Bible Sunday

Pastor Greg (right) and a church brother set up the Bibles
for Bible Sunday this past Sunday.

What if you were a pastor who could not give his new converts a Bible? What if one day, God provided those Bibles for your church?

That's what happened this week at Shiloh Bible Baptist Church Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines. Pastor Greg Begafria was able to purchase Bibles for his flock, and they had "Bible Sunday" on July 10. Pastor Greg had to travel about eight to nine hours one way to get the 32 KJV Bibles and 10,000 tracts in their own language. The funds for this project came from  Love in Action Ministries, and we are thankful for this gift.

When you give to Homegrown Harvesters through  Love in Action Ministries, this is the kind of thing you support. Praise God for the gift, and may these tracts and Bibles produce eternal fruit in the Philippines.



A church member gets his new Bible.



Additionally, as Pastor Greg shared with us before, the church recently saw the conversion of a former convict. Pastor Greg told us more about this man, who lives in a village where the church wants to start a Bible study. 

"I hope you still remember one time I have shared with you about an ex convict from prison receiving Christ as his Personal Savior and submitting to water baptism. He lives in this village. His salvation becomes a blessing to his mother and younger siblings and the villagers as well. As of now his family was a constant visitor (together with the neighbors) in the church and has been a prospect for our baptism," Pastor Greg said.

As you can see, God is working through these churches in the Philippines. Please join with us as we offer prayers and financial support for these dear brothers and sisters.

 

Church members show off their new Bibles.



Pastor Greg also told us this about those who received their Bibles, "They are also committing to read and value the Bibles in their hands."

Will you join us in working for God's kingdom in the Philippines? Please, if you feel led to give, do so through Love in Action Ministries. You can do so by using the hyperlink that keeps recurring, or you can use the contact info below. I hope your heart rejoices to see God at work among other people.

 

Love In Action International Ministries, Inc.
P.O. Box 85
Dothan, AL 36302
334-494-4995
 

Church members flood the altar to pray for Homegrown Harvesters
and Love in Action. Will you join in their prayers?

Scripture fulfilled

All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. -- Psalm 22:27

How amazing it was for me to see the reality of this promise when I made my two-week and too-short trip to the Philippines. Here I was, worshipping with people whose language I did not speak and who spoke my language well but not perfectly.

I remember one night, we spent all night with a group of missionaries. They had a songbook translated into Cebuano, and they would sing hymns out of it together. One helpful pastor would always repeat the page numbers for me, as if that would help me at all, because even though I recognized some tunes and names, I didn't speak Cebuano enough to sing along.

Still, the reality of this promise was holding true. God was in this place, bringing people separated by culture, language and ocean, and we were worshiping together. How amazing that Jesus Christ understands Cebuano, English, Tagalog and every other language on the planet.

Earlier, we told you about a pastor who was unable to provide Bibles for his congregation. Our friends at  Love in Action Ministries provided a generous sum for this church to be able to purchase their Bibles. This is part of an email we received from this pastor.

By Monday, July 4, I will be going to Iligan to purchase KJV Bibles and tracts that we have been long praying. On July 7, the church will be having its BIBLE SUNDAY. This whole Sunday will be dedicated to preach and school out the church members the importance of the Word of God. After the service, we will be distributing these KJV Bibles to the newly baptized believers.As soon as possible we will give you reports and pictures of this event ( Bible Sunday ).

Our brother was understandably excited about the riches our friends were able to provide. The church is far away from the place where they must get the Bibles (about a 6-hour drive one way via bus, not the safest ride one has ever taken). How amazing it is for us to see this reality! Just as God promised through David thousands of years ago, we are witnessing the turn of "all ends of the world" to God through Jesus Christ.

When you join with us, you provide the ability for these churches to continue reaching the world around them. I hope and pray you will get a vision for what God is doing in the Philippines, and for what God is calling us to do at Homegrown Harvesters.

Once again, we are praying specifically for Pastor Mario Montero's church in Dipolog City. An adjacent lot would allow the pastor and his church to expand their ministry. It will only cost $12,000 for the lot and the legal paperwork to get this land transferred to the church.

Please join us in reaching this goal. As always, our ministry partners at Love in Action Ministries are handling the funds for us. Please contact them through the hyperlink above or through the info below and designate your gift to the Philippines. We are thankful for Love in Action Ministries' help with this and other projects.

May God richly bless you in all things.

Love In Action International Ministries, Inc.
P.O. Box 85
Dothan, AL 36302
334-494-4995

Late-night thoughts

It has been harder to write these blog updates than I anticipated after my return from the Philippines.

Truth is, we are seeing the challenges ahead of us. I have not been at home for more than a week now, at least, not consistently. So it's been hard to write about things as I would like.

