From the McKinneys in California

The Greatest Experience of Equipping in 45 Years of Ministry

2011-06-08T16:17:00.000-07:00

In 2004 I was a veteran church planting missionary. I had already led or participated in a dozen church planting projects. I had already been trained in church planting in Bible college, in seminary, in a 2-week church planting institute, and by a veteran church planting missionary. So when my friend Eric invited me to a DCPI training I accepted out of friendship, but I have to admit my expectations were not high. If only I’d known!

It turns out those three days marked an important turning point in my life. DCPI training was different from all the other training I’d received. “Wow,” I thought, “These guys have experienced the same things planting churches I experienced! They’ve ‘been there and done that!’ I should have had this training 15 years ago!” Filling out their evaluation form, I wrote, “DCPI's program is the most cross-cultural and comprehensive approach I've found.”

Back in the Philippines, I began using DCPI’s curriculum to train church planters in training events and in classrooms. When Carole and I left the Philippine mission field, we could think of no better move than to join the DCPI headquarters team.

Eric once told me my enthusiasm for DCPI did not surprise him, saying “Chris, I’ve found that those with the most church planting experience appreciate our material the most” So I guess I should have been prepared for the good response after training missionaries and representatives of Outreach to Asia Nationals last April. One of their China missionaries claimed “This training is the single most important training I have received since joining OTAN in 2002.” Another Kingdom leader topped that with, “The DCPI training was the greatest experience of equipping in 45 years of ministry.”

Thanks for joining us in such a dynamic ministry!

Multiplying Church Planters in Closed and Restricted-Access Countries

2011-04-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

Please be praying for one of our training events next week. I will be part of a team going to Winchester, Virginia to teach Church Planting Essentials (CPE) to 35 missionaries serving with Outreach to Asia Nationals (OTAN). OTAN seeks to reach nations through nationals, by assisting nationals to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to their own people in countries where missionaries cannot live and work freely.

28 of the missionaries we are training will be further trained and certified to use DCPI curriculum to train church planters back in the countries where they work. This is how we multiply church planters around the world. I’m excited to contemplate what might happen as OTAN missionaries train church planters in China, Russia, Jordan, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Vietnam—the nations represented by the OTAN missionaries participating in next week’s training event. Our research into the impact of DCPI training in several countries leads us to hope that on average each church planter trained at a DCPI event will start more than two new churches within the next five years, and each of those churches on average will bring more than 45 people from the power of Satan to Christ within that same timeframe.

It gets better. Several OTAN missionaries have been trained even earlier by DCPI, and over the past few months they have already trained 130 church planters in India, Nepal, and China (think: over 350 new churches and over 16,000 new Christians within five years)! Two of these OTAN missionaries will be appointed as DCPI Master Trainers next week. This means they will be able to certify National leaders in closed and restricted-access countries to train church planters in their own languages and in their own countries!

The partnership between DCPI and OTAN is just one example of many such partnerships that exist right now around the world. Christians of all kinds are constantly brought together by God’s Spirit, united by common vision and passion. Please be praying for us next week, that we will be planting the seeds of some church planting movements.

Pray for DCPI World Zone Leaders

2011-02-16T15:55:00.000-08:00

I had a terrific time meeting with several World Zone Coordinators and Regional Directors from Asia during DCPI’s Global Vision Summit in February. I’ve worked with R Jayakumar of India before, at training events in Thailand and India. “Jay” is a tireless Christian leader with a passion for saturating India with Christian churches. Several of the Indian leaders he coordinates have visions of planting tens of thousands of churches each! John Bond is a pastor in Australia. He has such a vision for expanding Christ’s kingdom that his church gives him four months each year to travel throughout the south Pacific to encourage and build up churches. Hendrick Vorster is a talented Christian leader originally from South Africa now living in Australia. He is a recognized expert in Church Growth with contacts around the world.

As you pray for me, I wish you would include Jay, John, and Hendrik in your prayers. These three men are constantly seeking ways to mobilize the church to shatter obstacles to Christ’s church, to train more Christian leaders, and to shine the light of Jesus’ love into the dark corners of the world. These are the people in Asia and Oceana with whom I work most closely to respond when Christians there feel, “I know God’s calling me to plant a church, but I don’t know how.”

In Bangkok, Chris McKinney and R. Jayakumar commissioned Arnold Pasion as Master Trainer for the Philippines.

While you’re at it, pray that God can raise up such a leader in China, and in South Korea, and in Southeast Asia. Our vision of equipping leaders to plant 5 million churches to reach the world for Christ isn’t really our vision—it’s God’s vision, shared with the leaders of DCPI, shared with pastors in Australia, shared with a Christian leader in India, shared with Christians across America—and ultimately, necessarily, shared with church planter after church planter around the world. Thanks for caring!

Pray for new church planting movements in India!

2010-11-05T16:33:00.003-07:00

Dear friends and partners,

I’m writing to share with you about my trip to India last month. Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI) trained 52 Christian men and women from India, Nepal, and Bhutan in their choice of Church Planting Essentials (CPE) or Church Planting Movements (CPM). On top of that, 10 were certified to train others using DCPI materials, and we appointed one Master Trainer (a Master Trainer is empowered to certify people to train others using DCPI materials).

The Christian leaders who showed up for training were an impressive bunch. There was a large contingent of missionaries from the Indian state of Nagaland serving in other states in northeast India. Many of these missionaries had already begun planting churches. Those who came for Church Planting Movements training seemed particularly influential, and included leaders of several denominations and Indian missions organizations.

The need for DCPI’s church planting training was demonstrated when the CPE trainees were asked how many of them felt called by God to plant new churches; 23 raised their hands. Then they were asked how many of them had ever been trained to plant new churches; nobody raised his hand. I got a sense of what kind of impact DCPI’s training has had from the CPM trainees. As each leader stood up during the training to share his vision of expanding God’s kingdom, I noticed that those with prior DCPI training spoke naturally in terms of multiplying new churches—but those with no prior DCPI training tended to speak more in terms of personal evangelism. We love to quote C. Peter Wagner, who said, “The best means of evangelism under the sun today is church planting.”

What a thrill to hear these determined Indian church planters as they outlined their plans to start literally tens of thousands of new churches! In the attached picture I’m sitting with three men who formed the Nepalese for Christ Church Planting Movement that week and were hatching plans to start 50,000 new Nepali-speaking churches. Please pray for Memraj, John Babu, and Sashi, who are starting out by training 10 groups of church planters in an initial effort to plant 500 new churches.

Thank you for praying for Carole and I over the past few months, and a special thanks to those of you who have helped financially with our transition. We’d love to hear from you all!

In Christ,

Chris

Training church planters in Thailand

2010-07-20T23:25:00.001-07:00

"It was as though you were speaking just to me," said the Thai church planter through an interpreter. We were enjoying our lunch break in an open-air Bangkok restaurant last month around the corner from where I was part of a team training over 50 people in Church Planting Essentials. Somboon, the church planter, went on to explain that he'd already planted 50 churches in northern Thailand, but that 20 of these churches had not survived. The week's training was giving him confidence that he would now be able to plant healthier and more dynamic churches.

What a thrill for Somboon and me to be connecting like this, church planter heart to church planter heart, across formidable boundaries of distance, language, and culture! What I was teaching was alive for Somboon because the gospel remains God's power for salvation across all boundaries, and new churches are the proven best way of reaching communities with that gospel. The training from Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI) is based on twelve biblical principles that also transcend culture. When I first received training from DCPI, I believed it to be the best I'd seen, even though I'd already received training in Bible college, grad school, seminars, culturally-specific mentoring, and after having already planted over a dozen new churches. Since then I've learned that it is often the most experienced church planters that appreciate DCPI training the most--an observation born out in my conversation with Somboon.

Carole and I are going through a period of transition right now, from planting churches and training Christian leaders in the Philippines with Philippine Christian Mission (PCM) to training church planters around the world with DCPI as their Director of Asia and Pacific Zones. I was glad when a last-minute schedule change for last month's Thailand training event led to my invitation to lead the team doing the training--what an opportunity to experience one of the things I'll be doing from India to Polynesia, from Japan to New Zealand. Training the Thai church planters along with me were Dr. R. Jayakumar, a DCPI World Zone Leader from India, and Arnold Pasion, an old church planting colleague of mine from the Philippines; Arnold was appointed Master Trainer while we were in Bangkok together.

Thanks for your prayers and support for our family! We need all the help we can get right now what with all the moving, shipping, setting-up, reporting, briefing, debriefing, adjusting, visiting, and planning that is going on. If you're one of our PCM ministry partners, be looking in the mail soon for a letter explaining more about the transition. In the meantime, our Claremont address remains valid and we are still being supported through PCM. (Sadly, our missionaries.com e-mail address isn't working--the domain was sold and the new owner is not forwarding e-mail.) Your faithfulness and generosity keeps us going.

In Christ,

Chris McKinney

An exciting announcement!

2010-05-29T13:41:00.001-07:00

To our dear family and friends,

We have some exciting news to share with you! During our years as missionaries I have had more than a few offers of ministry positions in the U.S. I've not been easily enticed away from the work I’ve been doing planting churches and training Christian leaders in the Philippines. But now, in our 24th year on the mission field, I’ve been offered a position that has injected a fresh shot of passion into my heart. Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI) has offered me the opportunity to serve as their Director of Asia and Pacific Zones. This letter is to announce that I’m accepting their offer with great enthusiasm.

DCPI has a five million church vision! They want to train leaders to impact the planting of five million dynamic churches to reach the world for Christ—equipping “impacters”—leaders who will train and mentor others so that dynamic churches will be multiplied around the world. My job will be to relate to and develop Master Trainers in countries in Asia and the Pacific. As DCPI introduces their training to new countries in Asia and around the world, I’ll be there. I’ll also supervise the translation of DCPI’s curriculum and manage its distribution. In a big change for us, while I'll be traveling to other countries, I’ll be working out of DCPI’s headquarters in Oceanside, California! Later this summer I will be meeting with the appropriate people at DCPI to plan the rate and timing of our transition from Philippine Christian Mission (PCM) to DCPI (we don’t want to leave any of our PCM responsibilities unmet).

Our ministry partners may expect to officially hear more from us about this soon. Everyone on staff with DCPI serves as a missionary and is required to raise his or her own financial support. Many of our ministry partners have already encouraged us by assuring us our financial support will continue, but whenever we significantly change our ministry focus it is our practice to give people an opportunity to re-evaluate how our ministry fits with the vision God has given them for world missions.

Please be praying for our whole family during this time of transition: While after much prayer and counsel Carole and I have come to believe this is the direction God is leading us at this time, it is hard to leave a ministry that has been one’s focus for so many years. We’re saying good-bye to friends and colleagues of many years in the Philippines. We’re closing down our Manila household, selling our vehicle, furniture, and appliances for whatever we can get—and then will turn right around and set up again in southern California, acquiring a vehicle, furniture, and appliances as best we can. The kids are dealing emotionally with the fact that they will no longer have a family home in the land where they were born and raised.

I hope you share our excitement about all this. For me, this is taking the parts of my ministry that have been most satisfying—working with church planters and teaching—and expanding those parts in focus and scope. And Carole and I hope the five million church vision captures your hearts as it has ours. To find out more about DCPI, visit their website.

In Christ,

Chris B. McKinney

A new crew of harvesters reports for duty

2010-03-27T22:12:00.004-07:00

Over the past two weeks, I've been training 30 people how to plant daughter churches using Dynamic Church Planting International's "Churches Planting Churches" curriculum. First was a training event at the International Christian College of Manila, followed by an event at Philippine College of Ministry, 6 hours north in Baguio City. Several days found me starting at 8:00 a.m. and teaching until 9:00 p.m. Far from being worn-out by all that teaching, I found that the interest and passion of the Christian leaders I was teaching stoked the fires within myself, and I can't wait to see how the Lord of church planting uses those 30 people in the weeks and months ahead.

Those learning ranged from 20 years old to 52 years old. They included Bible college students, pastors, campus ministers, professors, and Bible college administrators. In evaluating their learning experience, several spoke of being inspired revitalized in ministry. Jojo, a middle-aged administrator who has never been involved in planting a church, said, "The training is an eye-opener for churches not yet involved in church planting." He now plans to help plant a church.

Steve, who has been involved in planting 18 churches already, wrote, "This seminar was like a handful of seeds that has been sown in northern Luzon. It will surely bear fruit for the kingdom of God." He hopes to plant 1-2 churches just within the next 2 years.

Karol, a pastor who was first led by God to plant a church while still a student, has since planted two more. As a result of last week's daughter church-planting training, he now intends to plant a new church every 2-3 years. He said, "We are planning to plant a daughter church and attending this seminar effectively helps us pragmatically."

In addition to training people in planting daughter churches, I also spent a day at each location equipping teachers and church planters to train others in church planting. Two men were certified to use DCPI materials in training others to plant daughter churches, and 17 others completed the bulk of their training. In order to become certified, those 17 just need to be evaluated while actually teaching others. Fired-up for daughter church planting, several began making plans to train the leaders from a few sister churches in Baguio next month; the plan is for me to return there in a couple of weeks to observe their teaching and certify them as DCPI Trainers.

At times like this I get excited about what God can yet do through our work in the Philippines. During one of the sessions, we worked out on the white board the impact of one church our Baguio team planted in the mid 1990's. The church today is rather small, with about 30-40 people attending each Sunday. However, that church has two daughter churches, a granddaughter church, and a great-granddaughter church; combined, this family of churches sees about 340 Christians worshiping each Sunday--and those churches have led hundreds of people into saving relationships with Jesus.

I hope you're excited, too, as our partners in the ministry here. You can truly say that God has granted dozens of churches and many hundreds of lives won for God's kingdom as the fruit of that partnership.

