[0:00] No, it's not working. That means you guys were listening to me sing, which is my greatest fear in life. All right.
[0:11] I don't think I need to repeat everything. Just to cover a couple of quick things before we get going. Thank you for all your prayers. Thank you for financial support. A couple of questions that kind of got asked along the way that I really appreciated.
[0:27] Two things that I needed. One, health. Because that was the first time they had ever had a speaker throughout the whole conference and I was it. So if I went down, the whole conference went down, right?
[0:39] So a little bit nervous on that. So it was quite funny when I got there. Any desire that I had. Wow, man. I wish I had Diet Coke. Boom. My fridge was full of Diet Coke.
[0:51] Wow. There's a Kenny Rogers roasted chicken. Kenny Rogers roasted chicken we were having for dinner. Like any, they were just listening to any observation that I made about anything.
[1:03] That was what I was fed. So even in the cafeteria, you got, I don't know if you're following me on Facebook. There was the picture of all the dead fish. Well, I got this other picture of like, I hate fish, right?
[1:14] So there's this other fish of some soup with like a dead fish in it, right? Like it would be horrible for me. But they actually had a cook specially for me to quote unquote Americanize anything that I wanted.
[1:28] So they were especially sweet. And we ended up just eating at Jollibee every other meal. How's that, guys? So thank you for that. The other thing that was a concern is would I lose my voice?
[1:39] So thank you. Susan kind of gave me some suggestions. And this is kind of how God kind of worked. There was this special medication that you can lubricate your throat kind of stuff.
[1:50] And the best one when you look online, it's called Fairs. And absolutely no one sells it anymore. It's out of business. So the next one is this thing called New Zone, I think it is.
[2:03] And it's all in England. And there's nobody here. And there was this Elm. It's called Elm Tree Park. And when I ordered it, it said it wouldn't get here until December.
[2:15] So I just took a shot, ordered it anyway. And it all showed up the day before I left. Honestly, that was a praise. Because that was a huge concern for me that that would happen.
[2:31] So just so you guys know, I am wearing what is an official Filipino dress shirt called a barong. Am I getting it right?
[2:41] All right. All right. In case you didn't know, Bud's is actually wearing one too in solidarity with me. Except he doesn't have the clear ones. But he's got better buttons than I do. So they took me to the store.
[2:54] And I was able to get one that fit. And over there, I'm like XXXL. You know. But it's okay. I'm not that over here, I told them. So today, I want to break up my talk into three different sections.
[3:10] And I really hope it will be a blessing to you. I want to talk about kind of what got me there. Because some people have asked me, how in the world did I get asked to come over to the Philippines?
[3:21] Number two, what happened over there? What I thought was impactful for me. And I hope impactful for you to see here. And the third one is, where do we go from here?
[3:34] Or does it mean anything for the future? Which I believe it does. Not only for me. But I actually believe there's a great opportunity for us as a church.
[3:45] So a couple things. Just in case you don't know. You know how we have this Filipino bunch of people that are just quiet over there? When I was over there, I was the quiet one. Just to let you know, they're like all jizzles over there.
[3:58] Okay? Just kidding. Anyway. Just a really good time. And as well, I'm going to show you some interesting pictures of things that I saw over in the Philippines.
[4:09] Like banana ketchup. Right? So background. So just like I said, I've been asked, how did I come about going to the Philippines on a mission trip?
[4:22] And the answer is very simple. And I think really quite interesting and fortuitous. No. What's the not fortuitous is not the word, but a what's that?
[4:38] Providential. Yes. Thank you. So before I was here, I was pastoring a church in Victoria. And this was in 2015. And it just so happened that this couple showed up at my church named Doug and Margaret Nichols.
[4:53] And I'll put a picture up there. They're now in their 70s. And they were, right now, they're supporters of ministry in the Philippines.
[5:03] They're based in the United States now because of cancer and some other ailments that they have. But someone had gifted them a trip to go to Victoria. So they just happened to take the trip to Victoria.
[5:15] And of all the churches that was kind of near the hotel that they looked on, they kind of showed up. So right after the service, Doug just says, hey, can my wife and I take you out to lunch?
[5:26] And I remember Daniela was away that weekend. So sure. I got kind of nothing going. So we had lunch. And lunch rolled into dinner.
[5:38] I actually invited them over my house. And then we ordered dinner over. And then we went back to their hotel and had dessert. And so we started at lunch. And it didn't end until about, basically, I put them to bed at 10, right?
[5:52] Like, it was just this all-day event. I did not know who Doug Nichols was. I did not know him and never heard of him before. But as soon as you started connecting with him, I knew this was a man who loved God mightily.
[6:08] And just one of those guys you just don't want to be a part of from. Like, you're just, there's more to learn from him. One of the things that I recognized about him, and I've seen it maybe three or four other times in my life, is that Doug has the gift of evangelism.
[6:27] And it's not that Doug evangelizes. But if you've ever met someone who has a gift of evangelism, they have this opportunity to turn any conversation to a conversation about your soul and your eternal destiny in probably about five minutes.
[6:45] And I'm not exaggerating. And they don't do it in a wooden, uncaring way. They just have this ability to love. So even we went to this pizza place for lunch.
[6:56] And just the gift that he had to interact with the waitress and just to be able to connect with her in such a real way, to present the gospel in a true, caring fashion, immediately hit me.
[7:11] Like, this guy is just somebody different than I've really been for quite a long time. So he just kind of stood out to me because of who he was, the things that we talked about, the love that he had for people.
[7:31] So anyhow, we parted ways. Daniela actually returned that Sunday night, and we went and spent part of Monday with them together. So I really said, Daniela, I really want you to meet this couple.
[7:42] They're a really special couple. So since then, we visited in Seattle, and now he actually lives in South Carolina. Anyhow, after that, he contacts me.
[7:55] He says, hey, listen, there's this conference, and I want you to come and speak at this conference for me. And he didn't say anything more, but it's a conference to encourage Filipino pastors.
[8:11] And at that time, and no offense to anybody else, it's not like I had a great love for the Filipino nation over any other type of nation. My other church had really nobody. There was no ethnicity.
