Oro Bible College Visit #8

 Regarding the comments I have received by email, in person and on the blog:

-Thank you all for your prayers for the Oro Bible College and for Warren and family.

-Lots of people remember the early morning serenades – and also the roosters. I am happy to report that the roosters have not been waking me.

-I have yet to discover what adobo is, but I have tasted lansones (?).

-A number of people have suggested that I could have made a Biblical case for saying that the Holy Spirit does not come before 9 am (Acts 2:15)  Church starts at 10:00am to really be certain the Holy Spirit is there.

-Cynthia says, “Sounds like things haven’t changed much” … “Wish I were there.”

 Despite the differences between our cultures, many of them humorous, the Philippines is a lovely place to be. The people are warm (like the weather) and hospitable. I have friends in many parts of the world now. The upside is that wherever I go I am not far from friends. The downside is that wherever I go I am parted from loved ones. Overall technology had made this a lot easier. I have been talking to Tarnya and the children every day (at no cost thanks to Skye). Both the Walshes and the Burges have a web camera so I can even see my family. Its almost like being there though you can’t give a hug over the internet.

Oro Bible College Visit #7

I was woken this morning at around 5am by the neighbours singing. I listened for a while. Much of the singing was not in English so I did not know what is was about – until they sang the “Happy Birthday” song! They also sang “Come Holy Spirit”. I was tempted to lean out of my window and say, as a “Bible College Lecturer” and semi qualified “Theologian” that there was no biblical evidence that the Holy Spirit comes before 6:30am. The hymn says, “Early in the morning our songs shall rise to Thee”, but this was very early in the morning and their songs were rising to me also.
Actually I recall Grant mentioning this Philippino custom before. Friends and relatives will serenade you before dawn on your birthday. It is quite a pleasant way to wake up. In this instance I was blessed to be living next to a very musical family who sing well.
I am looking forward to church this morning having already had an early morning worship session. 

Oro Bible College Visit #6

    

( if you click on the thumbnail photos above, a new window should open with a the photo in a larger format)

19/10/07
Tonight we had our OBC Annointing Service. As with all good celebrations there was food. We shared dinner together.There was worship and prayer. Grant Aldridge did a sterling job of introducing me. I preached my first sermon in the Philippines. Jeff Vann, as Dean of the College, made apresentation to me on behalf of the College.
The purpose of the evening was to annoint with prayer and with oil the four students who are going out from the College on their internship this coming semester (This is the same internship that brought Reniel to us in New Zealand for a time). Each intern has a faculty supervisor. At the service the supervisor presents to the intern a “token”. This is a small gift, usually humorous, if last night is any indication, by which they say something amusing about some quirk of the student and then they draw some more serious spiritual analogy and encouragement.
I reached the end of my first week. When I think of how much I am enjoying the work here and of the new friends I have made, the time seems to have gone very quickly. When I think of how much I miss my family back home two weeks more seems like a long time to wait. Being an optimist by nature I choose to focus on how much I am enjoying my time here and the reunion will be all the sweeter when it happens.   

Oro Bible College Visit #5

 

Jonathan, Brian, Benjie, David, Micko,Ephraim, Michelle-Joy

18/10/07

I gave the first of 5 quizzes to my students yesterday. I marked it over night and handed it back today. I was told yesterday by Jeff Walsh that in the Philippines a pass is 75%. I did not know that! In New Zealand the average student should be able to score around 50% without much trouble. There would be much rejoicing over a 70% mark. Here if a student gets only 70% there is much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth I had to rethink how I marked my test!

One student who seems very switched on, started the test well and, as it seemed to me, didn’t do so well in the middle. I asked all the students if any wanted to do the test again verbally. In private I asked this young man if he wanted to do the test again. Eventually he showed me his “missing” answers. He had not had room to write in the space provided and had written the answers on the back of the page. 

A New Zealand student might comb an exam paper from beginning to end, looking for so much as a comma that had been incorrectly marked and then appeal to the teacher to reconsider (upward) the final grade. Out of respect for me, their illustrious teacher, most Filippino students, it seems, would rather take a lower grade than challenge, however respectfully, an authority figure.

All’s well that ends well. This student went from bottom of the class (below 75%!) to top of the class.      

Oro Bible College Visit #4

17/10/07

Wednesday nights is Mission Meeting nights. Or is it “Mission Eating” night. Grant Aldridge, Jeff and Penny Vann, Jeff and Rhonda Walsh - and today myself – go to a cafe to discuss mission business and to enjoy some time together in a relaxed atmosphere. 

I told Tarnya that the price for a slice of chocolate cake, when translated into NZ dollars, was about the same as I’d pay back home (If I ever went to a coffee bar back home!). Her reply was that this would exclude most Filipinos from partaking.

It certainly is true that most of the students at OBC would not have this kind of money. But there is a huge spread between rich and poor over here. There were plenty of Filippinos in the Cafe. There are people here with more money than I can imagine (and I have a good imagination). There are also people living out of garbage cans.

Rhonda Walsh told me that the minimum wage is supposed to be 25 pesos an hour or 20 if you provide food. On the minimum wage the choclate cake I ate would represent three hours labour. Like a $40 piece of chocolate cake back home.

