Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Travel days feel like lost time, but Thursday got off to a good start.  After exercising, eating supper, and doing a little work in the hotel at Naga, I was tired and went to bed early last night.  I slept over 7 hours and felt much better Thursday morning.  After breakfast at the hotel, I caught a plane to Manila where I had to change terminals.  Believe it or not, there is a Wendy’s Hamburgers in terminal 3 where I enjoyed for lunch a hamburger with fries and a Frosty (not as good as Blue Bell Ice Cream, but it will do in a squeeze).  The flight from Manila landed in Iloilo City on Panay Island about 5:30 P.M. where I was met by Jack Jaco and Bob Senining, a brother I had not seen for many years.  As we left the airport, a gorgeous lightly tanned moon was appearing on the horizon, reminding me again of all my loved ones at home – so maybe this was not a wasted day after all!

Our two days of Bible lectures began Friday at the function room of a hotel here in Iloilo City.  Jack Jaco came ahead to contact brethren and make arrangements.  The attendance today was 50 including denominational preachers, some of whom are leaders in their denominational organizations.  It is hard to realize we have not returned here for the past 6-7 years, but it seems the timing is right for this visit by God’s providence.
Continue reading

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Two days of classes for preachers began Monday on the theme “United to Proclaim Christ” in Daet, Camarines Norte.  The series was introduced by a study of “Attitudes Essential in God’s Kingdom,” a textual examination of Matthew 5.  Christ introduced his new kingdom by contrasting the civil nature of the old Israel and the spiritual nature of the new kingdom.  Preachers must teach and exemplify the attitudes essential to citizenship in this new kingdom of God.  Sharing these attitudes unites us in Christ.

Next we studied “Preserving Unity in Christ” based on a shared commitment to God, to the truth, and to unselfish love for each other in Christ.  Attitudes and actions which destroy our unity must be avoided at all costs.  One example is being overly zealous for opinions and personal scruples, discussed in Romans 14.  If opinions and scruples are held as personal property, there will be no agenda to spread and enforce them upon other saints – as a consequence, there will be no division over them.
Continue reading

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

My 76th Philippine trip started with a bang because there was little time after flying from Louisville to Detroit to catch the plane to Tokyo, Japan, but I made it.  The flight to Tokyo was fine and I completed a lot of study and work along with a nap, but we were stranded in Tokyo 4-5 hours waiting for Typhoon Tisoy (also called Kimmuri) to pass over Luzon.  Finally, our plane took off and passed through heavy rain and turbulence but arrived safely in Manila about 1:00 A.M. Wednesday – it should have been 9:30 P.M. on Tuesday.

The airport had been closed until 11:00 P.M. Tuesday because of the typhoon, so many delayed flights were arriving and hundreds and hundreds of people were jammed into immigration lines and at the baggage carousels like I’ve never seen.  To add to the excitement, five of the six boxes of Bibles and study materials I brought as checked luggage arrived while one traveled to Atlanta and on to Amsterdam!  Say what???  That required paper work and more lost time.  By the time I got to my hotel room, it was about 3:00 A.M.
Continue reading

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

On October 16 a major earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale hit the vicinity of Koronadal City in the Philippine province of South Cotabato in the southern part of the island of Mindanao.  Its effects were felt far and wide, bringing great devastation and suffering especially to rural and mountain areas heavily populated by the poor including our brethren in Christ.  Several smaller quakes occurred and several hundred aftershocks have occurred.

Numerous reports and appeals for help  are coming in from our brethren.  Pictures show areas which literally dropped down, open gap lines in the earth, destroyed homes and church buildings, and other marks of destruction.  Landslides were triggered.  A sister in Christ and her infant were killed when a landslide demolished their small dwelling.  Forced evacuations have resulted in tent cities and people living in gyms which have no side walls. The population of one of these tent cities is about 70% our brethren.  It is not safe for people to return to their farms and dwelling places.  In many cases, if the house did not totally collapse, it is unsafe for the inhabitants to go inside and so they sleep outside the house.

The government sent shipments of rice, but much of it was not edible.  Local governments have assigned citizens small lots to rebuild their homes and start a new life, but there is no money with which to rebuild.  Christians are suffering dire need of food, clothing, and shelter.

Here is a report from brother Frank Isla who has been visiting some of our brethren to assess their needs and to comfort them:
Continue reading

October 6, 2019th Year of our Lord

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Wednesday was a difficult day because it was largely devoted to preparing an open letter to a Filipino brother who has fallen into sin.  Benji Tacis in the province of Abra on Luzon had stolen over $3,000 in benevolence funds entrusted to him by Mark Mayberry and me almost a year ago.  I knew there was a problem about six months ago, but it has been a long and tortuous process to document the facts because the intended recipients live in remote areas (which is why we asked Ben to deliver aid to them).  Difficulties in travel and communication required great patience and persistence.  Once all the information was gathered and confirmed from the six churches, I urgently needed to confront and admonish Ben to repent while also warning brethren not to entrust funds to him.  Mark’s input was also included in this letter.

I hated to leave the saints at Brighton on Thursday as I flew to Paris.  To learn more about the church in Brighton, go to their web site at churchofchristinbrighton.com (be sure to include the letters “in” as shown to avoid going to the web site of an institutional group involved in the social gospel and centralized projects).  They occupied the present church building in 1890 but began meeting in 1868 (and no, I was not there at that time! 🙂 ).  The address is Brighton Church of Christ, 11 Oxford St., Brighton, UK (contact Constant Coulibaly at 44-798-485-9904).  There are five Brits in the congregation rather than one as I reported, but I met only the one.
Continue reading