QPU-Q3-2020

Hello to our Frontline family!

The past few years we have been prayerfully and strategically girding the foundation of Frontline for growth, which has brought a time of change and (sometimes uncomfortable) stretching for all of us... growing pains, as some might say. People have come and gone, positions have been filled and emptied, and the formality of organizational policies and operations have been defined and refined. As you may know, Frontline has developed into four very distinct, but unified, ministries: Church Planting, Compassion, Education, and Social Enterprise.

Organizational change always takes time, commitment to each other and the mission, and a constant beckoning for God to lead us with wisdom and guidance. As you will see in this update, every ministry around Frontline is growing at a rate only God can sustain. Frontline's influence is far-reaching - from children to adults, poor to rich, illiterate to highly educated, unbeliever to believer.

The Education and Compassion ministries rescue needy children, educate youngster and young adults, and seek to expand the individual's God-given talents and abilities. Through Church Planting, we are raising up new leaders, commissioning new pastors, educating and training church workers, and starting new small groups and house churches nearly every month! with the new training center project in motion we are poised to further widen this effort into other countries in Asia. Believing that church goes beyond the four walls of any building and into our daily lives, the Social Enterprise initiatives continue to influence nearly 100 people now employed in our businesses. These individuals, most of whom are from our local community, have regular devotions, times of sharing, and are honored with fair wages and benefits. Very few businesses in our area operates this way, but we strive to honor God with integrity - and believe Him to provide the finances and expansion.

But God had better plans. Only 2 months after that, He led us to a property that was almost 3 times the size of the previously planned venue, and was lower in price. Again, we prayed, met with the leadership, did our research, and prayed some more. God’s favor proved to be all over this project. This was from Him. This was His.

With this year's exponential growth and multiplication in ministry activity and impact, there is also an increased need for your prayers and financial support. If you are contemplating where to give a year-end, tax-deductible gift, Frontline is a good kingdom investment. Please consider financially partnering with us in furthering the cause of Christ. We know where the Lord has given vision, surely He will bring about provision. We also invite you, your small group, or your church to contact us about possible mission trips in 2020.

With a heart of gratitude,

Michael Erickson

Executive Director

2019 near to an end, but we continue to experience new things in our church-planting ministry. Just this past July, Frontline Worship Center (FWC) successfully launched its own Bible School, aiming to produce biblically sound leaders and those interested in serving our Lord through ministry-have committed to gathering every Tuesday night to learn together. Although many of them struggle to even pay the meager enrollment fee of P500 ($10) per semester, it is inspiring to see the personal sacrifices they are willing to make so they can learn more about God's Word and church-planting. With the first semester ending soon, FWC is praying for more enrollees who will reproduce more churches for the kingdom.

Through your support to the local house churches, 15 new believers at the San Rafael house church professed their faith in Christ and were water baptized. Praise God! Staying true to the heart of our vision, 9 teams led by young adults were recently commissioned to plant churches around San Pablo. The financial struggle is real, but we know that God is the real source of strength, and believe that He will touch the hearts of the right people to get involved in this. This past quarter, we joyfully celebrated 11 years of "Reaching and helping people find their way back to God" at the FWC Greenbox site. Dozens of families of believers declared their theme as "All Out for God", which is evident in how they have saturated the village of San Isidro and its neighboring barangays.

As we continue reaching and saving souls, we, as the body of Christ, were spiritually recharged and morally motivated during our "Prayer Overflow" gatherings. Sir Mike Erickson (Executive Director of Phil. Frontline Ministries) and Mrs. Rhoda Lynn Pessina-Dayo (Director of Education, Frontline Christian Academy) shared encouraging and strengthening messages. And every Thursday night, FWC Pastors and church planters regularly gather to encourage one another in their response to God's calling.

God is really on the move! Recently, FWC held another NewThing Catalyst Community with more than 80 church planters from different churches of the provinces of Laguna and Quezon coming together for a 3-day conference to catalyze a movement for reproducing leaders and churches. Surely, we are better together; we continue to aim high for the kingdom of God!

Near the end of 2019 there are much more church-planting events to be held, and we are truly excited and hold on to His promises; we encourage you to do the same! We pray that God will bless you in all aspects of your life as you continue partnering with us through thick and thin. We also ask that you would keep the following with prayer. Thank you!

• God's favor, guidance, and financial care for all the ministry workers and church-planters
• The on-going construction of the Training Center (If you would like to partner with this project, you can do so at https://www.thefrontline.asia/donate

"And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion... (Colossians 3:12)"

The word compassion originates from the combination of "com" which means "together, with" and "passion" which means to "suffer". The Word of God enjoins us to have compassion-to be with and be moved by the need of others.

