From Tragedy Rises A dream....

       One week ago today we experienced a terrible tragedy at the Berean Bible Baptist Church in Binalbagan, Negros, Philippines.

    The church building that has stood as a lighthouse and a beckon of truth for over 25 years burned to the ground. They believe it was caused by faulty wiring. The fire took down the building in such a quick manner that the Fire Department could not save anything. It has been hard to know that this building that has so many great memories is there no more.

     We praise the Lord though that the building is not the church!! Within 2 days the pastor and all of the members had begun salvaging what materials they could and began making plans to go forward for the Lord. We praise the Lord that there were no injuries and that the members have a vision of what GOD is going to raise up out of the ashes of the past.

    It is going to cost about $50,000.00 to rebuild the church building and replace all of the pews, sound system, Piano, guitars, tile. carpet and fans that were lost also. As far as we know, the only thing they could salvage was the tin for he roof. PLease pray with us that God will supply the need to rebuild this mighty church back up to be that haven of rest and lighthouse this city needs.

Youth Camp 2010 in the Philippines

      What an amazing time we had at our second Annual Youth Camp in Cebu, Philippines. Last year we had 256 kids attend our first camp and this year we were blessed with 304 campers! There were 80 more campers registered to come but backed out at the last moment.

      God has been so good to allow us the opportunity to host this camp at no charge. So many young people in the Philippines would love to go to camp but cannot because of the cost. For camp in the Philippines it cost about $7 to $10 to attend camp, then there is the cost of a bus, jeepney,or ferry to get to camp and that is about $3 to $5. Camp over there is very different from camp in the US. Each church brings their own food and each groups prepares for their church group only. Therefore you have a total cost of about $20.00 to attend camp. This sounds really cheap unless you take in consideration the fact that most families make less than $100 a month.
      Through the generous love gifts given by a bunch of dear Christian people we have been able to host this camp. For just $20.00 you can host a teen for camp and see God work in and through them. It was a thrill to see the Holy Spirit move in every single service. The alter was filled after every sermon and the Spirit was so sweet all week long.  Summer camp isa  time of wonderful memories for us all. I met my sweetheart at a Youth Camp in Weatherford, Texas when I was 15 years old. My best friendships were established at camp and our son surrendered to preach at a Youth Camp in Indiana as a teen. So I am very excited to be a part of the Youth Camps in the Philippines.
     It was a hot, humid week but no one seemed to care! The lighting was terrible (Harrell had to read his Bible by a flashlight), the sound equipment was poor (one of the microphones wire kept falling off as the preachers were holding it and one of the speakers blew out). Our "sound man" kept a soldering gun on hand at all times!!! The toilets kept breaking and there were only 4 working toilets between 304 campers! The showers were either garden hoses, a pail of water or a spigot, but each and everyone of the campers were thrilled to be there and every single person there was extremely clean. We in the US take so much for granted, but if we had to go back to the basics of life I really believe it would also draw us to a closer relation with Jesus Christ.

      The Lord blessed every preacher with just the right message and we saw a moving in all the kids hearts by Wednesday morning. After one mornings session of preaching, the kids were hollering to the preachers, "Don't Stop!"  I can't say I understood all of the words these preachers said, but I sure understood what the Spirit had to say!!!

Our Camp Director, Renie Jun, set up a talent contest and called it "Baptist Got Talent". It was a great success and the kids really got into the spirit of it. He also set up an "Amazing Race" contest for the campers. Our funnest and most looked forward to game is the Pole Climb. We place a prize of about $20.00 on the top of a 30 foot bamboo pole and then have each group take turns at trying to climb to the top for it. Oh, did I mention that the pole was greased also!! It was so much fun watching these young guys trying their best to get to the top. It got really exciting when the preachers decided they wanted to take a turn!  They didn't make it to the top but you have to applaud them for even trying!! It took about 3 tries before one group finally got a spry, little fellow pushed to the top and  
 he literally leaped to the top of the pole!

It was so great to see these young men learning to work together and helping each other.  Even though we had all kinds of games and competitions the main focus all week was on the Word of the Lord. 

    By the last night of camp the kids were asking to extend the camp a little longer, they didn't want it to end.  Harrell preached the closing message about David facing Goliath and the 5 stones he chose. The thought was that there were 5 stones chosen but only 1 was used. Even though the stones were not used they were ready and willing to do the job. The whole service was focused on being surrendering to be used by God. It was amazing to see just about every single person there come to the alter. Only a handful of kids stayed in their seats.  Then the invitation was given to those who would stand up and say they were going to surrender to go to Bible College and 20 young people stood and gave their hearts and lives to God's service.

