from their families to find greener pastures abroad. Although it was necessary to work and support their love ones, but it should not always be the case for everyone. In addition, it should be temporary so families will be together through thick and thin. They will also experience the providence of God while being with their families. So a timely fellowship for our couples who wanted some changes with their usual set up during this kind of event.
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