Soul Winner

Hi everyone,

I hope this report finds you all well. As you may know already, the team and I were working with the Kamayo, a people group indigenous to the Philippines. There are approximately 480,000 Kamayo with most living in the Surigao del Sur province on the Island of Mindanao. While many Kamayo live in the city, most live in barangays (barrio’s) in rural/ jungle or coastal areas of Surigao del Sur. We had a wonderful time ministering among these people and achieved all our goals. We planted 5 new churches and led approximately 1500 people to Jesus. As you read the report, please take into account, I have not included everything we did. I’ve only included what I recorded or remembered. I hope you enjoy this report.

Saturday 26th April.

Aiden Orsborn and I arrived in Bislig at 2.00am. We had only four hours sleep when Danny showed up with our translators. My friend and fellow evangelist Danny Richardson had arrived in Bislig five days earlier to speak at Asian Hope Ministries National Youth Conference. He was buzzing, he had not only spoken to 600 young people but had also preached a crusade just 12 hours earlier and 200 Kamayo had come to Christ. Not to be outdone the translators told us some of what they had done since we had last worked together in May 2013. Marinito Alvar and Israel Gerez are both pastors and the Evangelism Directors of their organisation. They worked as our translators last year and had picked up new skills and vision along the way.

They told us how they had visited many pastors and encouraged them. Marinito and Israel took pastors from other organisations house to house as they shared the gospel together. They taught the pastors what I had taught them and as a result many people had come to Christ and several churches were growing as a result. After catching up on the “goss” I decided it was time to “blow off the cob-webs”. Our translators took us to a jeepney terminal. I preached for 10 minutes but it was difficult because people were coming and going all the time. However, I won 7 to Christ; they were the only ones who had heard the Gospel from start to finish. When I had finished Danny preached and several more people came to Christ.

This is me speaking to prisoners at the Jail house at Mangagoy Police Station. When all eleven inmates came to Christ the Police Chief was so impressed he asked Marinito Alvar to come back each week and do Bible studies with the prisoners. This is the Jail house at Mangagoy Police Station it’s really just a cell the size of a standard bedroom with only a small window but no air-conditioning –it was about 38 degrees

After lunch we visited the jailhouse at Mangagoy Police Station. What they call a jail house though was really just a concrete cell the size of a standard bedroom with only a small window in it. The cell was the temporary home of eleven young men in their teens and early twenties. The police had some concern the prisoners might try and take the team (Marinito, Israel, Aidan, Danny and myself) hostage but we were fine. In the end all the prisoners came to Christ. We concluded the visit with prayer and by prophesying over each prisoner.

Sunday 27th April.

On Sunday morning Danny left to do two crusades and Aiden and I left for Barangay Tidman. We arrived early at the little church building. I preached and motivated the church to win the lost and we had a great ministry time afterwards.

Tuesday 29th April.

I spoke at Bislig regional prison. We were surprised to see both female and male prisoners together. Some of the 48 prisoners had been there for years, others had been there for just a short while. I preached my message- Promises. It is about the promises we make to ourselves and others to change our ways and, (yet) our inability to do so. After giving examples I introduced Gods promises in Ezekiel 36:25-27. I spoke briefly on each one and explained how the power to change comes through what Jesus did on the cross 2000 years ago. I then preached Jesus and called for a response and all 48 prisoners came to Christ – some in tears. The Filipino pastors were surprised so many came to Christ because the Kamayo are normally reserved and these Kamayo were prisoners as well.

Wednesday 30th April – Thursday 1st May.

The next day Danny left to do two more crusades and Aiden and I went to an island with only 30 families on it. These folk were fisherman and nearly all Kamayo. There was only one born-again Christian on the whole island and no Church. Aiden and I were the first missionaries to have ever been on the Island and that made being there even more special. The team and I were there two days. We went house to house and did one open- air meeting. The open air meeting was interesting, it was at night and there was no electricity. I spoke with a gas light on either side of me so I could be seen. The setting inspired my message and I called the people out of the darkness into the light. Over those two days Aiden and I won everyone on the Island to Christ apart from 5-6 fishermen we didn’t get to speak to.

