I’m playing with the thought of having a mini-Christian bloggers’ meet-up this Friday night. I’m not an event organizer or anything like that, so I really don’t know what I’m doing. :D Nonetheless, I have a couple of reasons why I need this to happen:

1. I need to see the faces behind those avatars. Let’s admit it, we know a lot of people online, but very few know each other personally. It can be a great time to fellowship and shake the real hands, you know what I mean.

2. LifeChurch Makati, the church we’re launching in May, said we’re willing to sponsor the coffee/drinks for this event. So, that’s free Starbucks for those who’s coming. :D To be transparent about it, not only that we’re excited to meet Christian bloggers, we also what to know if you guys can help cover the event on Sunday (March 21) as we have our 2nd preview service at Glorietta 4, Cinema 4. Details during the meet-up.

So, if you’re a:

- Christian blogger, or

- Christian twitter (wow, new English term, eh!)

and if you’re available this Friday, 7 pm, we’d like to have you for this Christian Blogger mini-meetup. That’ll be held at Starbucks Glorietta 4. Please confirm your attendance here. If I’ll have even just 4 bloggers to sign up, we’ll proceed. If you have questions, please email me at arnold[at]lifechurchmakati.com.

Thanks,

Arnold

Most of the greatest spiritual innovators throughout history were people who broke the rules… When you try something new in ministry most people will tell you that your idea will never work… Innovation by definition will not be accepted at first. It takes repeat attempts, endless demonstrations, monotonous rehearsals before innovation can be accepted and internalized by an organization. This requires courageous patience. If you have a God idea, you must be brave enough to go with it. Break some rules.

This Sunday marks the start of “breaking rules” for LifeChurch Makati. We’re going to break some rules in doing church here in the Philippines. If you’re interested to know what it is, check us out on our first preview service at Glorieta 4, Cinema 4 this Sunday, February 21. You’re invited to observe and experience.

So, we’ve been making noise about a new church called LifeChurch Makati in Facebook and people were asking, “There’s no more Grace Place?”

The quick answer is, “Yes. There’s no more Grace Place.”

The longer and more accurate answer is to explain that technically, the people behind Grace Place are the same people that will launch LifeChurch Makati. Only, LifeChurch Makati has:

• a different approach in doing church
• a different Sunday experience
• a different location
• a different partner

LifeChurch Makati is powered by LifeChurch.tv, an innovative church in the US lead by Craig Groeschel. We’re going to have a preview service on February 21, 2010 at the new location in Glorietta 4, Cinema 4. It’s a different Sunday experience, I promise. You’ve got to see it to believe.

And if you’re a follower of Christ and wants to serve, you’re welcome to be part of the launch team. Here are the details.

- Over the weekend, a battalion of lawmakers will migrate to the US to catch the Pacman. That means, there will be no quorum to vote for bills and the impeachment complaint against the ombudsman.

- Everything will stand still Sunday morning.

- Even criminals on the streets will take a break.

- Restaurants, cinemas and even hotels will be packed not by customers who want to eat or watch a movie, but by people who want to catch the Packman live via satellite feed. They are willing to pay P500 to P800 for this experience.

- Speaking of hotels, we’re even displaced from Tiara Oriental Hotel where regular services of Grace Place take place every Sunday. All function rooms will be occupied for the show of the day. We have no choice but to move the services to 2 pm to give way to the Pacman.

- And, yes, speaking of church services, as Steve Murell often says, churches will be full packed in the afternoon services. Why? Do the math, dudes.

The Pacman’s power will be felt all over the country this weekend. Let’s just all enjoy the moments, then slip back to exactly where we are at right after. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, in any case, that’s exactly what it is anyway.

Good luck, Manny.

Lately, I’ve been asked frequently whether I’m still an Adventist or not. Maybe because I’ve been reconnecting with my old college friends these days. And, coming from 3 generations of Adventists and studied in an Adventist university, it’s not surprising that about 95% of my acquaintances are Adventists.

So, this small piece is an attempt to explain my answer to this question. For some reasons, I can’t explain in 2 to 3 sentences. So, allow me to use this domain for a few more paragraphs. Pardon me, my non-Adventist readers, you may not be able to relate to this.

So, the common question, “Adventist ka pa ba?” (Are you still an Adventist?) The quick answer is, “Hindi na” (Not anymore). Unfortunately, though, there are some misinterpretations to this answer :

1. So, Reform ka na? – “Reform” pertains to a group or groups of Adventist off-shoots, both liberal or conservative in belief system. Some of these off shoots give emphasis to vegetarianism or Ellen White writings. Some are simply against the General Conference. Some off-shoots I know are the “Davidians” and “Reformed Adventist Movement”.

I never joined any “reformed Adventist movements”.

2. Bakit ka nag backslide? – (Why did you back slide?) This question actually asks what caused me to “quit the Adventist faith”. In my experience (as I have asked this question myself to “former” Adventists), the common expected cause include, a) job related (because there is a Sabbath schedule and the Adventist chose job over Sabbath) and b) spouse related (“She married a non-Adventist, nahatak na sya ng hindi kapanampalataya“)

I wouldn’t say I backslid. I have never abandoned my faith in Jesus. I may have abandoned some Adventist doctrines, but never my relationship with Jesus. I can call it, on the other hand, forward-slide :D More of this later.

