Last night evangelists Bill and Beth Juoni began a series of revival meetings in our region of the Philippines. We actually began with a truncated seminar that afternoon. It was a small gathering, but the people were intensely interested in what Bill had to say about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. In the altar service about 10-12 were gloriously filled or refilled!! Praise the Lord!
For the next couple of weeks we will be taking Bill and Beth to various places throughout the region for day long seminars and revival services on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. We believe that God is soon going to send a revival to the Bicol region, and we want to be ready when he does.
If anyone would want to understand why the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements have now spread all over the globe, one must understand what we believe and teach about the Holy Spirit. We believe that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is primarily an enduement of power to be Christ's witness, both at home and abroad. We believe that any believer can and must be filled with the Spirit.
The Spirit of God is the great equalizer. In a sense, believing that every believer can and should be filled with the Spirit is Pentecostalism's to contribution to the priesthood of all believers. While Luther, I think, intended this to mean that all believers have access to God, I would add that, through the Holy Spirit baptism, God has access to all believers, regardless of social rank, economic status, or educational level.
Our desire is that every believer in our region would be filled with Spirit and used by God to reach people for Christ in their locale and wherever the will of God may take them. We believe that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, evidenced by speaking in other tongues, is a critical part of the discipleship, spiritual formation, and preparation process to be used of God to the maximum.
I remember the words to the old hymn, Showers of Blessing, especially the part that goes "mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead." Oh God, we pray for a mighty outpouring of your Spirit in the Bicol region of the Philippines and around the world!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
2012 Summer Newsletter
Dave and Debbie Johnson
Missionaries to the Philippines
2012 Summer Newsletter
Pain, Prophecy, and Outpouring
By Debbie
During our Assemblies of God Missionary Fellowship annual missionary meeting in June, the Lord gave to me a word of encouragement about the future of the church.
The context of this prophecy is two important matters: We as missionaries are going through a time of great pain in the Philippines
“The Lord is giving to all of us a great birth announcement. He is about to birth something new in the body of Christ and in the Assemblies of God. These precious babies about to be born among us are a symbol of God’s great new birth for the church.
Do not focus on the pain and struggle of child birth. When the baby comes, when this new thing that God will do breaks into reality, your sorrow and heartbreak, your pain and anguish will be swallowed up by dancing, singing joy. You are like the mother in labor now. But when the birth comes, you will forget this time of pain because of the joy of new life which will sweep the church, the country, and the world….”
Launching the Advanced Training for our Church Planting Schools
By Dave
The new birth we believe God is planning for the church encourages us as we begin advanced Church Planting School (CPS) training for house church planters and pastors. Our dream is to strengthen our leaders and also strengthen the fishing net that God is preparing so that thousands upon thousands can come into the kingdom and have a place to worship, whether in a traditional or house church.
To strengthen this fishing net, our CPS 2 training will include instruction on becoming strong in love and respect for one another in the body of Christ.
Our burden for the pastors’ and leaders’ all around spiritual, emotional, and physical health is reflected in the first subject that Dave is teaching: spiritual disciplines and becoming the person that God wants you to be, which focuses on living life in proper balance. We believe that healthy pastors lead to healthy churches which naturally result in multiplication of Christians and churches. Since churches are organic, healthy pastors and churches will result in the multiplication of churches and new converts.
We launched four level 2 CPSes four pastors’ sections in June and will launch the others in either September or October which allows our pastors to benefit as well as our CPS grads.
In the minister’s meetings we also have the opportunity to recast the vision of the CPS program which is to plant a church within walking distance of every Filipino in our region.
While CPS 2 is beginning to roll, CPS 1, for new house church planters is also being launched again for the 6th year around the district. We praise God for His faithfulness and the fruit of the training in the lives of our Assemblies of God people. To date, we have more than 207 house churches.
New Evangelistic Team Vision
After a number of months of research and prayer, we have now launched a new format – from a three-night evangelistic rally to a one-night revival meeting, trainings, and a one-night evangelistic rally with follow-up training and follow-up on new believers afterward. The focus of the one-night revival is to encourage counselors and other church members to be filled or refilled with the Holy Spirit.
