With over 9,500 people registered and more than 20 nations represented, we pray that this will be a significant seed to sow in the lives of the next generation of leaders in this nation.

Preparations for this event started quite some time ago.

• In September, the conference planning group held a few meetings exploring the direction we felt God wanted the conference to take.
• For two months after that, the concepts were prayed about, discussed, shared with others, modified, and enhanced.
• By November, dates were being settled and venues considered. Meetings regarding big rocks: objectives, speakers, worship team, etc were held.
• Most of the volunteer teams and actual operational items began working in the second week of February.

And everyone’s hard at work to this day, with six days to go.

But the preparation isn’t just on those working, volunteering, planning, performing, or leading the event.

Much of the preparation is on the parts of the students who are going.

• Those who don’t know how they would go but stepped out in faith anyway
• Those who are raising money to get there – believing God for airfare, lodging,
• Those who have fixed their schedules to be there

Every where we can feel the excitement as people prepare. We believe that God is doing this and when His people come with a sense of expectation, He does spectacular things.

One of the best ways we are preparing is with a 10 Day Devotional that’s designed to lead up to the topics and experiences we’re preparing at Ignite. Please feel free to participate even if you aren’t attending.

You can download it for free here.

One lesson this shows is, it’s never about just one person. Everyone is where they are because of other people in their lives. In a few weeks, we’ll have our Ignite Conference. There’ll be a total of less than a hundred people on stage but to make this work would be the efforts of over a thousand volunteers, security guards, students, communications creative specialists, technical experts, campus missionaries, etc. It’s always about the people you’re working with.

What about you? Do you have people in your life who can help you get where you need to go?

The elections are over. The results have been counted. We have a new crop of leaders for some positions of government. I don’t know of anyone yet who saw all of their senatorial choices win. Most, including me, have some (or a few) who won and some (or many) who lost.

Some thoughts:

• If you voted, good job. Thank you for caring enough to do that. I saw a few (defensive?) posts of people saying that they still love the Philippines even though they didn’t exercise their right to vote. But with the great efforts the COMELEC has made (even though there are still significant screw-ups), there is less and less of an excuse. Basically, if you can get concert tickets, premiere tickets to the showing of Iron Man, or your school clearance, then you can probably vote. So congratulations to all of us who did.
• Now the votes have been counted and winners have been decided. It’s time for us to respect and submit to whoever is sitting there. The whole point of a democracy is we all agree to abide with the decision of the majority. It’s not, “Well, that’s not what I want so I’m going to disengage from the process.” That’s like those kids who lose at board games and kick the board over. As good citizens, it’s our role to pray for our leaders, support them, and give constructive feedback. Like a good friend of mine said, “There’s a difference between criticizing and bullying.”
• We don’t have to wait for the next election to do something for the country. We can be active today! Many people have complained about how the poor in this country voted, stating the woes of how easy it is to buy their votes. I agree that it is short sighted thinking, but I’ve also never been in the situation where P500 is the difference between life and death. I think I would be extremely “short-sighted” too if I was watching my family go hungry.
• What if we help the greatest demographic of our country today by giving what we can to lift people out of poverty? One of our pastors sponsored the daughter of their maid to fix her cross-eye. Then they helped her get a scholarship through Real Life Foundation and now she’s a college graduate and will get a good job. I grew up with my parents actively concerned for our helper and drivers’ education and family’s well-fare, even sponsoring their distance education so they could get a diploma. Bo Sanchez has blogged about how he has helped his maids form an investment portfolio. Earlier this year, my wife and I went through all of our things and gave away most of my clothes and plenty of school books to our helper and driver for their children’s education. My in-laws Paula and Charlie are active in Diksyonaryo Atbp and are constantly drumming up support for various causes. My brother, David, works two jobs, but has spent huge amounts of his time working with Habitat for Humanity, Center for Community Transformation, and Real Life Foundation. Everyone has needs and problems. We all could be using the time and money to better our own lives a little bit more. But we all can do something as well. The point isn’t to compare with one another but to do our part. Just like one vote counts, your life and what you do with it counts.

So to the new officials, congratulations and God be with you. We hope that you will serve with integrity, excellence, and as much diligence as you showed while campaigning. (Haha, like they’ll get to read this.)

