The Ransom Note

Christmas and Kian's Homecoming for the New Year

2011-12-31T04:11:00.000-08:00

We spent the evening of Christmas Eve at a party thrown by some of our friends (Edwin and Charlyne) who used to live under Manalo Bridge. This faithful couple now hosts bible studies in their home and reach out to the children and families living in their building. They offered us the opportunity to provide Christmas presents for the kids as they hosted the party. It was a joy to give gifts to these kids who have been faithfully attending the studies. We had Grace, Tyler and Isabella handing out the gifts to give them an opportunity to be a blessing to others and to remind them of how much God has blessed them.

Below is a portion of the kids who attended and helped with the party. We gave out 31 gifts, while Edwin, Charlyne and their kids hosted and served the party for their neighbors in their community. I gave them the curriculum FOF (Fundamentals of the Faith), which was produced by John MacArthur and Grace Community Church and has since been translated into Tagalog. Lord willing, they will use it for their bible studies this year.

Last Friday night we took our kids with us to the airport to pick up Kian, who had left home for college last July. This was made possible by some dear ladies from our home Church, The Bridge Bible Fellowship. The Lord put it on their hearts to send Kian home for the Christmas and New Year holidays. As much as we wanted him to come home, we couldn't afford it. Jessica teared up when she read the email explaining how the Women's Morning Support Circle wanted to send him home. I'm not sure what excited the kids more, seeing their big brother again or the Christmas presents that they were anticipating getting from him. Although Isabella was so excited to be with Kian that she had him promise that he would spend time with her every day, it didn't take her long to ask about those presents.

Even though Kian's flight didn't get in till after 10pm, Josiah stayed up till after 11pm to see his big brother (he usually goes to bed between 7:30 and 8pm). Kian was happy to see that Josiah still seems to remember him and was quickly playing with him. We are all happy to have him with us again for a few weeks and will try to spend a few days at the beach together before he returns to the U.S. and schools starts up again for the rest of the kids.

Grace was also pleased to see Kian who gave her a computer game that seems to be her favorite Christmas gift this year (and Christian's). We all got to enjoy watching fireworks together at Faith Academy and Kian is been catching up with good friends of his who are still living here or visiting their families. They even managed to set off a few fireworks themselves.

He really enjoyed his first semester at The Master's College and his mom and I are pleased to see growth in him both his maturity as a young man and in his spiritual life. He is making good choices as he processes the world more and more through biblical lenses. Currently, he is pursing business and is enjoying music on the side. He is on the worship team at our home church as well as playing with other musicians.

We were also blessed by Calvary Bible Church who sent presents for the whole family. That was a blessing as our limited budget makes it a bit challenging to buy Christmas presents for six kids. It is a good things that our kids have learned to be content with a modest amount to gifts. Even knowing the reason for the season, it can be disappointing for kids (especially American kids like ours) not to get anything or much for Christmas. Before we opened any gifts on Christmas morning we sat around our table with our kids and discussed the real reason we celebrate Christmas. We talked about the many symbols of Christmas, like the Christmas tree, lights, bells, presents, wreaths, candy canes, etc. and the realities that these symbols point to Jesus Christ.

All in all, we are having a great Christmas season and a New Year. Thanks so much to all of you who support us in prayer and financially. We couldn't be serving our Lord in the Philippines without you. We continue to pray for all of you. God bless and happy new year.

Meet some of our students

2011-11-30T00:40:00.001-08:00

Mentoring Pastor Erwin

For over a year I have beenmentoring Pastor Erwin Quimboy. He is a sharpFilipino pastor and I have been enjoying his friendship and fellowship. Along with about 6 other men, we have beenmeeting weekly at my house to work through the interpretation, outlining andpreaching of 1 Timothy. We also discusswhat a Biblical Philosophy of ministry looks like and how that impacts the waywe teach, preach, lead, serve, disciple and evangelize God’s people. Our time together has had a beautiful impacton Pastor Erwin and his church. Not onlyhas he committed himself to expository preaching, but he also committed himselfto a biblical philosophy of ministry. Itis a joy to see the fruit in his ministry.

Pastor Erwin, his wife Rita and

daughter Yana.

The first impactI saw was on his elders. During ourmentoring time in 1 Timothy, the Lord moved Pastor Erwin to discuss thequalifications of an elder with the elders of his Church. They all went away for a weekend retreattogether and after studying the text together, all of the men learned what thequalifications and job requirements of an elder are. Together they came to the conclusions thatthey are not qualified to be elders, but they love the Lord and still want toserve him. Instead of being angry at Pastor Erwin (I’ve seen this happen in this kind of situation before) they allstepped down as elders and changed their role to “ministry team” as they growthe necessary character and skills to be elders.

God didn’t stop there. Next, He began to work in the hearts of theworship team. As they realized thattheir lives were not right to lead the Church in worshiping God in song, they toostepped down. Now the church sings acapellauntil there are leaders raised up who can lead worship of God in spirit andin truth. Pastor Erwin is now disciplingboth of those groups and we pray that someday they will be able to serve theChurch again sometime soon, but with a whole new heart and understanding. What a testimony this must be to the wholechurch, pray that more fruit is borne through this. Also pray for pastor Erwin who faithfully pastors this Church with very little pay. The Church is located in an area called "Quatro" because it is near the fourth hole of a golf course. Hundreds of families are squatting their as they hope to find work, schooling and a better life for their families.

Ministering in Prison with Pastor Jim

Recently, I joined Pastor Jim, who has been studying with usfor about two years now. He volunteersto minister to government officials, workers, Philippine Police Officers,and prisoners. We went to the Nationalpolice headquarters in Manila to teach a group of eight Nigerian men who havebeen detained for the last four months and are awaiting trial. I never asked them why they were arrested,but I told them to see this imprisonment as a gift from God as He uses it toeither give them the gift of eternal life or sets them on a path to serve himwith the rest of their lives. I taughtthem one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 101:1-8. Since they had nothing to write with I told them to remember threethings from this passage if they wanted to live a life that pleased God. I told them to Practice Praising God in allcircumstances v. 1, Practice Righteous Living vv. 2-6, and to Practice RemoveSin from their lives vv. 7-8. The Churchat South Mountain in Phoenix Arizona kindly donated a box a Bibles which, madeit possible for us to give each of these men their own Bible.

Pastor faithfully ministers to men and women like this several times a week all over Manila. He does this as a volunteer as his church cannot afford to pay him a salary. Pray for his strength, wisdom and provisions and he continues to serve the Lord in this way (and many others).

Thanks for all your prayers and support, which make it possible for me to pour my life into many great men like these who faithful serve Jesus and are hungry to learn how to do it better.

Encouraging Moments

2011-09-25T06:53:00.000-07:00

I often haveconversations or receive messages that encourage and remind me why I’mhere. I’m thankful that the Lord causesthis to happen because it keeps me focused and motivated. One man who studied under our training ministry,the Expositor’s Academy for a short time, recently wrote me and asked forcounsel regarding continuing his training for ministry. He wrote:

Hi Sean,

…I wouldlike to ask for your advice concerning studying for ministry. I believe Iam being called to pastoral or some form of lay ministry. I would like toget some Biblical education behind me and am wondering on how best to dothis.

Ideally I would like to go TMS (The Master's Seminary in the U.S.) butit just seems like a financial and logistical impossibility (I'm married, havetwo kids, will be 34 this Sept., and am pretty much broke). I'vebeen looking for schools here but most seminaries look like places whereI'll have to fight for my faith rather than grow in it…Anyway, allthis to say that I'd like to pursue ministry but don't haveseminary credentials and think it'd be hard to get some, givenmy present circumstances…What do you think would be a good path to take?

…Right now I'm...educating myself by reading as much as I can bymy favorite teachers and listening to hundreds of sermons (which isbasically what I've been doing for the last 15 years). I imaginethe best thing would be to study at the Expositor’s Academy. Can youkindly pray with me and lend me your thoughts on this matter on how toproceed?

It is men like this and thecurrent state of many schools and churches in the Philippines that make it necessaryfor training ministries like ours to equip pastors and train up expositorshere.

In August I had the privilege of speaking at The Solo ChristoSingles Conference at Higher Rock Church in Quezon City. I was blessed to share from the Word on pursuinga life partner. Those who attendedreceived the Word with eagerness and I was encouraged afterwards by severaltexts and facebook comments. Here is oneof them…

Pastor Sean. How are you? Just to encourageyou. Your talk about unequally yoked relationships in our Single's Conferencehas borne fruit. One of the guys in our bible study after hearing your talkdecided to break up with his nonbeliever girl friend the following day. He hasalready heard many times of the folly of this relationship but he was hopingfor a "missionary" relationship. He already had this girl friend whenhe became a Christian and he was pining that she also becomes a believer but itdidn't happen that way.

Praise God....take care...

On another note, we have been getting some encouraging notes from our son Kian. Although we miss him, we are very excitementabout his studies and enjoyment of The Master’s College. Hewrote…

I’m really loving it here and I love the reading. The books we are required to read are sooooo good. Sprinted through Genesis, literally 25chapters due every other class period, but it was really cool reading it thatfast, and seeing the progression and the history in a plot form, rather thanout of order stories.

Healso said that the week of welcome or “WOW week” made a big impression onhim. He said that after all the funevents each day a speaker would share a different distinctive of TMC. He was very impressed with their commitmentto The Word, Discipleship, Worship…and the challenge to live these distinctivesout.

Howyou can pray for us:

Prayfor the Greene and Luciano families as they raise support to join our team inthe Philippines.
Praythat God would continue to give us wisdom and favor as we seek to follow His leadingof our ministry.
Prayfor Kian as he studies at the Master’s College and that the Lord would continueto grow his faith and biblical worldview.
Pray that the Lord would continue to guide Jessica and I as we shepherd the hearts of our children.
Praythat God would raise more supporters for us to keep us on the mission fielddoing His work.

Separation

2011-07-31T03:35:00.000-07:00

Why do we hate separation? Children hate being separated from their parents, like our one year old son who panics sometimes when Jessica or l leave the room. We all hate being separated from those we love, like when a young man goes to serve in the military or a young woman moves out of the house to live with her new husband. We also hate being separated from the things and the places that mean a lot to us, like a family home or the country we love.

I was reflecting on this a few nights ago after we took our oldest son, Kian, to the airport. He left the Philippines to go to The Master’s College in the U.S. We are very proud of Kian and excited for this new chapter in his life, but it is a bitter sweet time because we won’t get to watch him mature each day as we had for the last eighteen years, and now we will not be able to see him make his mark on the world. Although we are family, our family is forever changed. It

will never be quite the same. I suspect that in some ways, things will be even better as Kian grows into the man God made him to be; perhaps even having his own family someday.

However, when we sit around a table with our other five children at a restaurant, one

less seat will be occupied. When we pile into the van, there will be one less face in my rear view mirror. And as the voices compete with each other to share with me how their day went, there will be one less waiting to get a word in. I know we have the internet and various ways to communicate today, but it won’t be quite the same and I must say that I don’t enjoy the separation. I suppose I better understand how my mom felt when we left our home seven years ago to serve as missionaries.

These feelings of dislike of separation got me thinking about how horrible it will be for those who see the glory of God at judgement only to be separated from Him for eternity because of their refusal to acknowledge God for who He is. They will forever have burned in their eyes the

sight of the most beautiful and awesome being whom they will never be able to

see or approach again. How sad to see the beauty of God and then to go through eternity knowing that your own choices permanently separated you from Him. This makes the sorrow of being separated from my son by his leaving for college seem insignificant. It also reminds me of the urgency to warn others of the consequences of their choices.

Kicking and Fighting

2011-07-20T02:21:00.000-07:00

Two held her down while two others attacked her. She begged to be let go and cried "Get me out of here!" as blood began to run down her head. However, we couldn't give into her request. As much as it hurt, it was for her best, so Jessica and I helped hold her down as the doctor and her assistant pulled her skin together with three stitches.

Jessica and I were actually glad that we missed the call and text from our oldest son while we were on our way home from teaching a Preaching class. Though only 30 minutes away, it would have been a torturous ride if we had read what Kian wrote. Only after walking in our room and finding our four year old Isabella happily playing and with a bandage on her head did we find the text and missed call. The text read, "Don't want to worry you, but Bella fell from the top bunk and split her head open. Lots of blood, 3quarter of an inch gash, but minimal pain, and no panic what so ever. She's got a bandage but will likely need to go in for stitches in the morning."

It had already been a long day and Kian had assured us that he googled 'stitches' on the internet and learned that we had eight to twenty four hours to take her to the hospital, so there was no need to go to the hospital until the morning (it was already almost 9pm). Even though we were tired and Kian is a pretty responsible eighteen year old young man (headed for college next week), I decided to investigate myself. He was right about what the web said, but I wanted to check out her cut myself. It took about one second for me to say "Get your shoes on, were going to the hospital". Just below her hairline above her right eye, the gash was about an inch long and a quarter of an inch wide at it's center. It was fairly deep, needed to be closed and I wasn't taking any chances with my baby girl. If you are not squeamish, can handle the sight of blood and are curious then you can click here to see Bella's cut, otherwise just read on.

While we struggled to hold her down on a table in the hospital emergency room, I couldn't help being reminded of how we do the same thing when God tries to help us. Our fear and lack of understanding causes us to kick, scream and fight against Him when He is only seeking our best and only trying to help us. We often fight Him like a scared and confused little child. Even with medication to numb the wound, my ipad playing the movie "Toy Story" next to her and promises of balloons and candy, she still struggled and cried.

Three stitches later her terrifying ordeal was over.

It wasn't long till she was her sweet and happy self, exclaiming that o so familiar phrase, "Can I have a snack now?" Like a master manipulator, she milked the moment as best she could (who wouldn't, I suppose?). First, she worked the doctor for three surgical gloves: two to take home and one to have blown up like a balloon. Then, after settling with the hospital, we proceeded to the pharmacist for medicine and snacks. Once again, all was well as Bella drank her favorite chocolate milk and ate a candy bar. We didn't take anymore pictures that night, but here is one of her usually smiling face.

Island Hopping

2011-05-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy month and it's not over yet. Last week we held our first family module where we not only taught pastors, but a few ladies joined us to teach the wives of those pastors. These ladies included my wife, Jessica, and two Action Missionaries, Ruth Ortiz and Pami Ellis. First, four fellow graduates from the Master's Seminary (Felix Ballon, Vincent Greene, Chad Dexter and Mike Berry) joined us in the Philippines to teach with our training ministry, The Expositor's Academy. They started with a one day seminar on The End Times at a local church in the city of Cainta. Then together, we all travelled to Boracay to teach at the family module the week of May 16th-21st. We taught a survey of The Old Testament to the men, while the ladies with us taught on various issues on marriage and family to the wives. We had a few joint sessions in the evening for family messages as well.

On Sunday, some of us preached at Grace Baptist Church of Boracay and a couple of it's outreach churches. In the evenings we taught on more OT survey and preached on family issues. I taught a two hour survey on the book of Judges and preached a message from Genesis 2 on "God's Intention for Marriage." The students and church members were very appreciative as they fellowshipped with us and interacted during the Sunday morning and evening worship services as well as during the module from Monday-Friday.

Chad Dexter, who is finishing up his second graduate degree at The Master's Seminary, is exploring where God wants to use him and his wife Kara after he graduates and is considering joining The Expositor's Academy in the Philippines.

Chad did a great job preaching twice, once from the books of Romans and the other time from the book to The

Ephesians and teaching several session for the OT Survey including Judges, 2 Samuel and 2 Kings.

Vincent Greene is joining us for the third time and is already in the process of raising support so that he and his family can move to the Philippines where he will join the TEA staff to help us focus on and train men to be expositors of God's Word.

Vincent taught on Ezra, Nehemiah, Ruth, Esther, 1 Samuel and 1 Kings as well as preaching. He also joined us in Mindanao in the city of Davao where he preached twice and helped teach a module on how to interpret the Bible.

Pastor Felix Ballon came out a week earlier to teach a one week module module for us on biblical interpretation at Christ Commission Fellowship in the city of Alabang, followed by the one day End Times seminar, and then spent three days with us to help teach the module in Boracay. This was pastor Felix's third time teaching for The Expositor's Academy and he is fast becoming a favorite guest professor.

Pastor Mike Berry (Left) from Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church in Riverside, CA, also

joined us as he taught the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. My wife Jessica (Right) taught the pastor's wives on the marks of a godly wife and mother. She was blessed to be able to encourage these godly ladies (below), some of whom enjoyed her teaching at our Purpose and Passion Conference at Greenhills Christian Fellowship in Manila last year.

Jessica taught the ladies the first half of the week, and Pam Ellis and Ruth Ortiz arrived on Wednesday to teach the second half of the week. Ruth taught the women on biblical counseling while Pami, a nurse, taught about family health issues. (By the way, both ladies spent some of their childhood growing up as missionary kids in The Philippines. It's great to see them back here again serving as adults).

The Boracay module was followed by the Davao module on biblical interpretation at Heritage Baptist Church. Pastors Felix, Mike and Chad

returned to the States, but Allan Luciano (Left)

and a team from the Church at South Mountain in Phoenix, Arizona, (Brent Milner, Linda Strickland, Andy Lack, Jameika Manradge, and Abram Davis- Below) joined Vincent and I to teach, serve and observe some of what God is doing in the Philippines.

Allan, his wife Sandi and their two children are also raising support to join us as part of the TEA staff in Philippines. During our Davao module he helped teach several sessions on interpreting the bible.

