“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.” (Psalm 127:3-4)
Remaining long enough to see fruit that remains is a great joy in the ministry. It is my prayer that, if the Lord tarries, He will allow us to stay and continue to see the lives of young people changed and allow us to help them as they go forth to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. We’ve had some pretty incredible days lately, and we thank each of you who faithfully take our names and our ministry to the Lord in prayer. Thank you for your financial support, allowing us to get the Gospel to the Philippines.
At the end of April, we held our second commencement exercises for Hyles-Anderson College of the Philippines. We were pleased to graduate three new Hylanders, and we ask that you would pray for them as they seek to serve the Lord. We are starting a new year of college the first week in June and ask that you would continue to pray for our current batch of students. It is a great pleasure to see the growth in their lives.
Following graduation, we held a week-long Vacation Bible School. Our workers conducted 25 different meetings every morning, with a combined meeting at the church on Friday. It was a fun-filled but exhausting week in the Philippine sun, but the Lord surely blessed in allowing us to share the Gospel with many children, 254 of whom trusted Jesus as their personal Saviour. Please pray as we continue to follow up on them and attempt to reach their families with the Gospel also.
May 22-24, we hosted a youth rally at International Baptist Church. The theme for the rally was “Choose.” What a success it was! We had no sports or giant activity. In fact, from Tuesday evening through Thursday noon, the more than 100 young people heard 11 messages from a combination of preachers, including Pastor Doug Marco (Faith Baptist Church, Talisay), Pastor Felix Peñaflorida (Gospel Baptist Church, Bacolod), Pastor Rackson Suico (Victory Baptist Church, Ubay, Bohol), Brother Emirson Ubas (from our ministry), and me. Each message was right on target and well received by the young people, as they made decisions choosing to be a Christian (not in name only), to live holy, to stay pure, to be faithful, to be a witness, to guard their inheritance, to stand for God, and to choose God’s choice for themselves.
Some of the young people from other churches sacrificed to come; and once they were here, they were contacting the young people back home, telling them how great it was. Already the pastors and young people are talking about having a bigger youth rally here in Dumaguete next year. Please pray for us to be able to do so and about what you might be able to do help us to make it happen. These young people are worth investing in. They are arrows! They will speak for the Lord Jesus Christ! They will help to reach another generation with the Gospel! Please help us to get them there.
Recently we started something new on Saturday mornings to help encourage more adults to come for Saturday soul winning—a Saturday Kids’ Club. Bro. Emirson Ubas heads this up with a rotation of workers; already we are seeing success all the way around. Bro. Emirson sent me this note just a little while ago, and I will share it with you:
Hi Pastor,
Let me give you an update about what’s happening in our Kids’ Club:
During our meeting, we sing a song, give them a short message of encouragement, and thank them for being in our church. I encourage them to be faithful to church till Jesus comes back.
I personally like being with the kids. I like their sweet spirit. We are praying for you and Mrs. DeMoville, for Bro. Christiansen, Bro. and Mrs. Lawrenson, Bro. and Mrs. Macalisang, the Bible college students, the teenagers, and the church members.
Looking forward to how God uses us for His work.
I believe these children, praying for their pastor and workers, not only make our church strong now, but also for years to come. Please pray for these precious children.
We are investigating what we can do to help families in our church who are ready for an alternative to the public school system but cannot afford the great expense and difficulty of using curriculum through School of Tomorrow (A.C.E.). Our church families cannot afford the curriculum, let alone flying to Manila for mandatory training. The constitution of the Philippines is clear that the state is to establish and maintain schools, but it is not to limit the parents’ natural right to rear their children. We believe the parents have a right to choose the education for their children and are working on a new ministry to help make a Christian education available to our faithful church members’ children. Please pray for us to have wisdom as we go forward and for our members to have boldness, as they will surely face some opposition along the way.
So far this year, we’ve see more than 3,230 souls saved throughout our ministry and have baptized 149 believers. To God be the glory for the great things He hath done!
Thank you for praying about our immigration needs. We are all set now to be here another year and get out of the country for our furlough.
If you would, please pray for the following:
1. More souls to be saved and more laborers to help us reach and train them
2. Our family’s furlough to the U.S. in July and August
3. For the start of a Christian radio station as a ministry of our church
4. Wisdom and provision for a future place for our church to meet
That all the world may know,
Randy DeMoville
Team Leader