Please be praying for the training event beginning April 12. This will be the first church planting training led by people I have taught to train church planters. Pray for them, and pray for the harvest fields into which they are being sent!

In Christ,

Chris B. McKinney

Dynamic Church Planting International: http://www.dcpi.org

We are so blessed--thanks!

2010-01-21T23:52:00.001-08:00

Dear friends,

As we began getting Christmas cards last week (yes, the mail can be that slow), we were reminded of how many of you back in the States are thinking of us, praying for us, supporting us, and caring about us. We reflect on the fact that everything we experience and accomplish here is made possible by our partnership together with you. As we move into a new year, we thought we'd describe how blessed we feel, sharing those blessings with you.

While many might fear raising their children in a third-world country, this has been a blessing for us. Our four were raised in a culture with an impact from such things as drugs and gangs that is less than some of you are dealing with. Separated from most of our relatives, our kids have adopted many fine "aunts" and "uncles" here. All of our children were able to be with us in Manila for Christmas this year, and at one point we were sitting in Starbucks, all talking about the advantages they felt they'd gained by growing up in the Philippines. They see themselves privileged with a global perspective and an adaptability that comes from a life of dealing with different kinds of people in different kinds of cultures.

I know medical reform is capturing a lot of attention right now in the States. My recent hospital stays (September in the States, then November here in Manila) made me grateful that our ministry partners have been there to provide our family with medical insurance that has covered all our needs--in spite of the limitations of the current system, and in spite of the stresses of the current economy.

Our life in the Philippines has been significant. We've made a real difference in the lives of individual people, entire churches, and even communities and cities. We've impacted the launching of thirteen new churches here, in roles ranging from door-knocker to Bible study leader to team leader to coach. We've helped train church leaders in a variety of formats including one-day seminars, extension programs, and even launching a new Bible college. We've helped missionaries thrive in the Philippines through participation and leadership in a new school for missionaries' children. We've trained people in planting new churches, and trained church planters in teaching church planting to others.

This week I was sharing with a friend the satisfaction I receive from training church planters. We spoke of the joy that comes in helping people who have been given a vision from God to do such a thing for his kingdom--how their passion and enthusiasm is contagious, and of the spiritual vigor that infuses those relationships, no matter how many times we're going through "the same material." Several of my friends back in the States would be happy to have any decent job right now--how blessed am I to be able to do work that is so rewarding!

The Filipino people are great. They are famous for their hospitality and friendliness. Spiritually, they are open to truths coming from God's word. I count Filipino colleagues among my closest friends, and several have been mentors to me. Their country is a beautiful one; we've spent all our ministry years here within view of forested mountains and tropical shores. I can't count the number of times I've slept as a guest in one of their homes and enjoyed the bounty of their tables--and it makes no difference whether that was a split-bamboo table in a grass hut or a marble table in a fine mansion; one of the most enduring lessons Carole and I have learned here is how to open our home and share with others.

So let us thank you for your faithfulness in supporting us and praying for us and sending us e-mails and being our friends. I know we've thanked you before, but you haven't stopped caring, and we won't stop being grateful!

In Christ,

Chris McKinney

"We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." (1 Thessalonians 2:8)

Typhoons Ketsana and Parma

2009-10-11T01:08:00.004-07:00

A lot has been happening to us in recent weeks, and a lot of you have been contacting us for more details. I thought I'd take this opportunity to fill everyone in. Carole and I want to offer a big "thanks" for your prayers; our unpleasant experiences have served to demonstrate to us how loved we are as you all have sought to help in various ways.

First, on the day I was scheduled to return to the Philippines from California (finished playing "pimp my dorm room" with Callie at Azusa Pacific University) I began passing what seemed to me to be an alarming amount of blood from my gastro-intestinal tract. While making some last-minute purchases, I was overcome by dizziness and felt I was on the verge of passing out. An ambulance was called and I ended up being hospitalized for three days. I went through several tests, but by the time they got cameras inside me the bleeding had stopped and they couldn't be sure what had caused it. The doctors did rule out some of the serious potential causes, and guess that the bleeding was caused either by diverticulitis or polyps (several of which were removed and found to be benign). I was released from the hospital, and after resting up for several days made my way back to the Philippines without further incident. I have had a follow-up visit with doctors here, and can report that while I am still anemic (my red blood count is still below "low normal") my blood count has improved markedly.

Second, the Philippines is reeling from a one-two punch by typhoons Ketsana and Parma. Two days after I got home, Carole and I set out to watch our son Campbell play volleyball against International School Manila. Just a few blocks from home, however, we found the roads flooded too much to make it through, so we returned home. Not long after that, we lost cable, Internet, telephones, and power. Unbeknown to us, typhoon Ketsana--which hadn't been causing much concern because it wasn't very powerful in terms of wind speed--had dumped 16 inches of rain in 6 hours, completely overwhelming the drainage capabilities of large swathes of Metro Manila. Before losing cellphone service completely, we managed to learn that Campbell was safe at the home of one of his teammates.

The next day we got up for church, but one look down the block told us we wouldn't be going anywhere. Let me tell you that being holed up in a house in the tropics with no air conditioning, no electric fans, no television, no telephone, and no Internet is no picnic. As the day developed, we began learning the extent of the devastation; we ate dinner with close neighbors in our subdivision (we all had plenty of previously frozen foods to share), and heard one describe how in a matter of five minutes floods entered their home and rose to a level of four feet inside, destroying furniture, appliances, and their car.

On the third day the flooding around our house subsided enough we could venture out. Our friends who were hosting Campbell invited us to come spend the night, and we gladly accepted--they had things we wanted, like our son, electricity, and Internet service. Back in contact with news feeds and Facebook updates, we learned that we among about 500,000 people in Manila displaced by the storm. We also learned how much more others suffered; people's homes and vehicles flooded, family pictures ruined, important files pulped, and families separated--not just "people" in the abstract, but friends and colleagues. Campbell related how his volleyball team had become stranded on the way to their game, and how they ended up wading for several hours through floods up to waist-deep to get to one of their homes. We were relieved to hear that none of our acquaintances had been killed, but over 300 people did lose their lives in Manila during the storm.

Over the next few days the city began picking up the pieces. Campbell spent some days helping families from school and their neighbors muck out their homes and start getting them cleaned up (I was still under doctor's orders to rest). The storm hit on September 26, and as I write this on October 11 some parts of the city are still flooded. Thoughts now are turning to disease from the standing water and piles of rotting household goods that line the roads.

Still reeling from Ketsana, the attention of all in the Philippines turned to the imminent arrival of super-typhoon Parma. Manila breathed a huge sigh of relief as the storm veered north, but the high winds did some damage in northern Luzon. And then...Parma paused after clearing the Philippines, then slowly made her way back. She hit northern Luzon again, then slowly turned and resumed her original course--subjecting northern Luzon to a third pass. Our friends and churches in the Baguio area and Philippine College of Ministry made it through the first pass with little trouble, but days of pounding rain saturated the soil and Parma left devastation in her wake just as Ketsana had before her. A couple of hundred more Filipinos were killed, many buried alive when landslides engulfed their homes (we thank God that none of our friends were among them).

I have received reports that it took almost an hour to walk to Philippine College of Ministry from the main highway--the road that should have made this a 5-minute drive is covered by earth for much of the way. On campus, students and neighbors took refuge in the academic building as a landslide hit the side of the dormitory, toppling PCM's water tower and filling the dining hall's kitchen with mud.

News of these two storms reached many of you, and you have been contacting us to find out how we're doing and to let us know you're praying for us. Thanks for caring! Several have inquired how you can help, and I'd like to address that now. First, there has been an immediate response here from local churches, schools, government agencies, and relief organizations. I'd say tens of thousands of Filipinos have turned out to help their less fortunate neighbors. At our church, we learned of one member who led church volunteers through floods to families that were in need of drinking water and food before he would let them help him clear his own house, still flooded. Any extra donations we receive for storm relief will be turned over to Campbell's school, our church, or fellow missionaries that are organizing relief efforts.

Second, I want to take a moment to plug the International Disaster Emergency Services (IDES). This is an agency Christian church missionaries consistently turn to for help in such situations, because they are consistently helpful. IDES has provided resources for meeting the needs of people affected by disasters large and small throughout our ministry here in the Philippines; I can remember as early as 1987 getting help from IDES to bring relief to farmers hit by a storm. By working through Christian churches and missionaries sent by Christian churches, IDES has helped us demonstrate the love of Christ in quite tangible ways that are beyond our normal means. IDES quickly responded to missionaries' requests for assistance after Ketsana and Parma wreaked their havoc. We can heartily commend IDES to you for your financial support; find them at http://www.ides.org/ or write to them at PO Box 60, Kempton, IN 46049.

We had a lot to feel discouraged about, but how could we? Your prayers, acts of service, letters, and phone calls have lifted us up. What strength God has provided for us to lean upon!

In Christ,

Chris McKinney

Training Filipino church planters to teach others church planting

2009-06-14T00:04:00.003-07:00

Hey friends,

I organized two church planter training events in Manila last month that were very exciting for me. Several years ago I attended a training event by Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI, http://www.dcpi.org), and was quite impressed. I've had church planting training in Bible college and grad school, have attended several church planting seminars, have been mentored by seasoned church planters, and have helped plant 13 new churches myself in roles ranging from lackey to director--just so you know where I'm coming from when I say I was impressed by DCPI's approach. DCPI worked with me to launch their training in the Philippines, and Chris Centeio of DCPI came from California to take a part in things.

Edward Isidoro, President of the International Baptist College, offered to host the event. It was his request and his willingness to take care of the logistics of the event that spurred us to hold these training events at this particular time. Edward provided air-conditioned meeting rooms equipped with seating, a video projector, and snack tables, and made sure hot meals were ready for the participants each day. For my part, I consulted with Chris and Edward to set the schedule, published training materials, and publicized the event to other denominations.

The first event was to equip experienced church planters and leaders in a position to impact the planting of churches to teach church planting to others. As a DCPI-certified trainer, I assisted Chris in the teaching. During this four-day training, Chris and I also interviewed each participant individually to assess their desire and ability to teach church planting and influence others to plant churches. Most of those who attended were from churches of Christ or the International Baptist Missionary Fellowship; the church planting staff person at a large Manila megachurch also participated. Anyone seeking certification had to attend every training session, sit for an interview, and submit a detailed application; as it turned out, many of the attendees were unable to complete the entire process. In the end, seven experienced church planters were certified as trainers (picture); several more are "almost" ready for certification. I myself was certified by Chris Centeio on behalf of DCPI as a "master trainer," authorized to certify still more church planter trainers.

The next week we held a three-day event to teach church planting. During this event, Chris and I were joined by all the new trainers in teaching the material. Each participant was required to present to the group their vision for church planting, and share with us all some of their plan for making that vision reality. I believe one of the real strengths of DCPI's approach is their cultural adaptability. We taught biblical principles, phases, landmarks, and sample tasks, along with other material including landmines and family issues. But the participants themselves crystallized those principles into culturally specific applications. One man's plan centered on community basketball teams; another's targeted Filipinos working in call centers for multinational companies; yet another church planter--a Filipino who'd enjoyed affluence in the United States but felt God's call to return to the Philippines to plant churches--planned to start a rural church high in the mountains of northern Luzon, hours away from any city or road. This was the highlight for me--what a blessing, how inspiring to hear how God's Spirit was moving in the hearts of those people!

As the participants returned home to take their next steps in planting new churches, already further training events are being planned. We'll expand on the "Church Planting Essentials" taught last month with "Churches Planting Churches" (planting "daughter" churches) and "Becoming a Mentor" (interactive, comprehensive training designed to enable mentors to coach, shepherd and supervise church planters). We'll also continue to train more church planters to teach church planting.

After these two back-to-back training sessions, I was immediately faced with several days of special activities culminating with the graduation from high school of our daughter Callie. Carole and I are very proud of Callie and the challenges to which she's risen to finish high school well. Callie will be a student at Azusa Pacific University this fall. After commencement, our family had about a week to wrap things up in Manila, and last Sunday we returned to California for several weeks' time reporting to our church partners here.

We just don't have enough time to see all of you on a Sunday, but please contact us if you would like to see us this summer! Our calendar is filling up fast. We'd love to visit with as many of our ministry partners as possible--Sunday mornings, missions team meetings, home groups--whatever works best for you. Contact us via e-mail, or call us at (714) 782-4824 (a temporary cellphone number we'll use this summer).

Thanks for your prayers for our ministry in the Philippines. Please be praying for those who attended our training events in May--that God will bless their church planting efforts, and that church planters will be multiplied in the Philippines.

In Christ,

Chris McKinney

Hats!

2009-05-15T18:04:00.002-07:00

Hello partner!

There are several different "hats" I wear as a
direct-support missionary, among them fundraiser,
public relations officer, government liaison,
bookkeeper, file clerk, project manager, and
administrator. Two of the more interesting hats (to me)
are church planter and Christian leader trainer. The
months of March and April have seen me engaging in a
routine of high-speed hat-changing, as an academic
semester has ended, taxes became due, passports needed
renewing, and special summer programs were planned.

Philippine College of Ministry (PCM) is the Bible
college I helped establish in 1992 as our team's
response to the demand for pastors from the new
churches our we were establishing in the area. This
year I made the trip to Baguio City to speak at PCM's
13th Commencement. As a Trustee of the college, I also
met with the other board members at that time. While
there are certainly many challenges facing PCM (and
there probably always will be), I was encouraged again
by the way PCM's graduates are impacting churches and
communities in that region and by the campus
development (commencement was held in our own chapel).
Nine young men and women received four-year degrees,
and two-year Associate degrees were conferred upon
seven others.

