In a recent post, we told you about our need in Tampilisan for Pastor Raffy Begafria's church, where we are trying to raise $2,200 for the church to have its building completed and to be able to provide for its church anniversary.
That need is still immediate, and we strongly ask you to pray for us and give if you are so inclined.
We have another need from another of our churches that we would like to share with you. Many of the prayer needs we will share are from missionaries who have just started their work. After all, the Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Ozamis City sent out 14 missionaries in 2010.
But this need is a different one. Pastor Mario Montero is the missionary pastor at Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Punta, Dipolog City. He was the first missionary sent out from the mother church, and his church is outgrowing its building. They have about 100 members, and they continue to grow. However, even with an additional wing provided by some good friends of ours recently, they are too numerous for their building.
They have been praying for a while for God to provide money to buy a 500 square meter lot adjacent to their current property. If God provides for the new lot, they are planning to use the current building as housing for visiting pastors or as a school to teach children about God's word.
The cost for this property, including land price and paperwork fees, is 500,000 Philippine pesos. Fortunately, even a journalist's math skills can compute that price per square meter as 1,000 pesos per square meter. How much is that in U.S. dollars? 1,000 pesos is roughly $23.19 (as of today, but it can fluctuate, of course), so let's call it $24.
If we look at the total price (close to $12,000), it can be staggering. But ask yourself this, can you purchase a square meter for $24? Perhaps you can give more, or perhaps you can offer us your prayers and no financial gift. Either way, we long for your prayers. But all it takes to help a church is $24.
The situation in the Philippines is this: These churches have a passion and a willingness that far exceeds their budget. Pastor Mario's church in Punta, Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte has many outreach Bible studies. Older women go out on Monday; some men hold Bible studies in police stations on Saturdays and there are others of which we are ignorant. We hear almost weekly of people praying to confess Christ and receive His salvation during these outreaches.
They do all this work without always having adequate funding. Oh, that we would see the needs and opportunities ahead of us! If your heart is stirred at all to give toward these needs, then please contact our friends at Love in Action Ministries. Our friends there have graciously agreed to help us by handling the money. Any gifts given through Love in Action Ministries are tax deductible. Just specify in your gift that you want it to go to the Philippines. If you have a preference between the church in Tampilisan or the church in Dipolog City, please specify. Otherwise, the gifts we receive will go to the more immediate need in Tampilisan. But 100 percent of your gift will go toward the needs in the Philippines.
Also, we would be doing wrong if we didn't make this request. Love in Action Ministries is doing us a great service by handling the money for us. Please consider giving to their needs as well. They are an outreach ministry to the homeless in Dothan, Ala., and just hours ago I read a report from their ministry where two people prayed to receive Christ during their midweek service. These dear friends understand the word of our Lord's brother, when he asked us rhetorically, "Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?"
If the hyperlinks above do not work, we have included the contact information for Love in Action Ministries below. Above all else, please pray. If you feel led to give, we thank you in advance. May all we do expand Christ's kingdom.
Love In Action International Ministries, Inc.
P.O. Box 85
Dothan, AL 36302
334-494-4995
info@loveinactionministries.com
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