But we can certainly use all the prayers you can muster. We are facing some challenges, and we would be foolish to think we would avoid them. As you might imagine, starting a ministry that cuts across a rather large ocean, different cultures and different languages has some challenges. But we press on, knowing that God is with us.

In that vein, we ask you to join with us in praying. We are still seeking to help the Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Punta, Dipolog City, purchase their land. They are seeking a 430 sqm lot that is next to their current lot. They have outgrown their building, and they are seeking to purchase an adjacent lot so they can grow without having to move far away.

For only $12,000, we can purchase that land for them. If you want details on the needs, you can check earlier blog posts. But right now, I just want to ask you to pray and give, if at all possible. These our brothers and sisters have no way of saving and purchasing this land. If we don't do it, who will?

As one of my favorite authors, K.P. Yohannan asks, so ask I you, why do you think God put you in the United States? Was it to spend so much money on luxuries? Or did He give you money beyond what others in other parts of the world will ever know so you could help expand His kingdom in another country?

This church in Punta cannot invite people to the church, because it's too full. The new converts must be discipled away from the church, outside of the care and direct oversight of the pastor, Mario Montero. We have a chance to change that. Please consider whether you can make a difference in this church's life.

As always, we are thankful for our ministry partners at Love in Action Ministries. They handle the funds for us, since we are not an organized ministry yet. You may contact them  through the information below, or through the hyperlink.

Love In Action International Ministries, Inc.
P.O. Box 85
Dothan, AL 36302
334-494-4995

Thank you for your prayers, and thank you for any gift you can give.

May God richly bless you.

Just a visitor

Sometimes, you just hear some good news and want to share it. Here's what one of our pastors wrote to us this week, about an event that happened during last Sunday's service.

We will simply quote from what our pastor said, and let him tell the story.

"To God be the glory, I am so happy sharing the good news to you. Yesterday, on our Sunday service, a certain walk in visitor came to join the church service. I don't know whether he is a christian or was an unbeliever, so I decided to share him the gospel of salvation to verify his status. I was so struck because upon introduction, he informs that he is an ex-convict, a paroled juvenile from prison. He was on bars for about 2 years and he is just 21 years old. After the service we talk and we fellowship and he was able to received Christ as his Personal Savior and immediately decided for water baptism. I am just so happy and thankful to God for leading such poor soul to walk by the church yesterday morning. I see the greater blessing of soul winning because what if I were not able to share him Christ, his life would still be in a mess.That was perfectly a miracle from God. I am so happy that God, one step at a time has answered my longings and prayers for souls saved."

This is why we do what we do. Because of stories like this. This particular church is situated on a key thoroughfare in its city.

The sad part of this story, though, is this man and others like him would have to wait months to get a Bible, if he got one at all. But we are happy to report that through the generosity of a particular couple, we will be able to help this church supply its flock with Bibles.

But that's not enough for us. All across this ministry, churches are planted and new people are converted. But because these churches are mission churches, the funds are often lacking. My own fiancee had to wait two months before she could get a Bible.

How many times is this story repeated across the island? How many churches see a new convert but can't get him or her a Bible? What are we doing about it?

Well, if you would like to help us, you may.

As always, you can give through Love in Action Ministries. They are our ministry partner, and their passion for reaching the world with the gospel is a feature for which we are most thankful.

If you would like to give toward this particular need of buying Bibles and tracts for the churches, or if you wish to give a general gift to the ministry in the Philippines, or if you wish to give to their needs as they minister to the homeless in Dothan, Ala., you may contact Love in Action Ministries through the information below, or through the recurring hyperlink.

Love In Action International Ministries, Inc.
P.O. Box 85
Dothan, AL 36302
To contact us by phone, call:
334-494-4995

We also have a praise report to share. One of the prayer requests submitted to us months ago was the need for children's Sunday School literature for the mother church in Ozamis. There are four children's classes, three divided by age and a fourth "for visitors who need to know they need salvation," as our contact told us. (Really, how can you not love these people?)

We are blessed that a ministry within an association of Baptist churches collected enough leftover materials to supply this church's need. They donated all the materials and only charged us $70 for shipping. We are grateful for this group's willingness to help, and for their charity in donating the materials. We pray we will be able to do this every quarter, so will you join us in praying for this part of our ministry? Also, join with us in praising God for His provision.

Indeed it is coming to pass as Isaiah said, "Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea." The Lord Jesus is being praised all around the world, even in the "isles of the sea." May we rejoice to see this day!

Jesus likes to be asked

Well, it has been a while since we have updated the blog. No excuses for that, but nonetheless we are back now.

The most important thing we can ask of you right now is prayer. Pray for our brothers and sisters in the Philippines. Pray for us as we have to make decisions about which needs are most urgent, how to maintain accountability, and how to expand our network of interested parties.

