Changing someone's life is very rewarding: Get up and eat (for the journey is too great for you)

Youth Mobilization in partnership with Extreme Response gathered again the partner churches of Youth Mobilization and ministries of IT tender for the third time for the Leader Mundial Manila Summit 2012 last October 17-20. The theme for this summit was called Renewing Your Passion.

There were four sessions that deal with calling, vision and passion led by very inspiring people. I was so encouraged, strengthened and empowered. All of these sessions renewed my passion in serving our Lord. It was fantastic. The pastors also admitted that they were empowered. I could feel it everytime we had our open discussions and sharing time.

The two most inspired moments for me at this summit were our alone time with the Lord and the Worship Night. Summit gave us two hours of alone time with the Lord. This was provided for us to have an intimate time with Him, praying and meditating, alone with God. It was very personal for me. I took advantage of this time to seek God’s will for me in terms of leading my family, the Youth Mobilization team, and pastoring the church. I dealt with the Lord regarding one certain thing. It has something to do with the leadership of Youth Mobilization. I always thought that I am young in leading such a huge ministry of empowering churches. This task is huge and I am overwhelmed by it. I told God that I am no better than my father ("father" referring to the former leader of YM who is Pastor Joshua). For in six years of YM, Pastor Joshua led it to the peak of it’s height. I never thought I would be able to bring it to a higher level. That is what I am dealing with God in my alone time with Him. In that alone time, God gave me peace that He will be with me through this journey of empowering churches. I know in my heart that the peace I am experiencing is enough for me to go on, to continue on the legacy of YM. Then in Worship Time, we had the privileged of hearing from a pastor from Ecuador. His name is Jean David and he speaks Spanish, which is why Russ Cline from ER translated the message in English so we could be able to understand. The Lord used the message in our Worship Night to speak further and to encourage me more, and it was absolutely inspiring. He used the story of Elijah. After a powerful miracle Elijah experienced upon calling a fire to burn the offering he made and to show people that the God he is serving is the true God, he had this moment from a peak to a very low moment of his life. When he heard the message from Jezebel, he hid himself and he told God, “I am no better than my father”. This is the exact phrase I told God in my alone time with Him. I know in my heart that God is personally talking to me through this message. He is assuring me with this message that He cares about what I am experiencing and it is completely fine to be vulnerable with God. Just like Elijah when he was ready to give up his calling from God, ready to throw in the towel and tell God to take his life. I read this story many times but the message I was hearing this time was phenomenal and very personal. And just like the story of Elijah, God encouraged me to get up and eat for the journey is still long. I consider this message as an embrace of the Lord, a tap on my back and food for my soul for surely the journey is still long. The message that night was concluded in praying for one another. And a pastor came to me and prayed for me. I never told him what I was experiencing but he prayed all the things that I am dealing with the Lord. I know that God put words in his heart and that made him pray for me exactly what I needed to pray. It was amazing, truly it is the hands of God moving in our midst. Right then and there, my passion was renewed. The Word of God at that time embraced me, fed me, and it was enough for me to keep on continuing what God called me to do, to empower churches. I know the journey is still long, there are still many churches waiting to be empowered and I still want to be part of it.

I also know that it is not only my passion that was renewed, but also the passion of many pastors that were there was renewed. Russ gave a final message on our last day of the summit that we are not alone, but we have a community of pastors and leaders that aim to bring change in the lives of many people in our community. And Pastor Joshua exhorted us to continue to be connected with one another and to take advantage of the community that we have by helping one another, praying and encouraging one another.

I am so blessed, inspired and empowered by this summit. I am grateful to have this time of renewing the passion, keeping the vision and pressing on with the calling I have in our Lord. Thank God for this wonderful community!