[8:21] So there was nothing drawing me to that. But as I started to get to know Doug and his love, and he's actually written books on why I love the Filipino people, about just their love, care, the amount they give, hospitality, all these really things.
[8:35] You start getting pulled into Doug's world, and you're going to see why in a minute why that happens. And he just says, it's a little bit different, though. When you come to speak, you have to pay to come.
[8:47] So, and as you guys knew, I didn't, and he's not talking about the flight. We actually paid for all the pastors to come. Did you guys know that? That $3,000 that we raised was to pay because for them, it's about 1,000 pesos for them, which is a lot of money, which is not even 20.
[9:04] It's a little bit over $20, I believe. That does not cover three days of food and accommodation. So when we gave, it works out to like 172,000 pesos or something like that, which covers the rest of the cost for them to come to the conference.
[9:22] So it's a little bit different, right? So there's a deeper commitment when you are going. So last time I went, it was one of four speakers. And like I said, I was really, really sick.
[9:34] And in fact, I was so miserable that I swore I'd never go again because I was at, I had this bacterial infection. But then I'm going to show you the next picture.
[9:46] This was the doctor who took care of me way back then. And she saw me again, and that was her comment. I never thought I'd ever see you here again. But the whole time I was delirious.
[9:57] I had the IV in me. And I was so delirious. I was pulling out the IV. And blood was squirting all over the walls. Like I was just, I was just so sick.
[10:08] Let's just leave it at that. So anyhow, it was really blessing. She was really excited to give me a hug and say, let's take a picture. I never thought you would come back. But while I visited there, while I was prepping, I came to know who Doug Nichols is.
[10:27] And as several of my friends who were involved in the Filipino mission community told me. And they begin to tell me this story that he's a bit of a legend. And if I use that word legend, he would really hate that I'm using that word legend.
[10:42] But my one friend describes him as the godfather to the street kids and orphans of the poor and the Filipinos. And I'll show you, I want to share with you a little bit of his testimony because it really drives through several points.
[11:00] So basically, Doug grew up in absolute poverty in the state of Texas. He was the last of four boys. He said he went to school, was an all-Hispanic, all-black type school.
[11:12] He was by far the minority. And he grew up with a chip on his shoulder, wanting to fight, just his parents didn't care for him.
[11:23] He graduated a semester early simply because the principal said he didn't want to deal with him anymore. And by the time he graduated, he did not even know how to read or write.
[11:36] So after he graduated, he entered into the family business, which was crime. So like I said, he's the last of four brothers.
[11:49] Two of his brothers died in prison. So just that's how he lived his life. And his eldest brother is kind of a funny story. His eldest brother has done his heavy Mac sentence, and at the end they get a check.
[12:03] He takes the money, and he just spends it all on booze and women. He just jumps into some motel, and he drinks it all away. And he's out of money, so he says to the girl that he's with, you need to go get a job so we can get more booze.
[12:18] So she goes and gets a job at Walmart. And while she's at Walmart, it turns out there's a Bible study going on at lunchtime with some women from Walmart. So she goes in and joins this Bible study and gets saved.
[12:31] So she goes back to his brother and says, listen, we can't have sex anymore because we're not married. So he's like, well, let's get married, right? So that week she became his seventh wife.
[12:47] So anyway, but within a month, guess who got saved too? Doug's brother. Kind of a cool story, right? Like this woman who most people would not pay attention to would ever have a chance for the gospel.
[13:01] These women in this Walmart in Nowhereville, Bushville, outside in Texas. And don't say I said that to Brent, but anyway. And sure enough, his brother.
[13:15] Well, he left Texas, goes to California. He's a thief and a drunk. One night he just happens to come home and he doesn't know that there's five guys in his apartment building had been praying for him.
[13:26] He says he just basically stumbles in and one of the guys says, why don't you come into my apartment? I've got coffee on. Do we do like some coffee? He says, yes. So gives him some coffee, sovers him up, and then shares the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[13:40] He gets down on his knees and he becomes a Christian in that moment. So for that next year, the roommate starts to disciple him. And one of the things that Doug wanted to do was he wanted to pay back everybody he stole from.
[13:55] So for the next year, he just went around and he says, it sounds easy when you think about it. But he says, most of the time you're drunk, so you're not even sure if you have the right house. So usually it was going around knocking on doors.
[14:08] Have you been missing anything or was anything stolen from you? And people would say yes. And Doug would tell you that the greatest miracle is that no one called the police on him.
[14:19] But after he had gone through and he identified everything that he had stolen and repaid, he made the decision to follow that young man who had led him to Christ.
[14:32] And he went to Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta, of all places. And when you ask the reason why, $350 tuition, room and board, and that he could afford.
[14:44] So there, of course, he meets this woman named Margaret, wouldn't you happen to know, who helps him with his English because guess who still can't read and write. But he's learning the Bible and he's learning all these things as he's there at that time.
[14:57] So his first experience is he says, I applied to 30 missions agencies. That's the only thing I ever wanted to do was to be a missionary. And he applied to 30 agencies and every single one of them said, no way, Jose, right?
[15:12] No one wanted an ex-con because he had spent time in prison and all that kind of stuff. Just no one wanted that. But there was this one missions agency called Operation Mobilization.
[15:23] They were just starting. So they grabbed him and sent him to India. And the reason you go to India is to learn how to do your ministry. That's where they send you. Go learn how to do missions.
[15:35] And after a year, you find out what country you're going to get settled in. So he went and he ended up contracting TB, tuberculosis, and he got stuck in a sanatorium for almost a year.
[15:48] He said, up until that time, I was experiencing no success in ministry. So he thought, okay, I'm in a sanatorium with all these guys. I've got a captive audience, right?
[15:58] Now they're stuck with me. He said, nobody would listen to me, would pay attention to me. And just in the depths of discouragement, because you think you're there, he's now engaged to Margaret, who's back home in Canada.
[16:11] And he's just tuberculosis in a sanatorium in India is probably the worst place he'd ever want to be. I don't know. But he said one night changed his life.
[16:24] He says there was this man who was older. He was in there and he could never, in the middle of the night, he would always try to get to the bathroom. But he could never make it and would end up defecating in the bed.
[16:37] And the nurses the next day would always yell at him and slap him because they don't mind caring for you with the tuberculosis. But the fact that they had to continue cleaning his bed. So one night, he said he was making noise.
