I grew up in Metro Manila, a city made up of eleven several different cities with an estimate of twenty million people. It is the center of commerce and the national government, but its inner cities are known for poverty, unsuitable living condition, crime and violence.

Most young men in my neighborhood end up in selling drugs, stealing and basically become menace to society. Hearing of people being killed just for a few pesos in their wallets is not new. I saw young girls become prostitutes or teenage moms. Young boys were being used by gangs to steal things and sell drugs. I too was headed to that road. Although my family was devoted to the Roman Catholic faith, the influence of my environment was stronger than that of my parents. At the age of ten, I spent most of my free time in the streets with my friends. We participated in small time gambling. My parents came from the rural part of the Philippines and kept to themselves but I had to learn to get along with the neighborhood kids so that I would not be bullied.

But one day my uncle visited us and shared the Bible message of salvation to my parents, that afternoon, they accepted the Lord as their Savior. It was unusual to me and my siblings because our father before was a drunkard but we are surprised that he invited us to attend into a Bible believing church nearby. Since then we began to attend in that church, then my brother got saved during one service and while walking home he shared to me what happened to him. I knew my brother and normally he would not get excited about spiritual things. But hearing him explain how he accepted Christ so that he could be assured of eternal life made me think about this new teaching. I was always taught as a Roman Catholic that salvation was by doing good works. So I was excited to attend the service the following Sunday to learn more.

After the preaching, I raised my hand to accept Christ, but it was not until a man talked to me and explained the message of salvation that I really understood what accepting Christ meant. He opened the Bible to several verses, but the verse that I will never forget is John 14:6. He explained that Jesus, yes, Jesus, not the Roman Catholic Church or doing good works, was the only way to heaven. It was then that I truly accepted Christ in my heart and trusted Him for my eternal destiny. You see, that is the difference between true Christianity and just religion, like the Roman Catholic Church. Salvation through Christ is sure, but with religion, like the Roman Catholic Church, even if you do all that it asks you to do, will never be able to give you that assurance. And it was all in the Bible all along.

After I got saved, I quickly became involved in the ministry. I felt the joy in the serving the Lord. And as I continued serving Him, I felt God calling me in His ministry. After I finished high school in 2007, I attended a camp meeting and there I surrendered my life in a full time ministry.

In 2007, I enrolled in Timothy Bible Institute in Quezon City, Philippines while still being involved in many different ministries of our church Bethesda Independent Baptist Church under the leadership of my Pastor, Arvin Tulabot. My pastor taught me how to witness, conduct Bible studies, follow up on visitors and disciple others. As I grew in faith, I became a youth leader in our church. God then gave me the privilege to handle an outreach church. Last 2013, God gave me an opportunity to further my study and training in Marietta Bible College in Marietta, Ohio under the leadership of Dr. Myron Guiler. After we finish our studies, we will go back to the Philippines to start a church. Our ultimate goal is to be a church planter in different provinces in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.

The children’s ministry is very dear to our hearts. Every week, we go to 6 different places to teach children about the Bible and feed them. We go to a place called Payatas, this is known as a dumpsite area where some of the poorest people in Manila live. They scavenge through the dumpsite for things they can sell and that becomes their living. We go there and share to them the Gospel. They are poor but if they will receive Christ in their heart they will go to Heaven.

We were also involved in the youth ministry. We teach them God’s Word, disciple them and also teach them how to witness to other young people. Some of these young people don’t go to school because of poverty, so they go to Payatas to earn a living. We try to win them for Christ. and every young people that we disciple I tell them that each one can reach one for Christ.

In 2011, God gave me the privilege to pastor our satelite church. I go to Payatas to soulwin, distribute Gospel tracts, conduct Bible studies and invite people to our satelite church. In that place, we worship God together and teach them God’s Word for them to grow.