Moving Forward
Last January, I started basically alone since Kuya Eseng, the former ND, advised all the staff to give up their roles so that the New ND is given a free hand to have a fresh start. That was a tough time wrestling with God in prayer on how to move forward.
Accountability Team
I started by forming my Accountability Team (AT) to whom I voluntarily submit myself to be accountable. They are our Elders/ Kuyas in the Navs, namely: Wency dela Vina, Eseng Victolero and Danny Carigma. The role of the accountability team is as advisory and consultative body. They will NOT make any decision. They will monitor the ND in terms of personal and spiritual walk, emotional, physical and family well being, ministry decisions and finances. They will also call the attention of ND regarding critical issues and will encourage and pray for the ND.
Executive Team
Then I selected the Executive Team (ET) who will help me in planning, organizing, leading, monitoring and evaluating the ministry. The Executive Team members are: Howard Lee, Bobot Migraso and Randy Bandonil with the wives assisting their husbands.
Regional Groupings
We then divided the Philippines into six Regional groupings lead by an Overseer:
North Luzon Overseer: Danny Carigma, Metro Manila – Overseers: Executive Team with Howard Lee as point person. South Luzon Overseer: Wency Dela Vina, Visayas Overseer: Vic Marcojos, North Mindanao Overseer: Team with Eseng Victolero as Team Leader and South Mindanao Overseer: Eseng Victolero.
One of the objective of the Overseer is to help raise, train and mentor potential young leaders/ regional coordinators who may replace them.
We have assigned two Regional Coordinators: Central Luzon – Vhal Alfonso and North Western Manila – Omar Ginon.
Ministry Entities
We also divided our ministry entities into five ministry groupings with more or less similar nature.
Aside from the mainstream ministry we also have support ministry which includes: Prayer Ministry Team , Shepherding Team , Staff, Leaders and Laborers Development Team, Hermeneutical Team who will study important issues that the ministry is facing and the Fund Raising Team.
The Executive Team is first handling these different Mainstream and Support Ministry Entities to integrate them into the General plan. A team will be formed to lead these ministry entities later.
Unified Ministry Direction
Last January 13-17, all the staff gathered to seek God for our Ministry Direction for the next five years. After spending time with God in prayer and in His word, we revisited His promises and the documents that guided our ministry since the beginning of the Navigators. We brainstormed, shared and discussed then came up with a vision statement that we felt God wants us to pursue for the next 5 years. It is also called The Unified Ministry Direction (UMD)
“ We envision loving communities and laborers, living out and proclaiming the Gospel of God’s Kingdom, leading to the transformation of hearts and lives, families, and nations, from one generation to another.”
Planning
Planning is on going until June 2018 for different Ministry Entities, Regional groupings and local ministries.
Prayer Ministry Planning – Last Jan 23 (morning), those who are interested in this ministry met. Some of the things discussed include: Developing a culture of God focused prayer life.among local, regional and national networks , Making practical and doable action plans. I will be sharing later about this.
Missions Planning – On the same day Jan 23 (afternoon). we discussed the four ways we can get involve in missions, namely: Traditional, On-Loan , OFW and Migrants.
Ministry Among the Local Churches (Feb 15) – CDM (Church Disciple making Ministry) as mobilizers. Discussed are: helping our alumni to flourish in their respective churches and helping Local churches who are open to intentional diciplemaking.
Ministry among the Poor (Feb 16) – CHAI (Community Hope Alternative, Inc.) as mobilizers. Discussed are different approaches to help the poor,
Shepherding Team (March 5) – We have formed national and regional shepherding team to help in counselling and staff care with Kuya Eseng as the leader.
Staff, Leaders and Laborers Development Team (March 10) – Team members were selected and prepared this years program for staff, Leaders, and Laborers Development.
Ministry among the Mainstream Catholics Planning (April 14-15) – Emmaus Journey as mobilizers. Discussed some ways for the gospel to flow in the parishes and charismatic movements.
North Luzon Planning (March 22-24) – North Luzon have done their planning in La Trinidad, Benguet. Kuya Danny and I joined them.
Trainings
Coaching and Empowerment (March 12-14) – The Overseer, Regional Coordinators and all the staff near Metro Manila had a training workshop on Coaching and Empowerment.
Regional Training Program – (March 28-31) – The Visayas Regions had their RSTP in Cebu. with Gal 5:24 as their theme Verse “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ”
Staff, Leaders and Laborers Development and Retooling (April 5-8) – To adequately participate in the pursuit of our Unified Ministry Direction, the staff had 5 days of retooling. I compiled and summarized our discussions and workshop and I came up with The PhilNavs Ministry Playbook and the Ministry Planning Guide.
Other Important Meetings
Asia Pacific Leadership Conference (Jan 31 – Feb 5) – Navs Country Leaders in Asia Pacific gathered together in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to seek God for the AP(Asia Pacific) Faith Goals for the next 10 years. The AP 10 year -Faith Goals can be downloaded here.
CDM Conference (Feb 5-7) The Church Discipleship ministry also gathered in Kuala Lumpur to discuss present good practices and plan for possible networking.
Giver 95 Banquet (Feb 24) – One of our corporate partner invited the staff in Metro Manila to have lunch together and hear how are we doing. We presented to them our Unified Ministry Direction.
CDM and Baguio Ministry Visit (Feb 20-22) – I joined Jun Espiritu in Baguio to witness how CDM worshop seminar is being conducted and have an initial visit of Baguio-La Trinidad Ministry.
Young Couples @ Butulan, Zambales (March 31) – I joined the young couples Outing lead by Bobot Migraso. These are our former YDF ( Youth Development Facilitator) who are now married. They have great potential to lead SBC (Small Biblical Community) where they are.
APLT Visit -April 17-21 – The Asia Pacific Leadership Team had their first visit after my installation as ND. They want to know how we are doing in our transition. They visited at least two on going ministries nearby and gave us encouraging feedback. They also gave us some inputs according to what they perceived as our need.
Please Pray that:
- The Lord will give us Unity of hearts as we pursue our Unified Ministry Direction. (John 17:20-23)
- The Lord will guide the planning of all Regions and ministry areas. (Prov 3:5-6)