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Philippines, Asia

PHI05 - ECPM - Support of Church Planting Team

• View report dated: April 13, 2015

• View report dated: June 24, 2015

• View report dated: February 2, 2016

• View report dated: September 28, 2016

• View report dated: March 21, 2017

• View report dated: April 4, 2017

• View report dated: October 13, 2017

• View report dated: February 20, 2018

• View report dated: March 31, 2020

• View report dated: October 22, 2020

• View report dated: February 23, 2021

• View report dated: June 6, 2021

• View report dated: October 19, 2022

• View report dated: March 25, 2024

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Report Date: June 14, 2022

ECPM Year End Update 2021

We at ECPM thank the Lord for His goodness! We got sick at the beginning of the year and spent our time confined at home tending to most of our family members who also got sick. However, it was also a time of renewing our strength and spirit.  

Despite our distance, we can never thank the Lord enough for how you've blessed different rural areas in the Philippines through church planting. The experiences of the teams reminded us that even in crisis - such as the pandemic - God is on the move and His Gospel is being preached!

Thank you for sharing in the ministry of church planting and missions! 

Recent Events

New Horizons

After attending staff trainings in 2020 and early 2021 to help us adapt mentally and skilfully to the challenge the pandemic has posed on missions and church planting work, we set our hearts to the next task.

The last quarter of 2021 was filled with new horizons for ECPM and the church planters. What we thought would not work, proved to be God's way of opening up a new platform for coaching, mentoring and equipping. Using technology is quite challenging when you minister to people in rural areas. But the Lord encouraged us, and we each tried to understand the diverse situation of different church planting areas.

With great wonder at what the Lord is capable of for us, we were able to hold modules week after week via Zoom and Messenger. We could never forget the bloopers and victories in learning technology together and the laughter in every new online game we did with the church planting teams.

Even the challenge as to how we can maintain their passion while online stretched our patience and strengthened our faith. 

Travel

When community quarantines eased up and we'd completed our vaccines and other necessary vaccines...we knew it was time to GO! This is God's mandate to us after all and His strength will guide us.

Praise God! Brother Vic was able to travel and hold modules and visit the teams in Palawan. The photo shows Brother Vic with church planters and the partnering church in Singkab, Palawan, Dec. 2021.

 

Legazpi Team, Bicol, Albay (funded by BHW)

Team Members: Nathanael Ortiz, Mary Joy Mandane, Marizon Perez
Partner Church: Ranao Ranao Christian Church
June 2019 to May 2022

The Legazpi team is ECPM's first church planting team in the city and the second team that started with ECPM's Youth Campus Ministry. This is something we will always be thankful for.

Thankful to the Lord and those who support the Campus Ministry training of ECPM.

Activities

Praise God the team regularly holds growth and discipleship training every Sunday night for boys who will be their core leaders as they build a new congregation. They are praying to have another girls' growth group every Sunday.

Every Tuesday they have a big group Bible study then they separate into three smaller groups for discussion and reflections.

Please pray for their plans that by May or June of 2022, they will be able to start their regular Sunday gathering.

 

ECPM Training Team and Staff 

Praise God for serving the Lord with a team who is like your family, a safe space to hold one another whenever we needed it the most that we may serve the Lord better.

Praise God for our "You and your well-being" short lecture headed by Ella. It allowed us to learn more about ourselves and encourage one another.

Praise God for supporters who helped us upgrade laptops and even have Pneumonia vaccines to adjust and adapt to the times.

Marwin Pesuelo (PHI11)

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:1-5

Every morning I wake up is a blessing. I like this quote because it is very true in my life. Not every day is ok, There are days that I feel down and exhausted but the moment I open my eyes and take a deep breath, all I can say is “thank you Lord!’, I have the chance to make things better and the best for His glory and present to Him a better version of me.

May I always be grateful in everything that I have or do even in times of emptiness and hardship, to thank Him in times of distress, and to glorify God as I serve Him through ECPM.

Maria Vida Pesuelo (PHI11)

For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, "Do not fear; I will help you". Isaiah 41:13

This verse gives me an assurance that God will hold me and give me courage to face all my fears and that His love is bigger than all my distress which helps me to continue my life with confidence.

I pray for wisdom in making decisions in life, for safety and protection every time I go out to do banking / working for ECPM and courage to go to ECPM teams for modules and visits.

Vic Enriquez (PHI10)

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Matthew 28:18

This verse gave me confidence and assurance that anything I do for the Lord... He will be there and His full authority, because He said this after the resurrection.

It is my prayer that good health be with me that I may continue serving the Lord for many years and that protection be with my family always.

Ella Abigail Aramburo (PHI04)

The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:11

This verse is meaningful for me. I fear a lot for health and are tired of adjusting to changing protocols. I tend to overthink that I needed His embrace. He assured me through this verse - He holds my frame, He will keep me standing, that I may do His purpose only for His glory.

I pray that He will keep us healthy, strong and allow us to serve Him for more years whatever the situation may be and be able to adjust to changing times and be a blessing to others.

 

 

Plans for the Future

New Church Planting Team : South Cotobato, Mindanao 

The Lord truly makes all things grow for His glory! Our previous church planters in Gen San have a new outreach in South Cotobato and they will be our partnering church.

We were scheduled to travel this January 2022 to interview the church planting team and meet with the partnering church, but Omicron hit. We are currently re-scheduling our trips as the alert level was lowered just recently.

Prospective Team in Iloilo 

Please pray with us as coordination and meetings are ongoing with a possible partnering church to open a new team in Iloilo.

 

Prayer and Praise Points

1) Please pray for safety and protection as we prepare our travel schedules for modules, visits and mentoring to church planting teams. We were taken aback by Omicron that we had to fix our schedules again and prepare physically since we got sick.

2) For creativity, wisdom and God's careful guidance - as we make decisions to adjust to the times especially in stretching the training period. Some teams were stretched out until 2023.

3) Please pray for safety, perseverance and encouragement for the church planters. Some of the teams, especially the ones near the city, keep adjusting with community health protocols. May creativity and patience and endurance continue to be with them.

4) We are closely looking into how we can provide training to teams for the use of technology - once they learn the basics, they can also teach it to others in their communities. We are trying to find effective equipment that we could share to them and be used as well for modules. May our meaningful communication with them flourish through this as well despite being hindered for a time because of the pandemic.

5) When the Lord says go...we go! May the Lord's good news bring more people to Him, even with the pandemic and may wisdom and encouragement inspire us to trust Him fully!

 

Comments

Your friendship, prayers and support is such a deep encouragement us. We'd like to express our deep gratitude to you and know that you are always in our prayers.

Thank you and the Lord bless you with more with His presence!

 

In Christ,
Marwin Pesuelo
with Vic, Vida and Ella