Christmas

Christmas greetings from Tim & Bambi Warden!
As this year comes to a close, Bambi and I are overflowing with praise and thanks to God for all the amazing things He has done.

Way back in January, we set a number of radical/ impossible goals. Many of those have been reached. Others will be carried-over into 2009; and we have high expectations of what God will do at our next level.

Christ-mas is special to us, because of the benefits that flow from the birth-names of God when he became a man on this earth for our sakes.

1. Jesus, our Savior (He has saved me, is saving me, and will save me. He loved me so much, He made a way to seek me out and rescue me from my doomed state of lostness.)

2. Immanuel- God with us (Not only did he become flesh & dwell among us, He chose to inhabit my very vessel by His Spirit; and promsed to never leave or abandon me.)

3. Christ, the Lord (He's the anointed prophet, priest & king. He always does the right thing; so I will trust Him and let Him make all the decisions for my life.)

(Matthew 1 & Luke 2)

May God reveal more of Himself to you this Christmas, and fill your life with every good thing.

 

Tim & Bambi's Praise & Prayers

Greetings from the Philippines!

We are PRAISING God for:

Recovering well from a relapse of Hepatitis A. I've been feeling better; and am gradually getting back my normal color.
(For a while there, I was as yellow as a Philippine mango.)
Bambi is also now able to speak (very softly), and recovering also from chronic laryngitis. She'll have a check-up next week to see if the polyp on her vocal chord is gone.

Added blessings from illness include:
-The way our local congregation has stepped-up to give me the time to rest and recover thoroughly.
They've been doing so much of ministry and outreach together; and a strong culture of teamwork has come out of this.
-Bonus opportunity to soak in the Lord's presence and read the New Testament through again.
-Quality time with Bambi, who has cooked some of the most delicious and healthy meals I've had since we've been married.
Her talent amazes me; and we have grow so close to each other over the past few weeks.

A miracle
-The woman in our church who was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, has now been sent home from the hospital.
Doctors can no longer find the tumor, and are simply treating an infection with oral antibiotics. Praise the Lord!

-A new mission
Last week, we opened yet another mission outreach to one of the villages in San Fernando. We are now sending out 20-30 Christian volunteers each & every week on 7 different mission teams. It is exciting that many lost souls are being reached; but also that the Filipinos in our congregation are being trained on-the-job to dispense Christ's salvation into all the world.

We are PRAYING for:

-Opportunity to partner with the Department of Education to spearhead a program that will help drop-outs get a high school equivalency diploma.
-Complete restoration of our health

Greetings from the Philippines

We are PRAISING God for:

-75 people that have been immersed into Christ so far since this year (our goal for the year is 100)

Every month, people are coming to Christ and getting saved. An inclusive, evangelistic culture has developed. Believers are each embracing their own role in the great commission.

-Increased attendance steadily of the weekend services, and now between 350-400 people.

Our building cannot hold everyone at once, so we are currently holding 3 services. The 10am service usually has people spilling-out into the courtyard where they have to watch the service from outside on tv monitors.

-6 mission outreaches to other communities on-going each & every week, reaching hundreds of others non-Christians.

Many of these are children who are very hungry to hear God's word and are memorizing Scripture. Gradually they find ways to attend the weekend service, and bring their parents or relatives to know Jesus.

We are PRAYING for:

-Complete restoration of our health

I (Tim) am still fighting off Hepatitis-A (possibly from contaminated water, food, sanitary conditions...). It has slowed me down somewhat; but the mercies of the Lord are new every morning, and I am given the strength to do everything I need to do.

Bambi is on 2-week total voice rest (not a word; not even a whisper) after having been diagnoses with chronic laryngitis and a small polyp on her vocal chord.

A new member, Mryna, who suddenly discovered a 3-4 inch tumor attached to her pancreas. She has been instrumental in spearheading one of our mission outreaches. Doctors have given a very negative report and started speculating the number of months she may have left to live.

-A new land acquisition

For years now, I have been trying to locate the owners of plot of land adjacent to our building in order to possibly lease or buy it. Farmers growing rice on the land claim that the owners are out of the country and not contactable. However recent research (going way back into historical records) shows a possibility that the church may actually already own the said land, if it was indeed a part of a prior land that we purchased. Land surveys and titles can get complicated and messy in the Philippines. Please pray that this land will be confirmed as being legally owned by the church. We really need the space.

11 year old Mark brings 40 people to church

Mark (pictured far right) was brought by his mother to church one Sunday. They had been invited by a member, but this was the first time they had ever experienced being in a Christian church environment.

Mark loved the kids ministry, and over the following weeks, began inviting his cousins, neighbors, and others. So far, Mark has been responsible for bringing over 40 people to the weekend services.

Last Sunday, we opened up a missions outreach in their village with close to 50 people being reached. (Kids, young men, and young mothers).

Tim is visited by a mentor and a cousin

Bambi and Tim join Dr. Keith Jenkins (one of Tim's mentors) and Zach McLeod (Tim’s cousin) for a photo during the Philippines' National Bible Week celebration.

Zach came over from Montana to help work with the church on a short-term missions trip. Standing 6'3" compared to most Filipinos who are usually very short, Zach made quite an impact, especially on the youth who loved playing with him in basketball and American football (new for the Philippines).

