Hello,

Take a moment to thank God with us:

This is now the 5th week of our Summer Internship (summer starts in March here).

Out of 95 people who joined, 76 have survived and are experiencing amazing life-transformations!

We have baptized 38 interns so far; and a total of 50 baptism since January.

People are coming to the Christ every week through mission outreaches of the church here.

More than 60 missionaries are actively serving (that's nearly 14% of the church).

Bambi and I are awe-struck by the move of God in the Philippines and by the open doors of opportunity.

Thank you for holding us up with your prayers and gererous support. Let God be glorified.

Easter Message

Happy Easter!
Bambi and I are especially thankful this Easter. We are experiencing the benefits of new covenant life in Jesus; and we are privileged to deliver these to the people of the Philippines.
This Easter, I will be teaching on the Lord’s Supper. As I do, we will be thinking about you and remembering your fellowship with us in this mission work of saving lost souls.
The gospel of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection has just as much power today as it ever did. Jesus Christ is very much alive and active in our world today. We are witnesses of this; and have many inspiring stories to share.

Bambi and I plan to be in the US for a couple of weeks starting May 20. We hope for an opportunity to connect with you; and download some exciting reports concerning the move of God in the Philippines.

We appreciate you so much; and treasure your prayer and financial support. We pray for God's abundance in every aspect of your life.

My Happy Birthday

Feb 1 (my birthday) fell on Sunday. I am very blessed to have such great friends and family. The church put together a video of people from the community sending their birthday wishes. I was touched.

Today I also baptized 5 more Filipinos, one of whom was an 84 year old man we'd been sharing Christ with for several years. It is so exciting to know that these people's lives and eternal destinies are forever changed.

After that, we went out to the villages for our weekly missions where we minister to the poor, dirty, abused, and neglected children. We currently have 51 missionaries from our church reaching people in 7 different villages. Next Sunday, we open up yet another new mission satellite; and God just keeps expanding our territory and impact in the province.

Bambi and I are full of hope and dreams for this year. We thank God for so much opportunity, an open-Heaven, and the privilege to serve. Thank you also, for the much-needed prayer and support. May God bless you richly.

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.