Spring 2012 Newsletter

Spring 2012 Newsletter

Strengthening Relationships for a Greater Harvest

By Debbie

      In 2007, we began a wonderful ministry of training lay workers in small schools around our Bicol district to plant house churches.  The movement has now grown to include 14 schools and 207 house churches scattered throughout the region.  Praise the Lord for His goodness and blessing.

      But now we are gearing up to add a second year of training that will help all of us to carry out the Great Commission more effectively.  One of the greatest challenges of the harvest is the quality of relationships we Christians have with one another while we reach out to those who don’t know Christ.  Sometimes we forget Jesus’ greatest commandment - to love God and love one another.  Jesus’ heart was to create a church with a culture of love. 

      Our hearts as missionaries to the Philippines is to strengthen these relationships between believers as we work with our brothers and sisters in Christ to reach the lost.  Dave often says these days, “we need to get better before we get bigger.”  In truth, we are all broken vessels that the Lord has chosen, washed, and made fit for His use.  But we are still in process and we desperately need the love, encouragement, and safety-net of healthy, mature relationships where we can go with our fears and weaknesses and know we will be built up and prayed for without criticism.

      Because of this great challenge, our main focus will be on creating a mentoring program for strengthening relationships amongst those involved in house church planting. Eventually, we hope to make this program available to all of our pastors.  Of course we will also address the current ministry concerns of the students.

      Please pray with us that the fruit for God’s glory will be abundant both now and in the years to come.

Missionary Hats (by Dave)

    A missionary must wear many hats, often within the same day or week. Some we wear often, others are for special occasions.

    One recent week serves as an excellent example. On Monday, I wore my “host missionary hat” as two advance men came from First Assembly of God in West Monroe, LA, to get ready for a team that arrived the following Sunday. They came to do major renovations to our Bible school, Evangel Bible College. We spent several days running all over town, buying everything from paint to power saws, and working with the Bible school leadership to determine what repairs would be made and in what priority. At the time of this writing, the team is still here and doing a great job!

    In my case, hosting this team required me to master the art of driving a Filipino jeepney--a type of transportation whose hood design came from an American military jeep and has two long seats in the back where the passengers sit facing each other. My attempts at driving it with a dozen Americans inside have already driven many to prayer!

   Since many Filipinos speak English, the language is usually not a problem but sometimes different words mean different things. To a Filipino a hostess is a prostitute, not a woman who seats people in restaurants. A tomboy is a lesbian, not a girl who climbs trees and plays men's sports. The bathroom is called a comfort room, an often inaccurate description.  These things can be easily corrected, but other cultural issues are more challenging, requiring the missionary to put on the hat of "cultural mediator."

    During this week we also had an evangelistic outreach nearby, so I put on my "evangelist" hat on two evenings. Fortunately I put this one on fairly often, and God continues to bless our efforts with his presence.

    On top of this, we are also completing the translation of the study notes, articles, etc., of the Full Life Study Bible (aka Fire Bible or Life in the Spirit Study Bible), and I am the managing editor.  This project has been a partnership between Life Publishers--the publishing arm of the Assemblies of God World Missions, and the Philippine Bible Society. My major responsibility has been to keep the partnership functioning well--and it has. But this week a couple of issues came up that demanded my involvement, so I put on my "managing editors" hat.

    While this was an unusually busy week, constantly switching hats is just part of being a missionary.

Let’s Connect!

    If you like, you can call us on our toll   free Vonage line at (616) 855-1151. Even though this is a US number, it only rings at our house here in the Philippines! We’re 12 hours ahead of the East Coast.

    If you aren’t hearing from us by email and would like to do so, please write Dave at dave.johnson@agmd.org and asked to be placed on the mailing list. Also, if you want to visit our website and Dave’s Blogspot, just google “Dr Dave Johnson” and everything will come up. From our website you can connect with Dave on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter. Most of our prayer requests and news updates are posted on the social media.

    Thanks for making it possible for us to be here. We couldn’t do it without you!  We love you and appreciate you ! 

    Please continue to pray that many souls will come into the kingdom and be built up in Christ.

