The day we set off for Philippines, our team of 23 people reported at 9.00am at Changi Airport, and received blessings from Pastor Simon Yee before we departed for Manila, Philippines. We were warmly welcomed by Pastor Edgar and Erma of Jesus Christ, The Great Shepherd Ministries (JCTGSM) upon touchdown, and thankfully avoided the regular traffic jam as we made our way to Quezon City.
After settling in our hotel, we headed to Kenny Rogers for a welcome meal hosted by the Filipino team. We had a round of brief introduction, worship led by Pastor Edgar’s eldest son, Jed, and ended with the leaders briefing the team on instructions for the next day’s programme.
The next day, the team went to minister at The Lung Center Hospital where we were divided into groups of threes to pray for the patients. Unfortunately, children under the age of thirteen were not allowed inside the wards so Brandon and Emma had to skip this activity. With a member of JCTGSM accompanying each group, communication between the patients and us became more effective. Afterwards, we had an extensive debrief session where each person had to share his or her experience. Through God’s grace, we had a total of 10 salvations and the daughter of one of the patients we ministered to even shared that it was a miracle to see her father sitting up right after one of the groups prayed for him. This exercise was not just meaningful to us, but also to the church members of JCTGSM who explained that this was actually the first time they attempted this as well, and that they would like to continue together with their church next time.
Our next task was to visit the Quezon City Barangay and the Barangay Republic Ave. We split into two groups of 15 and eight. The first group led by Alfred met and prayed for the government officials and their city’s current mishaps such as flooding, high crime rate, and others. Subsequently, we spontaneously went to an alley between some houses to pray for the area and the people living there before making our way back to The Lung Center Hospital to prepare for the Prayer Tower that night. The second group was also told by the Barangay Republic Ave captain that there had been a high rate of child abuse and exploitation. They prayed a prayer of blessing for the officials and conversed with some of the needy families around, as many had approached the team for prayers. Praise the Lord for one salvation during that visitation!
During prayer tower that night, one of our team members, Kevin, brought the youths to a youth service where the pastor preached a powerful message on obedience to God.
As for the adults, they were led in the prayer tower held at The Lung Center Hospital’s dining area, by Alfred, Christina, Roy, and Lai Fong. The leadership among the team sensed strong discouragement within the church, and so we prayed for Pastor Edgar, his wife, Mabel, their leaders, and youths. They were also led to pray for the salvation of the families of the church members, claiming Acts 16:31, and to intercede for male leaders as there were not enough leaders willing to serve in the church. Finally, we prayed for the Barangay, poverty, crimes, and the spirit of religiosity in the country. The attendees from both FCBC and JCTGSM basked in the presence of the Lord that night.
The day started off with a Leadership Forum at The Lung Center Hospital where Kenneth & Kim Tan’s team and Pastor Edgar shared their G12 journeys and testimonies. Those who bravely stood up to speak include Kenneth, Kim, Alfred, Christina, Koh Shian, Roy, Lai Fung, Sharon and Jacqueline. After the sharing, there was a short Q&A session for Pastor Edgar and his church members. Questions asked were mostly related to the Vision, mentoring and clustering.
After being recharged from lunch and fruitful fellowship, the team continued with a session of “Do you want a blessing?” that invites outsiders to be blessed physically with a bag of groceries and emotionally with God’s Word and healing. Every member of the team, including the youths, had the opportunity to individually pray for the people who responded. At the end of the session, we had over 30 salvations. God is so good!
The day ended with a debrief session where we shared our thoughts on the trip so far. Majority of the teens mentioned that the hospital ministry was their favourite, and the adults who did not get to share their G12 stories earlier in the day managed to do so. Everyone contributed to the discussion about Pastor Edgar’s and JCTGSM’s struggles. Words and visions from the Spirit abounded in the room that night.
The last day with JCTGSM came. We awoke bright and early for Sunday service at the auditorium, ready to give it our all. After a dynamic time of worship, we performed a simple dance that we had prepared to “Jesus You’re My Superhero”, and Danielle played and led a time of worship to Hillsong’s “Age To Age”, in celebration of the church’s 13th anniversary.
Kenneth then passed on greetings from Senior Pastors Lawrence and Nina Khong, and Pastors Simon and Marilyn Yee, and preached a message on “How To Be Superheroes”. He based his message on Joshua’s story from the Bible as an example of how we should be fearless and full of faith, and never lose sight of our dreams and vision. Just like Joshua who saw the Promised Land 40 years ago and never forgot about it.
Kim also released a prophetic word on how she saw the people laden with burdens, such as difficulties in walking and sleeping, physical and spiritual heart problems, diabetes, asthma and breathing troubles. She prayed that they would be refreshed with renewed Godly dreams.
The service ended with Pastor Edgar giving an altar call for people who wanted salvation, to receive healing or to be superheroes. We had a scrumptious lunch prepared by JCTGSM and the most amazing time interacting with the Filipinos before we said our farewells, and off we left to Crowne Plaza Hotel for an unwinding time of shopping.
We spent our last few moments in Philippines buying goodies, and packing them into our luggages and boxes.
Pastor Edgar, Pastor Erma and Jed sent us off to Manila Airport, and we thanked our hosts for their hospitality. During our bus ride there, we encountered a traffic jam, but God answered our prayers and we reached the airport on time! We touched down at Changi Airport safely with all our belongings, thanking the Lord for the eye-opening experience and all the new friends we made during this trip.