The Phillips family and Scott are settled in their respective places in Villasis in the Philippines and are now meeting with various local pastors and preparing to travel on Wednesday (Tuesday night MO time) up into the mountains to Baguio where the three-day Tandem Conference will be held beginning on Thursday. Tuesday has involved numerous meetings with old and new friends and much packing of clothes, equipment, and props for the conference.
Tuesday’s Prayer Requests:
1. The 19 pastoral couples (one pastor was in an accident and can’t come) who will be at the Tandem Conference to come with great attitudes, eager hearts, and their assigned “homework” completed; no technical, accidental, or relational distractions that might hinder the conference’s effectiveness.
2. Our team (Wilson and Angelica, Scott, Mark and Whitney) to be led by the Holy Spirit as they interact with each other and connect with co-workers in Baguio.
3. Everyone to adjust well to the time change and stay healthy; God-given keen insight for the doctors who are preparing for Pastor Gil’s surgery later this week.
Tuesday’s Details:
Our TTC National Directors, Wilson and Angelica, live with their three children and pastor a thriving church in the city of Villasis (“vill-YAH-siss,” population 65,000).
Here’s a brief geography lesson: The Philippines is comprised of two large islands (Luzon in the north, which includes the capital, Manila, and Mindanao in the south) plus 7,639 smaller islands arranged between and around those two.
Luzon is shaped like and just slightly larger than the state of Maine, and Villasis is located in a low-lying part of Luzon at an elevation of about 500 feet. Scott and the Phillips family are staying in two guesthouses in Villasis.
The Tandem Conference will be held in Baguio (“BAG-ee-oh,” population 407,000), a popular tourist destination known for its relatively cool climate as “The Summer Capital of the Philippines.” The Tandem Conference will combine a Disciple-Makers (DM) seminar and a Better Together marriage seminar for 20 pastoral couples from all over Luzon. After the conference and following six months of online training and mentoring, these couples will start and lead DM groups in their own areas.
This map shows the route our team will take from Villasis to Baguio on Wednesday (Tuesday night MO time). The scenic drive takes about two hours to cover a distance of only 50 miles. The reason it takes so long is that in those 50 miles the route gains over 4,000 feet in elevation! Baguio is up in the mountains, and it’s beautiful.
Some 33 hours after leaving home, The Phillips Four have finally landed in Manila with all their luggage! Our national directors, Wilson and Angelica Flores, met them at the airport and are currently driving them several hours north to Villasis, where TTC’s ministry in the Philippines is based. Meanwhile, Scott just got in the air this evening and will land Monday around midnight (MO time).
Sunday’s Prayer Requests:
Mark, Whitney, Liam, and Korbin to settle in to their guest house, sleep well, and begin to get acclimated.
Scott to sleep well as he flies, arrive refreshed, and retrieve all his luggage intact.
Peace and strength for Wilson and Angelica, and God’s clear direction as they, Scott, and Mark all pull together to complete preparations for the Tandem Conference later this week.
Sunday’s Details:
Once they had collected their bags, cleared customs and immigration, and met up with Wilson and Angelica, Mark sent this picture, saying, “We are on our way to Villasis. Quite tired from our sprinting to catch one of our flights ‘Home Alone’ style. But we are all here with all our luggage. Excited to get started, but first a little coffee and maybe a little rest.”
Amen, Mark!
Scott will skip the coffee, but I’m sure he will also be very excited to get started after a little rest. = )
L to R: Mark, Liam, Korbin, Angelica, Whitney, and Wilson, traveling in the ministry vehicle our partners recently helped fund!
Your prayers are paving the way for our team to be used by God in significant ways during this trip. Thank you for praying for them today!
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!
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