In June 2011, Parkcrest sent a team to the Philippines led by Jojo Ambion to help minister to the local churches in song and worship workshops. The mission was 10 days long and the team led worship concerts at a different church each night. The worship time was heavenly and God really moved within the team and the attendees. One of the worship concerts was held at Manila Bible Seminary. MBS is one of the main Christian colleges in the Philippines, MBS has been educating ministers, teachers, and church leaders since 1926. Most of the graduates of the seminary serve all throughout the Philippines and the world.
In our mission to the Philippines, God used our time there to help educate us about what was happening in the local churches, the leaders, and the various ministries. And one lesson we learned was the struggles that Manila Bible Seminary was facing. MBS was equipping the future leaders of the church, but their facilities were extremely wanting. In conversations with the teachers and leaders there, they told us of times where they couldn’t keep the electricity on, how at times they couldn’t pay the staff, and how many of the dorms and facilities were in such bad repair.
The morning after our MBS concert we were on the highway driving towards Olongapo City, and in a God divined moment, the team started talking about what they had seen at MBS. We were all shocked at the condition of the buildings and the overall campus. It broke our hearts that a place that was dedicated to helping equip the leaders of the church, lacked for so much.
Jojo threw out the idea of possibly coming back and doing something about that. Instead of guitars and drumsticks, we would pick up hammers and nails, paint brushes and screwdrivers and renovate some of their facilities. When the idea was floated the team latched on to it immediately. The energy was palpable, the team wholeheartedly agreed to come back and help in anyway they could. God put it on our hearts to help renovate MBS in anyway we could. The beginnings of the next mission trip were forming before the first one was even over. God was opening our eyes to the needs of his people and ministries and helping form our next steps.
The goal of this mission trip will be different from any in the past, but it will still be focused on music ministry. The goal of the trip will be to raise enough funds to purchase sound equipment, supplies, and help hire labor. The main goal for the mission is to renovate the main multi-purpose hall. Once there, the team will roll up their sleeves and get to work installing a sound booth, a new sound board, running new wiring, building a new stage, repainting old chairs, painting the hall, and various related renovations.
The trip isn't looking at this as a donation, but a partnership with MBS in helping them find a way to be sustainable. Our hope is to work in conjunction with the MBS staff in creating curriculum that will help attract new students and bring additional revenue. By offering new courses in “Worship Tech Ministry” MBS is helping to educate leaders in the sound tech ministries.
Parkcrest is looking at missions differently as well. When is our helping actually hurting? The last thing we want is to provide a gift that is more of a burden than a benefit. In that light, we are to partnering with MBS to find ways to make these gifts sustainable and to find ways that they can increase their revenue to pay for improvements of their own.
In the months before we arrive and while there, we will work closely with the staff to figure out ways that they can leverage these new renovations for the betterment of the school. Some possible ideas we will work to incorporate:
1. Developing new curriculum in which they can train and equip people that are involved in “sound tech” ministries. Hopefully, this will bring more people to attend the college.
2. Renting the hall for weddings and corporate events for additional revenue.
3. Using the equipment to create new ministries, for example, teaching poor kids how to play instruments, using music to minister to the poor kids.
Our hope is to be able to work with many of the churches we have established connections with and ask them to come and provide some help as well, be it labor, financial support, or other areas of need. Our time there will be spent mainly in construction, but we also will take time to fellowship with the students in nightly devotional and intimate worship moments. Once the renovations are complete we will hold a worship concert before we leave in celebration of our time there and the completion of the renovations.
Any support towards this mission would go a long way. If God puts it on your heart to join us, to support financially, or donate old equipment, video cameras, or old computers, it would be a great blessing to what God is doing in the Philippines.
Please help support us, pray for the trip, the team members and the lives we might help and touch. If you have any questions you can contact Jojo Ambion at jambion@parkcrest.org or Rodney Cajudo at rodney.cajudo@gmail.com
For more information about past missions trips to the Philippines please visit http://web.me.com/jojoambion/Parkcrest_Mission_to_the_Philippines/Home.html
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