We also instituted a greater accountability system. Not all pastors have been open to the change but for those that have, the results have been encouraging. We made these changes, in part, because of all the people with whom we prayed a sinner’s prayer, less than ten percent were being added to the churches. This is unsatisfactory! We believe that we could be getting at least fifteen percent and have made these changes with this goal in mind. In case this seems low, a large evangelistic ministry in the States reports that they get only two to three percent.
New Opportunities
Sometime ago we were approached by Dr. Kay Fountain, the academic dean of the Asia Pacific Theological Seminary (APTS) in Baguio City, Philippines, about teaching on a part time basis. APTS is the graduate level school of the Assemblies of God that serves the Asia Pacific and Pacific Oceana regions of the world. We prayed about this and felt the Lord was leading us this way, so we accepted. As a result, we will spend part of each year on campus, beginning in January, 2013.
Dave will teach in the missions program, and Debbie will train those who will be teaching English in Bible Schools or as a missions outreach in various parts of the region. Additionally, Dr. Fountain asked Dave to become the new editor for the Asia Journal of Pentecostal Studies, the school’s academic journal which is published twice a year. He was also appointed as the new director for APTS Press, the school’s book publishing arm, although he will not begin this role immediately. Both the Journal and the Press can be handled by email and phone from Bicol. For more information on the school, please visit www.apts.edu.
Prayer Points
· That God would accomplish the vision he has given us for the Bicol Region
· That God would release the finances necessary to achieve his purposes
· That God would heal the major controversy currently raging in the national church (thank God that the churches in our region have not been greatly affected)
· That God would continue to help us to live in a balanced manner.
With great appreciation to the sacrifice of all our partners in missions,
Dave and Debbie Johnson
Assemblies of God Missionaries to the Philippines
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
A Concise Update
Annual Report to the Assemblies of God Missionary Fellowship June 2011-May 2012
Dave and Debbie Johnson
Assemblies of God Missionary to the Philippines
www.drdavejohnson.blogspot.com
[Every year the missionaries on our field write an annual report to our colleagues, in preparation for our annual field meeting, to keep them abreast of what’s happening in our ministry. I thought I’d send ours along in case you missed some of our newsletters, are new to our mailing list, or would just enjoy a concise report of the last 12 months of our ministry. Hope you enjoy it. Dave]
Dear Friends,
This is the first time in quite awhile that we have had to file a report for Annual Meeting, and we are thrilled to do it!
Last September we completed our fourth itineration cycle and, one more time, bade our families a heartrending goodbye. When I was a new missionary I (Dave) was naïve enough to think this would get easier as time went on. Like many of you, we are dealing with aging parents issues, mostly on Debbie’s side of the family.
We took all of October just to get well settled in before beginning ministry. If you’ve been here awhile, you know the drill. Find a good house, spend a small fortune getting a zillion things fixed or modified to suit your needs and tastes, move in, set up house, and bring the dog home from where he had been staying with friends. We had a lot of fun getting reacquainted with our Filipino friends, many of whom pitched in to help.
While in the States, God spoke to Dave that we needed to “get better before getting bigger.” In response we spent November, part of December, and most of January, thoroughly reviewing every aspect of our evangelistic ministry and church planting program and making sweeping changes. All of this was done in concert with our evangelistic team and the district leadership. After all, we aren’t in this alone. We spent February and March preparing to make these changes, which we rolled out to the pastors at the district council in early April and are now just beginning to implement them.
Regarding our evangelistic ministry, our research revealed a need to shore up the spiritual vitality of the churches as well as our follow up program. Therefore, we switched from a three night outreach format to a one night revival meeting at the host church, then an afternoon training session followed by a one night outreach at an outdoor venue, and then a one day strategy session and follow-up kickoff. We are also moving towards greater accountability and ongoing training, hopefully expanding our churches and resulting in more church plants.
Researching regarding our house church planting program revealed that while we have planted 207 house churches in the last five years, the multiplication rate is not as high as it could be. The research also demonstrated that more training and better oversight of the workers is needed. In response, this June we will implement a second tier of training that will be built around a long term mentoring program.
We love Filipinos and are so privileged to serve with you!! Dave and Debbie
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Juvy is With Jesus
Dear Friends,
Debbie and I are saddened to report that last Friday, Jesus whispered in the ear of Juvy Sumayao, our dear friend and pastor's wife for whom we have asked your help, and she went to be with him. We attended her beautiful funeral service in their church yesterday. Her husband and all three of her children, though heartbroken, took part in the service.
