Church Mission Trip

I am excited to let you all know that I will be going to a church in a place called Pampangga, about a hour and half north of Manila to preach. I was invited before I left in September, but was not able to make it out there, so after meeting with the pastor early last week we set the next Sunday as my time to speak. One thing I love about the Philippines is how easy it is to do certain things, like have a guest speaker come, and only plan it the week before! The church has about a 100 members, so this will be the biggest crowd I have ever preached to, also the first time the majority are not youth, so to be honest I am a bit nervous. When I began praying and seeking God on what He wanted me to share, He led me to Micah, and to really challenge the people. I was inspired by Micah's calling out of injustice and evil that Israel had fallen into, and I will challenge the people to not sit back and let the injustice that surrounds continue to flourish.

Please pray for me that I will be a blessing to this church, and the the Holy Spirit will enable me to speak with wisdom and encouragement.

This week has been a very interesting one! It has held many conflicts, but also many blessings. We had been having some relationship issues with me and the other pastors, and last Sunday I was feeling very burden and not very excited to preach. With the issues still unresolved, I went ahead and preached to the youth, and it went well. After I spoke, we began to worship again and I was given a mighty big wake up call. I asked the youth, in spite of the evil that our world holds, the seemingly never ending fight against poverty and injustice, who will be the hands and feet of Jesus? A few came forward and then God showed me who was in control. I can honestly say I have never experienced anything more divine then watching youth who carry burdens that i cant begin to understand fall to their knees weeping finally have a moments peace in the presence of God. I went into that service and was emotionally out of gas, but God showed me that even if I am running low He can and will fill me up.

I have been so inspired this week, after the healing of all relationships, God has continued to challenge me to be His hands and feet of compassion, and I will continue relaying that back to these youth. One youth told me that all the youth were going to start meeting saturday morning at 5 am to 6am for prayer, and then go jogging. My jaw almost hit the floor, because I had made no mention of anything close to that, but they had thought of it themselves. These youth continue to blow my mind, and God continues to blow my mind. One thing I have really learned is that if you make yourself fully available for God, He will do some pretty interesting things.

Please also pray for the youth, that they will continue to burn with passion for their nation and work hard for it.

I will send an update after this weekend, and let you all know how my time goes in Pampangga.

Thank you all for joining in this ministry!

Brett

Back in Manila

After a few long days of traveling and a few delays, I am finally back. I had a very interesting time in the airports and met lots of filipinos! By the time i was in Chicago I had already made a whole bunch of filipino friends. It was really nice because I was able to eat with them and talk with them.

The weather right now in the Philippines is absolutely perfect, actually a little cool. Getting into the cold water of the shower takes me a while to do! haha

The first day was a little awkward with the young people which I was expecting, but by the second day, I already felt as if I had not left. I am very proud of Mackie and Rodel for their hard work for the church while I was gone and was very happy to see more then 20 very committed youth serving in the church. In a few weeks I will have a better idea of how the youth are, as it will take me a bit to get to know all the new ones, so please keep that in your prayers as well, that I may be able to really connect with the new youth.

Its already been very overwhelming talking to some of the youth and the things they are going through. Its clear to me now that I will be doing a lot of counseling this year. I really admire these youth, some 5 years younger then me have already faced a 100 times more hardships then me, yet they are still relentless in serving.

On tuesday i met with a group of youth and shared to them my vision for the ministry for 2009. It was a very special time, as I had been waiting for months to be able to share what God had revealed to me. I started off by asking them a question. I asked them if they think its ok that that the only way to get ahead or help your family in the Philippines is to leave the country for work. (this is something that would be considered normal for most filipinos) After I said it I really noticed the question sparked their hearts. One boy looked me right in the eyes and said "NO." Its amazing to see the passion to fight injustice in these youth when they are just given the opportunity. Our ministry these for 2009 will be "becoming the change you want to see in the Philippines." I challenged the youth to follow Jesus' example, by simply loving mercy and being compassionate in everything He did, Jesus flipped the whole world up side down. One thing that is clear to me is that change will never come from the outside, it has to come from within. My dream is to see a new generation of Filipino youth say know to unjust cultural norms stand up and make change in a way honoring to God.

These week I have taken it easy trying to get back to life here and get my new apartment set up. Next week things will get very busy. There is much more to say, but i will save it for my next update.

Thank you all for your commitment in prayers and support!

Brett