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.