Dear family, brethren, and friends,

I am thankful for God’s constant providence in supplying all our physical needs while also facilitating all our service to Him in His kingdom. Truly, He is Jehovah‑Jireh, the God who provides all things. As the Philippine work continues, we share the confidence expressed by Paul in Philippians 1:19 that all will be well through the prayers of our brethren and the providence of our great God.

On Monday, April 30, we started our last week of the preacher training class here in Davao City with the help of Juanito Balbin (and his sons Dudley, Sonni, and Connie), Cyrus Gesulga, and Johnny Espinosa. Cyrus and Johnny are from the premillennial background and we gave them the lead in inviting men. There are 45 representing a wide range of ages. The first day is always hectic and runs late as we get organized and get the men orientated to our format of study. Still, this was a good day as we covered an overview of the Bible’s message and the three dispensations. The Bible concordances and dicitonaries had arrived here last week, so the last session introduced these books and we researched the word “disciple” as a way to begin.

Our venue is a rented room at the University of the South Eastern Philippines 15‑20 minutes from my hotel. A few years ago we used a larger and better room upstairs in the same building, but it has been condemned. That gives a hint of the condition of the building, but it is adequate for our purpose. It is a dorm and the men can sleep on simple beds in other rooms.

The Philippines observes May 1, Labor Day, as an official holiday, so there was little traffic between the hotel and the venue. Thank God for gifts large and small! Today we discussed New Testament worship, how the Bible teaches, and the authority of Christ. The students are attentive and are participating by reading Scripture selections related to the lessons.

God’s providence opened a door we did not expect during the afternoon session. Ricardo dela Cruz was an aged preacher in General Santos City who died last year. His daughter Diana is married to an American named Tim Melton. Tim is from a very conservative and independent Baptist background. They now live in Davao City and attended the afternoon studies. After the last session on the use of Bible study tools was finished, they agreed to go to supper with me. This gave me a chance to talk with Tim one‑on‑one.

Our meal and discussion continued from 8:00 until 10:00 P.M.  Tim insists that when he was baptized as a young man, he was taught he was lost before baptism and that he was saved and entered God’s kingdom when he was baptized. He has been working for an oil company in foreign nations for many years, studying his Bible on his own, and he has been disillusioned with denominationalism for years. He believes we are teaching the truth and was not offended at anything I discussed even during our supper. He still uses some denominational terminology and there are other things he needs to learn, but Tim is certainly moving in the right direction. It was providential that he came at the very time we were presenting lessons on Christ’s authority as seen in the plan of salvation and in the New Testament church.

When I got back to my room just after 10:00 PM, I took some exercise, studied, looked at email a few minutes, and went to bed at 1:00 AM. Another day to be tired but thankful and happy!

Wednesday’s lessons focused on the mission and organization of the church, and we introduced the theme of the Holy Spirit. After my two morning lessons emphasizing the spiritual mission of the church, several men asked good questions for about 15 minutes and their reaction to the answers was excellent. In the afternoon I taught on “The Work of the Holy Spirit” as summarized in five words: revelation, confirmation, conviction, conversion, and sanctification. This resulted in another 15‑20 minutes Q & A period about the nature of the Godhead, God’s free will in changing His mind, and clarification of the Spirit’s work today. The last session on the proper use of Bible study tools focused on the word “impute” as used in the Bible and abused by Calvinism.

After two more lessons on the Holy Spirit Thursday, several men again had questions. One thought the Spirit was still giving prophecies and visions as in Acts 2:17 because of a dream he had about seeking the truth after he became disillusioned with Catholicism. I pointed out Acts 2:17 was fulfilled by the revelation of the gospel whereas his dream was a reflection of his intense desire to find the truth and was not a divine revelation. He saw the point. Lunch was about 40 minutes late because of our discussion and I commended them for being more interested in spiritual than physical food.

This P.M. we studied Calvinism including predestination–the brethren seemed to understand it well. After I led them in an exercise from Genesis 1 on outlining and sermon preparation, there was an excellent discussion about evolution, the day‑age theory, and related issues.

Jonathan Carino went home today to witness his daughter’s graduation and he will join us again Saturday.

Friday was the last day in this preacher training series. I taught four lessons in two hours on various aspects of premillennialism and then opened the floor for questions and discussion. Cyrus Gesulga made a plea to the brethren to drop the teaching of premillennialism so that the division can be healed, followed by additional good comments by Juanito Balbin emphasizing we can attain unity only in the truth. Juanito observed that he read a tract from a leading premillennial preacher in the U.S. who said the theory is not necessary to salvation. If that be the case, there is no reason to teach it! There were nods of agreement all around. So, we are not working toward a unity‑in‑doctrinal‑diversity compromise, but we are holding open discussions with our estranged brethren while teaching the truth.

Jack Jaco, who works zealously behind the scenes as part of our travel and setup team, taught a class for the first time today. He is well familiar with the material and brought in additional points on premillennial error in the local dialect since he believed it when he was a Baptist preacher.

