Get Ready for Victory@25!

We’re sure you can¹t wait to get a seat at the Araneta Coliseum on July 24 for Victory@25. But all you need to do is keep an eye on this official website where we will make the announcement for the registration. We will be posting registration guidelines here as well.

Latest Victory@25 updates and announcements will also be on Multiply,Facebook, Friendster, Twitter, Plurk, and the Victory main website to make sure that you won¹t miss out on any important stuff for the anniversary. So for now, just sit back, prepare your schedules, and be excited with us as we anticipate and prepare for our big celebration on July 24!



Reposted from: Victory@25 Website

Kris Allen

He never sang this on any American Idol episode but "God Of This City" by Chris Tomlin remains to be one of our favorite worship songs.

We are excited to see how God is going to use him! Congratulations Kris Allen.

Watch Your Walk by Richard Baxter

Just got done reading "Watch Your Walk: Ministering From a Heart of Integrity" by Richard Baxter.

This classic book is filled with rich lessons that extend Biblical truths and encouragement to people who have pastoral gifts. It talks about pastors who are disillusioned by the church, putting focus on the quality of ministry versus quantity of church members, and most importantly, how spiritual leadership calls for a higher level of purity and holiness.

Just thought of sharing with you a section of the book that we feel is important and must be recognized by anyone who is considered a leader in Christian ministry: the four mains sins that now threaten the church.

1. Pride

Pride, sometimes, is the core reason behind the topics on which we choose to preach. Our own popularity and status is more a concern than the salvation of our audience.

2. Undervaluing the unity and peace of the whole church

Many of us are guilty of failing to look beyond the realms of individual denominations. In this, we lack perspective and fail to see through God's eyes how we can best serve one another and promote unity.

3. Lack of commitment to the work of God

It is the unfortunate case among us, that there is not enough zeal in our sermons, stemming from lack of passion for what we do and who we do it for. We are serving God and not men, performing tasks and doing work that God has ordained as highly significant for ushering His children into His kingdom.

4. Lack of church discipline

Every pastor must count the cost before entering headlong into ministry, because if he does not, he will be surprised and disappointed to learn of the suffering that may occur. Hearers of the messages may hate the straightforward approach to proclaiming the gospel, but there should be no apologies in speaking the truth the love.

Many thanks to: Kristyn Chiapperino

What is Victory Weekend?

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36

You are welcome to participate in the Victory Weekend as you go through the One 2 One booklet with your small group leader.


What is Victory Weekend?

Victory Weekend is a seminar and retreat that includes times of worship, Bible teaching, prayer, and personal ministry. The Bible teaches that believers can and should live victorious lives. Victory Weekend helps Christians understand and walk in the victory Christ purchased on the cross. It is a time to focus on establishing a life-long walk with God and a time to deepen our relationship with Him.

Some of the lessons taught during the Victory Weekend include:

* The power of the Cross

* Our identity in Christ

* Freedom from the curse of the law

* Victory over addictions

* Establishing biblical foundations

* The power to be a witness


How Long is a Victory Weekend?
While the schedule is flexible, Victory Weekend usually starts on a Friday morning and ends at noon on Saturday.

What are the goals of Victory Weekend?

* To establish spiritual foundations

* To experience spiritual freedom

* To encourage spiritual fruitfulness


How can I participate in Victory Weekend?

* Approach your small group leader and ask him/her for the schedule of the next Victory Weekend in your local church.

* If you are not involved in a discipleship group, you may consult a pastor or discipleship group leader in your church.

The most recent Victory Weekend (April 2009) was extremely special to us because two of our very good friends, Lamont Waters and Jeff Bascon, experienced an extraordinary encounter with God!

International Night 2009

Last April 24, 2009, Victory Christian Fellowship in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City welcomed members of its international community to a special dinner titled "International Night 2009."

More than 200 people arrived to find the Every Nation Assembly Hall done up in a nostalgic '50s American feel, with checkered tablecloths, soda fountain counters, and a giant vinyl record to add pizzazz to the 50s theme. Pastor Paolo Punzalan and the Real Life Foundation's Lynn Nawata hosted the evening's activities, which included a magic show from JB dela Cruz and a message from Victory Fort Senior Pastor Joey Bonifacio.

