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God’s Grace in the Philippines
It is no exaggeration to say that thousands have come
to Christ through the ministries of missionaries in the
Philippines. The stories of God’s grace in the ministries
of the Martins, the Rices, the Sissons, the Browns, and
many others would take volumes. There is no way to
know the number of souls saved or the lives transformed.

One missionary family started four churches during their
years of ministry. In time, those four have turned into 100
churches as national believers continue to serve the Lord!
BIMI missionaries do not report the results of previous
church plants, making it impossible for us to know this
side of heaven the impact that hundreds of other churches
are having on the harvest around the world. National
believers in the Philippines have become a missionary
force themselves and continue to take the Gospel to the
regions beyond.

Recently, at the invitation of Rick Martin, I was blessed
to visit the Iloilo Baptist Church (IBC) for their annual
Pastor’s Conference. Hundreds of pastors attended. Many
were trained at IBC. Brother Martin was challenging them
to continue reaching the lost and starting more Bible
institutes and colleges in their churches in order to see
more men trained for the ministry.

Brother Martin spoke about the island where he serves,
the island of Panay. He mentioned of learning in his early
days on the field of the 4,000 barangays or burios (terms
used to describe the villages, districts, or wards throughout
the Philippines) that make up this island. He spoke of the
burden God gave him to see a church started in every
one of those areas. Even after spending 40
years on the field, he said, “With the help of
many pastors, we have been able to see 2,000
churches started on Panay!” Just so you know,
there was not an ounce of boasting intended
• The Lord has blessed Asia and the North
nor a hint of pride in accomplishment. He
Pacific with 12 new missionary families.

went on to challenge those men to have a
vision for the future. “With God’s help,” he
• Thousands of souls have come to know
admonished, “we need to start 1,000 churches
Christ as Savior—135,000 recorded salvation
in the next 10 years!”
decisions! In the past 10 years…
In the years I have served as the Far East
Director (since 2012), I often receive a
quarterly list of names from Brother Martin.

The purpose of this list is for his church to
keep track of the men who receive a guitar
from Iloilo Baptist Church. These guitars are
given to men who have finished their training
Continued on page 34
• Over one hundred churches annually have
been started.

• Many more churches have been indigenized
—winning souls, sending out laborers, and
starting churches!
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