3 years ago, I got a calling from the Lord. He said we are to put up a church. This didn’t sit well with me cause it was not in my line of plan so we ignored it.

 

For over 2 years I ran away from this calling. God slowly pulled my businesses down one by one as if telling me “You are nothing without my blessing.” Finally, He caught up with me and I agreed. He gave me the date Oct 15. However, we got busy with event preparation specially with the Counter flow Parenting conference last Oct 25 and the Phil. National wake board Oct 29-31 and before we knew it, we were already in October and haven’t started promoting the church. I immediately decided to move the date to Dec 3 since after a check of my planner, it was the most feasible date availability wise.

 

Immediately after that, I got rebuked through a book entitled “Launch” where it said so clearly that “If God has given you a date to launch your church, by no means do not move it, because by doing so, you are saying that God had committed a mistake in giving you a wrong date.” However, you can’t undo what has been done and so Dec 3 was the new date.

 

When God gives you a date to launch your church, by all means stick to it. That's part of faith.

When God gives you a date to launch your church, by all means stick to it. That’s part of faith.

A day prior to the opening, I received word from people who went house to house that 9 people have confirmed to come. We had prepared 30 chairs just in case the number increase.

 

The first service was to start promptly at 730. I was surprised that when i arrived at 645pm some people were already waiting downstairs. As we opened the doors at 715, people flooded in. 88 people came 27 adults plus the rest were kids.

 

Audrey, Sara & Jai with the rest of the worship team. Thank you!

Audrey, Sara & Jai with the rest of the worship team. Thank you!

This is the very first service. Who knows what God will do.

This is the very first service. Who knows what God will do.

Soon we will need to have a 2nd service.

Soon we will need to have a 2nd service.

In my own capacity, I cannot do this. Through God I can do anything.

In my own capacity, I cannot do this. Through God I can do anything.

Abi, Alex, Betty and our kids who volunteered to handle the children’s class got their hands really full and to say “stressed” was a huge understatement.

 

I feel so unswervingly privileged to be entrusted this great responsibility and being given the chance to serve the Lord this way.

 

Anyway, 1 Peter 5:9 says: “Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

 

Every time you do something big for the Lord, God’s enemies (Satan & co.) are ticked off. The verse I just shared encourages us to stand strong and expect that the enemy will not just let you stroll in the park. We expected opposition even though we never really knew what would come. Today as I start reading the book “Starting a new church”

 

Most of us get spiritually attacked and we don't know it.

Most of us get spiritually attacked and we don’t know it.

While the church started… back in the house, our house help ran away with my new Camera gear, 2 lenses and projector. All worth about PHP400,000. When I discovered that he left, I already felt that something was not right in the house. CCTV were unplugged and the front gate was left open. We’ve already reported this to the police and a man hunt is on going.

 

This made me remember a photographer who I was mentoring around 2005. One night, he asked if he could visit me. He bawled and said He wanted to finally commit himself to the Lord. I was happy and prayed for him. The very next day a thief broke into his car and stole 2 sets of his photo gear. This was enough to shake him up, destroy his joy and break his new found faith. He never went to bible study since.

 

Times like these are when all those conferences, quiet times, bible reading and bible studies that I attended pay off. They become like reservoir in your body that when tragedy strikes, that’s where you draw strength. Through them I remember in one conference being told (I think it was Craig Groschelle) “If you do things for Jesus then expect opposition, If you are not being opposed, then you probably need to do more squats!”.