Philippine Report
Here is a report from Chaplain Jim Coyle, who recently traveled to the Philippines with a team from Sunrise Church.
Jim Coyle and David Bishop were sent to the island of Cebu for the purpose of determining if there was a church or ministry that Sunrise Church could partner with in the area of mercy ministries. The reason Cebu was selected was because Pastor Mitch, from the Missions Campus, runs a business there and could keep us up-to-date as to effectiveness of the ministry we would work with.
We met with 4 pastors and it was determined that there was really no need for us to assist them in teaching or training leaders. Each church had an established location and had discipleship programs in place. The only need for assistance would be to help one church purchase the land it is on, and another church needs some minor repairs. The other two churches were self sufficient and are actually helping some of the poorer churches in the area.
We met with a married couple who is doing after school tutoring of children. They are not affiliated with any church in Cebu, but use the tutoring program to share the Gospel with the students. He said he was totally funded by his church which is located in New York.
We also met Marydel Glass who is assisting several churches by providing them with funds to by food in order to feed needy children in their area. While we were there she arranged a medical outreach to give medical care to approximately 282 people. There were 11 doctors and surgeons, 7 nurses, 3 dentists, 7 dental hygienists, and 5 pharmacists who volunteered their services. There were 27 pastors involved who invited unsaved people from their neighborhood to the outreach. The Gospel was shared, medical care was given, and a meal was provided. I am not aware of any commitments to Christ because we had to leave before the event was over. We came to the conclusion that Marydel may be the person we would like to become involved with. Pastor Mitch will be doing some further research on her and her organization.
While we were there we also had the opportunity to take one individual through 5 week follow up, he will be taking the believers at Mitch’s office through the program. We were asked to lead the devotions at Mitch’s office and speak at 2 churches. Best of all, the Lord gave us the opportunity to personally share the Gospel with 7 individuals. 5 of them prayed to receive Christ, one was not ready to commit but asked for Mitch to follow up with her, and the other was not interested.
David and I returned full of joy and thanksgiving that we had the opportunity to take this trip. I would like to thank you all for you prayers and allowing us to go.
In His Service,
Jim