Myriads of the Surprised

2011-04-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

I was shocked when I received the text. It read, "He was accused, and he admitted raping [her] with the excuse that she wanted it. She was drunk and he was high on drugs." I knew the man lived in extremely difficult circumstances and that he was struggling to live the Christian life as he fought old vices developed over decades, like smoking and gambling, but rape? Drugs?...I would never have guessed. My heart not only breaks for him and his victim, both of whom I have been sharing Christ with and helping with physical needs, but the Lord used me to bring the gospel into his life and I have been hoping that His accepting it was real. At times, he would seem to show evidence of being a follower of Jesus; and at other times, he would seem to act just like a person who does not believe or follow Him. Ultimately, only God knows, but I always hoped the best for him . . . and I still do. I must admit that things sure look bleak at the moment. I met him many years ago and he took to the Bible pretty quickly. He read more in the first several months that I knew him, than some other Christians read in years. I shared the gospel with him during that time and it wasn't long before he professed to believe it. He became a regular attender of our bible study and sunday worship services, even went on to take a several month long class on how to share his faith. In spite of flashes of being a young and immature believer, he seemed to be a believer none the less. Like with my friend above, I have shared the gospel with many people, and I have had the privilege of seeing some of them acknowledge faith in Christ. However, I am usually skeptical when someone claims to believe in Jesus and that they want to become a Christian. I'm not saying that they aren't, but I only feel confident that the confession of their lips is the reality of their hearts after I see a consistent pattern of following Jesus and obeying His commands over time. You see, it is through the trials and choices in our lives that the genuineness of our faith is demonstrated. Perseverance through trials and right choices gives confidence of a genuine faith to those who claims faith in Christ and to those who witness that confession.

Instead of praying for my friend's growth as a believer, I am once again praying for the salvation of his soul. I fear that he may be among the myriads of the surprised who hear Jesus say,“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? (Luke 9:46) or even worse, Many will say to [Jesus] on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’Then [Jesus] will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (John 7:22-23). The truth about my friend will be made evident in time. Some may read this and believe that the truth is already clear. Perhaps, but my question to you is, "What about you?" Is your faith real? Does your life demonstrate it? Which way are you headed? Will Jesus say, "I never knew you" or "Well done good and faithful servant."?

A First for the Expositor’s Academy

2011-03-31T05:08:00.000-07:00

This May 16th -20th The Expositor’s Academy (TEA) will begin teaching it’s third module to pastors in Boracay. We have already completed Hermeneutics (how to interpret the Bible) and Homiletics (an introduction to preaching). Our next module will be an intensive one week module that will survey the first half of the Old Testament. We have taught seven modules to date, but this time we not only invited the pastors, but we also invited their wives and children as well. As the men attend the OT Survey in the mornings, their wives and children will have their own classes. During the middle part of the day everyone will have the opportunity to enjoy the beach and in the evening their will be a few more OT sessions and a special message for all the couples geared toward building godly marriages.

Five graduates from The Master’s Seminary in California and a team from are planning on making the sixteen hours of flights to partner with us to do the teaching for this module and then on May 23-27 The Church at South Mountain in Arizona will join us to help teach a Hermeneutics module and do some local ministry in Davao City.

Join us in praying for God’s favor on the students, teachers and for the resources necessary for these modules. If you would like to sponsor a pastor(s) to be trained please email me at sean@ransomreport.com

It's amazing how much you learn when you teach others.

2011-02-27T15:00:00.000-08:00

I never cease to be amazed at how much I learn when I teach others. Last night I finished teaching a Theology Class at Greenhills Christian Fellowship (GCF). We basically spent two semester surveying major Theological topics in the Bible and it was a great learning experience for all of us. I had not focused on Theology like that since my seminary days and it really helped to remind me, clarify for me and give me an opportunity to dig a little deeper on several Theological issues. A few that stood out during our class discussions were on the topics of weather or not God paid for the sins of every single individual person and the end times. I think studying and teaching the doctrines of salvation moved me from a 4 point Calvinist to a 5 pointer. It was a very stretching topic for me and the class so we took extra time on it. John MacArthur preached a two part sermon on the topic that really helped me. You can down load part 1 and part 2 free through www.gty.org.

We also had a good time working through Eschatology (the doctrine of the end times). This too help to remind me and clarify what Scripture teaches regarding things like the rapture, tribulation, the second coming of Jesus, the 1,000 year physical Kingdom of God on the earth, judgment and the eternal state. Since the class is a survey of Major doctrines, we did not go too deep on the subject, but I believe that it was enough to wet everyone's appetites for further study, taught them the major terms, definitions and end time theological systems, while at the same time, I reenforced solid and consistent principles of how to interpret the Bible. The students also saw how greatly ones METHOD (and consistency) of interpreting the bible effects our understanding of God's Word, especially in Revelation and other end times passages.

Last Friday I began teaching a New Testament Survey class at Church of the Triumphant Christ (CTC). In the course of teaching the Gospel of Matthew, we came to a section where Jesus did a lot of healing. This brought up the question of weather or not healing gifts are for today? I will have to write more on that later, but for now I will say that we had a good discussion concerning why Jesus healed anyone in the first place and the authority to heal at will verses God healing through the prayers of believers when it is according to His will.

Tomorrow I leave for a 12 day trip to the U.S. for the Shepherd's Conference and the TMAI symposium. The symposium will meet at Calvary Bible Church in Burbank for two days. I will also take part in a mission conference there and share with a few of their Sunday School Classes about our ministry in the Philippines. As always I appreciate everyone's prayers and if your in California from March 2-16 I hope I can see you. Blessings.

Boracay Preaching Module

2011-01-30T02:59:00.000-08:00

This month we followed up last October's Biblical Interpretation module on the Philippine Island of Boracay with a second module. This time we taught and introduction to preaching. Thirty one men spent the week with guest professor Weymann Lee from Phoenix Arizona and myself for an intensive time studying and practicing preaching. Some of the pastors and leaders who joined us traveled some 5 hours by bus from the near by Island of Panay. We made the short hop from Manila to bring the training and materials to these dear brothers so that they don't have to relocate or stop their ministries.

The module started with a assign-

ment to assess the men's understanding of some key passages and to see how they interpret them. This was followed by a review of how to interpret the Bible and then proceeded with three more days of instruction on preaching. The week culminated with the men being divided into three groups to practice what they learned by preaching a short sermon from an assigned text. This also allowed us to coach their strengths and weaknesses. I was pleased at their interaction, good questions, and the progress that they made in the interpreting and proclaiming the Scriptures.

I'm back in Manila now, teaching four classes a week (one in partnership with BTCP) and mentoring a small group of pastors in their preaching and other ministries. Our plan is to return to Boracay again in May to start Old Testament Survey, but this time we want to have a family module. We will invite the pastors to bring their wives and children. The pastors will be taught OT Survey from 8am-noon on a Monday through Friday, while the wives will have seminars on marriage and family issues. Then everyone will be off to enjoy the beach till the evening. After dinner the men will continue OT survey on Mon-Wed-Friday and on Tuesday and Thursday nights the whole group will worship together and enjoy teaching from the Word on marriage and family. During the morning teaching times, we plan to have VBS type learning for the children as well. We have several graduates from the Master's Seminary to join us for the teaching, but we are still praying for a church or churches to join us by volunteering to help teach, care for the kids, and sponsors some of these families so that they can receive the training. We appreciate your prayers for the plans, preparation and resources for this ministry. Email me sean@ransomreport.com if you are interested or have some leads.

The Next Chapter For Our Friends at the Bridge

2010-12-27T00:05:00.000-08:00

Heaps of trash are all that remain of Obet's home. All the homes under and around Manalo Bridge have finally been demolished. Everyone was prepared for this since they had been warned about it a while ago. About two years ago they received their first notice of demolition and were invited to a community meeting that took place in the floodway channel that they lived in. The government official directed our attention to the thousands of homes lining both sides of the river banks just a half mile south of us. After looking at me he said to them, all of your are blessed to have a pastor praying foryou because we are not able to provide housing for those people down the way, but we have it for you. Of course I had nothing to do with it, but God used that situation to remind those who were trusting Him that He was caring for them.

Families who were able to put in 1,000 hours of labor to help build their homes and who could afford the approximately $30 a month mortgage over the next 10 years joined in a began to build their homes. A majority of the families there took part in this program and began to help build the new apartments that they would someday move into. This would be a great blessing for our friends who have been living in make shift shanties for over a decade with no running water, toilets, or electricity. Below is a row of make-shift homes on the side of the bridge. The picture above is what it looks like now.

During the months of November and December they finally began to move in except for a few of the families who could not afford the monthly mortgage or did not meet the qualification to receive the housing. Of those families who did not move into the new housing, all but one of them moved in with other friends and family or relocated somewhere else.

When I went to the bridge this morning to take one last look I found one family who had no place to go. I discovered that Geovani, Christy and their 6 children (Joshua Sean was born there under the bridge on Dec. 11) were still there. They took pieces of wood from the torn down houses and built a new home under the bridge. They are hoping to rent a near by place some time soon. Their church has offered to pay their rent for several months while they get settled.

Here is what it looked like under the bridge when I first met my friends there.

Here is what I found today.

The good news is that most of the families live in permanent homes now. They are no longer living in a dangerous flood channel and they now have running water, electricity, in-door toilets and solid walls. Another benefit of this is that some of their living expenses will decrease. Like water, which they will no longer having to buy by the gallon and have to carrying home in jugs just about every day.

Here are some pictures of the Cruz's place. It has a family room, small kitchen and bathroom down stairs and one large bedroom upstairs.

Pictured on the here on the right are several of the families who used to live at the bridge at the dedication of the Cruz's home. Praise the Lord for caring for these families. He has taken them from the bridge to a group of apartments that house thousands of people. I know that they will show Him their gratitude by opening their home to others to make Him known. Pray for their continued growth, protection, blessings.

Bringing Training To Minister's Where They Live

2010-10-19T16:53:00.000-07:00

In early September, we were joined by Geoff, Elizabeth and Hezekiah Kirkland. Geoff is a graduate of The Master's Seminary and he and his wife are praying about the Lord's Direction for future ministry. They heard about the opportunities with our training ministry, The Expositor's Academy (TEA) , so they came out to see what the Lord is doing and how they might fit in should He lead them to join us in training ministers in the Philippines.

Geoff, Elizabeth and Hezekiak Kirkland

TEA Board member Mike Asperin arranged for Geoff to teach a one week module in the city of Tanay on Hermeneutics (how to interpret the Bible). It was easy to see that the Kirkland's immediately clicked with the people and culture and Geoff did a great job of teaching.

Geoff Kirkland

Tanay is a town of about 80,000 people and is situated about 1 hour west of Manila on the edge of Laguna De Bay. I was told that there are very few Christian Churches in this predominately Catholic town and that the training was greatly needed and appreciated. We were hosted by The Church of the Living Savior and it's pastor, Medel Mendez cared for The Kirkland's during their stay in the city.

The Kirklands with the Tanay Class

Shortly after the Kirkland's returned to the States we were joined by Pastor Jonathan Rourke from Grace Community Church on Oct. 9-18. Jonathan had just wrapped up some ministry in Hong Kong and came here to the Philippines to help minister to some of our ministry partners and to join us in teaching in our training ministry.

Jonathan Rourke at

Greenhills Christian Fellowship in Ortigas Center

Jonathan Rourke at Christ's Commission Fellowship in Alabang

Between the two churches, Jonathan preached 5 times to about 5,000 people. At GCF, he preached on 1 Tim. 1:12-17 (Click hear to listen) and at CCF He preached on Gal. 3:1-14 (Click hear to listen). I had a good time with Jonathan as we met with some of the pastors from both churches to hear about what God has done through them, what He is currently doing through them, and where they are heading.

Sandwiched between these two preaching engagements, Jonathan and I suffered for the Lord in Boracay. I almost hesitated to share this because the place is a popular vacation spot set on a beautiful beach known for it's powder white sand, glass like waters of various blues and greens, great food, and friendly people. Often, when thinking of missionary life, people picture poverty, heat, and rough conditions, not beautiful beaches, but hey, the Word needs to be preached there too and ministers need to be taught wherever they serve the Lord. This door was opened to us so we went through it and were doubly blessed. We were blessed to be in such a beautiful place, and were were blessed to serve such eager pastors. Most of the men lived in the area, but some traveled many hours for the training when they heard about it.

Boracay Hermeneutics Class

The only down side to this module was that it was torture looking at the beach each day and not being able to enjoy it because we had to teach. Jonathan and I kept saying how nice it would have been if our families were there.

However, it was a great working environment. The men in Boracay appreciated the teaching so much that they asked us if we could come back in January to teach a module on preaching. As you can imagine, they didn't have to twist my arm and Lord willing, we will be there in January, maybe even with my family this time.

Please pray that these men would be able to go back through what we taught them, that they would understand it and that they would apply it to their study and proclamations of God's Word. It will take them time to become skilled in all the things that we taught them because they were exposed to so much in one week, but we pray that as they do, it will deeply impact their personal lives, the way they view the world, the way they lead and that it will greatly impacting their pulpits and the churches they pastor.

The last piece of news that I have to share is that we will be starting a new class in the city of Fairview just North of Manila on Oct. 23. Students from my class at Greenhills Christian Fellowship have been asking me for the past few years if we could start classes in Fairview where they minister. They have been enjoying the training that they have been receiving from our training ministry for over there years now and felt a burden for the pastors in their area to receive it as well. I felt bad that I have had to say no the last few years because of being understaffed, but I found some like minded men to help teach the classes with me by sharing the teaching load. This class will meet every Saturday night from 6-9pm starting with Hermeneutics.

Please pray for our new class, that the ministers in it will be learn to better interpret, live and proclaim God's Word. Also pray for more men to join our staff at The Expositor's Academy in the Philippines to train godly men to faithfully preach God's Word.

A Fruitful Summer

2010-09-05T02:11:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since last June. We have been so busy that I wasn't even able to update my blog the last few months. Where do I start? We went to the U.S. for a two and a half month trip so that I could do some research for my doctorate, go to the Grace Missions Conference, visit family and supporters and while we were there, why not have a baby. On July 13, our sixth child was born at the Adventist Hospital in Glendale California. Josiah Elijah Ransom weighed in at 8 and a half pounds, was 20 and a half inches long and there were no complications for him or mommy.

After we got got a little bible knowledge under his belt we took him to meet John MacArthur during the Grace Missions Conference. We had a great time of fellowship with other GMI missionaries from around the world.

My mom was able to visit us from North Carolina and join us for our first family pictures with Josiah.

We were blessed to spend time with friends like Marnie and Agnes Lacsamana who hosted a lunch for us and those who are interested in ministry in the Philippines. We also were able to visit some old friends at the Grace Church Filipino Bible Study and make some new friends from Calvary Bible Church.

Jessica was even able to catch up with a childhood friend and a cousin.

It was a good trip, we were pretty busy and were not able to see all those we wished we could have. We hope to see the rest of you next time. We all made it safe and sound back to the Philippines and have rolled up our sleeves and gotten back to ministry. I am back to teaching four classes, and we are in the process of starting a new one. We also have two one week bible interpretation modules scheduled for the last quarter of this year. Jessica is caring for Josiah, the rest of our kids and me. She is also working part time at Faith Academy, the kids are back in school and Josiah is now officially a world traveler.

Updates and ramblings

2010-06-30T22:57:00.000-07:00

We arrived safely in Los Angeles and have been enjoying catching up with family and friends. I have also been busy doing some research for my doctoral project at the Master's College and Seminary as well as at Talbot Seminary. Please pray for a productive time during the rest of our stay here in the U.S. We will be visiting several churches, friends and supporters. We will end our trip here with a one week Missions Conference with Grace Community Church in August and then head back to Manila on the 23rd. We are hoping to raise some support as we have learned from GMI (our mission) that our incoming monthly support needs to increase substantially. We still have several supporters who did not carry over when we made the swithch from Reach Global to GMI a couple of years ago, but we trust that God is faithfully working all these things out.

It's been nice catching up on my mexican food, In-n-Out as well as other favorite foods that we have been missing. We took the kids to Sea World last week along with some family who were visiting from Kansas. The baby is 2-3 weeks away from arriving and Jessica and I have been going to weekly doctor appointments. We should be delivering at the Adventist Hospital in Glendale. My mom will arrive next week and spend several weeks with us as well in anticipation of the baby's arrival. It's been a few years since we have seen her and we all look forward to the visit.

After the baby is born we will need to get his birth certificate and passport in time to leave on the 23rd. Please pray for the baby's safe delivery, for the timely processing of his passport, and also for me, as I seem to be battling a cold and soar throat (want to be completely healthy before our newborn arrives). Also pray for our students at Greenhills Christian Fellowship, Christ Commission Fellowship and at The Church of the Triumphant Christ. We miss them all and look forward to getting back to helping further equip them. Lastly, pray for Kian as he considers where to go to college in 2011. We toured that Master's College which was great and he really liked it. The little ones (and 9 month pregnant mommy) particularly enjoyed the tram ride.

Blessings,

Addendum

2010-06-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

A friend kindly pointed out that I neglected to mention some important details about the conference we took part in. It was organized by "Purpose and Passion", a ministry of our church, Greenhills Christian Fellowship in Ortigas Center (in the Manila area). I mentioned that in addition to Rick Holland, there were many other local pastors, missionaries and ministers who spoke. Click here to read their bios and to learn more details about the conference. Please forgive my error, no disrespect was intended and thank you to everyone who took part and made this ministry possible. To God be all the glory.

