It all started in a long time search for old friends, acquaintances, and former disciples on Friendster, one of the popular social networking sites among young people in the Philippines.
It was early this year when I reconnected through Friendster to a former disciple Jeffrey S. Olivar. I had a privilege to disciple him in the early 1990’s while he was yet a student at Rafael B. Lacson National High School (formerly Talisay National High School). I never heard of him for nearly 15 years after he graduated from high school and went to Manila to study and work. In my renewed contact with him, I learned that he is now a fulltime pastor in the town of Ballesteros, a tiny yet beautiful community in the province of Cagayan Valley. He told me that before the work in Ballesteros, he pastored a church in the far Apayao mountains. God led him to Ballesteros to settle with his wife and three children. The church he pastors there has been supportive of his leadership. In reaching with the community, his church has a school where the underprivileged could be educated. Seeing the potential of this kind of ministry, Pastor Jeffrey took a course in Education at Cagayan State University situated at Sanchez Mira, which is in a nearby town. Being back in school as a student again, he thought of starting a Bible study group in his school. He remembered his high school days in the province of Negros where he used to attend SMO Bible studies.
Our meeting on Friendster was a blessing, an answered prayer especially for Pastor Jeffrey, as for three years in doing Bible study in his school, he has been longing to organize a Christian youth organization like SMO. He invited me to come and visit him in their place and conduct leadership trainings. On March, 2009, I began a long and tiring trip to the northern part of the Philippines to meet Pastor Jeffrey with the blessings of the SMO National Office.
After an hour of air travel and 16-hour bus ride, I finally met Pastor Jeffrey and the youth under is Bible study group. It’s encouraging to see them know God and enjoy Him in their day-to-day life. I gave a training to 24 young people on how to start a campus ministry in their schools, and do evangelism and disicipleship. We enjoyed our time together. So, on July 31, 2009, another answered prayer, SMO Cagayan Chapter was organized and was accredited by the school as the first and only religious campus organization in Cagayan State University.
The vision to start a campus work in the area came into fruition with the help and cooperation of Pastor Joseph Samuel and Sanchez Mira Bible Christian Church. Pastor Joseph and his family hosted me in their house while I was there. My time with them was enjoyable and meaningful. In my short time with them, I learned from this family, lessons on contentment, satisfaction, joy in serving the Lord, even in the midst of trials and persecution, humility, and sacrifice. Pastor Joseph’s story of how he and his wife got involved in ministry was encouraging as well. I learned that he used to have a high paying job in the Middle East as an engineer, until he and his wife responded to God’s call for them to go into fulltime ministry.
I praise God for the partnership of Sanchez Mira Bible Christian Church and Pastor Joseph to the ministry of SMO in the province of Cagayan.
(On July, 2009, the following people were elected as officers of SMO Cagayan: Jeffrey S. Olivar (President), Marco O. Agudo (Vice President), Esmeralda B. Diamsay (Secretary), Roger M. Gango (Treasurer), Mary Jane Q. Ramos (Auditor) and Mr. Elimar G. Doca (Adviser)).
