Los Angeles Filippino church plant

This update from Angie Tabin reports on the progress that she and her husband Saddie are making in planting a church for Filipinos in Los Angeles, California.

Building the team

Recently, we met with prospective members of our church plant core team. We reviewed our church planting vision and invited them to partner with us. We asked for a commitment that would extend for six months following the launch of the church scheduled for later this year. GCI church planter Heber Ticas will be training the team. At the same time, we are mentoring some participants in our existing small groups to prepare them to be facilitators of additional groups.

Outreach

Here are recent outreach activities where our focus is building friendships within our target community:

• I am being seen on TV skin care commercials that are broadcast on a local Filipino cable station. This recognition helps me meet Filipinos in the area.
• We volunteer at our daughter’s school where we befriend children and faculty members. The school gives us the food not consumed by the students, which we then share with needy Filipinos in the area. This helps us meet new people.
• A senior we befriended asked that we visit a sick friend at the hospital and pray for her. Her daughter then asked us to visit her father, who is ill at home. In that visit, we shared the gospel and he accepted Jesus as his Savior. We continue to visit his wife in the hospital. When we do, we take bagels to the medical staff. They appreciate it.
• A lady who attends one of our outreach Bible studies told us that our prayers for her were answered. She found a job! She told us that she will be taking her Bible to work to read on breaks.
• We recently held a social gathering for our new contacts. About 80 attended. We enjoyed games, a raffle and dancing. During the event, one of the seniors asked to speak. She rallied participants to support our church planting efforts. Saddie spoke about how we Filipinos should help one another. I am grateful to several members of GCI’s NewLife Fellowship church for their help. The gathering was a beautiful picture of God’s inclusiveness as we celebrated friendship.

  

Speech training

To enhance our ability to communicate well in English, we are taking speech training from GCI Pastor Bermie Dizon and Willie Jacinto. We are learning public speaking, enunciation and grammar. We also are studying leadership and Bible interpretation.

Prayer points

We solicit your support in prayer. Here are some prayer points:

• That we continue to be in good health
• That we find more people to join our core group/launch team
• That new small group facilitators be indentified and prepared
• That people catch the vision as we present it to area churches