A people rich in faith

Love In Action Pastor Ken Tuck (left) is with Pastor Bhoy Baguinda and Pastor Mario Montero. These are two of many mighty men of God doing amazing work to reach the lost in the Philippines.

"Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?" - James 2:5 (KJV)

I have read that verse and heard it quoted many times, but I never really grasped what it was saying until I traveled to the Philippines with wife and mom last week.

On the Philippine island of Mindanoa live some of the most precious people in the world. It is an island of 23 million people and a place many westerners will not visit because of the Muslim influence. They are missing out on a life-changing experience.

The Christian pastors and indigenous missionaries we met were gracious, loving, caring, and full of faith. We already knew some of them before traveling to the other side of the world. This past year we have had the honor of helping them reach this island for Jesus Christ. But after meeting all of them, we fell completely in love. I am honored to call them my friends and my brothers and sisters in the Lord.

We spoke at their first pastors/missionary workers conference, and what a blessing that was for all involved. Then we preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ and saw 127 people make decisions for Jesus. Praise God! In the Cebuano language, praise God is spelled, Dalaygon ang Diyos!

By American standards, they are extremely poor. Many people live on an average wage of about $2 a day. That is hard for most Americans to understand. Even our poor are rich by those standards. While the people are poor financially, they are the richest people spiritually I have ever met. I would dare say they are among the most spiritually rich people in the world. They are "rich in faith."

I didn't hear any grumbling about not having enough. They live off the land. Many of the people raise their own fruits and vegetables and animals. They share with one another. One church received an offering of pigs and chickens from people who live in the mountains. They don't have money, so they gave their best and their best was animals.

They put their lives on the line to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They put God first, no matter the struggles. If I had to choose between being rich financially and rich spiritually, I'll take spiritually rich. Money cannot buy the faith witnessed in our friends in the Philippines.

Most of the pastors live with their families in a room at their churches. Usually it's a room in the very back or to the side. It's not uncommon for multiple families to live there. That's home and church. For some it's also school. They like to call their churches "multipurpose" buildings, and they are.

These pastors are reaching the lost daily. One told me he baptizes people every day. They do a phenomenal job of training people to go out and be missionaries in different parts of Mindanao. And they do all of this with hardly any money.

The only thing keeping a full fledged revival from happening is resources. They need KJV Bibles, hymnals, Sunday school lessons, etc., all in English. They need finances to purchase land and construct churches. Imagine having 5,000 people but only room for about 80 in a rented building. That's the case for one church in Punta.

A church in Ozamiz has rented the same building for 15 years and the need for expansion is great. A church in Sindangan has the opportunity to purchase their land and then construct a new building, but has no money to do so.

The buildings they have are very modest. Many are made out of bamboo with thatch roofs. One has a creek running under it. Actually, the pastor and his family live in a room under the small building and the creek runs under their room. They say when the heavy rains come they have a "water bed."

Land and buildings are not expensive. For example, we can construct one church for $1,300; buy a nice size lot for another church for $6,000, build a parsonage for $1,300, and another lot for $4,000. Land and buildings for two churches in larger cities would run close to $500,000 each, but that is still a great deal. For the price we spend on just one church building here in the U.S., we could build many churches in the Philippines. In some cases that would mean hundreds of churches.

Still, these great people of faith don't complain. They don't even ask. They pray and believe God will provide. God has used Love In Action to answer some of those prayers. We were able to purchase a lot for a church last year and help expand another one. In all, that cost about $2,500. We stood on that lot last week. It's a beautiful piece of land.

Together, we could be the answer to many of their prayers. I believe God blessed us in the U.S. to help spread His Word throughout the world. Never have I seen such strong faith. Never have I seen so many people open to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Never have I seen an opportunity this great to see thousands, even millions won to Jesus.

Will you join us and help us help our brothers and sisters in the Philippines reach their nation for Christ? There are approximately 65 million people there who have never heard of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Wow! What an incredible opportunity!

I will post more in the next week on how you can get involved and store up treasure in Heaven in the Philippines. This is the most exciting opportunity to win the lost I've ever been a part of. Please join us, and please pray for our brothers and sisters in the Philippines.

