Friday, June 8, 2018—Bethesda Independent Baptist Church: Leadership/Ministry/Educator’s Conference
Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”
Our main ministry today involved Miss Rachel and Dr. Cirone conducting a Leadership/Ministry/Educator’s Conference for the folks from Tarlac Christian College and the metro-Manila members of the Independent Baptist Mission for Asians (IBMA). The morning session involved exclusively the Administrators from Tarlac Christian College as Dr. Cirone began the session with a challenge on leadership, Biblical authority, and thinking strategically through the use of vision and mission statements along with goals/objectives and strategies. Miss Rachel followed up with a session that gave specific examples on how to actually apply the mission to ministry goals/objectives/strategies through the development of job descriptions. They really enjoyed the practicality of this as they sensed this would greatly help them at Tarlac with issues of administrative and teacher training, accountability, responsibility, efficiency, and effectiveness. 
While Miss Moses and Dr. Cirone were conducting these training meetings, the rest of the team went around the neighborhood handing out tracts having several profitable conversations with the locals.
Because Pastor Arvin is the Manila Regional Director for IBMA and Dr. Ruth is the President of Tarlac Christian College, they thought it would be appropriate to invite their constituency (Pastors, Assistant Pastors, Pastor’s wives, Songleaders, Christian School administrators and teachers) for the afternoon for an additional Leadership Conference that again would involve Miss Rachel and Dr. Cirone. Once everyone arrived, the church lobby was packed with participants who came from far and wide (maybe around 60-70) as there was great excitement and anticipation in the air. Miss Rachel opened up the main session by introducing the team as we went through our traditional welcome in Tagalog and sung Ligaya ng Buhay. After our introductions, Dr. Tulabot wanted Dr. Cirone to begin by repeating the first session from the morning on Leadership and Biblical Authority. After this session, Miss Rachel took the teachers and did a couple of breakout sessions on how to be effective in the classroom. While Miss Moses had the teachers, Dr. Cirone, with PowerPoint and clicker in hand, continued onward to cover topics such as Building Your Leadership Team, Working With People (complete with a personality test), Dealing With Stress, and concluding with How to Manage Conflict. At the conclusion of the afternoon Seminar (which lasted over four hours), the participants seemed genuinely refreshed, encouraged, empowered, and thankful that they had taken the time to come. Dr. Ruth finished out our time by giving gifts to each of our team members and showing her appreciation for the time well spent. They said that they are already planning for next year’s Leadership Conference, Lord-willing! ;o)
Even though this week has been a little less intense than last week’s ministry at the Subic Bay Children’s Home, we’ve really enjoyed this new opportunity to minister to the adults which has allowed our team to be stretched beyond just the children’s ministries. Although we went to bed really tired tonight due to a full day of ministry, it was so refreshing to know that we were a blessing to them as they were a blessing to us– a wonderful “iron sharpening iron” experience with our friends!
Influencing Others for the Cause of Christ,
Team Philippines
