Well it is the beginning of February 2010 and I am working hard to coördinate everything for the two construction teams Grace Church is sending to the Philippines in April. I am taking a six man team to Cagayan de Oro (CDO) to work at a CBAP church that was destroyed by a typhoon in early 2009. George Bautista, Marc Martinez, Alan Yates, J.R. Stewart, Hal Jewel and Eddie Diaz will be there for about 10 days starting from the ground up building a new church building. Our friends and volunteers from Christ Centered Fellowship Church (CCFC) will be working alongside the team to get as much done as possible in the ten days that they are there. Pastor Nas is our point of contact and has arranged for the team to sleep in his church while the team is there. It is located a few kilometers from the work site. He has also organized a team of women to prepair meals for the team while they are there.

About a week after the CDO team arrives in the Philippines a second construction team from Grace Church will arrive in Manila to work on a project in Matalatala, Laguna located about 3 hours south-east of Manila. This is a team of eight men from Grace. They will be helping a local church finish the construction of their church building that was started a few years ago. Greg Rivera, Nathan Hatfield, David Jennings, Zach Grelling, Dana Attebery, Clyde Wright, Richard Paniagua and Lenny Celaya will be doing evrything from installing floor tiles to building block walls. Pastor Boyet has arranged for the team to sleep in a two-story house near the church and has organized volunteers from the church to cook and work alongside the team.

Laguna was one of the hardest hit areas of the Philippines last November when they received 13 inches of rain in less than 6 hours.

Stan

Building Projects – Philippines 

My name is Stan Smith and I am the facilities manager at  Grace Church of Glendora.  Since 2006 I have worked with Grace for Asia  and Grace Church to organize and lead teams of men to the Philippine Islands and partner with local churches there to build, remodel and do various construction projects in a response to the command outlined in Acts 1:8: “…and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”  

We have been working with the leaders and pastors of  the Conservative Baptist Association of The Philippines (CBAP) and others to identify church groups and organizations that we can come along side and partner with to help expand ministry.  The long term goal of this partnership is to help establish and plant new churches in the metropolitan areas surrounding Manila where none exist now.  Our partners from CBAP will then train, equip and install leaders in those new churches  and mentor them as they grow.

Left to Right - Janitor, builder, salesman, doctor, tech and a retired roofing contractor

You do not have to be a general contractor to participate in one of these projects.  A good attitude and a willingness to serve is all you need! We have had men with occupations not remotely connected to construction go with us and do wonderful work.  The team pictured to the left worked on the Grace medical Clinic in Mindanao. I invite you, your friends  and your church to participate in one of these partnerships! Listen to what one team member had to say about his experience: Click on the projects listed on the right and find out what we are doing in the Philippines! 

Contact me at ssmith@grace-church.com or contact Grace for Asia  for more information about Building Projects – Philippines.