A Module, Conference, Packing, Moving and International Travel all in 2 weeks.

2010-05-30T06:19:00.000-07:00

Pastor Rick Holland from Grace Community Church arrived in Manila today and will be our guest speaker for a three day conference starting tomorrow. The theme of the conference is the Master's plan for the church. In addition to the 7 plenary sessions built around the conference theme that pastor Rick will be teaching, we will also have several break out sessions on topics including expository preaching, a biblical philosophy of ministry, team leadership in the church, mentoring, biblical counseling and several sessions for women. The speakers include myself (Sean Ransom), my wife Jessica, Lisa La George from the Master's College, Ruth Ortiz from Action International and fellow Master's Seminary alum pastor Felix Ballon.

Last week we taught a 5 day hermeneutics module with pastor Felix as our guest professor . He also taught my monday night class who are currently taking theology (pictured below). It was evident to all how he connected with the students. In addition to being born and raised in the Philippines till he was about 12 years old, he is a very gifted teacher, blessed with the ability to clearly teach and explain the bible to all levels of students. After we taught basic principles of Bible interpretation, we modeled how to use these principles in various passages. Then, on the last day the students enjoyed asking questions about the interpretation of texts that they had always wondered about. Pastor Felix also taught them how he studies passages and divides them up into a logical order and outlined so that they can be taught.

We were also blessed to receive a container from Grace Community Church containing among others things, books, books and more books. These will help many pastors and churches who lost books during typhoon Ondoy or who do not have good resources or libraries for their pastors, leaders, and teachers to use.

In addition to the module last week and the conference this week, we need to pack up our house as we prepare to head back to the states next week. While there I will spend time for some research, we will also attend a missions conference with Grace Community Church, visit family, friends, supporters and o yah, have a baby in July.

We appreciate your prayers for the conference, our travels, U.S. visit and the baby. We just had an ultra sound today that confirmed again that the baby is a boy, on schedule and already weighs about 5 pounds. I look forward to reporting about the conference and posting pictures soon.

Blessings

Building a Model Church to Establish an Expository Ministry

2010-04-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

This week, fellow Master's Seminary Alum Travis Allen is visiting our church, Greenhills Christian Fellowship (GCF) to meet with the pastors and elders in the church to get an over view of the church's ministries, as well as with our ministry, the The Expositor's Academy. The reason for this visit is that the former Senior pastor of GCF retired earlier this year and the pastoral search committee is getting to know Travis to see if perhaps he might join them as their preaching pastor.

Travis has been working for Grace to you for about 10 years now and has been involved with teaching in the Grace Life Fellowship at Grace Community Church. About a week ago while Travis was working, he got a call from his supervisor telling him that he needs to come into the office right away. He arrived to find himself in a small meeting with Don Green, Phil Johnson and John MacArthur. Half joking, they told Travis that they were planning his future and then told him about the opportunity at GCF.

You see, about two months earlier some of the elders of GCF made a personal appeal to pastor John asking him if he could help them find a new pastor for their church who is a skilled expositor of Scripture as well as a men skilled in pastoral ministry. After some searching pastor John hand picked Travis and recommend him to GCF.

When Travis was told about the opportunity that Thursday he was very excited and went home to tell his wife. I think that it is safe to say that most mother's of 5 children would not respond well to their husbands asking them, "What do you think about moving out of the first house we ever owned, the one we just bought less than a year ago, and move to Asia to serve the Lord?" It appears that his wife Melinda is open to this opportunity as it has been something they have discussed in the past. Not specifically going to the Philippines, but serving God in the Asia area among English speakers in a ministry that would allow them to have a wide impact. What may have seemed to be an unreasonable request, (A ministry in Asia to English speakers) may just be what God has been preparing them for.

Two days later Travis had purchased plane tickets and after church on Sunday, packed his bags and got on a plane headed to Manila. He had no idea the week before that he would be in the Philippines visiting GCF. He arrived on Tuesday morning (about four days after his meeting with John, Don and Phil) and has been on a whirlwind tour ever since.

In our excitement, Jeffery Co and I joined elder Mike and Goby to pick Travis up from the airport. We took him straight to his first meeting, breakfast with elder James Oh and pastor B.J. Sabastian.

That same evening we took Travis to a dinner meeting with about a dozen GCF elders so that they could get to know each other better. The next day Travis had breakfast with third year students from our training ministry, the Expositor's Academy, followed by a visit with Compassion International, a ministry partner of GCF.

He ended the day by preaching at GCF's midweek service. On Thursday we took Travis on a tour of Faith Academy, followed by a visit to a ministry we have to the poor. He ended the days with another dinner fellowship with GCF leaders.

On Friday he visited the Far East Broadcasting Company where he spoke at the staff chapel service and led a devotion on Saturday with GCF staff. This Sunday he will preach at two services before getting back on a plane Sunday evening.

God's providential hand in arranging all these opportunities was evident as all these meetings and times to preach came together in a matter of days. If GCF follows pastor John's recommendation of Travis and brings him on as their pastor, it will not only be a great benefit to the church, but it will also greatly help to establish the ministry of the Expositor's Academy to not only teach men to establish expository ministries, but it will allow us to have a solid model of what that looks like for our students and other churches here in the Philippines.

Please join me in praying that God would guide the leadership of GCF to choose the right man, weather it be Travis or someone else, to lead and feed us. Pray also that this pastor would be able to partner with us to train godly men and women for the ministry.

A little business and a little pleasure.

2010-03-28T02:14:00.000-07:00

Let me start with the business. I've been back in the Philippines for almost 3 weeks now and I, along with the ministers who joined me, are still riding the high of the Master's Academy International (TMAI) symposium and the Shepherd's Conference.

We were blessed with a very edifying and productive time which included 3 meetings with John MacArthur, 2 with Mark Tatlock (the vice president of the Master's College) meetings with churches, various ministries and other men from TMAI training centers all over the world.

One of the highlights of our time was when I learned that John MacArthur was excited about what God is doing in the Philippines and his desire to come along side of us and help. This help included his willingness to come out to the Philippines to teach if the Lord allows it. We were also excited to see that the Master's College is also committed to partnering with us where then can to help pastor's, local churches, and Filipino Christians to further their education and skills in the ministry.

I am back to teaching 3 classes a week and a weekly mentoring meeting with a group of pastors at my house. Our current classes are Theology Survey, Old Testament Survey and Preaching 1. I am working with our church here (Greenhills Christian Fellowship) in planning our up coming conference in June. Rick Holland from Grace Community Church will be our key note speaker and myself along with a few grads from the Master's seminary will be teaching some break out seminars. Jessica will be joining in teaching some seminars for women. A couple of days after the conference, the whole family and I will be jumping on a plane and flying to the U.S. for a couple of months. During that time I will be doing some research at the Master's Seminary for my doctrinal program. Jessica will be having out 6th baby in late July (Lord willing) and we will visit family, friends, supporters, and our supporting churches. Then in August we will be going to the Grace Church missions conference.

Now to the pleasure. My wife Jessica lost her wedding ring some time ago and I was able to sneak away for a few hours to buy her a new ring. I felt like I was taking a big chance by buying her a ring that she didn't pick out, but after 20 years of marriage I feel like I know her and her taste well enough. I figured that in a worse case scenario, even if she didn't like the ring, she would still love the fact that I thought of her and tried to please her. Fortunately she loves the ring (or at least that what she tells me) I keep catching her looking at it. I was planning on giving it to her on her birthday, but I couldn't wait. So the day I got back from the U.S. I took her to a quite little restaurant with a nice view. I even got on my knee as I gave it to her and told her how much I love her and am blessed by her. Mark Tatlock set me up with a friend how put together a really nice diamond and ring set for us. As an added benefit, I'm guessing that I won't have any trouble going to the U.S. for the Shepherd's Conference next year and that she will joyfully release me to go.

Please be in prayer for the pastors, minister and others who attend our conference in June. Also pray for a fruitful trip to the U.S. and for a healthy baby and safe delivery. If you would like to see us while we are in the States, then please send me an email so we can schedule some time together.

A quick and fruitful stop in L.A.

2010-02-28T14:53:00.000-08:00

My week of conferences started off with a visit to Joni and friends a ministry that specializes in sharing the gospel with and helping people with disabilities. Joni has been one of my heros in the faith ever since I was a teen-ager. She broke her back when she was about 18 years old (some 40 years ago) and has been a living picture and proof that we can do all things in Christ, enduring the gravest hardships while glorify God. It was such a joy to hear Joni speak and to share stories with her and to finally meet her husband as well. My fellow TMAI brothers and I had an all day seminar at their office to expose us to a really good curriculum that they developed for ministering to people with disabilities.

The next two days we moved to Calvary Bible Church in Burbank where we meet to discuss TMAI training center specifics. It was a blessing to hear what God is doing in and through my brothers and their ministries.

On Saturday night I was joined by 5 friends from our church in the Philippines (GCF) with 11 more coming tomorrow and 1 on Tuesday. Monday and Tuesday will be the last days of the TMAI symposium and Wednesday through Friday will be the Shepherd's Conference. I will give a presentation on the Philippines on Monday. On Tuesday we have a private meeting with John MacArthur, followed by another meeting with some faculty from the Master's College. On Thursday we have a meeting with the Staff with Grace Community Church.

John MacArthur and the staff of Grace Church are really excited about the ministry in the Philippines and are eager to come along side of us and help us. I can't wait to see what the Lord will do in and through. Mark Tatlock and the Master's College are excited to build partnership with us to offer Masters degrees in biblical counseling, christian education, and biblical exposition. This can all be done in the Philippines which will be a great blessing and solution to what seemed to be a difficult hurdle. It can be difficult for Filipinos to get visas to go to the U.S.

Please pray for me, my guest, our many meetings and the speakers of this conference.

Happy to see her sick.

2010-01-09T03:18:00.000-08:00

Jessica has been sick a lot for the past few months. We went to the doctor to get to the bottom of her frequent stomach ailments after some friends suggested to her that she might have an intestinal parasite. After a few tests, sure enough, we discovered that she has amoeba, which is fairly common in the Philippines and can be caught through contaminated food or water . This could actually explain months and even years of decreased energy levels as well as a few other symptoms she had been enduring. It only takes a few days of some strong medicine to wipe out amoeba, but there is one complication; three months ago we learned that Jessica is pregnant. The doctor prescribed the medicine to rid Jessica of her tenant and told us that studies say the meds shouldn't hurt the baby, but why not play it safe and wait one more month before taking the medicine?

We agreed to the doctor's suggestion, but Jessica looks forward to soon finding relief from her symptoms. In addition to the discomfort of those symptoms, Jessica has been feeling some morning sickness as a result of the pregnancy. When Jess would wince in pain or tell me that she felt nauseous from the morning sickness, I would always say, "Praise the Lord" , or "That's great." I suppose that sounds mean, but after two miscarriages in the last year or so, I was happy that she was having signs of a normal, progressing pregnancy. You see, with the last two babies we lost, there was little to no symptoms of pregnancy. So I must admit that I'm happy to see her sick. We rejoice in her having "morning sickness" which reminds us that the life in her is progressing.

We decided not to say anything to anyone this time until we safely passed the first trimester, which is the most critical time of a pregnancy. We just had an ultrasound today which revealed a strong heart and an active growing baby with all its' limbs. We are very encouraged by this because the ultrasound of the first miscarriage showed no more fetus (after heavy bleeding) and the ultrasound of the second miscarriage revealed a baby that had stopped growing several weeks earlier and whose heart was not beating. Both ultrasounds were at twelve weeks, and Jess is now in her 13th week.

Today, we shared the news with our kids who are all excited, especially the youngest three. In fact, less than a week ago the kids were enjoying throwing coins into a fountain. Our 7 year old daughter Grace went up and hugged Jessica and told her about two wishes that she had just made. First, she wished that her wish would come true, and second, she wished that we would have a baby.

We trust the Lord's will with this baby as we do with the last two that He already called home. Pray with us that He will allow us to enjoy watching this little one become a part of our family and sharing His great mercy and forgiveness to everyone who believes and follows Him.

Catching Up

2009-12-29T23:04:00.000-08:00

Like everyone else, we have been experiencing a busy November and December. I just wanted to catch all our family and friends up on some of the latest.

On November 30, our son Christian had his 14th birthday. He had several of his friends over to celebrate (he wanted to have more over, but unfortunately our budget, van, and house could only handles so many). They started the celebration by going straight from school to an out-door paintball field, where they proceeded to pulverize each other as 5-year old Tyler watched from a distance.

I did my best to take pictures without getting shot up myself. Overall, the damages were little and most came out unscathed.

After the war games we went back to our place and had dinner, cake and ice cream, followed by a night of watching movies and playing playstation. The following day all the boys went to their school (Faith Academy) and hung out at the school bazaar (like a mini carnival).

All of our classes at the Expositor's Academy went on break after December 11 and we had a class party at our home with our students from the Manila area.

It was a joy to share a great time of food, fellowship and worship of God together outside of the classroom. I can say from experience that pastor's really know how to party.

The party ended with the giving of gifts. We gave each student a copy of an MP3 with selected sessions from past Shepherd's Conferences at Grace Community Church, and for our students who just completed the class on Bible study methods and rules of interpretation, we gave a copy of the MacArthur Study Bible (provided by gracious supporters from Grace Church).

Another significant event that we experienced was just a few days before Christmas. We had a nice visit from a small team from Grace Community Church. Pastor Rodney Anderson and his wife Glenna, Pastor Kelly Wright with his wife Vanessa along with Larry and Lauren Brown spent about four days with us.

In addition to great fellowship, we had the joy of sharing about our training ministry with them and our ministry among our friends living under Manalo Bridge. We started off by going to a local grocery store where we bought enough food to feed about 25 families for several days and a small toy for all the kids (about 40 of them).

From the market we proceeded to the bridge where we followed up the weekly teaching of the Word of God with showing them the love of Christ by meeting some of the physical needs.

I was blessed to see the team's eagerness to not only see our ministry, but also how they served with joy and without hesitation.

We thank the Lord for another satisfying month in which we could serve Him by enjoying Him through making Him known to others. We were also reminded again of God's grace of sending His Son into the World to save us by taking our penalty for sin by dying on the cross in our place and the place of everyone who surrenders their lives to Him.

A new name for our training ministry

2009-11-30T04:43:00.000-08:00

Our training center has a new name. We have been going by The Master's Academy International, but that is actually the name of the association that we are a part of. We are joined by 14 other training ministries, all with various names, but all are a part of the TMAI association. So what is our official name? Well, unofficially our name is The Expositor's Academy. The reason I say unofficially is because our paper work is still in progress, but we hope to have everything completed by the end of this year or early next year. Our web-site is also in the works and I will announce it as soon as it is finished.

Currently, we have three classes running, 1) Preaching 1, 2) Old Testament Survey, and 3) Biblical Interpretation. A few more weeks and our classes will take a break till 2010. We will have a Christmas party at my house to celebrate a good year of teaching and preaching. Our students are progressing well and it is exciting to see them grow. Pray that God will continue to use me to impact their lives for the kingdom and that they will continue grow as His servants.

On the lighter side; The joys of family

2009-10-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

It was somewhere between midnight and six a.m. when light spilled into our dark room from the hallway. Our two little girls had once again made their almost nightly pilgrimage into our room, long after mommy had already read them a story and they had already fallen asleep in their own beds. At some point, they snuck into our room and climbed into our bed . . . and it wasn't long before Isabella proceeded to alternate putting her feet on my head or into my ribs. You may wonder why anyone would tolerate this for even a minute. I know how American culture generally deals with this situation. Even before our babies are born, we often paint their rooms (some call it the nursery) and follow the trend of putting the baby in it's own room as soon as possible. Many feel that this is healthier for the children as they don't become overly dependent on mom and dad, while also giving parents a little time and privacy together. I guess this is where Jessica and I are more Filipino. We purposely bought a king sized bed years ago because we decided that we love having our kids with us and find that instead of making our kids overly dependent on us, it builds a stronger sense of connection and comfort between us and our kids. Some who read this might be looking back at the days when their own kids were little and would give anything to sneak backwards in time to enjoy snuggling with their little ones who are now grown up and long past those years. We intend to savor every moment of that as long as we can. We are not worried about not having "mommy and daddy time". I think after having five kids, one can see that we somehow manage to carve out our time together.

Our girls are now 7 and 3, and we can already sense their growing independence and know that the days of their sneaking into our room are not far from being over.

It seems like it was just yesterday when we would hear the train of sliding pajama'd feet from down the hall getting louder and louder as our first two sons would shuffle across the wood floors of the hallway, sneak into our room and jump in our bed.

Those days of little jammies and blankies are long gone as our 16 and 13 year old sons are in their own rooms and are quite independent as they stay after school for sports, to join study groups, or go and hang out with their friends from time to time. Yet, they are still comfortable to come in our room and chat with us and plop in our bed to watch a movie together or spend some family time reading a book.

I don't want to leave out our third son Tyler, who although is also growing up fast, still joins his two sisters in sneaking into our bed from time to time.

I bet my mom would give just about anything to spend a little time with her two little boys again if she could somehow go back in time. We're not in a hurry to end these precious times, I don't care what that Dr. Spock guy says, and who is he anyways?