And to the rest of us ordinary people, great work on the voting. Now let’s continue to do what we can to serve our country and fellow Filipinos.

• Hang out with my blockmates. I blogged about this here. It was really great catching up with each other and seeing how we all were doing.
• Cooking! I am a very enthusiastic, untrained, unskilled, barely adequate to read a recipe cook. But I love doing it. It’s one of my favorite de-stressers. This week I tried a new recipe for a 40 clove garlic chicken stew. It was very simple, inexpensive, lasted for three meals, and it produced 40 cloves of softened, spreadable garlic that I put in my rice. Perfect!
• Carla coming home. My wife was away the whole day Saturday and Monday and I got a tiny picture of what my life would be like without her. And I don’t like it. It was great having her home again. I even got to cook with tofu for the first time for her dinner.

• Talking with people and seeing them get it. – Whether it was a couple who are preparing for marriage or some of the guys in my discipleship group, one of the highlights of my week is always seeing people “get it.” They come away knowing God more and better prepared to face life. I love it.
• Victory Group Leaders. – Victory Fort had an equipping meeting for hundreds of Victory group leaders last Wednesday. Pastor Paolo did an amazing job teaching us. I was particularly excited to be there with four leaders that I’m “raising up” to take the lead in our group. I put quotes around “raising up” because really these men are strong in the faith already, I’m just another link in the chain of their development. I’m excited for them!

That's us at the round table with the people.

• Ignite Updates. – Thursday was full of great meetings and updates for Ignite! Whether it was the news of more internationals coming to the conference, the committee meeting where the hardworking staff are really bringing everything together, the meeting with the preachers (and I am sooo excited for the messages they’ll share), or a number of small conversations full of promises of different goodies and treats all designed to help students understand the Bible better and be equipped to Honor God and Make Disciples. I can’t wait!
• Our campus ministry team. Thursday night ended with a dinner celebrating a fruitful school year of making disciples on campus at at Victory Fort. We saw videos sharing testimonies of men and women who were changed. And we heard plans for the future. There were pastors, campus missionaries, volunteers, teachers who partner with us, and ministry partners who support us financially. I’ll blog more about this next time. But for now, I’ll just say it was so encouraging to see a roomful of people from different background and careers, united in their passion to reach students.
• Unexpected Vacation. And now it’s Friday. Some people from a resort asked Carla to blog about their resort and they gave us a free stay for the weekend. I’m thankful for this surprise gift. So I’m ending this blog now to spend more time with my date. See ya!

Every time I see this girl, I think God must really love me.

But our friendship was actually strange because we couldn’t be more different.

You're free to guess which one was mine, but if you pick the middle one I don't know you.

• One of us played basketball regularly. The other played like a ballet dancer. And the other didn’t play at all.
• One of us took Arnis for P.E. The dancer was the only straight guy in his jazz dancing class. And one of us didn’t take P.E. at all because he was a member of the shooting varsity.
• One drove a blue hatchback car with HUGE speakers. One drove a white Nissan car that was pretty old. While one had an eight year old Tamaraw FX that he constantly locked himself out of.

But for all of our differences we were united by a common passion: we were willing to settle for mediocre grades as long as we could play Counterstrike. We would cut class, rank each other, and brag about our kills. Blueskies along Katipunan was our favorite spot.

Memories...........

Daimler (nickname: Chamba) was the best, always playing as a sniper. Miguel  (nickname: Buonciko) would have bright spots from time to time, especially with the carbine. While I (nickname: Batman) would manage not to make too much of a fool of myself, except at Mansion where I would occasionally be excellent. Our common passion for Counterstrike helped build a friendship.

But last Monday, as we talked, I was amazed and thankful for our friendship. Still different as ever, we always had three different approaches to life, different areas of expertise, and different interests. But this time there’s a better common passion. Now, we’re all followers of Jesus.

When I met Miguel and Daimler on May 2000, they didn’t believe in Jesus yet. But over time, God brought about experiences in their lives that led them to faith in Him. Miguel came to know Jesus during the summer vacation after our first year. He attended our youth service, heard the Gospel, and believed in Jesus that day. Two years later, Daimler had an encounter with Jesus at a church retreat.

