After an eventful six weeks in California for my ordination and post-ordination invitations to four United Reformed congregations, I’m finally back in the Philippines. After a day’s rest, I flew to Singapore on an invitation to preach at a church that I had been in touch with since December 2007. I am very grateful for the hospitality and enthusiasm of our brethren in that place.

I’ll shortly resume my routine of teaching at a couple of seminaries, which starts sometime next week, and a midweek Bible study. I’m now also trying to gather a group of families for another Bible study group and possibly Sunday evening services. If you or others you know live in the following areas – Pasig, Cainta, Taytay, and Antipolo – and are interested, please let them know and invite them.

The ordination service was a very solemn gathering of the congregation of Trinity United Reformed Church in Walnut Creek, California plus many of my family and friends from around the SF Bay Area, some of whom I haven’t seen for many years. Several pastors and elders from our Pacific NW Classis also attended.

Rev. Joghinda Gangar officiated, and Rev. Steve Donovan of Escondido URC preached on “Apostolic Preachers” from 1 Corinthians 4:1-5. He explained that Christ has vested the apostles with authority “as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God”; but Paul was also aware that ultimately, he was not accountable to man, but to God, “It is the Lord who judges me.” Since the apostles handed this servanthood and stewardship down to ministers through the ages, ministers also have authority in the church as well as accountability to Christ the coming King. Click on thumbnails to enlarge, or view as slideshow.

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I’m posting here a picture of the ordination invitation that we sent out. Everyone who’s in the area is cordially invited to attend.

As for family matters, Evelyn and Rachel are in the Philippines, even though they would very much like to be with the rest of the family during this time. We’ll be moving to another house in Antipolo, Rizal on the first week of June, right after I come back from California and after Rachel’s school is done.

As a missionary pastor in the Philippines, the areas of my involvement are church planting, pastoral training, and teaching at seminaries. Lord willing, we will be able to open a Christian Study Center in the area where we live to serve as a resource and study center for pastors, as well as a seminar or workshop center and a place for worship and Bible study.

I plan to be in Concord, California until May 26. Here’s my schedule for the rest of my stay:

May 9: Ordination service
May 11: Lead worship services and preach at Trinity URC
May 17-18: Presentations at Escondido URC and Christ URC (Santee)
May 25: Preaching and presentation at Zion URC in Ripon, CA

All of these changes pale in comparison to the joyous occasion of my ordination service scheduled on Friday, May 9, 7:30 pm (D.V.) at Trinity United Reformed Church in Walnut Creek, California (click here for location). If you’re in the SF Bay Area on that day, you’re most welcome to attend. Tim and Chesney, Lem, and Oli are planning to be there, as well as some of our other family and friends.

I’ll be here until May 26, and most weekends I’ll be visiting other UR churches in California, particularly Los Angeles and San Diego. You can reach me at dvopilgrimatgmaildotcom and I’ll send you my contact phone numbers.

It had been a hectic year of teaching, made more hectic by the long commute through crazy traffic. Only because of positive feedback from both administrators and students that I feel that my labors are being rewarded. One administrator told me, “You’ve had a good influence on the students.” And many of my students have been asking me what subjects I’ll be teaching next year.

Speaking of plans, here are some things that are developing for us:

• Our application to move from Wycliffe Bible Translators to Action International Ministries might yet be completed next month. If that happens, I might be back in the United States for orientation on the second week of April.
• My wait for a call might be nearing an end as one of our churches is already finalizing a proposal to call me as an Associate Pastor serving as a missionary to the Philippines. The areas of my involvement are church planting, pastoral training, and teaching at seminaries. Lord willing, this call may also happen early next month, so Evelyn will also go to the States for this ordination service.



• Oliver will be getting married to Nem Ngaihte in October, so we’re still weighing a couple of scenarios for our furlough: (1) May-October, going back to the Philippines after the wedding; and (2) October-January, going to the States for the wedding and staying until the second semester starts. Nem is a senior Art major at Biola University and also the daughter of Overseas Missionary Fellowship missionaries in the Philippines.
• We looked at a much smaller house today that will be available in June. It’s a two-bedroom, one-bath house, a big change from our present three-bedroom, 3-1/2-bath house. But the rent and utilities would be halved, a great help to us because of the 25 percent decline in the value of the dollar and the general decrease in our financial support.

To those of you who have supported us financially (and with prayers) through these many years, we send you again our heartfelt thanks. We’ll update you when our move to ACTION is final, so you can change our mission’s address and telephone number. Wycliffe, by the way, will give us a 90-day transition period during which time we can send notices to our supporters.