‘Dr. Andre’s words hit me like bullets when he spoke about old things must first become obsolete before we can receive new things. He spoke practical reforms. It is up to us what we are going to do with his words.’
Pastor Reggie said at the Transformational meeting in Quezon City, Philippines. He continued by saying how there is much talk about change at pastors meetings but no one does anything about it.
A young pastor got up that inherited a large congregation from an older pastor and gave his input regarding reform: ‘we have made reforms in our church: we took out the pews and put in single chairs and we put in a new lighting system with spot lights and color lights to make it look like a night club so that the young people can feel more at home. And we do not wear priests uniforms anymore but go to church in T-shirt and jeans.’
I replied:
‘Reform is not putting a new patch on an old wineskin. It will break and the wine will be lost. You need new wineskins. Reformation is something that starts within. Only later do the outward changes show.’ The church is not a nightclub but a place where God is worshipped. Young people need to feel at home in the house of the Lord not at nightclubs.’
‘When my wife Nola or daughter-in-law Chantal lead worship they flow in the prophetic spirit and often sing the new song of the Lord that was not rehearsed but it is God speaking to us at that moment through worship! God is looking for those who worship Him in Spirit and Truth. That is what Jesus taught us about true worship. To be led by the Spirit in worship and to worship and praise according to the Truth in the Bible is what God is looking for!’
‘True reform is a structural re-adjustment within that affects outward behavior. Thinking is transformed before modus operandi. You have to call the old obsolete before announcing the new otherwise the two will mix and in the end no change will occur. There are many principles to bring about reformation but here are two: destroy all pyramid systems in your thinking and let the church become an aircraft carrier instead of a passenger liner. By resorting to orbital systems rather than pyramids you break the domination of the one in order to focus on the importance of the other. Instead of having one man at the top and all the others beneath him we have to learn that all lives of believers are centered round Christ Jesus, like an atom and like the universe. My son Aje is about to publish a book on these things.’
‘An aircraft carrier has no passengers: every crewmember has a function. When every member in a church functions as they should it will cause the growth of the church (Ephesians 4:16).’
Then Rey Halili who organized the meeting asked me to share my way of planning things with the pastors. I showed them the Planning Arrow and they all filled in their own arrow.
‘This helped a lot. I always wonder and think about doing things, but now I have a plan and strategy to go and do it,’ one pastor indicated.
‘We want to thank Dr. Andre for the life jackets he arranged through a member of his church. The last time we met we told him we need life jackets for our people and he actually did something about it.’
At the end of the meeting Rey thanked me for giving them many tools for life, business and ministry and then those involved signed the By Laws and Constitution of ‘Philippines Harvester International Ministries.’ Now we still have to open a bank account and rent a small office to comply with all the requirements for proper registration.
We gave all the pastors a meal of chicken and rice before they all went their separate ways.
En route to the Sunday meeting in Angono in Rizal State, I noticed a Rescue Emergency Disaster Training Centre in Pasig City. They constructed a three tower high framework with a fake helicopter on top to train people how to climb into a rescue helicopter. I saw the riverside squatter camp that was so severely affected by the recent river flood in Taytay.
The meeting was held in Pastor Arturo’s garage and the children met under the mango tree in the back yard. There were 26 adults and about the same number of kids present.
A little girl looked at me and blew a pink bubblegum bubble at me and burst it. I laughed. Then she did it again. When her two friends saw that I was not angry they also blew bubbles for me. I reached into my pockets and gave them a stick of bubblegum to share. They could hardly believe their eyes!
Instead of an overhead projector they use an iron stand on which the hand written chorus hang on large sheets held up by red shoelaces. They simply flip over to the next page.
When Rey introduced me he said: ‘Apostle Andre is not a rich man but he is rich in the Lord. He is passionate about his calling and sensitive towards the needs of people. You know a man not just by his words, but by his actions.’
I spoke on hearing from God and used Samuel as an example who said: ‘speak Lord, your servant hears.’ Eli taught Samuel to desire to hear from God and to be willing to do what he says as His servant. The reasons why most people never hear from God is because they do not have a desire to hear and because they are not willing to do what God tells them to do.
I gave some practical examples how the Lord spoke to us as a family how to raise our children and to me as a young boy of 12 when he said: ‘I will use you in other lands.’ It is not easy to obey, but it gives your life meaning.
When it was time for the offering I gave the three gum-chewers some Pesos to put into the offering. They willingly co-operated.
The children’s church joined the meeting and they sang a song for us: ‘Making Jesus’ way over all the nations of the earth.’ It spoke to me.
I ministered healing in Jesus’ name to people with kidney problems, arthritis, lungs and heart problems and taught them how to receive healing by faith in Jesus’ Name.
We ate some Igaddo (pork and liver pieces in gravy) in Pastor Arturo’s home. I skimmed through a book on the table about ‘A Man Sent From God’. It is about Florentino de Jesus the runaway boy who eventually reached the Muslims with the Gospel and had to learn to forgive his bitterest enemies. He ministered throughout the dangers of WWII when the Japanese invaded the Philippines. He told people: ‘imitate me as I imitate Christ.’ His son Benjamin wrote the book about his father’s life adventures.
After the meal we visited Sitio Lahaban Labuna, the site of the most recent Lahaban river flood where 5 relatives of a lady in Arturo’s church were drowned. Only two bodies were recovered. We gave life jackets to people living on the edge of the river. Lahaban means ‘washing by hand’ and that is how the river got its name: people go down there to do their washing by hand.
Coming back from Angono Rey and I took a Jeepney, then a little bus and finally a taxi. It took about two hours. I will communicate with pastors that attended the Transformational meeting to find out how we can relate and co-operate in the work of the Lord.
Apostle Andre Pelser
