The Power of a Team

It seems like yesterday and it seems like a lifetime – that is how trips like these leave you. I am sitting in a hotel café in Manila “decompressing” before I begin the long trip home – grateful for the opportunity to see God work and to share that work with you. Your prayers and support of missions are making a difference in Manila and around the world. I look forward to picking up that theme this weekend at Cape Cod Church with 3 more of our missionaries.

For my last post of this trip let me share with you what I see as the secret of what God is doing here in Manila (and at Cape Cod Church) … Teams! When we see something important happening it is easy for us to gravitate to a central figure as the focus of what is happening. Take a closer look and you are sure to find a team. I had the privilege of getting to know the Team here in Manila (The organization is called Mega City Ministries) and WOW! – what a great group. They have taken their skills gleaned in the secular workforce and are now applying them to an eternal cause. They are leaders, organizers, and technicians, who focus on a common cause of changing the world one person at a time through Jesus Christ. They are now spreading this “Evangelistic Camp model across the world – going to Cambodia, Mexico, Japan, and even an unnamed Restricted Access Country. Their “BHAG” goal is 1 Millions campers a year in 5-7 years.

Here is a Picture of some of the team members I worked with over the past week – towards the end of camp we took a break one evening to share a bit of a celebration dinner – they deserved it! (and they have 6 more camps to go – pray for them)

Back home I am equally proud of our team, from our staff who are committed to bringing Gods visions to pass on Cape Cod to our core volunteers who are the heart and soul of each Sunday – making sure all the details get taken care of to the dozens of committed volunteers who link together with all of their many talents to spread the message across Cape Cod – What God is doing on Cape Cod is equally amazing to me as what I have been a part of in Manila.

Speaking of Teams – here is my all time favorite one! The hardest part of these trips is being away from my family, knowing, that in many ways they are left to fend for themselves. So a heartfelt – Thank You! To Tammy, Brittany, Brianna, Brooke, and of course the “Code man” – I can’t wait to see you guys!

See you on Sunday,

Ben

P.S. Thanks to everyone who read the blog, prayed and even took time to post your thoughts and prayers!

Seated & Standing with Jesus

We just finsihed the evangelistic service for camp #3 – an overwheliming night. This group has been different from the beginning (largest at 1200 + and youngest) . They are almost exclusingly Univserity students (almost all from one college) as they begin a break period (think college students on break – and a preacher stands up to talk and you kind of have the idea of how the first night started out!)

Tonight though when the invitation was given students began flooding forward – overwhelming the ability of the counselors to talk with them.  At the end of the evening 574 young adults had accepted Christ as their Savior! Wow, what a week!

Here is a picture that illustrates the challenge.  The crowds are primarily unbelievers – so as the worship begins many of them are not engaged and can be seen just sitting and watching – as the services progress you can see the walls ome down as they engage with the word and what God wants to do in their lives.

Seated & Standing

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!

2 out 3 and some pictures from the road…

We have just completed camp #2 and are getting ready for camp #3. Each group brings with it a completely new dynamic, this camp was a broad mix of ages (even some children with parents who could not have come otherwise) – honestly this made the opening night a bit chaotic and our greatest concern was being able to clearly communicate the message. The team met together and retooled things a bit and the balance of the camp was powerful!  Last night during the invitation to accept Christ as Savior, 308 people came to talk, listen, and pray to embrace Christ as their own – it was another – Wow night!

The Power of Worship

This photo would have a made a great video – the camp is singing a song many of us are familiar with “Friend of God” – complete with dance motions ( Nope I don’t dance – no rhythm! )

Little Friends

This little friend was hanging around with me out back at the end of the services – a good reminder that what we do impacts all generations – the hope we can offer parents expands the hope for the next generation.

Whatever it Takes

Every day on the drive to and from the camp – we see this now familiar scene…of rice (beware you may never look at rice the same again!)  The rice is harvested from the rice paddies just off to the side – and then before milling must be dried – then turned over and dried again (about a 6 hour process). To do this they simply “take over” the local roads and cover them in rice!

