Third-generation impact

One advantage of 22 years of service as a church planter and trainer of Christian leaders is that I get to celebrate and rejoice as long-term dreams take shape and become reality. (I mentioned this in an earlier letter in 2007.) I was reminded again this week of just what kind of impact our work here has had.

Carole and I were hosting a small team of visitors from one of our church partners in California. They wanted to get to know us better and see first-hand what we've been up to over here in the Philippines. We took the team up to Baguio City overnight, so they could see how our church planting efforts and leadership development there have played out, and understand some of the factors that led us to later developments in our ministry. I asked around among Baguio area church leaders, and learned that Elmer Potectan was having a mid-week fellowship at a young church the evening we would be in town. I contacted Elmer, and he said his church would be happy to have us join them; we made plans to meet Elmer at the Km. 4 Christian Church Tuesday evening.

Elmer was one of the first graduates from Philippine College of Ministry--a Bible college I helped establish in 1992--and I had him as a student in several courses I taught there. It pleases me that he has been preaching at the Km. 4 Christian Church for about ten years now. I was part of the team that planted the Km. 4 church in the mid 1990's. Waiting for some members of the Km. 4 church to arrive, I had a look around their chapel, paying special attention to an ambitious church planting plan that covered half of the back wall.

Tonight, however, although several members of the Km. 4 church were joining us, we would not be worshiping there. Instead, Elmer and others from Km. 4 got in our vehicles and guided us to the Midhill Christian Church. Elmer and the Christians at Km. 4 had planted the church in Topinao two years ago, as part of their plan to evangelize the region of Tuba, Benguet. Tupinao was tricky to get to, reached only after driving through some little-known back roads of Baguio.

We had a wonderful time with the brothers and sisters at Topinao. They built a cooking fire outside and put some coffee on to brew, then began a lively time of singing praises. The worship team used an amplified guitar and the microphones, but the congregation outdid them with their enthusiastic singing. One of our team members preached, then Elmer asked for contributions from the congregation. A couple of men stood and recited Bible verses they'd recently memorized, adding an explanation of what those verses meant to them. A woman sang a solo, and some young people sang a special number of their own.

When the meeting was over, coffee was served to everyone, and our team mingled with the Midhill and Km. 4 church members. The people I spoke with were gold miners and farmers, and seemed delighted to be having fellowship with us. Although I had never met most of those people before, I had the feeling we were all related, getting to know one another at a family reunion--truly brothers and sisters in Christ!

But let me tell you about the highlight of the evening for me. During the service, Elmer invited me to address the congregation in greeting, and I was able to express my pleasure at getting to worship with a group of Christians I hadn't even known existed. When I returned to my seat, Elmer explained a little of our past history together, and mentioned how some words from my dad had given him a vision to reach the Tuba area of Benguet. He used this occasion to encourage the Topinao Christians in their ongoing efforts to start a new church in a nearby barrio. The two-year-old daughter church of a church we planted more than ten years ago is about to give birth to a daughter of their own!

Please take a moment right now to pray for Elmer and his wife Ursula, and for the churches in Km. 4 and Topinao as they pursue their vision for extending Jesus' kingdom step by step.

In Christ,

Chris McKinney