The week just finished was both encouraging and difficult which is the nature of ministry leadership. I was delighted to see the grace of God at work at New Bilibid's maximum security compound by attending a Bible study and hearing the stories of transformed lives of the nine men attending this weekly study. Praise God for the power and grace of the gospel!

Wednesday evening a new missionary family arrived for career service so Thursday and Friday Mary Ann assisted them with shopping and moving into their house. It's always a joy to receive new missionaries.

Thursday had to wrestle with how to assist someone who's husband is very sick but they're broke and facing very expensive medical bills. I think we worked out a way to assist them. The temptation is to walk away but I cannot in their time of need.

Yesterday I received a phone call from a leader of another ministry telling me about some serious accusations being made toward someone I'll need to deal with. It broke my heart. I was both angry and sad at the same time.

When I left the office yesterday I was drained needing to eat some good food and sleep.

Next week our Council and I have three days of meetings with our missionaries as they present their '09 proposals-budgets. This is the time for people to present what their ministry will be and what it'll cost for the upcoming year. These meetings are rich in fellowship but can also be tense because tough questions are asked and directives given to help each one shape their proposal. Pray please for wisdom and graceful meetings.

Yesterday I was talking with a guy who's worked with street children and their families in Manila for around 10 years and he said "Jeff you're the father of street children workers here". That's a high compliment from this dear brother in Christ but I don't think of myself that way. I'm just a guy called by God to labor among lost and dying kids looking for the love of Jesus. If I'm the "father of street children workers", Aries Regiño, my mentor in the ministry who's now with the Lord, is the grandfather. His influence in ministry still is at work among us. What a privilege to serve the Lord and the poor with Steve and many others like him!

Thank you for your laboring with us in prayer. All of us know intercessory prayer is a spiritual battle and is not preparation for work but is *the* work. There is nothing glamorous about everyday labor but it is just this that makes dreams, ideas and vision a reality. We are not starry-eyed dreamers but about the task of winning people to Christ and building up the church. Matthew 9:37-38 says "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." (NASB) So beseeching prayer to expand God's kingdom around the world is absolutely vital. The following are answers to our labor in prayer and a request for more.

1. Churches started through feeding and relief
In recent weeks I have spoken in 2 churches and visited 1 which were started initially through either our Fish & Bread Feeding ministry or disaster relief work. While our team does a lot of good work, our goal is to lead people to Christ and incorporate them into partner churches and if there isn't one, start one because our work begins and ends with the church. Last Saturday I spoke at the 2nd anniversary of the Christ Forever Fellowship church in Catmon, Malabon. A few years ago in this very poor neighborhood made up of garbage scavengers and recylcers, we had a feeding program followed up by Christmas parties and camping which is now a church. Pastor Jon, his wife Tess and their workers tirelessly and lovingly held home Bible studies which eventually became a church 2 years ago. You can see pictures on our 2008 photo album link on the left.

The other day I received a text message from Pastor Johnny Gallos of the New Assemblies of God Church in Kalibo, Aklan where we did our relief work following typhoon Frank (which I wrote about). Pastor Johnny joyfully told me that he baptized 30 new believers as a result of our relief work with them. Praise the Lord! Johnny also mentioned their desire to provide elementary school books for the local school because all the books were lost in the flooding. The cost is $5350 and the local Department of Education Office is not able to meet the need because of the devastation of the typhoon. Pray about Pastor Johnny's desire to help his community.

2. Third Quarter Fellowship for children in crisis workers
October 3rd we sponsored a fellowship meeting for those laboring among children in crisis. 64 men and women attended and we had a wonderful time of fellowship and studying the Word together. It was a great investment of $230 to encourage these dear, faithful co-laborers in Christ. You can see pictures on our 2008 photo album link on the left.

3. Approved with FMSC
ACTION Philippines has been approved by Feed My Starving Children based in Minnesota to receive regular shipments of their food. Our problem now is getting the food from there to here because while the food is free, we need to find sponsors who can prepare and pay for the shipping of Forex boxes to our Manila office. If anyone is interested in helping us get food here, write to us and we'll guide you through the process. I can't tell you how happy I am for this approval. The 2000+ meals we have received have already been distributed and the churches are asking for more. They are doctoring it up with local ingredients to make it a little more familiar to the local palate and the kids love it.

