A Taste of Hope Chapel Metro's New Venue

This past Sunday Hope Chapel Metro was excited to moved to Berting's Grill, a new location within the Timog area. It was a huge blessing to find this bar that is centrally located, just feet away from the main strip of clubs, bars and restaurants that make the nightlife of Timog so popular. 

This new venue is not only cheaper, but they also provide storage space for all our equipment. But what is even more encouraging is that the owner had been praying that some sort of religious group would come in and rent his space...and that was us! Although, as Pastor Nolan said, "we are far from being religious, we just love Jesus", and we're hoping he and the rest of this area will catch that vibe too and join us.  

We're are just thankful to God for His continued provision for our church. Here is a short 2 minute video highlighting our first night at our new venue!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClGRii5ElsI?rel=0]

Training the Faculty at Asian Theological Seminary

As many of you know, Lynnette and I continue to look for ways to help support ourselves on the mission field in addition to the generous support of the friends and family who have partnered with us. 

Recently, It was a shock at first to be offered the opportunity to be hired to train the Faculty at ATS, in using an internet application that allows them to offer their courses online for the first time. It was such a blessing and a privilege to work with this great group of people, who are crazy smart and fun to be around with. 

How did I end up with this opportunity?

Amazingly, three of my past expriences that are totally unrelated, converged together for this project. With my background in web development, as a trainer at Apple, and the fact that I am using the exact same web application (Moodle) for my online courses that I am taking at Fuller Seminary, God conveniently orchestrated my meeting with the President of ATS...and everything came together.

I am hoping that I will be able to continue a working relationship with the wonderful people at ATS.

 

Hope Chapel Metro's First Easter!

It was the first Easter at Hope Chapel Metro, and it was great to celebrate it with everyone out here. Just like Christmas, many people in our church, (and in Manila in general) travel outside of the city back to their provinces to spend the Easter holiday with their families. Although we missed them, it was great to see some new faces at the church, as well as people give their life to the Lord!

Here are a few photos Lynnette took of the night:

Hope Chapel Metro - Leaders Retreat

This past weekend from Friday to Saturday we gathered old and new leaders in Hope Chapel Metro for our weekend "Advance" (since God's people don't "retreat" we "advance" forward!, as Pastor Nolan reminded us). We stuffed 22 people in 2 vans and drove about 2-3 hours away to San Pablo in Laguna...that's how you do it in the Philippines!

It was a great time of building relationships, especially with new leaders. On Good Friday, we had a chance to take communion together and re-set our hearts on Christ. On Saturday, Pastor Nolan recasted vision as we looked at better ways of shepherding the people. After a good time of swimming, games and resting, we also had a chance to hear from Pastor Luckie. 

Pastor Luckie not only ministered to us for inner healing but also equipped us to be able to guide people through inner healing as well, with the help of the Holy Spirit. It was a powerful time, and very much needed as we anticipate a new season of growth in our church.
Below are some photos from our retreat:

 

MiniChurch Outreach - Eastwood Photos & Motion Portraits

This past month we were in a great message series at Hope Chapel Metro, called "Change the World", a great series encouraging people that they can make an impact in the world...if they simply listened to God, and their hearts, and take action. In conjunction with the series I had our Minichurches (small groups) accomplish missions each week. One of them was to bless and serve the community in some way, small or big. 

We had groups bring food to Barangay halls, visit orphanages, bring food and pray for guards, and one group even did a medical clinic in the streets! Our group was meeting in a nicer neighborhood and we hurt our brains trying to figure out how to bless people in this popular night spot.

We came up with this idea to bless the Eastwood people by offering to take free photos of them as well as a motion portrait (something I've been exprimenting with). Then we would hand them a card that informed them they could see their photos/videos by visiting the church site, and hopefully be blessed. Great idea!...Except, only two of us could make it, and both of us are introverts, who don't exactly enjoy approaching strangers.

So we saw it as a good challege to pull us out of our comfort zones. Since I was the photographer, Jonathan was the spokesperson and he did an awesome job approaching people, and making them feel comfortable...even though it is always awkard for everyone in those first few moments. We shared about our church, gave them a card and took the photo and video, and everyone had a good time. Below is the video of the motion portraits we did. You can see the photo gallery at Hope Chapel Metro website:
www.hopemetro.com/eastwoodgallery

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSSp9rmPySs?rel=0]

Showing love to the infants at CRIBS Foundation in Marikina City

Lynnette and her MiniChurch, from Hope Chapel Metro, went to serve the orphaned infants and toddlers at this foundation. CRIBS Foundation is where abandoned, neglected, surrendered children along with sexually abused young girls are sheltered.

To protect the children, they weren't allowed to film or take pictures of the kids, but here are there reflections after spending 2 hours with babies and toddlers. 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ONXSwB_zAw?rel=0]

Newsletter - March 2012 - Job, Blog and Tagalog Updates

Find out what's been going on in these past couple months. We got a job update, a new blog from Lynnette and we're learning Tagalog. Good stuff!

Check out Lynnette's Blog site here:
www.lynnetteunplugged.blogspot.com 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBQJ_H3IRAE?rel=0]