Carried To Completion

Carried to Completion (December 2011): A Memorable Holiday Season

2012-01-19T07:30:00.000+08:00

Hope that you all had a merry Christmas and enjoyed welcoming the new year.

We know that the holidays can bring about mixed memories and emotions. As for us here in Nashville we had a great holiday season.

Thanksgiving was amazing and Christmas was just as special despite gaining a few extra holiday pounds. The highlight of Christmas was that my parents drove down from Nebraska to spend it with us.

I would also be lying if I said we weren’t a little homesick. We sure do miss the Philippines this time of the year.

However, we had a traditional Filipino Christmas Eve dinner ("Noche Buena") hosted by our friends Eben and Malou Tabelisma. It was such a joy-filled night and it sure helped our homesickness.

Our hope and prayer is that we can spend Christmas in the Philippines next year. We miss our friends and family there dearly.

This year has been extra tough not being able to be there. Samantha lost both of her grandparents in less than a month.

I really think Samantha’s grandmother died of sadness if that’s even possible. The past twenty plus years her grandmother has been taking care of her grandfather due a stroke that led him to be partially paralyzed. However, our hearts rejoice that they are together in heaven with our Heavenly Father!

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. Here is a recap that we did this past month in Nashville.

RUSH Franklin

We had a short giving series entitled 'Live 2 Give.' We said that if we wanted to learn how to live, we must develop a lifestyle of giving.

The objective was 3-fold.

1. Awareness.

That we would be more aware of the countless opportunities that God puts in our lives daily.

2. Compassion.

That Awareness would then lead to Compassion. That our hearts would not be hardened and we would feel.

3. Action.

That our compassion would lead to action. That we would actually do something about it.

Project Luke 21

Our friend Trisha Ingram helped us come up with a project to encourage the students to develop a lifestyle of giving and being intentional about looking for opportunities to bless others. We took the story of the old widow who gave her last 2 coins and gave it to God as a model.

This birthed Project Luke 21.

So what we did was give out 2 $1 coins to each of the students. They were tasked to use the coins to be a blessing to someone.

It could be a stranger, friend, family member, or anyone. The goal was to look for opportunities to be intentional about being a blessing.

Testimonies

We had some great testimonies. Some who gave it to siblings; to a young man who bought candy and gave it to a random person in school; to giving to a homeless person.

There were some great ones, but one of my favorites was from a young lady named Allie. Allie went to a mall and prayed that God would lead her to someone.

She saw a lady who looked like she wasn’t having the best of days. Allie passed her a couple of times and knew that God wanted Ali to give the coins to her.

As akward as it seemed, and as nervous as Allie was, she boldly walked up to the lady, introduced herself, and gave the lady her coins. She told her that God wanted her to give the coins her and to have a great day.

The lady's countenance changed immediately. As a bonus to everyone who completed the task, names were put in a hat and there was a drawing at our Christmas party for a pair of TOMS shoes.

If you are not familiar with TOMS, here is a link to their website. The idea behind TOMS was that for every TOMS shoe that is purchased, TOMS will give a brand new pair of shoes to a kid in need of a pair.

Allie ended up winning the drawing.

Christmas Party
The last thing we did this amazing year was we had an Ugly Sweater Christmas Party. We had a blast!

It was great reflecting and seeing all the students having so much fun and enjoying one another.

God is so faithful. We sincerely thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your partnership.

2011 has been wonderful, and we are so excited about what God is going to do 2012. Praying that you are having a fantastic new year so far.

For anything that you are believing for in 2012, please send us an e-mail and let us know what they are. It is our joy to stand with you in prayer and believe for God's faithfulness.

We love you with all of our hearts.

Robert and Samantha

We are currently building our partnership team for 2012. If you would like to know more about being a part of ministry, please click on this link for more information.

Carried to Completion (November 2011): Give Thanks!

2011-12-02T06:18:00.001+08:00

Happy Holidays to you and your family!

We pray that your holiday season was filled with so much love, joy, and laughter. This month has been absolutely incredible for us and it went by in a blur.

The weather was suprisingly great over here in "The Ville." I feel as this has been the most fulfilling month for us in terms of ministry.

We have been going at it for the last 9 months and it's been one of the best years of our lives. Samantha and I are learning so much and we are starting to gain some traction.

Nashville is finally beginning to feel like home. We are so grateful to be here and we thank you from the bottom of hearts to help make this possible.

We constantly face challenges and God constantly comes through for us.

He is always faithful ... always!

Our theme this month was serving. We entitled our series You Got Served.

Week 1: Serving Others
Week 2: Serving our Family
Week 3: Serving God.

The main thing we wanted to accomplish this month was to serve and get involved in our communities. Here is a recap of what we did together.

Service Project:
Franklin, Tennessee is one of wealthiest cities in all of the south. But despite being very wealthy, there are parts of Franklin that have low income housing and have poverty.

We have partnered with the Boys and Girls Club in the past but this is the first time we did it together with RUSH Franklin. The facility provides a safe and caring place for inner city kids of Franklin.

We visited the center one weekend and got involved in feeding the kids, spending time with them, and remodeling the library. The turnout was great and it was good to see the students find joy and getting involved in their community.

Operation Christmas Child

Samantha and I have been involved with Operation Christmas Child in the past and we wanted introduce it to our youth. Our goal was to pack 10 shoe boxes and we were able to achieve our goal.

We were so encouraged to see how passionate the students were able to give less fortunate kids gifts. We asked that the kids just bring one or two small gifts so that we could combine all of our gifts together.

I guess that didn't work very well. The kids were so generous, some of the students even came with multiply shoe boxes filled with toys.

This is a tradition we want to continue and we are looking forward to more shoeboxes to give away next holiday season.

Girls' Baking Day
The girls had a baking day at Brad and Tracy Edmonson's home. Their daughter Jessica, who is one of our leaders, organized the event.

One of the things that we are seeing more of and that we are encouraging are meetings like this outside of Sunday night RUSH. So grateful for our leaders who constantly give their time and service in making things like this happen.

You can see the bond between the girls grow stronger and stronger. We absolutely love it!

Thanksgiving/Communion Service

It has been on our heart for a while to do communion and we felt there wasn't a better time to do it. We asked the students to dress up in their "Sunday Best" as we took communion for the first time together.

The parents got involved and provided delicious soup and chili. We were expecting about 40 kids because I knew many were out of town on vacation.

To our surprise, there were almost eighty (80) students who came out that night. We almost ran out of food, but it ended up being the exact amount that was made.

A Note of Thank You to the Following People:

Chris Stovenour - For helping supervise the remodeling of the library at the Boys and Girls Club.

Brad & Tracy Edmonson, Patrick & Cindy Konyn, Marty & Holly Euverard, John & Maria McKamey and Shunil & Robin Joseph - For providing food on our Thanksgiving Dinner and Communion.

Jennifer Pamilar - For helping set-up and decorate the Thanksgiving event.

And to all our selfless, committed volunteers of RUSH Franklin!

We are grateful for all the families who invited us for Thanksgiving Dinner. We decided to go to New Albany, Indiana right outside of Louisville, Kentucky and spend it with our good friends Noy and Lynn Castillo.

We had a great time and ate one of our favorite meals ever!

Prayer Requests:

1) For students to continue to mature in their love for God and a complete understanding of who they are in Jesus Christ -- especially this Christmas season. We also pray that they will find true joy in spending time with their family during the holidays.

2) For God's presence to continue to be evident during our new series on giving.

3) RUSH Franklin's Ugly Sweater Christmas Party. That it will be fun, fruitful, and most of all Christ-centered and glorifying. This will be the final time we will meet until next year.

4) We are seeking monthly financial partners as we prepare for our second year of youth ministry in Nashville. New partnerships will greatly help us recover from recent decreases, more ways to effectively reach high schools, secure health care coverage, and continue to be able to live in the city that God has called us to serve in. To know more about being our ministry partner, please click here. All gifts are tax-deductible.

Thank you that you are a part of this journey. Your prayers, encouragement, and support that you have shown to us all these years continues to empower us to fulfill God's calling of making disciples in the next generation. We are so blessed that you are allowing yourselves to be used by God to share His love to the young people of Nashville.

We give you thanks,
Robert and Samantha

Carried to Completion (October 2011): Enjoying Autumn in Nashville

2011-11-10T03:33:00.000+08:00

Dear Family, Faithful Partners, and Friends:

Don't you just love autumn? We hope that you are enjoying this season as much as we do.

Time sure does fly by when you are having fun. The month of October went by in a blur.

We continue to pray God's blessing on you and your family. With holidays coming up at the end of the month I know things get a hectic in most homes.

Please know that you truly are in our prayers and we hope you can feel them.

The scripture that I have been meditating on this month is found in Mark 3:25 (NASB) and it says,

"If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand."

I see this happening so much right now in all different areas of life. From sports teams to families.

I humbly plead with all of you, we must be united. In this day and age it is so easy to get distracted and become consumed with our own personal matters.

It's so hard to find 2 or more people who are on the same page working toward one common goal. Let's all be reminded of what the Word says in Matthew 18:20 (NIV),

"For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them."

Our prayer is that you and your family would be united as ever. We must continue to pray for our families that there would be no division amongst us.

It is difficult to do, but it is possible. It takes a lot of humility, forgiveness, and most of all prayer.

We cover you with our prayers and we thank you for covering us.

October has been filled with so many life-changing events. Here is a recap on what took place.

Catalyst Conference

This Conference was absolutely amazing. Samantha and I went last year and we decided that every year we were going to do our best to make it.

It is truly a world-class christian leaders' conference. The speakers were amazing.

We learned so much. The theme of the conference was Be Present.

It means that it is easy to be distracted in the grind of everyday life and technology. How we should always be present in the way that we engage and and interact with others.

