FEBC ... All Systems Go!

Last week was an exciting week because after 4 years of planning, waiting and talking, we finally signed the contract leasing FEBC some of our land. The photo above shows me signing the legal contract along with Em Perez from FEBC and Pastor Laurence Nanglegan of the AoG District. At the bottom of Sefton Village a large radio antenna will be built. They will also build a studio building for recording all the radio shows.

We have had several meetings with FEBC Director Dan Cura and I have become good friends with him. The first time we met was in 2003 and it was a hoot. I never knew who Dan was but he was the new FEBC Director. He wanted to meet me and so when I was in Manila we planned a meeting. I decided to go early and sat at a small table across from a guy I thought I recognised. After ten minutes I asked him, "Aren't you the guy who reads the news on Channel 35?" He said, "Yes, are you Pastor Mark Ritchie?" Then I felt like a real twit. I had literally watched Dan read the national news every night for 3 years on the biggest TV Station in the Philippines and I still didn't realise that this was the same Dan Cura as I was going to meet. We still have a good laugh about that meeting!

There is a lovely couple called Em & Miriam Perez and they have worked for FEBC for 30 years. They have been assigned the responsibility of setting up the new radio station. They have had many training events for potential programmers here at Sefton. They have also been involved in a lot of the practical details of setting things up. There is a guy from FEBC called Peter MacIntyre and he is from Edinburgh ... and his wife from Tain just north of Inverness. He came to train our programmers once and couldn't believe that we were also Scottish and that Mary was from Wick! Small world!

The plan is that we will start to build in Jan/Feb. We hope to start recording radio programmes by Easter and go on air in June 2008. Many of our Cornerstone pastors & leaders (Winston, Marlou, James Bastian, August, Danny, Jane) are going to have their own shows and they have went through all the training. They all speak different dialects and will reach out to their own people groups. It is so exciting!

We have leased out the land on a 50 year lease at P1 per year! I want to make sure that the radio station will have no problems even when I am no longer at Sefton. So when I am 88, if I am still around, I can come to the Philippines to see how the new negotiations are going!!

You have to realise that there is absolutely no Christian Radio any more in the Northern Philippines. Many pastors and leader had their own shows on local FM radio stations but a false prophet (all self proclaimed messiah) bought up the rights for all local radio in the Philippines and the first thing he did was remove Christian Radio. So for three years there has been no proclamation of the gospel or christian music.


The Radio Station is called Cagayan Valley Missionary Radio an the frequency will be 1143 AM. It will reach out for hundreds of miles and most of Northern Luzon will hear that 'Jesus Christ is Lord' again! This is not a radio station to tick the ears of Christians ... its main purpose is to share the gospel for very people group in northern Luzon. That is about to change ...

In 1999 the Lord showed me in a vision that one day we would have a radio station at Sefton Village. At that time I had absolutely no idea how it would come to pass. But I knew what God had showed me and believed it with all my heart. And now, I have been amazed at the faithfulness and plan of the Lord in bringing this exciting project to pass.

Whatever the dream or vision God has shown you ... don't give up! You don't have to know how God will do it, when He will do it or even what he will do. Just believe. Hold on. Survive the storm. Don't give up ... the fulfillment is coming!

Here is a verse to encourage you today: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Gal 6:9 - NIV)

Touching Base!

Hi folks. Well, as promised, here is a few recent 'catch up' news items from Sefton Village.

* Visit of my family!
We had a great time with my family. Mum, Dad, Paul, Ashley, Nathan & Aaron all came to Sefton ... along with Monica Jack (my cousin's wife). We had a good mixture of mission/ministry along with some good old family time.

I am so proud of Paul & Ashley for bringing the boys here. They will never forget their trip I am sure. The boys made a great friendship with Pepito and it was a very sad day when they left.

Dad & Paul did a lot of preaching and sharing in the churches and at the Bible School. Monica sang every day I think ... in the churches, hospital, jail, Fire Centre etc. She went home hoarse ... but happy!

We loved having the gang here. It was great for Mary to have Mum, Ashley and Monica here. They enjoyed a good blether over a cup of tea on many occasion. We will never forget their visit.


* Visit of Dave & Madeline Russon from AoG World Ministries
The day we said goodbye to my family was the same day as we said 'Hi' to Dave & Madeline. We drove with them up to Sefton Village where they spent 6 great days with us. They spent individual time with all three families at Sefton ... and we ate so much along the way!

Dave and Madeline also ministered a lot - in the hospital, jail, st a Youth Camp and also at Cornerstone Utd. on the Sunday. Dave's message was spot on ... we need to sow our seed on fertile ground which the Lord will show us.

Their visit was a great blessing to us as a family. They encouraged us so much and we know that they are right behind us as a family and also the ministry at Sefton Village. Their counsel and advice was wise and we felt the benefit of their long journey here. Lydia and Josiah thought the world of them and Madeline was great with them. Madeline and Lydia still keep contact via text (and I'm not joking!)

