SUMMER BIBLE CONFERENCE 2013

                                                                                                        Mar 29-31 2013

Key Verse: Matthew 20:28

               “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

            It was a hot summer indeed but did not stop the church in continuing its yearly tradition of holding the much awaited Summer Bible Conference for the year 2013. The Summer Bible Conference is a yearly conference held by the UBF Church done not only in the Philippines but also in other chapters of UBF all over the world. It usually lasts 3-4 days, and bible studies and presentations are the usual activities done. For this year’s Summer Bible Conference, the event was held at Banker’s Village, Antipolo City which is where the house church for the Antipolo Chapter is located. The dates set were March 29, 30, and 31, which coincides with the Philippines’ celebration of Holy Week which has been the custom of the church to coincide this celebration with the conference.

           The arrangements started at around 8 am, with some setting up the place while others were helping in preparing the food. Hours pass and the relatively deserted site had now been filled, waiting for the group fellowship and bible study that same day which was to be led by Dr. Ben Toh of Westloop Church from Chicago, Illinois. The passage that would be studied for the next two days of the conference was from Revelations 2. After studying, the members were divided into several groups so as to answer the questions that Dr. Ben gave after leading the bible study. The groups composed of four to six members each, with one leader appointed for each group, to facilitate sharing of answers. After the bible study, a representative from each group was to share his/her insights to everyone based on what they had shared as a group in response to questions that Dr. Ben gave. This was the arrangement that was done for the first two days of the conference. Two bible studies were held, one in the afternoon of March 29, and one in the morning of March 30.

                During the afternoon, performances by the members were presented, showcasing their talents as a thanksgiving offering to the Lord. For the first day, the praise & worship team was the opening performance to officially welcome the start of the summer bible conference. The performances for that were mostly song presentations. These included the a song number by the CBF of Antipolo, an acapella number by members of the Valenzuela Chapter and Manila Chapter, a violin number by David Ipapo, and as closing, the praise and worship team of the Antipolo Chapter. Also, there were two life testimonies shared during the program by Eddie Nepaz and his wife, Rosana Nepaz. For the second day, performances were mostly dance presentations. Those involved were the CBF of Antipolo led by Hope del Rosario and Mary Huelva, the CBF of Valenzuela led by Gemma Panigbatan and Yohanan Altobar, the members of Valenzuela and Manila chapter led by Rachelle dela Cruz, the Caloocan chapter who did an interpretative dance accompanied by a song performance, members of the Antipolo and Manila chapter who performed a Persian Dance (which served as a prayer for the Muslim countries to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and that He is the truth, the way, and the life), and members from the Antipolo Chapter. Life testimonies were also shared that day by Andrew Tapales and Joy Awid.

            Come Sunday, the messenger for the worship service was Dr. Ben and his passage was on John 19. In the message, Dr. Ben emphasized two points: the essence of being a man/woman, and the death of Jesus Christ. The first part of his sermon consisted mostly of describing what a real man is and what a counterfeit man is, based on the image of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He said that a real man is man who (1) rejects passivity, (2) accepts responsibility, (3) leads courageously, and (4) seeks God than greater rewards. He also mentioned that the essence of a man is courage without fear, and that the essence of a woman is being unavailable.  For the second part, he explained the details of Jesus’ crucifixion and death, pointing out that crucifixion was the most painful and humiliating way of dying, and that Jesus suffered excruciating pain, even willingly denying a pain reliever that was offered to him while he was on the cross. As the message was coming to an end, Dr. Ben asked the audience what the reason was that Jesus died on that cross. The obvious answer as been taught to us is that Christ died to save us from our sins, he died for us. But in his sermon, Christ dying for us is not the primary reason why he died on that cross. One verse that he shared is John 8:29b, “For I always do what pleases him,” and another is John 10:18, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” Ultimately, Christ dying on the cross was not motivated by his love for us but it was motivated by his love for the Father, concluding that Christ died not for us, but for God. And so, it goes to show that we as Christians should do things out of our love for God as Christ did out of love for his Father. But this does not mean to demean the notion of Christ dying for our sins and Christ loving us, but in fact it is meant to add and to help us Christians be able to serve in ways that would not lead to CFS or Christian Fatigue Syndrome.

                      Since the location of the conference was at the bible house that was still undergoing construction, you can imagine that the set-up for the event was not conducive for carrying out the activities. And it was during the peak of summer plus there was no roof (though there was a make-shift roof using rolls of thick plastic), so everybody had felt the full blast of the heat which got everyone scrambling to the fans. To make up for this, the activities were held either very early in the morning around 7am or late in the afternoon around 5pm. As such, during the rest of the day where there was nothing to do, the people spent it for preparing the food and cleaning up the place, while others were practicing for the presentations.

In the previous years, when the summer bible conference was conducted, it was usually in a resort or a retreat house. As such, the food was already served by the personnel in that place, and the church did not have to be the one to prepare and work for it. But this time, since it was a prayer of the church for the house church in Antipolo to be finished, it was decided that this would be the venue and that everyone had to work so as to help provide for the food and to clean up the place. Each member had a task to do per day and would be put in one of the three teams, either to shop for ingredients for the food, to prepare the food, or to clean up the place. As a church that is steadily growing in number by the grace of God, there is a possibility that each member can become impersonal with one another. Having each member put into a group helped to form friendships that were not initially there, others to strengthen was already has been there, and it made doing work more enjoyable.

                         

One Word: Offer yourself as living sacrifices for glory of God

- Shepherdess Martha Inocencio
   UP MANILA ZEAL
    Manila, Philippines