At Alliance Graduate School (AGS), the last session of
my Church Planting course met at the new church of
Korean missionary Hyeongsoo "Joshua" Kim, one of my
students. Members of his church, which meets in office
space in a commercial building in Metro Manila,
prepared a fabulous feast for our class, and then each
student gave a powerful presentation of their vision,
plan, and timeline for starting a new church. I was
thrilled that none of the presentations were
hypothetical-all of the students were already well
involved in the process of planting new churches.

AGS' chapel is too small for commencement exercises, so
graduation there was held in the ballroom of a fancy
hotel. Once again I donned my academic regalia (I guess
I really did put on a special hat for this one) as I
played my role in the ceremonies. Thirty-seven graduate
diplomas were awarded, many to former students of mine.
It was a proud moment for the graduates' families, and
a grand banquet followed.

Since then I've been organizing a pair of intensive
church planting training events. Monday begins a
four-day event to certify 15 Christian leaders to train
others to plant churches, using Dynamic Church Planting
International's (DCPI) excellent materials. Some of the
Philippines' top church planters and denominational
leaders have reserved a place in this event. Then, the
following Monday we will begin a three-day event to
train up to 100 Christian leaders in Church Planting
Essentials. As a certified DCPI trainer, I have been
working with the International Baptist College (hosting
the events) and DCPI, who is sending a representative
from the US to sign off on the newly certified
trainers. I also hope to become a DCPI Master Trainer
next week, meaning I will be able to certify DCPI
trainers myself in the future.

I hope you'll indulge me for a paragraph or two as I
sport my "proud papa" hat. Our oldest son, Cormack, has
just finished his first year in the Psy.D. program at
Azusa Pacific University, and is quite happy with his
progress. Caitlan just finished her Junior year at
Wheaton College; this summer, she's taking some classes
via Wheaton in the Holy Lands. Shortly after she
returns from Israel and the Mediterranean, she'll be
going to Washington D.C. for her oral assessment before
Foreign Service Officers of the U.S. Department of
State. Callie is graduating from high school on the
29th of this month, and has been accepted at Azusa
Pacific University where she aims to get into their
nursing program. Campbell was just elected President of
his high school for the 2009-2010 school year; this
summer he'll be working full-time at a Kampground of
America (KOA) near Santa Cruz in California, augmenting
that work with ministry-focused activities as a
SummerShiner (see http://www.summershine.us/). Believe
me, I could go on!

Our family will be visiting the US this summer, and we
hope to be able to meet with our ministry partners in
person at some point. Please contact us soon to arrange
a time for this. We hope to strengthen our
relationships with our partners, and we still need to
strengthen our monthly financial support as well.
Although we're doing much better financially on a
month-to-month basis than this time last year, we're
still struggling just now, especially with travel costs
and the private education costs of our children with us
in the Philippines.

Before putting this report down, would you please take
a few moments to pray for the upcoming DCPI church
planting training events? Join us in praying that the
seeds sown over the next two weeks will result in a
multiplication of churches being planted here in the
Philippines, and in the multiplication of trained
church planters.

Thank you for caring!

In Christ,

Chris McKinney

Third-generation impact

2009-03-06T02:09:00.011-08:00

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

Time out!

2009-01-12T02:02:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of you who sent notes, Christmas cards, or goofy online Christmas greetings. It's a special time of year, and we know how busy things can get, so we appreciate being included in your thoughts.

One highlight of our holiday was a get-together with other missionaries here. A group of about 20 missionaries and their families convened in Bauang, La Union for a couple of days of fun, food, and fellowship. Our family joined the family of Steve and Lenae Hong and Jim and Linda Huckaba from Baguio City, Chuck and Mickey Richards and the family of Carl and Ronalyn Stevens from Cagayan, and Kay Davidson and Leslie Ostick from Neuva Vizcaya. At various times throughout the days, Jim Huckaba would bring a message of encouragement or exhortation to us missionaries, then two or three missionaries would report on their work over the past year or so. It's always encouraging to share our accomplishments and challenges with others who can relate to us in a special way. We commiserated with one another over the impact the economy's had on missionaries, we marvelled with one another over how God has provided and sustained, we celebrated lifetime achievements, and we pondered together cultural and interpersonal dilemmas and quandries. For me anyway, the get-together was a reminder that we're not alone.

Do you have someone who expects to hear from you in detail each year? Someone who will rejoice with you as you count the ways God has blessed you? Someone who will listen sympathetically as share how you've coped with hardship? Someone who will pray for you? Someone who will tease you good-naturedly? Someone who will laugh together at and take strength together from shared experiences of years past? I hope so. Such people are not to be taken for granted!

Please keep us in your prayers over the next weeks. I'll be continuing teaching church planting and working on my studies, and preparing for at least one church planter training event a few months down the road. Carole is counseling regularly missionaries and their family members who come to her for help in coping with a wide variety of issues. Thanks for caring.

In Christ,

Chris McKinney

My driving passion

2008-12-11T07:23:00.001-08:00

I’ve done many things in my 22-year career as a missionary. You may recall some of them. I’ve helped plant 12 churches, I’ve learned two Filipino languages, I’ve helped develop an informal church leadership development program, I’ve helped establish a Bible college, I’ve served in a school for missionaries’ children, helped develop two series of home Bible studies, and now I’m teaching in a graduate school.

But a single passion ties all these activities together, a passion that has kept me going through some tough times, a passion that has burned in me since I was a college student—church planting. I learned those languages so I could speak with Filipinos heart-to-heart, and have led home Bible studies in both languages. I’ve helped develop programs to train church leaders so that Filipinos could take over leadership of the church planting projects we were working on and I could turn my attention to planting another church. I helped nurture the school for missionaries’ children so missionary families—including my own—could more comfortably stay on-site. The home Bible study series I helped develop were for use in the initial stages of church planting. And my current role as a seminary professor is meant to help meet needs expressed by urban pastors and church planters.

It doesn’t hurt to step back now and then and put our activities in perspective. The reason I’m writing you about church planting today, though, is to let you know how excited I am to be teaching church planting this semester at Alliance Graduate School. As I meet with my students—several who are in the midst of planting churches—the 3½ hours of each class session just fly by. We’re talking about something very close to the heart of God—starting new churches! What a thrill to be included in this work of God. In the New Testament the church is called Jesus’ bride, his body, and is described as a force against which the gates of hell cannot hold up.

As I consider my joy at such times, I was reminded of those of you who whom we depend upon for all our material needs—our financial supporters. Maybe at this time of the year you find yourself counting your blessings. We’re so happy to count you as one of ours

In Christ,

Chris McKinney

October 2008 report

2008-10-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

It's been a long time since we've written all of you, so this is to update you on what's happening with the McKinney's.

As most of you do know, we went to the States this past summer to try to make some new ministry partnerships. We concentrated on contacting new churches and meeting with their pastors or missions teams. But the weak dollar has been hurting most missionaries around the world, and we found churches were (properly) focusing on supporting the missionaries they already had and were not generally receptive to appeals from new people. We were not successful in raising the new support we were seeking.

In the end, we returned to the Philippines anyway; the dollar seems to have bottomed out in March, and the value of the dollar is rising slowly. In addition, our current ministry partners have been emphatically generous in their responses to our plight. Each extra amount we have received over what was committed has been very welcomed and very helpful in keeping us on the field. Thank you for caring about our family and the work here. God has worked through you to keep us here.

Back in the Philippines, we returned to our work. Carole, as a family counselor for the missionary community. She used to work two days a week as a counselor; now she's been at her office almost four full days most weeks! Seeing how God has been able to use her, Carole's interest in counseling has been bolstered, and she's now considering her options for further education and California licensing.

The next semester at schools here doesn't start until November, so in the meantime I've been working on that last paper for my Ph.D. coursework (there would still be plenty of work left for the degree itself). I'm also making plans to train church planters to teach church planting next spring.

Unfortunately, things have not all gone smoothly since our return. We've been experiencing computer issues. While still in the States, the external hard drive we use for backing up our computers crashed. On return to our home, the wireless network card on one of our two desktop computers was broken; this is a concern because the network was a secondary way of backing up our files. Finally, just last week the motherboard went out on my primary computer--the one that has the research notes for the paper I've been writing. It's good that the computer is covered under an international warranty, but it will be at least two more weeks before I get it back--and I'm not sure how my data will make it. Pray when all is said and done we don't lose any critical files!

Healthwise, Carole was stricken by some sort of fever that was debilitating and slowed her re-adjustment to the Philippines. Campbell, Callie and Chris were also sick, with something more mild. Fortunately, everybody's doing well now.

We know things aren't necessarily going smoothly for all of you, either. It seems Carole and I have been praying for more of you, with more needs, than we ever have before. All the more reason for us to be grateful for your faithfulness as ministry partners--so once again, Thank you!

In Christ,

Chris McKinney

Summer furlough report

2008-06-24T03:06:00.001-07:00

Hello, partner!

I'm writing to you from Buena Park, California, during a two-month furlough for which our mission is to seek out new ministry partners. As most of you will remember, our financial situation in the Philippines is in crisis due to the weak dollar, as well as other factors (our exchange rate has sunk from P55:$1 to as low as P40:1). Carole determined we should raise an additional $1,800 per month in support in order to meet our budgeted needs, to stop falling behind each month, and to prevent another crisis in our next term.

It has not been easy to find new ministry partners. Virtually every missionary outside of the United States is facing the same pressures, and churches report receiving pleas just like ours from other missionaries. Not a single new church has yet expressed a desire to partner with us. Carole and I are engaged in a cycle of sending out letters to churches and following up those letters with phone calls and e-mails. Please pray that God will connect us with some new partners.

Happily, we also have some good news to report. First, six of you have either begun helping us financially or have increased the level of support at which you were already sharing; as a result, $450 of the $1,800 we want to raise is now committed. Second, in just the past few months the dollar has actually strengthened a bit against the peso--up 12.5%. This means that if the fuel and food crisis don't worsen, we'll really need to raise less than $1,800 more monthly to be able to sustain our work in the Philippines ($1,150 more at this point)! If you'd like to help us, please call us at (714) 728-4824.

A fantastic fringe benefit of being in the States this summer is that we were able to watch our oldest son, Cormack, graduate cum laude from Hope International University's Pacific Christian College. We are very proud of Cormack, who plans to begin work on his Psy.D. at Azusa Pacific University in the fall. And for those of you who know Carole's mom, Mary, I am also happy to report that she is recovering nicely from her broken arm.

Thank you for praying for us regularly. We thank God for our current ministry partners, who have been faithful and in many cases have helped us through some lean months with generous extra giving. Without our partners, we would already have been forced to leave the mission field by now. We hope to visit as many of you as possible while we are here!

You may contact us while we are in the States via e-mail at cmck@missionaries.com. Carole returns to the Philippines with the kids July 30, in time for their school to resume. I will continue here on into August as needed to meet with prospective new partners.

In Christ,

Chris McKinney

The weak dollar and missionaries

2008-05-09T01:49:00.001-07:00

Since our last major period of partner development and fund raising in 2004, the value of the dollar has weakened considerably against most world currencies--including the Philippine peso. I calculate we are receiving 28% less for each dollar now than we were in 2005. At the same time, the cost of living continues to arrive. In particular, rising fuel prices and rising food prices (rice is up over 165% over the past year on world markets) are hitting us hard here in Asia. I got on Google and found that this is causing real problems for all kinds of missionaries--and the mainstream media have picked up on it.

The Weak Dollar and Missionaries:

Weak dollar undercuts missionaries, relief workers (USA Today)
Weakened U.S. dollar impacts church missions (Augusta Chronicle)
For missionaries, a struggle to stay afloat in economic downturn (The Charlotte Observer)
Overseas missionaries budgets stretched thin (York Daily Record)
Pinching pennies (Christianity Today)

Cost of living increase in the Philippines:

Philippines aims to ease rice prices
Roots of Asia's Rice Crisis
Asian food crisis has political and civil implications
Global food crisis looms as Asia's rice bowl empties and world price sores

Considering the current housing crisis in the United States and the stock market slump, one might expect that missionaries' financial support might also be taking a hit, but this isn't happening. Our ministry partners have been faithful in their support, and in fact have stepped up and gone well beyond what's been committed in recent months. Thank you!

Please be praying for us as we contact new churches and try to gain ministry partners, especially during the months of June and July.

A Big Dream Coming True

2007-12-10T03:57:00.000-08:00

In 1989, veteran missionaries Dennis and Lorrita McKinney and Mike and Liz Carman began working together as church planters in the Baguio area of northern Luzon. In 1990, four years after Carole and I began working as missionaries, we joined the Baguio team. In 1991, Dennis, Mike, and I spent a couple of days at a beach resort in northern Luzon to agree on some measurable goals to help us focus our efforts and prioritize our time and resources. The vision we agreed upon then has remained constant through a number of later team strategy summits, and as our team evolved to include such missionaries as Steve Hong and Dr. Jim Huckaba and Filipino leader Arnold Pasion-to name three who continue to lead the evangelism, church planting, and leadership training efforts in the Baguio area.

We envisioned a network of at least 15 healthy new churches working together not only to be salt and light to their communities, but also to plant new churches and send out missionaries of their own. We envisioned these churches being cared for by capable Christian leaders. We wanted to see any church more than five years old being able to maintain her staff, programs, and meeting place through the stewardship of her own members.

Our mission team's methods, programs, and institutions changed as we gained experience and adjusted to available resources. We launched several leadership development programs and established Philippine College of Ministry in response to a shortage of leaders for new congregations. We missionaries began planting fewer churches and coaching more Filipino church planters. We moved away from hiring church planters, and began offering grants to church planters who could present us with an inspiring proposal (and we helped them get their vision down in writing in proposal form). When the opportunities exceeded our resources, we helped link up local church planters with churches in other countries who could provide needed support. My own decision to pursue a Ph.D. and my current position as a professor of New Testament at a graduate school in Manila is a response to the special challenges we faced when planting urban churches and when trying to secure qualified Filipino faculty for our Bible college.