There was also an strong focus on "being present" in our communities. We left the conference so encouraged and excited to be more present and involved in our community. Samantha will blog a detailed recap soon.

Samantha's Grandparents
'Abuelita' is an affectionate name for grandmother in spanish. That is what we call Samantha's grandmother.

While we were in Atlanta we got the opportunity to see Samantha's grandmother who has Alzheimer's disease.

It was also great catching up with the rest of the family who live there. We always enjoy our time with them.

In related news, we are deeply saddened by the recent demise of Samantha's grandfather (we fondly call him 'Tata') who lives in the Philippines. It was very difficult for Samantha not to be with her family at a time like this. She has never felt so far from the place she called home for so many years.

We privately mourned but found comfort in our Father who reassured us that Tata is now in His arms. Thank you to everyone who sent kind messages and sweet prayers.

Boys and Girls Club of Williamson County
God has opened up an a huge door for RUSH with the Boys and Girls Club of Franklin in Williamson County. Our church has done outreaches and have been involved in the past.

But we really wanted to partner with them on a regular basis. I took a few students and volunteers one friday while some schools were on fall break, and we we served them pizza and hung out with the kids.

We had such a great time.

Michael Chapman
Mike has had such a great impact on the lives of the youth. He played a big role in developing RUSH as a youth group in the Brentwood congregation.

He is a worship leader and just a very gifted young man. He took a job in Canada where he will be working in church leadership there.

We sent him off on a night of honoring him. I got the idea when I was in the Philippines.

Whenever it was someone's birthday or a special occasion, there was always a moment of honoring that person. Each person around the room would say something how that person has made an impact on their life.

In this culture, it is not as common. And I felt moved to give Michael that moment.

The night was full of tears and God's presence. It was powerful! If you would like to follow Mike's journey in his new role, visit his blog.

RUSH Middle School
Absolutely love these kids. This month was great because we got the chance to share different Bible stories.

Bible stories are so effective at this age. Their response was so heartwarming.

We also decided that we were going to get involved with Samaritan's Purse (Operation Christmas Child) and Compassion International.

Together we are going to sponsor 2 children from OCC and 1 child from Compassion International. So excited about this.

Costume Party
We had a costume party the Sunday before Halloween. No we are not promoting Halloween.

But we did have a fall festival for the younger children, so we decided to have a costume party for the high school students and promote it as an outreach event.

We had a great turn out of about 100 students. The night was full laughter and life.

We were all so blessed.

Candyland
For our fall festival the theme was Candyland. We had it on Halloween day itself.

It was great seeing all the families and the kids in their costumes. Samantha and I, along with many of our RUSH volunteers helped out.

We are so proud of the RUSH students who selflessly stood outside in the cold evening weather to bring joy to all the children who came.

Pastor Rafe and Liz Young
This couple is absolutely amazing. Pastor Rafe and Liz were the senior pastors at Bethel Franklin prior to when we arrived.

They are moving to Lexington to help with an Every Nation church plant there. There will definitely be a huge void left behind with them being gone; they truly are irreplaceable.

But with that said we know God has called them to Lexington, so we sent them off as a church. They will be missed along with their 3 beautiful girls.

Montgomery Bell Academy
Coach Marty Euverard is the head coach of the football team of this school. He was one of the most sought after coaches for this prestigious all-boys private school and took this job earlier this year.

He asked me come share during one of their devotions. I felt I had a word from the Lord to their football team. I know it help bring their team to a new level.

I have now been their the last 3 weeks speaking in their devotions, in the locker rooms, on the bus, and traveling with the team. God is doing some amazing things on this football team and am really humbled and honored by the opportunity to serve them.

They are now in the playoffs with 3 straight great wins.

Personal Discipleship

Samantha started meeting with one of our middle-schoolers for personal discipleship. Gabrielle has such a deep love for Jesus and is hungry to know more about His Word.

She is so mature beyond her years and really amazed by her desire to know her Creator. They will continue to meet on a regular basis and Samantha hopes slowly bring other girls in.

I'm so proud of my amazing wife for her commitment to make disciples.

This month has been amazing and we truly couldn't do this without you. God is so faithful.

We are falling more and more in love with Jesus everyday and pray that you are too. I hope this blesses you as you have been such an incredible blessing to us.

We love you,

Robert and Samantha

We could not have done all of this without the faithful partnership of family and friends. Your support through prayers and finances go a long way. We are grateful beyond words. If you are interested in ways to partner with what God is doing in Nashville, please click here.

Carried to Completion (September 2011): My Favorite Month

2011-10-18T05:07:00.001+08:00

Dear Faithful Family, Friends, and Partners:

Again, we pray that all is well with you and your families. We would love to hear from you and know what you have been up to.

If there are any prayer requests that you have, please, please, please let us know how we can be praying specifically for you.

It brings us such great delight to share all the great things that God did in the month of September. I must say that September is one of my favorite months, if not my absolute favorite.

Part of it is because my birthday is this and I always get so spoiled with birthday greetings and well wishes.

It also marks a new season as we approach the fall. It is going to be our first time celebrating the fall here in Nashville.

We can already see the gorgeous trees changing colors. I have a feeling that this is going to be our favorite season. The views are absolutely breathtaking.

So much went down in September and here are some of the highlights:

RUSH MIDDLE SCHOOL

We did a 3-part series called 3 Battlegrounds: The Tongue, The Mind, The Heart. It was a great success and it was great to see our middle schoolers getting it.

There is so much passion and destiny with this special bunch. I learn so much from them.

I love how they approach God's word with such child-like faith. I think we all need to be reminded of that.

We absolutely love these kids. We always look forward to seeing them every week.

We are hoping we can find a way to spend time with them outside of Sunday morning. We are planning on doing a gathering once a month outside of church where we can all just be kids again and have fun.

So encouraged every week by their faith and obedience.

RUSH HIGH SCHOOL

God is continuing to do some amazing things with RUSH. WE started a series called INKED (the marks of a disciple).

We are doing a 5-week study on the book of James.

A lot of great things are happening. More and more students are coming and inviting their friends which is always a good thing. It seems like they all look forward to Sunday evenings.

5TH QUARTER

We had our second 5TH QUARTER. We bought a ping-pong table and some other games that students could also do. There were also several musical performances. We had so much fun!

SOME OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

My favorite highlight of the month has to do with my incredible wife. She made me cry like I haven't cried in such a long time.

It was Sept. 24th, the day before my birthday. I wasn't having the best day, for selfish reasons.

Anyways, we had one of the most tiring weekends that we have had thus far. We had 5th Quarter on the 23rd and I didn't get home until 3:00am. I had to stay back and get the place ready for our Men's Breakfast the following morning.

Long story short....we decided to go to the church and rest, pray, and she had a meeting at 6pm. When I woke up from taking a nap, she gently layed her hands on me and started praying for me.

I could feel the presence of God with us as she passionately prayed for her husband and thanked God for me. I have never ever felt a prayer that strong.

She prayed for me for about 20 minutes straight as we listened to praise and worship music in the back ground. It was one of those divine moments in my life that I will never forget... but it doesn't stop there.

She gives me a card that says my first present. I thought it was a gift card or something.

What was in the card, immediately brought me back to tears....She wrote, I will help lead worship the following day at RUSH.

Samantha has been praying about serving God through worship. And since RUSH landed on my birthday that it would be nice gift for me.

The 6pm meeting she was talking about was actually a rehearsal. I was so moved and she did an amazing job.

I was so proud of her. More importantly I know her Heavenly Father was smiling down on her.

I never wanted to pressure her into being on the worship team, I knew it was going to be just a matter of time that God spoke to her. I was so blessed.

MY BIRTHDAY

I never felt so much love and appreciation than I did on my birthday. I received cards from some of the students and our volunteers.

I received countless birthday greetings. I was just amazed by all the new and wonderful people that God had brought into my life since I moved to Nashville.

We then drove to Nebraska to spend it with my parents where I continued to feel the love.

God is so good and continues to amaze me by His love and faithfulness. He truly overwhelms me.

I can't stop smiling even as I am typing. I pray that you are experiencing His love in greater and greater measures.

Thank you for your commitment to help make disciples in the next generation.

We look forward to hearing from you and let us know how life has been at your end.

PRAYER REQUESTS

RUSH Franklin's Costume Party
A fall outreach on the high school students in the Franklin community.

CANDYLAND
A harvest festival on October 31st as an outreach to children on Halloween night. RUSH Middle School is part of this event and we look forward to them inviting their friends to church.

Community Service
In the next few weeks, we will be teaching the students about service and blessing the community with their time. We are passionate about instilling a culture of giving in the next generation and we hope that it changes their lives. We always pray that students continue to grow in their relationship with God and be filled with boldness of their devotion to Jesus.

Financial Partnership
Thank you for being so faithful with the opportunity to invest financially and prayerfully in the lives of the next generation of Nashville. Your obedience to sow into God's Kingdom is truly making an impact.

We are believing that there will be more people like you who willingly make sacrifices in order to make this ministry possible.

Thank you for always standing with us -- so that beautiful, young souls can be true disciples of Jesus Christ.

Love always,
Robert and Samantha

If you would like to know more about being a part of our partnership team, please click here to know more. We really appreciate you.

Carried to Completion (August 2011): Greetings from Music City!

2011-09-28T03:30:00.001+08:00

Greetings from Music City!

How are you? I pray all is well with you, your family, and loved ones.

We are doing great and loving Nashville more and more. I feel like we are starting to feel settled.

We are meeting some amazing people and have gotten to somewhat of a routine. So much has been going since school has started.

We are grateful for all the open doors that God has been giving us. We really couldn’t be any happier.

Here is an update on God's faithfulness in the month of August as we reach out to our next generation.

RUSH MIDDLE SCHOOL

The middle school service has been growing rapidly. It has been an absolute blast working with our students in middle school.