Our friend at Love in Action Ministries, Ken Tuck, made a wise suggestion. He and his wife, Martha, have started praying for God to provide us with people whose heart is for international missions. Now, in the body of Christ we know there are different passions and functions. Some are bold witnessers (my fiancee clearly falls into this category), while others have giftings for building up the church. Similarly, God has called us to different interests and different focuses. Some are passionate about their families, and some are passionate about God's work in their own countries. But we need people who have a passion to see Christ's kingdom expanded outside of the United States, people who see what is happening in the Philippines and want to be a part of it.

Will you join us in praying for that? Please pray that God will provide us with the right people who have a heart for the work going on here. We need more people with a vision for what God is doing.

Also, we have so many needs, we don't know where to start. The most important thing we can provide for these dear brothers and sisters is a place to meet. That is such a struggle for these pastors, and we need to find a way to be able to support them. One of our churches meets in a partially finished building. Another has outgrown its building. Another we helped purchase land, but soon they face the end of their lease at their current building and are without funds to build their new building. Many of them are planning to start aggressive outreaches, but they need funds to do them.

We are confident God will direct us, and He will meet our needs. But we are mindful, too, that He does these things in response to our prayers. There is a moment in C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia (you will forgive me, I do not own the books and am going off memory) where two children go on a mission for Aslan the King Lion. They arrive without necessary provision, and one child says to the other, "Shouldn't he have provided for us?" And the other child replies, "I think he likes to be asked." Now, those are not exact quotations, but you get the point. We are confident God has brought us these ministry opportunities, and we are sure of His provision. But our Lord Jesus Christ likes to be asked.

So, will you join us in asking Him? We ask Him for wisdom, for accountability, for faithfulness, for provision and most of all for fruitful ministry for these churches. Again, as we state so often, these are not merely humanitarian needs we are trying to meet. These are real the needs of brothers and sisters in Christ whose mission is to reach the various people groups of the Philippines to Christ.

Please join with us in prayer. Pray also to see if you are being called to be involved with us more.

If you would like to join our email list, please send an email to homegrownharvesters@yahoo.com. Also, please spread the word about us to your friends and your church groups. We need more prayer partners. The more the better.

Prayer partners

Folks, we have a vision for our ministry. We know where we want to go. We know what we want to do.

But we have no idea how it will happen. That's OK. If we knew, we could do it. But since we don't know, we must rely on God to lead us.

So, I'm making this plea for prayer partners to join us. Will you become a prayer partner with us?

I don't know if you've been able to gather this from recent posts, but we are blessed to be a part of something amazing. God, through Jesus Christ, is reaching people on the island of Mindanao, a southern island in the Philippines.

What do you know about Mindanao? Perhaps not much. But if you were to go to the website for Voice of the Martyrs and check on their "restricted nations" link, you would see a dot over the island of Mindanao (the red dot that is about halfway between Australia and China). This is what the website says about Mindanao, "The Philippines has a Muslim minority trying to establish an independent Islamic state on the island of Mindanao. Muslim groups already control six provinces on the island. Several of the Muslim terrorist organizations in the Philippines have been linked to Al Qaeda. Though the Filipino people predominantly profess Christianity, Christians living in areas influenced by Muslim and communist guerrilla organizations face threats, kidnapping and death.

"Category: Hostile Nation
"Religion: Statistics are unavailable for this region.
"Ideology: Islam
"Head of State: Acting Regional Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong

"Persecution of Christians is increasingly common. Islamic terrorists are believed to be responsible for several bombings in train stations, buses and other areas in Mindanao. The terrorists believe killing a Christian will get them into heaven. In August 2009, Christian villages were attacked and burned. Churches and houses throughout the region have been burned and worshipers harassed. An 18-year-old Christian boy was kidnapped, tortured and killed as a warning to other Christians."

Now, we must point out that of those "professing Christianity," very few are Biblical, evangelical churches. Predominantly, the "Christian" population is Roman Catholic. There are also Jehovah's Witnesses, who may call themselves "Christian" but are not. A very small minority of the group calling itself "Christian" comes from Biblical, true Christianity.

Aside from the Muslim population, there are people in the mountains who, if they have any religion at all, are very animistic. As one pastor told us (he is a member of the mountain tribe and after his conversion returned to his people to proclaim the gospel), they "worship the trees and the rocks." There is even a religion devoted to deifying Jose Rizal, the Philippines' revolutionary hero (like George Washington in the U.S.).

The point is, this is a mission field. And the churches we tell you about are reaching these people.

Consider that the first Shiloh Bible Baptist Church was founded in Ozamis City, a place notorious for gangs and violence. But a rough, drinking son of a hired killer met the grace of Jesus Christ head on one day because of Pastor Jun Begafria's mission church. That man led his family to Christ, and is now a missionary pastor.

We could tell you about another man who had to flee his city because Muslim persecutors killed his father and brother. Now this pastor ministers to the Subanen tribe in the mountains, visiting cave dwellers and bringing them the gospel.