Salamat (thank you).

Coming home

 Our wonderful friends in the Philippines took us to the airport in Dipolog City and stayed until our plane took off.




This day arrived too quickly. In about three hours we will board a plane and fly back to "Sweet Home" Alabama.

We look forward to seeing our family and friends, but part of our hearts will remain here in the Philippines, specially on the island of Mindanoa.

This trip turned out better than we ever could have imagined. We saw at least 127 people accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and pastors, missionaries and other Christians encouraged and given hope to keep spreading the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To say we received a great blessing would be an understatement. As we poured ourselves out, God filled us back up with so much love through our wonderful Filipino friends.

The excitement of how open people are to the Gospel of Jesus Christ strengthened us and drew us even closer to our brothers and sisters who are reaching this nation for Jesus.

The hospitality and love we received was beyond measure. Until you experience it, it's really hard to describe. In Alabama, we have good old southern hospitality, and we do a good job of making people feel welcome. These precious people go way beyond.

We thank all of our awesome volunteers back in Dothan, Ala., for keeping all of the ministries running smoothly while we have been on the other side of the world. We have the best volunteers ever, and once again all of you proved it.

There has been a lot of prayers for us on this trip, and we cannot thank all of you enough. We felt the prayers as God gave us strength and kept energizing us.

It's pretty cool seeing God use Love In Action at the same time in different parts of the world. That was a prayer of ours 12 years ago when this ministry began, and to see it come to fruition is outstanding, and to God be all the glory.

We will arrive back home Saturday evening (Sunday morning for the Philippines). It will take a couple of days to recover, so we will be back up and going on Tuesday. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at Celebrate Recovery Inside.

We have a lot of work for the Lord to do in Dothan and the Philippines, and we thank God for blessing us with all of these opportunities. There are many people to reach with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in both the U.S. and the Philippines, and with all of us working together as the Body of Christ, through the power of God, we can do it.

Salamat (thank you) to all of our Filipino family. We love you all and look forward to seeing you again in 2013. To all of our American family, we love you and  will see you soon.

127 saved in the Philippines!

A group photo with the 5th Infantry Battalion in Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur.

I won't bury the lead to this blog. This week we have seen 127 people in the Philippines accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and we have seen pastors, missionaries and their wives encouraged. This trip has been the most incredible, beautiful and awesome experience of our lives.

Today will be my last day of preaching on this trip as we visit Punta, Philippines, to preach at Pastor Mario Montero's church. It will be my 13th sermon in five days. I've never preached that much, but I have loved every moment of it. I can't wait to do it again.

The people here are so hungry for and open to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have even seen seven Muslims accept Jesus. Do you realize how huge that is? That is an incredible decision on their part, and we praise God. We have seen 93 Philippine soldiers accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, including a colonel. God has given us great favor with the Philippine Army as we have preached at four different Army camps.

It was so cool how we did it. Pastor Jun Begafria is a pastor of Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Ozamiz City, and he is very well respected by the military as he has led Bible studies and been a counselor for them. We drove up to the Army camps, he showed them his ID and they let us in. Then Martha and Mama shared their testimonies. The soldiers were amazed at the joy they had, and couldn't believe Mama was 76 years old traveling all the way to the Philippines to tell them about Jesus. People don't live that long over here.

I preached, and then Pastor Jun would recap and share some more and then lead the soldiers in a prayer of repentance.

Martha said something that caused a high-ranking military official to accept Christ. She said, "If you have never accepted Jesus, give him a try." Those words "give Jesus a try" is what touched his heart. Pastor Jun received a text later in the day that the high-ranking official called his wife and told her that he gave Jesus a try and it works! He noticed a peace He never felt before. Praise God! Imagine how many people God will use that man to reach. To God be all the glory!

Then we did the same format in Ozamiz City at a restaurant where students from the university met us. The place was packed. A couple of the professors go to Pastor Jun's church and they invited the students to come here the Americans.

Glory be to God, 31 young people gave their lives to Jesus! Praise God! The students who were already Christians immediately sat down with the new believers to share scripture and answer questions. Discipleship began immediately.