We have been incorporating worship, and it’s been great seeing them singing praises and worshiping God.

Also, it’s really neat to see the relationships that are being built.

One kid named Dorian looks forward to seeing his friends every Sunday. He says "They are like my brothers."

They always have their arms around each other. It is absolutely adorable.

VOLUNTEER RETREAT

We had a great opportunity to going to a friends lake house and stayed overnight. It was fun fellowshipping and going over what has been going on with our youth.

We couldn’t do what we are doing without a great team. So blessed to be surrounded with leaders who are really passionate about the next generation.

GIRLS PHOTO SHOOT

A couple of girls Reagan Stovenour and Valerie Tewell who both attend RUSH had a desire to do a photo shoot for the young ladies. They had the heart to dedicate a day celebrating beauty.

Valerie loves doing make-up and Reagan really loves photography.

They had mentioned doing something like that at camp, and it was great for the girls to have that time. Again, the friendships that are being established is one of our greatest joys.

People who never met before we started RUSH are now building genuine Christ-Centered friendships.

5TH QUARTER

We had a soft launch of an outreach we call 5th Quarter. We wanted to give students a safe place to come after the football games on Friday nights.

It was a success and we look forward to building on it. The parents are excited about this and are looking for more ways to get involved.

WOMEN’S PRAYER WALK AND BREAKFAST

A couple of the women who work at RUSH decided to get together and have a prayer walk. It was a huge success and they are planning on doing it every month.

The students are really blessed to have these ladies going out of their way to pray for them and desire to be more Christ in the way that they lead.

Please continue to pray for this group and that more women volunteers will be able to join this monthly prayer breakfast.

PHILIPPINE LEGENDS TOUR

I had the great privilege of traveling to Memphis and play with some PBA (Philippine Basketball League) Legends. We are able to conduct a basketball clinic and play an exhibition game against a select team from the Memphis area.

It was so much fun to see all the Filipinos. It was like we were in Manila.

RUSH (High School)

RUSH Sunday evenings is growing and growing. We just finished a series called '3-D.'

We wanted to revisit our core values. Devotion, Diversity, and Discipleship.

We couldn’t be happier where things are going. God has been answering our prayers.

We prayed to have a worship leader who was anointed and had a pure heart of worship. Praise God we have one now.

Her name is Kelsie Saison and she is a freshman at Belmont University. Her parents, John and Jan Saison, were missionaries to the Philippines and are now based in Nashville.

We have been incorporating praise and worship the last month, and it has really brought us to another level. It brings us so much joy, to see our youth singing and worshipping God with all of their hearts.

God is bringing more leaders, and you can feel and sense the joy on the hearts of the students.

WATER BAPTISMS
This brings the most joy to us. There is nothing more beautiful when we see our youth make a public declaration that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior.

We had our first water baptisms and we had 5 of our youth get baptized and surrendered their hearts to the Lord. PRAISE GOD for changed lives!!!

FRIENDS VISITING
On a personal side, we have had a some of our great friends to come visit.

Jennifer Powell, Miro Bruan, Trisha Ingram, and Lamont Waters have all come. So glad to be able to show them and allow them to experience Nashville and seeing what God is doing here.

Our friend Trisha loved it so much, she is moving here next month. She is moving from San Diego. Yeah, you read it right, beautiful San Diego.

Only God could do something like that.

God is on the move in Nashville and we are so grateful to be here. Thank you that you never cease to joyfully be a part of this journey.

PRAY FOR US
We are here in Nebraska visiting our parents as well as raising support. We will be on the road in the next couple of weeks believing for God's provision as we reach the next generation in Nashville, TN.

We are in the middle of re-building our partnership team as we urgently need to raise a minimum of $1500 of monthly support by December of this year.

Please pray about joining our monthly partnership team. If you would like to know more about what we are doing here in Nashville, we would love to meet with you. If you would like to know ways where you can be a part of the team, please click here.

LET'S CONNECT
Please let us know how we can be praying for you specifically. We cannot do this without you. It brings us so much joy when we hear from you!

We love you,
Robert and Samantha

Carried to Completion (July 2011): An Amazing God

2011-08-26T23:52:00.001+08:00

Greetings from Nashville!

How are you doing? We pray all is well with you and your family, and that you are growing in the knowledge and grace in our precious Lord Jesus Christ.

We are absolutely thrilled to share with you about this amazing month.

2 Corinthians 10:17 says "Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord."

So let me take a moment and boast how amazing God is. He simply leaves us in awe.

He is so loving, so faithful, so patient, so sovereign, so so so good.

This month was really life changing for me. I have seen God move powerfully before, but I have never been a a part of something like this.

So much has happened this month that I feel like I can write a novel about how amazing God is. We thank you from the bottom of our heart for partnering with us on this journey.

We truly couldn't be here and do this without you.

UNITE Church Plant in Alabama
I had the privilege to go to help be a part of new church plant we are starting at the University of Alabama. It was in response to the victims of the tornado, and students at the school wanted to see God move on there campus.

This was the first time I have ever been a part of something like this. It was quite an experience.

I met a guy named Courtney and invited him to the event. God touched Courtney in a way, and his friend that he had brought gave her life to the Lord. It was a great experience.

RUSH Summa' Camp 2011

I feel like everything this month revolved around summer camp. I have never been a part of a youth camp like this before, let alone co-leading it.

This camp really changed my life and I believe confirmed my calling not only as a missionary, but as a youth pastor. If you would like to know more in detail on what happened to camp, please click here.

Every Nation North American Conference 2011 (DREAM)

The Dream Conference was amazing. We had it at Disney World's Swan Resort.

The conference was so powerful. It was so good seeing old friends and meeting new ones as well.

I must say the highlight of the our time in Orlando happened at Disney Hollywood Studios. Samantha overcame a fear of singing in front of people.

She auditioned for the American Idol Experience. She ended up passing all the auditions, winning a show, and performing in front of thousands for the grand finale.

She didn't win, but I don't think I have ever been so proud of her. She is now in the process of being on worship team at church.

RUSH Franklin
God has been blessing Rush Franklin. We had a series that went extremely well called POP.

It was about the influence of pop culture and how to honor God in a time when media greatly influences the decisions that we make.

Week 1: Take every thought captive.
How everything has a voice and how we should be mindful and aware that everyone is preaching a message.

Week 2: When in doubt don't do.
God has given us His Holy Spirit to remind us of who we are in Christ. He has given us a conscience and we should all be sensitive to that.

Week 3: Set your guardrails.
How we should set up guardrails or boundaries in our lives. Ephesians 5:15 says, "Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise."

We are done with our first phase of RUSH. We are excited about what the Lord is doing.

He is building His church and more and more students are showing up. Genuine relationships are being built and it brings us so much joy seeing God at work in their lives.

Where We Are Going
Please pray for us as we transition into the second phase of our launch. We are going to include more worship, and have more structure in our weekly gatherings.

We just started a series called 3D, where we will dig deeper into our core values:
Devotion, Diversity, Discipleship.

We know in our hearts that God wants to bless and use RUSH Franklin to be a beacon of light in the community. It will only happen through fervent prayer and us being united.

Please continue to pray and pray and pray for us as we start the school year.

PRAYER POINTS

Protection
We know there is a spiritual war going on in the lives of the students, the enemy is not excited about what God is doing in the hearts of our youth.

Prayer Shield
I can't stress this enough. Prayer is the answer, we need people to join and intercede for us.

Provision
With the school year approaching, it requires more costs to be able to reach out to all the middle and high school students in Franklin. We need to raise an extra $1,000 per month to help sustain us and continue to be able to sow into these young lives . If you would like to know more about being a partner in this student ministry, please click here.

We are so grateful for your support as we go through this wonderful journey. We always thank God for you and how you find ways to encourage us. It is such a beautiful thing to do this for the Kingdom with each and everyone of you!

Robert and Samantha

Changed Lives: RUSH Summa' Camp 2011

2011-08-10T22:57:00.002+08:00

This year's RUSH Summa' Camp has really changed my life. I have never been a part of camp like this before.

This was my first time trying to co-lead this as well with Pastor Michael "Verbs" Boyer. I honestly think I could write a book of all the miraculous things that when on that weekend.

The spiritual warfare that took place, lives being touched, bodies being healed, but more importantly hearts being restored, God moved in a way I have never seen before. It was simply amazing.

Over 100 campers came from all different walks of life, each one of them God touched in a powerful way. I truly believe it's a glimpse of what can happen when all different parts of the churches' body do their parts working together for one common goal.

The theme of the camp was "Freedom." We wanted to see each one of the campers truly be set free from the bondage of depression, insecurity, shame, guilt, lust, and unforgiveness.

It was amazing seeing to see the students truly see the light and be able to be delivered from the past.

Day 1

We arrived and split each one of the campers into four different tribes. Each tribe was responsible to come up with a team name, cheer, dance.

The evening worship service was AWESOME. We started off with a Freedom Train dance contest amongst the tribes. It was such a joy to see all the teams get really into it and how creative, and talented the students had.

One of our faithful youth leaders, Justin Chapman, shared a powerful message about freedom. Worship was absolutely amazing.

You could just feel God's presence. The word was powerful and many people committed and recommitted their lives to God.

Afterwards there was a Scavenger Hunt. Everyone had a blast. We couldn't have gotten off to a better start, and it was only the beginning.

Day 2
I couldn't sleep much and had a dream that kept me up. The dream was of pure violence.

I felt in my spirit that there was going to be spiritual warfare on that day, and the enemy was going to do everything in his power to discourage us.

We had a great morning of devotions and prayer. During our free time, our worship leader Michael Chapman was playing soccer. He ended up getting hit in his jaw which caused him not to be able to speak. He had to be rushed to the emergency room.

