Dear All,
Sunday's Bottom Line:
Scott and his luggage have arrived in the Philippines! He slept 2:30-7:00 AM, preached in Pastor Wilson's church, had lunch with a dear friend from many year ago, slept four more hours, and handled details for their long road trip on Monday. Scott wants us all to remember and hopefully join the special 30-minute Zoom prayer meeting at 5:00 PM today. Here are the details for that meeting:
Topic: Special Prayer for Philippines Mission
Time: May 3, 2026 05:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
<https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84151904476?pwd=0rfj1mZGzDVBg3haJCDrqzk6Tysa19.1>
Meeting ID: 841 5190 4476
Passcode: 585639
Sunday's Prayer Requests:
1. Safety for our team on their long drive to Lasam on Monday.
2. God to make divine connections between the leaders ("coaches") and their new group members in Lasam -- and in each of the new cities throughout this trip.
3. Grace and stamina for Scott as he moves through jet lag this week.
Sunday's Details:
Here's a bit of background that will hopefully help you better understand the general format of this mission trip in the Philippines.
Wilson and Angelica planted the Agape San Blas church in the city of Villasis ("vee-YAH-siss") two years ago with about 30 people. This church's very foundation is disciple-making; it's what the church is all about. They meet outside in this pavilion that they have built. This picture shows them all doing "the royal wave" (like dignitaries do while riding in a parade) after Scott had preached this morning on them being treasures and a royal family. I think that's Pastor Wilson on the far right in the blue plaid shirt.
You can see in the above picture that several people are wearing dark blue shirts with "PDMM" in the red letters that stand for "Philippines Disciple-Makers Movement." Those folks -- and many more -- are in disciple-makers (DM) groups. Some 85 DM groups have been launched from the seeds of this very church in the past two years, and the main goal of this mission trip is to expand the DM movement to areas farther out from Villasis.
Hence the 10-hour drive northeast to Lasam tomorrow.
In TTC's earliest days, Scott would go to a place where someone had gathered a number of pastors and church leaders, and he'd present a two-day disciple-makers seminar. Many of the people would then want to join a DM group, but we often wouldn't have enough local people trained to lead those groups.
Now that Scott has spent several years investing his life into key leaders in various countries, our M.O. has shifted. Those key leaders and their disciples and their disciples' disciples now do much of the ground work Scott used to do. Before Scott goes to a location (like Lasam) to present an abbreviated DM seminar, other "pillars" (area coordinators) and "coaches" (group leaders) have already discipled people who are now ready to be coaches. When Scott gets there, he does his seminar and invites those who are interested to join a DM group. Coaches are standing in the wings, ready to get people signed up and into groups immediately. In fact, they try to have their first group meeting within a week or ten days!
On this trip, Scott is currently scheduled to present 11 seminars, so this pattern will be repeated many times. As you read these updates, please remember that each person who joins a DM group and stays with the process for a few months will soon be coaching his or her own group of disciple-makers, who will do the same... and on it goes, to the glory of God! That's the fruit of YOUR prayers and giving, so thank you very much for standing with us!
I hope to see many of you soon in the Zoom prayer meeting!
Blessings,
Patty