Aidan Orsborn (4th from left) with one of the many families he led to Christ. Translator Israel Gerez is the gentleman on the far right. Note: House to house ministry is an extremely fruitful ministry. We went house to house most days and won many hundreds to Christ. House to house is the ministry best suited for church planting. I began my church planting ministry in the Philippines 14 years ago doing crusades but experience has taught me house to house is more effective in the long run. When you’re in someone’s home you have more time to answer specific questions and to both minister to and encourage them. In a church planting scenario open air preaching and/or crusades are great secondary ministries especially when confined to barrios and villages.

Friday 2nd May.

The next day we moved onto another island to begin our second plant. We arrived at this second island virtually unannounced only sending out a “scouting party” just 4 hours before. This island had only 10 families on it and (again) no church; it had never had a missionary on it either. However, six months earlier a fisherman who was backslidden for 20 years, returned to Christ after an alcohol related illness. This man and his wife had prayed through the last 6 months for a missionary to come. What is amazing about that is this Island was not part of our itinerary. We only decided to go there because the previous plant took us only 2 days to complete instead of the 3 days I had expected. We stayed at the fisherman’s house for one night only. I did another gas-light open-air meeting and nearly everyone on the Island came to Christ. At the meeting a young woman came forward for prayer; she had a goitre and high blood pressure. When I prayed for her she immediately got a headache so I knew she also had a spirit of sickness. When I cast the spirit out the goitre went down under my hand PTL. In the morning Aiden and I went house to house with our pastor friends and saw most of the rest come to Christ.

This was my only crusade style meeting in Tidman, I preached without a micro-phone to 200 to 300 people some of the people were more than fifty metres away- I was hoarse for twenty four hours after that. Some of the men in this picture were antagonistic to me at the start of my message but God softened their hearts and both they and many others came to Christ.

Saturday 3rd- Monday 5th May.

We went back to Tidman to rest before we began work on the 3rd church plant. Aiden and I enjoyed almost two full days’ of rest. I spent most of that time sleeping and reading my Bible. It was a wonderful time of rest in every respect. That night I preached to a “not so friendly” Catholic crowd. I’m not sure if it was what I said about shamanism or what I said about idols but a group of men got so angry they tried to rush my interpreter and myself but were stopped by barangay councillors. Also, man upset by my preaching tried to draw Aiden into the dark but, a pastor who saw what was happening intervened. In the end many came to Christ including some of the men that tried to stop me preaching. Note: The Kamayo are renowned for their hospitality and even the hardest things said in love are received well in their own homes. On the other hand they are a warrior race and tend to stir each other up in public. Given what I just wrote, it may appear a no-brainer to stick exclusively to house to house. However, there are at least three good reasons not to 1. When you are planting a church in 2 or 3 days you need to talk to as many people as possible 2. Because most men are fishing or farming during the day we have only the night to share with them and crusades and open air meeting do gather crowds, and… 3. I know if I can win the men the whole family will eventually come to Christ. Barangay Tidman is separated by an inlet river connected to the sea. There is a church on one side of the barangay but not on the other; the plan was to plant a church where there was none. We did lots of house to house ministry and prayed for the sick as we went. One man partially paralyzed after a stroke and without feeling on one side of his body received the feeling in his leg when I prayed for him and his wife was healed of a large goitre.

This is one of the “waiting sheds” in Tidman; they are peppered all over this large barangay. Waiting sheds are a place where people can meet to relax and talk with their neighbours; they are usually no bigger than a small bedroom, are most often made out of bamboo and consist of 2-4 bench type seats and a roof, but no sides. For the soul-winner they are a great place to harvest. Our talks there were usually a cross between personal evangelism and an open-air meeting. In –fact sometimes we would start sharing quietly with just 2 people and end up preaching to a dozen or more before we’d finished.

Wednesday 7th May – Thursday 8th May.

