Here's an update that Dad recently wrote:
OJT – What’s that? When I first heard the term “OJT,”
it took a moment for my western mind to translate its meaning.
“On-the-Job-Training” (OJT) is so common in South-east Asia, that virtually
everyone understands and uses the expression “OJT.” For PAFCOE students,
“OJT” means an evangelistic series that they are assigned to conduct on their
own, as part of their training experience. Some students opted to do an
evangelistic series for children; others put one on for adults.
When the PAFCOE students returned to our training center at
the Riverview Adventist church, after four weeks of evangelistic meetings, they
were all fired with evangelistic zeal because of what God had done through
their efforts. For all of them, this was the first time that they had
ever conducted a month-long evangelistic series. It turned out to be a
“life-changing” experience, not only for the coverts baptized, but for each of
the students conducting the meetings.
Our oldest student, Jovita, a 66-year-old church
member from Baracay Island, reported that many at her site doubted that she
could do the series. “This senior citizen will never make it through four
weeks of meetings,” they said to one other, as they listened to her wavering
voice. But amazingly her voice held out, and she reported that her voice
was stronger when she finished the series than when she began, and a dozen new
souls were added to the little church where her “OJT” took place!
Many miracles happened during the student’s OJT training.
Perhaps the most amazing was of the two projectors that stayed dry during a
flood! One of our student teams reported that while out visiting,
preparing people for baptism, there was heavy rain in their area. They
knew that whenever there was heavy rain, the house that they were staying in,
flooded. Then they remembered that the two borrowed projectors they were
using for the children’s and adult meetings were both sitting on the floor in
different parts of the house. Earnestly they prayed that God would work a
miracle, and save the projectors from getting wet. Upon returning to the
house after their visits, they found the water was ankle deep in some places,
but when they picked up the projectors, they found them completely dry, and the
flour under them also completely dry! After recovering the projectors,
they proceeded to mop up 50 buckets of water from the rest of the floor!
God still works miracles today.
At the end of PAFCOE “OJT,” two-hundred-and-sixty-three
people were baptized, with approximately another 100 preparing for baptism in
the future. At one of the OJT sites, the student evangelistic lectures
were broadcast on the local radio. Because of prejudice in that area
against the “Sabbatistas” (Seventh-day Adventists), many were too fearful to
attend the live event, but in the privacy of their home, they tuned into the
Prophecy Lectures on the radio to learn the truth. Now some of these are
calling the local church and requesting baptism! One of our PAFCOE
graduates has been assigned to follow up on the interests.
Here is a video that HCBN made up for the first batch of PAFCOE.
Perhaps the most “Amazing Fact” about the PAFCOE “OJT” was
the cost. Each of the PAFCOE student teams was given 25,000 Filipino
pesos (about $600) or less, for their one-month evangelistic meetings! Of
course, the local churches were responsible for covering the costs of food,
housing, and transportation for our PAFCOE evangelists. But imagine doing
a one-month evangelistic meeting for $600! And what is even more amazing
is that when we first started classes at PAFCOE, we had NO MONEY for OJT!
God sent the money at “just the right time” so that our students could conduct
their “on-the-job-training” (OJT). Praise God!
Your friends,
Pastor Lowell, family, and team,
PAFCOE (Philippine Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism)
PS. For approximately $1,500, you can sponsor a
student AND an evangelistic series (their OJT), at PAFCOE. If you would like to help out, email my Dad at: lowell@amazingfacts.org.