We saw that Monday night as well at the evangelistic service at Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Sindangan. I was excited Pastor Greg Begafria asked me to preach that service. It was a great time with beautiful singing from the church choir and the congregation. Ten people gave their hearts to Jesus that night, and immediately people sat down with the new believers to share scripture and answer questions.

Pastor Greg and his precious wife Lilia were so excited that the next door neighbor to the church accepted Jesus that night. They had invited her to church a number of times, but that was the first service she attended. To God be the glory.

The Pastors/Missionary Workers conference was wonderful. The theme was John 4:35, "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." I shared on that topic and on the topic of discipleship. But the biggest message I wanted to get across to them was encouragement, to lift them up and show them the great men and women of faith they are. And they are amazing as they live day-by-day with no assurance of any provision of any kind - food, money, clothing, etc. - except what God provides on a daily basis. That's faith.

I give God all the praise as I've already heard about two pastors who were on the verge of quitting because of frustration, burdens of financial, physical, and mental stress that depleted them spiritually as well. But at the end of the conference they were refreshed, refocused and excited to be in the ministry. Praise God!

Martha and Mama, or as they call her here, "Mama Susie," taught the women at the conference and did a great job. The women were really encouraged and inspired. One of the young women told Mama that she really inspires the young people.

God is doing a great work here in the Philippines. It's an amazing work as the people are hungry for and open to the Gospel of Jesus Christ like I've never seen before. The pastors and indigenous missionaries are doing a great work, and we are gong to continue to support them and be involved.

Busy schedule, please pray

Please keep praying for the conference and for Martha, Mama and me. Pray for safe travels, strength, endurance and for God to give us the words to say as we serve Jesus here in the Philippines.

Our schedule is about to get even busier. Today (Tuesday), Martha and Mama will both speak to the pastors and missionaries wives and I will speak twice. Then we will travel five hours to Ozmas City and spend the night. That is where Pastor Jun Begafria’s church is located. He is the senior pastor of the group of churches that make up the Shiloh Bible Baptist Church family.

Early Wednesday morning, I will preach there, then we will drive about six hours to Salug where I will preach an afternoon service at Pastor Clemente’s church. There we will also get to see the land Love In Action helped purchase for Pastor Clemente’s church to build a church building. They do not have the funds yet, at least they have the land. That’s a great start.

Then we will travel back to Sindangan and spend the night. Thursday morning we will drive two hours to Punta, which is just outside of Dipolog City.I will preach that afternoon at Pastor Mario Montero’s church. We will spend the night in Dipolog City Thursday night, and fly to Manila from Dipolog to begin our journey back home Friday morning.

We will spend the night in Manila on Friday, so pray for a good night’s rest as we begin our 18 hours in the air trip back to Atlanta Saturday morning . We will have a 2.5 hour layover in Tokyo, Japan. Once in Atlanta it will be just a 3.5 hour drive back to Sweet Home Alabama.

Though we will be glad to be back home with family and friends, we are going to miss the Philippines. We have totally fallen in love with the people here. We are thankful for our new brothers, sisters, and friends, and we are thankful that we have already begun planning for our next trip here in 2013. Praise God!

Salvation + encouragement = Great first day of conference

Ken prays for a pastor during the first day of the Pastors/Missionary Workers Conference in Sindangan, Phillipines.

The first day for the Pastors/Missionary Workers Conference at Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Sindangan, Philippines, was a great success. As the pastors say here, “Jesus won the victory Monday.”

The pastors and missionaries, 35 in all, traveled from across the province of Mindanao and other provinces of the Philippines. Some more were traveling Monday night to be here for the second and final day of the conference.

What an honor and a joy to meet all of these great men of God. I told them they were special and unique people for they have sacrificed everything for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. None of them have mega churches like there are in the U.S. None of them have wealthy church members who can make large donations to help give them a nice building and a salary where they can live comfortable or even semi-comfortable lives. They struggle financially day-by-day trusting God for provision. They are great men of faith, though at times they don’t see that in themselves. I assured them that they are.

