Dear brethren,                                 

By the mercies of God Jim McDonald brought me to the Philippines in 1995 to preach the gospel and my 78^th trip has now been completed March 29-April 29.  Craig Thomas who labors with the Westside church of Christ in Bloomington, IN was an able companion.  I taught 73 lessons – Craig taught a like number of lessons – and 30 submitted to Christ in baptism for the remission of their sins.

Paul urged Timothy, “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:1-3, NKJV). This trip focused on training and equipping evangelists.  Even during the pandemic the gospel continued to spread and the great harvest of souls continues unabated.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Craig Thomas and I arrived back in Louisville after flying from Manila to Inchon, South Korea, and to Atlanta safely by the mercies of God.  We had a prayer of thanksgiving for our safe travel and for the opportunities to teach God’s Holy Word to our dear Filipino brethren.

It has been a long two years waiting for covid travel restrictions to be lifted.  In the meantime, Filipino saints have been doing their best to serve the Lord and spread the gospel in spite of the lockdowns imposed by the government.  As I already knew, they have ably demonstrated their ability to serve the Lord in the absence of Americans, but it is a joy to labor with them in the gospel.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

On the Lord’s Day, April 24, Rex Bayaca brought me to the church meeting at Escoda, Marcos, Ilocos Norte while Craig went to Banna with Elizer Villanueva (and later to Elizabeth West with Remigio Vicente).  Vic Domingo was one of the pioneer preachers in this region and he planted the gospel here.  I have been visiting the Escoda church for about 20 years.  The church building has been under construction and improvement during all of those years thanks to the sacrifices of these saints and additional financial help from saints in the U.S. at times.  I can remember worshiping here with bats hanging from the exposed rafters.

This is a rural community, but well over 200 people assembled with us as I preached the sermon “Work While It Is Day” (Jn. 9:4).  Rex translated the lesson in the local dialect because some older brethren do not understand English well.  Sister Domingo is still living and provided a wonderful lunch as she has done so many times through the years.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

As we prepared to leave the hotel in Mira Sanchez to come to the Ilocos region on Tuesday, April 19, there was a message from Rose (the lady who wanted to be baptized but her husband prevented her).  She asked us to wait for her to meet us because she wanted to be baptized for the remission of her sin through the blood of Christ in spite of her husband’s objections.  That is a more difficult decision to make in the Philippines because of the patriarchal culture.  Her husband may be furious, but the angels of heaven rejoice for another precious soul added to the body of Christ on the road to heaven!  Randy Tiene baptized her and we prayed together for God to bless both her husband and her.  Thank you to all who prayed for her after the previous report!

Robinson Pulveras drove us to the beautiful Ilocos region and we stopped to take pictures overlooking the South China Sea.  Turning off the main highway further along, we wound around in a rural area to reach the church in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte where Abraham Aguete has invested much time and effort to preach the gospel, but he is recovering from a stroke now.  He joined us by sitting in his special chair.  Craig preached the five basic facts of life and I followed with “Work While It Is Day.”  One young lady confessed Christ and was baptized in a farm drainage ditch nearby and we all rejoiced with another new sister in Christ.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Saturday morning, April 16, Robin Pulveras from the Pamplona region of Cagayan picked Craig and I up at the hotel in Tuguegarao and drove us westward in the Cagayan Province to reach the church at Cabuluan East, Ballesteros.  I had worked until 1:30 A.M. and was exhausted but manage to catnap as we traveled.

We arrived about 10:30 and 80-100 saints were singing while waiting for us.  Fidelfin Miranda has been doing effective work in the community and congregation.  Craig preached about five basic facts of life and I preached “Work While It Is Day.”  The 24 year old sister of two students at Tuguegarao obeyed the gospel and was baptized in the baptistry behind the church building.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The Thursday, April 14, session of our preacher training program was productive as we observed the good progress of our participants.  I have been briefly reviewing the books of the Old Testament and their divisions before each class, and now I simply start them with Genesis and they name the books in unison on their own.

The segment on the preacher’s life and work concentrated on an evangelist’s duty to provide for his material needs.  This may include laboring to support himself, receiving individual donations, or being supported by churches – or a combination of these.  The Catholic priest and the denominational “pastor” often consider it beneath their dignity to do secular work to support themselves.  I spent about 40 minutes on the theme of the nobility of work as reflected in God’s perfect work of creation, Jesus’ training as a carpenter, and Paul’s occupation of tent making.  No preacher should be ashamed to sustain himself by engaging in honest labor if necessary.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Monday, April 11, started our second week of classes for preachers.  The students are enduring hardness as good soldiers of Christ as the all-day studies continue.  My first period dealt with outlining passages for textual sermons.  As a starter we outlined Genesis 1 on the creation.  I noted the chapter is not consistent with evolution’s theory of the earth’s origin because each day consisted of 12 hours of darkness and 12 hour of light, not millions of years.  Millions of years of darkness followed by millions of years of daylight would kill every form of life twice over!  We noted how the often perfection of God’s work is emphasized by repeated statements that what He made was “good” and “very good.”  This chapter is the foundation for everything else taught in the Bible.  After outlining the chapter, we discussed some applications which could be made – such as, conformity to God’s laws brings great blessings while defying His will results in self-destruction.  This is true both in the physical and the spiritual realms.

In the basic Bible doctrine study we observed the names or designations of God’s people both individually and collectively, and the importance of avoiding denominational names and organizations which divide professed followers of Christ.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The preacher training classes on Thursday, April 7, ran like clockwork.  My class on the preacher’s life and work included a discussion of 2 Timothy 4:1-5 and also the challenges of working with congregations without elders.  The basic Bible doctrine session covered “How Sinners Receive Salvation,” i.e., what must I do to be saved?

The study of issues dividing brethren addressed the sponsoring church arrangement which elevates a local eldership to a brotherhood eldership by centralizing funds and oversight into the hands of one eldership.  I explained that I actually came from that background and had to gradually learn this practice is not authorized by Christ.

In the session working with the concordance and Bible dictionary, we investigated the difference between the Bible doctrine of imputation (our faith is counted for righteousness) and the Calvinist doctrine (transfer Adam’s sin to all men, transfer sins of the world to Christ, and transfer Christ’s personal righteousness to Christians).  The Bible word “impute” does not include the concept of transfer.  This period closed with many of the men giving reports of what they learned from the Bible dictionary about various books, persons, and places found in Scripture.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Exactly two years ago a preachers’ training class was supposed to be held here at Tuguegarao, but covid struck, foreigners were forbidden to enter, and the nation was soon put on lockdown.  Finally, by God’s good grace the month-long classes are underway as of Monday, April 4.  Thirty men are enrolled with 3 sit-in students and fluctuating numbers of visitors because anyone is welcome to hear lessons of their choice.

Classes are in session from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM with a lunch break, and after supper additional sessions give the men experience in presenting short sermons and in leading songs and prayers.  Our oldest member is 54 and the youngest 12 – everyone was very attentive and cooperative on our first day.

Subjects include the New Testament church, how to study the Bible, surveys of the Old and New Testaments, basic Bible doctrines, and issues that divided brethren in past years, as well as sessions on how to use a reference Bible, a Bible concordance and a Bible dictionary.  Rody, Craig, and I share the teaching duties.
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