THE CHURCHES
I made some general observations about the Filipino Baptist
Churches. The buildings are usually constructed of cinderblock. None had air conditioning, but we had pretty
good ventilation because they were open on one end and the side walls usually
included cinderblocks with airspace built into them. All of the churches were staffed very
lightly. Only one church had a full time
pastor. That same church had a
bi-vocational music minister. This
church, Eastside Baptist Church in CarCar was the only one that had live
instrumental music when we were there.
The others sang acapella songs led by their bi-vocational preaching
pastor. Although these churches were
probably unaware, they were employing a simple church model; a model I think
frees church to have the time and financial resources to focus on the meat and
potatoes of ministry: preaching, prayer, evangelism, discipleship, church
planting and ministry.
The pastors we met were all thoroughly trained through
Pastor Galera’s seminary. I was
impressed with their spiritual depth. It
was exciting to see churches being planted all around us. Pastor Juval Galera pastors Eastside Baptist
Church. He is a “Director of Missions”
of a sort to 13 churches in the Eastside Baptist Association of Church. I envied the simplicity with which they do
ministry there.
As in the West, the Filipino churches we visited used
different styles and expressions of worship.
One church used modern praise and worship music, while all of the others
employed traditional hymns. I did not
witness a church using blended or “balanced” worship. Are we who use blended worship only trying to
keep the church appeased under the guise of keeping unity in the church? I freely admit that sometimes I see myself as
a worship pacifier in America. I also
noticed that a couple of the churches imitated the western church and even had
projected lyrics.
On Sunday, June 24, we celebrated the 5th
Anniversary of Eastside Baptist Church in CarCar, Cebu. That morning John Rayburn preached a half
hour sermon on the radio to an audience approaching 1,000,000. Following the radio address, we had breakfast
and then went to the church service. The
spirit was great and I just loved being a part of it. We got to hear their speech choir and the
children sing and dance. They used a
praise band (keyboard, electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums) and 3 praise
singers. They sang only modern praise
and worship songs by writers like Chris Tomlin, Keith Getty, and Matt
Redman. Each of us gave our testimony
and Steve Thompson delivered a sermon.
After the service I had the privilege to meet Meljim, the student we
sponsor. After lunch, we drove to the
sea and baptized 17 students who were saved through Eastside Christian
Academy. Seeing that made me realize
that I haven’t spent a red cent in vain.
What a blessing!
On Monday and Tuesday, June 25-26, we hosted a Pastors
Conference. We paid travel expenses for
25 pastors to attend. Each of us
preached a sermon. I know people were
praying because I could not wait to get up on the platform and preach. I felt complete freedom. My message was “The On Time God”, the story
of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
The application is that many of us have aspects of our lives and
ministries that were once much more vibrant. It is never too late to call on Jesus. He will come and breathe new life and
resurrection to us.
On Wednesday, June 27, Pastor Juval decided to surprise his
mother and father. Bro. Juval’s father is
Pastor Johnny Galera who leads Bible Baptist Church in CarCar. We arrived fashionably late. They were singing in Cebuano. When Pastor Johnny saw us coming, he asked
them to pull out the English hymnals.
“Oh no,” I said. “Can we please
sing in Cebuano?”
“Very well,” replied the pastor.
The last time I had that much fun was worshipping at Fe y
Poder Iglesia Bautista in Donna, Texas on last year’s mission trip. My background in the Spanish language
benefited me when reading from the Cebuano Hymnal. All of the vowels were written with Spanish
phonetics. I only had to learn a few new
consonants and I was off and running.
Bro. Johnny’s wife saw me singing and came to sing next to me. She was obviously overjoyed that, although I
had no idea what the words meant, I seemed to be getting the pronunciation correctly. Embracing the language of another person is a
powerful statement that you are accepting them and they are accepting you.
After the singing time, Pastor Johnnie called me up to sing
a solo. I sang “God Raised the Ransom”
acapella. Then he called the youngest
member of our team, Colin Rayburn, to preach the sermon. It was an incredible evening; one that was
not on our itinerary, but I am so glad we came.
It was amazing to see the joy of John Rayburn’s face as his son
preached. I told John, “I don’t know
what God is doing in my heart. I have
fallen in love with missions. I have
fallen in love with the Filipinos. I
have the crazy desire to learn Cebuano.
What in the world is going on?”
John enthusiastically replied, “Eric, God may be calling you to missions!”
This is something that was completely unexpected for
me. Is God really calling me to some
sort of mission work? What will that
mean for me? I need to pray for God’s
direction here so I will know how to prepare.
Will I continue in my current role in the American church and simply get
more involved in our local missions. Is
God calling me to be a North American missionary or will I one day pastor
abroad? Maybe I will one day work for a
mission support organization. How do I
prepare for that? To I need to pursue a
Masters of Divinity while serving as a music minister? I endeavor to pray for God to reveal His
perfect will to me over the next months and years. I do know that I need to involve myself more
in our local missions and read all I can about missions, evangelism, church
planting and theology.
Friday, June 29, was our final day in the Philippines. We traveled to the southern part of
Cebu. We visited Pastor Antonio’s house
church, and then we went to a church plant called Metropolitan Bible Baptist
Church. John and I each preached a
sermon there, and then we ate lunch with the church. It is a great honor when they slaughter a pig
for you. It is called lechon; another
word I knew from Spanish. After lunch we
drove to Pastor Leonardo’s church.
Currently everything is in his house: sanctuary, library, kitchen,
fellowship hall, and parsonage. They are
constructing a sanctuary adjacent to the home.
He needs about $3,000 for a roof.
We were unaware than Pastor Leonardo’s wife would prepare lunch for us,
so we attempted to eat again. This is
the most precious couple.
On the drive back to CarCar, the reality hit me like a ton
of bricks that our mission trip had come to end. I was deep in though and prayer, when Zenny
Galera said, “Eric, you look so sad. You
don’t want to go home?” I said, “I have
mixed feelings, Mrs. Zenny. I want to
see my family, but I have loved being her.
It will be very difficult to adjust to my regular life.”
Leading up to this mission trip, both Bro. Juval and John
Rayburn had spoken to me and indicated that they would like me to come again as
the leader of the mission trip. At the
time, I told each of them that I would have to pray about returning and
certainly about leading the team. After
all, it takes a lot of money, time, planning and carries a heavy weight of
responsibility. It suddenly occurred to
me that I didn’t have to pray about leading a mission team to Cebu next year
because God was speaking to me presently that I am to go.
 |
| The worship was dynamic! |
 |
| Eastside Baptist Church in Carcar |
 |
| Eastside Baptist Church students leading worship |
 |
| 17 students to be baptized |
 |
| Steve Thompson speaks at the church anniversary |
 |
| Group photo at 5th Anniversary |
 |
| I got to meet Meljim (the child we've sponsored for 4 years) |
 |
| Baptizing students in the Philippine Sea |
 |
| Baptist hymnal in the Cebuano language |
 |
| Cebuano |
 |
| Colin Rayburn preaches at Bro. Johnny Galera's church |
 |
| Pastor Johnny Galera |
 |
| Antonio's house church |
 |
| John Rayburn preached after I did at Metropolitan Bible Baptist Church |
 |
| Lechon |
 |
| Sanctuary under construction and Pastor Leonardo's church. |
 |
| Lunch at Pastor Leonardo's church |
