Within just a week, our BP was in the midst of two important events related to cheerful giving—one that happened in our congregations abroad, and one that happened for the very first time in Bethany Baptist Church in Makati

If you think it’s over, the cheerful giving fever has hit yet another high this past week.

Our very own beloved pastor, Dr. Benny Abante, Jr., was the bearer of good news as he arrived late Monday night from Dubai, after a five-day trip there to lead our MBBC Middle East Congregations in their own Cheerful Giving Conference.

Two weeks ago, the first fruits commitments among our MBBC works here in the Philippines closed at a little over Php 30 million, a figure that the BP had long been praying for this year. Without telling the members about this target, the BP simply waited until the climax of the Cheerful Giving Conference to see if indeed the members will respond accordingly. Without fail the Lord moved, and thus the goal was reached.

Coming over to our Middle East Congregations, the BP also had a figure in mind, but again did not tell the members. By the end of his trip there, the commitments among the congregations abroad reach approximately Php 18 million, the largest amount ever raised from our members abroad!

All in all, the amount raised for first fruits among MBBC works here and abroad is almost 50 million pesos! Praise God for this!

Still, according to the BP several members from our foreign congregations have yet to sign their first fruits checks and commit to the record-breaking figure as of this week.

Our Beloved Pastor has always been invited by Dr. Gerry Nable, senior pastor of Bethany BC, to preach in their annual missions confab, but this is the first time he was invited to specifically preach on Cheerful Giving.

But the positive feel of the cheerful giving principle took another good turn last Thursday as our BP, for the very first time, spoke of the Cheerful Giving principle during the 12^th World Missions Conference of Bethany Baptist Church in Makati. There, the BP gave his preaching on the Four Areas of Cheerful Giving, and went on to saying that the secret to a successful missions program is if the churches would come to know the principle of Cheerful Giving, apply it to their ministries, and strengthen their financial base of local and foreign missions. The response was overwhelming as the altar was full of pastors and preachers who later testified of the blessing they received from the message of the BP.

Regarding the MBBC’s commitments this year, the BP has already mentioned that in order to see all of these commitments fulfilled, all of our members are encouraged to already give their first fruits on a monthly basis to avoid any hindrance in the fulfilment of their commitments. He said that the members need not wait for the first quarterly giving of first fruits on the first Sunday of April. As early as this week, first fruits can now be given to avoid the hassle.

Let us all be faithful and true to our first fruits commitments this year!

It was a special day of love and appreciation last Friday as the Metropolitan International Christian Academy celebrated their annual Teachers’ Day at the MBBC Main Sanctuary.

Each year the school takes time out to honor and celebrate the life and labour of love our MICA Teachers have given for the school and its students for every academic year. For 27 years now, MICA stands strong as one of the best Christian schools in the country, and this is due to the unwavering dedication of its administration, led by our beloved pastor Dr. Benny Abante Jr., MICA’s directress Mrs. Marie Paz Abante, principal Ms. Marites Jacinto, and the more than 23 faculty and staff of the school.

This year’s festivities were led and organized by the MICA Student Council, under the leadership of Mrs. Buenaluz Baldoz, this year’s Teachers’ Day organizing committee, student council president Dan Paul Pilongo, and the rest of the student council officers.

Ptr. RC Cayanan, a BBEI alumnus, gave the special message for the event, which was also attended by the parents of the students. Afterwards, Mr. Edgar Laurente stood in behalf of the parents to show their gratitude to the “second parents” their kids encounter in school.

For this year, Ms. Marla Calipayan was the recipient of the Service Award, having already served the school for 10 years.

The teachers had a special time with our BP during lunch at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati, where he had a heart to heart talk with the teachers about several changes the school will be undergoing for the next school year.

Congratulations to our MICA Teachers!

The Lord surely knows how to lift up the heart of His servant by showing him doors of opportunities opening up unexpectedly and effortlessly.

This was the testimony that our beloved pastor, Dr. Benny Abante, Jr., shared last Tuesday night during the joint Jeremiah 33:3 Club here at the Main Church. He himself opened the prayer meeting by citing the recently opened doors for his prospect of running for the senate in 2013.

Just two Mondays ago, the BP was the keynote speaker for the first ever Bulacan Day of Prayer at the Provincial Capitol in Malolos. No less than Governor and Mrs. Willy Alvarado, Vice Mayor Daniel Fernando, the provincial board members and municipal and city mayors of the province were there to listen to our senior pastor’s message on the features of a righteous and God-fearing nation.

The event was organized by various church leaders of different denominations, including the BIBLEMODE churches of Bulacan. Also present to hear the BP were the more than 1000 employees of the Provincial Capitol.

Last week, the BP went farther up north in Bontoc, Mt. Province, to be the guest speaker of the Bontoc Bible Baptist Church, led by Ptr. Manuel Imatong. The municipal government officials of Bontoc were among the 540 plus people in attendance last Sunday, with more than 160 of them coming forward to receive Christ as their Savior.

The visit to Bontoc was actually the highlight of three stop-over trips to the northern fellowship of churches. The others were in Baguio and in Nueva Ecija.