Compassion extends to many aspects of life. One area that is not often thought of is schooling. Many of our FTC children had a little or no schooling opportunity before they came to us. At 15, 16 years old, some are still in 5th and 6th grade. This impacts their life in many ways; from not being allowed to participate in interschool sporting events (due to age), to the embarrassment they feel being four or five years older than their classmates. For the past 3 years, several of our kids have taken an educational placement test at the Department of Educations in hopes of being advanced one or more grade levels. It has been a challenge! The first year, they failed. The second year, they almost made it. But this year, with the focused and diligent efforts of FCA (Frontline Christian Academy) teachers, the four students we registered all passed-up to 5 grade levels of acceleration! There was so much joy (and tears) as the students and teachers celebrated this significant achievement. This is one big step forward in the lives of these students - to have them graduate with their peers and move forward into normal life at an appropriate age. We sincerely acknowledge the great effort by the teachers of FCA and express our gratitude to them.

Compassion also extends to each person as an individual, and not simply as a group. As we watch our children grow, we see that each one has different, unique strengths and abilities. Mary Grace V., for example, loves to run. At first, we entered her in simple 3K “fun runs”. She would often win, especially if the run was uphill! She then moved on to compete in 10K runs, and on August 25, she bagged first place in the female division in a 10K Uphill Challenge Run! This month she will compete in her first run that includes prizes; the event’s winner will compete at the national level next year. It will be an exciting challenge for her, and a true test of her ability.

In other news… just this past June, we had an outbreak of measles at Face the Children (FTC). Almost every resident was affected. For a time, we had to quarantine the FTC children, which meant that many of our visitors could not spend time with them. It was a disappointment for the teams, as well as the children, who look forward to seeing familiar (and new) faces every summer. The measles outbreak had no more than ended when many of our children and staff began to fall ill to mosquito-borne sicknesses, such as dengue and chikungunya. It was not an easy time as these sicknesses were characterized by fever, rashes, extreme drop in blood platelet count, or severe joint pain. Thankfully, only one of our children had to be admitted to the hospital. She recovered quickly from dengue fever and is now back home and attending school.

Thank God; it appears that the season of sickness is now abating. We are relieved, and grateful.

Great is the faithfulness of God. He continues to manifest His goodness in so many different ways. We continue to be grateful for your ongoing partnership and care. God bless you!

“Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing.” (Ps. 30:11)

Frontline Christian Academy (FCA) is four months into the new school year, which began last July 15. We were excited to meet 36 new students along with their families.

This past August, we celebrated “Buwan ng Wika,” which is the National Month of the Filipino Language. At our culminating activity, the FCA students proudly represented different tribes of the Philippines, wearing traditional tribal attire and even greeting the audience in the tribal dialect. It was a welcome reminder that though the country is diverse, we are but one nation–a similar picture of us as Christ-followers–though we come from many diverse situations and walks of life, we all belong to the family of Christ.

September was another full-month; the annual Business Expo Week, where groups of students create small, short-term businesses, was a very successful event. The students had to invent, re-invent, advertise, and sell their products, as well as present the business concepts to a panel of “potential investors.” We believe this is a small step in the right direction as we want to continue to encourage creativity and entrepreneurship at FCA.

Our student athletes worked hard and did well during the inter-school sports competition. Prince Flores, a 6th grade student, placed 3rd in the Badminton Event. It was especially a challenge for our girls’ volleyball team, as the elementary students who won the previous years’ games have moved on the highschool team, and the elementary team has welcomed 8 and 9-year old beginners on to the team. Although it was a new experience for many of our athletes, they played well, and we couldn’t be more proud of them.

We rejoice greatly in the success of our students from Face the Children (FTC), as all 4 that took the Philippine Educational Placement Test (to place them in more appropriate grade levels for their ages) passed with flying colors! Our teachers are thrilled, and will be working hard to help the students thrive throughout this transition.

We are pleased to report that our social enterprise initiatives, Frontline Business Solutions (FBS) and Frontline Thread Works (FTW) have seen a surge of growth this past year.

In August, FTW finished a contract order for its first major client, delivering in total more than 110,000 pieces of clothing! Our sewing team of 55 people have done a great job at increasing their skills, abilities, and capacity to deliver high quality products. We are now negotiating our next project, but until it is finalized, the workers are busy fulfilling other orders for smaller clients nearby.

We’ve also had to hire a bookkeeper, and recently moved our office operations into a newly built extension building. So not only is FTW busy, open for business, and expanding, it has outgrown cottage industry limitations. As such, we are incorporating FTW as its own company. In line with our objectives, it will be primarily owned by Philippine Frontline Ministries, serving to further sustain and grow our mission.

At FBS the office is full-packed not only with employees, but also groups of 25 students from local schools, availing of our internship program. This year we will accept 75 students for internships in three batches. We are blessed to be able to impact these young professionals not only in the area of their educational field (Information Communication and Technology), but also in the areas of personal leadership effectiveness and character development.

Team spirit is high, and our staff were fired up by the annual team building held a couple months ago. One of our major clients joined us during this event, where we purposefully took time for fun, self and company evaluation, and creative planning. We are excited about the future as we continue to develop and improve the company in every way.

For inquiries about business partnership in the IT/Management Services area and/or garment industry, please email as at info@frontlinebusinesssolutions.com.

Thank you for your prayers and partnership!

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www.thefrontline.asia