"And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 10Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them". (Acts 16:9-10)
In February, 2000 I had the opportunity to do an overseas mission trip for the very first time. Now, understand that I didn't get a "vision in the night" of someone from the Philippines saying, "Come over here and help us", but I DID get an unmistakable calling from God to go. My desire through the late '90s was to go to Poland. I really wanted to have opportunity to go to a country that had been behind the "Iron Curtain" of Communism, and preach the gospel. Our Kentucky Baptist Convention was in partnership with the Baptist Convention of Poland, and I thought surely I would be able to get involved. Yet try as I might, the door of ministry there never opened to me. I had friends who had gone to Uganda, but I never did really feel a call from God to go there. Then God begin to use a fellow pastor friend in Ashland, KY to begin to talk to me about going to the Philippines. It sounded interesting, but I still had that feeling that I wanted to go to Poland. Finally, one night, God began to speak to me through reading Jesus' prayer, "not my will but thine be done." Not long after that a preacher from the Philippines sat at my dining room table and said the words - "Come over and help us." God began to move in my life.
I realized that God did have a foreign field for me to work, but it was far away from Poland. I put it before Him an said, "Lord, if it is your will for me to go to the Philippines, then you will have to make the way possible for me financially." I began to share this calling with friends and within 6 weeks, I had the money I needed to make the trip. After that first trip in the winter of 2000, I knew that God had a work for me to do here to help Pastor Dominador Valdez, a Filipino church planter in the province of Negros Oriental. The little church was 6 weeks old when I first visited. Bamboo poles were used for seats. There was a dirt floor. One light bulb to light it at night under a blue plastic tarp roof. Dogs and chickens roamed freely through the "church", and among the small core group of people who knew the same Jesus I did. God put them indelibly into my heart and I brought the needs back to the USA where others caught the vision as well. Now nearly eight years later, with the help of friends all around the US and the people of a number of churches in Kentucky and West Virginia, God has blessed this group of believers beyond any one's imagination.
Our "Beacon Ministries" mission teams have made 6 short term trips to the Philippines in the last 7 years. We have become acquainted with several wonderful native Filipino Church Planters and their families. Over the years we have shared in the work with Pastor Josue Cadiao and his wife, Christy; Pastor Jolly Ampong and his late wife, Anita; Pastor Benjamin and Emma Marcelino, Pastor Roberto Martin, and others. On my first trip there I stayed in the home of Pastor Reuben Allosa and his wife, Lolina. However, our primary partnership has been with Pastor Doming and Mrs. Villa Valdez in Dumaguete City and their young helpers, Pastor Joseph and Juvy Zerna at the mission work in Mayapusi in the high mountains of Mabinay.
God has blessed us to help raise the money to purchase real estate, the materials to build two church buildings and to furnish both churches with chairs, audio visual equipment, musical instruments, sound equipment, hymnals, and literature. Over the years we were blessed to purchase Pastor Valdez and later, Bro. Joseph new motorcycles for their transportation needs. We have distributed countless Gospel tracts and nearly two thousand Bibles and New Testaments. We have done music, sports, and youth ministry. We have preached in places of business, jails, schools and colleges and at open air crusades. The Gospel has been shared in home Bible studies and house to house evangelism and many classrooms in several schools.
Lord willing, we will be going again in January 2008. Along with our regular evangelistic activities, plans include holding a pastor/church leader seminar for 30 or more evangelical pastors on Negros Island. This will be a wonderful blessing to those precious pastors working for the Lord under a very difficult set of circumstances. We are praying that the text materials will be provided through the gifts of our friends here. We have a capable group who will be leading this seminar.
Please join me in praying that God will work every thing out according to His will.
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