We’re without Jesse and Chelsey but we’re still in the game! We’re preaching church, teaching pastors, giving away coffee and generally ministering with all we got.  So we’ll keep at all of this until someone comes to get us or tells us to come home…

This week started with a trip across the island to the city of Toledo. Here, we hosted the final MTI in the “Genuine Disciple” series. We hope that the material covered in these MTIs will produce long-lasting fruit and bless those who have attended as well as their churches.

For pastors who have been active participants of these MTIs, Shofar Mission is now offering support and resources for starting local Bible studies, in hopes of increasing biblical maturity and fellowship in their communities and churches. We are looking forward to what God will do through this new ministry endeavor.

During the Toledo MTI, a couple people from the team paired up with Street Level Toledo members to do outreaches at one of the local universities. While they gave away coffee and iced tea, they were able to tell students about the weekly Bible study and make new connections.

Some of the team will be heading back to the States this week, while the remaining members will continue ministering in Cebu and Toledo. The next few weeks will be filled with a Pastoral Training Institute (PTI) class and more university ministry and outreach.

Over the weekend, members from Cebu and Toledo Street Levels along with a few of the American team members came together for a weekend retreat in the mountains.

The intent of this retreat was to provide an opportunity for the members at both locations to come together for fellowship, but also have an opportunity for additional training. Pastor Tim opened the weekend up with a message on making your life count and not living an unfinished life.

Over the weekend, the group discussed topics on commitment to church, how to read the Bible, prayer, and service. We were able to share real life examples with each other and many students came away from the retreat with conviction and a desire for a fuller life with Christ.

In between sessions we shared meals together, played games, and enjoyed the sunshine and cool mountain air.

The team ended the weekend together at Believers Church Cebu. God is good, and we are excited to see what He has in store next.

While on Bohol, a couple members of the US team joined with some members of Street Level Cebu Island to host a youth summit. This gathering is designed for young people stepping up as leaders within their churches. The topic of the summit was “Follow Me.” We discussed what it means to be a sold out disciple of Christ. Some students have been a part of youth summits in the past, and some were new. There were great discussions and we hope the students will return to their churches fired up and ready to disciple and lead their peers.

After a short stay in the city where we attended Believers Church Cebu, we traveled to Bantayan. While on the island we are hosting an MTI class for pastors and church leaders, and updated some tech for the TV station we have here.