QPU-Q2-2021

Frontline Worship Center (FWC) continues to expand its reach into the cities and far-flung communities with its unstoppable house church movement. FWC churches are gathering in homes, near railroads, in the mountains, and even in the forest areas to share and experience the Word and worship together. FWC also celebrates the Lord’s financial provision through a recent donation for the development of the Training Center (formerly Frontline’s Threadworks). The former sewing factory has been jokingly called the “pastor factory”, where workers and leaders are able to gather and continue to learn about church-planting. Inspired by what the Lord is doing through FWC, a global church-planting organization has recently featured FWC in a gathering organized in London. Praise God!

Nanay (“Mother”) Juliet Del Monte is the oldest house church leader of FWC, at 82 years old!

Every Saturday, cane in hand, she slowly hobbles to her small outdoor garden, where she gathers 20-30 people. She prepares food to share, and leads enthusiastically in worship. Her eyes are dim but the fire in her heart is undeniable as she powerfully shares the Word, and lays hands on the sick. She is witness to many miracles in her lifetime, including her doctor’s announcement that the 27cm colon tumor removed from her in 2017 was benign. The doctor was so amazed that he asked Nanay Juliet to pray for him! Despite her age, she is a faithful and faithfilled firecracker, passionately sharing the gospel to the lost, to “reach and help people find their way back to God.”

Thank you for continuing to partner with the Lord’s church-planting work here in the Philippines. Please pray for the Lord’s favor and anointing on the upcoming training events for church-planters and pastors.

Much has happened at Face the Children (FTC) in the last few months. With the government still prohibiting anyone 15 years old and under from leaving their homes, it has been challenging to find creative ways to keep the children busy and happy. They are blessed to have a beautiful, safe community to live in, but they still miss things like going swimming, going to the mall, and visiting friends. They also miss visiting teams that annually visit Frontline, but haven’t since the covid situation.

So, almost every afternoon, the children, staff and some other Frontline community residents play volleyball. Twice a month, the staff host a game of “Snack Bingo” where the winning children are given snacks as prizes. Daily, some of the older children/ teenagers are assigned to lead groups in prayer and devotion. It is a blessing to see them grow in their knowledge of, and love for God’s Word.

As if 2020 wasn’t hard enough, FTC recently experienced the sudden loss of their only male house parent. On a seemingly normal day in the boys’ dorm where he lived, Daddy Ronnie didn’t wake up for morning coffee. This was traumatic for the little boys who witnessed it. He was a kind and loving father figure. Many of the children are still grieving. His death, declared a covid death, required tests to be done on the kids and staff, and 6 tested positive (all asymptomatic). This sent the entire refuge center into an even stricter lockdown, where the kids weren’t allowed to leave the dorms. Add to that the harassment of the local village officials because of the stigma surrounding covid, and it would seem that many of the children were at their emotional breaking points.

Thank God for loving friends and family. Through some connections, a registered Christian counsellor visited the children for 3 weeks. She was able to counsel the kids and conduct workshops and seminars with the staff and management.

The children are now on school break, having recently finished their school year. 6 have graduated from Grade 6, and 2 from Grade 10, both levels celebrated as milestones. FTC is grateful to the teachers from Frontline Christian Academy who came to FTC three times a week to teach the students.

FTC is thankful for the continued support from you, friends and partners. Your prayers, and the grace and strength of the Lord, keep FTC going.

Academic Year 2020-2021 has officially ended for Frontline Christian Academy (FCA). Because large gatherings still aren’t allowed, and children 15 and under are still prohibited from leaving home, FCA improvised, and held its first ever Online Graduation and Recognition Ceremony. Our bus and some of the staff showed up at their homes to award diplomas — The stage was a sidewalk, the audience only their family, but it was an intimate, heartfelt moment that had almost everyone in tears.

Eight of the graduates were from our Face the Children refuge center. A small ceremony was held at our ministry center. Though different from what they had envisioned their graduation to be, it was still a joyful experience. Some of you may remember Rose Mae who, 7 years ago, was sleeping on sidewalks, and couldn’t read or write at age 10. This year she graduated from Junior High School — with awards!

The online schooling situation has taken a heavy toll on students’ overall well-being. We need wisdom navigating these uncharted waters with the pandemic population (as they are now called). It seems that schools will remain closed for another year. This is extremely sad, and seems unnecessary; but there is nothing we can do but keep trying to serve... and survive.

On Serving: Even amidst this confusing situation, FCA looks forward to the next school year. Partnering with another youth development organization, the school will be leaning even more on Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Our marketing plan aims to double our current student population, and we have made important adjustments to meet the holistic needs of students and their family members. We also hope to provide periodic counseling sessions for students. Perhaps you’d like to partner in making this happen; sessions cost roughly $25 each.

On Surviving: The lockdowns and school closures of 2020 literally wiped out our financial projections. We are grateful that through God’s wisdom, creativity, and caring, generous partners, we remain open. Very recently the Lord also provided funds to ensure we can keep meeting our monthly mortgage and payments to our builder for another year.

We still need your prayers and support. Our faculty, who still have to teach primarily online, are in need of 15 computers (roughly $300 each), and we need to finish the security fencing around the school property, which requires another $10,000.

Please consider partnering. And as God leads, share this matter with others as well.

We thank you again for your friendship and support. It is making a huge difference in the lives of wonderful children in need.

Frontline ThreadWorks (FTW)Our 60 workers found themselves without work and shut in at home for months on end due to the pandemic. It continues to break our hearts to see many of these individuals and families suffer the loss of work, especially since there are no unemployment benefits here, much less stimulus checks in the mail.

With the easing of some restrictions, and minimal reopening of the economy, things have started to pick up a bit, and we’ve been able to operate. However, orders are still minimal, and can only sustain roughly 40 employees. We continue to pray for more clients and larger orders, so more people can come back to work.

On the brighter side, we are pleased to be in our new facility! It’s beautiful, cooler inside, and much more spacious. We also have recently finished the installation of a solar electric grid on the building, which generates enough electricity during daytime hours to power our entire ministry center! We are thankful that the solar power company gave us a huge discount because of our status as a non-profit.

Please pray for: 1) More work orders, 2) Additional clients, 3) Needed sewing machines, and the 4) Opening and recovery of the Philippine economy.

Frontline Business Solutions (FBS)The lockdowns did not affect FBS as badly, as the staff were able to set up and work from home for the many months of lockdowns. Not only did we maintain our work, but have also taken on new work from additional clients. So we are very thankful for that.

FBS now provides services in book-keeping and accounting, website development with hosting and maintenance, graphic design, as well as virtual assistant and data-mining services. The team is working together well, and are enjoying the opportunity to be back in the office

Please pray for: 1) Growth in client-base. 2) Favor with all government agencies. 3) The peace of and presence of God in our office.