From Mr. Guy Ames: Though two typhoons, one close on the heels of the other, brought severe flooding to Metro Manila and other parts of the Philippines, they did not dampen the enthusiasm of the brethren, ministers and office staff for what was an excellent first six months of 1985.
At the end of June, our year-to-date income was up 36.3% over the same period in 1984. Pentecost brought a fine 16% increase in attendance (3,251), and the offering was an outstanding 85.9% increase over last year. These excellent figures appear to reflect the enthusiasm among the brethren for the increasing depth and focus of the preaching and teaching of the pastors as a result of Mr. Dean Blackwell's Ministerial Education Program (MEP) over the past six months.
On June 19, a four-month recess began in the MEP to enable those ministers who had not yet attended the Ministerial Refreshing Program in Pasadena to do so. This involves a majority of the ministers, including those hired during the past year. They will be traveling to Pasadena in three groups to attend the last three sessions of the third round of the MRP.
Mr. Blackwell, who has taught classes three solid days each week for nearly six months, and then preached in churches across the country on the Sabbaths, took a well-deserved break to visit his mother (who is seriously ill) and Headquarters at Pasadena. He and his wife, Maxine, will then travel to Tonga and Fiji where he will cover some of the same MEP material with the ministers there. After visiting New Zealand, the Blackwells will then observe the Feast of Tabernacles in Australia. The MEP classes will resume, God willing, immediately after the Feast and continue for another 11-week session until the end of the year.
The final session of the MEP before the break was highlighted by five ordinations, as reported in the July 12 PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT. It was a very moving experience for Mr. Blackwell to see the obvious fruits of the MEP in these men, and the prospect of more ordinations later in the year.
Preparations for the Feast of Tabernacles are well under way. In 1985, there will be five sites in the Philippines:
BAGUIO CITY — in the mountainous, cooler region of northern Luzon. NOVALICHES — a suburb of Quezon City; part of Metro Manila. LEGASPI CITY — at the foot of the still active Mayon Volcano. CEBU CITY — site of the landing/death of explorer Ferdinand Magellan. CAGAYAN DE ORO — picturesque city of northern Mindanao.
Since the brethren are spread over many islands in the archipelago, it is necessary to choose Feast sites that will minimize travel by coastal ferries and boats, which sometimes take several days. Attendance at the Feast this year is expected to be close to 4,000, including visitors from the United States, Canada, Malaysia, Australia and Britain.
We are delighted to be expecting Mr. and Mrs. Herman Hoeh as our guests from Pasadena this year. The Hoehs have not visited the Philippines before, and it will be a delight for the brethren to meet a long-standing evangelist whose name they know well, but whom they have yet to see in person. Plans call for Mr. Hoeh to speak at four sites during the Feast, and the fifth area on Atonement. Also visiting the Philippines this year will be Mr. Marc Masterson, pastor of the Beckley and Summersville churches in West Virginia, and his family.
In the office, we were pleased to welcome back as an employee Gloria Angel, who graduated from Ambassador College in Pasadena this past May. Gloria will greatly assist in the Ministerial Services and Mail Processing areas where the work load is heavy and the staff few.
At the end of June, the work of God's Church in the Philippines could be summarized by the following statistics:
Churches - 31 Outlying Bible studies - 1 Full-time ministers - 23 Local church elders - 12 Office employees - 15 Members - 1,865
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