Remembering Rev. Wesley Chang

I think I was the first one who got the news that Rev. Wesley Chang passed away last January 1.  I immediately SMS the pastoral team and hurried to the hospital to assist his remains.  It was swift.  He was still alive and kicking that week.  If was only December 31, I heard that he was hospitalized because of pneumonia and afterwards he passed away.  He died at the age of 95.

When I arrived in the hospital, other pastors and church leaders have already arrived as well to help.  I was tasked to go home to look for a nice picture of him since I have been archiving photos of our church since 2003.  On my way home, immediately what struck my mind was, who will write the obituary in the Chinese Newspaper?  For years, he was the one who write those for our church members until his 90s.  Indeed, he served the Lord until he breathe his last.

I have good memories with him as a young pastor.  So many things I can learn from him.  During my first year serving in church, I asked him, his secret for having long life.  I can still remember he told me that he eats hardboiled egg every morning.  He said, that was his secret.  He is also a person who like vinegar.  Actually in Chinese it is the same as "selos."  I can remember, every time we go to banquets, after the banquet he will ask the waiter for black vinegar.  He will took a Chinese spoon and fill it up with vinegar and then drink it.  He said, this is good for digestion, and cleanse the too many oil we ate from the food.

Another memorable experience when we went to a funeral.  I accompanied him, this happen around 5 years ago, he was the speaker and he asked me to translate on the spot.  I do not know how to translate but I have to since he  preaches in Chinese and most of the bereaved family were English speaking.  The whole necrological service became a comedy because of my translation.... that was frustrating for me.

He was the keeper of records in our church until he turned over the master list to me and Pastor Cathy to continue his work last 2003.  I believe without his diligence and faithfulness on our church records, we have lost so many data about our church members.

As a young pastor, I learned so many things from him though he was already retired.

First he is a man of prayer.  He attends all prayer meetings and has been leading one of our prayer meetings until 2007.  He stopped because he lost the sight of his left eye when he bend down to pick up something after his eye operation.  This frustrates him, and has made his health deteriorate.

Second, he is a man of visitation.  He continues to visit church members until last week before he passed away.  In my early years serving as a pastor in our church, I would go with him to visit some church members.  I can still remember that he does not know any English, Tagalog or even street names.  But he know how to go to those houses as far as the deeps of Caloocan City and San Juan, Quezon City.  He would just tell the drive to turn left or right.  He never new the number nor the street of the house we were visiting; he only knows how to go there.  During visitation, it is simple.  He would say a few Bible verses to encourage the family and he would pray for them.  What is amazing was that he will mention every single name of the family from the grandparents down to the great grandchildren.  He knows each one of them by name and amazingly he even know every prayer concerns of each individual.  Amazing pastor.  I can't even memorize the names of our young people.  I am very poor in memory.

Third, he is a humble man.  He is already retired but he continues to send money to the ministry of his hometown in China.  In order to save money, he will not use air-con though it is very hot.  He would go up every night in the church top floor to sleep there because it is colder up there.  You will not hear any complain or request.

There are so many important moment that I have learned from him.  A young pastor like me surely has so many things to learn from his modeling.  I am just glad that he was still alive during our 80th Anniversary celebration and during our ordination.  This was really a very significant event for me.  I was so blessed when his remains was brought in the church, Rev. Wesley Shao, his co-worker also age 94 in a wheelchair, came in and stood just to see his remains.  And the most touching part when two group pictures was flashed.  During our 80th Anniversary the whole church leaders from several generation came together for a group picture, and when the members of the pastoral team also from different generation gathered to take a historic picture together.  Truely, that is already historic in his passing away.

His life is worthy to be emulated especially by younger pastors.  Praise God indeed for he was indeed faithful until the end serving Jesus.  To God be All the Glory!!!

Asia Pacific Jamboree Experience

I was privileged to be part of the recent Asia- Pacific Jamboree in Mt. Makiling.  It was well attended by 21 countries.  I was invited to join the International Service Team (IST) Staff.  After the Christmas Camp I conducted with Manila Council 2008.  During this camp, many were blessed especially the area on spirituality where we inserted to be part of the program.

So, I was asked to lead a section of the Prayer Hill on Protestant religion.  The Prayer Hill is a spare-time activity of the Jamboree, where all religions gather together to showcase their respective beliefs to the participants.  Scouting gives emphasis on spirituality.  The first duty of every Scout is Duty to God.

