After Typhoon Carina caused widespread devastation across Metro Manila, schools had to resume a new school year. Many embraced the start of the school year with heavy hearts amidst the storm subsiding.
Despite it all, we find hope in the truth that God’s mercies are new every morning.
Through God’s grace, we are grateful for the hundreds of volunteers eager to serve about 50 campuses across Metro Manila during the Brigada Eskwela. This program brings together local communities, parents, teachers, and students to help clean and prepare public schools and facilities for the coming school year.
Willing hearts and ready hands helped clean and provided cleaning materials.
In all these—from donations and cleaning up initiatives, we are grateful for every person who selflessly gave all for something that we hold last: the gospel.
The storm may have taken away many valuable things, but through your service and prayers, we know that the eternal love of God is something that the students gained and will treasure beyond this lifetime.
Hebrews 13:16
And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices, God is pleased.
But it is precisely at these times that we are urged to be the hands and feet of Jesus and embody Christ’s presence in our society. Every act of compassion, every raised prayer, and every extended hand is evidence of our Creator’s unquestionable love for us and others.
As the campuses open for a new school year, continue to stand with us in prayer as we build stronger partnerships with the faculty and administrative staff, seek more open doors to serve more campuses, and most importantly, preach the life-transforming message of the gospel to every student.
To kick off the event, Every Nation World Missions Director, Pastor Jun Escosar, talked about the heart of why we evangelize. He stressed that evangelism is part of the discipleship process, wherein three relationships are included: relationship with God, relationship with fellow believers, and relationship with the lost. With love as the foundation and relationship as the conduit, “discipleship is never complete until the one you disciple reaches out to the lost,” he said.
ce Ching, a young actress from GMA 7, John Wilson, a basketball player from the Phoenix Fuel Masters of PBA Masters, and Krystle Yague, the voice behind McDonald’s “Tuloy Pa Rin” jingle, graced the event to talk to the students and perform special numbers. Joyce shared her experience of being persecuted when she was just starting as an artist, and her realization that there was a reason and purpose why God called her to be part of the entertainment industry, while John shared his testimony coming from a broken family and a sinful past, to a life of fulfillment and purpose in Jesus Christ.
When she entered college, Kath became her worst nightmare. “Because of my rebelliousness, I brought a lot of pain to my family,” she confesses, “I’ve made my mom cry, my siblings, my lola, and probably even my dad! That’s how hardened I was.” She also started influencing other people with her wayward lifestyle.
Her family, who initially persecuted her, also started attending church after seeing the dramatic change in Kath. After years of praying for them, Kath is ecstatic to see them being discipled. Her sister has just undergone Victory Weekend, while her brother just finished ONE 2 ONE. Their mother now attends a Victory group and Kath is excited for her to start ONE 2 ONE, too. “I thought reconciliation was impossible,” she confesses, “But it’s happening now by God’s grace.”
