TJFM Center Construction

The construction of our TJFM center is now on its 4th week. We will update you with the progress of the construction by posting photos every 2 weeks in the Building Project Group of TJF Butuan Facebook. The photos below were taken at the end of the 3rd week of construction.

Taligaman Church Opening

On the first Sunday of July, our Taligaman outreach finally became a local church. They had their first Sunday service that day. The church was full; there were over 170 people there - adults, children, and people from Butuan church who attended that significant event. We believe God has planted this local church in Taligaman to be salt and light in this Barangay. Let us uphold in prayer all the leaders and volunteers of the Taligaman ministry.

More fotos on the TJF Butuan Facebook.

TJFM YouTube Channel

We created our YouTube account to launch our fundraising for the new center we are constructing. Click HERE to go to our channel.

Fundraising

We are "selling" tickets to raise funds for our building construction. Tickets will be available soon. See more tickets at TJFM Facebook.

TJFM Center

Another very exciting development in church these days is the purchase of our land and the preparation for the construction of our new church building. Last May 26 the land title was finally transferred to our name. The next day we called a meeting for all of our leaders in church to show them the 3 sketches that the architect made for us so we can choose.

The building sketch that was unanimously selected was this:



As soon as the architect finishes the changes we asked him to make on the church floor plan, I will upload the image in my next post. Please join us in praying for the construction of the new center. We still don't have the full amount to finish the building, so we are now praying and raising funds.

TJFM Youth Camp

Another big event last May was the youth camp conducted by some of our church leaders and by our youth leaders. It was held in the Teen Missions International campsite in Buenavista, Agusan del Norte. Thirty-eight youth and young teens from the Butuan church and from our outreaches attended. They called it "Experience God Retreat." And it really was a powerful encounter with God. The Holy Spirit visited them in powerful, real and tangible ways - it was like the day of Pentecost. Most of them received the gifts of the Holy Spirit as they were prayed for. Now our youth are preparing for the school opening on June 6. These young people aged 12-17 have caught the vision for extending the Gospel in their campuses; they will start fellowships and small groups there. They are very willing to become leaders in these campus fellowships. I am now preparing the small group materials they will be using.

The highlight for us, and what excites us the most, is that our youth leaders who were facilitators in this camp did much of the work and even much of the praying for the campers. They told us how amazed they were that God used them in very powerful ways in that camp.

See their fotos in TJF Butuan Facebook. There are several fotos but you might want to start here.

Vacation Bible School 2011

Last May 9-14, the church Children Ministry and the leaders and members from our Taligaman outreach conducted a Vacation Bible School in Barangay Taligaman. Around 130 children enrolled. Their theme was "Reclaiming the World for God" and the VBS package had a Jurassic Park look. The children were taught about the creator God and His purpose, the fall of man, and the believers' responsibility of reclaiming a lost world back to God. The parents told us how happy they were at the changes that happened to their children as they attended the VBS. On graduation day 118 children successfully completed the VBS. What excites us more is the involvement of our people in Taligaman in this ministry. We saw their joy as they worked hard and even sacrificed for the sake of advancing the Gospel in their community.

See their fotos in the TJF Butuan Facebook album. There are several albums on the VBS but you might like to start here.

Water Baptism and Family Day

Last April 23 we conducted a water baptism and also had a Family Day for TJFM folks in Butuan and for all our outreaches. We didn't expect it, but the turnout this year is greater than last year. It's really exciting to see how the Lord has "grown" our fellowship. Twenty people from Butuan, from our youth group, Ecclesia, from our small groups, and from Bonbon and Taligaman made the decision to follow Jesus in water baptism. We also had lots of fun as we had breakfast together, played games, enjoyed the beach; some even went boat riding!




More fotos in TJFM Facebook here 1 and here 2.

Children Workers' Training

Some members of the Children's Ministry attended the Vacation Bible School (VBS) seminar conducted by PCBS last April 6, 2011 at the Free Methodist Church. This is in preparation for the holding of TJFM's VBS on May 7-14 at Taligaman.



More fotos at TJFM Facebook.

Youth Community Service

Last April 9 the youth in church, together with some of their Ecclesia members, went to Baranggay San Vicente to hold a clean-up drive (picking up of street trash) and to feed children in the community. It's very encouraging seeing them perform community service, being salt and light as Jesus said we ought to be. Helping them in this endeavor is the newly formed Community Service ministry in church which conducted relief goods distribution to flood victims last February.

More fotos in TJFM Facebook.

San Vicente Outreach

Last January, after our leaders' retreat, Froilan and Genee met with their Bible study group in Brgy San Vicente to talk to them about what the TJFM leadership foresees about the future of this Bible study group - that they could become a local church. So we suggested they pursue this if they feel this is of God, and that they transition from 'Bible study' stance to 'outreach stance.' Everyone in San Vicente seems to be excited about this. Some of them even said God gave them a 'word' that sort of confirms this. So I offered to conduct a chronological presentation of God's purpose using our God's purpose chart. We did this for 4 weeks and had a wonderful time with them.

More fotos at TJF Butuan Facebook.

New Outreach Opening

Though we have put off the opening of an outreach in Bit-os, God has other plans. He actually revealed something to Mabelle, and even sent ministry from New Zealand - a minister with a prophetic gift who accurately told Mabelle what God showed her the previous night and that morning - to confirm His guidance! Mabelle was dumbfounded! So the church leadership felt this opening in Bit-os should be supported, and Mabelle was given the go signal to start.

So Bit-os outreach started with 17 children last Saturday in spite of very heavy rains. Mabelle and Ram, together with our young teens, Yzza and Melody served the children. We are filled with expectation and excitement at what God will do here. We are sure He's got a lot of surprises for us who obey His Great Commission.

More fotos at TJF Butuan Facebook.

Community Service Ministry

Some people in church received the burden and the vision to be used by God by serving people in the community in practical ways. So this group, headed by Lalaine Rafil, started this community service ministry. Their first project was helping poor families severely affected by the floods in Butuan during the 1st week of February. This is a very exciting ministry because we want to teach our people not only to love God, but also to love our neighbor as ourself. God has finally given us a mechanism by which we can do this and teach everyone in TJFM to obey this command by our Lord.

More fotos in TJF Butuan Facebook.

New Equipment

We have just been given new equipment: a portable sound system with wireless microphones, and a printer-photocopier. We would like to thank those who donated these equipment.

The portable public address system is very helpful in our outreach work and in our youth campus fellowships. The printer-photocopier is being used to reproduce our sermon-based small group materials which all our small groups and Bible studies are using.