Time to Clean Up The Mud

2009-10-02T05:12:00.000-07:00

http://RansomReport.com/Typhoon_in_Manila

This week, I was scheduled to teach at a conference on the island of Mindoro. Getting there would mean a 3 hour drive followed by a 1 to 2 hour boat ride, so I decided to postpone my Monday morning departure until I felt sure it was safe. Besides, I didn't really want to leave Jess and the kids while the house still had no power and our van was still stranded. The weather on Monday actually turned out to be pretty good, so by the afternoon we were able to pick up our van. Then power came back on late that evening, so Tuesday morning, after I had gotten confirmation of safe travel from Pastor Leo Ordiales (who headed out on Monday as scheduled), I made the trip. I will write about that trip later, but for now, please visit a link to an article Jess wrote about what she and the big boys had been up to while I was gone.

Click here.

A months worth of rain in six hours

2009-09-28T04:33:00.001-07:00

I can still see the faces of our friends from the bridge as they huddled in the dark under a tarp, trying to keep the rain off of them. They were now on higher ground between the rail of the bridge and the hollow block wall of their neighbor. They had carried out as many of their possessions from their homes and piled them up under the tarp before the floodwaters swept away five of their homes and submerged the rest. Sleeping in my own bed and being in our house reminds me of God's kindness, but I can't help but feel a sense of guilt to know that so many others have no bed and are sleeping on the wet ground.

Getting home wasn't easy. It all started on Saturday morning when we left for Christian's volleyball game. It was only drizzling at the time and there didn't seem to be any reason for concern. By the time Christian's games were over the rain was coming down in sheets and were driven by winds. We got texts that traffic was heavy and that the varsity volleyball team was stuck on the road and didn't even make it to their game. We decided to wait it out at the mall across the street till the traffic died down. Our last communication with our other four kids in the early afternoon was that they were all at home safe, but that our power went out. Anxious to get home to our kids, we set out at about 4 p.m. to drive home - I was thinking to get home while there was still light. We were amazed at how clear the roads were. I figured a lot of people were just staying home because of the heavy rains. Well that didn't last long. We hit a wall of traffic and moved very slowly for about an hour, only traveling about a mile till they opened up the opposite side of the street. We joined hundreds of cars driving on the other side of the street and quickly moved down the road to some short cuts that I often like to use. Leaving that mess behind, we tried taking another way home, but when I saw lots of cars piled up on that road we tried an alternate route. Since that took us near Manalo Bridge we decided to take a detour and check in on our friends there.

Before

After the typhoon

To our surprise, I saw that all their homes were either gone or under water. We had been texting back and forth with them earlier and knew that those in the lower houses moved to higher ground to stay with their neighbors, but I didn't expect to see everything covered in water. The river which was usually about 25 feet below the bridge was getting close to the level of the road on the bridge. I walked up the street looking for our friends and I found them under the tarp. Everyone was safe. Around 20 adults stayed behind while the rest of them, along with about 40 children, went to a local covered basketball court to wait out the storm.

My first thought was to pile all of them into my van and take them to our house, but they were worried about leaving their things and we still didn't know if we could even make it to our house or not. We decided that if we could make it to our place, we would leave a few of them behind to watch their things, but then take the rest - especially the kids. But first, Jessica, Christian and I would go ahead of them to make sure that we could get through. I gave them all the cash I had so that they could all buy some food and candles. Then we drove down the road for about a mile only to find the road covered in water.

I drove till the water was about knee deep and then turned around (much to the relief of Jessica). We tried four other ways which were also flooded out in front of thousands of stranded cars. One of them near the Marikina River was flooded about two stories high. We returned to the bridge and told them that we couldn't make it home and then began to look for a place for us to sleep. By the time we arrived at a familiar missionary guest house, the first leg of our adventure lasted about six hours.

Early the next morning, we attempted to make it home again. The news report on the radio said that we got a months worth of rain in 6 hours. However, by this time, a lot of the flood waters had gone down and we were moving along pretty good, but once we hit the main road going to our place the traffic began again. We weren't the only ones trying to get back home

We inched along for more than three hours, in which we traveled for only about one mile. Part of the problem was that there were a lot of abandoned cars scattered all over the road. We had to drive around them and the thousands of people who were walking on the streets.

Finally, we could go no further because the water got too deep so we pulled out. We found some high ground, parked our van, and decided to walk the rest of the way home. I'm guessing that we were about 5 miles from home and we didn't know if the roads were passable, but we were determined to get to rest of our family.

After that first step in to ankle high water we were no longer timid. We started dredging along like everyone else. The water soon turned to calf, then knee high and then waist high (higher for Jess) :). I couldn't help thinking about Israel's exodus from Egypt as we joined thousands of people who were determined to get home.

When we got to the top of the road, past the flooded portions we found some enterprising tricycles (motor cycles with side cars) waiting for passengers. We were happy to find a ride the other four or so miles to our house. We came home to some little ones who were happy to see mom and dad. Even without power, we were happy to be able to enter a home that was still standing.

Someone made an interesting observation about one of the above pictures of our friends at the bridge while they were under a tarp. Their homes were flooded or destroyed, most of their meager possessions were lost, they were soaked, hungry and did not know what was going to happen; and yet, they were smiling. The woman smiling is a long time attender of one of our bible studies and I would like to think that she is smiling because she now knows that having Jesus, plus nothing, means that she has everything . . . and that even if she did have everything in the world, they would mean nothing without Jesus. Pray for the millions who have been affected by this. For those who are still stranded, those who have lost loved ones, and those who have lost their possessions. More importantly, pray that these hard times would be the beginnings of the best of times for many who respond to God's voice in all of this, see His hand of Grace and see His people showing the love of Christ. Pray also that the saints in the Philippines will boldly proclaim the good news that Jesus Christ wants to save those who don't know Him from their sins in this world so that they can live with Him in the next world, which will never have floods, pain, suffering or death.

Starbucks and Preaching

2009-09-20T00:49:00.000-07:00

I jokingly call it my office, but I have spent hundreds of hours in Starbucks for meetings, studying and reading. You just can't beat the deal they offer - free coffee, air conditioning, and a place to work, you just have to rent a table for about 3 dollars a session. Some locations even have free internet. I have a semi regular meeting there every Thursday from about 9 am to noon. It is open to any pastor who wants to get together for fellowship and to discuss preaching. Last Thursday I had a great time with pastors Richard and Pastor Ogie.

After discussing life and ministry issues we got into their upcoming sermons. We started with Pastor Ogie's text from Romans 11, which went well, but it got really interesting when we started discussing Pastor Richard's text. He was preparing to preach on 2 Corinthians 1:1-11 which says...

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia: 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. 8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

We always start out by reading the text and then answering the question, "What is the main point of this text? What is it saying?" We discovered that 2 Cor. 1:1-11 talks about how God allows us to suffer and go through hardships so that we can learn compassion and be a comfort to others as well as our suffering leading some to salvation and teaching us to depend on Jesus. Then we discussed how to outline and preach the passage.

What made this text especially interesting was that Pastor Ogie had just lost two young children in a fire. I said to him, "Pastor you can preach this passage better than both of us. You know what it is to suffer despair at a level that most will never know, and through it God is giving you compassion and the ability to comfort others beyond what most are able." It was hard to discuss the passage because my heart breaks for this dear humble brother. I thank the Lord that even after this tragedy, Pastor Ogie has been able to see God's grace in it all and continues to find joy in serving Him. He is also very eager to learn how to handle and preach God's Word better. Richard and I were able to encourage him, but I'm sure the pain of his loses will always be with him. I told him that there is a family reunion waiting for him in heaven. Please pray for Pastor Ogie and his family as they faithfully serve the Lord and also pray that my regular office hours at Starbucks will be a fruitful blessing to pastors and those they minister to.

PETRA Shepherd's Conference 2009

2009-08-31T07:02:00.000-07:00

On August 27-29 we participated in our 3rd annual Shepherd’s Conference which was sponsored by our partners the PETRA foundation and Greenhills Christian Fellowship. After going to the Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley California earlier this year, our team from PETRA/GCF was full of ideas to enhance the conference here in the Philippines. Over 650 ministers enjoyed three days of hearing God’s Word being preached and break out sessions on various topics including expository preaching, local church ministry, conflict resolution, missions, ministry to the poor, and three sessions for women taught by my beautiful wife Jessica Ransom. She will also do a follow up class on parenting using the book “Shepherding the heart of a child.”

Jessica Ransom

I taught on preaching and interpreting the Bible to a few hundred eager ministers and will follow up the conference with two 14 week classes on those topics. I spent time with them showing them how to discover the main idea of the original author and encouraging them to proclaim that rather than focusing on what people want to hear. Several of them shared their appreciation for what they had learned and expressed their desire to enroll in our TMAI classes to learn more.

Sean Ransom

A few things that we learned and implemented from Grace Community Church's Shepherd's Conference were getting members of the church involved in serving and supporting the conference. Members helped provide food, rides, clothing, medical/dental/vision care as well as serving at the conference. Elder Mike Asperin taught on ministering to the military and elder Dan Cura taught on Worship, while pastor B.J. Sebastian taught on preaching

Other speakers for the conference included TMS graduate Roger Ng from Singapore and Pastor Chris Chia (also from Singapore). Pastor Chris taught on 1 Timothy 2 regarding the walk of a christian leader and Pastor Roger taught on confronting false doctrine and preaching with passion and purpose.

Pastor Roger Ng

Pastor Chris Chia

It was an added joy to see several of our friends and students at the conference and the joy that they were experiencing as the fellowshipped, worshiped, are were further equipped for ministry.

Pastor Noel Alberto

Pastor Ogie and his wife Gina

Pastor Ogie and Gina suffered a tragedy a few months ago and we were eager to minister to them at the conference and into the future. Click here to read their story. Join us in praying for the many ministers who attended this conference. Pray that would continue to fell refreshed, challenged and encouraged in the Lord. Also pray that God would continue to build them up and that He would gain more glory as they grow in their passion and abilities to teach God's people and make Him known.

Directions in the Philippines

2009-07-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

In the GPS and map quest world of the U.S. and modernized countries getting around is becoming easier and easier. Now-a-days, you can jump into your

car and with no more thought than entering an address into your GPS, you can mindlessly drive your car as an electronic voice guides you on the road. Well, in the Philippines, driving directions are done differently then they are in the States. First of all, many, if not most of the streets are not marked with a sign to identify them. Second, even if you had a map or GPS of where you are going, that doesn’t guarantee that you will get there because many of the streets are blocked off or converted to one-way streets to help expedite the flow of traffic. That being the case, directions in the Philippines are more often given using land marks than with street names and addresses. Here is an example using some directions given to me for the hotel that I stayed at while teaching a preaching module in the city of Batangas.

“…going to d port, after flyover count 3 humps then left turn before cross roads, u’ll see n your left side d TRAVELLERS INN.”

Well, somehow I found it. Often finding your way using someone’s directions in the Philippines often involves a lot of sanctification, many u-turns, asking people on the sides of the road where a place, marker, or street is and a lot of prayer. It’s not perfect, but it almost always works.

Teaching ministers on the Island of Palawan Philippines

2009-06-30T18:12:00.001-07:00

We are about half way through teaching a one-week module on hermeneutics (how to interpret the Bible) in the City of Puerto Princessa on the Island of Palawan. Palawan is about a one-hour flight west of the Island of Luzon where we live. I arrived with a small team on Sunday evening; Pastor Weymann Lee and his wife Helen,

along with Henry Ventura – the national director for Partners in Christian

Leadership Training – joined me to teach the module. It didn’t take long for us to see the difference between Palawan and Manila. The city of Puerto Princess on Palawan has a population of roughly 250,000 people and is a lot less crowed than Manila with its population over 10,000,000.. Instead of Jeepneys they use a smaller vehicle called a multi-cab. I think

that the lack of Jeepneys is a contributing factor for the sky being clearer in Palawan than

in Manila. Although shopping for fresh meat is similar to that of Manila,

I noticed that it is harder to find other things in Palawan because there are fewer options for shopping. The one mall that they have is about the size of a typical WalMart and is limited compared to Manila with it’s myriad of large malls.

In spite of these differences there are several things that are the same. First, Filipino people here are very kind and gracious like those in Manila. The food seems to be pretty much the same expect that there are fewer America restaurants in Palawan. Perhaps the most significant similarity between Manila and Palawan is the many ministers who are hungry for and need training.

We are getting positive feedback from many of the students as they share their appreciation for us bringing the training to them. It’s a blessing to see them sharing and getting more and more involved with the teaching and workshop time as they get more comfortable with us and each other.

Some of the students have traveled over four hours by bus to take this class. It’s humbling to be used by God to serve such dedicated servants. I am always challenged to work harder at what I do and to provide them with high quality training, especially when I hear about the sacrifices and commitment that they make in order to better themselves to serve God. I am also saddened by the lack of training, resources, and people to help them grow as teachers of God’s Word and Shepherds of God’s people. I thank God for the favor He has shown me by giving me the privilege of have the training that I do and I am always aware of my responsibility to share it with others.

Pray that God will send these dear ministers in Palawan and throughout the Philippines quality people to help train them and to share their lives with them. Also pray for their strength, understanding, faithfulness and blessings as they learn, live and teach the Word of God.

Five year old Chariel's weak little heart could take no more

2009-04-19T06:28:00.000-07:00

"Pastor Sean, can you please call me, Chariel is dead". That was probably the worst text I ever received, but I was not shocked. We knew that Chariel's heart was fragile. In fact, we first learned about his heart defect after he turned blueish and passed out. Now he was just a few weeks away from his heart check up to see if it had gotten large enough yet to have the corrective surgery that we had hoped would save his life. He was only five years old and had a pretty rough life. It started with being born into poverty. He literally came into this world in a shanty under a bridge which had no running water, bathroom, or electricity. His parents, Ariel and Charita, barely made enough to eat each day.

I can't help but feel a little frustrated because we had worked so hard and were so close to getting his operation. We had jumped through all the hoops that the doctors required, including having all his teeth pulled

(which had to be done in the operating room while his heart was monitored), and were just waiting for his heart valves to grow large enough to handle the correction. Still, I do believe that God is in control and that He has ordained each day of our lives.

His little body in its small coffin was placed in a small town center so that

he can be viewed, mourned and remembered for the next five days. Then a

procession of his family and friends will take him to the cemetery for burial.

Next to the place where his body lay was a basketball court full of children

from the community playing. Pastor Richard Ibon lead a service where he

shared the gospel, lead worship songs, and offered comfort to all.

Chariel is not the first little one that I have seen laid to rest. I find the death of a little one much harder to bear than the death of an adult, however, it is even harder for me to handle the pain of those left behind. Seeing the body of a person causes me to think about eternity and where they are. If I know that they are under God's grace, then I don't worry about them, but I pity those of us who are left behind here waiting for our

real home. Because of that, it is much harder for me to see the pain of grieving friends and family than to see someone who has passed away.

I called Charlyn back after she texted me about Chariel's death and I could here his mother loudly sobbing in the back ground. When Jessica and I got to the morgue where they were waiting for a casket, I saw Chariel laying on a small tile counter top. His father Ariel was covering his face with a towel to hide his tears as he mourned over the loss of his only child.

We were told that Charita had taken Chariel somewhere to get some food. As they walked home he was struggling to breathe. When they got home, she began to rub oil on his body, thinking that would somehow help. He eventually stopped breathing and stiffened up. It was then that she took him to the hospital, but he was already dead. To this day I still don't know if she ever fully comprehended the danger he was in. The first time I took them to the hospital, the doctor explained to her that Chariel had a hole in his heart and would need surgery to repair it in order for him to live past his teen years and to develop properly. To this she responded, "Can't we just give him some medicine?"

Her whole life was centered around that little boy. Because of the lack of oxygen to his body he was not growing right and was very small and feeble. He could hardly walk and she had to carry him most of the time. She worked hard serving him everyday. Before and after Chariel, she had had miscarriages, and though this little guy survived, his life was still short.

Five year old Chariel's weak little heart could take no more. I'm sure that their little home is going to seem very is quiet and very empty. Now Ariel and Charita are faced with funeral costs that amount to somewhere around two years of their combined income. The more affordable burial is only temporary because after five years they take the remains out of the tomb and cremate them. Of course the church is helping with some of the cost and so are we, but as of now, that is way short of the $2,000 necessary to buy a permanent burial plot. Pray for this hurting family's comfort and that God would provide so that they can lay their son to rest. I don't think that Ariel and Charita are believers, but they have seen God's kindness to them over the last few years. I hope that the body of Christ will show them one more act of kindness during this hour of need and that God would open their hearts and speak to them in a powerful way. Email me at sean@ransomreport.com if the Lord puts it on your heart to help.

Pastor's Home in Ahses

2009-04-16T03:21:00.000-07:00

I received this email from the missionary community in the Philippines. I posted it so that you can read about this families pain and pray for their comfort and strength to pick up the pieces of their life after their tragic loss.

Mike Gingerich wrote:

To all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the LORD has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory (Isaiah 61:3)

On a recent Wednesday morning I was supposed to meet with six pastors who have been working with Village Handcrafters to reach the community around our factory. But one was not there.

Pastor Ogie had been out leading a Bible study the evening before. His wife, Gina, stepped out of the house to visit a friend, leaving their four children at home for just a few minutes. Since they have no electricity in their two-room home they had left a small candle burning. Somehow the candle ignited a blaze that engulfed the whole house very quickly. The fire only lasted 15 minutes but because the door was locked, neighbors had a hard time getting inside to rescue the children. Two younger children died in the fire and a third died the next day from his burns. Only their oldest son, Inok, 8, survived.

