The Future Looks So Bright

I’ve been asking God why am I in KIDS Ministry and God answered me loud and clear. These kids are the next CEO, President, Senators, Judges, Pastors, movers and shakers of the future. And now is the time to plant seeds in their heart about the one true Savior Jesus Christ, coach them, mentor them, listen to them and guide them. These kids, the next generations are the true hope of our nation and the world. Investing time and resources in them means investing in our future.

I may say that my time is almost up and planting seeds of Christianity in these kids ensure the future for our kids and for their kids and for their kids……..

Click on to see the pictures of our January 8, Prayer Meeting @ Music Museum.

Top 10 Blessings For 2010

Seems everyone is blogging about Top Picks for the year that is about to end and I’m joining the frenzy with my top 10 blessings. I’ve carefully picked up ten among the numerous blessings that God has blessed me this year.

1. Baby Lara
2. Stronger Christ-centered marriage for Yet & I
3. Gelo’s quick healing & recovery from dengue
4. Gelo & Monty doing great in school and self-studying
5. Our New home here in Manila & Anvaya and for our new van, thank you Mom & Dad.
6. Awesome admin team of Victory Greenhills
7. Ipad gift from my cousin The Decker Family
8. Being surrounded by great mentors helping me in molding my character
9. Blessed with the great Victory Group I’m leading, looking forward to exponential growth in 2011.
10. Being a part of what God has been faithfully doing in Victory Greenhills especially in KIDS Ministry.

And the list goes on and on and on……. I think I can even name 2010 blessings or more. Lord, thank you! To all, a life changing, God-revealing and overflowing 2011, Happy New Year!

The Value of Christmas Tradition

Christmas is a very special season for our family, we decorate almost every corner of our home, invite families for Christmas dinners and we have a Christmas savings to buy gifts that we personally wrap. Two family traditions that we observe are Christmas tree lighting night and advent nights.

This year was going to be a bit different, we were suppose to forego of the traditions; we have a 3 month old baby, we just moved in to our new home, no more Kuya Diego (handy man, driver and gofer) and we thought Gelo & Monty were already old for these traditions.

But everything changed after we had dinner with Pastor Joel & Jenny Magpantay, at our neighbor P.Chinkee & Nove’s place. It was very timely how they shared about surprising their kids with Christmas in November so just not to break a family tradition. P.Joel & Jenny flew in from the US last November 15. They already set up their place before they left so as to keep with their family tradition, which their kids who are young adults cherished so much.

Then I read a blog by Filipino Mommy Blogger, Thammie Sy about leaving Christmas traditions as legacy to your kids. I’m also currently reading The Christmas Spirit by Joel Osteen where he emphasizes the value of passing on family Christmas memories to the next generation.

Yet and I sat down and calendared December 10 to be the official kick off of our 2010 Advent Night. I surprised the kids with their favorite porterhouse steak and mashed potatoes for dinner and we shared about our Christmas memories. Just before dessert, we closed with a prayer for our family thanking God for a great 2010 and how we look forward to 2011. We also prayed that as a family we could share the real meaning of Christmas to other families.

This Christmas spend for your family; spend time, share memories and create a tradition that is more valuable than any gift that you can give them.

From our family to yours, Merry CHRISTmas & a Happy New Year!

Lugang Cafe

My father in law celebrated his birthday and invited us to Lugang Cafe at Connecticut Street in Greenhills. It’s the newest resto in town serving very authentic Taiwanese & Cantonese Cuisine. Lugang Cafe is part of the Bellagio Management Group with renowned restaurants in Beijing, Shanghai and now in Manila.
The building itself is impressive with modern architecture with Eastern influence. The dining area is very spacious and well lit.
My family and I found a new favorite restaurant in our neighborhood.

Sunday Recap: “Blessed Sunday”

- Congratulations to those who completed Training For Victory last Sunday now Go and Make Disciple!

- We are gearing up for the last Victory Weekend for the year and we met up with some of the leaders for an orientation. It’s exciting to see new faces rising up as Victory Group leaders.

- Children’s Church Team is so pumped up with the December curriculum, I sat in their planning meeting and heard very creative and out of the box ideas to execute the lesson. You guys rock!

- Team 4 was in full force both in KIDS & Children’s Church. Worship was awesome, Jun found a good combination in Jirah & Glenda. I was sharing with Johann Ortega, our adult service worship leader, how he helped us plant these seeds and how we are reaping now. Kuya Job Zamora led praise dance & they raised the roof. The presentation in CC is leveling up! Great job Mj, Grace, Vivian, Sale, Bryce, Ken, Tita Evelyn etc.

