This past weekend, the believers here celebrated their first anniversary at their new location. With masks on their faces, and observing social distancing, they praised God for the great things He has done.
A couple of months ago, the believers decided to extend an invitation to the Tagbanwas to send one of their church leaders to be our guest speaker. Who are the Tagbanwas? Over 50 years ago, New Tribes Mission sent missionaries to the Tagbanwas, an ethnic group in the southern part of this island. Today, there are many churches among the Tagbanwas. So, in response to our invitation to send a leader for the anniversary celebration, they sent four church leaders from four different Tagbanwa churches, along with several other believers! What a blessing for all the believers, especially since the Tagbanwas had to drive seven hours . . . one way!
The celebration began on Saturday night with a special service and then climaxed on Sunday morning. Songs were sung in multiple languages, and testimonies were given by both a Tagbanwa and one Agutaynen, the Gospel was clearly proclaimed to unbelievers, and encouragement was given to the believers from God’s Word.
We are so thankful for the new church building the Lord has provided. The building, which was built in 2019, was built with the hope of more people joining and hopefully for hosting conferences. That was all before Covid. Praise the Lord, we were able to host this celebration and still spread out the chairs to observe the regulations of social distancing.
As a remembrance of this celebration, we had face masks made that contained both the name “Faith Bible Church” and the church logo (a cross and Bible). Stephen took a moment (this does not mean one minute) to share why the believers chose “Faith Bible Church” as their name. And then encouraged the believers to wear these masks as a testimony to those in the village who still don’t know Jesus as their Savior.
Thank you all, once again, for your partnership and prayers. This celebration is evidence of God changing lives for His glory.