Dave and Debbie Johnson

Spring 2012 Newsletter




Strengthening Relationships for a Greater Harvest
By Debbie



In 2007, we began a wonderful ministry of training lay workers in small schools around our Bicol district to plant house churches. The movement has now grown to include 14 schools and 207 house churches scattered throughout the region. Praise the Lord for His goodness and blessing.
But now we are gearing up to add a second year of training that will help all of us to carry out the Great Commission more effectively. One of the greatest challenges of the harvest is the quality of relationships we Christians have with one another while we reach out to those who don’t know Christ. Sometimes we forget Jesus’ greatest commandment - to love God and love one another. Jesus’ heart was to create a church with a culture of love.
Our hearts as missionaries to the Philippines is to strengthen these relationships between believers as we work with our brothers and sisters in Christ to reach the lost. Dave often says these days, “we need to get better before we get bigger.” In truth, we are all broken vessels that the Lord has chosen, washed, and made fit for His use. But we are still in process and we desperately need the love, encouragement, and safety-net of healthy, mature relationships where we can go with our fears and weaknesses and know we will be built up and prayed for without criticism.
Because of this great challenge, our main focus will be on creating a mentoring program for strengthening relationships amongst those involved in house church planting. Eventually, we hope to make this program available to all of our pastors. Of course we will also address the current ministry concerns of the students.
Please pray with us that the fruit for God’s glory will be abundant both now and in the years to come.


Missionary Hats (by Dave)

A missionary must wear many hats, often within the same day or week. Some we wear often, others are for special occasions.

One recent week serves as an excellent example. On Monday, I wore my “host missionary hat” as two advance men came from First Assembly of God in West Monroe, LA, to get ready for a team that arrived the following Sunday. They came to do major renovations to our Bible school, Evangel Bible College. We spent several days running all over town, buying everything from paint to power saws, and working with the Bible school leadership to determine what repairs would be made and in what priority. At the time of this writing, the team is still here and doing a great job!

In my case, hosting this team required me to master the art of driving a Filipino jeepney--a type of transportation whose hood design came from an American military jeep and has two long seats in the back where the passengers sit facing each other. My attempts at driving it with a dozen Americans inside have already driven many to prayer!

Since many Filipinos speak English, the language is usually not a problem but sometimes different words mean different things. To a Filipino a hostess is a prostitute, not a woman who seats people in restaurants. A tomboy is a lesbian, not a girl who climbs trees and plays men's sports. The bathroom is called a comfort room, an often inaccurate description. These things can be easily corrected, but other cultural issues are more challenging, requiring the missionary to put on the hat of "cultural mediator."

During this week we also had an evangelistic outreach nearby, so I put on my "evangelist" hat on two evenings. Fortunately I put this one on fairly often, and God continues to bless our efforts with his presence.

On top of this, we are also completing the translation of the study notes, articles, etc., of the Full Life Study Bible (aka Fire Bible or Life in the Spirit Study Bible), and I am the managing editor. This project has been a partnership between Life Publishers--the publishing arm of the Assemblies of God World Missions, and the Philippine Bible Society. My major responsibility has been to keep the partnership functioning well--and it has. But this week a couple of issues came up that demanded my involvement, so I put on my "managing editors" hat.

While this was an unusually busy week, constantly switching hats is just part of being a missionary.

Let’s Connect!

If you like, you can call us on our toll free Vonage line at (616) 855-1151. Even though this is a US number, it only rings at our house here in the Philippines! We’re 12 hours ahead of the East Coast.

If you aren’t hearing from us by email and would like to do so, please write Dave at dave.johnson@agmd.org and asked to be placed on the mailing list. Also, if you want to visit our website and Dave’s Blogspot, just google “Dr Dave Johnson” and everything will come up. From our website you can connect with Dave on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter. Most of our prayer requests and news updates are posted on the social media.

Thanks for making it possible for us to be here. We couldn’t do it without you! We love you and appreciate you !

Please continue to pray that many souls will come into the kingdom and be built up in Christ.

Dave and Debbie Johnson