The issue of what “lifestyle” to live, as a western Christian over here, is a vexed question. Any one with any money here has ”help” come and do the washing and / or housework. Looked at from one perspective (the wrong perspective) it seems a little “unkiwi” to hire a poor person to do your dirty work. Actually it provides an opportunity for those who are blessed by God to help those not so financially well off without taking away the dignity that comes from having earned their keep.

In retrospect, at home I don’t even pay my “help” (Tarnya) 20 pesos let alone the minimum wage in NZ!.           

Oro Bible College Visit #3

This is Grant Alridge and me with two of the students at my first lunch here. The mission is providing lunch for all students and staff for two weeks.
 
L to R
 
Grant David Brian Jonathan.

Oro Bible College Visit #2

16/10/07
I am catching the 4:45am flight to Cagayan De Oro. It makes for an early start but I came all this way to teach the Bible and be at Oro Bible College (OBC) not to sit around in posh hotels in Manila. In the lounge by the boarding gate there is a shrine with a virgin Mary, a crucifix and a Bible in it. A woman just went up to it, bowed and touched the Virgin Mary. I guess she didn’t have time to read the Bible! People are very religious here (Acts 17:22) but there is little knowledge of God’s Word from what I have seen so far.
It is a privilege to be associated with the Oro Bible college which is doing so much to teach young Filipino men and women of God to know and to love his word.
Dave. .

Oro Bible College Visit #1

15/10/07
Visit Manila Heritage Hotel. It isn’t where the Walsh’s live and it’s not in Cagayan de Oro. You know what they say about plans, mice and men. I was met by a wheelchair getting off all my flights. I was whisked through baggage claim (They made my luggage priority luggage). I had my bags and was through customs in under half an hour.  Everything was near perfect – except that the flight from Singapore to Manila was diverted because of bad weather to Quezan City – a half hour away from Manila. We did not arrive in Manilla until 5 minutes after my connecting flight had left.

Singapore airlines paid to rebook my flight to Cagayan, for my taxis to and from the airport, for my hotel and dinner, otherwise, to quote my Flippino friend Reniel, that would have been “a lot of pesos”.

Dave.

Have You Been With Jesus?

Peter had earlier, before Jesus’ death and resurrection, denied three times that he even knew the Lord (Luke 22:54-62). Now, after meeting the resurrected Christ, Peter was so transformed that, not only was he willing to preach the first post-resurrection public sermon (Acts 2:14-41) but in the end he died a martyr’s death crucified upside down on a wooden cross.

Peter, when questioned about healing a lame man in the name of Jesus spoke with Spirit inspired boldness (Acts 4:8). Even his enemies acknowledged that though Peter and John were unschooled, ordinary men, they were different. They had been with Jesus.

Paul of Tarsus was a Jew and a strict Pharisee. He was zealous for the Jewish faith and nationalistic in his sympathies. Paul persecuted the church and pursued Christians to death. That was until he had an unexpected encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. He was going to Damascus with the intention of arresting any Christians he found there. Suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. He fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He answered, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:4-5). Trembling and astonished, Paul asked, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” (Acts 22:10).

Paul’s life was never the same again. He went from being the arch persecutor and destroyer of the church, to perhaps the greatest missionary church planter the world has ever known. His life was so changed by his encounter with the risen Christ that others scarcely believed what they were seeing and hearing (Acts 9:26). Paul was only accepted in the early church fellowship because Barnabas spoke for him (Acts 9:27).  

A church that is changing lives will grow. But lives are only changed by an encounter with Jesus. Looking at your own life, do you think others might look at you and say, “I can tell you have been with Jesus”?

Evangelism As A Process

Some years ago, James Engel wrote a book entitled, What’s Gone Wrong With The Harvest? (Published by Zondervan). In his book he introduced what is now a widely used tool known as ‘the Engel Scale’. The Engel Scale is used to describe the spiritual decision making process. The scale has a series of negative and positive numbers that track the unbeliever’s progress toward conversion (and beyond):  

-8 Awareness of Supreme Being, no effective knowledge of the Gospel
-7 Initial awareness of Gospel
-6 Awareness of fundamentals of Gospel
-5 Grasp of implications of Gospel
-4 Positive attitude toward Gospel
-3 Personal problem recognition
-2 DECISION TO ACT
-1 Repentance and faith in Christ
REGENERATION–A “NEW CREATURE”
+1 Post-decision evaluation
+2 Incorporation into Body
+3 Conceptual and behavioural growth begins

 The Engel Scale reminds us that evangelism is a process. If we see evangelism only in terms of people being “converted” most of our evangelistic efforts will be counted as failures. Few people can live with that level of failure, so few practice the art of personal evangelism. If we understand evangelism as being used of God to help someone in their journey toward Christ, helping someone take one more step towards God is as much “successful evangelism” as is helping someone over the line. 

We can all do that!

The Engel Scale is in no way meant to imply that it is a merely human enterprise to bring one to a saving knowledge of Christ (Rom. 1:16-17). Neither is it saying that human wisdom is necessary to bring about the new birth (1Cor. 2:4, 5). It merely recognises that God works a series of “miracles” to transform an unregenerate sinner into a child of God. The wise evangelist will tune in to what God is doing at the different stages and will modify his or her behaviour and prayers accordingly.