That afternoon I visited the charred stick frame that was once the family's home. Witnesses pointed out the back corner of the bedroom on the floor as the location where the blackened body of three-year-old Nadine had been found. As I imagined the fear and pain of the little girl a few hours before, I stared at the cursed corner. But something there caught my eye. On the floor in the very place where the little girl had died there was a burned and tattered Tagalog Bible.

It was as if God was reminding me that He was there with Nadine as she huddled in the corner. Even there, even then, He was in control. And that he will give Pastor Ogie and his wife beauty and joy in exchange for these ashes and mourning.

Please pray that God’s purposes would not be thwarted in the lives of this family and the church they shepherd. Please join us in praying for God’s glory to be planted like an oak in their lives.

The family lost its home and all the humble belongings it contained in the fire. If you would like to assist the Ogies during this time of need you can donate to Action International Ministries Philippine Disaster Relief Fund. Please note that it is for “Pastor Ogie fire relief.”

Dear Friends,

I just wanted to send out a bit of an update and relate a couple stories to those of you who have helped with the Pastor who lost three children in the fire. Today, Ed Landry and I met again with Pastor Ogie, his wife Gina, and their only living son (8). We visited what remains of their house. Kind of an emotional experience. I asked if they had been able to salvage anything. Gina, who seems to be doing a little better than Ogie with handling all this, told me that everything was destroyed. But that they did recover a partially burned folder of important papers. Miraculously, the parents' marriage certificate and birth certificates, as well as their oldest son's birth certificate, were not damaged. Interestingly, the fire destroyed the birth certificates of the three children who died. They were all kept in the same place. It was just kind of a reassurance to Gina that God was even in control of all that took place on the most terrible day of her life.

As we were getting ready to leave, a burned up book amongst the pile of rubble caught Ed's eye. It was a charred copy of Tuklasin. Ed wrote this spiritual workbook for new believers 20 years ago, early in his ministry here in the Philippines. He got pretty teary eyed as he realized that at that moment God was bringing him full circle with his work here. It was Gina's copy of Tuklasin which included a prayer she had written for her family. Ed and I both lost it as we saw on the last blackened page the lyrics to the song "Why so Downcast O My Soul? Put Your Hope in God." Again it was amazing what God had chosen to preserve from the flames that took everything. In a country and a place where needs and tragedies seem to be everywhere, it was God's special word to Ed and all of us at Village Handcrafters assuring us that this is a family He wants us to come along side and help through this difficult experience.

We also did a bit of investigation while we were there and came to the conclusion that the parents clearly did not lock the door to the home when they left the evening of the fire. In fact the oldest son ran out the door when a piece of his burning mosquito net fell on his leg. He sat on the grassy, unpaved "street" crying while the fire quickly grew. The only way to lock the door was to put a screw driver through a couple bent over nails from the inside. So there is no way this could not have been done by anyone who left the house. When neighbors arrived, they tried desperately to get inside but thought the door was locked because they could not get it open. What actually was happening was that the door, which was made of galvanized metal over a wood frame and did not even have a door knob or a latch, expanded in the door frame because of the intense heat inside. This was apparently so tight that it took several minutes for rescuers to break through. Learning this brought some clarity for Pastor Ogie and Gina, as to what had taken place on that terrible evening. It will help them, and their neighbors, not blame them for what happened.

The couple is very thankful for the help that has been given. We also looked at an available home in the area. It is a rent-to-own situation. We had thought about buying a lot (they were renting the home that burned) and building them something new but that would take time. They need a place to go as soon as possible. The rent of the home we looked at together today is $30 a month. Hopefully, eventually we will be able to raise the money to pay off the home for them. It is $3000. When we can help them get moved in (next week?) they will probably need some home furnishings and other household items. I think Gina may still need some clothes. She is quite thin. I think they could also still use some clothing items for their son who is eight. By the way, he seems to be doing well emotionally - smiling, running, playing, happy kid. (We compared our "Snake II" high scores on our cell phones).

Some have asked about donating some English books for Pastor Ogie and Gina. He did do a couple years in a Bible school so I'm guessing he can read some English but I'm not sure how much really. I'll try to remember to ask about that. So far we have collected $240 here to help the family. That and some assistance from Department of Social Welfare took care of their funeral expenses. I know of couple other cash donations that I still need to coordinate. ACTION has made relief funds available to be used right away if needed and then paid back as donations come in. Please let me know if you have specific questions about what may still be needed.

It has been really good to see the area Pastors come along side Pastor Ogie and Gina during this trying time. Without this I'm not sure where they would be. Pastor Ogie's church is in a small section of the community where there has been an ongoing land dispute. Church members have struggled with unity and showing love. This has been very difficult as church attendance continues to drop. And now this tragedy. Also I should mention that Pastor Ogie has TB but has been living in denial. Last week we got him to Scott Nelsen's clinic and started on TB meds. All of this has been pretty tough. Ogie has only been a Christian for three years. So, it looks like now Pastor Ogie may take a break from working in his small struggling congregation and help Pastor Rey in our Village Church plant. He really needs some healing and could benefit from a Paul -Timothy type of mentorship with Rey. Please pray for God's clear leading in this.

Thanks for helping us as we assist Pastor Ogie and his family,

Mike Gingerich

ACTION Philippines Missionary

Imported from the Philippines

2009-03-31T07:33:00.000-07:00

Last February 27-March 8, my partner Mark and I were joined by about over a dozen Filipino brothers in the States to attend the 2009 TMAI Symposium and the Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church. We were treated to great music, fellowship, food and great teaching from men like John MacArthur, Rick Holland, Steve Lawson, and Al Mohler.

During the TMAI symposium we received great teaching from Richard Mayhue, Bill Barrick, John MacArthur, Phil Johnson, Dave Deuel and others. The topics covered included informing on the status of other TMAI training centers, translation and publication options, e-tools that for teaching and ministry, a biblical philosophy on replacing ourselves in the ministry, expository preaching and tips on support raising for our training centers.

Our team was graciously hosted by Marnie and Agnes Lacsamana who not only provided us with a place to stay, meals, and transportation, but they also provided us with dear fellowship. We spent hours talking with them and sharing about what the Lord is doing in and through us as well as the dreams and opportunities that He is giving us. Everyone was also provided with a MacArthur Study Bible.

The men who joined us represented several churches in Manila, one seminary, and the training ministries of World Teach and Biblical Training Center for Pastors. We all stayed in one house which provided for some great time get build our relationships with each other. Oddly enough, I was not the only one who missed American food so in addition to my five trips to Taco El Oso, we had a late night run to IHOP, and a pilgrimage to In-n-Out burger. We also had several runs to Fry’s electronics since most electronic goods are much cheaper and more current in the U.S.

The Conference was a blessing to all of us in so many ways. Besides the added bonus of getting to chat with John MacArthur and taking a few pictures with him, we were blessed with seeing how Grace Community Church conducts the Shepherd’s Conference.

We were all impressed with how over 700 members of Grace Community Church not only volunteered to serve at the conference, but how many of them said that the conference was a highlight of the year for them. We could see how blessed they were to serve God. Their ministers included helping us to register, find our way around, serve coffee, snacks, meals, setting up, tearing down, cleaning up, and passing out books. All of us were blessed with at least 20 books and a $50 gift certificate to use at the Grace book stores or the conference book store.

Another highlight of our time spent in the U.S. was our meeting with the Master’s College (TMC). We discussed the possibilities for a partnership with them. We were pleased to learn that we may be able to start a Masters of Biblical Counseling and Education, among other degrees, through distance education through TMC from the Philippines. In addition to that, they also can provide general education courses through the internet. This could help some of our students who need these classes for future degreed programs with us, but who are not able to leave their jobs or ministry to go back to school full time. With this program, they can take the classes they need on line to better fit their busy schedules.

Regarding the teaching at the conference, we found the delivery method of several of the messages (expository) and the issues that were covered very challenging. We are motivated to work with more fervor than ever to train ministers in expository preaching and teaching. Several of the contemporary ministry issues that were addressed also got us thinking as we looked at some of today’s popular ministry methods in light of Scripture.

After only being back in the Philippines for about three weeks, the men are already wanting to get together to share what they learned at the conference and to plan on how we can implement it here. We will start by working on expository preaching and planning our Philippines Shepherd’s Conference. It will be interesting what to see what else the Lord has placed on their hearts. We are all looking forward to next year and I am praying that a bunch of them, including some new faces will join us. Pray that God will draw the right men to join us and that we would continue to be godly influences to faithful and influential ministers.

Training Ministers on Other Islands in the Philippines

2009-01-29T22:29:00.000-08:00

On January 5-9 a team from the Master's Seminary joined my partner Mark Macatangay and me to teach a group of ministers from the Island of Cebu how to study and interpret the Bible. The teaching team consisted of Alan Luciano (and his wife Sandi who taught the women a mini seminary on biblical counseling) along with pastor Felix Ballon. Our students were local pastors and workers from compassion international who minister to poor children throughout the Philippines.

Alan and Sandi went on that short term missions trip to test the waters and see if TMAI-Philippines is where God is calling them to serve. Praise the Lord, just a few days into the trip they already knew that this is where God was calling them to and what He has prepared them for. They returned to California so that Alan can finish his last semester at the Master's Seminary, Sandi can complete her work at the Master's College for her Master's in Biblical Counseling and to raise support so that they can move here and join our team in establishing a Master's Academy associate training center that focus on expository preaching. We are anxiously awaiting their arrival Lord willing in late 2009 or sometime in 2010.

If God puts Alan, Sandi and this ministry on your hearts then please contact me or them to see how you can become a part of their support team and send them to the Philippines to train ministers who will preach the Word in the country and abroad as we train and send God's servants throughout the world.

Our other team member was Pastor Felix Ballon. On what the world calls a whim, Pastor Felix was chatting with Alan who invited him to come out between semester at the Master's Seminary and join our team to teach the module. In God sovereignty he came out and all of us witnessed God's had on him as really spoke into the lives of many men who live in the country that he was born in. He really connected with the ministers at this conference and is now wrestling with how God wants to use him in the Philippines in the coming years. If you didn't know any better you would think that Pastor Felix never left the Philippines and was ministering among the brothers he grew up with. The sad fact is that there are few men in the Philippines who have the training and experience that he has. Pray with us and him as he considers the possibilities of joining our team or coming out here on a regular basis as a visiting professor. In addition to about 3 and a half days of classroom lectures, we gave the students a day and a half to practice applying the principles that we taught using a workshop format. It was fun coaching around 90 pastors and ministers who labored together in and attempt to discover what the authors of various Bible text were saying using the principles of interpretation that they had just learned.
We have more modules planned throughout the year as well as plans to return to this group of ministers in Cebu to follow up with more training. Pray that our students will really grasp what we taught them and that they will faithful apply what they learned in their ministries. Pray also that God would continue to open the doors for us to train others and that we would choose the right opportunities to pursue.

Blessings,

Sean

Sir, did God send you here to talk with me?

2008-12-31T00:49:00.000-08:00

Looking my direction, she stopped what she was doing and asked me, “Sir, did God send you here to talk with me?” I told her I believe that He did and this is what he wants you to know. After formally introducing myself to her and I learned that her name is Maggie. I shared with Maggie that God loves her; He knows who she is and what she is going through. Then I told her how Jesus forgives the sins of those who trust in Him alone instead of themselves and their own good deeds.

Maggie’s eyes began to tear up as she shared a little about how hard her life has been. She seemed to be aware that God had been trying to get through to her. Although she was raised Catholic, she had attended a Christian fellowship a few times, but said that it is difficult for a person in her circumstances to get to church. She also explained that she does not have a bible and that she couldn’t read it even if she had one. You see, this conversation started when I asked her if she has been blind since birth or if she had lost her sight during the course of her life.

God had brought me to her through my sore back. I was hurting that day so I stopped by a place in the local mall where for about $2.00 a trained blind person will give you a massage while you sit. I have had massages there before, but because they were so busy that day they asked if I minded if a woman gave me the message. I said okay, and took my seat. They massage people in an open hall way that has several chairs lined up in a row between a movie theater and a barber shop. This was the first time that they had a woman give me a massage and I didn’t think anything of it at the time. As Maggie explained to me about her eyesight she told me that her husband had physically abused her and that a few years ago he had hit her in the head so hard that she had some internal bleeding and lost her sight. She said that she was a little mad at God for allowing this to happen to her. After telling her that in heaven no one will be blind, I asked her if she ever considered that maybe God allowed her to be blind so that she could see Him. I explained that perhaps, with her eyesight she was too busy to hear God speaking to her and now that she can’t see, she is in a place where she can truly hear and see God.

I also shared with her about a blind man in the Bible named Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52). Even though Bartimaeus could not see physically, he was able to see spiritually and recognized that Jesus is the one that God promised to send to pay the penalty of the sins of those who believe and follow Him. In contrast to Bartimaeus, there were many people at that time whose eyes worked perfectly well and yet they still would not recognize who Jesus is.

Then I told Maggie about my friend Obet and how God used his polio to reveal Himself to Obet. Obet, who was not familiar with the gospel, had been basically paralyzed since he was a toddler. This is what God used to draw Obet to Himself. God put it on my heart to share the gospel with him after I saw him stuck on the side of the road and unable to walk. I believe that I would never have seen Obet and my heart would not have been so drawn to him if he had the full use of his legs. Perhaps I would never have noticed him or he would have been busy working somewhere else, maybe too busy for God. What a small price to pay for eternal life, just the temporary use of your legs. In like manner, told her that the temporary loss of her eyesight was a small price to pay if that is what God is using to save her life.

Pray for Maggie heart to continue to be open to God’s gracious call and the gift of salvation. I will get her a Braille Bible so also pray that she will read it and that her spiritual eyes will be opened. You might also pray about having your eyes opened to the opportunities around you and the faithfulness to take advantage of them by making the love and greatness of God known.

Yesterday was an Interesting Day

2008-11-25T17:27:00.000-08:00

(this one is by Jess)

We had 30 people coming for dinner, so I knew my day would be a busy one. First, get the kids off to school. I went downstairs at 6am to pack lunches and start breakfast. No sooner had I put the frying pan on the stove when I suddenly heard the frantic voice of my neighbor, Juan, calling at our back door. It turns out that his daughter, Julie Anne, got into a bike accident on the way to school. Julie Anne is 10 years old
and had not been going to school for the past couple of years because her parents haven’t had the means. Sean and I were concerned for Julie’s schooling, so just last week we got the family connected with our missionary friend, Jeff Long, who runs Cuattro Community Christian School.Through the Lord’s provision, the school is able to give the kids all the uniforms, all of the school supplies, and even lunch every day! Sean and I bought her a pair of nice shoes and socks to go with her new uniform, and she was really excited.

Well, yesterday would’ve been Julie’s 3rd day of school. She climbed onto the bicycle as usual with her dad, but while they were on the road, her foot got caught in the spokes of the wheel and they crashed. Julie’s foot and ankle were really injured, so Juan sat her on a bench at the side of the road while he pedaled back for help. She was still sobbing when her mom and I got to her in the van. I was relieved to see that nothing was broken. Only a few cuts that could easily be stitched up. She was really upset about her shoes, though! (One of them was no longer usable). When we got to the E.R., they were able to see her right away, but I was a little surprised that they were completely out of sutures. Imagine, a hospital out of stock on stitches!!! They suggested I go to the pharmacy just outside the building to purchase some so they can proceed to stitch up her wounds. “ No problem”, I said, and rushed out for my mission. Turns out, ‘just outside the building’ meant 4 blocks away. (Had I known this, I would have taken the van . . . but I didn’t discover this until I was already 2 blocks away and still hadn’t found it). Oh well, I hustled and it was good exercise. I bought extra sutures to leave behind at the E.R. for the next person who might need them. The whole time, Julie’s mom was panicking and worrying. I had opportunities to share with her about God’s goodness , and how he cares for their family and knows everything that happens to them. We had Julie back home in a couple of hours.

Ok . . . so back to my day. I got home about 11am and cooked lunch for the workers We still have construction going on and I like to feed the workers every day. (One of them is Julie's dad). All the while, Sean was upstairs working on his sermon for this coming Sunday, with Bella and Tyler playing in the next room. I walked into the room just in time to see Bella like this:

It appears Isabella had discovered Mommy’s make up . . . Only, the red tube she thought was lipstick was actually mascara. I checked inside her mouth to make sure she didn’t try to eat it – and I found no signs of black on her tongue or her teeth, so I am guessing she probably really did think it was lipstick. But then, that doesn’t quite explain why she also put it on her arm and her legs, now,does it? Well, anyways, since this mascara was waterproof, I knew trying to wash it off in a bath wasn’t the answer. Instead, I grabbed some cotton balls and a bottle of baby oil and voila! It worked like a charm!

Good thing Bella’s clean up didn’t need water, because right after that, just as we were about to do the dishes, we discovered that the water had suddenly stopped working. That’s right, no running water in the house . . . on the day 30 people were coming over. After some phone calls, I learned that our meter was inadvertently put under someone else’s name, and so the bills were never paid, and they cut off the supply because of it. We had credit in OUR name with the subdivision, but it seems no meter was ever assigned to it! I would need to go to the Manila Water office to have them change the account name to ours. But when I got there, they said that before we could even make changes to the account (like the name), the balance needed to be paid in full, which meant that I would have to go to the bank, make the payment, and then return to Manila Water with receipts showing payment, before they would be able to turn the water back on. Ok, no problem. An hour later, I was done. God is good. We would have water in about 30 minutes. I could deal with correcting the credits, etc. later. Now, back to getting ready for company.