[16:51] He heard him. It woke him. And he says, and he carried him to the toilet, the bathroom where he was able to. And after he did that, he soon learned everybody wanted to listen to the story of the gospel from him then.
[17:04] Within the sanatorium, it's like he had paid his dues that people were recognizing. If he was willing to help us, maybe we want to listen to him. So he says that is a very pivotal point of his life.
[17:19] So after he was only supposed to be there a year, but because he spent that year in the sanitarium, he recognized he still wanted to be trained, spent that extra year, goes back and they say, all right, you've been accepted to Korea and Japan.
[17:33] But the problem is, we don't believe you will ever learn to speak those languages. Right? So the head of the Filipino missions agency, heck, we speak better English than you do.
[17:46] Why don't you come to the Philippines? So that's how he lands in the Philippines, right? Just in God's sovereign purposes. He did not know anything about the Philippines or anything like that.
[18:00] In case he didn't know, so he gets based in Manila and he immediately gets involved with street kids. He had never seen street kids. If my number's right, there's over 400,000 street kids in Manila, right?
[18:12] Yeah, I think there's 25 million people live in Manila around that. But 400 of them just live on the streets as orphans. And that's what Doug made the center point of his whole entire ministry.
[18:26] So for the next 21 years, Doug digs in on that. So he found out there was several reasons why children live on the streets. One, their mothers are prostitutes.
[18:38] So what does Doug start? He starts a ministry reaching out to prostitutes. The other thing he finds out is a lot of the fathers are in prison.
[18:49] So what does he do? He starts a ministry in prison. In 2015, I got to go and preach in the prison where he started that prison ministry back in 1975, if you can believe it.
[19:01] He's the one who spearheaded it. So then you still got orphans. What do you do? You start an orphanage. So he started an orphanage, which I actually had the opportunity to visit before.
[19:12] Of that orphanage, he actually adopts two of the children to be his children. So what happens when orphans grow up from being children? They need schooling. So what does he do?
[19:22] He starts a school. And I'm not exaggerating. These aren't like small little things that these ministries still go on today. Like everybody, when I was there, when they found out I was associated with Doug Nichols, you know Doug Nichols?
[19:36] Because a lot of the Filipinos don't know him because he hasn't lived in the Philippines for so long. So when you're talking to pastors under 30, 20, he's the guy, right?
[19:46] They speak about Doug Nichols. Doug Nichols would never allow this to happen or, you know, this kind of stuff. They just, so then he started this school, which led to a high school.
[19:56] The kids need high school. Then it needed vocational training. So I'm going to show you the next picture. This is Rafi. Rafi lost his parents and he was an orphan along with four other siblings.
[20:09] He grew up in the orphanage, went to the school, the high school, vocational training to be a mechanic. He's actually 30 years old. I know he looks 13.
[20:19] I keep telling him that. When he met, when he introduced me to his wife, Janice, I said, I didn't know they allowed you to get married when you were still 13 here in Philippines. But Rafi was my driver.
[20:32] He's the guy who went everywhere with me my last trip and this trip. So it's been really sweet to spend time with Rafi. But so he grew up and now he works for the ministry that he's now following in those steps.
[20:47] So this legacy that Doug has started has rolled into many different ways. And you see when it was finished.
[20:57] By the time Doug was finished, so he ministered 21 years, he started a ministry called Action International Ministries. And it's now in 27 countries and sponsors over close to 300 missionaries.
[21:12] All by just a guy who couldn't read or write, whose life was looking like it was going to prison. Kind of like Paul, right? Like destined for doom and gloom.
[21:25] And yet God turned around. And one of the other ministries he started was this ministry called Christian Growth Ministries. And this is kind of where I come in.
[21:36] Doug noted when he was over in the Philippines, a lot of pastors do not have education. They do not have training. They do not have any resources.
[21:47] So he starts this conference and book publishing and starts trying to do these different things. So some of these are just, so they bought this 37 acre piece of property, which is beautiful.
[22:03] It's gated. They've got the private school. They've got full on gymnasium for the kids. They had an orphanage. They had to remove the orphanage because of some government restrictions.
[22:13] They now have a new director who's an engineer and a professional guy. And they're trying to get it back set up because there's just so many regulations.
[22:23] And the previous director did not know how to manage all that. Then they have this huge campsite. They have like an Olympic size type pool that they care for, exterior basketball courts. Do you guys know what's the national sport of Philippines?
[22:35] You guys can speak loud. I know you have voices. I was over there. But exactly. They play basketball. Like huge amounts.
[22:46] Everywhere they're playing basketball. Like if you would have asked me to guess, I would have probably guessed hockey ahead of basketball. Right? They're just not.
[22:56] Like over there, I'm the tallest man in the room. Right? So just saying. Anyway. So like I said, we paid $3,000 to subsidize their conference.
[23:08] And I will read you what it gives. And this is from what their conference says. This is in their words. They say the delegates are provided with a special packet containing bottled water, notebook, pen, towel, nail clipper, shaver, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush.
[23:24] They get a conference schedule. They get a handbook. In addition, they received a total of eight books. And they also get five kilos of rice. And obviously discounts on many books.
[23:38] And our book was one of the books that they received. So like I said, they own 37 acres of land. They have cabins, large building, cafeteria, which is pretty well run except no air conditioning.
[23:54] There's the Christian school, large pool, basketball. And the next one is a picture of them thanking us for One Perfect Life.
[24:06] So just so you guys know, we were able to raise the money to have the book published over there at a cost of $7 a book. Whereas over here, it's $30.
[24:17] So just so you know, they all got it in their hands. And it turns out we were the first. So this is the 28th conference. And I was blessed with some of their kind words.
[24:30] A lot of them asked me to sign it, right? It's just what do I have to do with it? So I did. I signed it from a gift from Squamish Baptist Church. We love you.
[24:40] And we want to see you grow in the word. It turns out we were the first. I was the first conference speaker to actually buy a book.
[24:52] Usually they're donated through another agency. But we were the first ones to do this. So I'll just explain what happened the first couple of days. Some of the days are funnier than others.
