Sold Out Live | Youth Ministry of Sumulong Baptist Church

Blogging is really something! You can do it as on of your hobbies, if you enjoy sharing your thoughts to people, especially about things you love. I have seen families use it as way to keep in touch with each other, each member posting updates about their life. There are others who use it to promote a business, an organization or an endeavor they have - whether it is an online business or an existing business that wants to get the word about their products, services, vision and mission out into the world using the internet. Still, there are those who are in it for the money.

SocialSpark and PayPerPost are IZEA’s services for bloggers who want to monetize their blog and for advertisers who are looking for a wide variety of Social Media Marketing services. These two online services offer advertising methods such as blog ads or blog posts. They also utilize blog sponsorship and even product sampling. Their methods can be considered as “thinking out of the box” because they are non-traditional and they provide great service, to bloggers and advertisers.

So whatever reason you ventured into blogging, why not consider utilizing IZEA’s services and see the difference their services have.

Yesterday, I talked to our senior pastor and found out that tickets for the Palawan missions trip have been bought.  All in all, there will be 28 participants in this trip, 18 of which will be coming from the US and 10 locally.  The final dates of the missions trip are from August 10-13, 2008.  Coordination is still being done with out contact at Plawan for details about the schools and churches we will be partnering with in the target area.  Updates will be posted soon.

Preparing for what will surely come is something that is wise. Getting a life insurance quote and considering it as a viable option for saving money is one of the best ways to approach finances as suggested by many financial advisers.

But more than what’s in this world, we should also be prepared for the after life. In Luke 12:16-21 Jesus tells this parable about a rich fool.

“The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ‘ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Have you prepared your life for this inevitable thing called death? Are you sure you’re going to heaven when you die? Did you know that you can be sure about securing your place in eternity? If you are sincerely considering this please feel free to leave a message in our chat box for more information.

In Acts 1:8, Jesus, before ascending in to heaven, calls His followers witnesses. If we consider ourselves to be followers of Christ, a true Christian in the right sense of the word, then we must be always testifying how God works daily in our lives. Our calling is not like sales jobs where we sell something that we haven’t necessarily tried. We were called to share our everyday experiences of God - how He comforts us when we feel lonely and sad, how He guides us in our daily decisions, how He protects us through our obedience to His commands. Witnessing doesn’t have to be like harassing or rushing someone into a decision. It simply has to show and be heard from our lives first then others will want what they see is real and true - a living relationship with God.

Materialism is defined by Merriam-Webster Online as “a preoccupation with or stress upon material rather than intellectual or spiritual things”.  There’s a lie that we see around us and on television that says, “Happiness can be purchased — Life, Liberty, and the Purchase of happiness.  If I can just get a certain thing, then I’ll be happy.”  We get more and more.  If that were true, obviously the people with the most would be the most happy, but that’s just not true, is it?  Dr. Luke, in Luke 9:25, says, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”  We may have everything in this world but still feel like we have gained nothing.

You see, we make a living by what we get.  We make a life by what we give.  Many times when college kids become young professionals, those who have not learned to be responsible with money tend to just be focused on buying anything they want.  Sometimes doing it to the point of getting a no credit payday loan without the readiness to pay it back responsibly.  Well, guess what? The antidote to a materialistic attitude is being generous. It is through giving that we learn to think of others instead of just ourselves, especially when we give to meet other’s needs.  If you’ve never tried this, I challenge you to do so.

In the Breaking Point programs, we usually have a live cartoon entitled “Captian Plus Versus Menacing Minus and the Nasty Negatives.” In this portion, we ask two volunteers from the students to join us on stage and play a major and a minor role. After the presentation we introduce them to their schoolmates and thank them for their willingness to help us out. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to give out like promotional pens or other souvenir items to Breaking Point student volunteers? What do you think guys? Do you know anyone who would be willing to sponsor some souvenirs for student volunteers?

The age of adolescence is a very crucial stage in the life of any person. Most of the major decisions that are made in one’s life are made between 15 to 19 years old. Decisions like what career path a young person is going to take, who that person is going to marry, what college that person is going to enroll in which affects what type of influence that person will get when he or she pursues a degree.

If my memory serves me right, I have been involved in the youth ministry since 1992. I started out as a youth volunteer, assisting in leading a small group in the youth ministry. Since then, I have always enjoyed and have always been passionate about influencing young people for the Lord.

We are grateful for the new youth leaders of our time now who have followed the path we took as we have obeyed God’s calling. May you continue to be zealous for Christ! Your time is now!

A principle that helps best during monetary emergencies is the principle of saving. In Proverbs 6:6 King Solomon says, “Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise.” As we see from this little animal’s example, it is an ideal to prepare for the rainy days. As we experience different seasons in nature, we do so also in the financial aspect of our lives. There are times when we have so much and there are times when we are so needy. These are the rainy days of our lives and following the ant’s example, we need to prepare for these times.

Among many families and individuals I have talked to, there are very few who save. A lot of times most individuals here in the Philippines turn to getting a loan or a cash advance. There is even a popular source of emergency funds here which we call “5-6”. There are financial institutions that provide loans but it’s seldom that I find one that offers a no fax cash advance.

But again, a better but unpopular alternative is to save. Perhaps the other popular alternative can be considered when one’s savings are not enough to cover the immediate financial need.

During the latter part of the past year, 2007, Jennie and I have been praying for a miracle regarding our finances. It was also during that time that we got introduced to the blogging business. I have met a college friend who was able to get his own house and lot (two at that) through this business and he tried to get me started but I didn’t know how. Well, when Jen was taking classes for completion to become a teacher, she had a classmate who introduced us into this business. It was December of 2007 when Jen and I purchased our own domain name for P500 (good for one year) plus P150/ month for the hosting. Since then, we have started blogging and I, myself, have tried out the free blogging platform of Blogger (blogspot) and we’ve had some income since January of this year that came in and have helped us financially. Before, we have thought about getting a loan for car repairs but now with God’s provision, hopefully we’d be able to slowly have the church’s service vehicle for us fixed. Truly prayer and the right heart and attitude towards everything that God entrusts to us have helped us in our needs. We are now venturing into sharing the things we’ve learned about blogging to church youth who spend a lot of time online. We hope that as we ‘pay it forward’ God’s blessings would continue to flow through us. For inquiries about the blogging business please feel free to contact me.

The first time I got involved in a missions trip was when I was still in college. I remember being in an immersion program with now missionary to Campodia Jojo Miraflor and Bro. Carlo and living with the Badjao migrants under Pasto Lut Garcia’s ministry in an area in Batangas. In January of 1999, I started volunteering for Breaking Point missions activities but mostly held within neighboring cities of Antipolo City (Marikina City and Pasig City). I volunteered every year for the next three years and got involved in coordinating with school administrators for setting program schedules, coordinating with churches for the training of volunteers and the training itself. A few months before the third missions trip which was held in Baguio City, I made an advance trip to coordinate with churches and conducted volunteer trainings for Pines City Baptist Church and Grace Baptist Church. So, as the missions trip to Baguio pushed through, we had to make sure we brought every thing we needed - from credit cards to personal belongings and program costumes and training materials. It was that same missions trip when the reigns of the Breaking Point Foundation were officially handed over to me in partnership with the ministry of SBC. This then gave birth to more outreach and missions activities in the Philippines. Right now, plans for a missions trip on August in Palawan are being laid down and we are excited to bring the gospel to high school students in that province. Please start praying that God would work in the hearts of the youth of Palawan and make them ready for the gospel.