I mention all this so you can understand what a thrill it was for me to attend the 2nd convention of churches of Christ and Christian churches in Baguio and Benguet, held at Philippine College of Ministry this past December 1. Over 300 church members participated, representing 11 of the 14 churches of Christ and Christian churches in the province of Benguet, including Baguio City.

Only three of the Baguio churches still rely on Philippine Christian Mission for financial support. Four more churches are capable of paying their preachers and paying their rent entirely from their own giving, but the mission still partners with them financially for strategic reasons so they can run programs or employ additional staff members beyond would they could otherwise afford.

These Baguio churches are missionary-sending churches. Even while our family was still living in Baguio, at least one of the churches was sending regular financial support to a Filipino serving in Indonesia. At the convention last week, I spoke with a young Filipina lady from another Baguio church who had just returned from a mission trip to Korea. Later I learned that one of the smallest and newest of the Baguio churches sent one of their leaders as a missionary to Thailand in 2005-where he remains serving today.

The Christians in Baguio are church planters. Seven of the Baguio churches were established directly by our Philippine Christian Mission team. Three of those churches now have daughter churches to their credit. Roy Badongen and Jonathan Retuya, graduates of Philippine College of Ministry, have each independently started churches. The Student Body Organization of Philippine College of Ministry itself ended up starting a church when they set out to bring relief to a community devastated by landslides. And one church in Baguio was already going strong when our team arrived in 1989.

Everywhere I turned, I saw or heard of graduates and students of Philippine College of Ministry serving as preachers, Bible college professors, church planters, and missionaries. In fact, every single one of the 14 churches in the Baguio has a PCM graduate in some kind of leadership position, and all but four of the churches have as paid staff leaders who graduated from PCM.

How satisfying, how fulfilling, to see how God has privileged a team of American missionaries and Filipino church leaders to participate in his plan to make disciples of Jesus from all peoples! Thank you for the vital role you've played in making this all happen. There were times when it was hard for us to believe that the vision God's Spirit gave us might bring us to this place today where we can see 700 Christians worshipping every Sunday in the Baguio area, planting churches in nearby communities, and sending missionaries to such places as Korea and Indonesia. But the accumulation of a few dollars sent-month after month for years-and a sermon preached or a class taught or a Bible study held or a prayer whispered-week after week for years-has resulted in something beautiful.

In Christ,

Chris McKinney

Chris taught on the principles of the Restoration Movement at the convention.

Chris with Conrad Garcia. Conrad was already a Christian when many in his family came to the Lord as a result of the new church Philippine Christian Mission established in Camp 7, Baguio City. Subsequently he established the MidCity Church under the sponsorship of PCM; Conrad continues serving there as pastor. Since then, the MidCity Church began supporting a Filipino missionary to Indonesia, and helped establish the Valley Country Church in La Trinidad and the San Carlos Heights Church of Christ in Baguio.

The New School Year

2007-09-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!
I hope this letter finds you well. I am very happy to be back at Wheaton College starting my Sophomore year. This semester I really like my classes; I'm taking Greek, New Testament, Fundamentals of Oral Communication, and Psychology. I'm double-majoring in Communications with a concentration in Theatre Arts and Bible/Theology.
As far as activities are concerned, I'm involved in college's dance ministry, called Zoe's Feet, and I love being a part of that. I'm also going to do soccer intramurals. I work at the college bookstore. If you're ever in the area, feel free to stop by and visit me! This year it seems that I am going to Chicago just about every weekend. The city has so much to offer. I've watched plays, soccer games, ballets, orchestras, been to festivals - it's great to have such a wonderful resource right at my fingertips!
This past summer I worked at a summer camp in Maryland. It was a wonderful experience, and God taught me a lot of patience.
What I miss most about the Philippines is my family, the food (the fruit in particular), and all the familiar sounds and smells. I miss being able to know how to do everything. Sometimes I get confused as to what the correct way to go about something is in America. I really enjoyed being an MK, and can see how that experience has given me a lot in life. The diversity of life and culture I faced growing up has helped me better understand the world and the different people in it.
I am very happy to say that I still keep in touch with several of my friends from Faith Academy, and have seen several of them many times already.
Thank you very much for your prayers and support! Please continue to pray for me as I handle the work load of being a student, and all that that entails. In Christ,
~Caitlan

Summer Update 2007

2007-08-21T21:08:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

We hope this email finds you all enjoying summer as you serve God there in the U.S.! For us, we have been encouraged in several ways this summer.

We had a team visit from Diamond Canyon Christian Church! The entire team was made up of leaders in the church: pastor, head of the missions committee, elder and his wife, adult Sunday school teacher, and worship leaders. The team included Jim and Deidra Price, Elizabeth Santiago, Mike and Nancy Tucker, and Onie and Erna Marasigan.

We did a lot of traveling while they were here, including being treated to a tour of Northern Luzon by Elizabeth's family who own a resort. We spent several days in Baguio (where we worked for 10 years). Here the team visited churches, preached, gave testimonies, met the students of Philippine College of Ministry, and encouraged some of the Filipino preachers and their wives.

Once back in Manila the team saw where we work now, both Alliance Graduate School where Chris helps train Christian leaders, and Faith Academy where I (Carole) am a counselor, as well as places we go, like our grocery store, local restaurants, our church, a local movie theatre, etc. This team was game for every challenge presented, whether bargaining in the open market, preaching in extreme heat, or venturing onto a weathered cable foot-bridge!

When they left Chris and I felt encouraged. To have some of the leaders of a church spend the time and money to visit us, see our work over the years, and share a part of our lives was heartening. As Chris said, we feel like "They saw what we do, and they got it!" Thank you Diamond Canyon Team!!

NEW SEMESTER STARTED!

The week the team left was also the first week of Philippine schools, so Chris jumped right into teaching again, which he loves. He continues to teach at Alliance Graduate School, and this semester he is also teaching a class at International Christian College of Manila, a Christian undergraduate school run by missionaries Ross and Cheryl Wissman.

I taught at a seminar on Peer Debriefing at a Wycliffe base, along with my counseling supervisor and another peer debriefer. Peer Debriefing is similar to crisis counseling. The seminar lasted 5 days, with 21 participants from Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, as well as missionaries from various countries who are working in the Philippines. I particularly enjoyed the challenge of applying the method cross-culturally.

FAMILY NEWS

Our daughter Callie (16 years old) returned from California last week. Her goals for the summer were to get her driver's license, get a job, and visit with family and friends. She stayed the bulk of the time with her grandma Lorrita (Chris' mom) and her brother Cormack. She achieved her goals, and the trip was good preparation for life in the US, when she leaves home for good the summer after next. Others also helped her, and we are grateful to those of you who hosted her, helped her get from place to place, and looked out for her. We know who you are! Thank you!

PRAYER REQUEST

We do have some concerns at this time. One of them is that the Philippine peso has been stregthening against the dollar. This is good for the people here. But for us it means that when we convert our dollars to pesos we are getting less and less each month, while prices go up. Previously we'd been considering trying to raise missions support to start a travel fund. But with the economy here changing so rapidly we have reached the point where the amount that comes in each month is not enough to cover the current monthly commitments, much less to set aside for airfare.

Our prayer request is that the letter we will send out shortly will be received with open hearts, and that God will provide what we need to catch up and continue on!

You all are blessings to us, and we thank you for your love, prayers, and financial support, without which we couldn't be missionaries here.

Serving with you,

Chris and Carole

October 2005 Video Greetings and Thank-You

2007-06-11T21:14:00.000-07:00

We recently gained the ability to post video...so here now, for your viewing pleasure, is a little something we sent out in October of 2005 to our ministry partners.

At last!

2007-03-17T05:20:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Chris asked me to write the update this month, since I have news to share.

Some of you know that since college I have wanted to be a counselor. I enjoy being an encouragement to others when they are going through difficult times, and before we came to the Philippines 20 years ago I earned an MA in Counseling from California State University, Fullerton. But we moved to the mission field before I could work toward a license.

Our first term we lived in a provincial place where they didn't even have a word that meant "counselor", nor could they fathom why anyone would go outside their large extended families for input when they had problems.

After that we moved to a rural city, and over the years I had opportunities to use my degree informally, and to teach occasional seminars on lay counseling in one of our churches. But what I didn't have, and have always wanted, was supervision, like I would have received if I had stayed in the California long enough to pursue a license.

Finally, when we had an extended furlough of 3 years in the States, I saw my chance to work toward a license. But after checking into how much time it would take, and knowing that I needed a job with a flexible schedule and limited weekly hours because I still had four kids at home, I worked as a substitute teacher. Besides, the main reason we were home for that time was so Chris could pursue his doctoral studies. Once again I buried my hopes of becoming a counselor.

This term we are living in Manila, a "modern" city, and our kids are attending Faith Academy, a large school for children of missionaries. Last year the head of the Marriage and Family Counseling Center there invited me to join the counseling team. It seemed almost unbelievable to me. We had several discussions about this. I told him I'm not licensed. He said my Master's degree is sufficient, but as a licensed counselor he would be willing to supervise me. After a few months of thought and prayer I joined the team.

I began in January, two days a week. This is not a paid position. Like most of the teachers and staff there, I'm working as a missionary. I enjoy it tremendously. Some days are hard, as I am aware of my limitations. I pray about each person who walks into my office.

I am thankful for God's timing. The truth is that I wanted to be a mom, first and foremost, when our kids were young. God allowed me to be. And this opportunity came at a time when I was seriously considering what kind of outside ministry I would like to focus on, now that our kids are older and we are living in Manila.
I love to see how God works in people's lives. Send me an email if you'd like to tell me what he has been doing in yours! Thank you to all of you for your unfailing support of our work here!

Serving with you,

Carole McKinney

Happy New Year from the McKinneys!

2007-01-21T20:20:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy New Year! We want to thank all of you who supported us through 2006 with your prayers, communication, and contributions. We were blessed to see many of you when we were in the U.S. in the summer, and treasure our memories of time spent with you. We were not able to visit all of you, which was frustrating, but our trip was short and we hope to see those of you we missed on our next trip, whenever that will be.

Several of you have asked how we are doing, now that both Cormack and Caitlan are living in the U.S., going to college. (Cormack is at Hope International University in California, and Caitlan is at Wheaton College in Illinois.) We are fine. Our family is smaller, and we miss them both, but we are so pleased with where they are, and the kinds of choices we see them making. We did not see them over the holidays this year, but they were with family, so they were okay, too. :)

Here is an update on what is happening as we start off 2007.

Chris is currently teaching Greco-Roman Religions and the New Testament at Asian Graduate School. I am learning much about this from his discussions at home, and am surprised at Paul's awareness of the influence of these religions on the culture of the people he preached to, as evidenced by the things he says in the New Testament.

Starting this month I (Carole) am part of the counseling team at the Family Counseling Center at Faith Academy, the school for missionary kids that our children attend. It is a volunteer position, as are all positions held by missionaries there. I will be there part-time.

January is a busy month for us. We need to get tax receipts out to all our supporters, prepare the annual mission financial report (all those peso/dollar conversions are daunting to me), complete our tax forms, and complete lengthy FAFSA applications for our two college kids. The taxes have to be done early because you send in copies of your tax forms with the FAFSA's.

Many of you have been following the amazing story of God's provision for the Philippine College of Ministry (PCM) library. It burned down in November, the fire presumedly started by a dehumidifier. God's been answering prayers in a great way by providing the funds needed for rebuilding, as well as to start buying books again! There has also been a huge response from people all over who are shipping used books. A big thank you to all of you who are helping rebuild the library in any way--with your donations, shipping books, prayers, etc. THANK YOU! (Construction will begin at the end of February.)

Serving with you,

Chris and Carole McKinney

Praise report: PCM Library

2006-12-17T20:34:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

We've received word from missionaries Steve and Lenae Hong (Steve is a professor at the Philippine College of Ministry) that their forwarding agent, Steve's mom, received a check this weekend from IDES (International Disaster Emergency Service) for $42,000 for restoration of the PCM library!!

This is enough for the entire restoration of the library! In addition to this they have received other funds that will allow for improvements over the original library. All this in only 15 days since the library fire. We praise God for this! We are enocuraged, and pass this on to you hoping that you will also be encouraged.

We still need books! Many of you have already started collecting books, and contacting possible sources for more books. Thank you! We never dreamed the response would be so great and so fast!

What blessed lives we lead, to have a saviour who cares for us and helps us in EVERYTHING, and to be part of such a loving and caring body of believers. You all continually bless us and encourage us, and we thank God for you. We are praying for you, that you will feel God's love in your hearts and homes this Christmas season.

Serving with you,

Chris and Carole McKinney

A Note about IDES:

IDES is a worthy organization that is devoted to helping Christian churches and missionaries in times of need. Since we have been missionaries here in the Philippines IDES has helped us on several occasions by sending money for disaster relief projects after typhoons, distribution of rice, etc. You can click on http://www2.blogger.com/www.ides.org to view their website.

Library fire: Before and After

2006-12-12T20:32:00.000-08:00

PCM Library Fire

2006-12-11T20:23:00.000-08:00

Last week the library on Philippine College of Ministry's new campus caught fire and all the books were burned. I feel heartsick. Over the past 14 years, I've taken great pleasure in channeling books into this library. Some of you have donated valuable books from your own libraries. I've solicited book donations from Bible colleges, bookstores, and publishers. When Dad died College Press donated many brand-new volumes, specially inscribed in his memory. On furloughs I've spent hundreds of dollars purchasing selected books at deep discounts at conventions and estate sales. Many of the books in the PCM library were classics long out of print. We had perhaps the finest collection of books on the Restoration Movement in the country. By last week, PCM had over 8,000 titles in her library.

