Strategy of Church Planting
From a Prayer Letter by Rick MartinUsed by Permission (Introduction & Comments by David Harris)
During a recent visit to the ministry of Rick Martin in Iloilo, Philippines, my wife and I experienced a host of amazing ministry opportunities. Scores heard the Gospel in schools, ministries, and prisons. Many were saved. One of the events was a trip on a Sunday morning to the ministry described by Brother Martin in a recent prayer letter. I will never forget the day we visited this church. The church was 45 minutes out of town. There is no drive-in crowd or parking lot. The church sits off the road about a quarter mile on a dirt road. The first time one sees it, one might wonder if anyone even lives nearby. It does not seem to be a populated area.
People walk, ride jeepneys, or use other forms of transportation to get to church. No one drives to church. The simple auditorium holds 400–500 people. The walls are only waist high and there are no windows or doors. There is no air conditioner to soften the humid and hot temperature, only fans.
At church time people came by the hundreds. An overflow crowd packed the auditorium and stood around the outside. They filled a covered basketball court and stood anywhere there was a covered walkway. It was raining. The area between the main auditorium and basketball court was covered with tarps where several dozen people sat.
As the service started, the rain got stronger. It was not long before the rain was so loud it was impossible to hear anything that was being said even through the microphones. I was not the only one concerned about people hearing the message that day but I was supposed to preach. Sitting on the front row, we prayed for God to intervene.
When it was time for the preaching, I began walking to the pulpit. Miraculously, God stopped the rain. The message was preached. The invitation was given. Dozens of people got saved. As those who trusted Christ were being presented to the church family, the rain started again.
Through it all no one complained, not even the couple dozen people who stood outside or the people sitting under the tarps when they got “baptized” when the tarps gave way. Even after the service during baptism, dozens stood in the rain waiting their turn in the outdoor baptismal pool. What an amazing blessing to see God at work! There were well over 1,000 people at church that morning. As I read Brother Martin’s prayer letter, his story resonated with me since he was telling about the very ministry we had visited on our last trip to the Philippines.
Brother Martin writes . . .
I want to share the strategy to plant churches by starting Bible colleges. For over 400 years about the only thing the Filipino people were exposed to was Roman Catholicism, Islam, and Communism. I believe the way to reach this country is by starting churches and the most effective method is starting Bible colleges that emphasize church planting. (The following story is only one of many amazing churches started. The current count is 2,700 church plants and grows more than 100 annually.)
During the second year of Iloilo Baptist College (IBC), a young student named Billy Caalem enrolled. Little did we know how God was going to use him. Billy was raised way up in the mountains. It is a very remote area and one the communist rebels used as a place to avoid the soldiers who tried to track them down.
Billy loved ministry work. On Saturday, he would start at 7:30 am and have four or five classes. We still call this the Extension Ministry. (Members of Iloilo Baptist Church teach hundreds of classes each Saturday and five or six thousand people hear the Gospel weekly.)
Another thing I liked about Billy was his desire to recruit young people up in the mountains to surrender to the Lord, come to Bible college, and then go out and serve the Lord.
Billy lived a life with many obstacles and trials. During his second year in college, his father was murdered by the New People’s Army in broad daylight at the school where he worked. In Billy’s village and two nearby villages, the rebels killed about 100 residents during the 1980s. Sometimes these executions were in the public square so that others would fear. It was very hard, but Billy stayed in school and never questioned God for what happened.
It was during this time that he invited me to go to his village and preach to the young people about giving their lives to the Lord. I told him that it was very dangerous there, especially for an American, and that it was also very far. He told me that it really was not so dangerous and that it would not be that difficult to get there. The day came and we took a jeepney up in the mountain and at about 10:00 am, the jeep stopped as it was at the end of the road. We got out and began to walk. After about an hour, I asked if we were almost there and he said, ‘It is not too far.’ We walked another hour and he said the same thing. A while later he pointed and said that it was over the next mountain. We walked 11 miles! It took almost 5 hours.