* Visit of Gillian Saunders
Two weeks ago we had the blessing of having Gillian stay with us for 6 days. She is truly a friend of Sefton Village and she has visited us many times before. She has really helped Pastor Jun set up Powerhouse Kids Club and she was able to bring advice and wisdom to the team again.

It was good to see here again .., it was 2 years since we last saw each other. Unbelievable! Again we had lovely times of recollection as well as planning ahead. We took Gillian 3 times to the new Italian Restaurant in Santiago ... the owner is an Italian and he was amazed at the way Gillian spoke fluent Italian (without an English Accent!!) The food was authentic too by the way!

* The Pointon & Kerr families
Keith and Anne are doing well and have found their niche here at Sefton. Keith is doing a great work with the Cornerstone Pastors and runs a cell group for them every week. He is also very involved with the Bible School where he teaches various subjects, including English. He also preaches around the Cornerstone Churches every week and has a real burden for a German inmate at the local jail.

Anne is also doing great. She teaches English every day at the pre-school as well as teaching English once a week at the Bible School. She also is getting very involved in the Children's Home now and helping Mary a lot.

The Kerr family are adjusting to Filipino life .. not easy I can tell you! Their house is looking lovely and lots of their bits and pieces have arrived from UK. Madeline has been going to school for the last couple of months and is making some friends. Pray for her as it is not easy. She and Lydia are always together ... either best friends or best enemies! Usually you can find them dressing up, playing school, splashing in water somewhere or pasting on make up! Ariella is just beautiful and always has a smile for Uncle Mark.


Matthew is finding out what the Lord wants for him here. There are many avenues where he, and myself, feel he can really help us. He is going to take charge of all visitors and missions teams that come to Sefton Village. He will be in charge of Maintenance at Sefton and will be team leader to Heny, Jonathan & Edward. He will also be in charge of building projects in the future. He has a burden to help in the ministries in the Fire Centre and he will be responsible for the PE for the Bible Students every Wednesday afternoon. He will also be in charge of organising the Cornerstone pastors. Someone said that trying to organise pastors is like trying to herd cats! Matthew will also be helping is in the 'tecky' side, hopefully getting a website up and running at some point. So he will be a busy man!

Claire is finding her feet as a teacher in the pre-school. Things are a bit different here and it takes time to get behind life here. Claire has been spending a lot of time at KMGLC and has been getting to know the teachers. She will be responsible for the Christmas Program at the school this year and Mary says she has lot of good ideas! Mary and Claire are also spending time getting the plans and ideas for the new Elementary School organised. We are hoping to have grades 1-4 by June next year and there is much to do. Pray for them as they work out the way ahead.

Check out their blog for more news from Sefton - www.leekerr.co.uk

This blog is long enough already and my fingers are getting sore! I will blog about the following soon:

* Fantastic ministry opportunity at the hospital
* Nagassican feeding program for malnourished kids
* FEBC Update
* August Manio
* Great opportunities to minister to thousands in Santiago
* New kids in Children's Home

I am going to blog about the challenges of being good parents this week, so to bless you I have put a video of wee Josiah singing the grace this morning. He's a wee peep! Enjoy!

Good News from a Distant Land!

You guessed it ... internet trouble. This time for around a week. After calling them every day last week and being told that the engineers would come 'tomorrow', on Friday they came up with the best one yet. They said that our phone line had been 'chosen' to do a week long test to see how effective it is! What an honour! Pity they never told me until the last day of the test! Sometimes living in the Philippines has its challenges....

Never mind, we are online for the moment and that's good. So much has happened in the last few weeks and I must write them down here so I can remember to blog about them:

* Visit of my family! What a brilliant time.
* Visit of Dave & Madeline Russon from AoG World Ministries
* Visit of Gillian Saunders
* Fantastic ministry opportunity at the hospital
* Nagassican feeding program for malnourished kids
* The Pointon & Kerr families
* FEBC Update
* August Manio
* Great opportunities to minister to thousands in Santiago
* New kids in Children's Home


Well, I'm going to give you some great news ... Winston and Mary Jane have had a wee girl! Last Tuesday little Eunice Hope Bao-in made her way into the world ... and she was a whopping 3.9 kilos! She is absolutely beautiful and both parents were so relived that all went well after a hard pregnancy.

On the same day, one of our staff Hermie gave birth to a little boy - Othniel. Does anyone know what Othniel means or where he is found in teh Bible? Answers on a postcard! Imagine them being born on the same day! Winston was saying that maybe they could get together on the Nov 13th and save costs by having one party for two kids! We are so happy for both couples and pray that the Lord will bless their children in every way.

If you would like to pass on a message to either of the couples just write it in 'comments' below and I will print it off for them.

Got to go now. Please pray for us this weekend. There is a huge typhoon now entering the Philippines and they are even saying it will become a Super Typhoon .... now they are scary. It is possible that it could come north and pass through Isabela but no-one is sure yet.