This last day we gave attention not only to premillennialism but also to such cults as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. After another short Q & A period, we gave the men a certificate of completion and also materials for further study when they go home.  They expressed great appreciation!

Saturday, May 5, was a full and fruitful day: “What will we do with our instruments?” “What shall we do about our signboard?”

We left the hotel before 8:00 A.M. to get Jonathan at the airport and then drove two hours to reach Compostela in the Compostela Valley Province. The host was Topias Terio in Compostela, “pastor” of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), a Mormon sect based in Independence, MO. Julie Notarte from Digos went early to start teaching and utilize every moment while we were coming, and C.B. and Sonnie Dave Balbin with others from Davao joined him to help. Both Julie and his son, Joshua, preached, before we arrived about 10:30 A.M. Just as we arrived there was a brownout. There was no air conditioning in the building, but there were small fans to stir the withering hot air–but they were knocked out.

I preached on the subject “When Peter Confessed Christ (Matt. 16:13‑19).” When I sat down I was soaking wet with sweat. After lunch Jonathan summarized the lesson in the local dialect. Then I spoke on “The Gospel Makes Us Right with God (Rom. 1:16‑17)” explaining there is a right God, a right Savior, a right gospel, a right baptism, a right church, and a right life in contrast to all the sin, error, and confusion in the world.

When we started the Q & A, we had typical questions such as why can’t people be saved in every church, but in the end the audience was satisfied we had answered everything with Scripture. The “pastor’s” wife asked, “Realizing that people I taught wrong are dead now, what am I to do?” I said those souls are in the hands of a perfect God who will judge them, but God has given us the work of the teaching the truth to the living and that is where we must focus our attention. This day was their first time to hear the original gospel of Christ. I kept waiting for the bombshell of objections but it never came. No one was baptized, but we made enough progress that after the dismissal they questioned among themselves, “What will we do with our instruments?” (i.e., now that we have learned not to use them in worship), and, “What shall we do about our signboard?” (i.e., now that we have learned there is no such thing as “Temple Lot” church of Christ). They have already made plans to continue their study with our brethren.

With all the travel and heat combined, this was an exhausting day–but also definitely an exhilarating day to see the power of the gospel working in the hearts of honest hearers!

Sunday, May 6, involved a three hour trip on deteriorating roads from Davao City to the Boracay church of Christ in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato Province. Finally, our van left the paved road to travel a short distance on a path in the grass until it ended, and then we walked another 100 yards to the small meeting house which was overflowing with about 40 people.

Since thousands of Muslims live on Mndanao, my first lesson was “The Final Prophet: Jesus Christ or Mohamed? (Deut. 18:18‑19).” After lunch we reconvened to study “The Resurrection of Christ (Mk. 16).” Everyone was attentive and appreciative.

These brethren are primarily relatives of Cyrus Gesulga who got us the invitation and guided us here. I may have been the first preacher in that pulpit not believing in premillennialism, but I was well received–and I did explain that the kingdom of God is on the earth today:  it is the church of Christ. Cyrus explained we are working to restore a broken unity, but that requires recognizing where we have been wrong in the past. We got back to Davao City about 7:00 P.M., tired but happy and thankful for this wonderful Lord’s Day!

May 7 required another trip of almost three hours over deteriorating highways, gravel roads, and pot hole roads (more like gullies!), bringing us to San Pedro, Kiblawan, Davao del Sur Province where Ben Canada preaches. They have just built a small meeting place with lumber of local trees for a frame and bamboo matting for walls, costing about $600 (not fully paid for yet). About 50‑60 filled the little building. I taught a very simple lesson on “Jesus Came to Seek and Save the Lost (Lk. 19:1‑10),” which Joshusa Notarte summarized in the local dialect, and then “The Gospel Makes Us Right with God (Rom. 1:16‑17),” summarized by Jonathan Carino.

In the open forum one lady asked if her denominational baptism was accepted by God. Another lady who is a religious leader said she was convinced we are teaching the truth but wanted to know if it is really urgent to obey now or is it okay to wait for a better time. I told her in view of the uncertainty of life and of the time Jesus will return, it is very urgent to obey now! She was one of eight who submitted to Christ in baptism. We traveled an hour to the ocean and baptized them in the early darkness of the night.

My voice has been growing weaker since I got overheated Saturday and it is about gone tonight. This has turned into a head cold, so I took medicine and am going to sleep by 11:30 (early for me) in hopes it will be stronger for another long hard day tomorrow.

Tuesday, May 8, my voice is not better, so I sent a cell phone text to tell Jonathan and other brethren to go ahead to Malita, Davao del Sur where Glenford Franca has gathered a group of school teachers to hear the gospel, but I have to stay in the hotel to recuperate. I contacted Dr. Teresa Toreja who said I must stay and drink liquids with rehydration salts. I feel very tired and no doubt dehydration is part of the problem. I will follow the doctor’s orders and expect to bounce back with the help of the constant prayers of the saints and by the providence of God.