Recently we had the delight of taking Jerry and Barb Krosnowski of Risen Saviors Missions and a representative from FMSC to see one of our feeding sites. Mary Ann and I met Jerry last July at FMSC's Eagan site but it is one thing to meet there and quite another to take a walk through a squatter area, battle Manila traffic and contend the heat, smells and pollution. But oh the joy of seeing kids enjoying the food prepared by their mothers, hosted by our partner church Agape Christian Church!! You can see pictures on our 2008 photo album link on the left.

4. 9G Resident Visa update
Last March our Missionary 9g Resident Visa expired so we are currently on tourist visas. We are in application for renewal of our missionary visas but this is an expensive and complicated process with no guarantee of renewal. Recently with the good help of Grace Church Eden Prairie, we were able to get our Marriage Certificate and a notarized letter of commissioning authenticated by the Philippine Consulate in Chicago. These have been mailed to us and we are supposed to receive them in a few days. Pray that our documents will arrive and our missionary visa will be renewed speedily and that the Lord will provide the necessary finances to purchase them. Otherwise we are in a difficult situation.

5. Personal support
The Lord has been faithfully supplying our need in unexpected ways and we are very grateful. However, over the last year and a half several people have needed to stop their monthly giving for various reasons which has left us roughly $300 short in monthly pledges. Please ask the Lord to raise up additional monthly supporters or churches to be added to our support team. Additional monthly givers would relieve my mind of this concern. Thank you.

6. CIC Video
I have been asked by ACTION's Founder, Doug Nichols, to coordinate the production of a video presenting ACTION's ministry worldwide to children in crisis. Adam Hussey, who works in ACTION's International office in Washington State arrived Tuesday to assist with this project. We are teaming up with Kaagapay (Tagalog for "to be a partner, to stand beside") Video Ministry. Pray that God will be glorified and that workers, prayer warriors and donors will be raised up by seeing this video about the plight of the world's children in crisis and ACTION's work among them. ACTION currently works in 21 countries in Asia, Latin America, Europe and Africa with 250 missionaries. We are trusting God for 120 additional missionaries to minister the Gospel and compassionate care to 160 million street children and 143 million orphans throughout the world. Please pray.

7. New missionary orientation
October 30-November 1, Mary Ann will be conducting orientation for 3 missionary families who have joined our team this year. One family will be arriving next Wednesday night from Michigan. The orientation will be held at our 2nd Mile Compound's guesthouse. Pray that God will use this time to help prepare these families for many years of fruitful service.

8. Christmas '08
October 31 we have our initial planning meeting for our fast approaching Evangelistic Christmas Party Ministry. Pray that the budgeted $13,000 will be realized and we will have unity of mind as we move forward with this wonderful annual opportunity for winning people to Christ. Mary Ann and I never get tired of this ministry. Lord willing, parties will begin first week of December and possibly run into early January.

9. Preaching tomorrow
Today I am preparing to preach tomorrow at a very large Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. Pray for God's annointing and help as I preach God's Word. This week has been *full* of activity and I have had very little time to prepare so I need God's help in a big way. May He be glorified, Christ exalted, His people edified and the lost saved through my feeble preaching of His eternal Word.

10. Amos & Micah
Amos attended a job fair on the Caltech campus last Wednesday. He was able to hand out many resumés and had 3 interviews. Pray for God's leading in his life. Graduation is just around the corner and having a job lined up would certainly be a key step.

Micah is now in Iraq going through training from the unit who will be departing by the end of this month. Her section has lost several soldiers for various reasons like transfers and home emergencies. She is down to 5 people to run the flight operations in her section. If she is not able to get more soldiers, she will need to assign 12 hour shifts to each person and getting a day off will be hard to arrange. Pray that she will be able to remain calm inspite of the pressure and uncertainty.