I like the symbolism here – of the harvest… and of a willingness to do whatever it takes!  The ministry of the church is a ministry that should take the same approach..”whatever it takes” to bring the message of hope in Jesus Christ.

Wow Night in Iba!

Hey Everyone:

It is late here but I had to write and share this evenings events. I spoke for the 3rd time this evening on the topic of Relationships – this was a segue into sharing the message of a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Greg Lyons  and I partnered in sharing this message -Greg’s fluency in the language and lifetime of living and ministering in the Philippines gives him great standing to clarify this message give the invitation for people to embrace Christ as their Savior.

The moment of the invitation was overwhelming – not sure how else to say it! Tonight 383 people embraced Jesus Christ as Savior – over 720 people (out of about 800 ) came to pray and make a decision of some kind! It was a powerful and moving moment – the kind of time that you sit back in wonder of how God works in all our lives. Even though we pray for it – the moving hand of God never ceases to amaze and overwhelm.

Wow!!

Here is a picture of our new friends in Iba – I had my picture taken so many times – I told them it was there turn to pose – so I snapped this picture just before speaking.  Your prayers are appreciated. I bring a 4th message in them morning and then in the afternoon – a whole new group comes in and we do it all over again!

Adult Camp #2

Ben

Random Road Thoughts…

Just got finished speaking in the morning session (topic of strength/motivation in our lives) and definitely felt like I was connecting with the audience. One of the hardest parts of traveling and speaking to a new audience is “relating well” but the Filipino people have really made it easy – they are amazingly generous people. You will get to see this in the video (shot today) that we are planning for use Sunday at Cape Cod Church in our services.

Ok – just for fun – I had to share this with you! This is a picture of the shower in my hotel room in Iba. The large white head is the “water heater” – check out he electric plug!!!!  Yikes…if your an electrician you gotta love this!

Shower hot water heater

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Thankful for my shower,

Ben

“Lost” Days in Southeast Asia

Well, I arrived in Iba, Zambales in the Philippines today (Wednesday) after 3 days of travel.

Get this, I left on Monday and arrived in Manila on Tuesday night – due to a 12 hour time change I never really “saw” Tuesday – one minute I am traveling and it feels like late Monday night and the next the stewardess is telling us the local time is 10:30PM on Tuesday!  I lost a day!

Time is precious – every day has significant value, but I have to tell you – giving up Tuesday so I could spend the next 7 days with 1000’s of Filipinos is completely worth it. Here is a question for us…what kind of “time” are we all “giving” to God to build his Kingdom?!

Here is a photo of the opening session – I just finished speaking for the first time (Subject of Hope). Please take a moment to pray for us, and for the 100’s here who have not yet embraced Christ as Savior.

Camp #1

Yours for “losing” time,

Ben

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P.P.S Check back each day of our Phillpines Outreach for updates.

Leavin’ on a Jet Plane

Hey Everyone:

I will keep this first post short (got to get up in about 5 hours:-) as I head to the Philpines (Manilla) to join one of our great Missions Partners Greg Lyons. Greg is flat out “getting it done” in Manilla and I will be joining him as a guest speaker at his adult “camp” gatherings. They are expecting as many as 12,000 people combined at these gatherings.

I am going to be using this space to keep you updated on the trip – giving you a chance to experience the minsitry in a small way your self.  I look forward to using this space to share the story with you.

You can stay updated by subscribing to my blog – there are 2 ways to do this, you can subscribe using an RSS reader or subscribe by email. Both ways are available in the upper right corner of this blog site.

To get started here is a google/map link that will give you and idea of where this all will be taking place.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=iba+zambales+airport&ie=UTF8&ll=15.325847,119.969158&spn=0.01399,0.01339&t=h&z=16

I look forward to sharing some more with you soon! I hope you will join me in praying that God would use the message and services to truly challenge people in their own personal relationship with Jesus Christ!

Ben