Now, the PCM library consists of about 500 books, those donated or loaned by friends of the college or checked out before the flames struck or duplicates packed away for donating to other schools. People are gathering what they can to help the current students finish out the semester. I also happen to already have three large boxes of books in our forwarding agent's garage, ready to be shipped.

These pictures were sent to me by faculty and administration members at Philippine College of Ministry. Although the Fire Department has not yet ventured to say what may have caused the fire, a dehumidifier is suspected. The college did not have fire insurance, based on reports that insurance companies in the Philippines are very reluctant to pay out on such policies. I'm also attaching a plan disseminated by the administration to restore the library. The fire did not harm the structural integrity of the library building (which also houses the computer lab and classrooms), but the library ceiling and floor of the next story up will need to be replaced. It will cost an estimated $40,000 to restore the library building.

Can you help PCM rebuild her library, whether by sending books or money? It will likely take many months before our library again has the number and quality of books we had in November 2006. Please pray not only for a quick recovery from this loss, but also for the morale of the PCM community.

In Christ,

Chris McKinney

Send books to:

Philippine College of Ministry
Lamtang, Puguis
La Trinidad, Benguet
2601 Philippines

(Check out http://www.forexworld.us/kahon/ or
Universal Cargo (909) 606-8788 or (626) 482-1331

or to:

Philippine College of Ministry Library
c/o Karen Hong
2652 Altamira Dr.
West Covina, CA 91792
Tel. (626) 964-2098

Send checks designated "PCM Library" to:

Philippine Christian Mission
8159 Woodland Dr.
Buena Park, CA 90620
Tel. (714) 484-6675

News from HIU

2006-11-26T17:46:00.000-08:00

Just a little update on how I'm doing...

I enjoyed my Thanksgiving, which I spent with Aunt Cathy and Uncle Frank, their kids, and the Higgins' (including Grandma). And now there's only a few weeks until the semester is finally over! :)

But in the mean time, I have a 12-15 page research paper do for "Film and the Human Condition" (my Philosophy elective), a group project due for "Educational Psychology" (encompassing everything we learned in class but specifically concerning 8th grade - my group's topic), another paper (6-8 pages, for "Leadership Skills", concerning the Bible Study I started leading) along with a brief presentation about what I have learned through the experience, and another presentation (round-table) for "Advanced Communication", plus the research and Final Paper that will come with it. I'll have a few Finals to top it off. I've gotten started on some of these things, and it's not as much as it looks, but it is still a lot to think about.

I got a small headache (probably from sitting at my computer doing research for so long) that was replaced with a runny nose and sneezing, so (though I don't feel sick) I may be getting sick. If I do, it will be the first time I think in over a year - but it doesn't seem like it will last too long.

Overall, I have been enjoying college and the friends I have, and am looking forward to my sixth semester, in Spring. The classes I will be taking then are:
-Marriage and Family (with Alexander)
-Social Science Methods (a Psych requirement, with Grimes)
-Intro to Statistics (another Psych requirement, with Anderson [don't know him very well])
-History and Systems of Psychology (with Lawless, the new Psych teacher)
-Abnormal Psychology (with Alexander).

I've been working in the mailroom here at Hope (PCC) since last year. It's my favorite job I've had so far (which isn't saying much). I like the easy-going atmosphere (it's not stressful work); the fact that (though there is alot to do) it's fast-paced and doesn't require much working memory (like my old job at Sbarro's did sometimes), and (most of all) that I don't have to clean (which I must have developed a hatred for because of the many times I failed to do a satisfactory job of it growing up :).
I'll be flying over to Kentucky during Christmas break, where I will be staying with the Gibsons and Caitlan for a month.

I suppose that's all there is to say for now. Thank you, everyone who has prayed for me. God is good, and has blessed me in more ways than I can think of. If you wish to do so, you can pray that I will finish the semester with good health and focus, void of stress (and thank Him for his faithfulness and patience with me thus far). I hope to be able to get everything done that I need to - but I tend to lose that focus if I'm unable to spend time with people I love each day, so there usually needs to be time for both homework and friends (and sleep :).

-Cormack.

Caitlan's Fall Semester

2006-11-25T18:20:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!
I thought I'd give you a quick update on my life. This fall I started college at Wheaton College in Illinois. I absolutely love it here! I'm learning a lot in my classes, the community is great, and I'm having a ton of fun. My roommates/suitemates and I get along really well, and we hang out all the time. I'm majoring in Communications with a concentration in Theatre, and I'm minoring in Bible and Theology. Right now I'm involved in a dance ministry group on campus. I feel that I am having a good transition into life in the States.
This Thanksgiving I had the wonderful opportunity to hang out with some of my high school friends from Faith Academy in the Philippines. Six of us stayed at my friend's house in Minnesota. We had a great time of catching up and reminiscing. I love Wheaton, but it was great to see my Philippine friends that I've missed so much too.
I enjoy being so close to Chicago. Last week I saw a wonderful play in the city with my theatre class. Then, my suitemates and I rented a hotel room for my suitemate's birthday, and we spent two days in the city shopping and walking around and just enjoying a break from school.
I would like to thank all of you who have helped ease my transition by praying for me or sending me things. I really appreciate it.
In Christ,
~Caitlan McKinney

Our Typhoon Adventure

2006-10-08T21:50:00.000-07:00

On the Internet, I saw typhoon Milenyo (known as Xangsane internationally) approaching. The weather people were predicting it would weaken into a "tropical storm" as it neared Manila, but it was definitely heading toward Manila. On the morning of September 28, there was a little wind gusting, but not much rain. Shortly after breakfast, however, we lost power in our area. School was cancelled for the kids. Our family decided to leave our hot, humid, dark house and try to see a movie at the mall. We knew that the mall would have air-conditioning and projectors running off of generators.

I had to cross some open space outside the mall, and as I ducked under a banner snapping in the wind I thought I'd just run across quickly to avoid getting soaked. Bad idea. With both feet off the ground at once, the wind was actually moving me sideways. I slowed to a walk, one foot keeping me connected to the ground at all times. Hmm...the wind was stronger than I expected (and of course, I got soaked). By the time we emerged from the movie a few hours later, the wind had died down, but strong rains had arrived.

On the drive home, we saw trees that had blown over and power-lines hanging down to the ground. We had to detour on the way to our house to go around heavy flooding; as it was, we ended up driving carefully for half a mile through 18 inches of water. There was still no power at home; we lit candles, put fresh batteries in the flashlights, and tried not to move too much as we waited in the warm humidity for the power to come back on. No power--no internet, no cable, no electric fans, no way to charge our cell phones orPDA's. Finally I fell asleep near an open window, complete darkness outside.

The next day, more than 24 hours after we'd lost power, the electricity came on again. It was only then, as I checked the news, that I found out how bad Manila had been hit. It turns out typhoon Milenyo didn't drop down to a tropical storm as predicted when it approached Manila, but remained a powerful typhoon with wind gusts more than 90 m.p.h.--the worst to hit the Philippines for 20 years (according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council), and the strongest to make a direct hit on Manila in 11 years. More than 60 people were killed. Schools and businesses were closed for a second day. All across the city, roads were blocked by receding floods, fallen trees, downed power poles and power lines, and toppled billboards. Our power outage was not localized; the entire island of Luzon (where more than half of the country's population lives) had been knocked out. By that second night, still only about a third of us in Manila had power; 5 days later friends of ours in Manila still didn't have their power restored, and some were without water as well.

Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support. As we reflect on how much we have to be thankful for, we're reminded of how important you are to us.

In Christ,

Chris

Teaching my first class at AGS

2006-05-09T00:03:00.000-07:00

I'm excited right now to be teaching Greek 3 and 4 to a group of 16 men and one woman. Already experienced in ministry, they have sought advanced training in order to be most effective as they follow God's leading in their lives. My students come from countries in Asia and the Middle East. I've enjoyed listening to them share their visions for the future. Some are keeping themselves sharp for leading urban churches; some are preparing to teach in Bible colleges; some intend to work in community development; one plans to be a missionary, and another plans to translate the Bible into the language of his tribe in Myanmar--a language a large Bible translation mission has told him is spoken by too few people to be considered a priority.

Leonardo Lopez, or "Doods" as he likes be called, is preparing himself to teach at a church of Christ Bible college near Manila. It is important to him to earn a government-recognized degree, because the school he'll be teaching at is just achieving government recognition itself, and so they're looking for faculty members who are not simply well-qualified to teach, but who also have the credentials to satisfy government requirements. I'm proud to be Doods' professor this term.

As you know, for several years I've been preparing myself to help train just such Christian leaders. I'm in the process of upgrading my own academic credentials, and have taken time to become conversational in the Tagalog language. So you can imagine how thrilling it is to find myself already playing a role in training urban church leaders in a fully-accredited graduate school, complete with all the systems needed to support that training.

Our family is visiting the States for the months of June and July to touch bases with our ministry partners. At the same time we're sending another one of our children out of the nest--Caitlan starts at Wheaton College in August. If you'd like to meet with us this summer, please contact us right away; we want to see as many of you as we can, but our trip is so short. We'd also appreciate any special gifts to help defray our travelling costs (they're significant), and we are in need of a car or minivan to borrow while we're in southern California.

Please be praying for the developing partnership between the churches of Christ in Asia and Alliance Graduate School. Thanks for all your prayers which have brought us to where we are today!

In Christ,

Chris

Good News!

2006-03-12T23:17:00.000-08:00

As you know our current goal is to develop an accredited graduate level training program for Christian leaders. One of the obstacles to Philippine government accreditation we've been facing at Philippine College of Ministry (PCM) has been getting Filipino professors with government-recognized credentials. Leaders from several church of Christ Bible colleges in the Philippines have discussed this problem, and have considered establishing our own graduate school from the ground up. This process would take several years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, but we've been preparing for this as God provides.

Another way to acheive this goal is to form an alliance with an existing, accredited, graduate school, a school that would allow us to teach a track with classes geared toward the interests of Christian church leaders. But who would be open to such an alliance? We've been praying about both of these options for more than 4 years, asking God to provide direction, contacts, and means.

We are excited to announce that after much communication, prayer, and an interview by the administration, we have been able to form such an alliance with the Alliance Graduate School (AGS) in Manila! AGS is an evangelical graduate school. More than 25 years old, AGS has been affiliated primarily with the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination (under the name Asia Biblical Seminary), but has increasingly expanded its vision as a school in alliance with the wider family of evangelical churches and denominations. AGS is accredited by the Asia Theological Association and the Association of Theological Schools in South East Asia , is a partner institution of the Asia Graduate School of Theology, and is fully recognized by the Philippine government's Commission on Higher Education (CHED). For more information about AGS log on to: http://www.ags.edu.ph

This partnership will enable us to jump several steps ahead with our plans for training leaders, and getting our undergraduate Bible colleges accredited, without the immense costs of starting up a whole new school.

I begin teaching classes at AGS this month. In addition, I'll be recruiting students from Christian churches and churches of Christ, and raising funds for scholarships and professorships for our church leaders, as well as doing research for my own studies.

Thank you for praying about this back in November when we mentioned an encouraging meeting we had with the administration there.

More good news...

We have been granted Permanent Visas! Some people have asked us if this means we are Filipino citizens. It does not. It means that instead of continually applying and re-applying for limited-time visas to live and work here (similar to green cards for foreigners in the US) the Philippine government has granted us final approval once for all, based on our involvement in Philippine Christian Mission's work here over the past decades! It's been a long process, and only 50 are granted to Americans each year. Thank-you to all of you who provided funds and prayed for this.

Travelling to the United States

We plan to be in the U.S. in June and July to visit churches, supporters, family, and friends. We also plan to attend the North American Christian Convention, and the McKinney family reunion. We are hoping more frequent short trips like this will be effective substitutes for what we have done in the past, which was to come home for an entire one-year furlough after every third year.

Plane fare was put in the original mission budget, but not enough funds were raised for it. If God lays it on your heart to help with this or other travel expenses please let us know, we will welcome it. We will also appreciate it if anyone has a vehicle we could use during this 8 week period.

Family News

Our son Cormack was here with us this Christmas and New Year. We hadn't seen him since we left the States in 2004, and it was an absolutely wonderful time for our family. Chris and I felt that it warmed our hearts just to hear all the kids talking and laughing together! Cormack is finishing his second year at Hope International University. We are very happy to see the kind of man he is becoming, and some of the choices he is making.

Caitlan will be graduating from high school in May. When we come home to the U.S. this summer she will be with us, but when we return to the Philippines we will leave her there in the U.S. for college. We are proud of her and her many accomplishments, including maintaining a 4.0 weighted GPA, being chosen for the National Honor Society, and distinguishing herself in theatre.

Callie and Campbell continue to do well in school. Callie is a freshman in high school and played on the JV Basketball team this year. Campbell will be entering high school as a freshman this fall.

With the AGS alliance and the permanent visas we have some major developments to be thankful for! Thank you for your part in the work here. We pray for you, too, for God's blessings for each of you as you serve him there in the U.S.

In Christ,

Chris and Carole

A new partnership

2006-02-13T03:34:00.000-08:00

I am excited to announce that I am now Assistant Professor of New Testament at Alliance Graduate School (AGS - http://www.ags.edu.ph/). Thanks for praying about this back in November when we mentioned an encouraging meeting we had with the administration there. My first classes are teaching Greek 3 and Greek 4 starting in March. In addition to teaching and doing research for my own studies, at AGS I'll be recruiting students from Christian churches and churches of Christ, and raising funds for scholarships and professorships for our church leaders.