That day I just felt like we as a leadership team had to be alert and I had called for a prayer meeting before our evening worship session. I shared my dream and that I felt we needed to stand together in unity and we really had to pray.

We had the most powerful time of prayer. I have never been in a prayer meeting that intense, with a group of people on the same page, with one common goal. We all felt God move in a powerful way.

It really set the stage for that night. The energy was so high. The worship was amazing. We had a guest speaker who spoke a powerful word, and we made a challenge at the end.

We challenged the students if they really wanted to surrender their lives, that this was the time. If they were ready to give God 100% not just 90% or even 99%.

The presence of God fell on that place. Students were weeping and weeping.

I witnessed first-hand my first miracle, when I prayed for a girl who's back was in so much pain because she had hit a tree earlier in the day. I knew God wanted to heal her and had absolutely no doubt that He was going to do so. It was powerful.

We had an awesome game that we had prepared that evening, but due to a thunderstorm we couldn't follow through with it. We told everyone to back their cabins and just reflect on what God did that night. In ended up being a good way to end an evening filled with breakthroughs.

Day 3
Was more of a chill day. We had great devotions in the morning but wanted to let the campers enjoy the camp itself. There was a really nice creek that most of the campers went to.

We had a water-balloon fight that everyone enjoyed and I had a little basketball clinic in the morning as well.

We were very expectant for God to move once again on the last night. He did just that.

After worship we had a bonfire and we asked the students to testify. WOW, the students shared from their heart on some of the struggles and what God had set them free from.

It was amazing to hear the stories. It was so sobering to hear some of the students who were cutting themselves, and being free from depression.

There are so many stories that I could still share but wanted to leave with one of the girls who attended camp.

Here is Kez Tabelisma's story.

The Freedom Train - Rush Camp 11'
(My Testimony)

The last few days spent at Rush Summa' Camp 2011 was full of excitement, great fun and games, a crazy zip-line, amazing worship sessions, and testimonies that will melt your heart. I made tons of new friends and grew relationships with the friends I had before camp. Many lives were changed and people were set free from all the baggage they've been holding onto for years. I came into camp not knowing what to expect but knowing that God would do miraculous things in many people's lives. Little did I know that He was stirring something deep inside of my heart that I had never gotten rid of.

Click here to read more

We consider it a blessing and a privilege to see these young men and women surrender their lives to Jesus Christ. We ask that you continue to stand with us in prayers as we help them grow in their faith.

We love you so much,
Robert and Samantha

If you would like to hear to more testimonies given by the students after RUSH Summa' Camp, please click here to listen.

If you share the vision of this student ministry and would like to be a part of what God is doing in the young men and women of Franklin, please click here for more information.

SUMMA CAMP

2011-07-14T20:12:00.001+08:00

John 8:36-So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.

Over 100 students are attending camp the next 3 days. I truly believe it will mark many of them for the rest of their lives. The theme of this camp is called FREEDOM. Our hope and prayer is that each person attending camp will get a revelation of who the Son and the Father truly is, and they will be able to truly walk in victory and freedom in every area of their lives.

Please pray for the following:
1. SAFETY/PROTECTION-
2. UNITY-amongst the leaders and students
3. GOD'S PRESENCE
4. ANYTHING that comes to your mind. We just need you to PRAY.

Lastly, I beg you to take some time in the next 3 days to really pray and intercede for us. I am reminded by the story in Acts 12 where Peter was in prison. And the church was earnestly praying for him. Many of these students are in prisons of their own, and we need to join together to see them set free.

Can't wait to share with you the great reports,
Robert and Samantha

Carried to Completion (June 2011): Embracing Summer in Nashville

2011-06-30T11:35:00.003+08:00

Greetings from Nashville!

We just wanted to give you another monthly update on what God is doing here in Nashville, TN.

Every month it seems to just keep getting better and better. God continues to amazes us.

Thank you for being a integral part of what is happening here. We truly could not have done it without you.

RUSH (High School)

We just concluded a sermon series called The Gospel According to Bieber. It was a lot of fun.

It was great to see the students embrace the messages.

Week 1:

Baby

(Growing up spiritually)

Week 2:

Eeenie Meenie

(Being intentional about including and loving others)

Week 3:

Somebody to Love

(The love of the Father)

Week 4:

Movie Night: Never Say Never

RUSH (Middle School)

It has been a joy seeing our middle schoolers enjoying the services. We have doubled in size due to some of the students going into middle school this year. Dave and Mandy Derocher have been a huge help and we have come so far because of their willingness to be a blessing to RUSH Middle. They, too, are full-time missionaries with Every Nation.

TRIBENIGHT Water Fight

Our TRIBENIGHT outreach activity continued in the month of June. We were supposed to do a 5K fun run but it was way too hot. We decided to have a water fight instead. It was a lot of fun and we were able to raise money for STOP CHILD TRAFFICKING NOW.

SUMMA' SLAM

We had a fundraiser so that we may be able generate additional funding for this year's Summa' Camp. Over 200 people came and we were able to raise over $1000 for the camp. God came through for us big time!

Couples Potluck

Every month we have a potluck for all the new young couples who want to get connected with other couples in the church. There was a great turnout.

Youth Life Learning Center Golf Tournament

As you know I absolutely love golf. And I love it even more when it's for a good cause. We didn't win the tourney but we sure had fun. Met the Tennessee Titans' new quarterback Jake Locker. Being from Nebraska and being a Husker fan, I had to let him know how much I didn't appreciate him beating us in the Holiday Bowl :-)

Being in Nashville hasn't been the easiest, but it sure is so fulfilling. I am being stretched in so many ways like I have never been stretched before.

At times I feel as if I am over my head and that I am not qualified to do what I am doing. But I am always reminded by this quote "God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called."

Everyday I am humbled, grateful, and excited for what God is going to do. I also get super encouraged by you. Your love, support, comments, and prayers keep us going. We will continue to fight the good fight of faith and help reach these students for Jesus.

Praise Report:

Samantha received her green card in the mail today. The interview and approval process went by very smoothly. Another confirmation this is exactly where God wants us to be.

We love and appreciate you more than you know,

Robert and Samantha

Yes, you can be a part of our ministry team! We would love for you to be involved in making a difference in the city of Franklin, Tennessee and bringing in a new harvest of young believers. Please click here for more information.

I Lift My Hands by Chris Tomlin

2011-06-07T01:29:00.003+08:00

Carried to Completion (June 2011): Summa Time!

2011-06-03T04:33:00.000+08:00

School is out and summer is definitely here. It is HOT!!!

It seems like the month of May went by so fast. In the midst of a very busy month, we continue to be amazed by the faithfulness of God.

We just concluded our series Run 2 Win. It went really well.

Our series was built around 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. As school was ending we wanted to encourage our students to finish the year strong.

Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

We broke it up in 3 parts:

Prize

Discipline

Purpose

We also have started to doing sermon-based small group material that go along with the preaching. These small groups (HUBS) convene right after the sermon.

Last Sunday night we decided to honor our seniors who graduated. I asked Nathan Mingus to share of one thing he would have done differently if he was given the chance to do it all over again.

His answer was sobering, He said that it would have been to seek God more and spend more time in His word, and prayer.

I was so encouraged. He has been offered a scholarship to Oral Roberts University.

He then finished with a song. One of my favorites from Chris Tomlin "Our God."

He did a fantastic job and then we prayed for him as a youth group.

We also prayed for Megan Konyn as she is getting ready to go to China on a missions trip to serve in an orphanage.

Here are some other highlights that took place in the month of May:

1. TRIBENIGHT Volleyball

Once a month we are doing an outreach activity called TRIBENIGHT. An outreach that encourages our students to invite their friends who have not attended church.

We played volleyball this month. It was a blast.

2. Page High Outreach

We invited the Page High School football team to our church for a Night of Champions. Former NFL All Pro Linebacker Al Smith shared and encouraged the student athletes.

The head coach goes to our church and has a heart to reach his team for Christ. It was great to meet the players and I have been in contact and hanging out with some of them.

Believing God for great things this next football season.

3. Softball

Every Wednesday Night we are having a game of softball. Eventually we want to make it a league. About 30 people came out last week.

Praise Reports

New monthly partners. It is a blessing to have more people on this team!
Several students went on a "Ten Days Baja Missions Experience." Can't wait to hear their testimonies.
A good number of students have openly expressed desire to be involved in a small group during the summer.

Prayer Requests

For the success of monthly TRIBENIGHT activities. That more new high school students will show up and get connected.
For an excellent turnout on our family fundraising activity for the youth summer camp.
For the wisdom to effectively organize the summer camp taking place in July.
For God's clear direction as we plan activities in the fall.
For breakthroughs and changed lives in small groups.
For Samantha's first interview with immigration on her permanent resident application.
Raise the remaining 40% of our monthly financial support goal.

Thank you for allowing us to stand in the gap for the next generation in Franklin, TN. It is a great pleasure working with you and fulfilling God's vision to make disciples.

Carried to Completion (May 2011)

2011-05-19T23:21:00.000+08:00

I can't believe we are approaching our fourth month here in Nashville. Again, thank you for all your love and support.

Together we are truly making a difference.

This past month God not only has showered this city with rain, but I feel that He is definitely pouring out His spirit on this city.

So many great things have happened this month and here is recap of what of what took place in the month of April.

Started our couples small group.

Took some high school kids to watch the Lecrae concert.

Started RUSH Middle School.

The launch of a monthly discipleship training for leaders of Bethel Franklin called MAKE 1.

A Good Friday outreach at the Boys and Girls Club in Franklin.

The first annual RUSH Easter Barbecue.

Easter Sunday in Bethel Franklin.

As school is winding down we are so excited about our current sermon series entitled "Run 2 Win." The messages are based on 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, which is targeted to encourage students to finish strong in the last leg of their school year.