Our different lives have had ups and downs. Hardly a perfect journey, instead they’ve been full of bumps, mistakes, and failings. But Jesus has been faithful. And last Monday was an amazing moment for me. I’m so thankful for these two guys – their friendship, the advice they give, how steady they’ve been – but to be able to talk with them about faith stuff is just amazing.

So if you’re praying for your classmates or your family members to come to know Jesus:

• Don’t stop praying. God wants them saved more than we do. He will do it.
• Don’t stop sharing. You never know what God will use. You never know what invitation will be accepted. Just obey.
• Don’t stop believing. (Did you sing that in your head?) Don’t let the current situation change what you know about God. He will do what He promised.

But the reverse question occurred to me today. ARE YOU DISPENSABLE?

Yes, I agree that you want to work hard and be excellent at what you do so that you provide a valuable service to others. But if you’re trying to build something greater than yourself the goal should be more than being indispensable. Because if you’re indispensable, what happens when you INEVITABLY have to leave? Does everything collapse around your departure? Is that success?

A friend of mine recounted recently how he realized he had a wrong mindset when he was assigned a project with one company that he had learned and mastered completely but failed to teach to anyone else. When he was reassigned to another company, he watched his pet project fail as the people who took it over did not know it as well as he did. He was indispensable. But his project failed and all the earlier time spent on it was wasted. Is that success?

Steve Jobs died and Tim Cook has taken over. At this point, Apple under his administration has not wowed the world at the level that it did under Jobs. Steve Jobs seems indispensable now. But if the company fails after he’s gone, that doesn’t mean much does it? Is this success? We’re about to find out.

Last Saturday, at a gathering of our discipleship group leaders at Victory Fort, we were shown a video of a woman who started one discipleship group which eventually grew to 10 discipleship groups. Since then, she’s moved out of the group, keeping the relationships but letting the next in line people lead. It’s gotten bigger without her. She wasn’t indispensable. She built something that went beyond her. That’s success.

Dan Monterde, one of our campus directors, approached me last year looking for a new responsibility. He had grown our campus ministry in Metro East from five people to over a thousand. But at that point, he felt that Jeff Dacumos, the next-in-line, could lead just as well if not better than him. So he stepped down, turned it over to Jeff, and now serves in a number of other capacities. He built something that the next generation could run with. That’s success.

Robert Gonzalez, another one of our campus directors, is a similar story. Just this year, he stepped down from leading his large team of campus missionaries to focus on preaching and discipling young people. With the agreement of yet another veteran, Patrick Mercado, he turned the reins over to Brian Sebastian – a young man he led to Jesus personally and is fifteen years younger than him. Already we’re getting great feedback on Brian’s leadership. But what struck me most was a conversation with Robert where he shared his high hopes for Brian. Robert raised up a new leader who now works with him. That’s success.

So in this era of social-networking, which is often little more than self-promotion. What’s your definition of success? Does it live and die with you? Or will it go beyond you? Will you give your very best in your current season seeing success and growth, then turn it over to those who come after to see them take it higher and farther than you?

Are you dispensable?

A couple of teenagers start dating. They’ve got great potential but they refuse to receive counsel. There’s already cause for concern in the way they treat each other. People offer their time and assistance but they don’t take it. Why would they need it? They say God told them to date and that they don’t need other people. (This is a pretty repetitive pattern too.)

A few months ago, I preached in Victory Alabang. After the message an eighteen year old came up to me. I asked him if he needed prayer, but he shook his head. “I want to pray for you. God told me to,” he said. He prayed a prayer for me that was very encouraging and insightful for what I was concerned about that time.

These people were all convinced that God had spoken to them. And they’re just a few examples of billions throughout history who were sure they had heard from the divine.

What do we do with these people? Or what do we do if we’re that person? There are two extreme responses to this situation:

 OPTION 1: God doesn’t talk to you! / God doesn’t talk to people! / No one hears from God!

It’s tempting to say this because it’s just too weird, difficult, or strange to process that thought of God, the Almighty, speaking to an individual.

But that would be a mistake because God does speak with people. And when He does, it’s unmistakeable. While watching the recently aired Bible series by the History Channel, my wife and I commented on how well the show depicted the strangeness of Abraham in saying he heard from God. But as strange as it was, the effect on his life and on the succeeding generations was unmistakably good. He really did hear from God.

