UPDATE from WCG PHILIPPINES

An official weekly e-mail newsletter from the Worldwide Church of God in the Philippines

National Board Shifts Role to Advisory Council

The 9-member National Board gathered last Saturday, July 12, at the national office for their scheduled meeting along with National Director Eugene Guzon. During the meeting, the board confirmed and acknowledged its new role as an advisory council to the National Director. The current members of the Advisory Council are the following: Amado Aquino, Jessup Bahinting, George Escara, Max Fabricante, Len Joson, Ezra Raduban, Dr. Jose Manzano, Dr. Carlos Pizarro, and Dr. Rey Taniajura.

The meeting ended on a happy note with renewed commitment to work together as one team under the National Director.

Area Superintendents Meeting Held

The National Director and all of the area superintendents and some pastors gathered together last Monday, July 14 at the national office to discuss and to review where we are now in relation to the 4 Ends or objectives which was set forth last January 2008 during the National Director's "state of the church address." ND Eugene encouraged all pastors to continue to pursue the 4 Ends namely: 1) Local communities are benefited by strengthened relationships in each WCG congregation, 2) Emerging leaders are identified and trained to fill ministry needs of the church within two years, 3) Members are grounded on the doctrinal teachings of the WCG, and 4) Missions is given a high priority. The meeting ended at about 5:00 p.m.

Visayas-Mindanao Leaders Conference

We are pleased to announce our Visayas-Mindanao Leaders Conference this coming August 9-11 at the Victo Retreat Center, Beverly Hills, Lahug, Cebu City. All pastors and all our men and women leaders in the Visayas and Mindanao are highly encouraged to attend this wonderful time of equipping, fellowshipping, sharing, renewing acquaintances and meeting old friends. For Mindanao, we have cancelled our Mindanao Leaders Conference this July so that we can all join our Visayas fellow leaders for this August conference in Cebu.

Guest speakers for this conference are Mr. Charles Fleming, WCG Mission Developer for the Caribbean region and our National Director Eugene Guzon. Conference starts at noon time of August 9, Saturday and ends at noon time on August 11, Monday. Lunch is included on August 9 and 11. Cost for food and lodging for the whole event is P1,300 per person.

Contact person and event coordinator in Cebu is Pastor Jimmy Boone, cell phone number +63927-433-8491. Please begin planning and preparing now! Register as soon as you can!

2008 Festival Dates

The festivals are an opportunity for us to gather together as a big group fellowshipping with one another as brethren and worshipping God together as one big family for several days in one place. These are not commanded assemblies but we gather together because we want to. We want to worship God together in one big group and enjoy each other's company as one big family for a few days. This is a time for rejoicing and taking time off from our daily routines and work. Children especially love "vacation time." For this year, let us again plan to be there and join the fun. These are the festival sites so far:

Baguio City - September 24 - 28 at Teachers Camp. Morning worship services are from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. Various activities are slated in the afternoon. For housing accommodations, contact Pastor Jerry Ortiguero at +63920-903-8377.

Bukidnon - October 23 - 26 at the WCG Kiara Church Building, Kiara, Don Carlos, Bukidnon. Contact person: Ruben Carmelotes at +63921-404-3487.

We will post more details and more festival sites as we receive them from the various site coordinators. Let's begin planning and preparing now!

Monthly Church Reports: WCG Philippines to Pursue Online Reporting

To pastors: For an organization such as ours, reports from our field pastors are very important. To better organize and speed up our reporting system, we have requested our WCG headquarters to assist us in this undertaking and they have provided us the means to do it. We are now going online with our monthly church reports. We envision that in the near future, all our pastors nationwide will be reporting their monthly church reports online (though the internet). We also hope to have an accurate and up-to-date membership listing through this means. Here is the site address: http://www.wcg.org/online. Pastors and/or those whom they will assign will have to register online to be given access to the site.

In the meantime that we are setting this up, please continue to give diligence to send us your monthly church reports the usual way (hard copies) or more preferably through email and send it to the national office, care of Miss Noime Aileen Del Rosario at ai.delrosario@yahoo.com and to me at Len.Joson@wcg.org.

If you have not done it yet, please send us your monthly church reports beginning January 2008 to the present. Please include in your report highlights and noteworthy activities in your local church. Include difficulties and challenges, emerging trends, ongoing projects, plans for the future and the like. We are also revising the Monthly Church Report (MCR) form and so in the meantime, please just report everything you think is worth reporting. Sometimes, it may be difficult for the pastor to do the reporting himself. If that is the case, please have someone do it for you -- preferably those with knowhow about computers and the internet.