We are humbled by the fact that Jesus is indeed building His Kingdom here in Franklin, TN! We consider it an honor to be chosen by a great and faithful God to be used in making a difference in the next generation. Furthermore, it gives us pure joy to be able to do this because of your support. Your prayers and financial gifts do go a long way!

Prayer Points:

Samantha's initial interview with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will take place on June 21st in Memphis, TN.
The planning of a summer camp for RUSH high school and middle school.
Life groups to be birthed among high school and middle school students especially during the summer break.
Additional committed volunteers and life group leaders to minister to the students.
An increase in monthly financial partnerships. More information can be found here.

Thank you for your partnership! Together, we are helping build a new generation for Jesus.

Carried to Completion (April 2011) : Where Did The First Quarter Go?

2011-04-14T02:55:00.000+08:00

I can't believe it's already been three months since we have been here in Nashville. God has done so many great things and continues to just overwhelm us with His faithfulness.

Thank you so much for all your love and support. We truly couldn't do it without you partnering with us prayerfully and financially.

RUSH Franklin
We have officially launched our youth service every Sunday evening. Currently we have around 30 young people joining us every weekend. Every week there are new faces and students are bringing their friends. I look forward to continue to see what God does in and through Rush Franklin.

We have an incredible team of leaders (some college students and some professionals) who just have a heart to reach the next generation. We are so grateful that they make themselves available!

If you would like to see more photos from recent high school services, please visit RUSH Franklin's Facebook page.

RUSH Middle
We also started our middle school service. We pull the middle schoolers out of our Sunday worship services. We preach the same message but just contextualize it for middle schoolers specifically. We had 8 students our first meeting, and 12 students in the second meeting. I love small and humble beginnings.

I dislike mentioning the number of students because it's never about how many people show up. I just want you to get an idea of how many students are getting impacted on a weekly basis.

Campus Harvest
It was as an absolute blast. We are already brainstorming on how we can do something similar for our middle and high schoolers.

If you would like to read a quick recap on my experience in Campus Harvest, please click here.

AAU
Twice a week I help train and coach one of the top AAU basketball teams in Nashville. The Nashville Contenders is comprised of top juniors from various schools around the area. It's been fun working with them not only instilling athletic skills, but life skills as well.

Prayer Requests
First, we are praying for more workers to help us make each middle school and high school service a success. We are so grateful to those who have been coming and helping us out. We would love to see more people join our team so that we may be able to reach more students.

Second, Samantha and I plan to meet with our team members regularly so that we may be able to encourage each other as we lead these students. We hope to continue to emphasize how important it is to reach out to these kids other than on Sundays. We are praying that each of us are all sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading as to who we will reach out to. Our prayer is that we see all youth leaders taking an active role in discipling the next generation.

Third, we would love to see the hearts of these students to be open to meet in weekly life groups and be discipled. We ask that you pray that nothing will hinder the kids from knowing more about Jesus Christ and give their lives to Him.

Fourth, do stand with us in prayer in the area of partnership development. As missionary youth ministers that relocated from Manila to Nashville, we are realizing the need to raise more funds because of the dramatic increase in the cost of living. This is a challenge that we face daily. The good news is we are already at 50% of our target monthly financial support. We are praising God for that! We are believing that more people will believe in the vision that God gave us in reaching out to the youth in Nashville. This will help us greatly as we do the work that God called us to do. If you need to find out on how to give, please click here.

Let's Stay Connected
Again, we love you and look forward to hearing from you. If you have any prayer requests, stories to share, updates on your lives, feedback, and words of encouragement, please send us an e-mail.

We can also stay connected through our website, Facebook group and Twitter. Thank you for your faithful support and partnership. You are the reason why we continue to impact the next generation with the love of Jesus. Together we are making a difference.

RUSH Franklin Launched Its First Youth Service

2011-03-16T03:34:00.001+08:00

March 13, 2011 is a very special day.

We launched our very first youth service in Bethel Franklin.

1 Timothy 4:12
Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.

This is the verse that I believe the Lord has given me and for RUSH Franklin. To raise up a generation of youth who will be examples in their homes, schools, and every place they set foot.

Here is a recap of what we did.

Frisbee and Football!

FOOD! Thanks to Jet's Pizza for hooking us up.

Human Bingo! Great ice-breaker game that encouraged everyone to engage each other.

There was some youth who I met for the first time so I shared my testimony and explained our core values of Devotion, Diversity, and Discipleship.

We divided ourselves into small discussion groups and prayed.

Things I learned and am grateful for

#1: TEAM

I am so grateful that God surrounds me with amazing people who really make it all happen. It was encouraging to see the people who wanted to help out. Finding the right team is critical and was overwhelmed by the volunteers and leaders there wanting to serve.

#2: LEADERSHIP
God is stretching me and given me a new role of leadership. I know by His grace this will be a success and I will continue to grow as this kind of leader.

#3: CLARIFYING THE WIN

A win for us has to be filtered through our core values:

DEVOTION, DIVERSITY, DISCIPLESHIP

Was Christ exalted and was He the hero tonight?

Yes.

Was there diversity?

Yes, we had Hispanic, Indian, Brazilian, Filipino, Black, and White.

As well as some mixed breeds just like me!

Was there a focus on making disciples?

Yes. Had a great small group discussion and prayer. Also, we believe that discipleship is relationship and it was so good to see relationships being established.

I couldn't have asked for a better start. I believe it was because of prayer and only because I could feel the Holy Spirit's presence. To God be the Glory.

Carried to Completion (March 2011): A Month of Celebrations!

2011-03-08T04:28:00.000+08:00

Dear Faithful Partners, Family and Friends:

February is a real special month for us. Love was definitely permeating in the air. Not only did we celebrate Valentine's Day, Samantha and I celebrated our 4-year anniversary on the 24th and her 35th birthday on the 25th. We honestly haven't been happier in our marriage. It really feels it gets better every year.

We knew going into this month would be very important for us to build relationally with families, youth, and other pastors in the city of Franklin. This was the focus of Phase 1 in building the youth ministry in Bethel Franklin. God has been with us every step of the way. When you know you are in the center of God's will, things divinely happen. He places the right people in our lives in order to accomplish His plan. He continues to amaze me. It really is an honor for us to serve Him with you.

We are now going into Phase 2 which is launching the youth group. We are so excited to let you know that we are finally launching our first youth gathering on March 13th. We will be meeting every Sunday evening at 6 p.m.

There are currently about 15 high school students that are committed to attending. We know God will grow it but it's a good number to start.

I'm excited to keep you posted and tell all the wonderful things that God is doing in and through these students.

I humbly ask all of you to please pray for these schools:

Battle Ground Academy: The head football coach is a member of our church and he has given me the freedom to come and minister to his players but most importantly build relationally.

Centennial High School: We also have open doors in this school. Centennial is considered the most diverse high school in all of Williamson County. I have met the football coach and principal of the school. We also have an ongoing leadership course for the Hispanic kids at the high school. There is currently 75 kids that attend this class.

Ravenwood High School: We have students at our church that attend this school. Ravenwood is one of the more affluent schools in Williamson County. We are excited about what God is doing in this school as well. I have met the vice principal of the school. He has visited our church a few times.

Page High School: Page High School is a lot like Centennial. We have several kids that go to this school. I have been asked to come speak to the football team with another one of our pastors.

Franklin High School: Franklin High is a lot like Ravenwood where it is a more affluent school. We have a couple of students that attend this school.

We are believing God to make Himself known in these schools and the lives of the high school students that go there. Our biggest prayer is that we will have a strong presence at each one of these schools.

The foundations that we want to establish are as follows.

Devotion: We want to be a youth group that is completely devoted to Christ.

Diversity: We know God has called us to have a colorful youth group. We already have blacks, whites, asians, and hispanics that are attending. It is a beautiful vision to see all these kids collectively worshipping Jesus regardless of color.

Discipleship: Discipleship is the heart of our ministry. We want not only to be a disciple, but to make disciples as well. We strongly believe that 'discipleship is relationship.'

Thank again for all your love and support. We truly couldn't do this without all of your sacrifice, encouragement, love, prayer and financial support.

As we are starting to settle into Nashville we are realizing that we need more partners. During the transition we have lost 4 of our biggest financial supporters for various and understandable reasons. Please pray that God would increase our support this month. We are looking forward to partnering more people who believe in making a difference in the lives of the next generation.

We can't wait to touch base with you again and let you know the praise reports from the first youth meeting! Thank you that you are a part of this journey.

We love you and appreciate you so much,
Robert and Samantha

First Month in the 'Ville!

2011-02-08T07:14:00.000+08:00

"In their hearts humans plan their course,

but the LORD establishes their steps."

WE LOVE NASHVILLE.

The first month in Nashville has been so smooth. So much has happened the past 3 weeks. We are 100% certain that this is where God has called us and it gives us great joy to be here.

The people here have just been amazing. Southern hospitality at it's finest. We get spoiled in the Philippines because it is ingrained in the culture to be hospitable. But so far, here in Nashville it's been a close second!

We are so thrilled to start our youth service at Bethel (Franklin). Our biggest priority has been to connect with as many parents and youth as possible to get a feel of the needs here. The parents and the youth are really excited about what has been happening.

We will officially launch the youth service in about 5 to 6 weeks. We are planning on going to YOUTH PASTOR SUMMIT 2011 in Orlando, Florida at the end of the month; and when we come back, we plan to get it started.

Here are some of the highlights in the month of January:

Our new apartment: We love our place. It is perfect for us right now and is only 5 minutes from the office.

Paul Rohrer: Love this young man. It's been great spending time with Paul. Paul has dreams of being a missionary.

Syrus Jenkins: Syrus's dad played for the Titans and it's been great spending time with him. He was contemplating going back to California his senior year, but he told me that he feels that God wants him to stay now. He has dreams of playing college football.

