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Please be patient as this page loads. It has a lot of photos, but they are worth the wait."LOOK AT THE FIELDS FOR THEY ARE ALREADY WHITE FOR
HARVEST"
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This church in Santiago is typical of the churches where we preached. |
Tribal workers listen intently as Howard teaches on the covenant. |
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We held a two day pastors' conference in Tagum City where we were staying. We expected about 35 tribal pastors, leaders, and workers. 65 came! We taught the basic truths of Scripture from morning to night _ five sessions a day. On the last night, each tribe represented was invited to sing the praises of God in their native dialect. What joy there was as we worshipped the Lord in TEN different tribal dialects! The spiritual leader of the Dibabawon tribe even performed one of their tribal dances in honor of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Tribal workers sang to the Lord in T'bole, Ata, B'laan, Manobo, and 6 other dialects while two of the leaders from the Dibabawon tribe danced in His honor. |
Throughout the conference and in church after church where we visited, we had awesome times of praise and worship. These people know very well what God has delivered them out of and their hearts are full of praise and worship for His grace and mercy together with a heavy burden for those who are still in darkness.
Over and over God confirmed His promises. In one church, a lady who was going blind came forward for prayer after the service. Now she sees perfectly. The Lord promises that the steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord. We were scheduled to go to a second workers' conference in a heavily Muslim area. Because of circumstances, the Brother who had promised to organize the meeting was unable to do so and cancelled at the last minute. Another potential meeting in the same area also fell through. Then, at the last minute, we were invited to speak to a regional convention of health care workers in a different area. There we had the opportunity to share the Gospel with more than 200 government health workers, mostly nominal Catholics. When we challenged them to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, 75-80% responded by giving their hearts to the Lord. They were so hungry for God, they kept us there from 9 AM to 3 PM, sharing Scriptural truths about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Health care workers respond to an invitation to repent and receive Christ as their personal Savior. |
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The last Sunday we were on Mindanao, we had been scheduled to preach in one village but transportation became a problem so we went to a different church in another area. On Saturday there was a terrible mudslide in the area where the first church was located. Homes were swept away and many were killed. Had we stayed with our original plan we would have been stranded by the mudslides and the flooding and been unable to reach the church.
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But the greatest confirmation that God gave us was waiting for us when we returned home. As you can see, we took many pictures while we were there, five rolls to be exact. One of the pictures was of the hill where a new church is being constructed. When we were there, we preached in the pastor's house. Afterwards we walked through the rice fields, climbed the hill, and prayed over the church building that is under construction. We prayed that the power of darkness would be broken, that Allah would be stopped, and that the glory of God would be revealed. When the pictures came back, there was a blood red streak across the sky touching the hill where the church sits, hidden among the trees. (We printed this newsletter in color so you can see it for yourself.) When we were there, the sky was a clear blue. The negative shows a clear blue sky. But the print shows a blood red banner. God is telling us He is pouring out His blood over Mindanao and it is His timing to bring the lost unto Himself. Now is God's time for Mindanao!
Reaching the lost on Mindanao is something that can't wait. Muslims from Indonesia are focusing on the mountain tribes, trying to persuade the chieftains that because they share a common ancestry, these tribes should renounce their idolatry and become Muslim. Muslim separatists are putting pressure on the Filipino government to enlarge the Muslim autonomous region that already exists on Mindanao to include these tribal areas that are 40% Muslim, the very areas where our students will be working. A citizen of Mindanao already needs a passport to travel to Manila! Already the government is trying to restrict access to these areas in the name of "protecting the tribal cultures" from "foreign" influences (Western Christianity). These tribal groups are a closed society. They will not even listen to strangers unless at least two members of the tribe recommend them. We cannot reach many of these tribal peoples but we CAN train tribal Christians in how to reach their own people as well as neighboring tribes. They have an open door and a willing heart. All they lack is someone to come and teach them how.
The challenge we have been given is to start a tribal Bible training center, a place where Christian young people can be trained and equipped with the necessary tools to reach their tribes and/or other tribal groups with the Gospel and to plant churches to disciple the new converts. We will be providing full time training, using the same Bible training materials we used so successfully in Romania. God has already raised up several ordained pastors with a burden for the tribal peoples who are already hard at work translating the materials into the Cebuano dialect which is the common dialect spoken throughout Mindanao. There is a house in Tagum City that we can buy as a mission station for $30,000 to provide housing for us and for the Bible school. Another nearby house is available for $20,000 that can serve as a dormitory for the students.
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We can get this house in Tagum City for $30,000 to house the Bible school. |
This house for $20,000 could provide a place for the students to live while attending the school. |
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The Bible school program will be very intensive and will include practical experience, not only in ministry, but in practical skills such as agriculture, literacy, and computer repair so that the ministry there can become self supporting while providing the students with tent making skills they can use to support themselves in the ministry and help develop the community in which they live, often the poorest and most remote areas of the island.
Our goal is to establish an indigenous work on Mindanao that will include a ministry headquarters and Bible school. We will be working with the tribal pastors to get the work established, developing various projects such as growing rice and raising chickens and pigs that will establish a financial base to provide ongoing support for the work and to provide training for the students. An initial investment of about $70,000 will enable us to buy the two houses, a van for transportation, and a ten acre rice field with the tools and equipment necessary to produce the first crop. In four months it can begin paying for itself and providing for the needs of the school. A ten acre rice field in this region will yield more than a $1,500 profit every four months under normal conditions.
We believe that a large initial investment will provide long term dividends by making the work self supporting. Our goal is to establish the tribal Bible institute as quickly as possible to train these tribal workers, giving them a solid foundation in the Word of God and practical skills to support themselves and train others to improve their living conditions, bringing the abundant life that God has promised to those who have for too long been in darkness where the enemy had free rein to steal, kill, and destroy.
Will you consider a sacrificial gift between now and Easter so that we can begin training tribal Believers on Mindanao to reach out to those who have never heard that Jesus rose from the dead nearly 2,000 years ago? They are ready and willing to risk their lives to take the Gospel to those trapped in Islam or pagan idolatry. They are desperately praying for someone to give them the training in basic Bible truths and equipping them for the task. The fields are ready for harvest. The laborers are ready to go. Let's equip them with the tools they need to reap an eternal harvest of souls and establish the Kingdom of God on Mindanao.
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