- The message on patience and waiting was a winner, I was actually the first one that learned a lot from it. “Patience is Faith in Exercise”

- P. Chinkee preached a very powerful message that was so close to his heart. This is one guy that you can literally see how God’s blessings overflow in their family.

- It was “Bless Other’s Sunday” and here are some of reports I got of what people gave & received.

1. A KIDS Ministry volunteer got a pledge for a townhouse for their family from a non-Victory member.
2. Jerry Bamba donated his acoustic guitar to Kids Church, thank you bro. Overwhelming support for our team, we are so encouraged.
3. Kayla, Jethro, Destiny and Jasper of KC were so excited as they gave away their stuff to other kids in church.
4. I challenged our kids and starting this Sunday we will have a new Christmas drive.
5. Jaja who needs medical assistance received cash gifts.
6. Jethro received a digital gadget complete with, camera, mp3 player, video & games.
7. I personally received a parenting book and it was just a day ago that I was praying for God’ wisdom in parenting.

And I know the list goes on and on………..

Victory Greenhills, 3 Years Ago…..

We at Victory Greenhills celebrate our third year anniversary. Here are some of my thoughts reminiscing how God has been faithful.

3 years ago….
-Victory Greenhills only had P.Dennis, P.Bojo & Sheryn as fulltime staff; now we have grown to 11 staff including our campus ministers.
-Our KIDS Ministry had 4 different venues namely: lobby of Music Museum, Kids Workshop, Family KTV & Mc Donalds; now Promenade in Greenhills Shopping Center serves as our home.

-Krispy Kreme and Le Ching served as our offices; now we have an office situated in Swire Elan in Annapolis, Greenhills.

-We only have 2 services; now we have 4 services in a week including “Wednesdays is the New Sunday”.

-Greenhills Running Club was organized; now as the PACE Partners, they have gone global joining marathon in Hong Kong & Malaysia.

-We used iTunes in our KIDS Worship; now we have our own KIDS Worship Team led by Jun Gomez.

-We only had 13 KIDS Team Members; now we have multiplied that number by leaps & bounds.

On the personal note, 3 years ago…….

-Yet & I only had 2 boys; now we have Princess Lara.

-My waistline was ….. and now it’s ……..

-I was sporting a long hair; now my hair is short.

-I owned a Nikon dslr now I’m into Canon. Incidentally here are the pictures documenting our very first service 3 years back click on: Victroy Greenhills, 3 Years Back…

Life is great, God has blessed us with so much just looking 3 years back. Happy Anniversary to us all!

Romans 4:21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

Please add your personal recollection of the past 3 years of Victory Greenhills.

Victory Greenhills, See you all next year in V-MALL!

Sunday Recap: Blessed To Be A Blessing

- The moment I woke up I know that it’s not going to be an ordinary Sunday. It’s our third year anniversary in Victory Greenhills and we start our third service with no less than Raissa Laurel to give her testimony.

- Lyka, my super admin & Mj our CC volunteer coordinators are both on leave. But I know God has extraordinary plans for the day. I want to thank Pauline Garcia for helping our in overseeing the whole KIDS Ministry; she’s such a silent but very effective leader.

- Started a Sunday Victory Group, moved my weekday lunch meetings with Raymond & Charles so we can accommodate new members. Anyone interested to join us just send me a message, open to young entrepreneurs age 20’s to 30’s. We meet 11am Greenhills area.

- I was reminiscing while listening to our Worship Team practice, looking back 3 years ago when we were doing praise & worship with music from iTunes. We sure have gone a long way; thank God from glory to glory. I’m so pumped up as a new drummer; 13 year old Jeremiah joined our team. These kids will be next worship team of Victory Greenhills.

- Why fret or worry, when the one who called us for this ministry is a faithful God. I saw how people stepped up yesterday when their team leaders were not available. Coco, Glorie, Janine & Valerie, God sure was glorified with your services yesterday. Ann, thank you for leading the Worship Team when Tatang Jun Gomez was in the adult service. Nats, great leadership, Team 3, you guys rock!

- I love challenging our kids, how as early as now they can plant seeds. Actually some were amazed with the stories that I shared how God has honored those who have sowed. I’m so excited when our Christmas project goes full blast. The past 3 weeks we have been saving up in our coin banks and all of us have agreed to be a blessing to Victory KIDS Pasig.

- Awesome time during worship in Music Museum, Nove & the Worship Team were still full of energy even though it was already the third service. Everybody was ecstatic & encouraged especially after hearing Raissa Laurel’s testimony. I had to hold back tears when we were praying for her. Her faith & courage is amazing & I know God will use her tremendously.