The Chapmans: Love this family, they welcomed us in with open arms and invited us for a South African meal. Bobotie was delicious!

Battle Ground Academy: God opened up a door for me to speak at an FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) chapel. I was able to share my testimony and challenged the students to surrender everything to God.

Rush (Bethel Brentwood): I have been going around town getting a feel of the different youth services. One of them is at the Wednesday evening youth service in our sister church in Brentwood. They are doing a fantastic job and I am learning a lot!

Chris and Angel Stovenour: Love this family. They are have been leaders in our church and have been praying for a youth pastor. They have a 14-year-old daughter Reagan who sings on the worship team. They had us over for dinner and has expressed their desire to open up their beautiful home to help serve the youth.

We are so excited to be here and serving here. God is continuing to open up doors and opportunities to share His love.

Thank you so much for being a part of this journey with us, together we are truly making a difference. We love you!

If you would like to know more about being involved as a partner in our high school ministry in Franklin, Tennessee, please click on this link for more information.

New Year, New Beginnings

2011-01-12T08:14:00.000+08:00

We are delighted to be in touch with you at this time: the beginning of the new year! We trust that you had a wonderful holiday season and you are as excited about this new year as we are.

We pray that you are all filled with hope and anticipation of how God will show His faithfulness in your lives in 2011. We consider it a privilege to witness your breakthroughs as we life you up in prayer and see how your journey with the Lord unfolds.

Thank you for standing with us prayerfully and financially on this journey. We love you.

NEW YEAR, NEW BEGINNINGS

Samantha and I were all set to go back to the Philippines this month. Ministry was going great and; God was continuing to open up doors for us there. We love the Philippines and thought we could have been there forever.

However, the Holy Spirit made it clear that He has other plans for us. Samantha and I will be leaving for Nashville, Tennessee tomorrow. We will be settling there indefinitely.

I will be working with a new church plant in Franklin, Tennessee. I will be working as their youth pastor. The name of the new church plant is Bethel. Bethel is part of Every Nation Churches.

A new set of good challenges are presenting themselves as I take on this role. There is no existing youth group in this church campus. However, it is surrounded by six different high schools -- filled with young people who need to know and hear the Gospel.

After prayer and seeking counsel, I know wholeheartedly that this is where God wants us to be. He confirmed it in my heart and in Samantha's heart individually and jointly. I believe that God has been preparing us for this time.

We couldn't be more excited about going to Nashville. We know it's not going to be easy and is probably going to be one of the most challenging things we have done thus far. We are looking forward to many opportunities to learn, be challenged, and to grow in our faith.

WE NEED YOUR PRAYERS

Today, we humbly express to you that we need your prayers more than ever. We hope that you stand with us in the following prayer points.

Prayer: Prayer is essential. We are really trusting God that He will give us prayer partners who will faithfully intercede for us. We value it so much and we know that we can't do without it.

Provision: Being in a new church plant there is no salary that is being offered at the moment. There is no room in the budget for a full-time staff member. In fact, the senior pastor is not taking a salary either. But one thing that is for sure, we are in faith that this is what God wants us to do.

Power: Samantha and I also want to experience God's power like we never have experienced it before. We are believing that signs and wonders will follow us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Please pray Acts 1:8 over us, so that we may truly be anointed witnesses.

Purity: Pray for us that we will continue to walk in purity & holiness before God. Pray for purity and holiness in our lives. Please pray Job 31:1 over me, Samantha and our marriage.

Protection: That we will continue to be protected from the enemy's schemes. That no weapon formed against us will prosper: physically, mentally and spiritually.

Thank you that you continue to be part of this story. Thank you for partnering with us. We can't express our gratitude enough. Without you we cannot do what we are doing and we are grateful. We don't say that lightly, we know that many of you are sacrificially giving to support us. Know that we love you and are praying
for you as well.

Have a spirit-filled new year!

A life of Thanks, A life of Giving. Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-30T07:53:00.012+08:00

Greetings from freezing cold Omaha, Nebraska. I can smell the winter, and boy o' boy, can we feel it! Although the winter has been really mild compared to last year, the wind-chill still reaches zero degrees. Samantha is struggling with the weather and is definitely not looking forward to the snow.

This past week has been another fruitful week for us. God is continuing to stretch our faith by the minute. I officiated my first funeral service last Monday. I really had no idea what I was doing, but with God's help we made it through. I haven't been to many funerals before. It sure was a first for me.

Lucy Novy was a family friend passed away. Her daughter Laura asked if I could officiate the funeral. Without hesitation I said yes, but figuring out how to do it was another story. If you remember a few years ago, we helped Laura with a fundraiser because she needed a kidney. We helped raised some funds for her due to her dialisis and expenses. She is still believing God for a new kidney. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

I also started working out with Pastor Walt Hooker at 5:00 a.m every day. I am on a mission to lose 11 pounds by 2011. The first week was brutal, but this time around is a little better. "No Pain, No Gain." right?

Finally, God really threw us a curve ball with ministry. As you know, we are all set to go to the Philippines in January. Really excited about ministry there and the doors that God is continuing to open. Thinking about the opportunities in Manila, gets us so excited. Then God, interrupts my plans, which He is good at doing :-)

I cannot go into all the details at this point but I want to ask for you to really hold us up in prayer. Instead of going directly to the Philippines in January. We might be going to Nashville for a season. I have been asked to consider being Youth Pastor working with high school students. They are relaunching an existing church plant and I believe it could be a great learning experience for us. We will be going to visit there next week and see if it will be a good fit.

As much as we would love to go to the Philippines, we feel this could be a great opportunity for us to be stretched and grow in the calling that God has for us. We are also not leaning on our own understanding and truly seeking God if He is telling us something. At the end of the day, what He wants is what matters most. I am sure this will be challenging, but I think it might be the very thing that we need.

Finally, we had an amazing Thanksgiving with our family and with Bellevue Christian Center, they had an amazing outreach called "Feed the Multitudes." We have so much to thankful for. God has truly been so faithful and continues to overwhelm us with His love and grace. We are also so thankful for you. Thank you for standing with us throughout all the different seasons of our journey. Thank you for believing in us. Thank you for all your encouragement, love, and support.

Together, we truly are making a difference. Together we can do our part to preach the Gospel in a hurting a dying world. We can't do it without you, so again we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

We love you,
Robert and Samantha

Bye Bye Fall, Hello Winter :-)

2010-11-25T01:41:00.000+08:00

Growing up in Nebraska, I always enjoyed having four seasons. Each of the seasons has something really special to offer.

Taken in Elmwood Park (Omaha, NE)

We are now finishing up fall and transitioning into winter. This has been such a memorable fall for us.

Just as we see the leaves change right before our very eyes, I feel like God is doing the same thing in our hearts. I feel like everything we have done so far has been preparing us for a winter harvest.

That's what we are believing God for. Here are some of the things that we have done the past couple of months since we got back to here to the States.

Ministry: God has opened up doors for preaching His word at these churches.

Church For The Nations: with Pastor Daniel Chan in West Covina, CA
Every Nation Memphis: with Pastor Ariel Untal in Bartlett, TN
Freedom Worship Center: with Pastor Jeff Booth in Omaha, NE
The Worship Center: with Dr. Stan Rone in Omaha, NE
Bellevue Christian Center: with Pastor Corey Demmel in Bellevue, NE

Every Nation Golf Outing: This was our first year for having this. I praise God for the favor and the response of the first outing. It was a big success and we hope on having one every year. The vast majority of the people who played were not believers, I was able to share my testimony and what God has called us to do in the Philippines.

Small Groups: We attend two couples small groups. We feel God is transitioning us into doing more ministry together for couples in the Philippines. We are like sponges learning and soaking up ideas.

Social Media: I thank God for Facebook and Twitter. There have been countless opportunities and people reaching out to us for cousel and prayer. A lot of meaningful conversations about Jesus over breakfast and coffee.

Road Trips: Samantha and I love road trips. What a great way to get away and talk, reflect, and dream together. We drove over 2,000 miles making stops in Kansas City, St. Louis, Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta, and Dallas.

Kansas City: The Payba Family. We absolutely love this family. We met them in Memphis back in 2008 and they have been supporting us ever since. They have a beautiful family!

St. Louis: The Sabic Family. Adnan is a native of Bosnia. We became friends in college and have remained good friends throughout the years. Him and his wife Adisa and their baby girl Ella.

Memphis: The Untal Family and The Vernacion Family and Every Nation Memphis Church. It feels like home whenever we are spending time with them.

Nashville: The Ansteys. Eddie and Amy are wonderful. We met in Manila back in 2007. The have sinced lived in Australia, and have decided to settle in Nashville, TN. They are expecting a baby girl early next year. Please pray for them.

It was also a lot of fun visiting the Every Nation office and catch up with our colleagues.

Atlanta: So good to see the Abuelita, Samantha's grand mother. She lives in Atlanta along with the cousins. It was so good to see family again, wish we could have stayed longer.

Dallas: The Cawl Family. Danny and I have been friends since elementary school. We played on the golf team together in High school. I was one of the groomsmen in his wedding. What a gorgeous wedding with beautiful new bride Carolina.

We also had the pleasure to make new friends from West Irving Church of God of Christ. The entire congregation prayed for us and we appreciate that loving gesture.

Catalyst Conference: ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! A good friend of ours Liz Claudio told us about the conference because she attended one in California. Samantha applied for a scholarship and we got it. FREE :-) We felt like we should make the trip because God wanted us to. We are so glad that we did. We never left a conference feeling so inspired and full of vision. The speakers were all so excellent but it was more than that. You could just feel God's presence so thick and strong. Worship was awesome. Everything about it was awesome.

