Please watch the video below and rejoice with Esther Jara as she recounts God’s touch in her life through the ministry of FEBC Philippines.

Among them is a man whose mission is to provide wheelchairs for poor people from rural areas in Mexico. Years ago, this lawyer from Colorado met a skiing accident that confined him to a wheelchair. But his disability hasn’t stopped his passion to change someone else’s life, even those from another country.

Another honoree is a man who considers himself “so addicted to helping.” A real estate broker and weekly columnist in a local newspaper in the mid-West, he seeks out those who write to ask for help. He personally verifies whether the requests are legitimate. If so, he begins by meeting their immediate needs, such as a hot meal or an overnight stay in a warm hotel room. Then, he goes on to take care of other basics, like food, bills and rental. But he doesn’t stop there. He also helps provide long-term solution to their problems. Like negotiating for a lower rent with their landlords, repairing their car or helping them find a job.

Perhaps, what is most touching is the youngest honoree – a nine-year-old girl described as someone with a natural inclination to help others.

For her birthday last June, she did away with a party and instead, tried to raise 300 dollars to build water systems for areas in the Central African

Republic. Unfortunately, in July, the young girl died from a car accident. But her legacy of kindness and selflessness continued. When news of her tragic death spread, people began to take up her cause. To date, more than a million dollars have been raised donations kept pouring in through a website put up for this.

Why am I sharing these stories with you?

We live at a time when the world is so gripped with greed and selfishness.

Acts of kindness are becoming more uncommon that we have to celebrate them. Thank God for modern conveniences. But sadly, they are slowly luring us to want more, want more now and want more now for ourselves.

On that very first Christmas Day, God left the comforts of heaven, came down to this chaotic world and live among sinful men. His unequaled love and compassion for mankind compelled Him to live a life of selflessness that eventually led Him to death on the cross. He is the ultimate CNN Hero, the best hero of all times. This is the essence of Christmas.

But the story doesn’t end there.

Jesus Christ came to live and die in order to give us the free gift of salvation. However, through His supreme sacrifice, He also gave us a model for how to live our life.

Just like all the CNN Heroes who voluntarily gave up their comforts and willingly shared of themselves with others – their time and resources and even their future – to serve others, let us think of how we can make difference in our world by thinking about the needs of others over our own personal lack or deficiencies. John 3:16 talks about God’s compelling reason for His incarnation. But 1 John 3:16 adds a challenge for us.

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” This is the true and complete meaning of Christmas.

In the midst of the joy and festivity of this Season, may we desire to offer ourselves to God and be His agents of change in the life of those around us.

From your FEBC family, this is Dan Andrew Cura, wishing you a meaningful Christmas!

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Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities in Mindanao were the hardest hit areas as “Sendong” slammed ashore while were people asleep last December 18. Torrents of water and mud flowed through villages, resulting to tragic deaths and massive destruction to infrastracture and properties. In Visayas, Dumaguete also experienced the fury of the Sendong.

Because of the deaths, destruction and damaged brought by Sendong, Regions 7, 9, 10, 11 and the CARAGA Regions have been placed under a state of national calamity.

As our way of showing Christian love and compassion especially this Christmastime, Far East Broadcasting Company Philippines launched “Bayanihan Ngayong Kapaskuhan” on December 21. This on-air fundraising campaign aims to raise awareness and mobilize our listeners, especially the Christian community, to pray for and respond to the needs of our suffering kababayans especially in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Dumaguete.

Romans 12: 15 says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” So allow me to thank our listeners and partners who have already extended their help to the flood victims. May the Lord bless you for your generosity and kindness!

You may still send your help to the Sendong victims until January 6, 2012 by donating through the official bank accounts of FEBC Philippines:

BPI Current Account Number 4661-0029-27, or
BPI US Dollar Current Account Number 4664-0002-67, or
BDO Current Account Number 672-8000-479, and
Metro Bank savings account 441-3441-09215-7.

 

Fax your deposit slip to 445-7836 and please indicate that your gift is for “Bayanihan Ngayong Kapaskuhan.”

This campaign is made possible through the combined efforts of all the local stations of FEBC Philippines,  Operation Blessing, World Vision, Philippine Christian Bookstores and the Philippine Relief and Development Services of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches.

Together, let us continue to pray for our suffering brothers and sisters this Christmastime. May God’s comfort be upon the families who lost their loved ones and for the surviving victims as they try to go through the slow and painful process of rebuilding.

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Most of us are blessed to have been born in a hospital, or maybe, just in a clinic or even at home, through the help of a midwife. But did you know that, in some places in the country which are home to several indigenous people groups, there are those who are born and, in fact, grow up without any identification at all, no birth certificate to prove their existence and affirm their citizenship?

In this day and age, we may find this incredulous. Some of you may even shrug it off and say, “So what?”

Aside from legal and statistical purposes, a person has to have a birth certificate to be entitled to the rights and privileges of citizenship, such as education, suffrage, ownership of property, business, even the right to marry. Those without a birth certificate, especially children, are extremely vulnerable to exploitation by scrupulous people involved in various crimes, such as drug trafficking, gangs, militia, prostitution and slave trade. There are instances when unregistered children who commit a crime or are crime victims themselves can be mistaken for adults. As such, they are not afforded special treatment for children.

Thank God for the opportunity for partnership between our station 1116 DXAS Zamboanga City and Western Mindanao State University for a project to assist in facilitating the late birth registration of indigenous peoples, or IPs, and Muslims in Zamboanga City. Presently, staff from the National Statistics Office and the City Civil Registrar’s Office are going through each the barangays for community scanning or checking out who needs to avail of this help. At least 20 families of either the IPs or Muslims in each of the barangays of the City are targeted to benefit from this project.

