Marvin’s Place

For the pictures, please visit here (link).

Liberty Presbyterian Church is conducting its month long anniversary celebration this August. The theme is about commitment and spreading the Word of God.

There will be eating fellowships every after service and everyone is encouraged to invite a friend to attend, not just the anniversary, but permanently, in the church.

However, our first day of celebration was met with a bit of unexpected situations. (1) A vehicle by one of our members (they use it for their business) was stolen. Good thing is they really have faith in God and was able to carry on with it. (2) Our Pastor was not able to finish his message due to mild food poisoning. He went to a wedding last Saturday. And the worst effect took place during Sunday morning. He was sent to the clinic in the afternoon. Some of his friends who were also in the wedding sent him a message that they also had the same situation. Good thing it’s not serious and was able to go home the next day.

Still, God is good.

Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC Philippines) celebrated its 60th year of ministry via radio here in the Philippines yesterday, June 7, 2008. FEBC had ministried to thousands of Filipinos via the message of God through the airwaves. FEBC broadcasts different AM stations in the Philippines in different dialects. And its Luzon station, 702 DZAS can be heard also through the internet via www.febc.ph.

FEBC had ministered to thousands of people via the Good News. FEBC’s programs contain devotions, messages, prayers, music, tips for living (household, work, family, parenting, school, etc.), music. Their programs are very holistic, funny, serious, informative, challenging, inspiring, uplifting and filled with the Word of God. I myself was one of the person who was encouraged and blessed by God through this station.

FEBC is a non-commercial company. It’s finances comes from donations and missionaries. They faced many difficulties. Sometimes they were on the merge of completely “signing off” due to financial concerns. But the Lord sustained them for 60 years now. God sustained them because many people learned about Christ through their stations. Many people were encouraged back to faith because of the messages brought to the airwaves.

“Christ to the world by radio” - this their slogan, and indeed, Christ is brought to many people were reached by the Gospel through this station.

God bless them and more power.

Soli Deo Gloria..

We conducted a two day seminar for Sunday School Teachers. And it’s been a great one. It is our first conducted by our church, and for us speakers/lecturers, it’s our first time also. 7 teachers attended the seminar.

I want to thank God for the success of this seminar. I pray that what we learned can be applied properly to improve and develop our Sunday School Organization.

Soli Deo Gloria…

Liberty Presbyterian Church will be conducting its first Sunday School Teacher’s Training this coming 2 Saturdays, April 12 and 19, 2008. It’ll be a 4 hour each day Training/Lecture/Discussion on topics/subjects needed by our Sunday School Department. The topics and lecturers are:

Day1

• Basic Doctrines, Refresher course. - Ptr. Ronnie
• Attitudes of a Sunday School Teacher. - Teacher Bernadette

Day 2

• God’s View of the Children. - Teacher April
• Heart to Teach. - Bro. Marvin
• Teaching Strategies/Practices. - Teacher Mercy

All session shall include interactive discussions, activities, and snacks.

Please pray for this activity.

Soli Deo Gloria.

I am not talking about chocolates here. Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to meet a friend from college I haven’t met for a few years (though we were communicating through chat). He invited me to speak in one of their Worship Ministry Night (it is like a service for their worship team every first Sunday of the Month).

I am happy that God used me in their church that night.
Asking why M & M. His name is also Marvin.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Our church made an abrupt change last Sunday. It was so abrupt that almost half of the members weren’t able to attend the Sunday Service. It is about the schedule of the Service.

When I came in to that Church, Service starts at 10 in the morning. After few months, we have decided to move it at an earlier time (8 in the morning) so we could conduct Sunday school for adults after the service. Sad to say, members doesn’t want to go to church that early, so they came to church around 9 a.m., and later on 10 am. So, our pastor announced that the adult Sunday school shall be 9:30 and Service begins at 10.

Last Easter Sunday, we had our “Sunrise Service” at 5 in the morning. Almost everyone is in the church by 5:20. During the service, our pastor mentioned that he thinks it would be nice if we move our schedule in an earlier time. After the service, some members talked about moving the schedule at an earlier time because of the following reason:

• It feels more relaxed if we go to church at an earlier time
• It is summer (Philippines, tropical country) and it is hot (I mean HOT) at noon time, so if we could go home at an earlier time, we the sun isn’t that “high” yet.
• You can do your “things” that you want to do (cook, go to mall, chat with peers, etc) longer after the service.

Even I, myself, agreed with these. As you can see, the reasons are materialistic and for personal gain.

(more…)

This is a nice article, a reminder to all worship leader (including me)..

Arson or Spontaneous Combustion.

Good new and bad news….

Bad news first…

It disappoints me that some of the teachers in our CE department, for me, doesn’t want to cooperate properly with us. What I mean is, they don’t attend our business meetings. We scheduled a monthly (last Sunday of the month) meeting, They didn’t show up. Even if I announce a week ahead that we’ll be having a meeting, they don’t respond. (BTW, only a couple of them, not all). So we had a meeting last week, even though we’re short of a few teachers. We discussed some plans.

The hard point is my disappointment for some that doesn’t show their commitment for the ministry. I know, we can never give 100% commitment, but hey, show a little sign of commitment! (sighs). I tried not to show or discuss it. But I had to vent. At least my people know what I really feel about the matter. It’s for them to decide now on what action to do.

Good news…. Despite of the said struggles, we were able to establish a plan for our Sunday School ministry. For the following Sunday’s, we’ll be opening a new class, ages 10 -12. I will be the teacher.

2nd and 3rd Saturday of April, we’ll be conducting our own teacher’s training. To be conducted by our experienced teachers for our new (training/assistant) teachers.

We still have people, that despite of business, were giving their time to God for this ministry.

We’ve got to move on…

Soli Deo Gloria

Yeah, it’s weekend… at last. After a whole weeks work, it’s time to take a rest.

Ironically, my rest is - go to inquire regarding  internet service, go to the mall to buy gifts and stuff for the coming Christmas, finish the installation of our home PC, go to Church, and have a lot of time with my family. It’s a hectic weekend, but it’s enjoying for me.

Does everyone has the same weekends as mine?

God bless… happy weekend