Our Take the Challenge team is now at a mere T-Minus 22 hours!!! and counting until our next mission trip launches to the Philippines and beyond! Mark and Whitney Phillips and their sons, Liam (12) and Korbin (10) leave Missouri Saturday afternoon for a full month of disciple-making in the Philippines, and Scott Roberts (age undisclosed) leaves Sunday evening to join them there for two weeks before heading on to Nepal and India. For all their upcoming travel and especially for their ministry on the ground, we really need your prayers.
Thursday’s Prayer Requests:
No flight delays; everybody to have good flights, sleep well, land safely with all their luggage, and adjust well to the time change, culture, and climate. It’s very hot and humid in the Philippines right now.
Pastor Gil’s throat surgery to go well; for a supernatural recovery, total healing, and full use of his voice. (Note that the “G” sounds like “H,” so his name is pronounced “Hill.”)
All details for the Tandem Conference to run smoothly; no hindrances to all 20 pastoral couples attending, and God to do amazing things in each person’s heart, marriage, and ministry.
Thursday’s Details:
Preparations for this trip have been extensive because God has opened some truly incredible doors for raising many more disciple-makers in the Philippines. To that end, three big events are planned during this Philippines trip:
Tandem Conference (3-day Disciple-Makers and Better Together seminar, more details below)
All-Philippines DM Summit (open to everyone who is in a disciple-makers group)
DM Coaches Summit (special training for all the coaches who lead disciple-makers groups)
I know that all sounds rather overwhelming, but for right now, let’s focus only on event #1, the Tandem Conference, which will be held on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, October 23-25. The first day will introduce the idea of raising disciple-makers and explain biblically why it’s such a priority. Day 2 will be a marriage seminar designed especially for ministry couples, and the final day will explain the practical how-to’s of raising disciple-makers.
The 20 pastoral couples from various parts of the Philippines who will be attending the Tandem conference have already committed to join the Disciple-Makers (DM) movement by first being trained via online DM groups for 6 months and then being the coaches who lead in-person groups in their own areas. This map shows with red markers where we are now (54 DM groups!) and with green markers where we could be in 12 months, primarily through the DM ministry of the pastoral couples who will be at next week’s Tandem Conference.
All of this expansion has been developing through Pastor Gil (“Hill”), an incredibly humble man of God who is in Scott’s Monday online DM group. Pastor Gil is a leader of a very large network of evangelical churches in the Philippines and has connections with and oversight of hundreds of pastors. He has been personally so impacted by the DM movement that he has strongly encouraged this subset of like-minded pastors to get involved. Unfortunately, Pastor Gil will not be able to attend the Tandem Conference as planned because of the major surgery he will be undergoing late next week to remove a tumor from his neck.
You can “meet” Pastor Gil inthis 1:30 video clip. He and we deeply appreciate your prayers for him, AND for Scott and the Phillips family as they all continue to deal with details and keep on packing and preparing to GO! It’s going to be an exciting weekend. = )
There’s nothing quite as satisfying as starting a project and staying with it till it’s DONE. Here is today’s good news: After months of prayer and support-raising for the Philippines Disciple-Makers Movement’s (PDMM’s) Command Center, that project has now been fully funded. Hooray! Praise God!
Our PDMM national directors, Wilson and Angelica Flores, are the ones who direct and oversee all TTC’s ministry in the Philippines. They hear from God, mentor coaches (disciple-maker group leaders), plan and carry out meetings, seminars, and summits, and manage the physical, financial, and human resources necessary to do all the above.
Now that the Philippines Command Center is established and funded, its first assignment is a big one, the Disciple Luzon Project. With 38 provinces, Luzon (blue on the map below) is the largest island in the Philippines, and our goal is to have active disciple-maker (DM) groups functioning in each of Luzon’s provinces. The first Filipino DM group was launched just 16 months ago in May 2024. Red markers show provinces where we already have DM groups, and green markers show the provinces we will be expanding into.
The Disciple Luzon Project will involve these four steps during the coming weeks and months.
Identify and recruit 20 pastoral couples from across the Philippines who are willing to be trained and equipped as DM coaches for their home areas. (This has already been done!)
Empower those couples’ marriages and ignite in them a fire for disciple-making through the PDMM Tandem Conference October 23-25.
Train those pastoral couples in online DM groups for six months, from November 2025 through April 2026.
Host DM Seminars in each of the couples’ home areas and help them launch new in-person DM groups in May 2026.
Praise Reports:
Amazing revival happening in Forsyth, Missouri prompted by the testimony of a DM group member there! (Details coming soon.)
Philippines Command Center project has been fully funded!
20 pastoral couples have been identified for the Disciple Luzon Project!
Prayer Requests:
God to connect the Philippines Command Center with a quality vehicle for them to purchase and use in nurturing the disciple-making movement.
Our September 9th Missions Banquet here in Missouri to encourage and inspire all those who attend and to connect us with at least 20 new monthly partners.
Now that the Philippines Command Center is up and running, God to bring in the funds for the Kenya Command Center by the end of the year.
Thank you very much for your partnership with Take the Challenge and for joining your faith with ours to see God’s full plan for the Philippines come to pass.
Good evening and thank you, everyone, for following along on this Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda mission trip and for praying for Scott, Mark, and our team of disciple-makers in East Africa.
Scott had an uneventful trip home today and at the last minute was able to get on an earlier flight for his final leg from Dallas to Springfield. Then that short flight also arrived 30 minutes early, so he was waiting at the curb – with all his luggage – when I arrived.
Now we’re just trying to keep him awake till 9:00 PM, his target bedtime when jet-lagged. = )
Scott said that even beyond the tremendous amount of ministry God did during those three weeks (all the new DM groups started, all the seminars held, all the summits experienced), getting the Kenya Command Center set up – with the right people in the right positions, organizational procedures clearly outlined, and hearts united – was the biggest accomplishment of this trip. And it couldn’t have happened without YOUR prayers and support!