Yesterday in an email I encouraged Micah and myself with 1 Thessalonians 5:23-25. In Micah's recent newsletter she likens the military and missions to be somewhat the same in nature. She said "The military in many ways is like missions in that we need the support from the rear to maintain the front. One cannot function without the other." Amen! I reminded her that God is faithful who has called us to Himself and to our tasks and that He is able to help us do what is required. Brothers and sisters in the Lord, we need your prayer.

My message today at a large CM&A church was poor but many said they were challenged and blessed by it. I preached Luke 19:10 coupled with Mark 7:5-8 challenging the people to be like Jesus, the Son of Man who identified with humanity, and seek the lost. However, I warned them that we tend to get stuck doing ministry the way we've always done it and rely on programs, structure and policies rather than obey the commands and example of the Lord by faith through His power. I received many positive comments after the service thanking me for the powerful message. This isn't an excuse for poor preaching but an affirmation that the power and blessing is of the Holy Spirit if our heart is right with Him, we preach the Word, allow Him to use us as His mouthpiece and people pray. I closed the message with the seven last words of the church "We never did it that way before."

Thursday the Majams and I gave three people, who represent a couple missions which sent us food from Feed My Starving Children, a tour of one of our Fish and Bread feeding sites using FMSC food. I met one in Mineesota when we sent the food to Manila so we knew one another. But it's a very different thing to walk down the alley of a squatter community meeting people and introducing them Pastor Marlo and his wife who are sacrificing themselves for the sake of the gospel in an area that's very poor. Over the years they've planted Agape Christian Fellowhip from scratch with the assistance of ACTION's evangelistic Christmas parties, feeding program and camping ministries. Today they have a building put up by a local businessman, a pre-school, regular worship services and continue as faithful partners of ACTION.

Yesterday I spoke at the 2nd anniversary of Christ Forever's Catmon Church which also started due to a Fish and Bread feeding program, camping and Christmas parties. Pastor Jun and his wife along with a few others held home Bible studies among those involved in these ministries then started worship services two years ago. Today they average 40 adults with many kids attending Sunday school. The church is made up of folks who scavange recyclable garbage. Pastor Jun said at one time the families lived in homes made of rice sacks but now plywood because they're learning to budget their income so life is improving for them.

This week I meditated on Psalm 146 often. What a great God we know and serve!

Starting a Rice Distribution Project

A. Yesterday our street children ministry team sponsored a fellowship meeting for pastors and church and agency workers who minister among street children, out-of-school youth and orphans. 64 men and women attended and we had a wonderful time learning from the Word of God (I gave the devotional from Romans 5:1-5), singing, praying and getting to know one another better. We also gave each a packet of Bookshare books which ACTION Philippines printed for servants of Christ.

A special speaker lead us in a workshop discussing our initial call to the ministry in order to remind and refresh us in it. His workshop was centered around these questions:

1. When did I first clearly hear God call me to ministry?

2. How did I respond?

3. What is my calling?

4. Am I where I should be?

We also looked at the core values of a disciple of Christ according the the Scriptures because core values or principles govern our behavior and define who we are.

Values laid out were:

1. Passion for Christ

2. Truth as found in the Scriptures

3. Power of the gospel to transform lives

4. Leading and empowering of the Holy Spirit

5. Perseverance in faith through prayer

6. Dignity and value of individuals

7. Love and grace expressed to others

8. Family and relational networks are conduits for reaching out to the community

We revisited Isaiah 6:8:

"Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

Is our response:

1. "Here am I. Send me."

2. "Where am I? Find me."

3. Am I where I should be?"

Several people expressed to me their sincere appreciation for the day. A few said they were considering quitting the ministry due to discouragement but they now had a fresh resolve, by God's grace, to carry on with their assigned tasks.

This was a good $230 investment into the lives of God's foot soldiers who are serving on the front lines.

B. I would like to start a project to provide rice to ministries working with street children. A 50 kilo bag of good rice costs $42 or .82 a kilo which is expensive for many budgets. Ministries are having a very difficult time feeding the kids under their care so is there anyone who would like to help us supply them with this staple food? It would be a great blessing during this time of need.

By the way, a ministry leader told me that after two weeks feeding kids involved in their nutritional program Feed My Starving Children food she's seeing a marked weight gain. She's asking for more which we hope to provide.