    Can you believe that to go to the  Bible Baptist College in Cebu City, Philippines for 3 years costs about $1200. That's for books, room and board, food... everything!!! In some colleges here in the states you would spend almost that much just for the books! 

    After seeing this need we have stepped out by faith to offer a Brian Noble Scholarship that will be presented to one young man and one young lady each year. If God provides more money we will offer it to more young people. So pray that God will allow us to raise the money for this and for future scholarships to send these worthy young servants to the Bible Baptist College in the coming years.  Pray with us that GOD will bless in the lives of those who surrendered to Him that they will stay strong in their decisions to serve the Lord.

    

GOD BLESSES AGAIN IN PHILIPPINES...

YOUTH CAMP IN CEBU, PHILIPPINES 

Well, Youth Camp has come and gone and we have so very much to praise the Lord for. From the moment we got to the Philippines we saw the Lord’s hand working in every step.  Some times when we start a project we are faced with helpers that don’t understand what we want or are not able to follow through on instruction. I praise the Lord that HE placed a group of young men and ladies who had everything set up and planned out so that we didn’t have to worry about a thing. That was a blessing in so many different levels since after we got there Harrell came down with a stomach virus! He was violently ill for 5 days!!!  I worried over him, but God was so good in helping him and getting us back to the states in one piece!

 

The first day of camp the “Director”, Renny Junior, who is working with Pastor Jun Ambo at the Bible Baptist Temple Church in Argao, Cebu, had their church group all set up as Leaders/Delegates.  We had 256 souls register for our very first camp and we were so thrilled when everyone began showing up!                                                                            

The first church group came with their pastor and his family on a motor scooter with a sidecar. I counted as 10 people climbed off, out and over

 the motorbike! The last one off was the pastor’s wife holding their 2-year-old daughter! She was so excited about bringing their ”kids” to camp she didn’t care that they had travels for almost an hour like that!!!! Then came the van from the local Juvenile Rehab Center where Pastor Ambo has been working with the “detainees”. It was wonderful to see 10 young men who have gotten saved through his outreach coming to their very first Christian Bible Camp. 

 

All day long kids began showing up and were thrilled at where they would sleep! Now that is a simple sentence until you see where and on what they would spend the whole week on!!! We rented 250, 2-inch plastic covered floor mats for everyone to sleep on. No sheets, no covers only a few had pillows! We had split all of the kids into 4 groups with a set of leader-councilors over them. The girls stayed in one of the larger classroom, the boys in another across the playing field. The pastors had their own room and their wives and babies stayed in another. Each one of these groups had 1 toilet between 50 kids! Okay, knock that vision of an American toilet out of your head!!! This was a 2-foot tall porcelain “bowl” (sort of like a child’s toilet) no seat, no lid and no tank for flushing! To flush, you simply dipped water from a big garbage can with a pail and poured in!!  There were no shower stalls either… to shower you either washed off in the sink, didn’t wash at all or took turns pouring water over each other in the “Comfort Room”. The boys had the convenience of a water hose and just used that to “shower” under! I know, I know, I can just hear some of you saying that there is no way that you would go to camp under those conditions!!!! These kids and young people were so thrilled with these conditions and the fact that food would be supplied 3 times a day plus a snack and they didn’t have to pay anything was beyond their belief.

       

We had services every morning and at night time with a “devotion time” after lunch where the young preacher boys got the opportunity to preach to their “groups”. Every service saw the alter filled with boys and girls giving their lives to the Lord, surrendering to His service and giving up the garbage of this old world.

 

Every afternoon there was competitions in volleyball, soccer, badminton and darts. Plus during services we had competitions in preaching, Bible verse memorization, singing, playing instruments, skits and drama. What are so funny were the pastors (which we had 27 come) wanted to participate in all of these so they started their own group!! They even won the Dart competition!! At the end of the week we had prizes of Christian t-shirts, CD’s, shoes and sandals and snacks for all the winners. I want to thank Signature Sound for donating a bunch of their “Get Away Jordan” T-shirts and for the Bethel Baptist Church in Lapel, Indiana for donating almost 90 pairs of ladies shoes and sandals. The female winners thought they had died and gone to Heaven!  Girls are the same no matter where they are located at when it comes to SHOES!!