As a field pastor myself, I know how challenging it is to do this never-ending monthly church report. But we also all understand how important it is for our organization to have constant communication nationwide (and worldwide) through this means. Thank you so much for your continued diligence in doing this administrative aspect of our pastoral work. Have a nice day! :) --Len Joson

Two WCG Elders Attend Haggai Institute's Leadership Training

Ptr. Roman Saynes (left photo), pastor of WCG Forestry Church and Dr. Carlos Pizarro (right photo), a member of the Advisory Council to the National Director recently attended Haggai Institute's (HI) Advanced Leadership Training (Session 778) in Singapore last May 20 up to June 13. Haggai Institute's training focuses on leadership and evangelism training for leaders who are already leaders in their own respective fields of expertise in their own respective countries. Haggai Institute believes that the best missionaries and evangelists who can make a big impact in their own country are those who are homegrown and not foreigners.

The two gentlemen join the ranks of about a dozen or so WCG Philippines pastors and leaders who have already attended this kind of training previously. The two gentlemen expresses their gratitude to God and to all the prayers and support that everyone has given them.

Beloved: The Musicale

Announcing the anniversary concert presentation of the Glory to the Lord Fellowship called "BELOVED The Musicale" at the Amoranto Theater on August 31, 2008 at 4:00 p.m. with the Crossway Ministry Band, OMFJ Band of Manila, Amplifiers Band of Sta. Rosa and the Glory to the Lord Fellowship Band, featuring the GenMillenium Dance Company. Tickets are available for sale at P100. --Pastor Andrew Teng

Speaking of Life Videos

Every week, Dr. Joseph Tkach presents relevant topics affecting life through a 3 or 4 minute video on the internet found in our WCG website. Pastors are highly encouraged to play these videos weekly as part of their local church worship services. A transcript is also available (in text format) for pastors to read during worship services. We have included it here as part of this Weekly Update.

Some local churches have found these videos very uplifting, and has kept them abreast of the current teachings of the WCG. For some, this is also their first time to see and hear Dr. Tkach and this has created a sense of the local church's being connected to the denomination's headquarters.

Below is a transcript of the other week's Speaking of Life video:

SpOL095: Freedom From Fear of the Final Judgment

A lot of believing Christians are afraid of the final Judgment. Even though they are believers, they’re well aware of the fact that they don’t live a perfect life. They still sin, and they’re afraid that at the Judgment their sins will be exposed and they just won’t measure up to the perfection and holiness that God expects and requires.

Maybe the idea of a final Judgment is a little frightening to you, too. After all, if we’re honest with ourselves, we all know we fall short of God’s perfect righteousness in so many ways.

And one thing is certain about the final Judgment: It includes everybody. There’s no place to hide from God. It’s a sure thing and there’s no escape.

But there is something else about the final Judgment that is just as certain: The identity of the Judge. The presiding Judge at the final Judgment is none other than Jesus Christ.

The book of Revelation, as you probably know, has a lot to say about the final Judgment, but it also has a lot to say about the Judge. It calls him the One who "loves us and frees us from our sins by his blood." He is a Judge who loves the sinners he judges so much that he died for them, standing in for them in their place and on their behalf. More than that, he rose from the dead for them, and took them with him to the right hand of God the Father, who loves them just as much as Jesus does.

And that’s what should fill us will relief and joy. Since Jesus himself is the Judge, there’s no reason for any of us to be afraid of the Judgment.

God loves sinners, including you and me, so much that the Father sent his Son to take up the human cause and draw all people, including you and me, to his side, transforming our minds and hearts by the Holy Spirit. God isn’t trying to find things wrong with you to keep you out of his kingdom. No, he earnestly wants you in his kingdom. He wants you to have eternal life.

Notice how Jesus defines eternal life in this passage from the Gospel of John, chapter 17, verse 3:

"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." (NIV)

Do you know God the Father and Jesus Christ? It’s not hard or complicated. There’s no secret handshake or riddle to solve. Jesus tells us that anyone who has seen him has seen the Father, and he says,

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

It’s just a matter of turning to him. He already did everything necessary to make you worthy. He’s already forgiven all your sins. Like the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5:8:

"…God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (NIV)

God doesn’t wait until we’re good enough before he forgives us and makes us his own children. He’s already done it – while we’re sinners!

When we turn to God and put our trust in Jesus Christ, we enter a new life. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and begins scraping off the thick hide of sinful habits and attitudes and thinking, transforming us into the image of Christ from the inside out.

That can hurt at times, but it is also freeing and refreshing. Through it, we grow in faith and come to know and love our Savior more and more. And the more we know our Savior, who is also our Judge, the less we fear the Judgment.

Are you afraid of the final Judgment? Don’t be. Just trust Jesus, and rest in full confidence that when he returns, you will stand with him.

It’s not about how good you are; it’s about how good he is.

I’m Joseph Tkach, speaking of LIFE.

Copyright 2008 Worldwide Church of God

Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you." (2 Thessalonians 3:1)