Another thing that really hit me this year and last was the commitment and dedication many people have for God.  One Philippine missionary made a statement I will never forget.  He said, “I would die for these people (meaning the mountain people called Mangyan’s).  Jesus is coming back soon and they need to know.”

We were a group of 12 mostly from Kelowna and Kamloops area who split up into 5 different sites on the island of Mindoro.   With me was Dr. Larry Shipowick and Pastor Mike Lowe, we spent 8 days at the Mangyan village called Balangabang.

Each evening we shared stories, experiences, and bible truths about Jesus while our interpreter tried to keep up.  One evening Larry handed out 5 Frisbees that had a Canada flag on them.  The next day one of the missionaries asked me what it was that we handed out the night before.  I said, “You have never seen that before?”  She said, “No, the people think it is a plate.”  We got a good chuckle out of that.  So the next night we demonstrated how the Frisbees’ worked and everyone was amazed.  They learned that it was a flying plate.

During the day, Larry ran a dental clinic while Mike and I did some visits locally and to other villages.  Larry pulled out over 100 teeth during our stay.  People came from many different mountain villages some 2 and 3 hours hike and all bare foot of course.

This time of the year, summer for the Philippines, water is a big problem for this village.  There was nothing flowing from the water source pipe until night time when the usage further up the mountain was less.  This became a big problem for cooking, washing, toilet and drinking water, etc…  Some money was donated from several people in our Kelowna church and these funds will help to provide a better solution for water supply and the churches sanitation.

From all 5 sites, there was a total of 503 individuals who gave their lives to Jesus and were baptized.

There is much more that could be said but I don’t want to bore you with any more details.  I know that it is very hard to relate to these experiences unless you were there.

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Global evangelism and digital media

The word “vision” literally means the ability to see things that are visible.
But it also is used to mean the ability to see other things.
“Intelligent foresight”

Such ventures as business or politics require men and women of vision.
Companies require CEOs with vision, countries require leaders with vision.

Without the ability to visualize worthy goals and how these can be realized, very little of importance is achieved.

In our churches, we desperately need an elevated vision of what it is all about…
We need great goals (what can be done) and greater objectives (how it can be done).

Jesus certainly had a great vision: the saving of souls!
Everything He did was to fulfill that one purpose.

Bad things happen when people lose their vision.  That includes your physical vision.  When you lose your vision you begin to go down.

Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

Quote by Helen Keller:
“What could be worse than being born without sight?  Being born with sight and no vision.”

In April 2008, 110 people from the Kelowna Adventist church got together for a “Vision to Action” weekend with guest presenter, Pastor Gordon Pifher, president of the British Columbia Conference.

He led us through a time of discussion and exploration.  We talked and shared about the strengths and weaknesses of the Kelowna church and looked at the opportunities and threats that surround the church.

Next, time was given to focus on what the ideal church would look like as people were given the opportunity to write vision statements.  Pastor Pifher explained that we were all looking down from a hot air balloon and he wanted us to describe what we were seeing, hearing, and feeling as we floated by.  He called these, “I see, I hear, I feel” vision statements.

Some examples of the “I see, I hear, I feel” vision statements that came from this weekend include:

• I see people gathering together, many young people reaching out to help and team up for different avenues.  I hear praise and worship that is irresistible, makes a person intrigued.  I feel happiness, God’s presence and ability to be one.

• I see my friends who were addicted to drugs, alcohol and sex, all of my friends who were hurt or abused and turned to the world for help.  I see them happy.  I see their eyes are clear and not dulled by drugs or pain. I hear them laugh, real laughter that is not a cover for anything. I feel their joy as they finely see themselves the way God sees them, the way he has always seen them.

The next step of the “Vision to Action” process happened on the following Thursday when the Kelowna church board elected a Vision to Action team to organize and arrange the material that was collected from the weekend.

The Vision to Action team faithfully and earnestly worked through the pages of collected  information and the “I see, I hear, I feel” vision statements.   After many weeks of meeting, they identified specific areas and goals that the Kelowna church felt were important to focus on over the next 3 to 5 years.

These identified goals were then organized and written into what was called a Shared Vision to Action Report.  This Vision to Action Report was made available for everyone in the church, and reflected a new direction for the Kelowna Adventist church.

We are currently working on completing the objectives highlighted from the vision to action report and keeping in check with our mission and motto of Leading People to Jesus.

I want to say thank-you to Pastor Pifher and to everyone who took the time to be involved in this very important and inspiring weekend. I am excited to see where God will lead next as we faithfully continue to follow through with the vision to action report.