We could tell you about a ministry that started because some faithful laypeople witnessed in the village of Moliton while going about their regular business, another mountain community, and people became saved. Now, two lay members of the church in Punta take turns driving their motorbikes up muddy roads to preach the gospel to these precious souls. They alternate weeks making the trek. You can see a photo from one of the trips on our Facebook page.

There is the story of the fisherman's daughter, who always wanted to know if she had done enough to please God. She was a faithful Roman Catholic girl, but she never had assurance of her salvation. Then while at college, she met the Saviour! Her family rejected her at first, but now most of her immediate family (and many extended family members) are believers.

We could go on and on, and it would be our joy to share these testimonies with you. There are more being written now as we speak. The precious thing about these churches is they haven't been infected by the church-growth strategies of the United States churches. They just believe that if they witness, God will save people, and the church will grow. They don't even know about human strategies, so God works through His grace because they only trust Him for the results.

God is moving through these our brothers and sisters. And we want to be a support to them. Our goal is twofold: We want to help them purchase buildings and land for their churches (or help them with the rent) and provide support for these pastors. When they begin their ministry, they do so with no support. They sometimes suffer extreme hardships to reach their nation with the gospel. So, we are praying we can be a support ministry for them.

Folks, the way God will accomplish the finishing of the Great Commission will be through indigenous missions. The greatest way we can be a part of that ministry is to support men and women who are being used by God to reach their nation. This is the time for us to support our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

You've seen our goals. They are impossible. But that's OK. I want no part of a ministry I can accomplish. What an eternal waste of time. Everything in me wants to be a part of a ministry that God accomplishes.

So, we're asking for prayer partners. If you want to be a prayer partner, you can do several things. First, pray! Second, if you want to get regular updates from us, send us an email. Send an email to homegrownharvesters@yahoo.com. We will update you with prayer needs and particular focuses of our ministry. There are some things we don't feel comfortable sharing here for which we would like to have prayer.

Also, please "like" our Facebook page. That way, you can see the updates as they appear there. Also, you can follow the blog here. We have two followers so far, so there is plenty of room for more.

Furthermore, please let your friends, your churches, your small groups know about us. This isn't about Homegrown Harvesters. This is about a part of our family, a part of the body of Christ that is seeing amazing things happen, and we have the opportunity to be a part of it. But we can only do this through prayers. More than anything, we need to humbly seek our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, so He can lead us into the way we should go. This is His church He is building, across all nations and languages and seas. He is the One who can make our work last into eternity. Join us as we seek Him.

God's answers

I will admit, I can be weak in faith at times. I suppose all the emotional highs of my trip have to be balanced by emotional lows now. As I sit and look at all that is before us, I admit to being a bit weak.

Tonight, I was having such a moment. Despite all evidence already given to me, I asked God, "God, I need to know You're with me on this." Again, there have been many instances where God has shown me that. But I am human, and as Psalm 103 reminds us, God "knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust." So, once again God in His mercy answered me.

Less than half an hour after I made my petition, I received an email from Pastor Greg Begafria, pastor of Shiloh Bible Baptist Church Sindangan. You may recognize the recurring family name of "Begafria" as we continue these posts. The Fabulous Begafria Boys are all from the same family (some brothers, some cousins), and they are all ministers on Mindanao.

I had the privilege to meet Pastor Greg during my trip. I even was blessed to speak in his church. But his email to me was a blessing. Part of his email reads as follows:


Pastor Greg preaches
at his church in Sindangan


"The church is glad upon sharing you the good news. We have just baptized this morning 5 souls. To God be the glory! All of them were young people in high school.Thanks a lot for praying and for bearing with the missionary’s burden - that is all about souls being saved and follow Christ in obedience to water baptism."

What a wonderful confirmation! Praise God for answered prayers, sometimes immediately after I have made a request. How wonderful is our God!

Now, Pastor Greg has several prayer requests to add.

• Monthly goal of baptism and more souls saved (the church goal is 150 baptisms this year).
• High school ministries expand with the start of the school year (it starts in June in the Philippines). Particularly Sindangan National High School and Sindangan National Agricultural School are schools where the church hopes to have ministry. Perhaps these five new souls will be part of those outreaches!
• Praying for Christian children's books to assist with their outreach to children.
• Praying for the new opportunities for Bible studies with the military detachment. If you didn't see our post from a day ago about the fruit God is producing through military Bible studies in Ozamis, please check it out.
• Soul-winning youth camp in December (we will tell you more about this need at a later time).
• Church lot (we will tell you more about this need at a later time).

So please, join with us as we praise God for these five souls who publicly proclaimed their allegiance to Jesus Christ. And also join with us as we pray for these needs for Pastor Greg Begafria and the church in Sindangan. Also, please join your prayers with ours as Homegrown Harvesters tries to follow God's leading.