So let’s not be closed to the possibility that you or other people can hear from Him. The Bible says that we can know the thoughts of God by the Holy Spirit which He gives to all who have believed in His Son Jesus.

OPTION 2: Everyone who says they hear from God is right! / Everyone is hearing from God right now. / It’s about what you feel.

In effect, this no longer focuses on what God is actually saying. It’s just a way of saying that whatever you hear and feel is right. People can easily abuse this perspective by claiming their own fantasies as God’s will. As a minister, I can’t count the number of times people have flashed this card only to have to retract later on what they were “absolutely sure” was from God.

But more concerning than the potential of being wrong, is how casually people throw around the name of God. I believe that God can speak to anyone and through anyone. But with this ability to hear from Him comes the responsibility to communicate it correctly.

God will not allow people to take His Name in vain. The Bible is full of warnings and judgments from God against people who claim to speak from Him but speak falsely. They do it to make themselves famous, take advantage of others, or get away with what their wicked hearts wanted to do all along. We say things like, “I’m sure this is what God would want for me,” when really we’re just looking to justify our own desires.

Honestly, I get very concerned for people who don’t take this seriously because God will not let His name taken for granted like that. For every time that we say, “God told me this…” we’ll have to give an account. He is very jealous about His name. And if He takes it seriously, we would be wise to do the same.

Both of these extremes are wrong. So what’s the remaining option then?

OPTION 3: God speaks and we must test and see which words are really His.

Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Don’t disregard that God could be talking. Don’t ignore what the Holy Spirit is saying.

Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. But don’t just swallow things without thinking. Test them and see if they are right.

There are at least four tests we know from the Bible that we can use.

1. Godly counsel - Other people hear from God too. If we’re wondering if a particular insight, plan, or course of action is from God, other godly people in your life will probably hear it also.

2. Word of God - God will never say anything that goes against His written word, the Bible. If we really want to know it’s God speaking and not just the burrito you had for lunch, read the Bible.

3. Will be confirmed - If God says something’s gonna happen, it happens. Until there’s confirmation, then we should remember to keep open the possibility that we might be mistaken. You think you’re destined for American Idol stardom? Other people will confirm that in you. You think God has shown you who your future husband is? It’ll happen if it’s really from God.

4. Good fruit – If something is from God it produces good fruit. If something is leading you to sin, error, lying, acting without love, then we should check if this is really from God. I’m not saying God’s will never has any difficulty, but even when it’s difficult God gives us the grace to thrive in it.

Happy listening!

Everyone has sulked at least once in his/her life. For some people it’s more becoming than others. Like sometimes when my wife does it to me it’s adorable.

But it’s never adorable when a leader does it. It’s not just ugly and pathetic, it’s twisted and perverted. Perverted  means to corrupt something from the original course

Here’s why: leaders are meant to lead! To fix problems not throw tantrums until they get their way. Leaders are there to make the first move, not play hard to get. Leaders are there to encourage the cowardly, motivate the lazy, and activate the passive.

Sulking is the complete opposite of leadership because it’s cowardly, lazy, and passive. It’s waiting for the other person to initiate the reconciliation. It’s putting our own hurt feelings over the good of the team. It’s resigning from taking responsibility.

We aren’t always in leadership situations. Sometimes we’re followers. But when you’re the leader, don’t resign from your post. When there’s something wrong in the team, do something about it.

Of the five options here, four are for leaders and one is used by toddlers. Which one are you?

This morning, most of our campus missionaries from Metro Manila and several from the provinces came together to worship God and ask for Him to be with us as we plan for Ignite, our Every Nation Asia Campus Conference.

We held it in Cuneta Astrodome where the conference will be in 35 days. We crammed into a room much too small for us which overwhelmed the brave but useless efforts of the airconditioners. And with sweat running down our faces, began to worship God and pray. I loved every minute of it.

Not Pictured: The multi-sensory experience that the venue provided.

It reminded me of the early days of all our centers when airconditioning was an unheard of luxury, which it still is for many locations.

It reminded me of packed youth services where the smell of sweat indicated just how many young people were present and how passionately they were worshipping – giving birth to our expression, “Smells like the harvest.”

But more than all of that, it was fun because it’s always great to praise and worship our God. And even as the preparations for the conference are growing, we wanted to remind ourselves that this isn’t about us, but about our God. In fact, the reason we need to pray is because this is Beyond Us. On so many levels.