In this Jamboree, I was quite hesitant to ask for financial assistance from church leaders but God was very faithful.  I was able to get 2,000 pcs of gospel foldable cards.  I thought this was enough.  And comes December 23, when a received a phone call from Joshua Young who would also be an IST staff for the Jamboree Balita.  He informed me that he is sending 10,000 pcs of armlets with the five colors of the gospel on it.  I felt so blessed and know that God wanted this evangelism activity to push through, and use us to bless and harvest souls for Him.

Supposedly, I have a team of 5 but two later was not able to make it.  The four of us and another Scouter for a Methodist church in Cavite worked together in sharing our faith, assuring the Scouts of the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

Praise God a total of around 6,000 accepted Jesus to be their personal Savior.  Out of 13,000 participants, 6,000 is not bad I believe.  I praise God for such an opportunity.  We were sharing the gospel by batch every 5 to 7 minutes.  It was my first to do such evangelism work.  And I am very blessed.

Years ago, my personal objective why I continue to stay in the Scouting Movement was to be able to lead more people to Christ through Scouting.  And for the past years, I came to realized that God has been answering my prayer.

God is indeed in control of all things.  Everything is fulfilled according to His set time.  Praise the Lord!

Christmas Shoe Box Update

Praise the Lord!  Today, the students were able to raise the money we needed for our Christmas party outreaches.  The money we collected is even doubled than what we really needed.  God is indeed good.  The SC saw how God worked through our prayers.  I believe this is one of my personal purpose for them to personally experience God.

Yesterday, as we count the shoeboxes, we discovered that we still lack 100 boxes for the home for the aged.  Our president was in panic and she started to call her mom to ask her to start canvassing blankets.  I told her not to panic, and since prayer already worked the first time, it will work again the second time, all she needs is to pray and have faith.  Today, a parent called up informing us that since they are also ministering to the same group that we would be visiting, they have prepared 100 boxes of gifts to add to our shoeboxes.  They didn't even know that we lack 100 boxes.  Isn't that amazing.   The SC were so surprised about this matter.  I praise God for He continuous to reveal Himself to the students.

I also praise God for the students are really excited in planning for the outreaches.  It would be the first time for our students to go out for outreaches simultaneously.  This is also the first time, class officers are being empowered to organize such events.  I believe this is an opportunity to discover leadership skills among our students and hope we can hone them further as the opportunity arises.

Praise God for all these things that are happening.  I thank God also for giving me an opportunity to minister to our young people.  I really hope that all of our students can come to experience God in a deep and personal way.

 To God be All the Glory!!!

Christmas Shoe Box

It is my first project with our Student Council, "Christmas Shoebox."

We agreed to do something different this  year.  Instead of having a popularity contest to raise funds for the less fortunate.  We agreed to ask all students to get an adult rubber shoebox and fill it up with new stuffs like clothes, toys, books, towels etc.  Each year level was assigned an specific age group of recipients.  They are to gift wrap the shoebox and place it in their classroom as an added Christmas decor for their class.  At first, we wanted this to be done by the elementary and high school students but the pre-school also wanted to join the activity to raise social awareness.

We also agreed additional work for high school students by assigning each batch to a particular organization to help distribute the shoeboxes.  They are also asked to create a Christmas party for these less fortunate kids with a budget of 50 pesos per head.  This one really gave them a headache.  Since everyone is used to spending much for parties.  One officer was even so surprised in the meeting saying, "50 pesos is not enough for a Jollibee Christmas Party per head."  I told them, you guys better cook.  Through this activity, I wanted them to learn the value of money.

I challenge the SC to go to the grocery to canvass prices which they did and realized that the 50 pesos per head was really enough to create a good party for their target audience.  This will be the first time the whole student body are being mobilized to do such simultaneously activity.  I was glad that the homeroom advisers and some faculty members were also glad to help the students their preparation for such an outreach project.

The next question will be - where will we get the money to raise the needed funds?  We decided to collect any amount students are willing to give.  Some members of the SC was hesitant because according to last year's experience they were not able to raise more than a thousand pesos (if my memory serves me right).  But anyway, I just encouraged them to commit all things to God through prayer.  I hope they will experience the power of prayer through this opportunity.