Got back home about 4pm, just in time to start preparing dinner for the guests. Still no water. The 30 minutes ended up being 3 hours—and we got water back just before 7pm. Guests arrived at 6pm with dishes piled all over the kitchen and no running water in the bathroom – but praise the Lord, it was only for the first hour or so. I was able to have dinner ready in time and everyone brought additional food – it was really quite a feast!

What made this gathering special is that all the guests were the students from Sean and Mark’s Monday night class of Old Testament Survey as part of the TMAI Philippines program. They normally meet at GCF, one of the larger churches in Manila, but since this was the last class meeting for the course, they all agreed to meet at our house for a change. These are not the typical picture of what students look like. They are

pastors, elders,& ministry leaders. They have maturity, experience, and a whole lot of heart! It was a joy getting to know them. We had a wonderful time of fellowship followed by worship and prayer.

Before everyone went home, we gave out pew bibles for senior pastors to take back to their churches, (thanks to Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California). The pastors eagerly accepted and carried out with them whatever number of bibles their churches needed.

Some of the ministry leaders expressed their gratefulness to the Lord for the TMAI classes they have been taking. It was very moving to hear how they were blessed. I thought I would share a clip of what one student shared:

Brother Mon and a few others walked over to visit with Juan and his family, praying over Julie Anne and her injuries, and then using the Evangicube to share a clear explanation of the gospel in Tagalog. Juan prayed with Brother Mon for Christ’s forgiveness and committed his life to Christ. It’s wonderful to know that Juan went from a man bearing the weight of his daughter’s accident in the morning, to a man humbling himself before God in the evening.

Yesterday wasn't just an interesting day, YESTERDAY WAS AN AWESOME DAY!

Comments from some of our students at TMAI-Philippines

2008-10-31T06:06:00.000-07:00

At the Master's Academy in the Philippines we have been teaching classes at Greenhills Christian Fellowship in Manila for over a year now. We are currently teaching a new group of pastors principals for interpreting the bible and we have resumed Old Testament Survey classes with our first batch of students. I thought I would share a few comments from some of our students.

One pastor told us that he has enjoyed what he has learned soo much that he is now teaching it at his church to his elders, leaders and church workers. They have basically taken our one semester course and turned it into a Sunday school class that will run throughout the year.

I was concerned about a woman who was attending our bible interpretation class. I was told that she was pastoring a local church in town. I hoped that she would not be offended by our position that a woman is not to teach or have authority over men. My prayer was that she would at least stay long enough to learn some solid principles on how to interpret the Bible. By the end of the course she said, "Don't call me pastora anymore." Praise the Lord that after learning how to interpret Scritpture, the Word of God did its work, convicted her heart, and caused her to see her biblical role in the church. Let's pray that she will grow in that role and take great joy in it. She is currently continuing in Old Testament Survey Class and will start New Testament Survey in January. She has been with us for about a year now.

Another student told me that ever since taking Biblical interpretataion with us, that they can't listen to sermons the same anymore. The student said that they are felling tension now that they realize that what their senior pastor preaches is often not what the author was trying to communicate in the Word. Pray that this and other students would lovingly and gently be good influences in their churches and among there brothers and sisters as they advote that the Word of God be accurately taught to God's people.Many students keep thanking us for the MacArthur Study Bibles that God provided us to give to them. I am seeing the bibles in the churches that we work in more and more. One student of ours is an elder in a local church. During a bible study his wife told me how beautiful that Bible is and what a help is has been to the two of them. She says that they are constantly using it to understand the Word and to answer questions that they have.

Explaining Death to Little Ones

2008-09-30T05:05:00.000-07:00

One of the hardest parts for us in losing a baby to miscarriage was explaining it to our younger children - namely Grace and Tyler. We didn't need to say anything to Isabella because she is too young to really understand. Kian and Christian are mature enough to know what was going on so we kept them in the loop as we went to the hospital to find out what was going on. I knew that Grace and Tyler were anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new baby. They were already planning on the things that they would teach the baby and how they were going to help feed, dress, and play with it. That is one of the reasons it was hard to tell them. The other was that they don't have a good grasp on what death means yet. So how do you communicate death to little ones? Here is what I told them.

I told Tyler that his baby brother (we didn't find out the gender, he just wanted a baby brother) was so cute, that Jesus just couldn't wait and took him straight to heaven. Then I told him that someday when he goes to heaven a little boy will run up to him grab his hand and say, "Hi Tyler, I have been waiting for you. I'm your little brother." Then he would lead him around and show him the best places to play. This put a big smile on his face. I basically told Grace the same story except it was a little girl instead of a little boy.

The Other Side of the Curtain

2008-09-02T04:08:00.000-07:00

I could hear the rapid sound of a baby’s heart beating coming from a monitor on the other side of the curtain. I looked in Jessica’s eyes to see her response. I know what she was thinking; we were both hoping to hear that coming from Jessica’s womb today. However, we would not hear that beautiful sound this time. Jessica started spotting a few days earlier, but wasn’t too worried. After having five kids you know what to expect. She had spotting with at least one previous pregnancy so we knew that spotting happens sometimes. Plus, she was not experiencing any pain or cramping. Last night the spotting turned into bleeding and this morning it started getting heavier. For the last two days, Jess was searching the internet to see if others had this same experience. She was comforted when she found out that even heavy bleeding does not necessarily mean the worst. We drove through the busy Manila streets to see the doctor for an ultrasound. Seeing and hearing the baby would confirm that everything was alright.

After having almost 20 ultrasounds over the years we have become pretty good at being able to make out the images and knowing what to look for and what to expect. Jessica went into the room first and the nurse called me in shortly after they got her set up and looked inside her uterus. We could see the shape of it and a mass inside of it, but it was not the baby. It appears that the baby had already passed out of her body undetected. The doctors didn’t use the word miscarriage, but we knew.

Now, the hardest parts for me is seeing my tender hearted wife heart broken and having to tell our children who were looking forward to the arrival of another baby (especially Grace). I had asked the kids to pray for their mom and the baby on our way to dropping them off at school. I just let them know that their mom was not felling well and that we were going to the doctor for a check up. Even with such little information, the boys were text messaging me and asking if mom was alright. Jess is a pretty tough girl, but I know that she is hurting inside. For me, there is a lot of consolation because we already have five children, but I believe that it is harder for a woman to lose an unborn baby than it is for a man. Going through this has given me even more compassion for couples who have miscarriages and have no other children.

We found out that Jessica was pregnant in mid July about a week after we returned to the Philippines from the States. We have now been back for almost two months, but we had not yet taken Jessica to the doctor for a check-up. As soon as we returned to the mission field we quickly got to work. Two days after we arrived we had a small short term mission team visiting from California. Then, in the beginning of August we had to get the kids prepared for starting school and at the same time we were helping with a minister’s conference. In addition to all of this we were (and still are) in the process of moving. I could tell that both of us were partly blaming ourselves for the lose. Jessica wondered if things would have been different if she had gone to the doctor. I remembered that King David lost one of his children shortly after it was born due to David’s sins and I couldn’t help thinking that maybe God was punishing us because of something I did. I don’t share in David’s sin, but maybe I didn’t work hard enough, pray enough, or was too proud. I believe that those thoughts are wrong, but it is human to have them.

As I write, Jessica is in the operating room where the doctor is caring for her and doing a follow-up procedure that should prevent infection. We hesitated having this done since Jessica has no medical insurance for pregnancy related issues for the first ten months because of our switching over to Grace Ministries International. Jessica was also hoping to just go home and let nature take its course. However, I thought it wisest to do what the doctor recommended.

We thank God for the many blessings that He has given us, more than we deserve. There are so many possibilities as to why He has allowed this to happen and we may not know why till we get to heaven, but we do trust Him and know that this is His will and that it is for our good and His glory. Because He has been so good to us it makes it easier for us to trust Him when He says no or takes something away. We look forward to seeing our little one in heaven where we will have a lot of catching up to do.

Updates

2008-08-21T02:34:00.000-07:00

Shepherd's Conference sponsored by PETRA

On August 8^th and 9^th I had the privilege of being a part of a conference held by the Petra foundation, a ministry of Greenhills Christian Fellowship (GCF), which partners with The Master’s Academy in training ministers to reach the Philippines and abroad. This conference – which was inspired by the Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California – is intended to be an annual conference to equip ministers in local church ministries.

We had the privilege to teach over 400 people various topics, including how to interpret the bible, preaching, ministering to government employees, discipleship, leading small groups, mentoring, biblical eldership, and missions.

The conference was opened with a key note address by the senior pastor of GCF, Dr. Luis Pantoja. Our guest speaker, Dr. Doug Bookman, deepened our understanding of the life of Christ as he taught 4 plenary sessions on the passion week of Jesus. We were also joined by Steve Wheeler, Director of White fields. He taught on missions and expository preaching.

I taught three break-out sessions to about 140 ministers on how to interpret the Bible. I used a workshop style and took commonly misinterpreted texts from the Bible as I modeled how to properly interpret a passage. Then the attendees were given the opportunity to break into small groups and practice doing the same. We are following up the conference by offering classes through TMAI and Petra in Bible interpretation, Old Testament Survey, and New Testament Survey. The conference was well received and many excited ministers expressed their gratitude and eagerness for further training and conferences.

News from the Bridge

Our friends Edwin and Charlyne Cruz just had their third daughter, Elizabeth Cruz. Since she was born under the bridge without any kind of medical help or assessment, we took Elizabeth to the doctor for a check up. Edwin and Charlyne were grateful for this because they were concerned that their daughter vomited up what they described as a lot of “flem.” Since so many of the children and adults living under the bridge suffer from asthma, they worried that Elizabeth may have been born with some soft of illness that could give her breathing problems. After the doctor checked her out she told us that the baby was doing fine and that the “flem” was probably due to the fact that Elizabeth was born without the aid of a doctor or nurse. This means that a standard clearing of the nasal passages was not done. I’m grateful that Edwin asked me a question that he would not have asked a few years ago when I first met him. He asked what was necessary to do a baby dedication. A few years ago they may have asked about baptizing their baby so that she would be saved. Now they know that salvation is God’s gracious gift to those who trust in Jesus Christ alone.

A new family pet

During our last furlough in the States, Jessica and I saw all of our kids admiring the dogs of many of our friends. We had been avoiding getting a dog in the past because our son, Christian, seemed to have his asthma aggravated when he came into contact with animals. But now, it seems that Christian has out grown his asthma, so we finally broke down and bought a small, short haired dog. (Tyler also has asthma, but his hasn’t been affected by animals.)

Isabella was taking a bath with her the other day while I was standing nearby in front of the mirror getting ready for the day. When I turned around I found that Isabella had squeezed out some shampoo on the dogs head and began washing her hair. In this picture you can almost hear the dog saying, “Help me...Help me!...HELP ME!” The kids are all crazy about the dog and are doing a good job of helping take care of her.

I suppose that I should tell you the dogs name, but before I do, I need to make a few qualifying statements. When we speak of a man’s man or a rugged man, we sometimes say that he is manly. Or perhaps you might be describing a very feminine girl as – you guessed it – girly. , Pugs are known to be very sweet, friendly, and family oriented lap dogs. Hence our pug, who fits the textbook description of her breed so well, is appropriately named . . . Pugly. As our Grace likes to call her, she can also be called Princess Pugly.

Yeah, maybe we are Crazy

Crazy? Maybe you have thought that about us. Some essentially told me that I am crazy. I have heard Jessica ask herself if she was crazy a few times, but now I’m starting to wonder if there is any truth to that idea. If you find us to be pretty sane and are wondering what in the world I’m talking about, I should mention that we are expecting number six! Yes, we found out last month that Jessica is pregnant. Just recently she asked herself if she was crazy for even desiring another kid. I still remember about 16 years ago how excited I was when I found out that Jessica was pregnant with Kian. No sooner had I found out than I was on the phone calling everyone I know to announce the good news. It was a little different this time. We are both still excited, but it took us several weeks to tell our parents. It’s kind of funny when you think about it. A couple who has been happily married for 19 years thinking about how to tell their parents that they are going to have a baby.

Well, we told them and of course they are concerned about how we are going to take care of such a large family, but of course they will be ‘crazy’ over the new baby. I can understand their concerns and we are well aware of the challenges of having five and now six children. When we arrived at Los Angeles International Airport at the beginning of our furlough last year, it took two cars…no, two vans, to carry all of us and our things. On our last flight from the states we took up a whole row of seats on the plane (both sides of the isle). I also know about getting home at the end of the day and conjuring up my last bits of energy to listen to five excited kids, (a few of them bouncing still) share with me what they did that day; all at the same time. I know about being late for almost everything because of trying to find the shoes of our little ones, packing diapers, bottles, spare clothes and game boys. I could go on and on about the difficulties, but I can also share so many blessings that far out weigh the hardships. Here are some: a van load of kids singing together while driving through the city, the laughing, tickling, games, conversations, family time, and the hugs and kisses to name of few. I’m not saying that it is easy, but it is worth it. God’s Word says in Psalm 127:3-5 that: Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. Children born to a young man [and woman] are like arrows in a warrior’s hands. How joyful is the man [and woman] whose quiver is full of them! (NLT)

Crazy? Maybe, but if so, what a joy it is to be crazy.

Lessons Learned From Our First Furlough

2008-07-17T01:53:00.000-07:00

We all made it safe and sound back to the Philippines. I wanted to share some lessons that I learned during our furlough in the U.S (our approximately 7 months stay in which we reported on our progress, did some recruiting, visited family and friends, and attempted to do some fund raising).
When we first returned to the United States I expected that it would be easy to return back to the Philippines once our furlough was completed. In fact, I was eager to return. One reason was that our house and most of our belongings were waiting for us in the Philippines. The school and friends that our kids had grown t love was there. Lots of great ministries, opportunities and people were waiting for us. In spite of all these and several other good reasons to return I could feel some anxiety building as the time to leave the U.S. drew nearer. What was troubling me? What was I worried about? After all, the Philippines feel a lot like the U.S. The Philippines are so westernized that I’ve felt that there shouldn’t be any struggles living there for those of us who weren’t born there. I’ve even thought that the differences between the two countries were relatively small and that I haven’t really given up much in going to the Philippines.
Yet, there are some differences and maybe it’s these differences that have been causing me some anxiety in returning. In thinking about what might be the cause I started thinking about some of the things the challenges in living in the Philippines. There is a lot of poverty in the there, but I don’t think that is the cause because I not impressed with wealth and I don’t pity or see people as less if they don’t have money. Sometimes I even envy the freedom that those little have because they are not slaves to things like many who feel quality of life is defined by having more stuff. Another challenge is that people speak many different languages here however, I don’t think that is my problem because English is used and understood throughout the whole country by many; most of the signs are even in English. It’s not the food here because even though you can find a lot of foods that many American’s would call strange or exotic, you can also find many McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks and the like.
I believe that answer is – and this furlough has taught and reminded me – that it wasn’t easy to give up family, friends, church, and country the first time and now we have to do it again. In fact, we have to do this on rotation every few years. I now see more clearly that we leave behind many more things than I had realized at first. Many times while we were in the States I watched my kids playing with the kids of our family and friends. I remember feeling a sense of loss over the relationships that would have been if we never left the U.S., a loss of watch our family growing up with other families; camp outs, sports teams, church events, holidays, and some comforts. I appreciate more than ever having a solid church that consistently teaches the Word of God and ministers to God’s people (though some exist in the Philippines, they are more the exception than the norm). I also appreciate the U.S. more for its courts and laws – even though one could go on and on about it’s short comings in these areas – the U.S. is still a great nation and I believe that justice is still more often found than not. I will miss the cleaner streets, cleaner air, lighter traffic, organization, and cultural comforts. Here’s an illustration that might help how I feel. It’s kind of like being home on leave from war and then returning to fight the good fight. After enjoying home, you know better than ever before what you are leaving behind and the gravity of the tasks that await you.
With all that said, I want to say that there are many positives in living in the Philippines. Also, I can honestly say that Jesus is worth it and that everything that might be temporarily lost in this life is nothing compared to gaining an unending joyous relationship with God and what He has waiting for us in heaven. I agree with what Paul wrote in Philippians 3:8 (ESV) where he said, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” It is that knowledge and our joy in seeing the fame of Christ spread throughout the world that makes it easier to lose things again and again.

How the Bridge Ministry Began

2008-06-15T08:47:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from this blog about my friends at Manalo Bridge was featured in the June 15 edition of Grace Today.I suspect this might draw some new visitors, so I thought it would be good to put the following links here:
1. Friends From The Bridge.
Here, I organized the blog posts about the Bridge Ministry in order . . . starting at the top with how it all began when I first met Robert. You will have to ignore the dates shown . . . I had to manipulate these so that the posts will show oldest to newest (instead of newest posts on top).

2. Our Bridge Ministry Picture Book
This is a PDF version of a photo book we created to summarize the beginning and unfolding of this ministry, highlighting the many wonderful things God has done. This is picture intensive, though, so depending on your connection speed, it could take about 10 minutes to load. However, if you don't have time to read through alot of blogs, this picture book will give you the whole story in just a few sentences.