Aiden and I began work on our 4th plant but Danny stayed in Tidman. Danny had got sick 3 days earlier and had not yet recovered. Mauis Island has close to 100 families on it. On arriving on Mauis Island we were met by a pastor and his wife, they had moved there to lead the church we were about to start. Together with the pastor my translator and I went house to house all morning. After lunch we got a message to tell us Danny’s condition had worsened. I was told Danny wasn't able to keep food or water down. I went back to Tidman to organize a jeepney to get Danny cross country to a hospital. It seemed to me as though the jeepney took forever just getting to Tidman and I must admit I was tempted to think Danny might not make it. At the hospital Danny was put on an I.V drip for a night and a day, he recovered well. I went back to the island early the next morning to find Aiden had preached open-air styles and won many to Christ, the pastor, his wife and interpreter could not stop singing Aiden's praises -I was very proud of him. We went house to house all afternoon and saw a lot of people come to Christ. The pastor is excited for the future and was already planning Bible studies.

Tuesday 13th May.

The boys and I started work on our 5th and final plant. We were told that a pastor had been stabbed to death 2 years ago for preaching the Gospel at this barangay. Our pastor friends would not allow us to stay there overnight instead we were transported to and from the barangay. My translator and I had only just begun going house to house when we met 2 Catholic Defenders. These guys are serious religious zealots that have vowed to defend Catholicism to the death if necessary. I have encountered Catholic Defenders on 2 other occasions. Once (13 years ago) they threatened to deny burial rites to 600 people if they responded at one of my meetings. Now these 2 guys tried to turn our meeting into a confrontation but I would not argue. They have a major idol in the Philippines called 'Santa Nino'- It’s a statue of a black boy Jesus. I told these men that before I got saved 28 years ago, one of my idols was a white boy Jesus called the 'Child of Prague'. I told them Jesus was neither black nor white but a Jew- proof that idols come out of our minds and hearts. That led to a talk about Mary my other idol (long story short). I preached the Gospel, God opened their hearts and both received Jesus. One of the two was 80 years old and he gave me a huge hug before I left. After that encounter we had an open heaven all day and everyone we shared the Gospel with came to Christ- approximately 30-50 people.

This is Danny Richardson ministering to some of the 600 young people at the Asian Hope Ministries National Youth Conference. Many of the kids received vision for their future and encountered God in new and fresh ways.

Wednesday 14th May.

We had had enough of house to house ministry and wanted preach the Gospel in the streets. Along with our translators Danny and I jumped in a tricycle and travelled around the greater Bislig area preaching open-air styles. Together we preached at two barangay, a tricycle terminal, a pool hall and at a market. Over 30 people responded at the pool hall. That night 2 pastors told me many pastors had attempted to preach there but had been forced to flee when they pelted with stones and vegetables. They said, being a foreigner did not save me, they said it was because those men were interested in my object lesson- it was very visual. One of the men watching and listening was on his way home to kill his wife's lover but he heard and responded to the Gospel instead-Glory to God.

This is me preaching one of my favourite open-air messages. It’s an object lesson really; it's called the Gospel Clothesline. The rope represents the course of a day; the piece of wood in the middle represents the cause of sin "I". The bright rags tied in a knot on the rope represent various sins. In the end the rags are pulled to the centre with the piece of wood. The wood is converted to a cross, taken out and lifted high. Jesus is preached, the ropes are pulled and the rags/sins fall to the ground. The power of the "EMPTY" CROSS (The Catholic crucifix has a dead Jesus on it) is preached and the hearers are called to repent, believe and receive Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

Thursday May 15th.

Aidan and I left Bislig to travel back to New Zealand. Before I left I told Marinito and Israel that I may not be back there again. Marinito Alvar and Israel Gerez are the best two Filipino evangelists I have ever met. It has been my honour to further train them in evangelism. I am proud that they see me as their mentor in evangelism. I have left my ministry in the Bislig area permanently in the capable hands of these two guys. I know they will plant many more churches and together win many 1000’s of Kamayo people to Christ. Please continue to pray for the people that came to Christ, the men and women that will led the new churches and the ministries of my good friends Ps’. Marinito Alvar and Israel Gerez and their ministries in Surigao del Sur.