So, we set a weekly prayer meeting to pray for this event.

Ethics: A Real Challenge

In today's class discussion, we talked about ethics.  This is actually not only important but the most complicated issue for every youth minister.  After watching the film on "The Emperor's Club," the class focused on active discussion of the movie and later relating it to ourselves, as youth ministers.  The main issue is really all about ethics.  What is ethics?

Ethics is a tough one as we went through different issues we face as a teacher, and also as a youth minister.  The dilemma whether to execute justice or to educate these young people in a subtle manner.  Should we use the rod or should we just use love?  Youth pastors are sometimes forced to be subjective or be forced to do favorites, but where and when do we really draw the line.

Ethics is all about who we are.  It includes our principles and virtues that we have developed in our life through the years of living in this world.  Our decisions are always founded with our own being.  Our judgement is always be bias on who we are.  The only security we can develop to make the best decision is when we truly seek the will of God and do His will.  God's will is good and perfect.  Unless we are clearly connected with God, integrity and good judgement will always be lagging behind us.

We can never really know whether we were able to make good decisions or not.  We can just hope that everything we do by the grace of God is able to bring out the best in every young people that has been entrusted to our care.

Thanks for the wonderful discussion in class... I was indeed blessed and learned so much from my students.

"Finis Origine Pendet"  -  The End Depends Upon the Beginning....

Looking Good and Young

Yesterday, I went for a haircut since I have not gone for a haircut over a month now.  Before we start, I got time to really take a closer look at myself.  I noticed that it seems I look younger than before hehehe... So, in vanity, I tried to look carefully again and again and really confirmed that my face is bright, light, jolly and young.  Is this an effect of working in Makati Hope?  I asked myself.  Maybe, I thought.  Maybe, these could also be effect of the L'Oreal products hehehe... It could also be because I am surrounded by lovely kids hehehe...

Working in a school is totally a different situation as compared to working in a church.  It is not easier but definitely it is a new ball game of challenges.  I really need to spend some time evaluating and reflecting the cause of such effect on me hehehe...

I am not saying that working in a church is a dread or something because each ministry is unique in its own way.  I enjoyed my ministry inside the church for the past decade.  I was blessed and very much engaged in many stuffs.  In my previous blog, I  shared about my clear calling to shift ministry.   Could this also be an effect of obedience to God's will?  Maybe.

Anyway, whatever the reason is, I am glad and praises God that I look good and young.  Sally (my Goddaughter) and Dess (Bryan's Sister) even confirmed my observation hehehe... When Bryan (my Godson) and I stood in front of the mirror last Sunday, he even looks older than me.  Truly, it is good being refreshed by the Lord no matter where you are serving as long as each step of the way is in submission to the will of God.

God's grace is bountiful....

Personal Mission Statement

My mission is to serve, inspire and transform people with the Word of God so that they will enjoy life both now and eternal.

Equipping God's People For Every Good Work

This has been the focus of my life and ministry for the past decade by continually equipping young people in all aspects of life to the best of my ability. I always focus on bringing out the best in each person so that they may use their full potential and gifts in serving the Lord where they are gifted. I also always aimed making sure that in every conversation I had with people, they should be learning something new from me.

I have been involved in equipping young people even when I was 16 years old through the Scouting Movement. And later on, though continually serving in the Scouting Movement, the Lord has added my focus in church ministry serving our young people as a youth leader and finally, went to seminary training where I was able to formulate my personal mission slogan in life. After graduation from seminary training I became the Chief Youth Pastor of our church for nine years. Today, I enter the basic education as Vice Principal still continuously serving the youth, hoping to equip God's people for every good work.

I was actually surprised when ATS first invited me to teach the course last year, and praise God, it went well. I am not trying to create duplicates of me but equipping people who can have the passion and able to contextualize their own youth ministry according to their gifts and according to the best of each one's ability. I just hope that all youth ministers may focus on equipping God's people (the youth) for every good work (discipleship). According to John 5, the very first good thing a man can do is actually to accept Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior.

I believe this is the direction God has clearly set before me and have seen how God has used me continually for His glory. The only prayer I had the day I left seminary was for the Lord to continually bless the work of my hands. And so, He DID!!! Praise the Lord!!!