Mark is on his way home somewhere over the Atlantic, Scott just wrapped up his Better Together marriage seminar in Tororo, Uganda and will start for home Sunday morning MO time. He also sent us several pictures from Joyce’s seminary graduation.
Saturday’s Prayer Requests:
1. All our DM coaches (group leaders) and pillars (leaders of group leaders) to take the initiative to effectively lead the disciples in their care; for no schedule, location, or technical challenges to hinder the new groups meeting every week, beginning today!
2. God to greatly bless Hillary and Joyce and James and Susan for the especially huge investment of time, hospitality, travel, provision, and heart they have made over the past three weeks. Especially huge, yes, but note that they have been making just “normal” huge investments into raising disciple-makers for several YEARS.
3. Safety, peace, grace (esp. for jet lag), and good health for Mark and Scott as they return home. All their luggage to arrive intact and on time.
More Pictures!
Scott sent me a number of pictures from Joyce’s graduation and subsequent celebration, several with captions. On the rest, I have guessed, and like I did yesterday, I may have guessed wrong. = )
Joyce graduated from a local branch of an international Bible school. Scott said the leadership of that school is very interested in TTC because we and they have the same heart to train leaders with a focus on discipleship. We may (or may not) have more interaction with that organization in the future. Scott thinks it might provide an opening for TTC to expand into new nations.
At a college or university commencement in the USA, the faculty of the institution are often decked out in special gowns, stoles, and/or headpieces in which the features and colors all have meaning. It seems the same is true in Kenya, and at least for Christian graduations, the professors wear “hats” (I’m sure that’s not the right word) with very large flat brims and red tassels.
With that background, please enjoy these pictures.
Hillary speaking
I was wrong yesterday. Joyce isn’t wearing glasses. She is to the right of the lady who is.
All the graduates
Watching the proceedings
Scott with Joyce’s mom, “She’s really short!”
Celebration time!
Joyce dancing
Piggybacking a toddler
And finally…
Honorary faculty members
These guys look like they really need prayer. Thank you for meeting that need today. = )
Today’s update really was going to be short and sweet. Hopefully it’s still sweet! = )
Joyce, Hillary’s wife, has graduated from seminary, and there was great rejoicing! Our own Mark Phillips did a great job delivering the commencement address.
Mark speaks; Hillary translates for him
All the graduates; Joyce front row, center, with glasses
Now Mark and Scott are each embarking on their own mad scramble:
Mark’s scramble is to make his initial homeward flight which leaves Nairobi at 1:20 AM local time, 5:20 PM today (Friday) MO time. His family will be thrilled to greet him at the airport in NW Arkansas at about 7:00 PM Saturday! It’s a mad scramble because, last I heard, they weren’t sure how Mark was getting from the graduation ceremony to the airport. Never fear; get there he will. Mark is nothing if not resourceful!
Scott’ scramble is to travel to Tororo, Uganda to present an abbreviated Better Together marriage seminar before his initial flight home. Tororo is 252 miles west of Nairobi. If I have the details right, Scott will fly in the wee hours of Saturday morning local time to Eldoret, Kenya, then be driven four hours to Tororo (including an international border crossing) by Hellen’s husband, Symon, where he will hold the marriage seminar later on Saturday. A really good thing is that Symon and Hellen, who are working to re-create their marriage after 25 years apart, will be attending that Better Together seminar! Then, sometime afterwards (Saturday night? Sunday morning?) Symon will drive Scott to… I can’t remember which city he told me… from which he will fly back to Nairobi with only a couple hours of margin before his initial homeward flight home departs at 6:00 PM. There’s some concern about the possibility of the flight from (which city?) back to Nairobi being cancelled.
Current Prayer Requests:
1. Mark and his luggage to make his departing flight from Nairobi and his connections in Doha and Chicago. Safety, peace, and sleep during his trip home. God’s continued help and care for his wife, Whitney, and their two sons.
2. Scott to get safely to and from the Better Together seminar in Tororo and the Holy Spirit to guide him as he whittles down his usual six-hour seminar into the shorter (four-hour?) available time frame. All the attendees to come away with memorable, practical to-dos to improve their marriages. No flight cancellations for Scott.
3. God to continue to work in the hearts and lives of everyone Our Four have impacted during this mission trip; all the people in all those new DM groups to develop deep roots and grow up to bear “fruit that remains!”
And Finally, Culturally Speaking:
Our regional pillars who oversee and serve multiple DM coaches in various far-flung regions of Kenya and Tanzania (soon to include Uganda and Rwanda!) didn’t know each other before coming to the Pillars Summit. In addition, as church leaders in East Africa, they are used to going to a seminar and sitting and being taught without really interacting with each other: “Go, attend, listen, leave” is the norm. But the whole disciple-making movement is based on relationships. So, in addition to all the great teaching and significant ministry, those pillars did mixers, laughed, and had fun together.
It sounds like in Kenya, pastors and church leaders are pretty much “all work and no play.” They are serious about the things of God, and fun is generally not on the menu. If you know Scott, you know that is NOT how he rolls, so he had the pillars plus Our Four playing spoons. The only video we have of it is of the initial set-up and Scott explaining how the game is played. It’s almost a minute and a half long. But he said that once they got the hang of it, they had a blast, laughing, hollering, and falling over each other trying to grab a spoon. It was just what they needed to relax and feel like a cohesive team.
YOU are our team, and we’re so, so grateful for your prayers, encouragement, and support. Please join us now in praying that every detail of this mission trip, down to the final moment, will be productive and end WELL. Thank you!
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