Week of Power ...

Assemblies of God (AG) in the Philippines have geographical areas which they call Districts. Within these Districts they have smaller areas which are called Sections. This is the American AG pattern. Here in Northern Luzon we have 3 Districts - NELDC, NLDC and NIDC. In each District there are between 200-400 churches.

Every two years, they come together for a Tri-District Conference and they rotate the location. This year, it was the turn of our District (North Eastern Luzon District Council) to host the Conference. NELDC have their District Office here at Sefton and I am one of the District Executive. So .. last week was kinda busy ...

The Conference was from Tuesday-Thursday, but everyone in the District and at SBTC have been planning and preparing for months! Here in the Philippines they set up heaps of Committees to run everything ... although most of the time it is only the one in charge of the committee who actually does anything ... sound familiar? The students have been decorating Sefton in Christmas decorations for weeks! Wherever you go there are decorations, lights and streamers! This has been the project of the students and they have made Sefton look like Blackpool! Check out this amazing star at the top of the Fire Centre (Keith's picture)

We expected around 800 people ... but over 1000 came! At nights they said there were 1200-1500 people at the service ... amazing! Usually we have to drag people to come to the service (Filipino time!) but this week they were actually coming early because we did not have enough seats! A miracle ...

The services were great - it's amazing to worship with over 1000 people in the Fire Centre! What an atmosphere. God gave me a vision that one day we would have that number in our Cornerstone United meetings ... do you believe it? The choir from Roxas (above) sang every night and there was praise and worship from different churches.

But the best part was the performances of our students (I am biased!) They were magnificent. On the first night they did a hands performance, on the second they did The Champion' and on the third night they did a dance/drama called 'Hero' (above) - I am so proud of them. The work that Pastor Lorenz and Joy are doing with them is fantastic. They have brought a whole new dimension to our Bible School.

The preacher was an Afro-American called Dr. Guy Peh. He is originally from Cameroon but has lived in America for many years. He is married to a lady from Belgium and they are both so tall - he is 6ft 7 and she is 6 ft 3! The Filipinos were like dwarfs around him! So funny. But his ministry was great ... a real evangelist. On the last night he spoke about the Fire of the Lord and it made a real impact. Hundreds came forward at the end to receive the Fire! Amazing.

During the day there were seminars (pic below) from Dr Guy, his wife Ilke, our General Superintendent Ray Calusay and our General Secretary Dr. Joseph Suico (who spent 3 years in England studying theology! We sent him off with a bag full of Lyle's syrup, Heinz Salad Cream & Tomato sauce and Tetley T-bags!) These two guys are great men and their seminars were a challenge to Filipinos to 'Rise up' in the area of finances and Missions.

How do you accommodate and feed 1200 people? Don't ask me, but they did! They put people everywhere at Sefton to sleep (and I mean everywhere!), they sent people out to local churches (Cornerstone Santiago had 71!) and they rented a few big halls in town. The Kitchen staff (from Cornerstone Nagassican) did an amazing amount of work - starting 3am every morning! So proud of them. Faceless heroes. We needed them.

So ... the Conference was a great success. Everyone played their part and it went so well. All the visitors were so well looked after. Pastor Marlou was telling me today that at Cornerstone Santiago they provided these 71 visitors with toothpaste, soap, pillows, blankets, tea & coffee and a light meal before they went to bed! Whenever the visitors came in - sometimes after midnight - Pastor Marlou had ushers there to welcome them and to help them in any way they could. That's 'The Cornerstone Way' that we learned from Cornerstoen Singapore and I am so proud of Marlou and our churches.

One last good thing ... it will be 2014 when the next one comes around to Sefton. By then, I will probably be like you ... finding out about it someone else's blog!

Selah ...

Disclaimer: After reading what I have written, I have realised that I have used the word 'proud' a number of times. Mary's mum always says that we shouldn't be proud in a bad way but that it isn't bad to be proud in a good way. So be assured, I mean 'proud' in a good way!