Ministry Update

Things have been busy here in Manila building this Church branch which we call TFI Gateway. TFI stands for Tabernacle of Faith International which is a 25 year old group of Churches which was founded and is run by my Father-in-Law, Bishop Ray Llarena. Gateway is the name of the shopping mall in which we meet. Gateway Mall Cubao at Cinema 2 every Sunday at 11am. But we like the name Gateway and even if we ever move from Gateway Mall, I’m pretty sure we will keep the name.
At TFI Gateway, Bishop Ray is the Senior Pastor as he is over several Churches and I am the Resident Pastor. We have a wonderful group of Pastors and Volunteers (all of us who are not paid from the Bishop to the Sunday School Workers to the Ushers to Everyone). They are committed and dedicated and are doing an incredible Job from the heart.
We launched the work around 9 months ago and we saw a huge initial group come and then it settled down to as low as 120 people. But we have been steadily growing and are running between 180 and 215 precious people every week. The people are loving and caring and meet the needs of each other during the week through a variety of ministries including Life Groups and the Follow Up folks are connecting beautifully. The Young Adults (we call them Prime Movers) are riding a tremendous wave of growth right now and it is exciting to see them growing in the Lord and in numbers too! The greatest element I believe which attributes to our growth is that the presence of God is mightily evident every time we come together. Not only in our services but even in the small groups & week day gatherings. The worship is amazing, the preaching is alive and the people are touched!
Just last night at a Life Group in Bicutan, I walked in and found two of the household members sick in bed. I was also not feeling well and we needed a miracle. We moved chairs into the bedroom and all the attendees met in there so that the sick people could participate. After sharing the lesson, we prayed and prayed and prayed and we couldn’t stop praying. The Holy Spirit came upon each and every one of us in an amazing way! Half way through the prayer, the two majorly sick ones were up on their feet and could have tap danced. I was feeling the same way! It was awesome! By the time I left, I’m pretty sure they were energized and healed to the point that they could have started their spring cleaning. It is well into the next day as I write this and I must tell you that my healing last night was a complete and instant one! Praise the Lord!
Please pray for us. The warfare is strong and the finances are an everyday challenge. We struggle to meet the deficit in this new work and our family is fully relying on the Lord and His faithful Kingdom people for resources. Thank you for your prayers and for your partnership!