- P.Dennis preached a powerful & disturbing message yesterday. Praying for our church to move in faith to become extremely generous. Bro, 3 services with that high energy, galing!

- Prayed for some people yesterday after the service. It’s great to intercede for people in prayers.

- The Uy Clan was waiting when we got home, again thank you guys for the feast.
It was a great Sunday indeed. I want to echo what my friend P.LA Mumar said in his Twitter, “I seriously love my job!”

Rod your kids or they’ll become monsters.

Have you seen our 9-week-old bundle of joy, Princess Lara? Isn’t she cute? I was thinking out loud, wondering how can I use the rod to discipline her in the future. And a friend answered me that I have to or she’ll become a monster. Quite exaggerated but in principle it is quite true. Have you heard of the phrase to trim the horns of your kids when they are young so they won’t grow crooked when they grow older? The more appropriate and with a Biblical perspective is in Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. When you simply cut the horn it will just be a physical thing but what we, as parents have to deal with is what’s inside their hearts.

Training our kids is like training for your golf game or any sports, it’s a continuous effort. Our kids will learn thru repetition. In training, we also have to be consistent, it can’t be not ok now but ok later. There are times that because of our inconsistencies we confuse of children and thus they find ways to circumvent us or just disobey us completely. And lastly trust is built in training. Manny Pacquiao trusts his trainer Freddie Roach or else he won’t listen to him and vice versa. Same with parenting not only do we expect our kids to trust us but we should also trust them. As parents we do have to let God’s grace to work in our children’s lives, we need to also let them have their own revelations and not just inherit ours.

I remember having a conversation with my wife Yet how we are so thankful to God in guiding our 10 year old son Gelo. When he was growing up, we were not yet aware of how to rear a child in a Christian manner. Yes we did rod him but it was only later on that we learned how to process when you discipline a child. But that is how God’s favor came into the picture and guided Gelo.

In his book, You and Your Child, Charles R. Swindoll writes, “The way you deal with your sons will, in great measure, determine how they will respond to the way God deals with them.” In training our kids let us be patient in repeating; let us be consistent and let us build trust.

Generosity Starts from Obedience.

Last Sunday after Service I was surprised when our worship director Ganns Deen called my attention and introduced to me Nicole Therese Azucena Sandi who is part of our Worship Team.

Nikki plays the guitar and do vocals too. She got this Yamaha acoustic guitar for her 18th birthday. But the past few days whenever she wakes up she sees her guitar and God would start talking to her about giving it up for the church.

When I met her last Sunday, she was so excited to tell me her story and how glad she was giving to the church her guitar. There are a lot more stories out there like that of Nikki’s. It is not just about generosity but it’s about obeying God.

Job 36:11 If they obey and serve him,
they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity
and their years in contentment.

Sunday Recap: Fighting For Time To Blog

I have to fight for my time to blog with everything that has been going around; new baby, books to read, study time and people to meet I haven’t had the time to sit and compose.

Well here it goes, I started my Sunday with the “Making Disciples” class in Victory Greenhills, Promenade. My take home from P.Jayson Lo; make people buy in to your cause rather than just vision. People would die for a cause and not for vision.

Met KC Team 1 for lunch, thanks Henry & Val for heeding the call to lead Team 1. Val, it’s your time to shine for God. Aldrin, you are so valuable to our team, I love your fresh insights. Mica, you are contagious not only to us but also to the kids. Kat, I know that you are going to go places with your passion and commitment. Henry, I value your friendship and I’m excited to work with you and Val closely.

Honestly I was surprised how the Children’s Church team showcased their Bible Story lesson last Sunday. It was about Daniel in the lion’s den. I love the craft Ate Lynne and the props the kids love. Next level, indeed.

Preached about God being our Good Father and Provider. I love how almost all the kids agreed when I told them how we at times see God as an ATM machine. What I wanted the kids to take home is that our provision from God, our Father is not dependent on how good we are but on how good He is.

It was Gelo & Monty’s first time to watch movie by themselves. My two boys are growing too fast. Earlier Gelo joined his second Beyblade Tournament.

Met up with our newly formed Multi-Media Ministry after service, Jun Navarro you are destined to lead this team. Raymond, Bleau & Jaret respect your elder, oops, I mean leader. I love how Jun simply put it, that at the end of the day, this ministry exists to honor God, with pictures and their lives, and to make disciples.

It was another Uy Family reunion at our home after service and my folks brought Vietnamese cuisine, it was so good, the family, fellowship & food.