I was originally scheduled to be the second speaker on Monday, but they asked if I would mind being the first. Of course that was fine with me. I told Pastor Greg Begafria and Jun Begafria, senior pastor of the SBBC family of churches, that I was there to serve.

The theme of the conference is John 4:35, “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” That’s what I preached on and encouraged and exhorted them to keep fighting the good fight no matter how tough it gets, because great is their reward in Heaven. Pastor Greg told me to preach as long as the Holy Spirit led, and I ended up preaching for 1.5 hours.

Many of the pastors and missionaries came up front for prayer at the end of the service. It was emotional seeing these men and women pressing in to ask God for even more of Him in their lives and to work even harder to advance His kingdom.

I asked Pastor Jun, how could they work even harder? To me, they are the hardest working pastors and missionaries I know. They work nonstop telling people in their villages, towns and cities about Jesus and ministering to the needs of the people in their churches. Martha, Mama and I have said we don’t think they ever sleep. Of course they do, but they are nonstop in their service of the Lord.

Then Pastor Jun preached. What a great man of God he is, and a tremendous leader. He preached about the blessing God is sending to those who lay it all on the line for Jesus. His main scripture was out of Genesis chapters 43 and 45 when Joseph blessed Benjamin.

Then the evening service was an evangelistic service where Pastor Greg, his wife Lilia, and others in their congregation invited people from the community to church. I was very honored to preach that service. I preached the simple message of Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead. And, I also encouraged the believers to share Jesus with others through actions and words.

I asked Pastor Greg to give the altar call for salvation, and to God be all the glory, seven to 10 people accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, including a woman who lives next door to the church. Pastor Greg and Lilia were so excited. He said they had invited the woman to church many times, but she never came until last night. God answered their prayers for her. Now she is saved and I pray will be a faithful church member.

Throughout the conference we have enjoyed beautiful singing. The choir here in Sindangan has such beautiful voices. There was a guest choir also from Ozamiz City where Pastor Jun serves, and they were amazing as well. We also enjoyed a musical special as two young people played the violin, another a guitar and a flute.

It was a wonderful first day of the conference. The services, the food and the fellowship were excellent. These pastors are hungry for teaching. They greatly desire to see true revival start in their communities and country. I believe God will use this first-ever pastors/missionaries conference to provide the spark for that revival.

Please continue praying for the conference, and especially the pastors, missionaries and their families.

Sweet Sunday services

Ken preaching the Sunday morning service at Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Sindangan, Philippines.

Today marked the first time I’ve ever preached in a country outside of the United States of America, and I will never forget it.

What an honor and privilege it was to preach two services today at Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Sindangan, Philippines. It was a wonderful day with great music and fellowship.

One thing I want you to understand is people here do not have the resources that we are blessed with in the U.S. These precious people are very poor, but they are very rich spiritually. What they have, they give to the Lord. We have much to learn from our Filipino brothers and sisters. They truly understand that when God is all you have, then you have everything you need.

Some of the members of the church live in the mountains and have to travel through the forest and across a river to make it to church. They don’t have cars and trucks like we have in America. It’s not a matter of convenience. It’s the fact they want to be in church worshiping Jesus and learning His Word.

We sang hymns like many churches in the U.S. do. Then Pastor Greg Begafaria’s brother, Raffy Begafaria, taught Sunday School. While I couldn’t understand everything he said, I understood enough to get a lot out of it. Here in the Philippines, there are many different dialects, so from region to region a different language is spoken. However, they mix English with their words. Bro. Raffy is a very good teacher.

The church service began with more hymns and then their choir sang a special, “Thank You for Giving to the Lord.” Martha, Mama and I cried throughout their singing. They have such beautiful voices, singing from their hearts.

Then I preached the morning service. I talked about Jesus and how it is of the utmost importance that we place all of our trust in Him, and then discussed some ways that God instructs us how to live. When Pastor Greg gave the altar, call people flocked to the front and got on their knees and prayed. I could hear some literally crying out to God. My prayer was for God to hear their cries, and I know He did.

