Communities of believers, glorifying God, ministering to each other and sending missionaries to other people groups.

My Unforgettable Experiences During the Conferences in Caraga and Cotabato

By: Gary Idulza (ACMI, Youth President)

One sleepless night, I busied myself by preparing for a trip to Caraga Region where I would be witnessing a gathering of people with different backgrounds, but with one unifying purpose - that is to glorify and worship the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, Christ Jesus. I was an eye witness to that gathering of God's people and spending with them three wonderful days at the Caraga State University (CSU) in Butuan City. I knew what I was getting into, though I did not come prepared physically and spiritually.  But the Lord came to my aid and sustained me, enabling me to participate in their amazing conference.

I was greeted with rain and was soaking wet when I arrived at CSU.  Said baptism of rain was only a prelude to what I was about to experience later. When we go proceeded to the 2nd floor of the Science Department of CSU, the Caraga brethren were already buzzing with activity. Hordes of young people greeted me warmly like I was part of the family. I felt inner warmth, like I was already with them for so a long time; they treated me - like they treated everyone - with the love that comes only from God.

Originally, I was there for a different purpose - that is to encourage the youth.  But since I was already there, I gleefully joined the conference. I met fresh faces and old ones, young ones and once young. Isaiah 54:2 states: "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes." And that was what they have been doing, as instructed by God.  I heard later that as a result of the conference, they have had been fulfilling the Great Commission. At the bottom line, I could say that the conference, including its resultant outcome, was a testament of the participants and their leaders' confidence in God's faithfulness to His servants.

Almost a month after my experience with the Caraga brethren, I joined the team that went to Cotabato to participate in another conference.  As the ministry's youth president, I had the privilege to join the team to encourage the youth to commit to the Lord.

Most people think that living in Cotabato is like living dangerously or, to a certain extent; most people think that violence is a daily occurrence in the province of Cotabato. I tend to agree, since I haven't lived there long enough and most news that I knew about Cotabato were not good news at all. 

But like myth busters, my exposures to Cotabato many times already showed that it was the other way around.  Though I saw lots of military check points along the way, I haven't seen the violence that the media used to magnify in the news often. Is Cotabato synonymous with violence?  Of course not!  Though what they tell in the news might be true and often factual, there is, on the other hand, so much good news to see and hear as if I was not in Cotabato. But, on several occasions, I was certainly there.

Courage and being courageous, such qualities I desperately lack and are in so much abundance in Cotabato. As often as God permits me to be there, I look forward to it with enthusiasm and glee. Going to Cotabato is always a test for me, a test of my faith and the vigilance to always live by faith.

There at the conference I heard different testimonies that both inspired me and the same time shamed me. Testimonies of their lives changed by God and they became instruments for His Kingdom. Simple stories of sharing, walking in the valley of the shadow of death; sharing a meal to the family of their Bible study contacts, passing along the way where armed men loiter and bringing their livestock near to the place where they meet to have fellowship. Simple acts of faith that awe me to move and do what they do, all for God's glory. I often dabble of the danger that is ever so present but they just dismiss it, and they only think what they can do for others and the furtherance of God's kingdom. They don't look like missionaries but they are indeed missionaries in every way.

After the two conferences, I resolved that serving the Lord is worth more than a thousand lifetimes and etched in my heart was like that of King David's; "your love is better than life". What a blessing that was for me to be with and participated in those conference.

I look forward to my other journeys to other ministry areas as I continue to seek God's calling for me in His Kingdom.

 MINISTRY AREAS

ACMI Leaders Testimonies... click here

     * 3rd Missions Training on the summer of 2011.

     * ACMI 1st National Conference on the summer of  2012.

MINISTRY PROJECTS