Updates

2008-05-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

From the Bridge

My friend pastor Richard continues to minister at the Manalo Bridge while we are here on furlough in the U.S. Here is a report he sent me the other day:

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!!!! How are you pastor sean?how is your study and your family there? well we are all fine here at Crossroads Green hills and Sta.Lucia. by the way did you received my last email regarding chariel? according to Doctor, it is Good that the operation will be held next year since he has Good improvement on his health. here are some news regarding bridge not so latest.

1. two weeks before, obet was hited by car and got not serious damage. the only problem that he got was his right feet (he was using in walking)was swollen so right now he was momentarily unable to walk. his well chair completely destroyed because of impact and after a week the person who hit him gave a new well chair, he also game some money for obets' medicine. he was unable to attend the sunday service for 3 Sundays and hopefully he can attend this coming Sunday.

2. Right now there are on going Meralco (the electric company] post contraction on manggahan bridge, their is a big hole there and hopefully will finish also this week. pray for their safety most especially the children in manggahan.

3. Last week we held DVBS or Daily Vication Bible School from manggahan with 30 students.it was great time of learning and fellowship for children there.

4. two weeks before, Mr.Abug manifested his sick again. ( Mentally sickness) and according to ate charlyn and wife of Mr. abug, it was because he did not received his injection for that month, that's why he was like that.Praised God because Dra.Henson gave money and she swear that she will give monthly but i don't now until when?maybe after you come back here in the Philippines.

5. Regarding our Bible Study, we agreed with Sis.cecil that we will join her group to my group and make it one Bible study. some of them are busy that is why they did not attended the Bible.
6. Regarding my study in AGS, i will ask 1,000 peso this second week of May to complete all my requirements in AGS. like Picture,x-ray test,entrance fee for AGS. (We are helping pastor Richard finish seminary).

7.Regarding the account of AGS i already e mailed them but as of now no reply yet, i think it will be better if i personally go there and get their account number maybe During my submissions of my requirements or during my entrance exam before this May end.

8. praised God for providing me a motor vehicle which is usefully for the ministry especially right now i am handling Bible study and visitation in Floodway, marikina, and cainta.this motor vehicle was from our denomination exclusively for Pastor and church workers and i loaned it personally with church consent. i will pay 950 peso (about $22 USD) monthly for 5 years no interest.

9. This coming May 24 Saturday their will be medical mission from manggahan through Doctors Free
clinic i Saint Francis. it aims to bring medical support as well as spiritual.there will be 3 to 4 Doctors who will participate on this mission plus counselors and trainers from Evangelim Explossion.

10. there will be another batch of pictures from manggahan last december and i try to have pictures from DVS. i will try to send to you next week

Thanks pastor Sean and God bless!!!

Grace Ministries International

For practical reasons we are changing missions agencies. Starting in August we will no longer will be with Reach Global and instead will be a part of GMI (You can click on the link to learn more about GMI, but our information has not been added yet).

Our ministry to our friends at Manalo Bridge and training national pastors in association with The Master's Academy will not change at all, but our support agency will. This change will join us to a group that is almost exclusively focused on training national pastors and will provide us with a lot more expertise, training and resources. In addition, this change means that 100% of our support will go to ministry because Grace Community Church will cover all our administrative costs as a ministry of the church. If you are a part of our support team, we are in the process of sending you all of the information regarding where to send your contributions. If you and not a part of our support team, but would like to be just go to contact:

GMI Direct
13248 Roscoe Boulevard
Sun Valley, CA 91352

(818) 909-5738
or email GMIDirect@gracechurch.org

Miss Little Monster

2008-04-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

Who says that little girls can't be little monsters? I heard a ruckus in the kitchen while I was studying. It's not unreasonable for my first thought to be, "Tyler, what are you in to?" Instead this is what I found. Isabella!
On a positive note, it looks like she might be the first Ransom child who actually enjoys washing the dishes.

It wasn't long after I rescued her from the sink and got back to work that I heard the sound of a chair sliding across the kitchen floor. It appears that she was not feeling well so she thought she would grab that delicious grape flavored stuff that mommy gave her last night for her mild fever.(Thank goodness for the childproof caps). What happened to the days when we were safe putting all the "keep out reach of children" stuff away in high places . . . like kitchen cabinets? Its not like we don't have toys or a swing set and a pile of sand in the back yard. We even have the flowers and dandelions that Bella's big sister Grace is so fond of.
Once again I returned her to safety only to find her a few minutes later in a state of - I guess - hunger. Jessica and her parents love to cook and it appears that Bella may have inherited that same ability.

Well the third time (in 10 minutes) was the charm. It was time for this little monster to retire to the safety of her bed for a nap and since there was no scuffle or objections, I believe it is safe to say that Miss Little Monster agrees.

Let's see if I can return again to some uninterrupted study time. Lots of papers to write, books to read, emails to answer and phone calls to make. Five kids can be a lot of work, but it is worth it and the blessings far exceed the interruptions.

Home Assignment: God is at Work

2008-03-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

As busy as furlough has been, I have been feeling really blessed and refreshed. I admit I feel a lot of pressure as the clock ticks away, (we return to the Philippines July 8). It's kind of funny when people ask me if we are enjoying our time of rest. I am enjoying my time, but rest? I am busy trying to raise support, recruit more team members, speak at churches, visit friends and supports, take care of administrative responsibilities for the Master's Academy, write curriculum for upcoming classes in the Philippines, read a few thousand pages and write over a dozen papers for my doctrinal program at Talbot.

Let me update you on what has been happening in our lives and ministry. Our partners in the Philippines have been keeping the ministry humming along. Our friends at the Manalo Bridge are doing reasonably well. Pastor Richard has continued teaching Bible studies there and is keeping us posted on the progress of our disciples and of special needs. He also managed our Christmas outreach at the bridge. Lord willing, Chariel will have his first heart surgery next month. Obet has been faithful in going to the studies and Sunday Worship services. Pastor Mark has faithfully been teaching classes on how to study the Bible and Bible Survey classes for our training center.

The family and I have been sharing at churches, missions conferences, and small gathering of people who are interested in our ministry. Earlier this month I enjoyed going to the Shepherd's Conference. During that same week I made a presentation before the board of the Master's Academy. The board formally voted and accepted our training ministry in the Philippines as a TMAI school. As a result of that we were given many great resources for the school and doors have opened to us for more partnerships and support.

Kian, Christian, and Grace have all entered public school for the first time and our learning some good lessons outside of the missionary kid bubble of Faith Academy in the Philippines. Kian said that he didn't feel like a missionary in the Philippines being surrounded by hundreds of missionary kids, but he feels like a missionary here. He has already had the chance to lead to class mates to Christ and has been a consistent biblical counselor. I'm a little word about Christian who has been pretty quite about school and usually takes some coaxing to hear how things are going. He seems to be doing well grade wise, but I'm sure he looks forward to getting back to his friends in Manila. Grace likes her teacher and seems to be singing a new song every week. Tyler and Isabella have been enjoying the extra time with Grandma and Grandpa when they are in town. We recently had some time as a family to go to Disneyland.Pray for us as we continue to minister and labor to complete all the tasks that we have in our last 3 months here. Also ask God to move the hearts of those He has called to work with us and those He has called to come along side of us and support us and our ministry. Remember our friends at the bridge before the Lord and our students at the school. Finally, pray that I will do well in my continued education; that God will continue to grow and sharpen me so that i will be a better tool in His hand and a greater blessing to the ministers that I have the privilege to train in the Philippines.

Prayer Requests while in the States

2008-02-25T03:11:00.000-08:00

We are starting up our prayer blog again. CLICK HERE for the most recent post.

The Master's Academy International in the Philippines

2008-01-22T21:41:00.000-08:00

My wife and I keep laughing as God continually drops opportunities in our laps, opening doors for ministry, granting us favor in the eyes of others, and bringing great people to us to work with. I know that all of these things are from Him because they certainly are not because of any skills or credentials that we have. Churches and minister are giving me respect I haven’t earned. More experienced Pastors and elders call me to get my opinion on ministry issues. Other Churches are opening their doors for us to use as venues for training others and holding conferences. One businessman even offered us a building to start a training center in.

So why are churches and people in the Philippines so willing to work with us in this ministry? It started with a man who wanted to meet when he heard a graduate from the Master’s Seminary (TMS) was coming to the Philippines. Because he came to Christ through the ministry John MacArthur and Grace to you, he was eager partner in the ministry of training Filipinos in expository teaching and preaching. In November of 2006 I accepted his invitation to teach a group of about 15 ministers that he oversees. These 15 men each minister to separate groups of 700 to 1,000 people living in the surrounding poor communities. I began teaching these men on discipleship, hermeneutics and Bible.

Then in August of 2007, after a friend of mine who started a bible college in his church shared with me his frustration in finding qualified teachers, I agreed to help train his students. At this time Mark Macatangay, another graduate from TMS joined me. He is a Filipino national and an associate pastor from Green Hills Christian Fellowship (GCF). Mark and I accepted an invitation to train some ministers from a group called “Joshua”. This group specializes in discipling people from the police and armed forces of the Philippines. The class stared with just over 30 students and soon grew to over 40. After they completed Hermeneutics they asked if we would be willing to train more of their people. We started another class of 30 plus students who are currently taking Hermeneutics in the evenings (including some of the pastor’s wives). GCF provided for the copying of the syllabus for each student and copies of the book “How to Read the Bible for all it’s Worth.” Supporters of our ministry from the U.S. provided copies of the MacArthur Study Bible.

Among our students are a navy admiral, a military colonel, businessmen, engineers, bankers, and an attorney. All of them are now teachers or preachers hungry for training. After taking our course in Hermeneutics one student wrote, “Through this course I am truly encouraged to spend more time to read, study and meditate on the Word of God and consequently to trust and obey Him in all areas of my life and share the meaning and the truths to others as He reveals them to me.” Another said to me that he went to a Bible College in the Philippines, but he was never taught the basic principles that we taught him in our Hermeneutics class. I heard the same thing from another pastor who received a Masters of Divinity from a seminary in Manila. Comments like these serve to fuel my passion for bring solid training to ministers of God and to send them out through the Philippines and the nations.

Many other groups have expressed interest in us training them and we haven’t even advertised.One of those groups is White Fields. They are a missionary organization that focuses on training national church planters using experienced missionaries and ministers to help train and equip them for ministry. They asked us if we could help them in the area of Expository preaching. You can read about their ministry in the Philippines at the following website: www.whitefields.org/currentevents/2007/StepConference.pdf. This partnership will happen through modular training, the first of which will took place in January in the city of Batangas. Steve Wheeler from White Fields will taught a one week module in Hermeneutics to a group of about 100 ministers for one week in the evenings. Classes were held at night because the students work day jobs to survive while ministering during the evenings and weekends. We are lining up other modules in the near future for other ministers who live outside of Manila and on other islands.

The greatest challenges that we face right now are first, we have more potential students than we can teach on our own so we need help. We need more teachers who are willing to leave the comforts of the U.S. and move to Manila. We also need trained men who can come and help teach 1 to 2 week modules in various subjects including Old and New Testament, Theology, Church Planting, Leadership, Counseling, Pastoral ministry and Preaching. Second, we need prayer and financial support for both Mark and I, and for resources for the training center itself. You can contact us (sean@ransomreport.com) or the Masters Academy International (http://www.tmainternational.org/site/questionnaire.asp?q_id=29&sec_id=1) if you are interested in partnering with us.

Back in the States

2007-12-27T19:19:00.000-08:00

We recently arrived back in the States for our first furlough. We will be here till July 8th to report to our supports, raise some support that we are lacking, get some training, attend a few conferences, promote the Master's Academy International, recruit more workers, and visit with friends and family. We just spent Christmas with our family for the first time in four years. In addition to bringing our two new kids, we also got to see 3 new nephew/nieces. We are a growing family! I was also quickly reminded of how painful Christmas can be to the wallet. I'm writing from Kansas where our families came together to reunite. We went from this:

To this:

One reality that made things interesting is the fact that we no longer own any winter clothes. We were able to borrow from relatives to get by. Kian basically came here with all shorts and no pants. Thank God for central heat. I no longer have a good winter jacket, but the thin jacket that I still have coupled with a few layers of other clothes is getting me by. It is a real treat for our little one to have snow. Grace, Tyler, and Isabella have either never seen snow, or have no recollection of it. I was asked if it ever snows in the Philippines. Not even close. I think that the coldest it gets is somewhere around 60 degrees.

We will be back in California on January 3. Then it will be back to work speaking in churches, making phone calls and visits, working on my doctorate, and writing curriculum for the Master's Academy (the training center that we started in the Philippines. I am in the process of writing a blog about that and will post it soon).

Some of the challenges that we are facing right now are what schools to place our three school aged kids in. One kindergartner, one middle-schooler, and one High Schooler. We are also finding the cost of living in California today to be tough on a missionary budget. We are staying with family right now, (I am blessed with great parents in-law and I love them both) and most likely will stay with them till we return to the Philippines, but it is possible to stay in the valley with the help of our home church. Pray for us as week seek the Lord's directing in these decisions.

I have mixed emotions about being here. It is great to see friends and family. The need to raise more support and continued work on a doctorate in preaching are other good reasons to be here. Yet, at the same time the training center is just getting off the ground. My partner Mark Macatangay is keeping things going in the Philippines while continue to expand and support our work from here. I also worry about our friends living under the bridge. We prepared some people to minister to them in our absence so I believe that we left them in good hands, but there are many unfinished situations going on. Chariel needs to get heart surgery (as soon as possible), many of the people there are dealing with various illnesses, and they are all scheduled to have their homes demolished in August so they need to help build their relation homes or face living on the streets. Like the apostle Paul, I will entrust them to the care of God who loves them infinitely more than I ever could.

So it's good to be here, but I am anxious to get back. While we are here we hope to see all of you. Just email if you would like to arrange a time to get together. We don't have cell phones yet, but we should soon so leave your number with us too. I hope you all had a great time celebrating God's gift to the world, His Son Jesus Christ. We also hope that you have a happy New Year and give God the glory for the one he just gave you. Be blessed and enjoy knowing and serving Him.

Peace at the Bridge

2007-11-28T16:29:00.000-08:00

The sign said that all of their homes would be demolished and that they must all move out by Nov. 22. I got a text message on my phone from one of our friends from the bridge on the night of Nov. 22 that said, "Pastor, we have peace." Our friends at the bridge are rejoicing! In response to the threat of their homes being demolished and having no where to go they prayed and God listened. I learned that at their meeting with the Department of Urban Poor, they were told that there homes (100 plus families including our friends from the bridge and also those living along the sides of the river) will be demolished, but that they extended the deadline to August of 08. That's good news, but the better news is that they will be the first group in their city that will be relocated into new apartment type homes that they will own. They said many other groups were not given this opportunity, even others who lived near by. It appears that God is showing favor to these people. I pray that they will see His hand in this and that they will praise Him for it. My fellow workers and I will surely point this out to them.These new homes will have luxuries in them that our friends from the bridge don't currently have. These luxuries are pre-wired electricity, running water, and a toilet. Kuya Edwin shared with me earlier in the month how he was concerned about a relocation plan that required every family to pay a down payment on the home and a monthly payments of just over $20 a month (which is tough when you only make about a dollar a day and have a family to cloth and feed). This problem has been solved by a program that has all the families who receive the homes work 1000 hours each at helping to build their homes. In exchange, there will be no down payment and the month payment will instead be about $10 a month. This will be tough for some, but should be do able.My friend Obet is a little concerned about this because his handicap will probably prevent him from being able to work. I am hoping that short term construction teams from the U.S. and our local church here can assist by working for Obet and helping our friends from the bridge in the construction to speed up the time for families to move in. I will check into the details to see if this is possible, but if anyone has interest in helping or sending a team between next January and August, please let men know. Continue to pray for our friends at the bridge and in the surrounding area. Pray that they will recognize God's mercy and kindness to them, not only in their temporary needs, but in their eternal needs through the sacrifice of His Son so that their sins can be forgiven.

Banished from the Bridge?

2007-11-20T21:28:00.000-08:00

Through my car windows I could see people on the sides of the road huddling together where ever they could find a dry spot. It was raining hard on my way to the meeting. Just a few days earlier I received a text message on my cell phone that said, "Kuya Sean, the MMDA (Metropolitan Manila Development Authority) posted a sign that said all of us at Manalo Bridge must move out by Nov. 21 and that they would be demolishing our homes." A meeting was set for today, Nov. 20 to discuss the possibility for relocation to government housing. After Kuya Edwin shared the news of possible government housing I thought, great! that means they could actually own their own homes. Even if they were small, these potential homes would be theirs and they would have running water and electricity. Then Kuya Edwin told me that they would have to pay about P1000 pesos a month (about $24 a month) which means that the deal was not as good as it sounded at first because most of them can not afford that.

When I got to the meeting at about 9am, the rain had stopped and I was greeted by many people from Manalo Bridge and the surrounding community. I learned that not only were the people from the bridge threatened with being kicked out (about 25 families), but also the people living along side of the river banks (about 75 more families). Since the meeting started later than expected I was not able to stay till the end of it. I will find out what happened later and relay what I learn.
I understand that squatting on some else's property is illegal and I can sympathize with both the property owner and the poor person who is squatting because they have nowhere else to go. However, these people are squatting on government land. Land that is not really used by the government or the general public. As you can see in the picture above, they are living on the side of the river where no strip mall or housing track will ever be built. Their homes are built against the back of some businesses or other squatter houses.