AGS is an evangelical graduate school. More than 25 years old, AGS has been affiliated primarily with the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination (under the name Asia Biblical Seminary), but has increasingly expanded its vision as a school in alliance with the wider family of evangelical churches and denominations. AGS is accredited by the Asia Theological Association and the Association of Theological Schools in South East Asia , is a partner institution of the Asia Graduate School of Theology, and is fully recognized by the Philippine government's Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

As you may recall, one of the obstacles to Philippine government recognition we've been facing at Philippine College of Ministry has been getting Filipino professors with government-recognized credentials. Leaders from several church of Christ Bible colleges in the Philippines have discussed this problem, and have considered establishing our own graduate school from the ground up. Because of AGS's nonsectarian ministry philosophy, this partnership brings our goal of accredited Bible colleges closer to reality without the immense costs of starting up a whole new school.

Thanks again for praying about this decision since last November when we wrote about what could happen. We see God's hand in this.

In Christ,

Chris

Picture This!

2005-11-30T03:38:00.000-08:00

If you were Gina Pulido, one of Philippine College of Ministry's eight full-time students in 1992, your school would consist of one large rented room three floors up from the street. You would walk on uneven, unsealed concrete. You would be able to see the wood framing in the walls, which just had sheets of metal nailed on to keep out the wind and rain. There was no glass in the windows, just hinged panels of wood and sheet metal. A chicken-wire enclosure in one corner contained the library, mostly taken from the personal collections of the missionaries. For class, you'd sit around a ping-pong table. Living "on campus" meant sharing a room with other students one floor down in the apartment of one of the faculty members.

How much nicer to be Arvin Villanueva, one of the 24 students in 1995. PCM's campus was an entire rented building that had once been a cozy hotel. There was a small chapel, another large classroom that doubled as a dining hall, an apartment for one of the faculty members, and a couple of offices. One of the old hotel rooms now served as the library, and there was room for one or two small tables amidst the bookshelves at which you could study. For writing papers, there were several manual typewriters stored in a closet. As a young man, you'd sleep in the long attic with all the rest of the male students; one part of the attic had even been converted into a bathroom for you all to share. You'd be taking cold showers. At mealtimes, you would scrounge something together with a few of your friends and cook in the kitchen two floors down. For recreation, in addition to the ping-pong table under the deck, there was a basketball hoop mounted out front in the driveway.

This month we were blessed to take part in the dedication ceremonies for the brand-new campus of Philippine College of Ministry (http://www.pcm.ph/) in Baguio City. We were on the team of church planters that founded the college in 1992. Currently I serve on the school's Board of Trustees. The three new buildings on almost two acres of land are the result of a lot of giving, planning, and working.

Now, what if you were Karol Dondo, one of the 48 students who currently attend PCM? You'd be sharing a dorm room with five other men (although there are empty dorm rooms waiting for more students to come), and have a bathroom just for you and your roommates. It's probably the first time in your life you're taking hot showers every day. At meal times, you might join the other students in the dining hall, or perhaps you and a friend will take the meal prepared for you by the kitchen staff out to one of the balconies. During chapel services, you may find yourself distracted by the panoramic view across a mountain valley. The library is spacious, there is plenty of space for you to study with your friends, and the full-time librarian is always ready to help. Just off the library is a computer lab where you write your papers. There are several classrooms, a conference room, and separate offices for the President, each of the Deans, the faculty, and a business office. That ping-pong table's still around, but now you can play full-court basketball if you prefer.

So--thank you for your part in this legacy to future generations of Christians in northern Luzon. Whether you made a special contribution for the campus development, or helped support the college or our family, or have prayed for us, we've all worked together to help make this special day possible.

In Christ,

Chris

P.S. Remember that encouraging encounter I talked about with the administrators of a graduate seminary in Manila? Well, the President, Academic Dean, and Director of Administration and Finance of that school made the 6-hour trip to Baguio for PCM's campus dedication, another expression of their desire to partner with the churches of Christ here. Please be praying for me as attend a "lunch fellowship interview" with their faculty on Friday (that's Thursday night at 8:15 p.m. for those of you on the west coast).

An encouraging encounter

2005-11-01T03:48:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share with you about a meeting I had this month. I've been meeting with people to see what kind of networking opportunities there may be for training church of Christ leaders here. Recently I met with the Academic Dean of one of the Philippines most respected evangelical seminaries--one fully recognized by the Philippine government. The Dean was extremely enthusiastic about working with us. She was willing to arrange to accept coursework from our existing (unrecognized) graduate program, hoping I'd be able to teach at the seminary, willing to allow us to add church growth classes, willing to allow us to require our scholarship students to take a course in principles of the Restoration Movement, willing to provide office space, and more. Everything I brought up for discussion was met with an affirming, understanding, positive response. After the meeting, the Dean introduced me to several faculty members in the hall. "This is the person I was telling you about from the churches of Christ," she said, and they all warmly greeted me.

I still have to check out one more interdenominational seminary, in fairness to some of our leaders enrolled there, but it is hard to imagine a more receptive response from anyone. We've all been praying that God will help us to connect with those Christian educators here who are like-minded and would be willing to work with us, and we believe he is answering those prayers. Thank-you for praying!

In Christ,

Chris

Tagalog update and family news

2005-09-25T04:49:00.000-07:00

Last month Chris shared with you his experience leading our cell group, Tagalog! This month two of our cell group members, Maki and Nilda, told their stories (testimonies), using the guidelines Chris gave in his lesson. Maki is a relatively new Christian, and she cried as she told her story (and so did some of us). Nilda's story made us all laugh, although she also got
teary-eyed at one point. Chris understood what they were saying, and felt like he was right there with them. I was not able to understand everything, but was encouraged that I understood alot. (I took notes on specific words I didn't know, which the cell-group members helped me with later.)

On the way home Chris and I both noted how several of the things that were shared were things we only just recently learned in our Tagalog classes.

Tagalog Update

I (Carole) took a test covering all of Book 1, to see what areas I need to work on. In one section I was to translate into Tagalog sentences such as:

We have a car.
They don't have any children.
Do you have any of this?
Don't we have any coffee? Etc.

These are simple sentences, but I couldn't remember the word for "have" in Tagalog, so I left that one section blank. Later I was reminded that's because there is no word for "have" in Tagalog! (In Tagalog we say "There is...", and the category of noun or pronoun we use determines whether or not we OWN what we are talking about.)

Family News

The kids are back in school. Their bus arrives at 6:30am each morning! This is Caitlan's senior year. At this point she still has a 4.0+ GPA, and is in the process of applying at colleges. She is in a singing group called Envoys and is on the chapel worship team at school. Callie started her freshman year of high school. She is enjoying going to some of the high-school activities, but this semester she seems to have the heaviest class load of all three kids. Campbell is in 8th grade, and is playing on a volleyball intramural team. We are blessed to have a school like Faith Academy here in the Philippines, with missionary teachers who are serving God by teaching our children. Will you pray with us for Caitlan as she is applying at colleges, and making choices that will effect her future? There is one particular college where she hopes to be accepted. It's a bit competitive to get into. We are having a hard time finding others that seem as good a fit. We need God's help for this, as even with all our research only He knows what will be best
for Caitlan. Thank-you all for your love and support. As I think of each of you, what
goes through my mind is, I MISS YOU.

Love in Christ,

Carole

I taught in Tagalog!

2005-08-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

This month I lead a cell group meeting--in Tagalog! [Our cell group leader asked me to lead our cell group meeting in his absence.] It was on the power of each Christian's personal story (sometimes called a "testimony") and some guidelines for preparing one's story. I've done this before in the States, so I was able to concentrate on expressing myself in Tagalog. After I did what I could, I went through my translation with a language helper, who suggested some different ways of saying things.

The night of our cell group, I gave my talk in Tagalog. I was able to make myself understood, even at the times when I ventured beyond the core text I'd prepared in advance. The others in our cell group were very encouraging. They appreciated my use of Tagalog, and they had suggestions for how I could do even better next time. We decided we would all take turns sharing our testimonies within our group. This Thursday, Maki will be the first to share her personal story. She was very excited to be able to do this, because although she's a relatively new Christian, she's already been sharing what God has done in her life with a non-Christian friend.

Maki doesn't speak English. :)

Love,

Chris

Philippine Visas

2005-07-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

Did you know that we are "guests" in the Philippines? That is, despite how long we've lived here, or how many of our children were born here, we are still considered visitors by the Philippine government, and pay a fee each month (for visas) for the privelage of living and working here. Our partner churches in the States have been working to help us achieve permanent residence status, so our church leaders already know our situation, but we thought we'd update everyone in this newsletter.

Our family entered the Philippines last July under temporary Tourist visas, which can be extended for up to one year. Recently the Philippine government has been making policy changes that affect missionaries. One proposed change would be to not renew visas for missionaries living here longer than 5 years unless they have Permanent Resident visas. The downside to Permanent Resident visas, from our perspective, is the cost (initially $8,000 for our family) and the fact that the government only issues 50 such visas per year.

As these policy changes became known to us, we acted in late April by informing our partner churches of the situation. We thought that if our partners could raise the $8,000, it would be wise for us to apply for the Permanent Resident visas, which makes our ability to stay and work here more secure. Well, our church partners acted swiftly and decisively, and we were able to complete our applications last month (passing tests along the way to assure the Phiippine government that we are psychologically sound, without criminal records, and free of HIV and TB.).

I'm sorry to have to say that we have just been informed that we will NOT be getting Permanent Resident visas at this time; the quota for 2005 has already been met. However, I'm glad to add that we ARE slated to receive these visas in 2006, and because our applications were accepted our Tourist visas will continue to cover us beyond the one-year deadline.

It's a real relief to have our application complete. If you've dealt with government bureaucracies before then you know this process was far from mild. We took the medical tests we were told to, then were told we didn't get the right kind. We submitted the application packet we were given, then were told that another packet must also be completed. We took the kids out of school for trips deep into the traffic-congested areas of downtown Manila (the old Walled City), getting to offices just as everyone there left for lunch. We paid half of the $8,000, but then found that extra fees will make the total closer to $9,500. It sometimes seemed to us that the rules were being created as we went along! However, now that that is all behind us, I am basking in the knowledge that we won't have to go through the less-rigorous but still-far-from-fun yearly renewal process we've gone through in the past.

We have submitted a large part of the funds needed to process our applications, but a large part will not be payable until our visa applications receive final approval. Currently our churches have sent $7,000 toward this. $2,500 more will be needed by November.

We'll continue to be just a little nervous until the new visas are actually stamped in our passports. There's a lot of political instability here, and some talk about regime change. Those kinds of changes sometimes lead to new government appointments in the Immigration department, and that can lead to new rules.... Please pray that we'll get our new visas stamped into our passports in January as planned, and pray that no new fees will spring up in the meantime. And finally, thank-you to our partner churches who helped us get this far!
In Christ,

Chris

Fe

2005-05-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

This is Carole writing.

People often ask me what I do in the Philippines. Much of what I do here is the same as what I do in the States. I go to language school two days a week. (Okay, that's not the same.) I buy groceries, pay bills, communicate with supporters, make sure the kids get to and from their activities, etc. I attend a cell group from our church (similar to a Bible study) about every other Thursday night, with Chris.

And, as in the States, I want desperately to share Christ with our neighbors.

One of our neighbors is Fe. She lives across the street from us, with her husband and a college-age son. Two of her adult daughters, one with a family, live next door to us. She also has a grandson living with her--I think. I still haven't sorted out who all lives where, as there is so much coming and going between the two houses!

Fe is friends with almost all the ladies in the neighborhood. Often I'll see her in a group of women chatting in front of someone's house, and a couple of times a week there will be ladies at her house, playing cards outside on the front patio. I can hear their laughter across the street.
Fe and I talk frequently in the street. We have a clear view of each other's homes, so it is easy to greet each other and chat as I am coming and going. One time she went jogging with me. Actually, she called it jogging, but we walked the whole time. While "jogging" we stopped at at least five different homes so she could introduce me to neighbors. :) And each time she would tell them "We're jogging!", and sometimes invite them to join us. It wasn't the aerobic workout I was hoping for, but this was better!

I've been praying for Fe and her family since we got here. She was raised Catholic and attends mass frequently. Someone gave her a Bible once, but she told me it is hard to understand the Bible. I've told her how much I enjoy reading the Bible, and am open with her about what God is doing in my life. I've been asking God to open doors of communication between us, and He is.
She has been trying to teach me how to play a particular card game that she and her friends play together often. I've been over a few times, but haven't played yet because I'm still watching and learning. The game doesn't thrill me, but becoming better friends with Fe and the neighbor ladies does.

Last month she came over and I taught her how to make a cake. She has been over a couple of times since then, and seems comfortable in our home. She's also accompanied me to the grocery store, or to pick up kids. Now she wants me to teach her how to make the chocolate chip cookies I sent over at Christmas.

What I really want to do is study the Bible with Fe, but there is a snafu to that plan--I don't speak Tagalog well enough yet. Fe speaks limited English, is trying to help me learn Tagalog, and likes me to try to speak to her only in Tagalog. This is impossible at this point, but I use what I know. She gets frustrated with me at times because she thinks I should be fluent by now. Actually, after we'd been going to Tagalog classes only a couple of months she asked me, "Do you know it, now?" !!!

How could I explain to her that it took me that long just to be able to listen to a Tagalog sentence and distinguish individual words from one long, unintelligible (to me) string of sounds?!
So many things are misunderstood, and (hopefully) forgiven when developing a freindship with someone from another culture. When someone says or does something, it doesn't always mean what you think it means. With the cultural differences, and the language barrier, I thank God that this friendship is developing. Sometimes I wonder how long it will be before I can lead a Bible study in Tagalog. I'm guessing two years.

So please pray for Fe, and for our friendship, that I will represent Christ well to her, and for Chris and I as we continue to develop relationships here in the Philippines. And remember, we pray for you, too, so feel free to share your requests. You are blessings in our lives!

