Barner Learning Center Newsletter, August, 2007

Barner Learning Center was started in 1998 to feed unbelievers into church. Praise God that our total average Sunday attendance at church is approaching 700! Since we don't have space anywhere for that many worshippers, we have planted daughter churches. One of our first daughter churches is in Emily Homes. The pastor we installed there has already planted two offshoot churches in Cabantian and Park Villa. We also have five other churches, two of which are combined (Purok Ocho and Communal) until they are able to save up enough to build separate facilities. Here is a closer look at four of our church plants:

Purok Ocho

(Sat. 5pm. Attend. 90)

Our Pastoral team is Pastor Callem and myself, with our wives, Inday and Elvie. Since Callem plays the guitar extremely well, he leads in music. Worship at this church is in a home on a muddy dirt road. We can't drive there due to the precarious two-foot deep ruts in the road. So we park on a hill nearby, far enough from the tethered goats that they don't ram holes into the car fenders with their sharp horns. The children worship behind the house and their singing can be heard in the background throughout our worship. Since the walls of our worship location are just chicken wire, all who walk down the road look in to see as they pass by. Naked little boys run back and forth, fresh from their evening baths. Their buddies press their faces up against the wire mesh to watch our worship.

PREACHING IN A BAMBOO CHURCH WITH DIRT FLOOR IS A CHALLENGE, BUT THE HEARTS AND SOULS OF THE MEMBERS ARE STILL STIRRED.

BLC KID HOTLINE

Your sponsored child at Barner Learning Center would love to hear from you! If you’d like to communicate with him/her by email, please send any messages to:

Panantongan

(Sun. 7am. Attend. 70)

On Sunday morning, bright and early, we four on the ministry team drive 20 minutes until the dirt road gets too muddy. Then we don our knee-length rubber boots and carry our Sunday shoes to our rural Panantongan church plant. Praise God that the worshippers have put up a curtain against the front wall, which is made of woven coconut leaves. Previously, we'd been blinded during worship by the rising sun. An oxcart passes by the church as we turn around on the hard wooden benches to watch. With no back rests on the benches, we can't slouch! Our hymns and choruses are written with magic marker on the back of an old wall calendar.

FATHER'S DAY GIFTS FROM ELVIE: A FANCY FILIPINO BARONG FOR ME AND MY ASSOCIATE, PASTOR CALLEM. HE SAID IT IS THE FIRST DRESS BARONG THAT HE HAS EVER OWNED! ELVIE REALIZED HE NEEDED ONE WHEN HE PERFORMED A WEDDING IN A SHORT-SLEEVED POLO SHIRT.

DO YOU HAVE A SUMMER PROJECT?

THESE ARE NEEDS THAT WE HAVE TO SUPPLY FOR OUR 2006 BLC CONSTRUCTION:

42 37 F1 Bulb Sets: $4 each
41 37 Desks: $11 each
Jeepney-bus: $9,412
Wood Pillars: $1,000

Tools for LArts: $169
20 Wall Fans: $45 each
Tables for L.Arts: $650
MusicShelves: $204

Laverna Hills

(Sun. 10am. Attend. 375)

By ten o'clock, we trudge back to the car to get back to the mother church, which is already halfway through with adult Sunday School. Since Laverna Hills' worship is in the BLC gym, we have a big stage, which Elvie has decorated with lots of her flowers and plants. Our family lives in an apartment on campus, so I rush in to grab a bite to eat and change my sweaty shirt. Back in church, PJ and Abby rush out of Sunday School to ask for offering. Elvie and I are always in the front row, being senior pastor.

The present sermon themes at these four churches of Faith Fellowship are:
JUNE-Stewardship; JULY-Family; AUGUST-Prayer; SEPTEMBER-Parables; OCTOBER-Missions; NOVEMBER-Bible; DECEMBER-Advent.

MATCHING GIFT:

Last year some sponsors of poor children in our school missed payments. To offset the deficit, a senior citizen is matching any gifts designated “MATCHING GIFT”, up to $3,000. Thus far, $2,352 has been given for this matching gift, totaling twice that: $4,704. Praise God!

Dona Asuncion

(Sun. 2pm. Attend. 75)

After church we treat lots of friends to a lunch of rice, noodles, and some kind of meat (called “viand” in the Philippines), in our apartment. Changing my sweaty shirt for the second time, we leave for our fourth church, Asuncion, at 2pm. At each church, after preaching, I announce the attendance and offering totals. Here at Asuncion, one of our most avid attendees and singers is a scraggly old rooster, who “sings” to us outside the open door of our rented one-room building. Like a good “scraggly old” friend I used to have when I was a pastor in the USA, the rooster adds many comments , and even comes to the door, but as yet, is still afraid of the crowd and hasn't come into the church! After finishing church #4, we go back home to rest. Monday is our day of rest, our Family Day.

LEFT: SARA AND HER MOM VISIT BLC FROM NY, USA.
RIGHT: RICH LEADS SINGING AT CHURCH

POST OFFICE REQUEST

Hello friends,

So many ministries have been hit hard by the May 14 elimination of the Intl Surface M-Bag, including those involved in Bible distribution and other religious materials overseas.

I encourage you and your ministry to sign an online petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/zikomo/petition.html to protest this change. This petition and its signatures will be provided to many in Congress who oversee Post Office operations.
Please encourage others within your ministry as well as other ministries to sign this petition.

Together, we can make a change.

We thank you,
Shannon Brown, Friends of Malawi

YOU KNOW YOU ARE A FILIPINO IF...
...A little mayonaise between two slices of bread make a sandwich.

BLC ENERGY FUND:

EVERY DAY AT BARNER LEARNING CENTER, WE SUPPLY TRANSPORTATION FOR 287 STUDENTS. OUR BUSSES WERE BOUGHT WITH FUNDS SACRIFICIALLY & GENEROUSLY GIVEN BY FAITHFUL FRIENDS.

MIGHT YOU BE WILLING TO ASSIST WITH THESE NEEDS ON A MONTHLY BASIS?

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Last edited August 22, 2012
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