[25:03] The first day I thought started out well enough. So it was 230 guys. So I'm preaching on that life of Christ. And they had asked me kind of the series that I've been talking about here.
[25:16] Kind of not preach, but to teach on how they should structure a series. So it's kind of academic and boring, right? And I remember talking.
[25:29] And everybody was stone-faced. Like I couldn't read the crowd no matter what, right? So first session I thought it went okay.
[25:40] They were kind of engaging. By the time I got to the end of the day, I honestly felt like a failure. I'm like, I can't believe these guys got stuck with me for another two days.
[25:53] Like I just felt demoralized. I wasn't reading. And it was hard because there was no interactive. And usually I need to see people and engage.
[26:03] Are they engaging with this? That allows me to flip and maybe engage some other way. But I had no way of telling what was going on. And then I start reading on my Facebook.
[26:16] Because I don't know if you guys know a whole bunch of Filipinos like our church now in Squamish, right? Did you notice that? While I was away, there was like 400. Like it went up quite a bit. And I swear people from Vancouver are going to start moving here because they think there's a Filipino church.
[26:31] But one of the comments is, and you guys will get it. And I did not know what this means. It goes, BK makes our nose bleed. Okay? And I'll explain that.
[26:41] I'm like, why would someone put that on the Facebook feed that I'm making their nose bleed? My church back home is going to think I'm beating you, right? So I don't find out what it means until like the next day I'm at Jolly Bee.
[26:56] And this one lady is told to come to lunch with us. And she says, I have to come because my boss wants me to learn English better. So while we were sitting there, she goes, I think my nose is going to bleed.
[27:08] And I'm like, what does that mean? It means too much English. That's what it means. Okay? So now I didn't know what that meant, but I suspected I was going too fast.
[27:23] Right? So after the first day, I decided to change strategy. And I was preaching on the dynamic of Jesus being fully man yet fully God.
[27:39] Just exactly what I've been teaching here. But I decided to take the four sermons on the triumphal entry because the argument, and they would have me up for a question and answer period, which I thought would be pretty easy to answer because they'd be asking questions about what I'm talking about.
[27:58] But they're actually not. They're asking me questions about all the deep theological things that I'm like, let me call John MacArthur to handle these things. Like if you've ever seen him do a Q&A, the guy just has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible.
[28:12] And I'm okay on my theology, but I can't always tell you exact verse. I can probably narrow it to a good chapter or two. Um, but I noted something that they were struggling with this idea of how human Jesus was.
[28:29] So that's when I switched over to the triumphal entry and demonstrated to them over four sermons how Jesus in his humanity, remember how, like just how he was involved in Lazarus, right?
[28:41] Like he created the crowd that was anticipating him on that triumphal entry. And I just went through those different sermons. So all of a sudden things started to get a little bit better, a little bit of life.
[28:54] I could read some of the responses. There was better interactions. And I was all using it to show how Jesus was able to fulfill all prophecy under or within his humanity.
[29:08] So by the end of the second day, I said, I began to crack the Filipino code. All right. Just getting their sense of humor more and that type of thing. And that led to, um, by day three, uh, fast friends able to laugh and engage and encourage.
[29:24] Um, and even used books are really expensive. So I actually used some of the money that I had and I just bought like a couple hundred dollars worth of books, which like, um, that's not, that's our money.
[29:37] Like, like at first I bought it, the stack of books that I thought were really good from the book table to give as gifts to God. Like I did Q and A's with them just to engage. Then all of a sudden it rang up for like, oh, I got to go back to my room and get more money.
[29:52] Cause even the used books were really expensive. So when I explained, I'd explained the books and why it was important. And then I, I'd give them to different guys and I'd sometimes have fun with them doing that.
[30:07] I'd give them short quiz stuff like how many kids do I have at home? You know, and they, they would guess. And then the fun one was actually, um, I think I put the fear of the Lord in them.
[30:18] Um, so I said, how many boys do I have at home? And if you know the answer, they'd stand up, right? So guys would stand up and then go, all right, we're going to find out who's the prophet here. What are their names? Right.
[30:28] And they were like, oh my goodness, I don't want to be a prophet. And I said, no, no, you know, one is named after an apostle. Right. So they were able to get that one. Jordan was a funny one because I said, he's, he's named after an object that is well known by John the Baptist, right?
[30:44] The river Jordan. Um, some guy yells out Elizabeth and I'm like, Elizabeth, what? You don't think I love my kid? You know? So once we had that little bit of thing, kind of the walls kind of came down.
[31:00] Um, a couple of takeaways and the one book I gave to this guy. So after day two, they hold this massive event. And I think there's, did, was there a one, go back a few here, Shane, I think.
[31:15] Okay. See here, what they do is they divide all the men into four and they, they have three days to prepare a choir concert. So they come up and then we judge them on the last day and I get to be one of the judges and they have to do something original.
[31:31] It's all in, is it to guy tie? Am I saying to guy tie? They, they're singing. So I don't understand what they're doing, but as you notice, like some of these guys are that, what is that?
[31:41] I love you or love heart. It's heart, right? So love. Um, but they're kind of doing it to some of the dances, but there was this one guy who was a conductor and he was really, he had them really going really well and he'd sway and they'd be swaying with them.
[31:58] And he'd point over here and that group would sing that notes. So like, it was really beautiful music. Like I was quite blown away. Then he'd kind of turn around and do this and then they'd get totally lost and they were going the wrong way.
[32:13] So it was a big joke that he did not know he was the butt of, right? So the next day I had this book on Jesus and leadership and, uh, I, I, I said he won it and I said, and I wasn't sure if it was because, um, he needed more work as being a better leader.
[32:29] They needed more work being better disciples, but it was so much cheaper to give him one. Um, but the last guy, there was this big group and this guy was singing off key.
[32:40] Uh, he was loud. He was big. His eyes were closed. Most people are reading from their iPhone. And, um, turned out he's an ex con that out of prison and now serving as a pastor.
[32:53] And he struggled listening to me. You could tell English was really hard for him. So that last day I said that, but the book of the book of the conference goes to this, this guy that I'm going to call out today, man, when he's saying he, he was all in, right?
[33:10] Like his heart was all in and he just started crying. And here's this big, and he was bigger than me out of all the Filipinos, just, just crying and thanking me profusely for this book.