Love in Christ,

Carole

Networking

2005-03-31T18:18:00.000-08:00

We hope you are enjoying the arrival of spring, particularly being able to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus this past week! Easter here in the Philippines is an important holiday, beginning when many stores and businesses close at half-day on Thursday, and continuing until Sunday. It is also noticeably void of bunnies, special candy, and colored eggs.

This month I attended a forum about "Doing Theology in the Philippine Context" (sponsored by the Asian Theological Seminary and hosted by the Victory Leadership Institute). It focused on how theology should properly be shaped by the concerns of Filipinos, and how best to communicate the Bible's message to Filipinos. For me it was also a great chance to meet different people who share our interest in advanced training for urban church leaders.

I was able to talk with the Presidents and Academic Deans of the two interdenominational seminaries in Manila that we could potentially end up partnering with to establish a program for church of Christ leaders here. I was glad that both schools expressed interest in working with us. I left with invitations to talk more about this, if that's what our church leaders determine to be the best direction for us to move in.

Professors from two church of Christ seminaries were in attendance, and I was able to visit with them over dinner one evening to get to know them better and to discuss our common interests. We talked about the importance of our Bible college faculties getting government-recognized graduate degrees for themselves, and I asked for their participation in putting together a program to provide advanced training.

Some of the forum participants were church of Christ leaders who are currently enrolled in graduate training at denominational or interdenominational seminaries. I managed to have dinner with them also.

They may be our best source of information regarding what kinds of leaders feel the need for such training, what issues are perceived to be important in deciding what kind of training to get, and how their training is perceived back in their churches.

Finally, there were a couple of ministers from urban churches of Christ at the forum. They feel the need to keep learning, to keep improving their ability to bring their people into the presence of the living God. I enjoyed meeting with these men, listening to them as they described their passions and vision, and discussing how we might be able to work together.

You have been very supportive of us as we have been preparing for this new ministry, so I am pleased to be able to say that every indication points to this really being warmly and actively welcomed in Asia. Please pray that this is so, and that as Asia's cities grow, God's kingdom here grows even more.

In Christ,

Chris

Tagalog saved the day!

2005-01-31T18:20:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! It is our prayer that this year God will bless each of you in unexpected ways as you serve Him. Each of you are blessings in our lives, and we are thankful to be partners with you in ministry.

I need your help

When you receive this e-mail, PLEASE CLICK ON "REPLY" AND SHOOT A QUICK ONE BACK TO US SAYING WHO YOU ARE! Many of you who've signed on have the best e-mail addresses, but unfortunately Yahoo doesn't give us your real names unless you tell them to. With so many addresses like Bigpizzayo@verizon.net, or JohnII@guesswhoiam.com, I'm not entirely sure who is and who is not receiving our e-mails.

Carole's story

I have to tell you a story. A few Sundays ago Chris was sick so I drove with the kids to church. I missed my turn, and didn't know how to get back in the right direction. Then I saw two policemen, so I drove to where they were to ask them for help. Instead, one of them looked angry, and wanted to give me a ticket for "swerving". (In the Philippines "swerving" is actually changing lanes, even if you use a turn signal, which I did, but perhaps in a place where they don't want you to change lanes. I didn't see a sign prohibiting it.)

I explained that the reason I swerved was to ask for their help. The one policeman was unmoved, asked to see my license, and repeated how I needed a consequence. I said (nicely) that I understand if he must give me a ticket, but I don't think it is fair, since I only came to them for help. This exchange went on for several minutes.

He was still planning to give me a ticket, but at least he started to give me directions. I tried to clarify in Tagalog, saying "Kanan, tapos kanan..." (Turn right, then right...) and the policeman was surprised, and asked if I knew how to speak Tagalog. I said, "Sorry po, dahan-dahan lang. Nagaaral pa po ako ng Tagalog." (I only learned how to say that a few days earlier! It means, "Sorry sir, speak slower. I am only learning Tagalog.) The policeman's attitude changed and he smiled, gave me directions, and sent me on my way with no ticket! Tagalog saved the day!

Update on Tagalog

Since we wrote last month we have had a new development in our Tagalog lessons. Before, Chris and I were attending class together and had the same instructors. However last month we decided it was time to go with separate instructors. This was really my request. Chris was pleased that we were learning together, but it was becoming incresingly difficult for me to keep up. He seems to process the language faster than I do.

Since we made the decision to go with separte instructors Chris has zoomed ahead into the second book, while I am only about 3/4 of the way through the first book, yet I feel I have a better grasp on what I'm learning now, so I think the decision was a good one!

Some things to pray about this month...

That Chris will learn MUCH in the limited time he has alotted for full time language learning.
That I will continue to progress well with Tagalog, even though my pace is slower.
That Chris will finish the latest term paper required by Claremont Graduate University. (You may remember that he is an ongoing student until he meets all requirements to graduate, which may take a few more years.)

We pray for you, too!

We pray for you, too, and are happy to have specifics to pray for. So feel free to write us anytime with your concerns and prayer requests. We love you, and thank God for you!

In Christ,

Carole

An Awkward Question

2004-12-12T18:26:00.000-08:00

Carole insisted I share a short story this month from my language learning adventures. She finds it very amusing, as do her friends.

I was working my way through the traffic and crowds of a busy Manila street, along with Romy, one of my Tagalog instructors. As part of our language training, we need to interact in Tagalog with Filipinos. We had been working on appropriate ways of introducing ourselves and getting to know new acquaintances. I was also practicing shopping, asking questions about merchandise and bargaining for purchases.

In the Philippines, when meeting someone for the first time, it is appropriate to show a warm expression of interest by asking questions such as "Are you married" and "How old are you." Go figure!

I approached a man of about my own age who was selling vegetables from a sidewalk stall. "Magandang umaga po! Puede po ba'ng makaabala?" (Good morning! Could I bother you?") Jun (the vegetable dealer) was willing to be bothered, and so I introduced myself and Romy, and asked some personal questions. This is where I got into trouble.

"May asawa ka na ba?" I asked--"Do you have a wife?" "Oo," he answered--"Yes." Jun and Romy briefly exchanged words, and I thought I caught the word "anak" in there somewhere--the word for child. Following up on this, I asked "Ilan?" ("How many?"). Romy and June started laughing, and I discovered that in the context of the conversation I was asking how many wives Jun had!

Eventually we got back on track, and after getting to know each other for a few minutes, we discussed the vegetables Jun had for sale and I purchased some hot chili peppers. Romy and I continued on down the busy street, looking for more chances to strike up conversations.
Culture stress goes along with language learning. In my encounter with Jun, I reacted to what I thought I heard, without really understanding all that was said--and I must have heard wrong. The temptation is always there to ignore the Tagalog and rely on English. But by taking risks and resisting that temptation, we are able go beyond just buying vegetables, and build stronger relationships. Please pray for us as we do this.

Thank you for your prayers and support. We will be praying for each of you this month, that you will feel God's peace and joy this Christmas.

Love in Christ,

Chris

Language School

2004-11-08T18:28:00.000-08:00

I thought I would relate to you how language school is going for us. Carole and I are learning Tagalog (also known as Filipino). The Philippines is considered the third-largest English-speaking country in the world[1] and most Filipino education is conducted in English[2]. For these reasons, many missionaries never learn a Filipino language. However, we believe it is important to be able to communicate with the people with whom we work in the language of their heart.

Initially we went through a "Total Physical Response" phase. Our instructors didn't speak English to us, only Tagalog. They taught us by pointing to objects or pictures of things/people, or by acting out scenarios, then having us mimic their actions. At that stage they didn't really want us trying to think of what to say, preferring we listen, pick up on features of the language, get an ear for the sounds, etc. I was surprised at how effective that was.

Our daily learning cycle now involves learning a short script that is appropriate to a given situation, practicing what we learn, using what we practice, and evaluating what we used. We listen to tapes before class each day, and during class we are drilled in our script (building fluency, accuracy, and vocabulary). Our program is designed not only to help us reach a certain level of proficiency (measured against the Interagency Language Roundtable language proficiency scale[3]), but also to help us establish relationships with Filipinos and to continue learning Tagalog even when we "graduate" from language school.

At our language school our instructors understand that our real goal is to communicate, not just to woodenly translate from English to Taglog or back. For example, instead of just teaching us how to say "Good morning" in Tagalog ("Magandang umaga"), they teach us how Tagalog speakers greet each other. Saying "good morning" is considered formal and stand-offish; for a warmer greeting, we are learning to express a personal interest in the other person by saying something like "Where are you coming from?" ("Saan kayo galing?"). Where our warm American greeting seems stand-offish to a Filipino, their warm way of getting to know a stranger can seem too personal to an American ("Are you married?" or "How old are you?"). Often in class the instructors will step back from the actual language, and focus on broader cultural differences.

Please pray for Carole and I as we try to master Tagalog over the next few months. We will be resisting the desire to spend time doing "more important" things. Our mission depends upon building relationships with people who use Tagalog among their close friends and family. We will be tempted to get an earlier start in ministry with those Filipinos who have mastered the appropriate level of English. Sometimes we might feel guilty for not being able to report that we are already teaching. But we believe that learning Tagalog is crucial to the success of our mission. Thank you for praying!

In Christ,

Chris

P.S. Some of you might be thinking, "I thought they already learned the language! Why start now, after 18 years on the field?" Just to clarify--Filipinos speak over 70 different languages. I learned Ilocano, the language of northern Luzon, early in our ministry. Now that we are broadening the scope of our ministry and have moved to Manila, we want to learn the "national" language.

[1] http://www.philippine-embassy.de/philfacts.htm
[2] http://www.ncca.gov.ph/culture&arts/cularts/others/language/language-policies.htm
[3] http://www.govtilr.org/ILRscale2.htm

Rejoice With Us!

2004-09-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm feeling so blessed by God that I had to share with you what's been happening with us, on a personal level.

A transition to the mission field can be quite costly, especially when the missionary is first setting out or, as was the case with us this summer, has been in the States for more than just a short furlough. We had to prepare for legal documents, setting up a home in a new country, and airfare, just to get started. There are steep duties and taxes on shipping many things overseas, and other reasons not to just move one's whole household altogether (such as the fact that the electricity in Manila is 220v). A Filipino landlord expects at least three months' rent up-front. The children's school is a private school that follows an American program of instruction and requires a large downpayment on tuition. We would want to purchase a used vehicle. Checks in US dollars take more than 30 days to clear in the Philippines, so it's wise to have a month's worth of salary and ministry expenses to put on deposit in addition to what is needed right away.

We usually get hurt financially in several ways at the same time. Many things we need just aren't worth what it costs to ship them--so we sell them through the Pennysaver or at a moving sale, then replace them in the Philippines, typically losing money in the process. We paid off the $8,000 balance on the loan for our family minivan, but were only able to sell it for $5,000 (we bought a low-mileage van and sold it three years later as a high-mileage van). As a special "bonus" for our family this time, our oldest son, Cormack, was left behind at college with grants, a student loan, work-study--and a parent's contribution.

When Carole first put this all on paper to come up with a figure for the amount we needed to raise to move she found we needed almost $20,000 above and beyond what people and churches had already committed each month to our work and our family. That probably sounds like an awful lot of money to some of you; it sure does to me. All we could do was to share our vision--and the cost--with our partners and with churches and people that might be interested in helping, and to pray. That's all we could do. I was amazed, and humbled, to see God start providing what was needed through his people.

It really is humbling when God's people step up and share a burden like this. I know myself quite well, enough to know I don't "deserve" this kind of trust. I make mistakes; I get grouchy; sometimes I fail. I have to remind myself that it's not about me; God has given me a role in a ministry, and God works in other people to handle other roles and other ministries. I realize that many if not most of our financial partners aren't giving to the McKinneys as much as they are giving to God.

While I was amazed at what God was doing, I was unsettled when I realized that we had underestimated what our costs would be. On the one hand we are here! We are learning the new language, our kids are in school, and we have a functioning home. On the other hand we are in Manila owning just one air-conditioner, without a vehicle, without dollars clearing in the bank, without having paid off the airplane tickets, and still needing more than $700 a month in monthly support.

All of you have given so much to get us here that we didn't want to tell you of any more needs. Yet many of you want to know about them, to pray. So we decided to let you know of our needs, but Carole was praying that our letter would also be positive, that you who have given and prayed would be blessed to know that we are doing fine. I wrote a draft of that letter last night, intending to send it off this afternoon when we came home from language school.

But when I went to the computer, an e-mail from our forwarding agent (my mom) was waiting for us saying an additional amount came in today, enough to pay for a used vehicle and the balance of our airfare! Amazing! (How's that for "positive"?) Praise God!

We thank God, and we thank you, for making it possible for us to work here. As I'm sitting here I'm thinking of all of you who help us regularly, year after year; all of you who helped us with our moving costs; all of you who pray for us, in some cases every day; all of you who e-mail us and encourage us; all of you who love us and are our friends. I wish I could give you a hug.

Love,

Chris

Plugging Away

2003-12-04T18:31:00.000-08:00

I want to say "thanks" to those of you who considered the options I outlined in recent letters and wrote to me or spoke to me regarding your thoughts.

There's not much that's really newsworthy happening with us these days; I continue to go to class, do research, and write. This semester my courses include one on various apocryphal Acts of the Apostles (giving insight into early Christian literature and some early Christian issues), one on the Bible and marginalized peoples (giving insight into how people define, understand, and use Scripture), and one where we read in different kinds of Greek (we've read Homer, some of Plato's philosophical stuff, and now we're reading from Lucian).

You might be interested to know of a small group I meet with weekly. We're three friends: DiMarkco and I in the New Testament department and Brent in the Early Christianity department at CGU. All of us are conservative Christians; it's that common experience that has drawn us together, plus our fascination with Christian origins. We meet to help one another progress through our programs at CGU. We discuss strategies to keep our academic expenses manageable. We read what each other has written during the past week and we edit each others papers. We talk about ways we rationalize procrastination or how we overcome writers block. Brent has tutored DiMarkco and I in Latin. We discuss how to balance our faith with what we hear in class. We pray for each other and for our families and for other students.