Today, we have received about $800.00 in cash and commitments to help with the medical expenses. Coupled with the funeral costs, the total bill around $5,500.00. Thank you so much for your love and help. We advanced some of the funds and brought them with us, and this meant a lot to the family. If you have not yet given and would like to do so, you can give through the ways I mentioned in my previous post or you can give through our website, http://www.daveanddebbiejohnson.com/. Again, please let us know by return email how much you will be giving so that we can watch for the funds.
Thank you for your continued prayers and gifts at this time.
On behalf of the Sumayao family,
Dave and Debbie Johnson
Assemblies of God Missionaries to the Philippines
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Emergency Medical Situation of a Dear Friend
Dear Precious Friends,
For about 20 days our former District Superintendent’s wife, Juvy, has been struggling for her life in the north part of the Bicol region where we live. Juvy entered a hospital before our recent district convention for surgery on a perforated gallbladder and a perforated intestine, but there were complications and the surgery was not successful. The family transferred her to another hospital where she might receive better treatment, but after a second surgery she is still in ICU. Yesterday we received word that the infections from the perforations are going down, and she no longer has a fever.
Juvy's husband, Pastor Rudy Sumayao, was unable to attend our district council and, therefore, was unable to stand for reelection. But his concern is for her. We are still praying and trusting God for a full recovery. What we are appealing to you for us both your prayers and for a love gift to pastor Rudy and his family. He has asked us to help him raise money for a medical bill that has grown to over $4,700 and increases at the rate of about $300 per day. This is an extremely big amount in a region where most families only earn about $850 a year or less. The family has used up all their money in the medical expenses so far, but we believe the Lord is going to take beautiful care of both Sister Juvy and the family. If the Lord is putting it in your heart to be part of God’s loving care to this family, would you send any amount that is on your heart? Here is what you can do ...
Email us at dave.johnson@hqmail.agmd.org and tell us how much you are sending.
For those in the USA, please send your gift to
AGWM
1445 Boonville Ave
Springfield MO 65802
designated for Dave and Debbie Johnson, missionaries to the Philippines, account 2256006
If you are in the Philippines and know the Sumayaos, please contact them directly. Otherwise, you can send it to Dave through SMART. Dave's SMART cellphone number is (0921) 252-5794.
If you live somewhere other than the Philippines or the USA, please contact me by email, and we will figure out something!
Again, please contact me by email to let me know how much you are sending so that we can inform the Sumayaos of what to expect.
Thanks for considering this,
Dave and Debbie Johnson
Missionaries to the Bicol region of the Philippines
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Allegiance: The Heart of Discipleship
Allegiance: The Heart of Discipleship
By Dr. Dave Johnson
Assemblies of God Missionary to the Philippines
www.drdavejohnson.blogspot.com
[This blog was first published in March, 2012, in Call To Prayer, the online prayer magazine of Assemblies of God World Missions, and can be seen at www.ag.org.]
While we were home on itineration, I visited a convenience store where I saw a woman wearing a beautiful T-shirt that described the reality and necessity of Christ’s death on the Cross. Both the theology it expressed and the artwork truly glorified God. But before I could compliment her on it, she stepped up to the cashier, bought lottery tickets, and left the store. I stood there wondering if she had any idea that the message she wore on her body totally contradicted the one she held in her hand.
What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus Christ—a true disciple worthy of his name? The apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5:17 calls for a change of allegiance, renouncing the past in terms of its worldview, which lies at the core of our being. Worldview can simply be explained as a pair of eyeglasses through which we perceive reality, define values, and decide actions. Since our worldview begins to develop the day we are born and is strongly conditioned by the environment in which we live, we seldom question it. Asking the average person to describe their worldview is like asking a fish to describe water. It’s hard to explain it when it’s all you have ever known.
A good example would be our cultural concept of “rugged individualism,” no doubt born out our westward frontier expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries. This can be seen in everything from Frank Sinatra’s hit song I Did it My Way to abortion and the right to die movement. We rightfully cry out against these immoral practices, but do we examine our own lives and see how deeply this attitude is ingrained in us and how often our insistence on our rights runs contrary to the biblical model of interdependence within the body of Christ and the scriptural examples of close knit families?
Proverbs 4:23 speaks to clearly to the need to examine our own worldview under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As this passage suggests, our values and actions flow out of who we really are. Having a biblical worldview, then, is a vital component of discipleship. Without it, our cultural environment will define our values and actions.