[33:21] Right. So, um, you can go back to a few of the pictures here. So the guys just pray together at the end of the conference. Go one more. Um, so here, like the guy behind the guy in the yellow shirt, he's like a very high ranking officer in the Filipino army.
[33:38] Um, turned out there was the chief of police from that whole district was there. He's now a pastor and he was pretty funny. He said he liked the way I preach because you're doing it like it's an investigation and you're, you're, you're kind of going through.
[33:54] And he says, well, my daughter lives in Vancouver and she's a nurse. Well, she's going to your church now. I was trying to explain that we're not, I'm close to Vancouver, but it's still, it's a ways.
[34:08] So you had, um, guys had been in prison. You had rich, you had poor, like I said, former army officers, former police chiefs.
[34:21] Um, some of them, uh, drove 12 hours to get there. And there was this group of guys who showed up late. And it's so funny because it's this older group of crusty pastors.
[34:32] And they say that it's not me saying that they say that. And they refuse to use iPhones for directions. That's like, they just hate, they think it's all sinful old stuff.
[34:46] Um, so I thought I'd share with you because I think it's kind of funny, but they said they had, um, two, two kind comments about my time there. Um, so those older guys, by the time they finally showed up and were there, they said it was the first time they had never complained about a speaker.
[35:07] So that was, that was the first and probably the best compliment. Um, and the second one is this official one that came from the ministry.
[35:17] And they said, uh, they take a survey after the conference. So in order to get your free books and your five kilograms of rice, they got to say something, right? So, um, this is what the comment read.
[35:28] Uh, pastors had difficulty understanding his English accent because it's a British accent. Um, but then he said, they noted after the first day he adjusted and spoke slower.
[35:44] So, um, that was kind of the Lord kind of, they didn't tell me that. I just knew, um, and then they said, they also noted the first speaker in 28 years to provide them with not only the book, but I gave them 200 pages of study material.
[35:59] No one had ever done that for him. And the study material I gave him, it's what I've been working on the last six months. It's a, it's a book. And it just goes through. I took, I've been taking great comments from all the best commentaries and putting them into a very meat filled.
[36:16] Um, so, uh, they do wish you guys a very thank you for, for freeing me up for also the financial support.
[36:26] They said, CGM is so blessed and thankful for your church's generosity and provision of the book. And once you know it, they've invited me back in 2027. So, um, conference was good.
[36:41] Uh, I enjoyed that time. Um, but, uh, yeah, there's the, that's the final official picture. Um, but it wasn't my highlight.
[36:53] Um, it wasn't the highlight of my time. It was a good time. I enjoyed the time. Um, but one of the things that they asked me to do was to preach at two different churches while I was there both Sundays.
[37:04] So, um, the first church that I preached at is a church called Christian word center, which is located in a city called Cavite city.
[37:15] Now that doesn't mean anything to us, but it's actually where the Filipino revolution began to overthrow the Spanish occupiers. So, um, there, uh, I think if you go to the next, uh, there we go.
[37:31] That's me at their white house. All right. Filipino white house. Um, that's where the revolution kind of broke out. So, um, so the church, and I'll show you the next picture.
[37:42] There should be a picture of these two pastors. So the one on my left over here, but it's my right now, that's a senior pastor and this is his son. Um, they kind of have this really interesting background because, uh, four years ago, pastor LA, that's the young guy was, um, at the, the conference, same conference that I spoke at, but different speakers.
[38:05] And, um, they came from a health, wealth, prosperity church. Uh, that was what they believed in. They believed in riches now, no sickness, and some of these diseases. And in fact, he was so disruptive at the conference, they were about to throw him out.
[38:20] Like he was just thinks he knows everything. He's 25. He's just being rambunctious in the conference. And they are, if they notice you in the conference, not paying attention, you can't come back the next year because there's a lineup of guys who come to this conference.
[38:34] Like it's never undersold. It's always, and they always want to make sure as part of the ministry to make sure the people who were there appreciate, uh, the ministry. So, um, but, uh, pastor LA, um, all of a sudden he just started hearing biblical teaching, which he had never really heard before and, uh, how they were expositing God's word.
[39:00] And then he just, as he studied, he came to the conclusion, we've got church wrong. So he goes back to his dad's, his dad, right? And that's a big deal for a 25 year old to be telling your dad who's been pastoring for 30 years, we've been understanding our Bible's wrong.
[39:17] Right. So he goes back and it was kind of like a family business almost, right? The health, wealth, prosperity. Um, so within four years, they changed everything over to a solid biblical church with elders in place and people.
[39:37] Um, so they lost half of their congregation, but as you see, there's a lot of young people. I know there's older people at the front, but it is, uh, an, uh, uh, pretty young congregation.
[39:49] The next picture is, so the guy to my, uh, right here, he's actually the residential crime Lord of that whole area of the city.
[39:59] He was the Godfather of Kavite city. Um, he controlled every element of crime and his brother shared the gospel with him, got saved and led him.
[40:12] And sure enough, he showed up at the church and now was a Christian and serves in the church. So, um, yeah. So I, I preached there that first day, very loving, very, um, uh, taking selfies.
[40:26] They're just very, uh, interactive, connective people. Um, but, um, and you guys know where I'm going with this, who I've talked to, they have, uh, um, outreach to the cemetery, to the poorest of the poor.
[40:42] So they asked me if I wanted to come and yeah, I did. So, um, in case you don't know, there's an estimated to be over 10,000 families who live in cemeteries and these cemeteries are Spanish style cemeteries.
[40:57] Um, so often the coffins are outside and they're massive mausoleums. Now, some people are paid to keep those places clean.
[41:09] They get a couple of bucks every year. Whoever owns that plot comes and make sure it's got flowers and it's nice. Um, but next to the, this one in Cavite City, uh, there's like a shanty town where they live also, but it's right next to the dump.
[41:27] So what the kids do is they go into the dump and they look for valuables to sell. So this is, would be the bicycles they all use. And they have like these trailers where they just load in their junk and they take it to, for lack of a better word, a pawn shop or someone who's going to buy, um, the metal or whatever a value from them.
[41:50] Right. So, um, next slide. So this would be a cemetery. So in the far right, they set up the children's message and in the far left is where the parents are set up.