 

So many churches and Christian friends who gave out of a heart of love and generosity to see souls saved made this Youth Camp possible. We may not know the full effect of all that happened until we get to Heaven. Thank you so much for giving, sacrificing and changing the life of a young person in the Philippines.

 

The First Youth Camp in Argao, Philippines

  WE NEED YOUR PRAYER 

                AND HELP!!! 

 

      Calling all prayer warriors!

 I need your prayers and your help. 

       We are planning on having the first youth camp in the Philippines this May.  We are expecting 200+ children to attend.  The picture to the left is of the local school property that we are going to rent. When Pastor Ambo and his wife, Anafe, went looking for a place we could hold this meeting, they stopped by this school yard to see if it would be big enough. When the Principle found out what we wanted to rent it for she became very excited. She told our pastor that she also is a Christian and wants to come and be a worker for the Youth Camp. We can have a 4 day camp, supplying all their food,water and beds for $20 a child!  

You would spend $20.00 on a nice meal, or on a couple of hamburgers, or on a gallon of milk and a few things to snack on.  

When we break it down to the cost of something that will be gone in a moment to the soul of a young person, there is no comparison. 

NO WHERE IN THE STATES CAN YOU 

SEND A CHILD TO YOUTH CAMP FOR THAT. 

        We are so excited about the opportunity to present the Gospel to these kids. Most of them have never been to church before or have never heard a clear Gospel message on salvation! It is so sad that getting the gospel to these boys and girls all comes down to money.  We have the wonderful opportunity to give them a chance to spend 4 days being saturated with God's Word. If you have ever been to Youth Camp, you know the impact it has on you as a teen. 

     It was at a youth camp that Harrell and I met and fell in love. It was at a camp where our our son Brad surrendered to preach. It was at a camp (Jubilee) where our oldest son, Brian was saved!  So many young people surrendered their lives to serve the Lord or learned how to walk closer to the Lord while attending a Youth Camp. Now, we want to present that opportunity to the youth of Argao, Philippines. The fields are white unto harvest and it's our job to bring them in. We just can't do it on our own. We need people like you to help us.

 

      We have the children, we have the workers, we have the WORD.....

What we need are people to sponsor a child to go to camp! Please read this and then send it on to as many people as you can. Take part in making a difference in a child's future. "What profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul....."

If you'd like to help us, help them..... 

you can contact us at:  noblehj@aol.com

or at: 219-670-0247

or at: 

BNCF

P. O. Box 136160

Fort Worth, Texas 76136

If you are writing a check please make it out to BNCF 

and on the memo write "Youth Camp/Philippines" on it.

Pictures from the Philippines...

   rice paddy's on Negros, Philippines

The ladies in the church cook the rice to be served at the feeding sites. Sometimes they have chicken to add to it......

   and sometimes just the feet!!!

bought this stove and supplies to feed kids

   the children were timid but hungry

 A group of yours and my fellow christians in Negros, Philippines.

Pray with us that God will bless us with souls saved through these works and I'll be sending out more through out the weeks to come.

Open Field's White Unto Harvest...

                               Striving to reaching the young and the old for Jesus Christ.....

                                          The terraced rice paddy fields of the Philippines

When you touch a child's life you touch their future....

How thrilling it was to visit the islands of Cebu and Negros in the Philippines and serve the Lord in preaching and helping the needy.  We had such a great time visiting 4 national pastors that we have begun to support and setting up 9 Feeding Sites. We also had the privilege of preaching at the Berean Baptist Church and participating in their Christian School Awards Sunday. It was a joy to see these children ranging in age from 6 up 16 years old singing about our Lord and quoting scripture. I praise the Lord for the dedication the church members have for the school. It is all run by the church and there are no paid teachers. 

Harrell and I were blown away at the beauty of the Philippines and at the same time heartbroken at the poverty we found.  

With the 9 feeding sites set up now, we can supply 2700 meals a week plus the opportunity to share the gospel to the children and parents each time. The national pastors are using this "tool" to reach the lost and bring them into the church so they can grow in the Lord.

I am going to do another post of just pictures and let you share in what the Lord is doing with the BNCF. We now have 5 ministries on 4 continents. The praise goes to the Lord first and to all of the people who support the Foundation and us.