3. Sunday ka na pala ngayon! – (So you now belong to Sunday!). I’ve recently received this comment from a college friend who invited me to her wedding. Unfortunately, it fell on a Sunday so I politely begged off because of my responsibility to my church. In which she commented this. If you’ve been with the Adventist faith for a long time, you’re acquainted with the unending battle between Sabbath (Saturday) and Sunday. Adventists explain that since Saturday is the correct day of worship, worshiping on Sunday is, as Ellen White says, the “mark of the beast”. So there’s really a tension between these two days.

It’s really hard to explain in a paragraph why I joined a church that worships on Sundays and has stopped worshipping on Saturdays. I have written quite a lot about this subject 7 years ago. But the quick explanation is this: I’ve never joined “another camp” of Sunday worshippers. I don’t worship the day. I worship the creator of the day – Jesus. Bale wala sa akin kung anong araw ka sumasamba. The important thing is you are worshiping the right God any day you want (for instance, Christians, including Adventists, in the middle east worship on Fridays).

4. Kumakain ka na ng baboy ngayon? (Do you now eat pork?) Eating pork for Adventists are a big deal. It’s like the thing that separates the wheat from the weeds. :D

Opo, minsan po nakakakain na ako ng baboy. May baboy sa hotdog, sa cornbeef (yes!), sa chicharon, at sa paborito nating hamburgers. Yung mga processed meat, ok sa akin. For some reasons, psychologically I think, I still cannot eat foods with visible pork in it like liempo or lechon. And I don’t eat pork intentionally. I eat only if I’m presented with it. I still choose not to eat pork NOT for religious purposes but for health reasons.

So, ano ka na ngayon?

I’m a Bible-believing follower of Jesus Christ.

I believe I’m a sinner forgiven by Jesus through his work on the cross. I was saved not because I am good or I joined a religion or said a prayer or did some acts of kindness. It is only by this grace, this love that I don’t deserve that I am saved.

I now serve Jesus through a body of believer in a non-denominational, evangelical church called Grace Place.

What do you think of Adventists?

Make no mistake about it. I love Adventists. I love the Adventist church. Most of my friends are Adventists. Most of my family members are still Adventists. I love them and I have never seen them differently even after I “jumped ship”.

I left the Adventist church not for some disagreement with a member or with the organization. It is purely doctrinal. There are some Adventist doctrines that I now cannot support. And the only logical step is to leave and go where I can best serve God.

So there. That’s the explanation. Whew!

To prepare for this message series, we are researching and looking for possibility of interviewing on camera 2 to 3 followers of Jesus who are terminally ill. Yung parang may taning na.

Here’s where you can help us. If you know of a person who :

* is a believer of Jesus.
* terminally ill, probably s/he has cancer or any other similar disease.
* has a positive perspective on life despite his/her situation
* preferably living within Mega Manila (Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Rizal). We may not be able to travel further than that. But if his/her story is really inspiring, we will try to consider traveling further.
* preferably not older than 49 .
* most especially, willing to share his/her story on how his perspective in life changed because of the life threatening disease.

You don’t have to convince them. Just give us a tip — who this person is, way to contact (ie, cell phone, land line, who to contact initially). We will be the one to talk to them and share with them the vision of the interview. We are hoping that they will agree to be interviewed after we explain the tremendous impact their story can create to the lives of people.

You can email me :

arnold.gamboa [at] graceplace.ph

Your contribution to this project is greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance.

Guys, you’re setting a tradition here. When Grace Place is already blessed with tens of thousands of weekend attendance, top of the line video production room and a huge team of creative volunteers, you will look back to this day and will sure cherish it. Rock on!

God bless your talents and dedication — Jael (the lead actress), Enjel, Gayle, Joyce (yes, my wife, :D ), Ghelo, Glen and Mimi.

So, without further introduction, here’s the video entitled “Bricks”.

With the band singing “Higher” by Creed (live, this one’s with the original soundtrack), we showed this very inspiring slide picturing what has transpired pre-launch and post-launch September of last year.

Interview with some of our new people. See how God used Grace Place to touch their lives.

I wanted to compile some videos of last week’s Anniversary event but I was sick all week. I specifically wanted to show how the 2 revolving heads (computerized lightings) we rented have really set the mood for this special worship event. I wonder what will happen if we have these kind every Sunday? I wonder what happens when Sunday becomes like a celebration — because honestly, it should be! We’re praying for God’s provision on this one. Our people saw what we will become, time to support the vision.

One more quick thought. God gives up to our capacity to receive. Whether its financial blessing or the number of people you minister to, that statement is, I believe to be true. Last Sunday, our hall’s capacity is 80+. God gave us a sample of what will happen if he gives us more than that. He gave 101 people last Sunday. Result: we’re overwhelmed, the people overflowed, some simply stood at our Grace Place cafe. This means that our regular attendees of 60 (ave.) is simply what we can accommodate at this time. Either we stay at Tiara Oriental Hotel and got stuck at 60 or we find an auditorium of at least 200 capacity and max it out as God wills. You choose, Grace Placers.

Some more takes from other Grace Placers.

* Auntie Ebong

* Anj

* Jael

More picture and videos later.