A pink Cadillac was placed outside the Assembly Hall for families to take souvenir pictures in.

Big props to the Creative Support Ministry's Arnel, Nancy, and Jarlan for spearheading the production of the props; a big thank you, too, to photographers Veejay Jimenez and Jun Perez.

The Perfect Mission Field?

HERE ARE SOME FACTS THAT WE CAN START WITH

1) The top 3 social media sites are Blogger (222 million unique visitors), Facebook (200 million unique visitors) and MySpace (126 million unique visitors).

2) Nielsen reports that Social Networks are 68% more popular than email.

3) 150 million people around the world are now actively using Facebook. More than 100 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day.

4) Facebook users include people in every continent—even Antarctica.

5) If Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan, Russia and Nigeria.

6) Facebook is used in more than 35 different languages and 170 countries and territories.

7) LinkedIn's traffic is up in the recession. It hit 36 million members last Monday and is adding them at a rate of about one member per second. According to ComScore, it’s gone from about 3.6 million unique monthly visitors a year ago to 7.7 million today.

8) There are currently 76 million members in MySpace US.

9) The average MySpace user now spends 266 minutes (4.4 hours) on the site every month.

10) According to Compete, the growth rate for Twitter was 752%, for a total of 4.43 million unique visitors in December 2008. In the start of 2008, Twitter had only around 500,000 unique monthly visitors.


A PERFECT MISSION FIELD?

If we were going to design the perfect mission field, here is what it might look like:

1) It would be filled with millions on unsaved but accessible youth and young adults.

2) It would be a place where people openly, regularly, and publicly share their opinions, thoughts, feelings, concerns, fears, and needs without anyone asking them to.

3) It would be a place where people connect with other people in a community setting where they expect to meet new people.

4) It would be a place where many people provide a picture and a little information about themselves so you can know a little about them before you communicate with them.

5) It would be a place where it is okay to be creative, different, and to just be yourself.

6) It would be a place where people openly debate, discuss, and exchange ideas including spiritual matters.

7) It would be a place where people like to go and hang out. It would be fun, sometimes silly, and people would smile and laugh.

8) It would be a place that is very close to our home so we could get there quickly when we have some time, and getting there would not require immunizations, passports, visas, or plane tickets. And it would all be free.

This perfect mission field exists right now, down to the very last detail. It exists on the Internet in public online services that connect people in community: blogs, personal webpages, and discussion groups, social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Multiply.


WHY I CARE SO MUCH

My hearts burns with desire to bring everyone I know closer to Jesus Christ. I cannot know all of the facts I mentioned above and sleep on it and pretend that those statistics do not matter.

I have 978 friends on Facebook -- people I actually know and have had an engagement with at least one point in my life. What an incredible way to connect with all of these people and be able to give them a glimpse of the kind of love Jesus has for each of them.

What an awesome opportunity to be obedient to our Father who has asked us to be "fishers of men."

Is privacy an issue? Can social networking be a tad bit narcissistic? Does it take a lot of work? I say yes to all of these questions. However, I am so committed and passionate about making a difference in someone's soul that I am willing to work with these disadvantages.

Am I telling you to sign-up and create accounts immediately? No. That is still totally up to you. I just wanted to share a whole new different perspective before you reject the idea of having an active online presence.

Sources: Techcrunch via Comscore, Nielsen, Cnet, Mark Zuckerberg, Adage, Social Media Bible, Compete, Mashable, Internet Evangelism Day

Leadership Group Reunion

God knows that one of the things I desire to have every day of my life is to mentor and be mentored.

I used to be a part of a leadership group in the Ortigas congregation. We have moved on since then as God has called all of us to excel in different ministries in different places in Metro Manila.

The lady who lovingly led this group is Joy Muleta. She is a woman very close to my heart.

She thought it would be nice to get everyone together again for a little mid-year reunion. It was a wonderful evening!

Ministry is tough but very rewarding. Walking among seasoned women of God is one of the most rewarding aspects of this journey.