Homegrown Harvesters: Helping our brothers in Dipolog City

Pastor Mario Montero started his ministry months after his conversion. He doesn't flinch when he tries to explain how, a week before his church celebrated its ninth anniversary, he battled a crowd control problem.

"It's all by God's grace," he said. "I started with no literature, no Bibles, nothing. I didn't even know how to win a soul. I slept in the bus. It's all by God's grace."

On May 31, 2011, Pastor Montero and his flock at Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Punta, a barangay of Dipolog City, on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines, celebrated their ninth anniversary. Nine days earlier, on a warm Sunday afternoon, he talked with Homegrown Harvesters about the ministry.

The church has approximately a hundred members. And in the lot and building the church now owns, there's not much room left. This fisher of men is seeing his nets breaking. As they planned the anniversary, they realized they could only invite 400 people. If they put up a tent over the back, set up chairs under the mango tree and squeezed as much as they could.

As you can see, there's not much room left. This is the service Sunday, May 22, 2011.

"We would love to invite 3,000 people, but we have no room," Pastor Mario said.

Pastor Mario is a man of many talents. Before he converted, he worked in a monastery making images of the saints. However, through the witness of Pastor Jun Begafria, pastor of Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Ozamis, the mother church for the SBBC family, Pastor Mario was converted on Oct. 16, 1994. One year later, he became a full-time missionary, going out to Lopez Jaena.

In 2002, the call to Punta came, and he and his family moved down to Dipolog City to start a mission work. Pastor Mario is the elder statesman of the SBBC missionaries. He was the first missionary sent out from Ozamis, and he has paid a steep price.

The life of a pioneering missionary is hard. The years have not been kind to him. Years of sacrifice have taken their toll. When he preaches, he has a persistent cough. During my visit, he battled a fever. A few years ago, he watched his oldest son die of malnutrition.

"No money for medicine, malnourished it broke my heart,but none of this things move me," he wrote in a 2006 email to an American pastor.

When I asked him about it, he huffed a two-word answer, paused for several seconds, and resumed talking about the ministry. My journalism professors would chide me, but I let it pass. I was looking for a story; he was looking to talk about ministry.

As there have been trials, there have also been lessons learned. One of those lessons is to use visual aides in his sermons. The Shiloh Bible Baptist Church family uses the King James exclusively, and though there are efforts to translate the KJV into the Visayan dialect, those projects cost money. Also, as he explained to me, "Filipinos understand the sermons better when you give them something they can see."

All good sermons come with outlines. Pastor Mario's are done on tapestry and stretched across the wall behind the pulpit.

Sermon outlines in Punta adorn the wall.

Once they are used, they do not go to waste. In fact, as we were talking, the church members were taking part in the discipleship time. We were fortunate, because it was a sunny day. During discipleship time, the church members practice teaching/preaching from the streamers. Men, women, even children learn to defend their faith by teaching lessons from the streamers.

It was exciting to see the different people teach the lessons, because they each saw something different from the outlines. With multiple scripture references, the teacher can take different angles as he or she follows the outline.

The adult men take turns teaching about the necessity of witnessing.

Is it effective?

"Everyone knows how to witness," Pastor Mario said. "Everyone knows how to teach the Bible. We have teachers who were converted by their students because the children know the Gospel so well."

In fact, to combat the issue of a lack of space, the church members hold off-campus Bible studies and extension services in places such as Moliton and Manukan.

One dear lady, in her 60s, is such a soul-winner, she only rests on Sundays. She holds a series of Bible studies every Monday with some assistance from some other church women.

A teacher teaches the children about

the sheep and the goats

At the extension services, the men who are not called to be pastors but who nevertheless are able to preach use Pastor Mario's streamers.

Another teacher instructs the children

As one career missionary to Manila told me, "When I first saw the streamers, I thought, 'I don't need that. What is going on here?' But then after a while, I understood how useful it is."

This dear brother is a body builder to support his family, and he preaches and teaches in Manila. He still misses home, though, and said he often calls home and asks Pastor Mario to preach the sermons to him.

Another missionary, this one who ministers among the Subanen tribe in the mountains, explained it this way, "When we have the drawings, they can see what we are telling them. We tell them Jesus died on the cross, but they are able to see it. We tell them He came out of the grave, but now they can see it (on the streamer). They understand."

Even the youngest get a chance

to show what they have learned.

My conversation with Pastor Mario was on May 22. As you can see from the photos, the streamers were stretched over buses and across walls outside.

On May 29, there was no way they could hold discipleship. As is often the case. The rains came. Rain is no small matter when there is only a dirt road leading to your church. The photo below is the exact same spot where the photo above of the teaching the pink streamer was taken. One week, teaching and discipling. The next, nothing. Such is the case for our brothers in Christ.

But we're not just telling sad tales. We are praying for solutions. In fact, one is just a short hop away.

The end of the property line
and the wall of the church

Just a few inches away from where the current church rests is a vacant 500sqm lot. It is priced at 500,000 Philippine Pesos. This translates roughly to $12,000 U.S. For $12,000, the property and all the paperwork can be completed.

As we always say, first we would ask for your prayers. Only God can raise this money to His glory. So please pray for this need. It is not the only one we have, but it is at the top of the list right now.

As you pray, ask yourself this question: What if your ability to learn the Bible depended on the weather? What if your pastor had to say, "Don't invite any more people. We're too crowded."?

If you are interested in helping us as we raise this money, you may give a tax-deductible gift through Love in Action Ministries. They are our partner ministry in Dothan, Ala. Please contact them to donate. Just mark on your donation "Philippines." Every bit of your gift will go toward the work in the Philippines.

To contact Love in Action Ministries, either use the hyperlink provided or see below. May God richly bless you for your consideration and your gift.