In the next two weeks, the BP will be heading south to minister to our disaster stricken brethren in Cagayan De Oro and Iligan City to personally deliver the relief and funds raised by the BIBLEMODE for those heavily hit by typhoon Sendong last December. A week will pass before he again takes a flight going to Davao for another meeting with the pastors there.

Continue to pray for our BP that God would strengthen him as he takes on the schedules ahead of him. Pray for protection and provision for each of these trips.

Abala ang mga kapatiran nating magigiting sa Tondo nitong nagdaang linggo sa pangunguna ni Pr. John Lamela, ang nakatalagang preacher-in-charge ng ating Care Station dito. Marami nang mga kabataan at magulang ang nangaligtas sa nagdaang ilang araw, at ngayon naman ay ang kanilang Grand Evangelistic Celebraton sa Paraiso Sports Complex sa Juan Luna, Tondo.

Naroon ngayon si Ptr. RC Cayanan sa ngalan ng ating Mahal na Pastor, Dr. Benny Abante, Jr., na pabalik bukas mula sa matagumpay niyang paglalakbay sa UAE.

Sa susunod na linggo itatanghal ng mga kapatiran sa Tondo ang kanilang mga inihanda ngayong araw na ito.

Muli ay isang mainit na pagbati sa mga kapatiran ng MBBC Tondo Care Station sa unang taon ng kanilang pagkakatatag!

Aside from being the welcome service for the arrival of the BP fresh off the success of his 5-day trip to the UAE for their Cheerful Giving Conference, the other highlight for this Tuesday’s prayer meeting will be the visit of Ptr. Mark Chappell of the Freeway Baptist Church.

The BP also got to intrigue the members through his text by saying that he has a testimony to share before the people of God this Tuesday. Surely no one would want to miss that!

All our congregations will be coming over to Sta. Ana for the joint prayer meeting of all our MBBC works.

You may start contact our members through text or the net and get them to come and attend the special joint prayer meeting this Tuesday.

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The BP started doing this annual honouring of the church’s cheerful givers last January of 2011 in recognition of 2010’s faithful stewards of God’s resources. This year, the BP highlighted several cheerful givers as young as 6 years old, and as old as 69 years old.

Himself topping the list as the highest giver for 2011, our BP expressed His gratitude to our Lord God Almighty for the blessings He has showered upon him and the faithful members of the church who are consistently giving in all four aspects of cheerful giving.

During the BP’s annual State of the Church Address last Sunday, the church’s total giving increased by 9% from the giving total last 2010. That means the MBBC last 2011 gave more than Php 1.5 million in total offerings.

The BP has cast his vision that the church may well achieve the 2 million mark by 2012, a target not far from achievable, especially, as he said, when we look and remember at how God has been good to the church for 37 years now.

And so coming off the mood and feel of the recent awarding done last Sunday, the church will once again hold its annual Cheerful Giving Conference on January 18-26 in all of our congregations. The eight-day confab among our works will be capped off with the initial taking of our First Fruits commitments on January 29. The BP has mentioned that for this year the church might reach a goal of Php 25 million, especially as it prepares to embark on the biggest nationalist endeavour that it will take for our BP to run for a higher office of service in our country.

Start praying and preparing now for the CONFERENCE OF BLESSINGS!

Our beloved pastor, Dr. Benny Abante, Jr., will be leading the battery of speakers that will tackle the lives of 12 men from the Bible who individually made a mark in influencing the affairs of their nation.

Since June of last year, this conference has been heavily promoted among the Biblical Baptist churches around the country. Brainstorming meetings have been done almost every month by the BIBLEMODE officers just to map out the details and program of the meet, and everything is set to be seen tomorrow night at 7PM for the Kick-Off Service.

The BP meeting with the BIBLEMODE Officers during one of their business meetings last November 2011.

With the theme “Bayan Ko, Mahal Ko: The BIBLEMODE Legacy of Biblical Patriotism,” this year’s confab is expected to be attended by almost a thousand delegates coming from all parts of the country. Because of the big number of guest pastors, pastors’ wives, second men and workers expected to come, five other different venues have been tapped to house the delegates exceeding our normal capacity here in the main church.

One of the features of this year’s conference with be the conferment of the prestigious BIBLEMODE Hall of Faith Award to three distinguished men of God, whose lives and legacies as faithful warriors of the cross will be highlighted on Wednesday night. The Hall of Faith is a prestigious honor conferred by our church and the BIBLEMODE to a very select few men of God. Thus far, the Hall of Faith award has been conferred to our BP, to missionaries’ Frank Hooge, Elmer Guillion, L.D. Woosley, Bob Hughes, Drs.’ Jerry Falwell, John Rawlings, Al Janney, David Wood, and our very own Drs. Wenceslao Secilliano, Armie Jesalva, Dan Amayun, and Bienvenido “Tatay” Abante, Sr.

Every year the BIBLEMODE Conference kicks off the string of conferences that the MBBC hosts. Coming up after this week’s meet would be the “conference of blessings,” our annual Cheerful Giving Conference also this January. The other conferences that the MBBC holds annually are the Baptist Heritage Youth Convention in April, the Antioch Conference in June, and the Baptist Heritage Conference on October.

Let us all take part in seeing this year’s BIBLEMODE Conference a resounding success!