A Great Weekend

It was still raining as we headed east toward the foothills of Mt. Kanlandog on Friday morning, but by the time we reached Mambucal Resort, the skies had cleared up.

For the rest of the weekend, not a single drop of rain fell!

The Lord had indeed answered our prayers for good weather during this seminar weekend.

The governor and her provincial staff left the province of Antique at 5:30 a.m. that morning. Traveling by land, they reached Iloilo City three hours later hoping to catch the 9 a.m. ferry boat to Bacolod City, only to discover that the departure time had been moved to 10:15 a.m. They reached the port of Bacolod City at about 11:30, and the Seminar Hall of Mambucal Resort an hour later.

Buddy, Melanie, Trudi and I were around to welcome them. There were 35 participants in all.

Buddy, Mel, me and Trudi while waiting for the group to arrive

After a delicious lunch, and an afternoon of rest, the group was quite ready and eager to begin the seminar.

Viewing the Empowering Relationships seminar by Craig Hill on DVD

Beginnings
It was in 2001 that the Family Foundations International (FFI) national office was opened in our country. The Philippine flag was the fifteenth flag to be hung in the main hall of the FFI headquarters in Colorado, USA.

A year before that, a group of us in our church attended the Ancient Paths personally conducted by Craig Hill and his international team here in our city. All of us had already known the Lord for many years and were even serving in leadership roles at that time. But during the teaching sessions and small group ministry time that followed each teaching, we received a deeper revelation of the Father's love, as well as an impartation of our God-given identity and destiny. There was such an impact over our lives that we desired to see others walk in true freedom, released to live out their days in accordance with God's beautiful design and purpose for their lives.

Over the past years we have offered a number of Ancient Paths seminars where participants are given opportunity to turn to Jesus as the One able to heal past emotional woundings and restore a culture of blessing in relationships.

The past weekend was quite significant for me. I realized that there were many "firsts" happening in my life this weekend. This was the first major seminar I coordinated after my return from Thailand. And this was the first time we did an Empowering Relationships seminar. It was a new release, together with Blessing Generations, and I was not sure just how effective it would be for this pacticular group that we were seeking to minister to. This is the first time that we were offering an FFI Ancient Paths seminar to a government group. In addition to the governor, there were 35 local government heads in attendance.

A lovely Saturday morning!

(Buddy took this shot of me on Saturday morning on our way to the seminar hall.)

There has been much prayer on my part offered to God for this event. It also came at a time when my daily schedules were booked with many other concerns.

By God's providence, all went well. The preparations we had done in terms of transportation, accommodations and meals went smoothly, just as planned. Both the teaching and the ministry in small groups were also well-received.

During coffee break on Saturday afternoon

Managing Offense

One of the teachings that has really changed my spiritual outlook is the teaching on offense. I first came across this many years ago when I read a book written by John Bevere entitled The Bait of Satan. I also appreciated learning more about it when we went through the lessons given by Francis Frangipane in his on-line school, In Christ's Image Training Center. Francis emphasizes that we all need to follow the example of Jesus, how He remained "unoffendable" even in the midst of many good reasons to be offended, all throughout His earthly life. In the video series Transformations, this reminder strikes my heart: "You have no right to be offended!"

How very true indeed. Offense is Satan's bait that leads to a deadly trap.

In Ancient Path Level 2, Craig Hill also talks about offense, how harboring it in our hearts brings about a hardening and a barrenness in our souls.

In Empowering Relationships, Craig develops the teaching further. He said that nurturing offense sets you up to be a "seed-carrier" of offense. It is like a bitter root that clouds our perspective and poisons our relationships.

The antidote to offense is of course the way of the cross, humility and forgiveness. But many people, even Christians sad to say, find it difficult to forgive an offense.

It was indeed a profitable weekend, not only for the participants, but also for those of us who served in the ministry team. I consider it a special privilege to be working and growing together with a great bunch of people.

(Below are a few pictures of the ministry team taken during lunch break on Saturday.)

Nikki, Anne and Babette

David, Arlene, Buddy and Babette

Bjorn and Nikki

Trudi Jane

Some of the participants recognized how offense had created walls in their hearts and in ther relationships. A number of them turned their lives over to Jesus, unburdened their guilt and excess baggages, and asked forgiveness from fellow workers they had hurt.

A snapshot of David and me with our small group

The governor thanked us for the opportunity they were given to "rediscover themselves" and said that she was looking forward to more team building seminars with us in the near future.

Group picture of the governor and her local government provincial staff taken on Saturday evening

It was a beautiful and sunny Sunday morning as we left Mambucal. Somehow I knew that in this part of the world, seeds of reconciliation were planted in many hearts, and a ray of light has penetrated dark paths.

View of Mt. Kanlandog with newly harvested sugarcane fields in foreground

Once again, life has triumphed over death!

As we headed back to the city, my heart was full of hope. This was the prayer on my heart:

Dear Father, thank You for giving us the chance to minister to this group. They come from the government sector of our country, and right now I just lift up their lives to you. As seeds of reconciliation were planted in their hearts, may these seeds not be snatched by the enemy. Rather may they take root, grow, and impact the lives of their family members and fellow workers. Shine upon our nation, dear Jesus!