[42:05] So, um, so basically what the church offers is a 12 week course. So they asked these people to commit to 12 weeks. And if you come every 12 weeks, you will get food, you'll get drink.
[42:17] And at the end, you'll get more food. So there's kind of this encouragement for them to come while they're there. They kind of section off the children. Um, and this guy shares a gospel presentation with the kids.
[42:35] Um, and, um, there's several of the, the teachers there. And like when I showed up, obviously it was like a sledgehammer to my heart.
[42:45] Right. You, they're still wearing masks and you're, mask covering your face and you got tears and you're trying to, you don't want to look out of place to them. And, you know, the kids knew I was the white guy there and they're coming in, touching me and interacting with me.
[43:00] Um, um, so they do this 12 week course. So while they're doing there, they divide the moms and the children and, um, the parents are obviously invited to the group.
[43:13] When I say moms, fathers are invited mostly, but 90 to 95, 95 to 99% are the moms that come to the Bible study.
[43:23] Very rarely is it the men. So, um, like obviously they're just, they're, a lot of them are wearing some of the clothes that they found. Uh, you can go to the next slide.
[43:34] So this is the Bible study. So they hand out these Bible studies. Now, when we think of homeless, we're thinking about people sometimes that have mental disabilities. Um, we're thinking about someone who might be a meth addict, um, that type of thing.
[43:50] Uh, some of these people just, they're poor. That's it. They can read perfectly fine. They can interact. They're not, uh, deformed or any of that. They're just people whose life is exceptionally hard for them.
[44:05] And, um, this is their lot. And not only were they born there, but their children are born there. Um, some of the kids we noticed still can't talk even though they're older because they don't, they're not able to go to school yet.
[44:17] So some of the parents are able to find books and read and teach them. Some of the other kids, not so much. What was encouraging to me is, so this is, they, they're giving them the food, um, for the moms after.
[44:31] So they, they read their Bible and they give their Bibles back. And after the food, they're able to ask and request a Bible. So it just, um, it just broke my heart just to see how many.
[44:44] And it was exciting just to see how many of the people wanted their own Bible and just to be going through. So they begin with a, a gospel of John. So we'll go to the next slide.
[44:56] And the other thing they do with the moms, they break them into these small groups. I want you to notice the age of that girl with the black shirt. She's simply in her twenties.
[45:09] Most of the people that are ministering with the church are in their twenties. They're not older people. It's not the pastor. Pastor didn't even do the main teaching. It was the kids that were doing the ministry to these moms.
[45:22] And in that group, they just asked them, what can we pray for? And some nine times out of 10, I don't even need to speak English or to speak Tagale to know they're talking about their children.
[45:38] That's it, right? Just, just like any other mom who's got concerns. And, um, I didn't put it up. There was one picture, you know, just mom are crying that someone cares enough to ask them about themselves.
[45:52] Um, yeah. So they're breaking down into small groups. So they'll do this for 12 weeks. And in that 12 week section, they're given obviously a clear understanding of not just the gospel, but the Bible.
[46:05] They give the whole Bible story at the very end. And I remember I asked him, you know, how, what, what's the response? And at the, after the 12 weeks, they're invited. You can come to church with us and they'll send a van to go pick up.
[46:17] And from the last section, uh, there's three families that were all baptized. And he says to me, oh, well, only three families are coming. And I'm like three families. That's awesome. I'm like, praise the Lord.
[46:28] So this is the little boy who was kind of following me, but he couldn't quite speak English or speak period, but he was the one kind of poking me and touching my white skin.
[46:41] Um, um, so we'll go to the next slide. So that's just another situation. Next slide. Um, so that's the, the main teacher.
[46:53] So he does the group lesson, then it breaks down in the smaller lesson. Next slide. So this is the team. Um, notice on the tombstone, the bottom guy, but it says, you're the man.
[47:07] I thought that was kind of funny. Um, but I want you to pay attention to the ages of the people that are committed to this ministry in the church. Um, that's what I found, uh, overwhelming was they were, they were young.
[47:23] They were fearless. I, I, I had fear and trepidation going in. I did not know what this was going to be like. I, you know, and like, they gave me all this instructions.
[47:34] If someone does this, do this, do, don't worry, we'll come over, you know, because often they thought, uh, because you're white, they're going to come and beg and all that kind of stuff. And that actually never happened.
[47:45] They were very kind, courteous, and they were curious, obviously. Um, so obviously that's how I start off my whole missions thing. I could have come home right after that first weekend and be blessed eternally.
[47:57] Could have just, it was just an incredible experience. Um, the second church I had the opportunity to preach at was a church in Tagaytai. So this is Tagaytai.
[48:09] Okay. Tagaytai is like Whistler Squamish in to Manila. It is the place where the rich people come to get away from the blistering hot 36 degree weather in Manila and get the beautiful 30 degree weather in Tagaytai.
[48:26] Right? Like it's, that's what it's, it's cooler. Like people, I'm in this apartment. So I had actually an old buddy of mine. I went to visit him and they had a choice of being up here or down there for the same price, but you stay up there cause it's two degrees cooler.
[48:42] Right? Everything is about where the degrees are. Um, so like I said, it's a rich vacation part of the land. Um, now I'll be honest with you.
[48:54] Um, when I went into the first church, I was excited. I had feelings of trepidation cause I knew there was going to be ministry. I did not know it was going to be the cemetery ministry, but I knew there was going to be some type of outreach going with it, which I've done some of that outreach, nothing in cemeteries before.
[49:12] But, um, so this church though, when they had asked me to, I actually wasn't all that excited to go to because one, I had to get about six o'clock, you know, I'm so North American already.
[49:23] Right? Um, got to drive. Okay. And you know, in Manila, nothing is measured by distances. It's measured by hours. Right? Because if I tell you 30, I am 30 kilometers away, what are you thinking?
[49:36] Yeah. 25 minutes, right? You over there, eight hours. Okay. Maybe that's an extreme, but I had to drive eight kilometers to get to the mall. It took us three hours.
[49:47] I'm not exaggerating. Right? It's just traffic's packed. So we leave early. And, um, the re and I, the reason I was a little bit, not bitter is not the right word or unhappy, I guess, is because I was also invited to preach at my friend's church that which was in Manila, which was higher ground, which higher rock, which you guys know.