Halloween: Trick or Treating vs Harvest Festival: Here is my blog post on Halloween. Samantha and I had such a great time going to the Apple Orchard. Picking and carving out pumpkins. We also was blown away for the church's alternative Harvest Festival. Any kid would have much rather gone to the festival. There were Pony Rides, lots of games, FOOD AND FUN. Wow, so glad to have our eyes opened up.

We Need Your Help!
Now as we approach this winter we are believing God for more open doors and opportunities to share His love and His word. We have 3 months left and we are also believing God that we will be fully funded at $3,000/ month before we head back to the Philippines so we can concentrate on what He has called us to do.

If you have been blessed by our ministry and would like to know more information about it, we would love the opportunity to meet with you and speak to you personally on how you could be involved. Also, if you know anyone that might be interested we would surely appreciate any referral. Thank you so much for all your love, prayers, and support.

Together we Can change the world. Together we can make a difference.

Pride Pride Go Away...

2010-10-27T01:27:00.000+08:00

In 2004, I reached a point in my journey walking with the Lord for 4 years feeling extremely lost, insecure, and hopeless. Yes I was living out a childhood dream of mine, but I knew in my heart that I haven't fully surrendered my life to the Lord. I was not happy with the person I had become and I cried out to the Lord asking Him to reveal what it was for me that was keeping me from totally surrendering everything to him.

He answered and it was the most liberating thing for me. I finally understood myself a little bit better and realized that I was one of the most proud, self-centered, and self-righteous person I have ever met. It was a tough thing for me to swallow, because I thought I was being a pretty good guy and doing a lot of my "Christian duties."

I can still remember to this day, it was my life was like a puzzle and the pieces of the puzzle were coming together and it made sense. My childhood came to life, certain decisions that I made, and seeing God's grace and mercy over my life brought me to a place of awe and amazement. But the thing that was even more amazing was the fact that despite all the things that I did, He chose to love me anyways.

Now that I am aware of my pride and believe me, I still have a lot of it. It is a cancer in my heart that I need the Lord to remove. So here are some verses that I try and pray over my life every day. Notice I say try...

James 4:10-Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

James 4:6~ The lord opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

Philippians 2:13 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”

My prayer for all of us, is that our pride will not get in the way of us experience all that God wants us to experience. Pride can be really sneaky, many people know they have it, but most don't realize they do. Lord help us...

My nephew Zachary

2010-10-26T01:27:00.002+08:00

(This is our family a few months at the airport before Samantha and I left for the Philippines. Zachary is the one with the blue shirt:-)

If you saw Zachary for the first time you would think he is a super normal kid. He loves to play sports, run, and he is quite the jokester. He is super smart and is very thoughtful and considerate. Only when you see him with his shirt off where you see his scars, or his war wounds as I call it.

He has a twin brother named Xavier who is a little bit bigger and older by a few minutes. Zachary is very protective of all his siblings and definitely is a Momma's boy. He is definately a leader.

When Xavier and Zachary were born they were both born with holes in their hearts. I am not quite sure of what the medical term is. They both had to have surgery but Xavier's body responded a better. He has pretty much fully recovered and is able to play full contact sport. Football is his passion.

Zachary on the other hand had to have several open heart surgeries and didn't recover as well as his older brother. Zachary too loves sports and loves his football but is unable to play full-contact due to his condition.

They both are quite the athletes and they love to run. I really believe it is a gift that God has given them both.

Zachary is due for a replacement in his stent that is in his heart because of his age. He had to undergo surgery this past Friday. Due to the complexity of the procedure the family drove to Miami to see the nations best heart doctor. They currently live in Jacksonville.

The surgery was long and real tedious. Because Zachary has small arteries, it was extremely difficult to place the new stent. His poor little heart tore and the doctors haven't been able to stop the bleeding.

We are praying for God to move miraculously like I know He can. I believe that he created man, and that He is the ultimate healer. We are believing that on little Zachary's report it will say Act of God and the doctors won't be able to explain what happened.

Thank you all for your prayers and please continue to stand with our family. We love you and appreciate you more than you know.

Catalyst East 2010 Conference: Lessons, Observations, and Highlights

2010-10-16T04:40:00.000+08:00

This update was written by Samantha -- taken from her blog: happysammy.com.

Robert and I just got back home here in Omaha, NE after a 2-week road trip. The biggest reason for this travel was because we were blessed with scholarships to a conference we have been wanting to go to: Catalyst East 2010 in Atlanta, GA.

We made several stops to different cities before reaching Georgia but when we finally got there, we were ready to take in the experience and learn from the minds of people who are changing the world for Jesus Christ. I have always heard how great Catalyst is but our time there completely exceeded our already high expectations.

The theme of this year's conference is: TENSION IS GOOD. Perfect for someone like me who cannot stand tension-filled situations and relationships!

Here are some lessons, observations, and highlights from that incredible week.

1) Funny emcees. I really enjoyed the leadership of these funny, gifted people: Reggie Joiner, Lanny Donoho, Ken Coleman, Tripp Crosby, and Tyler Stanton.

2) The Social Cause tent. We love knowing about projects on social responsibility and we can participate on a more active level. I truly believe that being involved in making our world a better place is part of stewardship of the blessings that God has given us. Visiting the tent gave us tons of information on organizations on modern day slavery, human trafficking, microfinance, and clean water.

3) Catalyst Labs. This is an optional series of workshops that take place a day before the conference. In my opinion, it is a day that must not be left out. While it will not minimize the extraordinary experience that takes place during the main sessions, the knowledge we received from Labs allowed God to speak to us in areas we have been asking Him.

4) Andy Stanley. "You have no idea what God wants to accomplish through you, your children, and your grandchildren, but God does, and you are going to want to be there for it!" His new approach on the Bible story of Esau and Jacob leaves me asking the question, "What will I trade for a bowl of stew?"

5) Scott Harrison talks about how God turned his life around and start making clean and safe water available to developing nations. He started a non-profit organization called charity: water.

6) Daniel Pink. "Money is a motivator. We must be fair. Once a person is paid enough, additional money doesn’t add much motivation." Makes me wish Mr. Pink is my employer! His insights on new ways of motivating people challenged me as I do my work in the marketplace.

7) Christine Caine. "Don't confuse empathy with compassion. It's not compassion until you cross the street." My heart got stirred once again on how we all must go out of our way to rescue those who are broken and abused. I believe that our involvement is part of the stewardship of the blessings God has given us.

8) Seth Godin. "Are you doing work people will miss when you’re gone?" Linchpin teachings come to life as he passionately talks about leading movements that people want to follow and stay connected with. He also handed out a book he created especially for Catalyst attendees called "Graceful."

9) Beth Moore. "Eat the thing before you tweet the thing. Digest information before simply passing it on." This statement was a moment of affirmation for me. Before going to the conference, I was determined not to connect to any form of social media during sessions. I wanted to be a focused learner and take in everything that I could before sharing it with my network. I was tempted several times but her message reminded me on how important my decision was to stay offline. I am also looking forward to attending her Women of Faith Conference in November!

10) Francis Chan. "When was the last time you bragged about knowing Jesus?" My favorite session from the entire conference. Oddly enough, the only session I did not take notes from. I was too captivated by his excitement, faith, humility, and genuine love for Jesus. He is moving to India this week not knowing what God has in store for him but simply going out in faith. I have never seen a man so excited about the unknown!

11) Perry Noble. Definitely the funniest speaker at Catalyst. "Some of you are about ready to run from a situation that God reigns over." Amazing insights on 1 Kings 17.

12) Gabe Lyons. "A significant change is going to happen if you recognize that the people who go to your church are already your mission workers." Great thought on taking advantage of an army of missionaries that needs to be mobilized.

13) Craig Groeschel. "You are the most cause driven, mission minded generation in modern history. If you will come under authority and be teachable, you will be the greatest generation of our time." His entire message on generational tension is something every believer must hear.

14) Bishop T.D. Jakes. "Our job as Christian leaders is not to allow anything that happens around us to force us back into our corners." The Bishop's message was strong. He shared that his mother used to bring him to a lot of uncomfortable places like going to see a ballet. She wanted to him to have a wider sense of what the world is like and not be constrained in a "corner."

15) Gayle Haggard. Now I truly understand why she stayed. I also felt the urgency of always praying for our spiritual leaders. As workers in the field, my husband and I benefit by people who cover us in prayer. Blessed by the graciousness of this lady.

16) My Twitterverse coming to life. I think it was pretty neat that most of the people I follow under my Twitter's "World Changers" list was alive, walking, and talking amongst us!

17) Breathtaking opening number. I am still searching for anyone who recorded this on video. Incredible take on Eminem's song "Not Afraid."

18) Randall Wallace. I have always been a fan of Braveheart and I am looking forward to catch Secretariat this week. Moved by his humility and his desire to bring good movies to Hollywood. This man broke down in tears as the entire stadium stood and clapped for the work he is doing.

19) Emphasis on adoption and orphan care. There are 127,000 children waiting for adoption in the U.S. foster care system. I personally do not know the numbers worldwide. But I am grateful that this conference was used to create more awareness about the journey of adoption. Robert and I have been wanting to adopt even when we were single. Now that we are married, we have been waiting for God to lead us to the child who He has planned all this time to be ours (regardless if our biological child comes first or not). We have never been more excited!

20) Bowl cuts and plaid shirts. It seems like men had a "uniform" for this year's Catalyst: plaid shirts and jeans. Tripp and Tyler also sported silly bowl cuts and encouraged guys to get one for a free t-shirt. Too funny!

20) Worship. Always my favorite part of any gathering of believers. I am grateful for Aaron Keyes, Carlos Whittaker, Gungor, and my favorite Kari Jobe (who was beautiful and pure) for their leadership during this conference.

I have notes from most of the sessions that I will be more than happy to share with you! If you attended, it might be a helpful supplement to your existing notes. If you didn't, some of it might not make sense but you will definitely stumble upon insightful statements. If you are interested in looking at my notes, please leave a comment and I will get in touch with you!

