Over 80,000 Baptisms in 2021

During the covid years (2020 – 2021), I mentioned in my monthly newsletters about the strict Philippine government rules, which affected evangelism in the Philippines. But praise God, it did not affect the yearly baptisms. Instead, it doubled up. Here I have copied/pasted part of the report of the South Philippine Union Conference:

“Cagayan de Oro City, PH – The South Philippine Union Conference (SPUC) has ended 2021 and welcomed the new year with a total of 80,437 new family members added to the church. SPUC, the Mindanao church region of Seventh-day Adventists that comprises six missions and two conferences, has baptized almost twice of the goal set for the entire 2021.

“The results were largely due to the collaborative online evangelism efforts of the leaders, church members and media volunteers through the Hope Channel local antenna (), Hope Radio, and Hope Channel YouTube and Facebook accounts, which continued to thrive in the pandemic-fueled changes.

“In the table here, rounding up the top three are Southern Mindanao Mission (SMM) which brought in 19,741 people to faith, North Eastern Mindanao Mission (NEMM) with 13,281 precious souls, and Western Mindanao Conference (WMC) which baptized 11, 799.

“With church gatherings playing a vital role in the nature of worship among the members, the advent of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Philippines posed challenges to public religious practices. The continuous rise in the number of cases and the swift escalation of the pandemic prompted SPUC to double its efforts for media ministry in reaching the growing visually and technology driven people with the gospel of Jesus Christ through the use of technology and digital media, and likewise mobilizing and equipping other ministries of the church to leverage digital and electronic media to become more effective and efficient in their worship and outreach endeavors.

“This ministry not only provides the technical support required for the worship services, but also records various events, teachings and sermons, which are made available on the church’s website and social media outlets. The church continues to find better ways on how to leverage technology as another means to enhance and advance ministry and mission.” ~South Philippine Union Conference

During covid time, our adopted ministers shared Jesus in outside settings at neighbors’ yards, and with masks on. Those were scary times but with the tremendous help of the Holy Spirit, many responded and gave their hearts to Jesus.

We have 184 adopted ministers under Adopt a Minister International in South Philippines. Here is a picture of some of them who met with me at Mountain View College.