[50:06] And I, and I wanted to connect there. I know many of the missionaries, friends, they all go to that church. So just, that would have been kind of cool to preach to some of my buddies that were there just to connect them. And some of those pastors I've interacted with over the years.
[50:19] Um, but I got asked to go to, to Guy Tide, which was again, cause it already visited and, um, to preach at church. I really did not know. However, um, this is the road leading to this church, right?
[50:34] So I'm like driving for miles down this road and I'm starting like, is this where you go to bury the English pastors that don't do well at the conference or like what's going on?
[50:46] And, and it's got like a banana trees and ton of coconut trees. Pineapples are on trees too, right? Yeah. It's, it's very beautiful and lush, but it's out in the middle of nowhere.
[50:58] Right? So I'm like, what am I doing? Yes. Your pastor can be selfish sometimes. So, and the building at the end of the road.
[51:10] Is a house with a basement with three walls. And I look at, so all of a sudden I want to do, people even come to this church.
[51:21] Yes. They walk to the church. Uh, next picture. Um, so I'm sitting at the very front end. Um, it's small, maybe 80 people.
[51:35] And, uh, I'm not, uh, I'll confess. I'm not starting with a great attitude. And then the worship starts and it's loud. Um, the singers are completely out of sync.
[51:49] They're completely out of key, but it was fantastic. It was just true worship. And I could hear just the whole house just was literally vibrating with them singing.
[52:07] Um, I felt like I was in a church about 10 times bigger than what I was. So I am still at the front. I haven't had a chance to get up. So I get up to preach and this is what I see.
[52:20] I want you to know, this isn't a youth group. This isn't a youth church. This isn't a youth ministry or a college ministry. This is a full blown church made up of 25 year olds that love Jesus.
[52:33] And basically how it started, the pastor ran a basketball, there it is again, right? He ran a basketball ministry, uh, outreach and the kids started getting saved.
[52:43] Then he would disciple them. And then they got big enough that they became their own church. Now, what was really exciting about these guys is they, they didn't really talk to me that much because I think I made their nose bleeds a little bit.
[52:58] Um, but I started preaching on something and as soon as I saw how young they were, I totally switched, uh, my sermon. Just, and I just talked about five barriers to prayer, something that I kind of thought, what, what are, what are something that 25 year olds would be struggling with?
[53:16] Um, so what they would do is Sunday, they'd come together for this worship time and then they would put all the chairs and turn them into circles and then it would be discipleship time.
[53:31] They would have lunch together and then they went and guess what? Did outreach together. Um, I was thinking about Doug.
[53:44] Doug has these favorite verses when you hear Doug Nichols speak. Um, and he would start off with the verse that Chris read for by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing, right?
[53:56] It's the gift of God. We love that verse. That means there's no works that we can ever do to attain our salvation or make ourselves more pleasing to God, but it's a complete work of grace.
[54:08] Um, so that no one may boast, but we often forget what verse 10 says. It says, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
[54:34] Um, have you guys ever thought about that, what that means? That means that that God has prepared a good work for us to do.
[54:45] Do you know that? Like he's not got one if you want it. It's already been prepared for you to do. Um, my takeaway is, remember that term walk that he's using?
[55:06] It's talking about how you live your life. And the question is, do you live your life out in a purposeful way? And have you ever prayed to God to find out what is your purpose?
[55:17] The biggest selling book outside of the Bible, I believe right now is the purpose driven life by Rick Warren. Do you know what that tells us? It tells us that people who are in churches are still trying to figure out what their purpose is.
[55:34] Most people do not know or understand that God has actually created you for a purpose. And it's not just to live life, but it's to live a meaningful life, a life that God has created for you.
[55:53] It's interesting in our every man a warrior. The question is, what does your life count for? That's the whole impetus for taking the men's study.
[56:05] It's if you want your life to come count for something, this is where we begin. This work doesn't save you, but it's in a response to salvation.
[56:22] What I saw just looking at these churches, and I don't know if you know, a typhoon hit, I've got now my pastor friends on Facebook, they're asking us to pray for them.
[56:33] You know, there's pictures of them up in the water like this. It's just different. But have you ever prayed or sought out what God's purpose is for your life?
[56:46] Like, I mean, really, like I'm talking about continued prayer, not once in an afternoon, but to actually make it a point of your devotional life to say, God, what am I here for?
[56:58] Is it just to work and raise my kids? But is there something more that you want me for? Because God certainly equips who God calls, amen?
[57:12] Amen. But the biggest takeaway, like I said, is church's life there. If we were over there, this church would end with lunch, time of discipleship, more teaching, and then we would go and minister elsewhere together.
[57:34] So, future ministry opportunities. So, there are.
[57:46] There's some future ministry opportunities for me, but not only me, for you as well. So, what was kind of cool on the book side of ministry is while I was doing, trying to figure out the book world, I actually found the guy who owns a lot of Christian authors' international rights.
[58:05] And it turns out he's an alumni of mine, and I'm getting set up with a meeting with him so we can start publishing books in the Philippines for a fraction of the cost. So, we're trying to work that out, and Lord willing, fundraising.
[58:20] So, not just fundraising from you guys, but I want to start using some of my resources. And if you have any resources to friends who've got means, we can start buying the rights to these books.
[58:31] And these rights usually aren't very much. Like the book that we bought, the rights was $750. That's all it cost us. You know who else we guys have here at the church? Daniel Henderson.
[58:42] Do you guys know Daniel Henderson here, or one of our missionaries? Daniel Henderson's whole life is books, getting them translated into France. He's in Togo right now, by the way, giving away 30,000 books to needy pastors, right?
[58:57] So, when I started talking about this, I'm just going, Daniel Henderson. Daniel Henderson. So, he's got contacts in every major Christian publisher. So, we've been talking.
[59:08] He's like, hey, what's mine is yours. So, not only that, but we found a guy who prints, and you've got to be able to print certain sizes, but the MacArthur Study Bible has now been translated into Gale.