Please pray for us all here at Sefton - and indeed all Filipinos wherever they are. As you look at some of their homes I wonder how on earth anyone survives these horrific typhoons.

Blog soon .... Phone company permitting!

P.s. - just to remind you to have a look at Mathew & Claire's blog as it will give you a lot more info of what is going on here through their eyes. Yesterday Matthew wrote a funny blog about life in the Philippines. Just go to www.leekerr.co.uk

Cardboard Boxes Can’t Cut Grass.

I went down to Manila last Wednesday and came back on Friday night. We really desperately needed to get a pile of stuff for Sefton Village and so Jonathan & I headed down in my van with a local Pastor who came to help. It was non stop shopping! We got new lights for the Fire Centre, new PA for the church, heaps of things for the Children’s Home, 40 ring-binders & notebooks for the students etc. etc. We were jam packed.

One of the things that Jonathan really needed was a new lawnmower. We had two really old ones but they graduated to the big lawn in the sky a few months ago. Jonathan tried to resurrect them, but the old mowers were no mower. Ahem. Well, we managed to get a good deal on a new Briggs & Stratton 4hp lawnmower WITH a grass catcher! Wow, in the Philippines usually the guy who cuts the grass is also the grass gatherer at the end! So Johnny boy was over the moon.

We got back and unloaded all our stuff. Of course, being a good dad and living in the Filipino culture I had brought back my two kids Pasalubongs (gifts). Just a set of 3 cars from ‘Cars’ for Josiah and a Care bear for Lydia. They started playing enthusiastically for about 3 minutes and then I noticed them looking out the window. There, with a humungus (?) grin on his face, was Jonathan unpacking and building his lawnmower. “It’s very big dad”, “Can I have a go?”, and “Do you think Uncle Jonathan will give it to us?” I was initially very impressed at their apparent interest in things mechanical … but I was confused by their desire for a lawnmower.

They ran outside and the next thing I knew they had brought the object of their desire into the house … no, not the lawnmower but the box of the lawnmower! They played and played, tossed and tumbled, laughed (and cried!), jumped and slid around for around an hour. You should have heard their laughter and obvious excitement. They poked their eyes out the sides and pretended they were serving at McDonalds! Such imaginations. Lightning McQueen and Tender Heart were soon forgotten.

Got me thinking. When Briggs & Stratton built this box, they did not have playing in mind. They didn’t have kids in mind. They didn’t have McDonalds restaurants in mind. All they wanted was an attractive but strong cardboard carton that would protect and advertise their product. But my two excited kids they saw it as a boat, a car and a fast food restaurant. They were not interested in cutting grass; they were interested in having a good time.

A bit like us. Spiritually … we love playing with packaging. We love making the minor major. We often make the major minor. We love to miss the point. We love to dwell in the insignificant. We love to talk. We love to play in the shallows of greatness.

Don’t believe me? God has amazing things for us to do. He shows us plans, dreams and vision. He gives us gifts to use to do the job. He gives us all the authority in heaven to use in any given situation. He gives us His name to combat the works of the enemy. He bestows upon us all the power inherited and won by His Son.

And what do we often do? We argue, we debate, we plan, we consider, we procrastinate, we dwell … anything but get the job done.

Take evangelism. We read books, we watch DVD’s, we talk about it, and we debate the different styles and methods. But only few churches have an evangelistic department or programme. Gifts of Holy Spirit – we know all about each gift, how to use each gift, the purpose of each gift, the power of each gift, we can categorize them into different groupings … but so very few actually use the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the church … or just as importantly... on the street. Prayer – we know we should pray, how important it is, when we should pray, we know we should be at the prayer meeting, but … our prayer meetings are empty. Often our time with the Lord is pushed aside.

We love packaging. We love to talk. We love to play. But packaging will never cut grass. Jonah loved packaging. He was more concerned about a stupid little tree than the eternal destination of 120,000 people.

My friend, there is ‘grass to be cut’. There are people to be won for Christ. There are places that have absolutely no Christian witness. Whole towns and villages are going to hell. There are people who are desperate for a healing touch … just someone to visit them with some encouragement. There are broken people, oppressed people, lonely people, damaged people. Just down your street. You don’t have to walk far to find emptiness.

The crunch of my life came when a couple sang a simple song at a youth conference in Fraserburgh. The song was about a farmer who was a father. All his family and friend were in his house having a party. They were having a ball! But as he looked out to the fields and saw the huge harvest he said to himself, “My house is full … but my fields are empty. Who will go and work for me today?” For me, this was the call of God.

Don’t play with the packaging any more. It’s time to ask the Lord of the Harvest to equip you for the work he has for you. It’s time to seek Him. It’s time to eagerly desire spiritual gifts. It’s time to cry out for your purpose, your vision, your destiny.

Because cardboard boxes can’t cut grass ….

Selah ...