I'm thankful for friends, for my family, and for so many of you who support us financially, emotionally, and spiritually.

In Christ,

Chris

Option: Supplement What Is Available Elsewhere

2003-11-07T18:37:00.000-08:00

Last month, I discussed the option of establishing a program for urban Christian church leaders at an existing accredited Bible seminary. This month, I want to present another option: establishing an independent graduate institute that supports our church leaders working on Masters degrees in more than one seminary.

Under this scenario, our people would have more freedom in choosing at which seminary they wished to pursue a degree. Our institute would supplement what existing schools offer, with courses that are valued by the churches they will be serving: Restoration Movement principles, Biblical Theology, Church Growth, Critical Thinking, etc.

We would also support our leaders in other ways. We could provide scholarships to students who are ineligible for their seminary's institutional scholarships because of their lack of denominational affiliation. We could provide a computer lab that they could use when writing papers. We could provide personalized academic advising. We could help students from other Asian countries with housing and government paperwork. Even for church leaders who are not going to school, we could provide provocative lectures and seminars. We could host a specialized library (I've already shipped more than a thousand good books to Manila for this purpose, and have hundreds more in my garage waiting to go).

In addition to teaching, this option would require me to work with the administration at several seminaries, negotiating articulation agreements that would make sure our courses would be accepted for credit in their accredited degree programs. I would also recruit visiting professors, raise funds for scholarships, and make sure to remain relevant to the urban leadership needs of Asian cities.

I received several helpful comments and suggestions after I outlined the first option, and I am looking forward to hearing more now. Thanks also for your notes of encouragement.

In Christ,

Chris

Option: Parter With an Existing Institution

2003-10-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

The last time I wrote, I had just learned that my partner had decided to accept a position with another mission agency and would not be available to launch a graduate school for leaders from the churches of Christ in Asia as had been planned. You may recall that I took the news hard. Thanks to all of you who spoke words of encouragement.

I've had some time now to process things, and to do further thinking on various approaches I can take in pursuit of our vision of creating a graduate program for urban Christian church leaders in Asia. In this letter I'd like to share one of the possible ways we could go. When we first return to the Philippines next summer, I'll spend time learning Tagalog and meeting many of the Filipino church leaders in the Manila area; then, with the input of those leaders, we'll make our decision as to which route to take.

One thing we could do is to establish a program for urban Christian church leaders at an existing accredited Bible seminary. This is actually one of the first ideas we considered several years ago when we began thinking about the need for new ways of preparing our leaders. At that time, unfortunately, the seminaries we checked out were not very encouraging. Most of them were committed to serving the needs of specific theological traditions or denominations, to the exclusion of working closely with other groups.

Recently, however, I noticed a different tone on the web page of one of the seminaries, and I wrote to their Academic Dean. This time I received a very encouraging response. We have discussed the possibility of them adding a few courses for our church leaders (to address our distinctive history, philosophy, and biblical theology), and for me to teach courses and help with library resources and scholarship needs for the new students we could bring to the school. At this point leaders from the seminary are getting to know some of the leaders from the churches of Christ in the area.

One potential disadvantage that I can think of is that the churches of Christ in the Manila area may have problems with the institution in question. I'll have to see how willing they would be to work together.

On the other hand, going this route would give us a real jump-start: we'd walk into a situation with a nearly full faculty and physical campus and full government accreditation. In addition to teaching, my job would include recruiting other Christian church professors (full-time or for short-term block course assignments), recruiting students from Christian churches in the area, and raising funds.

This is only one of the alternatives I'll be sharing with you, and as you might imagine, there is still a lot to think about before this plan could become a reality. Please keep us in your prayers as we explore our options.

In Christ,

Chris

An Unexpected Snag

2003-06-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

Just recently Glen and Wendy Gibson have made the decision for Glen to take a position with Team Expansion in Kentucky. You may recall that Glen was a key member of the team that has been making plans for the Manila School of Graduate Studies (MSGS); he was the only other person involved who was committed to the project full-time.

I did not consider this good news. Certainly MSGS will develop along a different path than I had been envisioning. Glen had some significant talents to contribute to the project and significant credentials. We will have to re-think some important scenarios in this new light.

Nevertheless, I accept Glen and Wendy's decision. From the wider perspective of God's kingdom, Glen believes that for now serving as Team Expansion's Training and Events Coordinator is a better match for him than working to develop Asian leadership through MSGS. We have experienced the departure of dear missionary teammates a number of times over the past 17 years, and our own move away from Baguio represents a similar loss to the Philippine College of Ministry and the church planting teams there. We respect the freedom of our colleagues to follow God's leading as they experience it in their lives, and to make decisions based on an assortment of legitimate factors.

I can tell you that Carole and I remain committed to helping raise the Christian leadership of the churches of Christ in Asia (and in the Philippines in particular) to the next level. The pressures the churches there face from growing urbanization and globalization are increasing. Something needs to be done sooner rather than later, and by more people rather than fewer. We are confident that God is addressing these issues, and we are contented to be part of God's team. Our firm plan remains to return to the Philippines next summer.

I would ask for your special prayers for our family. I am feeling a little low over this. I will need to raise more funds during this next year. It is even more important for us to find others to partner with in Manila. In some respects I will have to go back to square one in charting our tactics. We are open to encouragement and ideas. Thanks for caring.

In Christ,

Chris

I'll Be Your First Student!

2003-05-11T19:41:00.000-07:00

Glen Gibson is the missionary with whom I've been working to make the Manila School of Graduate Studies (MSGS) a reality. For the past year he and his family have been in Manila, making preparations there for the school. In April Glen made a short visit to the States, and we took the opportunity to hold a meeting and invite all the Southern Californian educators, church leaders, and missionaries who have been part of a group keeping up on developments and discussing things with us through e-mail.

At that meeting Glen presented the results of a survey he conducted among Bible college graduates in the Philippines. He reported that when he has explained our vision, over and over again people have told him, "I'll be your first student!" The excitement has spread from Bible college graduates to people active in churches or other support organizations but who hold other jobs. They see this as an opportunity for formal training for church leadership. One thing they seem to be looking forward to the most are programs designed around their schedules as full-time preachers and unpaid church leaders.

I'm even more excited about starting MSGS than those enthusiastic people, if that's possible. This week I finish my second year of Ph.D. coursework, and I have only one year to go. Next summer we'll return to Manila!

Please keep praying for us in the months to come. You can (1) pray for me as I work on papers and French over the summer, and (2) pray for us as we raise more financial support leading up to our return to the Philippines.

Glen has observed that in Manila the growing, dynamic churches are being led by active people who are businesswomen and men who take what they’ve learned in the marketplace and apply it to the church. Through his survey, the Bible college graduates identified "leadership" as the knowledge and skill set they are most lacking in; "humility" was the character quality they felt was most needed. Wow! We can use all the help we can get in designing a curriculum and program that helps meet these needs, along with the other important areas we need to address. Let me know if you are willing and able to help.

In Christ,

Chris

DC3's Women's Ministry

2003-03-10T18:42:00.000-08:00

This is Carole writing. Here is a short update on what's happening with us.
Chris continues to plug away at his studies. This doctoral work is not for the faint of heart! I've decided there has to be an overriding passion or purpose for those who set out to earn doctorates because of what they put themselves through. The amount of studying is tremendous, and it never goes away.

A few weeks ago I was trying to get through some assigned reading for something I'm involved in at church. I was complaining to Chris that I still had about 100 pages to go. He just smiled at me and said, "For me that's a little 'before-breakfast' reading!"

I'm excited about an opportunity God has given me this past month. I've been asked by the church we are attending, Diamond Canyon Christian Church, to be their Women's Ministries leader. I've been coordinating a team of 6 ladies that plans the Women's Night of Worship which is held about every two months, and one of the reasons I said yes to leading Women's Ministries is because I felt sure these gifted and capable ladies would join me on the Women's Ministries team we are putting together. Each of them has a heart for reaching out to other women, and wanting others to use their gifts and be involved. (They each said yes, by the way!)

Thank-you for your faithful prayers and support. Because of this you are our partners in what God has called us to do, which is at this time to start a graduate school in Asia. This leg of the journey is part of that goal, preparation for when we return to the Philippines next summer.

Love,

Carole

A Valuable Teaching Experience

2003-01-13T18:42:00.000-08:00

I have just finished teaching a semester on Christian Origins for California State University at Long Beach. Several of my students wrote down their thoughts about the course. I'm sharing some of their comments here:

Caleb wrote, "I believe this course played a pivotal role in my maturity as a
Christian, because I have gained knowledge in things that are not covered in
Church or weekly bible study....and my understanding of biblical text
dramatically improved."

Kevin said, "Religious Studies 376 has enlarged
my knowledge base of Christian origins. I came in already having quite a bit of
information about Paul, James, and Jesus, but I learned some new
information....It was interesting to hear from a learned person who is much more
right wing than myself with regards to Christianity."

Michael wrote, "As
someone who studies and teaches the bible, R/ST 376I-Christian Origins has
helped me tremendously take a more grounded and human approach. I say that in
light of the fact that I attend a church with a Pentecostal doctrine, which has
a big emphasis on the Holy Spirit....The study of Paul and James has helped me
make connections with my own personal experiences in the ministry that I am
involved in."

Yasmin revealed that "For countless years I was given
'misinformation' about the origins of Christianity during the Roman Catholic
religious classes given to me either in catechism or high school. It was not
until I took 'Origins of Christianity' at California State University at Long
Beach that I was taught the 'truth' of how Christianity was founded....This
class affected me in so many ways because of the fact that I am deciding to
renounce my Roman Catholic Christian identity, and take on the religion and
identity of an ultra-orthodox Jewish woman. Studying about how the Jews were the
first Christians was hard for me to comprehend, because in today's world it is
absolutely outrageous for me to suggest to any rabbi, whether reform or
ultra-orthodox, that any Jews were ever Christian...even Jesus."

Eli
said, "When I signed up for this class last summer, the main reason I chose this
class was to fill in the requirements as a capstone class. I also thought it
seemed like an interesting class, and I hoped to learn a thing or two. I was
raised a Christian and went to church with my family from the time I was old
enough to go to Sunday school. However, as of late I have not been a very
dedicated follower. I was, in a way, hoping this class would spark my interest
and get me back into church. What I got from the class was much more than I
expected. It almost seems that I received more information in the last 5 months
of this class than throughout the rest of my life."

Leah wrote, "The
subject matter of Christian origins has affected me in several ways. For
example, knowing the history of my newfound religion is particularly
interesting. Learning the many theories and the historical background of the
times puts both the perspective of the writers and their meanings into a greater
context and understanding for me on a personal level. Knowing this information
helps me to grow."

Jamaal said, "I am affected by this class for the
simple fact that I seek truth. It is not enough to just believe in what you are
taught especially with a topic as potent as religion....Christian origins put a
historical face on a spiritual topic. More importantly it breaks this thousand
years old religion down into bite size pieces so you are able to swallow it."

Artis wrote, "Today as a result of Christian Origins, when I read the
Bible I can visualize more as being there and interpreting what they are saying,
after understanding their history."

Katie wrote, "This course has
greatly increased my knowledge of the origins of Christianity. I had no idea
exactly how complex Christianity was, and still is. As someone neutral to
religion, this class has stirred up an interest which was never before
there....To be perfectly honest, I always viewed religion on the same level as
legends, almost fairy tales. I found it astonishing that something could stir up
so many emotions that people killed for it. As I read the texts, I found myself
confronted with too much evidence to ignore, concrete enough to make me think
twice about Christianity."

This was a very rewarding experience for me, having an opportunity to minister during a time when my focus is more on my own education. The opportunity helped ease our financial situation for a time and enhanced my professional credentials. It was a real pleasure delving into the origins of Christianity with this group of young men and women. I won't be teaching this coming semester, however, as it remains our priority to finish the residence portion of my Ph.D. studies in time to return to the Philippines in 2004.

Thanks for your partnership with the Manila School of Graduate Studies!

Chris

Cris Calumnag

2002-12-09T18:47:00.000-08:00

Cris Calumnag wants to teach in a Bible college in the Philippines. He received a bachelor's degree almost two years ago from Philippine College of Ministry. So what's he doing now to prepare to teach? Working on another college degree.
In the Philippines, the government recognizes (or not) schools and colleges; any work done at an unrecognized institution may not be transferred to a recognized school, and a diploma from an unrecognized college may not count when applying at a recognized graduate school. Since Cris wants to be able to teach at a recognized Bible college--or more likely to help an unrecognized Bible college get government recognition--he's adding a recognized B.Ed. degree to his B.S. in Christian Ministry. Only then will he be ready to enter into a recognized Masters program.

At that point, Cris will have to choose between a secular graduate degree or one from a Christian seminary that will only grant him limited priviledges and no scholarship, since he isn't a member of its sponsoring denomination. And then he'll be qualified to teach at a Bible college recognized by the Philippine government.

The Manila School of Graduate Studies (MSGS)--once it is established and becomes officially recognized--will address this series of problems in Asia at a foundational level. There are now three of us (two Americans and a Filipino) who are working on recognized doctoral-level degrees so that the MSGS can quickly receive the recognition it will need.

Although the MSGS isn't scheduled to start classes until 2004, there are several things we're already doing now. We're providing tuition and a stipend to that Filipino working on his Ph.D. degree. This month we're opening a conference center in Manila, a step that will start introducing MSGS to the church leaders there. We're also starting to put together our library at the conference center.

Please keep praying for us and for the Manila School of Graduate Studies.

In Christ,

Chris