Allegiance is the heart of the issue (Proverbs 4:20-23). Since what we do flows out of who we really are, a good way find out what’s really important to us might be to take a look at our checkbooks. Does having a nice car or designer jeans get in the way of tithing, supporting missions, and caring for the poor? Does watching TV or working more hours to make more money interfere with taking appropriate time for our family and church?
A true change of allegiance must result in a change of worldview in order to bringing lasting impact on our daily lives. 2 Corinthians 5:17 teaches us that being a new creation in Christ involves leaving behind the old ways of thinking, with its selfish (and ultimately self-destructing) pursuits, and taking on a biblical worldview that weighs all things in this life by what the Bible teaches, calling for new values, attitudes and actions. In other words, discipleship means that our allegiance is to Christ, not to ourselves. .
*All Scripture references are from the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.
PLEASE NOTE: Permission is hereby given to forward, print, and post this blog as long as it is done as a complete blog, and its authorship is acknowledged. Thank you for your cooperation. For automatic notification of future blogs please visit www.drdavejohnson.blogspot.com and click on “join this site.”
Copyright 2012 Dr. Dave Johnson
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Have You Been to the Garden With Him?
Have You Been To The Garden With Him?
By Dr. Dave Johnson
Assemblies of God Missionary to the Philippines
www.drdavejohnson.blogspot.com
“Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” one of the servants asked Peter in the high priest’s courtyard during the trial of Jesus (John 18:26). While most Christians have never been to the actual Garden of Gethsemane
For Jesus, the garden was the crucible of his suffering. The stress was so great that he sweat blood. It was here that Jesus, the God-Man, fully confronted his humanity. He was given the choice of two paths: his own or his Father’s. He was challenged with the ultimate moral choice to accept the Father’s will, which was the path of excruciating pain, or take the opportunity to opt out of the will of God and go his own way. The stakes could not have been higher as the eternity destiny of mankind hung in the balance. Heaven and Hell waited with bated breath, and angels and demons battled for the soul of the Savior. Jesus made his choice in the garden, not on the cross.
Have you been to the garden with him? All of us, at one point or another in our lives, will be confronted with personal pain as part of our walk with God. Many, if not most, will face this choice more than once. For some in may be a short season, for others it will be longer. For some it will be some form of physical suffering through persecution, disability, or illness, for others the pain the pain will be emotional and mental. For me, the battle has been with depression and a deep sense of abandonment rooted in my mother’s unintended many absences from our home due to mental illness. These issues deeply impacted my relationship with Debbie, others, and how I felt about myself.
Have you been to the garden? If so, you have been presented with these two paths. Unlike Jesus, we may not have the opportunity to opt out of suffering, but we always have the chance to choose how we will respond to it. One way is to own your pain like Jesus did and say “nevertheless not my will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42), knowing full well that the will of God meant the incalculable suffering. The other path is to ignore your pain, medicating it, like I did, by becoming a workaholic or, like others, through unresolved anger, bitterness, alcohol, drugs, pornography, illicit sex, and a million other false remedies that offer a temporary panacea but no ultimate healing.
Have you been to the garden with him? If so, you may understand that one may “come to the garden alone,” as the old hymn goes, but one does not have to walk alone. In our darkest hour, when Debbie and I had almost lost hope, Jesus was there. He helped us confront and work through the greatest pain we have ever known. And He didn’t do it alone. Our families, and friends too numerous to name, walked with us, loving us in a manner so seldom seen yet so desperately needed in the Body of Christ today. We would have never survived without them. Because of Jesus and others, though I am still working through some issues and must still choose which path I will follow, immeasurable healing has taken place. To the glory of God, there is a renewed freshness in my relationship with God, our marriage has been healed, and fellowship with others have been strengthened and deepened. New vistas of ministry are opening for us, and the future, though fraught with peril, is brighter than ever.
Have you been to the garden with him?
*All Scripture references are from the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.
PLEASE NOTE: Permission is hereby given to forward, print, and post this blog as long as it is done as a complete blog, and its authorship is acknowledged. Thank you for your cooperation. For automatic notification of future blogs please visit www.drdavejohnson.blogspot.com and click on “join this site.”
Copyright 2012 Dr. Dave Johnson
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