[59:22] So, we've been able to locate the printer that I was able to connect with is the one that we're going to use to print the MacArthur Study Bible. Then, this week, I'm talking with Doug, who is in South Carolina, just saying, listen, I really want to get involved with this book thing, and getting books as cheap as possible, and using some of the resources that I've got around the world.
[59:42] Like, I was thinking about Daniel and that. And in that conversation, the head of Crossway says, hey, we've got these English books, Bibles, that we want to distribute and get over there.
[59:53] We were figuring, how do we do this in the Philippines? So, the guy they talk to is Doug Nichols. Like, that's how big he is, right? The Christian publisher guys. Like, when John Piper goes into Philippines, it's Doug Nichols he gives the call to.
[60:06] When Billy Graham was alive, when he goes into, it's Doug Nichols he talks to, right? Like, he knows that lay of the land. So, there's this great connection. So, we're starting to marry those connections together, and hopefully be able to start a Christian publishing house over there to reduce the cost.
[60:23] Because at that property, which has 37 acres, there's more than enough room to do that. So, that's something we're going to be praying and seeing what's going on. This is the opportunity that I want you guys, and I'm going to present to you guys, is Short Term Mission Strip.
[60:39] They have those cabins that you saw where the pastors, they were built in 1990, and they haven't been touched since. And they desperately need reworking.
[60:51] So, our thought, we've talked about this as elders, about putting together. Because if there's one thing you guys need to know how to do is build. You guys know how to build here in this. If there's a spiritual gift that is here, it's building.
[61:04] So, we talked to this one guy. He's a multimillionaire guy that I know. He's got this roofing company. He says, if we're able to get a group of guys, he will supply all the tools, all the materials.
[61:18] But if we're able to send good, competent people, because often over there, guys do the work, but it's really not all that competent. And it's not like it's, you know, hey, we'll put it together, but it falls apart in two years.
[61:30] So, that's one of the things that you guys that are builders, that's the one I'm going to want to talk to you about. If that's something that you'd consider doing is taking two weeks of the year and heading over with a team of guys.
[61:42] I think it's a great opportunity for fathers to disciple sons on such a trip. And we go stay on that campground and help rebuild some of these cabins. So, when I asked them if that's something they'd be amenable to, they said, yeah, we would love that opportunity to host.
[61:59] Just you guys. And if there's any other worker bees that we can put together. It's a great opportunity because they have housing for us. We're in a protected area, but you'll be exposed to life that you've never seen before unless you've been in a third world country.
[62:19] And there'll be great worship because there's some great churches there that would love to have us participate and see. So, that's kind of my heart.
[62:29] I've been asked if I would consider turning the life of Christ into a two-week seminary course for an online seminary. So, I might be able to do it over Zoom with Filipino pastors or fly over there and teach it live for two weeks at a time.
[62:44] So, I said, you guys work that out and we'll see what you guys, if you guys are okay releasing me for some of those kind of teaching times. We'll talk. So, yeah, I guess you already went, Shane went through some of the pictures there.
[62:59] Want to go back a few? So, that's just a young boy doing one of their outreaches that they do. Keep going, Shane. I'll see if there's anything significant. One of the things that I'm amazed at in the Philippines is, you know what sidewalks are?
[63:14] Really good space to use to sell stuff. Like, it's not for walking. You just move your storefront right to the sidewalk. And the other thing I learned, and you guys should shake their hand, Filipino are the bravest people in the world.
[63:29] There is no such thing as stop signs over there. They just drive with faith. I'm just going out. I'm just driving out.
[63:40] And I'm trusting that guy over there is going to stop and that guy is going to let me in. So, anyway. Any questions you guys have before I close you down for the day?
[63:54] No? Well, let me just say, you know, Chris brought up pastor appreciation. And this is the best gift that you could possibly give me was to go there just to be a part of even Doug Nichols' legacy.
[64:10] Just to know how loved he is and how many people. Oh, let's go to the last, the very last picture. You know who this is? Doug's son. Doug's son, Robbie.
[64:24] This is the one he adopted, raised at the orphanage. He ended up getting a full ride basketball scholarship to a Division I school in the United States. So, he went down to Liberty University, played basketball.
[64:38] And guess what he's doing now? Ministry to street kids and orphans right in the toughest part of Philippines. He runs basketball camps non-stop. And as he goes, he always has a young man with him.
[64:51] He's always discipling, teaching for the next stage of ministry. This guy's even more, like when I came away from spending time with Robbie, I'm like, this is his dad's son. Except he's even more powerful.
[65:04] Like, his whole personality, person, like, takes over the room. He's just a giant of a man. And he's taller than me as a Filipino, which is pretty rare. All right. Let me pray.
[65:17] Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, I just give you thanks for these mercies. Father, we even thank you for the graces that you dispense upon us here in North America. Father, we are indeed safe and we are indeed healthy.
[65:30] But, Lord, there is much work to be done for people to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we think about the rich poor, we do know the words of Jesus Christ that the poor will always be with us.
[65:43] But there's avenues of reaching out and helping people who have not just real needs, but they want to be helped.
[65:57] They want to find their purpose. They want to be lifted out. They want to be educated. They want to learn. They want to know about the gospel. I just give you thanks for a fire that you have lit in Doug at the age of 80.
[66:12] He's still going strong. He writes people every single day. He's putting out newsletters. He's encouraging. He's raising money. We just even thank, even over COVID, he was able to raise all the money to pay for the staff at Christian Growth Ministries because there was no money coming in from the camp to sustain them.
[66:31] Doug was able to help them. Father, if it be our church or even the churches here in Squamish, may we come united under a project that, if it is your will to accomplish, to go to bless, to experience life in a different country, to be able to use our gifts, our skills, our talents, to bless the churches and the ministries there, these ministries which are giving everything they have in order to meet their mandate to share the good news.
[67:11] So, Father, like I said, thank you for this church that allowed me to go to have these experiences, to new the new friends that I have. I pray for favor with these book publishers that were able to acquire some of these rights and to give them over to the Filipinos over there to be able to raise funds and to just be getting books printed.
[67:34] I know they just, they love these books, they love these teachings, oh Father, and they want to learn. So, God, you are God in heaven and we love you and we thank you for the care that you bestow upon us.
[67:46] And we thank you for all these things in your son's name, Jesus Christ. Amen.