Some of my friends had been waiting there since 7am and the meeting didn't even start till about 10am. I could see the concern in the faces of the people who already had so much to worry about. Many of them were unemployed and didn't know how they were going to pay for food, water, medicine, school supplies for their children, etc. Now they have to worry about weather they will have a roof over their heads. Most people I know are worrying about what they are going to buy for their kids, friends, and family for Christmas not where will they sleep.
One neat result of this trial is that our friends from Manalo Bridge are praying like they have never prayed before. We just got a text from them that they are organizing their first prayer meeting. Please pray for our friends that the government will give them an extension so that the children will at least be able to finish the semester at their schools. Also pray that affordable housing will be found for them to relocate to. Personally, I pray that if they are relocated they will be near enough for us to continue to minister to them. I will keep you posted on what God is doing with our friends at the bridge.

Moving Beyond the Bridge

2007-10-23T04:37:00.000-07:00

For almost two years now I have been building friendships at the bridge, helping to start bible studies for all, for women, children, and youth. Those helping me include my wife Jessica, our friends Meriam and Sheryl, pastor Rick, and now pastor Richard and Ate Cecil. Last Friday and Saturday nights we moved beyond the bridge to reach out to the community. The city where the bridge is located is called Manggahan. We had our first out reach event to that community so that we could share the gospel with them and invite them to be a part of existing bible studies or to start new ones in their homes.We showed movies, gave testimonies, performed special music, and shared the gospel message. It all took place in the basketball court of the town center. Our supporters provided the equipment which included a P.A. system and a projector to show the movie. We showed the movie "The Cross and the Switch Blade" in Tagalog. This is a film about Nickie Cruz a former gang leader turned evangelist. The evening started with a focus on the family cartoon for the kids and ended with snacks. It was such a joy to see many of our friends from the bridge serving the community for Christ. A few years ago there only concern was getting by in life. Now they are serving others and taking part in sharing real life - eternal life. Someone donated 200 pieces of sweet bread, Jess and I provided juice (which our friends from the bridge prepared and served), and 6 other men volunteered to help with music, testimonies, and teaching. Over a fifteen people/families signed up to join bible studies and many bowed the knee to pray after hearing the good news that Jesus forgives the sins of those who trust in Him alone. It was truly a privilege to help prepare and empower my Filipino friends and co-workers to do the work of the ministry. I was intentionally not a speaker at the event and I keep deferring decisions to those I entrusted to lead. They kept asking me to help make decisions on things like, "What movie do you think we should show?" "What should the order of the service be?" "What type of training should we provide the workers?" My answer was almost always the same. It may have even puzzled some, but I would say
something like, "It's up to you" or "What do you think?" However, I think that they are starting to get that I trust them, their abilities and judgment and that I want them to lead rather than be dependent on me.
We learned a lot this first time and look forward to our next opportunity to reach out beyond the bridge and into the community of Manggahan Pasig.

Updates

2007-09-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

The Masters Academy International:

The ground work for the Master's Academy International has began in the Philippines. I am currently teaching three groups of pastors, ministers, and bible college students hermeneutics (how to interpret the bible) and Old Testament survey. My wife Jessica is teaching some of them how to improve their English speaking ability. I am also partnering with fellow TMS graduate Mark Macatangay who is one of the pastors at Green Hills Christian Fellowship.

The first group that I started to teach are 15 men who are involved with ministering to the provincial poor. They reach the poor in their community teaching and connecting them with established local churches or helping to plant new ones among them.

The second group that I am teaching are bible students and a few local pastors. Many of them came to Christ while in prison and are now focusing on reaching the urban poor. All of them are involved in local ministry and several of them are traveling evangelist who love to share how Christ has changed their lives.

Mark and I co teach a third group of men who minister to the Filipine Army and national police. Students include a navy admiral, military colonel, businessmen, engineers, and bankers who are now pastors and ministers hungering for training. This particular class started with about 30 students and through word of mouth has increased to just over 40.

Partnership with White Fields:

This month I spoke at a conference sponsored by a missions organization called White Fields. The executive director, Stephen Lonetti is a friend and former teacher of mine from the Master's Seminary. Stephen, Leo Ordialles (the Philippines field director for White Fields) and I are looking forward to working together and increasing our involvement in training men in expository preaching and church planting.

Home assignment
The Ransom family will be going back to California from mid-December until July of 2008. We are returning to share what God has been doing in and through us as well as working on raising support that we are lacking, recruiting co workers, and attending a class at Talbot Theological seminary. We hope to see all of you while we are there. Contact us if you would like to arrange a time to get together.

Held for Ransom in the Hospital

2007-08-28T17:02:00.000-07:00

In the past I wrote about a 3 year old little boy named Chariel who has a heart defect. At the Philippine heart center we learned that he has to has to have two corrective surgeries, but before this can happen we had to get dental work done. This little boys teeth were so rotten that they posed a potential danger to his heart. The doctors were worried that an infection in his mouth could cause problems with his future heart surgeries. Apparently, since Chariel has trouble eating and basically lives off of powdered milk all that was left of his brittle teeth were broken stumps.

This set Jessica on a search for a dentist who do the work pro-bono or at least at a discounted rate. The Lord was gracious in providing a dentist who specialized in children and who was willing to do the work free. However, due to his condition, she said that he needed to have his heart monitored during the procedure and due to his age she recommended that he be anesthetized so that he can sleep the the long and painful procedure.

This started our second search. This time we needed to find a hospital room with heart monitoring equipment and an anesthesiologist so that the dentist could do her work. Jessica arranged a room at the Philippine heart center. They told us that they were comping the room to us and that the anesthesiologist would wave her professional fees and perform her services for free. We thanked the Lord and set a date. After a cancellation or two due Chariel being sick the big day came. At first we were worried that we would not be able to go through with it because Chariel's blood platelets were low. They gave him a blood transfusion and retested his blood. As you can imagine, non of this went well for our little 3 year old who found the whole ordeal quite traumatic. Jessica played with him a bit, which seemed to at least temporarily get his mind off of all the poking and prodding.

Just before Jessica and I left the hospital we decided to get an estimate on our share of the costs so that we would know how much money to bring on the following day when we checked them out of the hospital. We were told that although the doctors services were free, we would need to cover the costs of the medicine and the over night stay for Chariel. Initially, they told us that we would have to pay around 5,000 pesos (about $100 US). We agreed to that since we had the funds in our budget. A nurse called billing for our estimate and told us that it would cost about 10,000 pesos. We were surprised and the cost doubling and were considering stopping the procedure yet again. First, we went to talk to the billing department in person. They told us that since we Chariel was put in a semi private room (at about $16 a day) that put him in a new category with new prices. After we shared his story and ours, they realized that he was a charity case and that we don't have a limitless supply of money. They assured us that except for the room cost, they would bill us the rates for a charity patient and that our cost would only be about 5,000 pesos. After much struggling, we were again joyful and gave the go ahead for Chariel. Latter that evening he passed all the test and was finally ready. The dental work went smoothly and the dentist pulled all 20 of his teeth.

This is where things began to get interesting. We showed up the next day to pay the bill and bring Chariel and his parents Charita and Ariel home. Looking at the last line of the bill we didn't see the word TOTAL followed by the number P5,000 like we expected. Instead we saw
the number P43,000 and change. Really shocked, we began to investigate. We learned several things. First, a complimentary operating room and use of equipment doesn't mean free. It means that they are allowing outsiders or non-staff members the privilege of renting their stuff. We also learned that this was not a bait and switch. It is just different here, they use different terminology and certain things are understood here that are not in the US. No one was trying to deceive us, in fact they were going out of their way to help Chariel and us, but the misunderstanding was a costly one.

We began the process of appeal in the hopes that the hospital would at least give us a substantial discount. However, the doctor in charge was not there so we could not settle the bill that day. Since the bill was not settled they would not let Chariel and his family go home, they had to stay another night and we had to pay for it. The doctor in charge gave a few thousand pesos off, but the price was still almost 8 times what they originally told us. Their advice was to return the next day to see if social services could help us. They said they would help for the heart surgery, but that they could not help with the dental work. The two day dental procedure end up being a almost a week stay in the hospital. Each day we tried to negotiate the bill cost us another 800 pesos. The resolution ended up being that the doctor said he would help us to recuperate some of our cost by discounting the heart surgeries. Lord willing this may end up working in our favor as a percentage discount of the much more expensive heart surgery could be a larger overall saving. We finally paid the ransom and brought Chariel and his family home. The Lord in His kindness has already provided the money for the dental work. We are hoping that we can get the first of his two heart surgeries done before the end of this year. Pray for God's will and timing in this situation.

To Jessica on our 18th Wedding Anniversary

2007-08-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

Drawn to her...

Maybe its her smile that lights up places,
maybe its her laugh that brings joy to many faces.
Perhaps its her tireless giving of her heart,
perhaps its the emptiness I feel when we're apart.
Could it be from time together watching our children grow?
Could it be from the love we share and the way she lets it show?
Am I drawn to her because of the devotion she shows to me?
Am I drawn to her because of the commitment she has for our family?

I'm surely drawn by her words of grace,
surely drawn by the smiles that are always on her face.
I'm drawn to her by her passion and her affections,
I'm also drawn to her by our spiritual connection.
Its been eighteen years and the sparks remains,
I'm drawn to her more now,
more than when we first began.
Happy anniversary Jess,
I will always love you,

Sean

The Weight of Poverty

2007-08-02T06:06:00.000-07:00

Kuya Tony's familiar smile was gone. He would hardly lift his head as I looked at him through the bars of his cell. He was not in jail or under formal arrest, but he was being held in a local city detention center. I believe that the pressures of living under a bridge and caring for a wife and 7 children was taking its toll on him. Tony was working in our neighborhood driving a pedicab (a bicycle with a side car). The $5-$6 a day that he makes is not an uncommon salary here and one in which he and his family are grateful for. However, Tony's bike has been broken for almost a month and the owner of it was not taking care of the repairs. These problems and a fight between Tony and his older children proved to be more than Tony could take.
I got a text message on my phone that Tony had a break down. He was walking naked in the middle of the street before they locked him up. We I got to the lock up he was dressed and in his right mind, but I could tell that he was agitated. I was speaking fast Tagalog to me so I could n't get all that he was saying. He said, "Pastor, maraming kasalanan sa tulay" (there are a lot of sins at the bridge). He continued to tell me that some of his children did not respect him. I sat on the floor outside of the cell and tried to give him some hope. I told him that i would try to help him get his bike fixed so that he could work again. That seemed to cheer him up some. The barangay captain (a city employee) released him to us so that we could take him to the hospital.
As we were taking him to the doctor I learned that he had numerous episodes like this. He was actually on medication, but He said because he was feeling so good (physically and psychologically) and because of the expense of the medicine he decided to stop taking it. The nurse checked his records and scolded him for not coming in for regular check-ups or taking his medicine. She gave him a dose and set an appointment with the doctor for the following day. I bought him a 3 month supply of his medication and we returned him to his family at the bridge. I saw him again a few days later and he looked really good. Pastor Rick is taking him under his wing and I was really nice to see them bond through these events. Pray for Tony and that he will trust in God as he struggles to survive with his family in such hard circumstances. Handling such a hard life under our own strength is more than most of us can bare. I pray that as he trusts God more and becomes more satisfied in his circumstances that he will even be able to get off his medications. Lastly, pray that he will be able to work again as a pedicab driver and that he will have a more responsible employer.

Sharpening our ministry focus

2007-07-12T17:14:00.000-07:00

With our ministries of teaching increasing, Jessica and I are forces to make some tough choices for some ministry transitions. Starting the first week of August I'm teaching a group of men who minister to the Philippines military on Mondays. On Tuesdays I teach a group of men who minister to the poor living south of Manila. On Thursdays Jessica and I will teach a group of bible students. I will teach them the basics of how to interpret the bible and Jessica will help them to sharpen their English. We also meet others throughout the week for bible studies, mentoring and discipleship.
In addition to the above ministries I am preparing and improve syllabuses for several classes, (how to interpret the bible, Old Testament Survey and preaching). Jessica continues to work on material for teaching English as a second language. Lastly, I have to continue working on my studies for the doctoral program in taking at Talbot.

With all these ministries and a few others not mentioned we are finding ourselves having to cut out some ministries that are not essential to the vision that God has given us. So after two and a half years we are stopping our home bible study. We had a great time taking our friends through Luke and Acts and were blessed to see them grow in the Lord. We will still see many of them as we encourage and counsel them. A few others we will try to integrate into a cell group we work with.

The other area of transition is my involvement at the bridge. I will still be involved in ministry there, but the way I have been doing it will change. I will be more involved with mentoring pastor Rick and developing leaders there. I will be less involved with the day to day ministries at the Bridge and the surrounding area. Even things like giving medicine to the sick or rides to the doctor will be done through pastor Rick whenever possible.
I met with pastor Rick yesterday to discus future plans for out reach to Manalo Bridge and the surrounding Manggahan area. We are planning to do a monthly outreach where we will show films like the Jesus Film, cartoons for the kids, testimonies, drama, and a gospel message. We hope that this will give us more opportunities to start new bible studies in the area. Pray for God's favor as we ask local businesses and land owners to let us use their property for free or a small price for these events.
Pastor Rick and I also began planning his preaching schedule. Pastor Rick has not taken any formal training for preaching and does that best he can, but I believe that I can help him a lot in this area. I gave him two books for us to study together ( "How to read the bible for all its worth" by Fee and Stuart, and "Biblical Preaching" by Haddon Robinson). In addition to these books we are outlining the Gospel of John together and writing out its main preaching ideas. I am going to help pastor Rick (for the first time) preach through a whole book of the bible. I believe that this will greatly help him and the biblically illiterate people that he is teaching. I will keep you posted on his progress. Please pray for us all.

No more avioding eye contact for Jerwin

2007-06-18T14:46:00.000-07:00

It was a long process, but it was worth the wait. Jerwin may no longer feel the need to let his hair hang down over his right eye now that we were finally able to get a prosthetic eye implanted. His implant was relatively cheap; $60 plus about $100 for medications. Although 160 dollars may not be a lot of money for you or I, it is a lot for Jerwin and his family. Perhaps that is why they never dreamed that they could do anything for his damaged eye. His mom earns about 3 dollars a day and at that rate it would take over 50 days of her small earnings to pay for the implant. That makes it basically impossible for her and her four children to survive. Thanks to all our supporters, we were able to minister to them by covering their expenses and shuttling him back and forth to the hospital. The picture below is of Jerwin a few months ago. After they scraped off several layers of his eye. His eye lids began so drop making it look like he was squinting. I posted this picture on an earlier blog. This is Jerwin and his older brother JR at the East Ave. Medical Center where he was going in almost weekly to prepare his eye for the implant.

They finished Jerwin's eye while I was in California for some studies. Here is a picture that Jessica emailed me of how Jerwin looks today.

I hope that this will increase his confidence, but more importantly I pray that it will be a testimony of God's love for him and his family. I just learned that Jerwin's brother Oliver wants to start bible college which we about and we are excited to support him through. I will write more about that later.

A Room for Pastor Rick

2007-06-18T02:07:00.000-07:00

This post originally appeared in our newsletter, but I thought that I would post it on my blog as well...

If I had opened that door three years ago I probably would have jumped at the sight of what I saw. The small room greeted me with about a half dozen flying roaches. These were big ones, not like the vertically challenged ones I’ve seen in the U.S. Like their cousins from the States, they took off running when the lights came on and they were fast. I stepped in the 9 X 6 foot room (approximately) followed by Pastor Rick. Even with its one florescent light it seemed kind of dark. The cement floor is uneven, it has a low ceiling, no bath room and the kitchen consists of a small 1 X 2 foot shelf looking thing sticking out of a wall with a drain tube running from the bottom of it and outside through a small hole in the wall.

Inside I was feeling bad about the question I was about to ask. “Pastor Rick, is this room okay for you then?” He had called me the day before to let me know that he found a room and wanted me to check it out. He told me that the rent is $32 dollars a month including electricity and water. That is actually $18 a month less than our budget. In answer to my questions about the room Pastor Rick said that the room would be fine. I reminded him that our budget allows for a little better room, but he said this will do for now, maybe we will find a better one latter. I paid his first month rent and a security deposit. We bought him some plates, dishes, cups, eating utensils, a fan, a pot and pan, a gas cooking stove, a foldable foam sleeping mat, and a few plastic chairs and table.

When I asked where the bathroom is located, I learned that he has to share one with four families (probably large families) and that it is located somewhere outside. I suspect that one of the reasons that he wants that particular room is not only that it is located just around the block from the bridge, but that it is situated in a large community of squatters. Although it is a relatively small area, maybe a couple of city blocks, there has to be easily a thousand people living there. I was surprised when several of the residents there recognized me.

We plan to have Pastor Rick start another bible study by his rented room along with another one in a near by neighborhood. We will also have monthly outreaches like showing the Jesus film and other movies with my projector and a generator that we plan on buying soon. Pastor Rick and I also plan on training up some of the faithful at the bridge to helping us in reaching out to the surrounding communities for Christ.

Even though poverty is all around us in the Philippines, many Filipino pastors are not moved by it and would rather minister in more comfortable circumstances. They might reason that, “I can reach the poor better from an affluent church”, but it’s not getting done. I am challenged by Pastor Rick’s commitment to love those who are harder to love and to go to those who most are afraid or unwilling to go to. Continue to pray for us, and especially for this brother who is willing to carry his cross daily and to give his life for the sake of the gospel.