• Beyond Our Abilities – Everything that’s going to happen here is beyond us. We can do our best in planning things, but if God doesn’t go ahead of us, then nothing will happen. This is true about Ignite and for all of our lives. We’re like the Kid Darth Vader in the Volkswagen commercial. We can wave our hands around, but God’s got the real power.

•  Beyond the Natural – There are spiritual realities at work that we do not always see or comprehend. To go without prayer is to march in blindly. Good thing Jesus said He defeated any enemy we will face on the Cross. When we pray we are taking that victory Jesus won and applying it to every area we’re walking in to.
• Beyond our Location – Whenever God does something in the Bible, it always goes far beyond what the original participants expect. In the same way, Ignite 2013 is beyond LifeBox or Victory. It’s beyond the Philippines. But we are believing that God will use this time to make an impact in nations all around the world. With delegates from 17 nations coming,we are excited and hopeful for the inception this can be for them.

In short, with big tasks and big goals facing big opposition, you better be praying to a big God. What an energizing way to start the day.

After that, I spent 5 hours in a coffee shop writing some of the materials for the conference.

Then I ended the day with my Victory group meeting while my wife met her’s next door. Good day! But now I need a long shower and some sleep. Good night!

Look for the clown who is hiding behind someone.

Our church there, Morning Star International, is really doing an amazing job reaching out to their community

Here are some highlights from our trip:

Meeting with Students

For a campus missionary, there’s nothing more energizing than meeting with students face to face. And meeting these young people in Jakarta was no different. There were many similarities between Filipinos and Indonesian students – in fact, with students we’ve met around the world. Primary concerns are with school, parents, and friends, are excited and curious about love life, and they respond well to encouragement.

Training Leaders

When we weren’t meeting students at universities, we were staff and volunteers who work in campuses in six cities around Indonesia. Dan and I took this time to share principles we’ve learned and developed in campus ministry and the Philippines. This is one of the most exciting parts because each leader represents more than just themselves – leader can disciple students, leaders can pioneer new work or deepen existing work, and leaders raise other leaders. If you want to reach the campus effectively, train leaders.

Pastors and Leaders of Jakarta

We were also privileged to meet some really great pastors and volunteer leaders of our church in Jakarta. It was great seeing them minister on stage and in person. But more than their stage persona, it was nice to get to know them better and spend time. You know that someone really lives what they proclaim when you see the truth translated to their families and everyday lives.

This was a nice treat. It's like a crepe stuffed with this delicious fresh avocado cream thing. They also had it in durian flavor but we passed.

Food!

There is so much to enjoy from the diverse culinary heritage of Indonesia – similarities to Malay cuisine, Chinese influence, Dutch influence and the rich flavors from Asia. Tahu telur (tofu omelette with bean sprouts, lettuce, peanuts, and a light sauce), matarbak (think a pancake sandwich – pancakes loaded with butter, stuffed with chocolate and cheese), soto ayam (Soto means soup, from what I gather. This kind uses tamarind so it’s sour like our sinigang.), satay, rawon (a black beef soup), bakmi (which is noodles like the way Filipinos enjoy mami) and my favorite – nasi uduk! It’s rice cooked with coconut milk/oil (gata) then seasoned with fried shallots. Yum! I really enjoy the variety of spices of Indonesian cuisine. My perfect house in an ideal world would have access to the best Korean, Thai, Japanese, Malaysian, Singaporean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Chinese, and of course, Filipino delicacies.

Check out Dan's seat assignment label.

Working with a great friend

This is the third time I went on an international campus ministry trip with my friend, Dan. It seems like it just gets better and better. This time, I was so thankful to have him because his practical campus ministry experience and insight surpass mine on many levels. He facilitated many of the group discussions we had and he handled it excellently. We’re both very excited for the promise that the campus ministry in Indonesia has.

We got in this morning and the trip just made me more eager and excited to work toward Ignite because we will see not just 8000+ students from the Philippines, but delegates from 17 other nations! What a privilege to be able to serve other nations this way.

But before the work stuff, I’m just glad to be back with my wife. So I’m ending this blog now because we have to go to the grocery together.

Thank you, Lord, for a great trip. we ask you to continue the work that you started in that nation. Amen.