Building Households of God

Student begins own ministry

Melvin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:59:40 +0000

Remember the basketball times the guys were having at the start of the year? It’s this post: (Newcomers invite friends to basketball). Anyway, Mike is a student from then that I’ve built a good relationship with. He was my highlight today. He sparked a whole new development in the recent method to connect with freshmen.

Until today, I’ve only been inviting Stillwaters students to accompany me. We’ve seen very positive responses from male freshmen with this new method. (I’ll tell you more about the method soon!) The next step to our success, partners, is if the students turn around and start doing the method on their own. I had brought Mike with me before, and this time I asked him to lead instead of just accompany. Now a challenge like that has often gone untouched. God must’ve been at work in Mike. He led, and started approaching freshmen left and right. He showed what evangelism should be like: no hesitations.

Mike caught the attention of one freshman, and they’ll be meeting again next week. Could he be Mike’s first disciple? Let’s see. Let’s pray. Let’s fan Mike’s fire with prayer.

Yes to ambition

Melvin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:33:41 +0000

Got to meet two freshmen who called themselves ambitious today. I’m actually looking for guys like these. My hope is that they’re ambitions would grow to the size the soul needs: God-sized. After an enjoyable discussion with these two who carried themselves well, I gave them a challenge. I asked if they wanted to know the greatest ambition imaginable. They immediately said yes.

I’m meeting them again this week. Pray for a gripping time.

One of the happiest staff meetings ever

Melvin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:03:05 +0000

Oh, we were brimming with joy in our staff meeting this morning! Flo and Sarj reported that for both house churches, the ladies have been taking ministry personally. Flo said it was contagious: evangelism and discipleship have become the norm! They have been seeing new contacts bring their friends to the tambayans. Stillwaters ladies instinctively build relationships with everyone else’s contacts. One woman leader has a passion everyone is noticing.

The men look like they’re on their way to this as well. There have been preachings, new Bible study groups and more frequent connection with freshmen. Please pray that wildfire would spread among the guys too!

At this rate, we might see a movement with a mind of its own. Hoorah! Thank you that we can share moments like these with you partner!

Students preach in services

Melvin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:26:36 +0000

It’s inspiration all around.

For the UP services this past week, students took the task of preaching. We’re experimenting with dialogue preaching and for Tuesday it was Tim and Dee. Their styles clearly distinct, Tim did the intro and conclusion while Dee did the body. What a relief that it’s no longer up to a professional like me to preach! I tell you, there was energy in the congregation you can never buy or hire. It was the same with Thursday, as Marvin spoke to his siblings. He spoke on Philippians 2 and what a way to inspire humility: by example. You could sense that everybody was feeling very empowered to do great things for God. It was never meant to be contained by professionals.

Here’s a picture of Tim and Dee in the Tuesday service (upper right hand corner, grey long sleeves is Dee, Tim is beside him in white):

And here’s one of Marvin in the Thursday service (center, in black):

Thank you, dear partner, for being with us in this significant development. We love you and love how you help make this possible. May feelings of inferiority flee from students and may they accomplish far more than missionaries can on campus.

The Bible is clear

Melvin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:01:25 +0000

“The stuff they taught me in high school was b*lls#*|!”, said the freshman. He was surprised that his religious high school never told him that eternal life was a free gift. This was very refreshing for me; God was working in his heart! A sharp guy and a potential leader, he told me he was seeing things in a new way. We set a time for Bible study in 2 weeks (he’ll be competing abroad next week).

Please pray that we would continue to receive revelations from God and that this man would rise up to be a spiritual leader.

Confidence beyond Zen

Melvin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:39:14 +0000

I’ve been in contact with a Sports Science freshman and today we talked about the Gospel. He’s a tall guy who carries himself well and is very friendly. The Gospel found a place in this guy; after praying to receive Christ, he told me that now he could have much more confidence in all of his actions. He was also enthusiastic to meet again for Bible study on Tuesday.

May this man live out his destiny and become the bold conqueror he is in Christ.

A way out and up

Melvin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:53:49 +0000

I took RJ on an appointment with 4 Mechanical Engineering freshmen. These 4 had participated in a very simple freshman contest I’ve been running. Curious, they came back for more. But this time not for a contest, but the greatest Prize of all. I shared to them about how sin earned us hell and that we could do nothing to merit heaven. They, very sincerely, asked what should be done. Relief came when I told them about Jesus. They said that they never understood the cross like that before. RJ (a Thursday house church student) said that he remembered the time Jouise shared the Gospel with him when he was a freshman. He reminisced the same feeling of deep relief. When he shared that, I told him: “You’re ready to start your own personal ministry.”

We’re looking to have Bible study with the 4 freshmen in the next few days. RJ seems excited to help lead this group, btw. We love working with you partners!

Faithful companion

Melvin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:41:01 +0000

Jouise was a highlight for me today. I’ve been developing a new way to share the Gospel with freshmen, and Jouise has already been on three dry runs with me. He used to be a leader in the Thursday house church but temporarily stepped down because of personal issues. His consistent eagerness to go out and also give me feedback is encouraging! I see the Gospel at work melting away his guilt and fueling the fire of his love. At this rate, he should be a leader again by the end of this semester.

Please pray for what we are working on. May Jouise and I find freshmen who will be ambitious in Jesus. We’ll let you in on the developments. Thank you partners!

Building relationships in the sky

Melvin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:07:32 +0000

The Stillwaters staff team was in Tagaytay today. We paid a visit to our friends from UP Campus Crusade for Christ. (They were having their staff team retreat there.) It was a special time. I sensed a genuine desire to invest in one another. Now more than ever, the partnership we have with them is getting clearer. God is up to something.

May many more passionate leaders be raised up as Stillwaters and UPCCC fully complement each other. Join us in prayer! Thanks. Love y’all.

A Sunday worth sharing

Melvin — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 14:49:15 +0000

So I was thinking of blogging more regularly. To do this, it might help me to write briefly, but daily, about how I’ve seen God at work. I’m looking to glorify God, build better relationships with you my partners and hey, I might just have fun. Comments help, btw. Haha!

I had meaningful experience with our young professionals today. We’re doing group digging in the book of Philippians this month. It was our third session today and boy, are the yuppies getting sharp! They’re picking up the principles of Bible study very fast and I was delighted to see that together we came up with an outline faithful to the text. Not only that, but they themselves were enjoying the long process!

Thank You Jesus. May such resilience flourish in the young professionals of Stillwaters.