The Holidays are upon us! It's Christmas time in the Philippines!
They say that our country -the Philippines has the longest Christmas Season in the world! Amidst all the financial and economic crises we are encountering here and abroad, we surely can't skip the merry making and joyous celebration of Christmas time!
Indeed it is the season for reunions, parties, peace talks, cease fires and gift-giving. And for our church, we welcome the Season with yuletide cheers through carols and songs of praise. Starting 16th of December up to the 23rd , we will be visiting different houses and sing songs of cheers and carols to our benevolent benefactors.
This year's cause is for the upgrade of our Landmark of Greatness which will be on its second phase of construction.
Here's a peek of our fun last December 16th. (I just hope I have clearer pictures than this (^_^)hmmm...)
We visited 18 houses that night and after the tedious and larynx-exhausting carols, soup was served hot at Sis Jo's house.
We also gave out tokens to the households that we visited, a thank you card and a 2011 calendar showing GLHCC weekly activities.
It was our first time (me and Percival) to join the caroling event and it's really worth the join! Amidst the tiresome activity, we feel much fulfilled knowing that we are doing it for the benefit of the Church , who will apparently lead more souls to worship the true Reason for this Season and that is Jesus Christ!
To those who wish to participate in our caroling or know someone else who would enjoy a Christmas music cheer to help us further, please call Perci at 09086100875 or e-mail melo_tabernilla@yahoo.com. Kindly visit our Facebook page for more info. Merry Christmas to all!
Psalm 100(KJV) "Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations."
We've got one blessed night with a myriad of talents packing the SM Cinema 9 stage last November 28, 2010.
It was Dulce , Cathy Amaca of Papuri and puppeteer Ruther Urquia with puppets Titoy and Lolo in the house.
Papuri singer Cathy Amaca soothes us with her Christmas medley and rocks the centre stage with the modern version of “Tsuper ng Buhay”. Joining the performance are her two equally talented sons in guitar and beat box.
Pilipinas Got Talent Finalist, Ruther Urquia, filled Cinema 9 with gales of laughter as he started to throw punchlines after punchline with his puppet Titoy and Lolo. It was just amazing how people can have such extra-ordinary talent and use it for the Glory of God.
Pastor Ruther with puppet Lolo ni Titoy
Pastor Ruther with famous Titoy
Asia's Diva Dulce showed her prowess in singing as she banged the stage with “You Light Up My Life”and the new version of her signature piece “ Ako Ang Nagwagi” which was apparently the last song written by highly acclaimed song writer George Canseco before he died. The song from being of gloomy low hearted character turned out to be a bold and powerful in solemn praise for God. The performance is simply superb.
Dulce singing "You Light Up My Life"
Dulce - The Asia's Diva
Apart from their exemplary performances on stage, what really impressed me the most are their testimonies. Cathy Amaca tells how successful her Christian albums and singles have been while modestly uttering “All for the Glory of God” in her success stories. Ruther Urquia humbly narrates his achievement, that he from being deprived of college education because of poverty pursued his career, did his part in working for the missions of the Lord through puppeteering. He also told his story on Ondoy, how he and his family have been spared from the tragedy of the dreaded flood. The laughter he brings on stage is infectious, and he used it as a key in bringing people closer to God. I won’t forget the “God Bless You Ka!” phrase from that night on.
And Dulce, how can I ever forget this lady.. She’s got really great talent in singing and got one good testimony of her life. A story from her childhood to married life and now how she has been into the ministry and reaching out to her fellow artists about God’s goodness. She was one great workmanship of God and I praise Him for her life. Her new version of "AKO ANG NAGWAGI" is a very inspiring song for all of us Christians.
Thank you Pastor Andy Alcoba and Jesus the Living Stone Churches and Ministries for choosing Glean the Lord’s Harvest Community Church as one of your partners. The event was a successful one and all praises be to God.
Pastor Andy Alcoba thanking GLHCC on stage
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Romans 12:11
While traveling, you might want to get in touch with the word of God. Audio bibles in mp3 format is just the right tool for those times.
Glad to know http://www.audiotreasure.com/ offers a nice array of mp3 format audio bibles. I have just downloaded the tagalog new testament as zipped archive. Hopefully there's a bible of your choice version and language.
Another set, a complete set might be from http://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/. And you can also be an ambassador, by letting your computer be a seeder to the free audio bible they are offering. By the way, they also have these cool military bible sticks that's quite amazing. They've created one for the tough one. so they too can be reached out. Really nice to hear such stories of reaching out to all sorts of fellow.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit... Matthew 28:19
This application will let you to:
- Read the Scriptures
- Listen to the Scriptures
- Listen and follow the text at the same time
Additional features:
- Reading history
- Notes with the ability to email them
- Daily reading
- Bookmarks
- Search in the Bible
- Biblical Maps
- Reference to other Bible Translations
- Self updating community and development news in the "About Box"
- Summer Street Church Sunday Service Podcasting
The best thing to start your usual office day at work is to get inspired by the word of God. Or when you just have your ample time for Bible study, e-Sword bibles are just the right tool for you. You can have it installed in your workstation in different Bible versions with commentaries and resources such as topical guide and bible dictionaries.
It features a tabbed pane for those who may want to compare different bible versions and the bibles come in different languages. The King James Version, Tagalog- Ang Biblia and the Good News versions are the most practically useful for me.
Visit the download page of the e-Sword web site below for more info:
You can also do bible study online through their online and interactive resource:
Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. - Joshua 1:8
While surfing sourceforge.net for some useful open source code for my work, I stumbled upon this really good stuff, an ultimate church database management software. Church Software is used to display Bible verses, Worship Songs, MS PowerPoints, Videos, Birthdays and Wedding anniversaries to the projector. Moreover it can handle databases such as membership data and songs repositories. You can also add modules for bibles and commentaries from free and open sources.
The Church Software GUI
Reasons why I really like and would recommend this Church Software:
1. The graphical user interface is easy to handle and very presentable.
2. Projection in an LCD projector is easy.
3. It supports 69 languages.
4. It comes with a preset of songs,bibles and bible study topics and images but of course we can always add our own sets of songs and devotionals in there, it's fully customizable.
5.It's open source. If you have some brilliant programmers in your church, they can easily enhance the features of this software and let it fit in exactly how the church needs it.
6. Its FREE. When piracy has always been an issue among us Christians, it is really great that that we have this kind option to consider. Something that won't compromise our faith.
It is really of big help to all pioneering or even established churches. A complete package of useful stuffs for our church. This is a must download for churches.
