San Diego Christian Fellowship the Filipino Congregation Review
NASHVILLE (BP) – The Filipino Southern Baptist Fellowship of Northward America two years ago said they wanted to support Filipino church building planters, and they sent out their first this January.
Celebration for this accomplishment was i of the highlights of the fellowship'south annual meeting, which took place Mon (June xiv), at Lincoya Hills Baptist Church in Nashville, as 1 of several SBC indigenous gatherings in the days before the SBC annual meeting.
"This pastor didn't retrieve twice" virtually welcoming the Fellowship to apply the building, Filipino Executive Manager Dan Santiago said in his opening remarks about George Ibach, pastor since 2017 of the Anglo congregation.
Worship was led by the Filipino American Bible Church, a multicultural non-Southern Baptist congregation Santiago said he found in an net search. The Filipino repast that concluded the session – shredded beef, rice, steamed vegetables and leche flan for dessert – was catered by a Nashville business firm and organized by wives of Filipino national leaders.
Past cobbling together an Anglo Southern Baptist church, a non-Southern Baptist worship team and a meal catered by a Korean eating place, The Filipino Fellowship provided an ethnic experience for its members and guests. The use of English language rather than Tagalog was because English is the linguistic communication spoken in the Philippines in schools and piece of work, Santiago told Baptist Press.
In addition to worship and prayer sprinkled throughout the iv-60 minutes fellowship gathering, there was recognition of and prayer for SBC partners, a bulletin by Sonny Vitaliz, pastor of the SBC's largest Filipino congregation, a "ministry claiming" past Filipino Fellowship President Felix Sermon, and the election of officers.
When The Filipino Fellowship at its 2019 annual meeting announced its initial goal of supporting new Filipino church building planters, four churches were supporting the work of the fellowship. As of this June, 17 churches are doing and then, with several sending monthly support, Santiago told Baptist Press.
"Now they encounter nosotros are serious about this church planting," Santiago said. "They desire to be a role of it."
As of this January, Victor Delacruz of Garland, Texas, has received $one,000 a month from the Fellowship, with additional support provided by the sending church, Biblical Community Church building in Richardson, Texas, and the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
The former IT professional person had been ministering for more than than four years to a growing group of Filipinos living in the nearby Mesquite, Texas, area when he was approached past the Filipino Fellowship to serve equally its first church planter, Delacruz told Baptist Press.
"I was happy to be associate pastor, but God put His call on my life to plant His church building," Delacruz said. "This [call from the Filipino Fellowship] was an affirmation of His calling."
Demographics indicate a large concentration of Filipinos in Texas live in Mesquite, with another ii,000 to 3,000 families anticipated to move to the area inside the next year, the church planter said.
The COVID-nineteen pandemic put a bit of a crimp in growth, the planter said, only since the spring of 2020, Delacruz has led weekly online prayer meetings, and biweekly online Bible studies.
"This fall we will take one calendar week online and the next week in-dwelling house Bible studies," Delacruz said. He has clustered a core grouping of nearly 80 people, ix families. Three of those families have said they will rotate the in-home studies, the planter added.
He and his wife Radha have 2 grown sons. Her piece of work as a physical therapist will augment the family'southward income.
Nationwide, well-nigh 200 Filipino churches – by and large on the east and west coasts – government minister to more than 5 million Filipinos living in the United States, Santiago said. Most who immigrate to the U.Southward. from the Philippines work in the medical field, though a growing number are teachers, he added.
International Christian Church building in Virginia Beach, with pre-COVID Sun morning attendance of nearly 300, is probably the largest church affiliated with Filipino Southern Baptists. Sonny Vitaliz has been pb pastor since 2002. The church building also has an online audition of about 20,000 followers.
The message from Ephesians 1:one Vitaliz gave at the Filipino Fellowship's annual meeting was geared toward pastors: "Five things to know when you lot're a leader."
Vitaliz explained each: Know yourself, your job, your boss, your privilege and your people. A leader is a servant, he said.
"What are we chosen to practice? Go and make disciples. …" he said. "God will make full you with confidence, ability and forcefulness. … What has God done for you? Therefore, walk worthy of His calling."
Felix Sermon'due south "Ministry Challenge" message stemmed from Joshua 1:one.
"Be potent and mettlesome," Sermon said. "Be conscientious to observe all the law. … Go on fulfilling the Great Commission. … We are Southern Baptist and we are to share the gospel. That is your calling from God."
Each of the officers was re-elected to a second ii-year term: President Felix Sermon, pastor of International Christian Church in Springfield, Va.; East Coast Vice President Jessie Arca, pastor of Good Shepherd Baptist in Carry, Del.; West Coast Vice President Henry Amarilla, pastor of Filipino Ministry building at Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, Calif.; Secretary Melvin Guerrero, pastor of Christ Centered International Fellowship of Jacksonville, Fla., and Treasurer Robert Del Castillo, pastor of Harmony International Baptist Church in San Diego, Calif.
Source: https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/filipino-fellowship-sends-out-its-first-church-planter/
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