We got to the top of the mountain and he pointed way down in the valley and said that was the place. It was pretty steep and I asked him how we would get there. He told me to follow him. I was really nervous because if I started sliding, I was going to go a long way and might not live doing it. I was trying to be careful and was slow when a lady passed me. She was carrying a big piece of lumber like two by four by 10 feet as if it were nothing. Then another lady about 65 years old walked by me with a bag of cement on her head! I asked Billy if we could hire that lady and have her carry me down the mountain. He laughed and we finally made it at 3:00 in the afternoon. That evening I preached at the village meeting place, which was an outdoor primitive basketball court, and found out later that there were quite a few NPAs (rebels) in the crowd. The Lord blessed and there were several who got saved, later went to Bible college, and served the Lord for many years.
Like me, he started a Bible college about one year after starting the church. He was the first IBC graduate to start a Bible college. The Lord has used his college to start well over 125 churches through the years. This year will be their 32nd graduation. During the past eight years, 72 of their graduates went out and started churches.
He also has a Christian high school with 250 students and each year many of their graduates enroll at the Bible college. Many of the men end up starting churches. They presently have 196 students. Today, there are churches all over the mountains in that part of our island.
During the second year of Iloilo Baptist College (IBC), a young student named Billy Caalem enrolled. Little did we know how God was going to use him. Billy was raised way up in the mountains. It is a very remote area and one the communist rebels used as a place to avoid the soldiers who tried to track them down.
Billy loved ministry work. On Saturday, he would start at 7:30 am and have four or five classes. We still call this the Extension Ministry. (Members of Iloilo Baptist Church teach hundreds of classes each Saturday and five or six thousand people hear the Gospel weekly.)
Another thing I liked about Billy was his desire to recruit young people up in the mountains to surrender to the Lord, come to Bible college, and then go out and serve the Lord.
Billy lived a life with many obstacles and trials. During his second year in college, his father was murdered by the New People’s Army in broad daylight at the school where he worked. In Billy’s village and two nearby villages, the rebels killed about 100 residents during the 1980s. Sometimes these executions were in the public square so that others would fear. It was very hard, but Billy stayed in school and never questioned God for what happened.
It was during this time that he invited me to go to his village and preach to the young people about giving their lives to the Lord. I told him that it was very dangerous there, especially for an American, and that it was also very far. He told me that it really was not so dangerous and that it would not be that difficult to get there. The day came and we took a jeepney up in the mountain and at about 10:00 am, the jeep stopped as it was at the end of the road. We got out and began to walk. After about an hour, I asked if we were almost there and he said, ‘It is not too far.’ We walked another hour and he said the same thing. A while later he pointed and said that it was over the next mountain. We walked 11 miles! It took almost 5 hours.
We got to the top of the mountain and he pointed way down in the valley and said that was the place. It was pretty steep and I asked him how we would get there. He told me to follow him. I was really nervous because if I started sliding, I was going to go a long way and might not live doing it. I was trying to be careful and was slow when a lady passed me. She was carrying a big piece of lumber like two by four by 10 feet as if it were nothing. Then another lady about 65 years old walked by me with a bag of cement on her head! I asked Billy if we could hire that lady and have her carry me down the mountain. He laughed and we finally made it at 3:00 in the afternoon. That evening I preached at the village meeting place, which was an outdoor primitive basketball court, and found out later that there were quite a few NPAs (rebels) in the crowd. The Lord blessed and there were several who got saved, later went to Bible college, and served the Lord for many years.
Like me, he started a Bible college about one year after starting the church. He was the first IBC graduate to start a Bible college. The Lord has used his college to start well over 125 churches through the years. This year will be their 32nd graduation. During the past eight years, 72 of their graduates went out and started churches.He also has a Christian high school with 250 students and each year many of their graduates enroll at the Bible college. Many of the men end up starting churches. They presently have 196 students. Today, there are churches all over the mountains in that part of our island.
It has been our privilege to hear many more wonderful stories from many of Brother Martin’s faithful men and to visit in many of their churches. We praise the Lord for the faithfulness and friendship of some of His most faithful servants. May their stories challenge us to live by faith and to keep going for the cause of Christ until He comes.
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