Robert and I left the conference so inspired and were left to ask our Father what He wants us to do next. After all, He made a way for us to be able to attend. It makes me wonder how He will use us in the coming days/months/years. I am joyful at the thought of hearing His instruction!

We would love to hear your thoughts and feedback! Please leave a comment or you may e-mail us at robert [dot] samantha [at] gmail [dot] com.

31 Things I Am Grateful For This Past Year (A Rough Draft)

2010-09-26T21:36:00.001+08:00

I can't believe tomorrow I will turn 31 years old. I know coming into my thirties that this was going to be a real special decade for me. I truly believe that everything that I have experienced in my life is preparing me for a time such as this. God has given my life purpose and vision Now is the time, and I am so grateful to be walking in and into my destiny.

Thank you for all the birthday greetings, prayers, support, friendship, encouragement, patience, and just being a part of my life.

1. God the Father ( I am enjoying being His son. I am starting to learn and understand more and more what it truly means a child of God.

2. Holy Spirit- Thank you for always guiding me and reminding me that I truly am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Thank you for your patience, power, and protection. I want to experience you in a deeper way.

3. Jesus Christ, I am constantly learning and am really fascinated on how wide, deep, is His love for me. A part from Him, I truly am a self-centered, insecure, impatient, judgemental, proud person.

4. Samantha Johnson, For those of you know who really know Samantha, you know that she is the so giving, selfless, hard working, thoughtful , motherly, and compassionate. She truly inspires me and she really is my best friend. Thank you for always supporting me, encouraging me, affirming me,surprising me, and loving Jesus the way that you do. Everything about you inspires me. I love you so much!

5. Ronnie and Linda Johnson-This year has been a roller coaster for our family. My mother had to undergo two brain surgeries, due to an aneurism, and my father had his second hip replacement. I have spent so much time in the hospitals this year. I am grateful that they are both doing so great and recovering so well. They are also two fo the greatest parents that anyone could ever have. I truly am blessed to have them as my parents.

6. Family-This was also the first time that all of our immediate family, cousins, nieces, nephews and grandkids got together. We don't really have a big family and it was so good for us all to be together.

7. Friends-I am so grateful and I appreciate my friendships that I have built over the past years. There are friends that have been with me from the beginning, and new friends that God graciously put its in my life. Thank you for all your love, support, encouragement, sharpening, inspiration, and being available. I love you all.

8. Spiritual Family- I am grateful to be a part of a wonderful spiritual family. Thank all of you for supporting, loving, inspiring, sharpening, praying, and encouraging me to be a man. A real man...

9. Weddings, I have been a part of 5 beautiful weddings on one more in a few weeks. Gabe and Diane, Sam and Megan Wright, Alex and Michelle Compton, Jimmy and Lj Alapag, Danny and Kellie Hoyt, and in two weeks Dan and Carolina Cawl. I absolutely love weddings. ( Not to mention I officiated my first one with Jimmy and Lj)

10. Children, Many of our close friends had kids. Kids are absolutely adorable. Samantha and I are looking forward to be parents someday. We want at least 2 kids of our own, and want to adopt 2 more.

11. I lost 40 pounds! About this time last year I was about 40 pounds lighter, the thing is I put on all the weight back. I do know that with focus and discipline I can get back down.

12. A vision: A vision from God is priceless, I remember the beginning of this year I felt God give me a vision for my life. I was overwhelmed with emotion and it took me 16 pages and countless hours to write it out.

13. Open Doors: Last year was really the first year for me as a "Missionary" wasn't really sure what I was going to be doing. Just seeing God's faithfulness and opening up doors for ministry has been truly humbling.

14. My Walk with God- I know my relationship has gone deeper. I understand scripture a little bit better, and it really gets better and better.

15. New Friendships: I truly believe that God divinely places people in your life. Some acquaintences, but some life-long, deep lasting friendships. There have been so many this year and again I am humbled and grateful.

16. My Mom: My mom had a 1/3 chance of living, and a 1/3 chance of having some problems after her surgery. Seeing her fully recover is truly a miracle. I can't thank all the people who prayed, visited, and just was there for my family enough.

17. My Golf Game. I was able to play more golf this year then probably since high school. I have brought down my handicap and excited to play competitive golf again.

18. Reunion: This year I had reunions with old friends I haven't seen in years. Especially some old high school friends and the Freestyle fam. It's so good to be able to spend time and see how your friends are doing.

19. Facebook: Some people hate it, but I love it. Facebook has been great for me to be able to keep in touch with old friends and even for ministry. I can't count the number who randomly send me a private message and ask for prayer, advice, or just need someone to vent out to.

20. Hoop-it-up: I really had such a great time playing ball with Sam, Brian, and Josh. It was a good excuse to get together and it ended up as a memory that we will never forget.

21. Quality Time: I was able to spend a lot of quality time with people who are really close to me. Especially my Dad, Mom, and Samantha.

22. Bellevue Christian Center: One of the things that we were praying about was that God would get us connected to a good church while in the states. We have found a home at B.C.C.

23. Zack: My adopted lil brother Zack got into Impact Basketball Academy in Las Vegas. It is one of the worlds premiere basketball academies. He is the first Asian to enroll at the school.

24. Being used by God: It really is humbling that God would allow me to be used by Him to minister, encourage, share the Gospel, listen, give a hug, or just to be available. I can't count how many times it just seemed like I was at the right place at the right time...Coincidence??? I think not:-)

25. Alex and Michelle's Wedding: Like I mentioned I absolutely love weddings. But this wedding was one where the presence of God was so thick. Everything about it honored God and it was awesome to be a part of it and to be a part of their lives. What a special day that I will never forget.

26. Jimmy and Lj's wedding: This was the first wedding I have ever officiated by myself. What a memorable one. It doesn't get better than Laguna Beach. What a beautiful wedding...

27. Movies: There were some great movies that I watched this year. Blindside and Avatar stand out.

28. Friendships: Sometimes I really feel like the richest man in the world with wonderful friendships that have developed over the years.

29. Family: Did I say family again...I absolutely love my family and it's so wonderful to be able to spend time with them. Not just my family here in Nebraska, but my In-laws too:-) I have the best Father, Mother, Sister-in laws ever.

30. Samantha Johnson: You really are my proverbs 31 woman. I love you with all my heart. Thank you..

31. Jesus Christ: Thank you for your unconditional love for me. Without you I am truly nothing. Thank you for rescuing me, forgiving me of my Sin, dying a death that I deserved, and giving my life meaning, purpose, and joy. I love you, but more importantly You love me...I know it, I feel it....Thank you

California Love!

2010-09-21T12:31:00.000+08:00

Samantha and I spent a week in California last month . Two of our good friends Jimmy Alapag and Lari Jeanne Ricafort got married at Surf and Sand Resort in Laguna Beach.

It was my first time in Laguna Beach and was absolutely blown away by the beauty of that place. Jimmy and LJ asked me to be the officiating minister of the ceremony.

I was so excited for several reasons.

Jimmy and I came into the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) together back in 2003. LJ has been attending Samantha's weekly women's life group since 2004. She is now leading a women's group as well.

It was my first time to officiate an entire wedding by myself. It was a wedding that was publicly anticipated because Jimmy is a PBA superstar and LJ is a well-known actress. "The Buzz," a very popular TV program in the Philippines, was there covering the wedding.

I also reunited with some old friends as well. The weather was absolutely perfect and the entire ceremony went so well. I was at ease because everyone pretty much knew each other. Only their closest friends and family were there.

I shared a short message about L.O.V.E. and then gave some advice that has helped me in my marriage.

(L) Laugh and Listen. Laugh a lot, and really take time to listen to each other. Sometimes, we can say one thing, but mean something totally different. There are times, we would rather keep our real thoughts to ourselves instead of starting a honest conversation with your spouse. Doing so leads a lot of misunderstanding and resentment.

(O) Overlook. Take a look at Proverbs 19:11. "A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense." I shared the so-called "BS Principle." BS stands for Blind Spot. Give each other the benefit of the doubt and always remember each of us has a blind spot. Most of the time our spouses do not intentionally want to hurt us. They are just not aware on what it takes to fill their needs. Sometimes all we need is to let us know!

(V) Value. You know a lot about what a person values by what his/her priorities are. I told them the best advice I can give them is to know your priorities. According to God's Word, here are the priorities in its proper order.

1. God
2. Spouse
3. Kids
4. Occupation
5. Family and friends.

Numbers 4 and 5 can change but the first three should not change. Many times the spouses feel neglected because their kids become a priority and they don't prioritize each other.

(E) Encourage. In Hebrews 3:13, the Word says, "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." Be each others biggest cheerleaders and always affirm one another.

The wedding was absolutely perfect and it reflected their love for God and how they are as a couple. Congratulations Jimmy and LJ! We love you and will continue to pray for you!

Church For The Nations. I was also invited to preach during a Sunday service at Church for the Nations in West Covina, California. I felt moved just to share the Gospel message. God's spirit was so present and some gave their lives to the Lord. I am so humbled and honored to be able to share God's message.

Friends. We were also able to reunite with good friends Trisha Ingram and Wesley Bell. They are two wonderful friends who have been faithfully supporting us and have always been there cheering us on. We are so encouraged by their faith and love for the Lord.

We absolutely love California and cherish the times we get to spend there.

Thank you again for all your love, support and faith.

We love you,
Robert and Samantha

EN2010 Highlights

2010-09-14T06:44:00.000+08:00

Our recent update included our participation at Every Nation World Conference (EN2010). Every Nation is the organization that we are employed under as missionaries to the Philippines.

To highlight the 3-day event in Manila, Philippines, watch this video.

We hope to see you at the next World Conference in 2013!