The next phase of this one-year project is putting the seven to 15-year-old beneficiaries, along with other out-of-school youth, on a literacy program on air. Modules of the Magbasa, Magbilang at Magsulat, the Alternative Learning System (ALS) of the Department of Education, will be translated into Tausug and Samal and produced into a radio program of 1116 DXAS. Each of the students will then receive a pre-tuned radio set so they can join the on-air classes. In addition to the ALS program, the station also plans to broadcast health education programs for the IP and Muslim women which will, hopefully, relevantly address their health and wellness issues. In the long run, our prayer is that the station may help build strong, progressive, healthy and sustainable communities.

The Advent means God coming down to earth and giving us the greatest gift of all – His only Son, and eternal life through Him. But it also means a call for a life of selflessness and sacrifice. Of looking beyond ourselves, looking around us and putting the needs of others before our very own, such as the IPs and Muslims who are grappling with late birth registration and literacy, among other life issues.

When Christ first came as a baby, He could have chosen to be born in a more comfortable place and to a more affluent family. But He did not. Throughout His time on earth, He continued to live a simple and unselfish life – giving much of Himself all the time, to minister to the needs of others. This is the meaning of Advent, summed up more clearly in this short poem:

When the song of the angels is stilled,

when the star in the sky is gone,

when the kings and princes are home,

when the shepherds are back with the flocks,

then the work of Christmas begins:

to find the lost, to heal those broken in spirit,

to feed the hungry, to release the oppressed,

to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among all peoples,

to make a little music with the heart…

and to radiate the Light of Christ, every day, in every way,

in all that we do and in all that we say.

Then the work of Christmas begins.

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As you all know, FEBC Philippines has been in broadcasting for 63 years now and through all these years, prayer has played a very important role in our company’s existence.

In faith, we came to God both for our broadcast and operational needs. In faith, we stormed the gates of heaven to pray for our listeners and partners. We do not only believe in praying for our company but we also believe in standing up and praying for others before God.

Who can forget our longest-running devotional program “Hardin ng Panalangin” or Garden of Prayer?  The program, which first aired on April 4, 1958, was the brainchild of our “Hardinero” Pastor Proceso “Ka Esong” Marcelo.

As 702 DZAS’ news correspondent assigned to cover Malacañang Palace back then, Ka Esong once noticed barrels of unread telegrams addressed to President Ramon Magsaysay. These letters came from people who wanted the President to know of and help them with their problems. This gave Ka Esong the idea to start a radio program where all requests sent by the listeners will be prayed for. He believed that unlike the unread telegrams, these prayers would surely reach God. The program which initially ran for 15 minutes, eventually aired for an hour daily owing to the numerous prayer requests it received.

Pastor Marcelo hosted the program for almost five decades until he and his family decided to migrate to the United States in 2004. Today, “Hardin ng Panalangin” continues to broadcast with Pastor Joey Umali as its new host.

Our resident Hardinero has indeed sown and harvested not only God’s blessings but the testimonies of people whose lives have been touched because of the messages he preached and the prayers he prayed. As Ka Esong has prayed for many of us in the past and it’s now our turn to pray for him.

Just recently, we learned that he has been diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, or in layman’s terms, cancer. We praise God that though he is getting weak, he is still in high spirits. In fact, he sent us a message thanking those who have already prayed and continue to pray for him. He remains confident and at peace knowing that despite His illness, God is at work.

In his message, he said:

“Mga kapatid, ito po ang inyong Pastor Proceso Marcelo, na nakasama sa paglilingkod sa Far East Broadcasting Company.
Sa ngayon, ako’y may karamdaman na narito sa Amerika, nangangailangan ng hipo ng Panginoon at nagtitiwala naman ako sa Kanyang gagawin at magagawa pa.

Mga kapatid, magsama-sama tayo. Itaas n’yo ‘ko sa trono ng Panginoon. Sa pamagitan ng sama-samang pananalangin  at nagtitiwala ako na ang Diyos ay kikilos.

Magtiwala tayo sa Kanya. Hindi Niya tayo bibiguin. Maraming salamat po, mga kapatid, sa inyong panalangin sa inyong lingkod at sa mga bagay na inyong ginagawa sa Panginoon.

Pagpalain kayo ng Diyos, at patuloy tayong magkaisa na…dumudulog sa trono ng Kanyang biyaya.

Maraming salamat po sa bawat isa sa inyo. Luwalhati sa pangalan ng ating Panginoong  Jesu Cristo! Aleluia! Ang Diyos ay buhay!”

Please pray for God’s healing touch to be upon Ka Esong especially during this time. Please also remember his wife, Sofia, in your prayers.  Pray especially for strength as she takes care of Ka Esong and for wisdom as she makes decisions regarding Ka Esong’s health and welfare. Also pray for God’s comfort and peace for the rest of his family, especially his children, Sammy, Dave, Jungee and Perlita. May this difficult time bring them closer than ever as a family and may they look to God every step of the way.

Right now, we cannot provide you updates regarding Ka Esong’s health condition but we promise to keep you posted as soon as more information becomes available.  You may check Ka Esong’s fanpage at http://www.facebook.com/pastorprocesomarcelo. Or send him an e-mail at proceso.marcelo@febc.org.ph. He would be very happy to hear from you.

Let me leave you with some words from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “ Rejoice always,  pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Right now, we cannot provide you updates regarding Ka Esong’s health condition but we promise to keep you posted as soon as more information becomes available.  You may check Ka Esong’s fanpage at http://www.facebook.com/pastorprocesomarcelo. Or send him an e-mail at proceso.marcelo@febc.org.ph. He would be very happy to hear from you.

Let me leave you with some words from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “ Rejoice always,  pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

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