Then we had lunch and fellowship at church. People bring food and they eat and fellowship together each Sunday. If you had to walk or travel from the mountains and other places to get to church, you would really appreciate being able to stay afterward for a good meal.

All of the food was delicious. I can’t pronounce or spell hardly any of it, but I sure could eat it. We haven’t had anything that wasn’t delicious over here.

Then we had time to play with some of the children, which was fun. Most of them speak in their native language, but one thing that translates into any language is laughter, and they laughed and laughed as we played with them.

Instead of night services on Sunday, they have an afternoon service, so people can make it back to their homes before night and before it rains.

In the afternoon I preached on the subject of faith and really encouraged them to have total faith in God that He would provide the money to purchase the land their church sits on and to build a new building. I told them that we understand renting buildings, and then told them how we rented a building and it was sold and we lost our rent. But, the good news was God provided a better building and one that is ours now.

A big difference about their rent compared to ours is Pastor Greg and his family live at the church. There is a bedroom in the back of the church and that is their home. If they lost their rent like we did, not only would they lose their church, but Pastor Greg and his family would be homeless.

That’s a constant worry to many of the pastors here, and some landlords hold that over their heads. But I know the work they do for the Lord and have witnessed it firsthand. I know God will touch someone’s or some people’s hearts to give the $6,000 U.S. dollars to purchase the land to keep Pastor Greg and his family and church safe and secure.

One of my prayers was that the people could understand me, that God would give them hears to hear and understand what I said. He answered that prayer. I could tell they understood, and many shouted “Amen!” If I saw a puzzled look, I would further explain what I was saying. Yes, I explained what “y’all” meant too.

I could see some crying at times as the Holy Ghost touched their hearts. They let me know that the messages encouraged them. I believe that is one of my main tasks here. They need great encouragement. These pastors and missionaries are truly on the frontlines, and they have sacrificed everything to tell others about Jesus. And those they serve literally live day-to-day. But they love God, and I know He is going to do even greater things here in Sindangan and throughout the Philippines.

It was indeed a great honor to preach in Pastor Greg’s pulpit. Now it’s time for the conference. Pastors and missionaries are arriving tonight. It’s going to be a great two days. Praise God!

God bless the children

Mama Tuck reading the Bible story about Zacchaeus to more than 160 children today in Sindangan, Philippines.

It felt like we are at home in Dothan today ministering to people as we served with our friends at Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Sindangan, Philippines, to minister to the spiritual and physical needs of people in an extremely poor area.

Our first day of ministering in the Philippines was a huge success as we ministered to more than 160 children. Pastor Greg and Lilia Begafria started ministering to children in these extremely impoverished areas of Sindangan a number of years ago. At that time it was just the two of them. Today, many members of their church are following their example and ministering the love of Jesus Christ to the children.

It is easy to see they are doing a great work with the children. We listened to them sing songs to the Lord and recite 10 Bible verses they have memorized. The Begafrias and their church members are wonderful people doing amazing ministry in Sindangan.

Mama Tuck was in her element today as she read a Bible story about Zacchaeus to all of the children, and then she led them in singing. Sister Lilia translated and they all sang in Filipino. It was awesome! It was so neat watching the Holy Spirit at work.

The children were all seated around the ministry area. The more Mama read, the more children came forward to get closer to her so they could hear every word.

I thank God for my Mom. Tears filled my eyes as I watched her read to the children. She is such an awesome woman of God who touches more lives than she will ever know. From the Philippines to Dothan, Alabama, everyone loves Mama Tuck.

The children’s laughter filled the air all day long. It was one of the most beautiful sounds I’ve ever heard. You have to understand, this is a Third World nation, and these are among the poorest of the poor. But by the smiles on the people’s faces you would think they are among the richest. And they are, spiritually. “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?” – James 2:5 (NIV)

We helped serve the delicious lunch the church prepared for the children. The extra blessing about that is Love In Action sends $140 a month to help feed all of these children, so to be here to help serve the children was wonderful. We need more donations for this need. There are a lot more children we need to help Pastor Greg and Sis. Lilia reach. Remember, this Is a very poor area of the Philippines, and therefore the people of this church are very poor with very limited resources. Hundreds of children are accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior, so it is a great investment.