Tim carried the bags of his mentor, Dr. Keith Jenkins, throughout various parts of the Philippines. Dr. Jenkins, from Nottingham, England, traveled to over 50 countries last year teaching on the subject of "Intimacy with God Through a Love Relationship".

Computers for the Filipino young

Filipino kids at this young age are learning to use computers for research and communications. Many of the local kids we're working with have their own email adress, skype account and know how to use the internet to find and download video and picture illustrations to help add creativity for the Sunday service.

Internet computers draw in many more from the community

Through the help of our friends in Kuwait, JR and Helen Ibrahim, the church opened an internet café as an evangelistic net in the community. The place is now stuffed with young people from the neighboring villages every day.

Kids are encouraged to attend the cell group first before they using the computers.

Kids bringing their families to Jesus

AJ - Eugene - Tantan
These young boys (ages 4-5) keep showing up at the center, and spend most of their days learning to pray, share, forgive, ask forgiveness, sing and worship Jesus, and many other foundations of the Christian faith.

What's amazing is the impact they are having on their families back home. Each of them have come from non-Christian homes with all of the usual strife and worldliness. But today, their families are actively growing in the house of God.

4 year old boy brings family to Christ

AJ (4 years old) like many other kids in the community, comes to the center every day. He is fed, loved, and taught the Word of God. He even shows up at 6:30am for our morning prayer meeting! AJ, even at his young age, has learned much about Jesus, and has been sharing his faith at home. Recently, he invited his mother, and even volunteered her to help serve in one of our outreach ministries in the local elementary school.

Over the past number of months, his influence has brought not only his mother to Christ, but also his two older brothers. Alvin (14) and Jeffrey (21) are both now currently enrolled in our summer internship training program.

Church anniversary-San Fernando, Philippines

The church in San Fernando, Philippines recently celebrated it's 16th year anniversary. Missionaries Timothy and Bambi Warden said the 2-day festivities were designed to draw in crowds from the community.

Dignitaries from politicians to movie actors made it a point to send their greetings; and re-affirmed their support and appreciation for the church being an active benefit to the province.

This was yet another momentum-building event in line with the 2008 theme: "Build Church - Reach Others".

Fun and games prepared for all ages not only opened opportunities to share Christ with unbelievers who came; but also enhanced unity throughout the church as everyone rallied behind the vision and common cause of winning souls for Christ.

Filipino children doing missions

This clearing under the mango trees is where Bambi and a core group of children "missionaries" have been conducting outreach events to other children in this village each Sunday afternoon.
Some kids have brought friends to the weekend services, and an adult Bible study has begun with some of the parents of these children.

Church opens new internet facility for the community

The church in San Fernando now has this internet cafe, open for the community. Christians volunteer as tutors, and help educate many kids and out of school youth.

Quick visit to Texas

Bambi and I have to make a quick visit to Texas next week. Her temporary greencard is expiring and the permanent card still has not arrived. So we're required to get an extension and it has to be done in person in Texas where we applied.

While in the US, we plan to maximize our time connecting with mentors, leaders and those who show interest in the mission work. Starting March 13, we can be reached at tel. no. 979-timothy (979-846-6849)

We plan to return to the Philippines by April 3, just in time to begin training an excited group of high school and college students, who will spend 6-weeks in intensive ministry training and internship. (Summer in the Philippines is April-May)

Last year we had 35 young people go through the full-time training; and many of them are very active leaders today. Do join us in prayer that another great batch of high-caliber youth will register this April, for what we believe is an important sowing into the lives of men and women whom God will use to usher revival to the nations.

Feeding Kids in Elementary School

In working with many of the poor children of the community who come to us for help at the church center, we discovered there were many more who go to school hungry.
Bambi and I went to the local elementary school to ask how we could help. The teachers and principal there were thrilled to work with us on a weekly feeding program that would help children from grades 1-6.

Hundred of schools kids are benefited every week, and it has opened doors for us to share Christ with a number of families in the area. As funds allow, we would like to continue this outreach fo spiritual and physical feeding.

Theme and Goals for the Year

Theme & Goals

Our theme for this year is “Build Church – Reach Others”

We see this as the two-fold priority of what the Lord is doing in and through us this year.

On the one hand; He is building, developing, and maturing the Philippine church family. His other hand is reaching out to the unsaved who do not yet know Him.

This theme will influence all our teachings and mission efforts this year.

Our goals are simply "declarations of faith". As we met together with our leadership team; we begin to experience a rise in faith like never before. Admitedly, when the number 600 members came up, everything within me wanted to turn negative and complain “that’s too much”, “it’s not realistic”, “let’s make it lower and easier”. However as I kept my mouth shut, the Holy Spirit released the faith that God can do anything. We are looking forward to (and relying on) a miraculous move of God in the Philippines this year.

Warden's marriage testimony

Tim and Bambi Warden interviewed about their marriage during a Valentines Day event.

Baptisms

Within the first 2 months of 2008, we have already baptized 34 people. It seems that God is opening hearts much like the way He did when Lydia responded to the gospel message in Acts chapter 16. "...The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying. After she and her household were baptized..."

Philippine Mission Highlights from 2007