It was an extra special day for the children as presents were given to each one. Oh, to see them playing afterward with their gifts was so much fun. It was like Christmas in January.

Yes, it was an amazing day. Words and photos cannot accurately describe it. We thank God for the awesome work He is doing here in Sindangan, and it is such an honor and so humbling to be part of it.

Happy Birthday Martha!

Martha with her beautiful birthday plaque and flowers given to her by Pastor Greg and Lilia Begafria and Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Sindangan, Philippines.

I prayed this morning that God would give Martha the best birthday ever. He answered that prayer.

Martha’s birthday was today, Saturday, Jan. 21, and she said she couldn’t think of a better way to spend it than ministering to children at the church’s Children’s Fair here in Sindangan, Philippines. I thank God for my godly, sweet and beautiful wife. I am very proud of her and love her tremendously.

I had emailed Pastor Greg Begafria, who is our host pastor for this week of ministry here in the Philippines, and mentioned that Martha was looking forward to spending her birthday ministering to the children. He showed his wife, Lilia, that email and they planned several surprises for Martha.

It started first thing this morning when they arrived with roses and flowers for Martha, and with a decorative plaque that says “Happy Birthday Martha.” Some of the women of the church also wrote Bible scripture and signed it. It is beautiful … all handmade, including the frame it is in.

Then more surprises came at lunch as all of the children sang Happy Birthday to Martha. There were more than 160 children at the Children’s Fair this morning, plus adults, and everyone was singing. It was beautiful, and of course, Martha cried. The children had been practicing the song, because they wanted to give their best to Martha.

As the song ended, Sister Lilia presented Martha with a beautiful birthday cake. I might add that it was delicious as well.

God answered my prayer and gave my precious wife the best birthday. I thank God and the wonderful people here in Sindangan for making this such a special day for her.

An incredible welcome

To say we were totally blown away by the welcome we received in Dipolog City, Philippines, would be an understatement. Wow, from the second we stepped off the plane we knew we were welcome.

Pastor Greg Begafria, his wife and children and many other pastors and missionaries and family members from the family of churches called Shiloh Bible Baptist Church were standing there waving and smiling holding a sign that read “Welcome Love In Action Ministries/Children’s Fair.”

Then was received many hugs and handshakes. The children took our hands and placed the back of our hands on their foreheads. That’s how they show respect to their elders.

It was a grand welcome and one we have been looking forward to. We loved these precious people before we met them. Love In Action has been able to do a lot of work in the Philippines by supporting the work of these indigenous pastors and missionaries. Now, to finally meet them face-to-face is incredible.

They would not let us pick up our bags and suitcases. They started serving us immediately, which is very humbling. Then after photos and some talking, we all piled in vehicles and drove two hours to Sindangan where Pastor Greg, his wife and children and church are hosting the conference and children’s fair they invited us to speak at.

Once at the church, they showed us around and then brought out the food. They grilled fish and served it with rice and wonderful freshly picked fruit.

They knew we were exhausted, so after talking some more they took us to our hotel and showed us to our room. After a few minutes we noticed the a/c wasn’t working very well, so I talked with the hotel folks and they came to check on it. They couldn’t fix it, so they moved us to another room where the a/c works very well.

I called Pastor Greg to let him know we changed rooms. About five minutes later there was a knock on our door. It was Pastor Greg and his wife making sure everything was OK. Wow! We consider ourselves pretty good servants of the Lord, but these precious people have already shown us we have a long ways to go to become as humble and wonderful servants as they are. They truly take Jesus at His word when he says the greatest among us are those who serve.

By His description, these Filipinos are great, and we definitely agree with our Savior.

Then this morning Pastor Greg and his wife and another lady from church came to bring Martha roses, flowers and a beautiful plaque they made themselves for her birthday. They even made the picture frame it is in. Of course Martha had tears in her eyes as she graciously accepted their gifts. They said the children were practicing singing happy birthday to Martha, so they can sing it to her later this morning.

It is such a privilege and very humbling to be here in Sindangan serving Jesus with our Filipino brothers and sister.